Since our house in Istria went on the market in March 2024, after we completed the new garden to the rear of the house and did much internal refurbishment, our minds have been focused on finding our new home. We knew that our Istrian adventure had come to an end. For...
Well, it has happened. On the 8th July, we turned the key in the lock for the final time and said goodbye to our much loved, renovated Istrian stonehouse and our lives for the last seven and a half years. When we put the house up for sale in March, after the...
If you are a fan of deliciously creamy butter beans, you might like to try this, if like us, this method of cooking them, has so far passed you by. Roasting. Yes, that's right, roasting then in the oven. And I guarantee, you'll be as in love with this way of doing...
I've been keeping a diary/blog of our journey in our stone house in Istria, since before we moved in, in 2017. We're now so very close, to moving. Yes, after seven years of renovating and creating a beautiful home from the shell of a building, we're hopefully onto our...
I've always been a little bit sniffy about a place called Eataly, located on the harbour front in Trieste. I thought it might be a gimmicky - and why would you choose to shop and eat in a huge converted warehouse, when you were actually right in the centre of Trieste,...
Limoncello spritz is a refreshing and vibrant cocktail, combining the zesty flavors of limoncello liqueur with the effervescence of prosecco. It's a popular Italian aperitivo, perfect for sipping on a warm summer day - and with no mixology skills required, it's quick...
Now that we've discovered a fabulous bakery, in Porec, that sells nothing but sourdough bread - many varieties, but all sourdough - we buy lots of it. We're trying not to eat sliced, packaged, processed breads and so often bulk buy and freeze, when we can get to Bread...
We have an old, rustic wooden table, which we brought out to Istria with us. It used to be a work table, so was stained with oil drops, paint splashes and cuts in the wood. We used it originally, once cleaned up, as a work desk, as being quite long and thin, could fit...
We've had a Bose Soundlink Mini II bluetooth speaker for a good few years now. It's portable, the charge lasts for quite a long time and the sound quality is excellent. It still looks pretty cool after about ten years, so design-wise, it ticks boxes for us. It's small...
We have very fond memories of Velvet, on Canal Street, in Manchester, way back in the '90s. Along with bars such as Manto and Metz, these places just seemed to ooze glamour and decadence and opened up a whole new world - definitely a far cry from some of the student...