Trattoria Lucarelli

I spent a lot of time at my Nonna's house when I was little girl and I grew up watching her make Italian feasts for the family. I remember me and my sister would sit under the table when she was making fresh lasagne and we would pick small pieces off the hanging sheets and scoff them.

It's something I've always wanted to know how to do and when I have my own family I want my children to remember me making fresh Italian sausages and pasta etc. So I finally convinced her to teach me the ropes and to actually let me have a go, rather than the usual 'watch and learn' method.

I could tell she was sceptical about my skills in the kitchen but she stepped aside nonetheless and was actually dead impressed with me by the end. We swapped worlds for the day as she worked herself around my digital camera and I worked myself around the pasta-rolling machine!

It was a pretty simple process; the dough was made up of eggs, flour and a pinch of salt and once that was kneaded we were all set to make some cracking tagliatelle! We sampled the fruits of my labour tonight and I have to say...they were delicious.

My next culinary lesson from Nonna will be how to make my own gnocchi.. yum.

Naughty by Nature.

Question: Has the world gone mad!? China has jumped on a pet trend, which I assume started in America, and has run (completely) wild with it.

Whilst I was in America and indulging in my guilty pleasure, trashy reality TV, I saw that Audrey O'day dyed her miniature Maltese dogs. I thought she was a little, you know, over the top with the pet pampering but just brushed it off as celebrity ga-ga... little did I know that East Asia was embracing the trend and going one step further.

Check these furry friends out. These [admittedly gooorgeous] baby pandas are actually dyed Chow Chow dogs:

This from a country where just 10 years ago they raised dogs on farms specially for their dog meat which was then fed to restaurant customers.

You think this is slightly crazy? Well get a load of this; Berlin (which I wouldn't have associated with mad trends) is tattooing pigs! Yes, you read it right, but don't worry (too much) they are sedated during the process. Whereas the dogs were pretty cute, this is just downright twisted. Yet again China has taken on the trend and ran (...and ran...and ran) with it, and are now tattooing goldfish! God-knows how but they are and these little fellows are thought to return lost luck..... Riiight.

Pets have long since been subjected to consumerist folly, by being shoved into Louis V bags or garish outfits, but these semi-permanent and permanent 'designs' hold a pretty sick future for domestic and wild animals. Meet the Papilio Nike-Ulysees:

It's a genetically modified butterfly that has been branded with a Nike sign. I mean, really... Does our capitalist, technological world know no boundaries?!

Truely disturbed,

Blogging

I'm a late bloomer when it comes to blogging but my blog is finally starting to take shape. I'm getting my head around the blog world and I'm constantly reading up on tips and tricks to improve it so, in theory, this blog should get better and better each day (yay me!)

If you've had a little click around and found mostly empty pages then watch these spaces...they will all be up and running soon enough! I have lots of free time on my hands (which is both a blessing and a curse) so I will be filling up blank pages with little projects I'm busying myself with.

This week I plan to:

• Make some fresh pasta! (Yum)
• Make some bunting (For my new uni room)
• Write some poetry

As always comments and new followers are very welcome and much appreciated!

Peace and a lorra lorra love,

Summer Sunday Sunshine...

Bonsooooir! The weather today was GLORIOUS and I have to admit I was one of those Brits who donned their bikini faster than they could blink and spent the early afternoon bathing in the garden with a good book and some cider. Oh England...you're not so bad when you're sunny.

I also [shamelessly] gorged on BBQ food at regular intervals... because tomorrow I start my 100 millionth attempt to shift some pounds and get fit! After my year in Alabama of eating gargantuan portions of good Southern food, the buttons are now bursting and the old Italian women (who shouldn't be so rude if you ask me) keep reminding me that I could do with shedding a few inches.

The Enemy:
Leggins/ Jeggins
Carbs
Eating Out

The penguin bars have been given the boot and I've ordered a graze box which should arrive on Wednesday, full of healthy nibbles to snack on. And for the first time in my life I'm embracing the thought of exercise, but seen as I have little (no) money, my DIY fitness regime is going to consist of running [read: jogging breathlessly] and make-shift circuit training. We'll see how long this lasts!

Wish me luck and send me some healthy vibes...I've got a feeling I'm going to need them!

Orange Rockcorps

Yesterday I took part in an Orange Rockcorps volunteering project. Some 50+ of us volunteers made our way to the heart of Islington, London, donned our Rockcorps T-shirts and gloves, and with the music pumping, we refurbished Barnard Park Adventure Playground.




My group (Group 3) were in charge of giving the wall a fresh lick of paint. First we had to chip away the cracked bits of paint and wall, then give it a good scrub-a-dub and then we took charge of the painting. Despite being part of the older volunteers present and considering myself to be pretty sensible, we managed to get absolutely covered in white paint! Meanwhile, others were pulling up weeds, cutting back bushes, picking up litter and generally making the place more attractive to locals.

By the time we finished the place looked great and we had such a blast, the sun was shining down on us during the afternoon, it was all peac eand love between us volunteers and when it came to collecting our sandwich and concert ticket, we all agreed we would do it again (even without the offer of a second ticket!)

Really looking forward to seeing the day's photos when they make it onto the Facebook page and most of all... to the gig! Jessie J, Primal Scream, Diddy-Dirty Money and Eliza Doolittle will be performing for all the volunteers this year at Wembley Arena! Now that’s what I call a Saturday well spent!

If you want a chance to be there too, remember there is no way to buy or win a ticket but you can earn one! You can still sign up for a volunteering project near you, give 4 hours work and Bob's your uncle!

Gypsy Boy.

I'm currently reading best-selling memoir, Gypsy Boy, by Mikey Walsh. It came out in 2008 and I've had it for a while but I am determined to finish it shortly as it is currently being made into a film.
Walsh had very little schooling and essentially taught himself how to read and write, he is one of the first Romany Gypsies to ever write a book. It has received overwhelming support and Stephen Fry tweeted that: 'It was a revelation. Moving, terrifying, funny and brilliant. I shall never forget it - an amazing achievement.”

I have always been intrigued by Gypsy culture; I remember, as a small girl, my eyes would be glued to the Romany Gypsies selling roses in the Naples cemetery. They had dark skin, long hair, flowing skirts and lot of gold jewellery that would jingle when they walked, to me they were beautiful; real life Esmereldas. But my mother would never let my sister and I get too close and whenever they moved in around Bedford people would instantly become infuriated.

The older I got the more I learnt about the life of Gypsies and due to the recent publicity on their culture (on Channel 4's My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding) the 'Gorgia' world is allowed to delve into the world of the somewhat secretive and misunderstood community.
Many people who I have spoken to about this think that I am being naïve, but I do feel a lot of sympathy for the Gypsy community because their culture is being threatened with extinction, due to travel and settlement laws, and marriage outside of the community.
Mikey Walsh's recently released Gypsy Boy on the Run follows his first steps into the Gorgia world and away from his community, a decision which is- more often than not- irrevocable.

I'm really enjoying the novel so far and will soon be purchasing the sequel. Oh! And I'm following Mikey on Twitter now ;)

Tweet, Tweet!

I have officially embraced my twitter account (I'm only about a year late, I know) and not only am I starting to get my head around hash-tags, mentions, the power of networking etc. I have become obsessed!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the tweet-every-second, about mindless fluff, type; but I definitely feel more comfortable tweeting regularly than updating my Facebook status. People are too involved on Facebook...and as entertaining as that can be, I'm not down with the 23 notifications of off-topic drivel.

I've also found it's a brilliant way to stay inspired, I follow up links to interesting articles and receive up-to-date info on competitions/ events, I can delve into the daily thoughts of some of my idols (for want of a better word) and can shamelessly plug my blogs up there ;) But this is all old news to established twitter-heads I guess!

So, please feel free to follow me (at Miss_Lucarelli). I'm not after a record number of followers, but it's nice to stay connected!