Update from Fano

Buongiorno from Italy again! Did not have too much to say for myself this last week as working at the restaurant and not moving around much. The hours, as I said before, are pretty gruelling so it's just been head down and getting on with learning as much as I can. When Stefano arrives, I will be doing a lot more travelling and hopefully I will sound more exciting then I do right now :)

However in the kitchen I'm learning so much about seafood and I am loving working in a restaurant that insists on freshness and quality ingredients. I love seeing all the fresh produce and the fish arriving every morning. Yesterday morning I did get quite a surprise when this 50kg swordfish arrived and I was saying…"um…well… I don't have to cut this up do I ?" J Instead I was given 40kg of mussels to clean – good grief there are no small quantities here!

This morning I dared to get up at the crack and headed down to the market at 6am with Flavio, who personally chooses everything each morning. I was amazed, that at this time of the morning, the market was buzzing with most vendors already set up by 6h30 and the first customers arriving…walking their dogs or on bicycle to buy fresh fish and beautiful produce.

During the last week besides the abundant fishies, I have also been learning to make some gorgeous desserts (I LOVE the Amaretto Frozen Mousse!!!) and assist with the bread making. Elide makes fresh bread for the restaurant every day – plain little rolls with sesame seeds, mini pizza rolls with tomato, olive oil & oregano filling baked inside, a sweeter loaf with nuts & sultanas and a huge yummy pizza bread with various toppings which is truly delicious (the onion, salt & olive oil one shown here) – I love making the breads with her every day but can't say I'm good enough to get a job at Vov yet ha J )

I will say however coming from a family who are huge animal activists in Port Elizabeth (please search for Animal Outreaches on Facebook and have a look at the amazing work my Dad & Mum do in and around the townships of the Eastern Cape)…. Wherever I travel there will always be a stray animal or two that I get attached to and want to help.

On my first day here I discovered a small colony of semi feral cats who live in the alley behind the restaurant. There are about 15 of them, but I particularly fell for the very tame mummy cat and her lovely tabby babies… I was far away from any shops to get cat food and would never take anything I shouldn't from the restaurant, but was desperate to feed them. There was plenty of fish waste thrown in the bin that the kitties would love so I scrumaged in the bin (once again I mention how glamorous I am! J ) and hid the calamari from the bin in Stefs camera bag ….. it stayed there till that evening (and its hot!) and let me tell you dears in that heat, I still get a whiff every time I use the camera! LOL! In fact I haven't told Stef yet, but I'm sure he is reading this now and smiling shaking his head, because he knows what I'm like when it comes to animals. J Well needless to say they are all being fed very well now!

I miss my animals at home terribly… late at night when I finish my shift… I take my gelato outside and sit in the alley behind the restaurant on the step in the warm quiet evening… strangely enough, so far away from South Africa, I sit with the stray cats and this is where I feel most at home…

Till next time xxx

PS: 950 people read my last post from all over the world ... I can't believe it :)