Tag Archives: photography

Vacanza

15 Jul

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It has been pretty quiet around here lately due to end-of-school-year chaos and finally the summer vacation starting.  We were all running around like lunatics until July 5th which was the last day of school (is it just me or does that seem really LATE to end school for summer?).  I can’t even count how many going-away parties, end-of-year parties, summer parties and barbecues we attended in the last weeks.  It was fun but exhausting (although I admit that at the end it was more exhausting than fun).

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The day after school ended we packed up the car and headed south to the gorgeous region of Umbria with all the Belgian aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. We spent an amazing week relaxing poolside at our villa, eating delicious meals and exploring all the small cities and towns Umbria has to offer.  The weather was perfect (not too hot and not too cold) and the nine little cousins had the time of their lives together.  There were tears at the end of the week when we all had to say goodbye and part ways.  Lifetime memories were definitely made for everyone.

We stayed in the stunning Villa Enea which is probably one of the most gorgeous properties we’ve ever lodged at.   There is actually a chapel, a library (including baby grand piano), a pool house (with kitchen, dining room, bathroom and changing room) and more than enough bedrooms to accommodate our very big extended family.  Believe me, we enjoyed every second of our time in this gorgeous villa and region.  photo-1

We visited the small city of Perugia (where the International Jazz Fest was being held), Assisi, Todi and our favourite small town of Spello (which was a flower haven!).  We loved meandering through the old stone streets and alleyways, visiting ancient Roman and Etruscan sites and admiring the incredibly varied and impressive architecture to be found everywhere.  And the fact that we saw a monk with an iphone, a nun with a hot pink glittery purse and a priest wearing a cowboy hat in Assisi was just icing on the cake.  I’ll be writing more about these visits in my upcoming Classic Play travel column.

(Follow me on Instagram to see more photos of our time in Umbria).

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Italian Crostata

4 Jul

IMG_9551First of all I have to admit something.  For my first decade of living in Italy I didn’t even attempt to try a piece of crostata.  To me it looked dry and tasteless.  And it was full of jam.  I used to despise any sort of dessert that involved jam.  Then one day I found myself starving at a kid’s birthday party  and the only thing being served was crostata.  So I took a piece to relieve my hunger induced headache and I couldn’t believe how delicious it was.  At first I thought it was probably due to the fact I hadn’t eaten all day and chopped liver would have tasted divine.  But in the end I realised that crostata is delicious.  Really delicious.

This past week I spent the morning with one of my closest Italian friends and she kindly taught me how to make the basic Italian Crostata.  It’s surprisingly easy, only has 5 ingredients and it takes minutes to prepare.  That’s my kind of recipe.  There are the traditional jam filled crostata as well as the blind baked crostata pie shells which are filled with anything from pastry cream to Nutella to fresh fruits after being baked.  The options are endless.

IMG_9553Read on for recipe. Continue reading →

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Traveling With Kids: Top 10 Travel Products for Families

28 Jun

I’m over on the creative parenting blog Classic Play today talking about my favourite travel products for families.  These products are useful, stylish and great quality so that they’ll last until you send your kids off to university.  If you’re a traveling family I’d love to hear about any favourite products that make life easier while on vacation.  Read post here.

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Varallo, Piemonte

26 Jun

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This past week-end we decided to continue our exploration of the neighbouring region of Piemonte.  Over the last months we’ve visited the surrounding vineyards of  Gattinara, the small city of Vercelli and the quaint little town of Moleto.   We are always so surprised at how many lovely little spots we come across within an hour of our home.  And we wonder why in the world we haven’t been visiting these places over the last decade.  Then we promptly remember that with 3 small kids there were actually whole week-ends that we didn’t even manage to get all of dressed and out the door let alone to go visit a nearby town.  In any case, we are really enjoying these week-end trips and have a growing list of places we eventually want to visit.

On Sunday morning we woke up to a gorgeous, clear day and headed out towards the small town of Varallo (pop.7400) which is situated on the Sesia River and at the foothills of the Alps.  IMG_9255

We had a short 1 hour drive to arrive from Lago Maggiore and the kids were so excited to hike up the famous Sacro Monte di Varallo which is known to be the oldest in Italy.  Founded in 1491 the Sacro Monte houses 45 chapels, the basilica and over 800 painted statues.

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We were expecting a long 3 hour hike up a mountain but in the end it was a short 20 minute stroll up to the small plateau where you could visit all the little chapels, the basilica and enjoy the panoramic views over the town of Varallo below.

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I’m always so surprised at how interested my kids are in the history and stories behind these places.  They spend ages studying the frescos, reading the information signs and asking questions of every kind (thank goodness Papa is there to answer most of them).
IMG_9291After a very warm walk in the full noon sun we decided to head down into the town for some lunch and a little more exploring.

IMG_9329After a short search for a good typical restaurant we arrived at La Sfinge which ended up having a really lovely outdoor terrace looking over the Sesia River.  My daughter was in heaven when they brought her a wooden platter with various local cheeses and jams and my husband enjoyed his (wintery) meal of Polenta with Porcini.

After lunch we strolled around the very quaint (and quiet) little town and looked in all the antique shops which sold everything from clothing from the 1800s to every tool needed for working wool (which this area is famous for).  Slowly, large black clouds started to cover the skies and we just made it back to our car in time to avoid a downfall.

On our way back home we were driving through a small village and the kids started noticing people dressed in medieval costumes everywhere.  We stopped and quickly asked what was going on and someone told us that the yearly palio was about to start.  A palio is a sort of town event where all the different neighbourhoods compete against each other.  Sometimes it’s a horse race (Siena), sometimes it’s various physical competitions and sometimes, as in this case, it was a parade where all the different neighbourhoods dressed up in their special colours and period costumes.

IMG_9404As you can imagine my son was super excited to see all the armoured guards, knights and soldiers.

My daughters on the other hand admired all the beautifully dressed princesses, queens and maidens.IMG_9390And the rain stopped just as the parade started and started up again as we were slowly driving away.

It was one of those days where luck was on our side.

If you’re ever visiting Piemonte I would strongly recommend the Valsesia area.  There are many lovely little towns and castles to visit and world class hiking trails and rafting available.

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This and That

21 Jun

Summer has definitely arrived here in Northern Italy.
We’ve been enjoying temperatures in the high 30s with high humidity for the last few weeks.
From early morning to late evening we have all the doors and windows open letting a warm breeze blow through the house.
The fans have been on high speed in every bedroom during the night.
We all smell strongly of mosquito repellent.
The oven hasn’t been turned on in ages.
Dinner consists of salads, sliced meats, cheeses and melon.
The freezer is overflowing with every kind of popsicle, gelato, ice cream and freezie available.
Our home grown strawberries are ripe and ready to be eaten straight out the garden and still warm from the sun.
The heavy smell of the flowering jasmine plants that cover my neighbourhood is intoxicating.
The visits to the lake are getting more frequent.

Now all we have to do is get through these last two weeks of school and buy a new hammock and we’re off to the perfect start to summer.

Last week some good friends and I jumped in the car and escaped to Piemonte for a few days (we were in the charming town of Moleto where we visited last year).  We left the kids and husbands to fend for themselves and drove off into the sunset to enjoy some downtime amongst the vineyards.  We dined, we swam, we laughed (a lot), we chatted, we drank cocktails, we donned our fancy high heels, we went for walks and we just really enjoyed each other’s company.  And we decided that these little get-aways have to become more frequent in our lives because they feed the soul and give us a much needed rest from our daily grinds.  Many thanks to the husbands for their cooperation and understanding (even if they don’t know about our plans to do it more often yet).

When I was at The Hive European Blogging Conference in Berlin last month I participated in an amazing video workshop by the talented Kat from Zero The One.  At the end of the session she had us watch this beautifully shot video which made a serious impact on me and has been lingering in my thoughts ever since.  I actually have a very close family member going through a similar battle so it’s something that hits really close to home at the moment.   After watching it with my 11 year old daughters one of them said to me “Even if the story has something so sad about it I found it so beautiful at the same time”.  I have to wholly agree with her.  She then mentioned ” I didn’t even mind that he said the f-word a few times.  He deserves it.”.   Take a peek at the video and his blog here.

IMG_9228The other morning my friend sent me a message asking me to drop by for a tea and piece of cake.  This is what I was welcomed with.  I love my friends.

IMG_9233This cat has been living in our garden for the last few years.  She comes and sits at our kitchen door and waits for food every day.  We’ve named her FumoTre and we’re actually not even sure if she’s a she but nobody wants to check to make sure.  For some reason when she meows it sounds like she has a bad case of larygitis and we’re pretty sure she’s quite fond of us due to the amount of gifts she leaves us.

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I read this article on the “Top 22 Unbelievable Places That Are Hard to Believe Exist“ and have added quite a few of these destinations to my “must see” list.  The wisteria tunnel in Japan, the pink Retba Lake in Senegal and canola flower fields in China are just too stunning not to witness in real life.

Happy Week-End Everyone!

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Festive Breakfast-In-Bed Table

18 Jun

We celebrated a wonderful Father’s Day this past week-end.  Usually Father’s Day in Italy is on March 19th but for some reason or another we’ve always celebrated it on the third Sunday of June like in Canada.  Seeing as the kids were all away last week on various school trips they hadn’t really managed to prepare anything special for their beloved Papa.  The panic started setting in on Friday evening so by the time I woke up on Saturday morning all three kids were standing by my bed ready (and stressed) to start crafting.IMG_9161

They decided they wanted to make a really special breakfast in bed.  They wanted to serve fresh fruits, poffertjes (miniature Dutch pancakes), freshly squeezed orange juice and they wanted it served in an extraordinary manner.  After some discussing and sketching we had come up with what we wanted to do and a list of things needed to be bought at the local diy.

IMG_9166The idea was to make a festive breakfast-in-bed table with some over the top decorations.  We bought a piece of wood, 4 wooden furniture legs, a long wooden rod (which we cut in half) and some screws.  For the whole afternoon we were busy sanding, sawing, drilling and painting before it was ready for the fun part.  Decorating.  We used Washi tape to decorate the edges of the table, some ribbon for bows and to wind up the poles and then we sewed our much loved tassels (bought in Morocco) to some pompom string.  The end result was exactly what the kids had in mind.  It may be a little kitsch (ok a lot) but it definitely  let’s the person being served breakfast-in-bed know (loud and clear )that they’re special and loved.  We even managed to only spill one full bottle of juice on our bed during the ceremonial breakfast.  That’s serious progress from last time.IMG_9204

And of course the little one of the family insisted on being served lunch in bed to get the full feel of the festive-breakfast-in-bed -table experience.

This will become standard practice for any special occasion, vip visitors or just when we feel a family member is in need of little extra attention and love.  We’ll be able to easily change the decorations for every occasion as well.  I’m thinking miniature garlands, pompoms, special placemats and napkins!  The options are endless.

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A Kid’s Life: South Africa

14 Jun


Time for a new A Kid’s Life interview.  This series shows us how families from different cultures and countries around the world live their daily lives.  We learn about everything from what they eat to the local school system to what sort of extracurricular activities are popular.  Last week we heard from Elisa and her family who are living in Zurich, Switzerland and today we hear from a super interesting (and inspiring) family living in a seaside town south of Cape Town in South Africa.

I met Se7en (as the Mama is known online) on Instagram and I’ve been faithfully following her ever since.  I’m just so enthralled and curious about how this woman manages to mother (and homeschool) a family of 8 kids plus write a blog (called Se7en) that chronicles their life in South Africa, arts and crafts projects, outings and recipes.  This is one busy woman to say the least.  As you can see, I’m a fan.  Where does she get the energy to do it all?

After reading this interview and seeing the photos I’ve decided South Africa will definitely be one of our future travel destinations.  It seems like a pretty idyllic place to bring up a family.  I loved hearing about their second language Afrikaans (especially since we understand quite a bit knowing Dutch) and about how their school year starts in January instead of September like we’re used to. And of course, I’ve decided that sometime in our lives we’ll have to enjoy a good traditional South African braai.

So let’s hear about what family life is like in South Africa…

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What country do you live in?
We live in South Africa, in a beach town south of the city of Cape Town, called Fish Hoek. We live on the slopes of a mountain over looking a beautiful beach.

Are you and your husband the same nationality?
My husband and I are both South African – born and raised, while we love traveling we have spent most of our lives under African skies.

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Do you both work? Or does someone stay at home?
My husband works out of the house and goes into the city each day. My work is to stay home with the kids, taking care of the house and home and teaching the kids, because we homeschool.

How many languages are spoken in your house? What one(s)?
My husband and I both speak English and Afrikaans. Afrikaans is a Dutch based language that evolved when Dutch Settlers began to arrive at the Cape a few hundred years ago. We both studied a foreign language at University, and so my husband has a little French and I have a little Italian. Our country is a country of many different people groups with eleven official languages. Almost everyone speaks English and all children are taught Afrikaans at school. Then their is the local African language in each area, and children who have an African language as their first language learn that as well.fish hoek

How many kids do you have? What are their ages?
We have eight children, five boys and three girls. Two teenage boys age fifteen and fourteen, then a girl age 12, then two more boys age 10 and 9, two girls age 7 and 5 and finally a little boy age 3 and a half.

Continue reading →

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Chocolate Cherry Cakes with Cinnamon

13 Jun
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Today I have a really fantastic and surprisingly quick and simple cake recipe.  Seeing as it’s full on cherry season over here I thought I’d bake something cherry inspired.
So the other day I donned my latex gloves and got to work pitting the cherries (I have a pretty serious allergy to cherries as you can read about here).  I had even considered wearing goggles but I was expecting the delivery man and just couldn’t imagine what he’d think about the already weird Canadian women once he saw me in a get-up like that.  And I’m happy to report that I got through the entire recipe with zero contact with the cherries and I didn’t end up looking like a monster as I did last year when I attempted the Cherry Lavender Jam.  My kids still have nightmares about that.
These deep chocolate cakes paired with the tartness of the cherries and the delicate spiciness of the cinnamon ended up being a really delicious combination.  I think these would be fantastic with raspberries, blackberries or even chopped peaches.  I made them in individual miniature pans but it would be just as nice baked in a large tart pan as well.

Read on for recipe… Continue reading →

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Fabric Scrap IKEA Chair

11 Jun

A few weeks ago a good friend drove up my driveway and surprised me with two small chairs from IKEA (called Jules) that her big kids didn’t use anymore.  It’s funny because I was just recently looking for new chairs for my twin daughter’s room and the ones that she so generously dropped off to me were the ones that I had actually been looking at to buy.  Very serendipitous.

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So there I was looking at these little white chairs in my kitchen and I just happened to have a small basket of material scraps next to me (which is often the case for me).  I had a few minutes to waste before making dinner so just started playing around with the scraps and the little holes in the back of the chair.  A few minutes later my daughter came in and started to help me.  We busily cut and wove and tied bows and ended up with the sweetest little chair for their bedroom.

IMG_8823The chair matches their very colourful room perfectly and the girls are so happy with their new “office chairs”.  Many hours are spent sitting at their desk sketching, writing pen-pal letters and doing homework.  IMG_8558Even the back is pretty with all the different coloured bows.  There are so many different ways you could decorate this chair with fabrics of every kind (patterned, solids, linens, cottons…).  1-IMG_6699

Above is another diy project I made with an everyday IKEA product.  These little fabric covered bulletin boards (made from kitchen cork boards) are great to hang up on walls and closets to display everything from the kid’s art to photos.  See post here.

Viva IKEA!

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Mascarpone Pots with Fresh Berries

7 Jun

IMG_8657Last week-end we had some friends over for a Sunday morning brunch.  Luckily the weather was beautiful so after months of cold and rain we could finally sit outside and eat and chat and enjoy the sunshine.  The little kids frolicked in the garden in Gramma-made princess dresses and the parents drank home-made beer and my famous (well not really) rhubarb, lime and prosecco cocktails with fresh mint (see post about those here).

Besides all the normal brunch fare I made these little pots with a cookie bottom, mascarpone cream and fresh berries.  I actually invented the recipe on the spot not really knowing if they’d be edible or not.  In the end the were definitely edible, I’d even say delicious.  They have a cheesecake feel to them without the heaviness (I did add a little cream cheese to the mixture though).  And there is absolutely no baking involved in this quick and simple recipe making it perfect for hot summers when the last thing you want to do is put the oven on.  I served them in pretty little jam jars with lids and they were devoured within minutes.  I’ll take that as compliment.

Read on for recipe:

Mascarpone Pots with Fresh Berries

250 g mascarpone
75 g cream cheese
200 ml fresh cream
1 tsp vanilla
2-4 Tbsp sugar (depending on taste)
tiny pinch of salt

125 g finally ground digestive biscuits
70-80g butter

1. Mix ground cookie crumbs with melted butter until well blended.  Press into the bottom of little glasses (or as I did glass jars).  You can decide how thick you would like the cookie crumb layer.

2. Whip cream until stiff peaks begin to form.  Set aside.

3. In mixer cream together the mascarpone and cream cheese until smooth.  Add in vanilla, sugar and salt and mix until just combined.  With a spatula gently fold in whipped cream.

4.  Drop the mascarpone mixture on top of the cookie crumb bottom (shake glass or bottom to level it out).  Sprinkle fresh raspberries and blueberries on top (or any other berries).  Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.  Enjoy!

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After our brunch guests left we headed out to watch our twin daughters play Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in their theatre group’s rendition of Alice In Wonderland (Alice Nel Paese delle Meraviglie).  In case you’re wondering, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are translated as Dammelo and Dimmelo in Italian.  Over all a really lovely Sunday.

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