Amsterdam Birthday Trip

It's been nearly a week since I returned from my birthday trip to Amsterdam so thought it was about time I actually put the photos up!  I'm going to be honest and say that it wasn't the best birthday trip I've ever had but it had some great moments and definitely turned out alright in the end. 

It was a long day driving and by the time we arrived my temper was fraying somewhat. I kind of felt like I'd pretty much spent my entire birthday in a car (and the landscape was pretty boring and samey the whole way) so wasn't feeling that chipper. I loved chatting with my friend, but if someone ever says "hey, do you fancy driving to Holland?" say "hell no, let's get the plane"!

I'd been to Amsterdam once before when I was around 29 and we did a lot of the touristy things then (Red Light District, Flower Market etc) and the place is quite pretty to look at. My friend had never been but has travelled all over the world and is very easy to get along with. I'm not sure many people would have been able to stand me for 3 days actually so I was very lucky to be with her. I'm very picky and particular (read a total pain in the arse)

The ferry trip over was great as I love being on boats and it was a beautiful sunny day. It was  a very long trip and the Air BnB place was really sweet when we arrived. It was small but had everything we needed as well as a Nespresso machine (I'd never had one). It was in a great part of town and was very cosy. We then went out for some food, drank some birthday Prosecco then went to bed.

The first day was a mixed bag - It was freezing and I'd forgotten my gloves and hat, it was raining, the food everywhere was awful but we did find an ace little bar with grapefruit G&T's, my friend lent me her gloves, the cafe on the corner from us was just lovely and we went to the Van Gogh Museum.

There were bikes everywhere and it was really hard not to get hit by a car, a tram or a bike - especially as they drive on the right so you're always looking the wrong way! I loved these kiddie trough bikes.

And these large red clogs...

Saturday (our last day) was 100% better and we went on a fantastic little boat trip around the canals and out into the port. It was fascinating and great fun.

The guide told us that all the houses have these hooks above them to lift furniture up into the house as they're so narrow (they're narrow as they used to be taxed on floor space) and that some of the houses were built leaning forward to counteract the weight. If you look at the photo below you can actually see a couple of the houses sticking out at the top.

At the end of the day we met up with two friends of hers who lived there. They were appalled that we had eaten such shitty food during our trip (Holland is not known for its cuisine) and took us to a fantastic little place around the corner from our flat where I had one of the best meals ever. It was a really nice way to end to the trip and I liked her friends immensely. 

I don't think I'll be going back to Amsterdam again, but overall the trip was 'an experience'. I loved spending time with my friend and am eternally grateful for her patience (I would have killed me). I definitely won't be spending any more birthdays in a car or eating any more calamari in Holland though. You never know what you're going to get when you go away, but the experience is what matters. 

Back on Form (And 10 Reasons I'm Lucky)

Thank you so much for your kind comments. Even thought the whole thing was a bit of a shambles, I've bounced back and feel happily back to my usual self. I also have some amazing things to feel grateful for:

1) On the 6th November (my birthday) Star Trek Girl and I are driving to Amsterdam to spend three days drinking good coffee and wine, eating nice food, wandering the canal-sides, looking at art and admiring clogs. 

I usually go to Italy but my friend has never been to Amsterdam, is half French so used to driving on the other side of the road, speaks six languages, and I haven't been since I went for a boyfriend's birthday around 15 years ago. We've booked a lovely little apartment through Air BnB that comes with two bicycles and is right near the museum district. It's going to be great!

2) My American client has just renewed the contract on my flat so I have at least another year being able to live by myself in my gorgeous, bright, happy little home.

3) I've just had a bumper month work-wise. I'm making around £300 per month in passive income through download sales which I aim to take up to £1000 within a year. I have lots of interesting, satisfying work and I'm still able to work completely virtually.

4) The last time I took my little cat Treacle to the vets for a check up, they said her heart murmur was a lot less severe than they had initially thought and that it might've just sounded louder because she was stressed. So she's pretty much fine.

5) Two books of beautiful poetry arrived through my door today. Winter is coming and it always makes me want to read poetry and ghost stories for some reason. A Scottish friend often posts poems up on Facebook and, after a particularly gorgeous poem the other day (Infinity by Giacomo Leopardi) I asked him to recommended some books and I ended up buying The Bees and Love Poems by the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. 

6) I'm dating someone new. I decided to go back on the dating site for a month and have been on four dates with a guy called Peter. I wasn't sure if he was 'romantically interested' so I asked him on our fourth date last night if he was (we're all busy here pal) and he said he was interested but that he was a bit shy when it came to these things. He also finished a five year relationship at the end of last year and I think he's a bit out of practice!

I don't feel any urgency, but dating has certainly cheered me up and restored my knocked confidence - which was the point.

7) I've been planning another trip away. I've mentioned this before, but I'd really love to go on a  three-day winter break on the island of Sark. It's a Dark Skies island and I want to take a good book, go on some brisk clifftop walks, then cosy up with a brandy and read in front of an open fire. How lovely does that sound?

8) A friend is coming up from Cornwall today, another friend from London is joining us and we're going out for sangria and dinner at a Spanish tapas bar before heading to a Mogwai gig in town. My Cornish friend is doing some work for them so we're all on the guest list. 

9) I went to my first Star Trek Convention the other week. It was brilliant to be around other nerds, to see people just wandering around in Starfleet uniforms and to not feel awkward discussing the common ancestry of Vulcans and Romulins! I loved it.

10) After I got dumped by email and had a horrendous eye infection that left me taking a five-day, four-a-day course of hardcore antibiotics, a friend sent me a lovely card from Devon saying how wonderful I was, my best friend came through as she always does and was an incredible source of support, another friend came over with paleo cherry and chocolate scones, my cousin called me to see if I was ok and another two friends came over to cheer me up.

So actually I have a pretty good life, things are pretty peachy and I did not let that bloody loser get me down! 

Fair Verona

I got back from Verona last Friday and thought you might like to see some pictures. I only went for four days but I have a loads of photos so I'm going to do a general post now and another one on food later! The food in Italy is absolutely lovely and their pastries make ours look like dog shit in comparison frankly. 

View away from Verona from Castel San Pietro

It was my 42nd birthday while I was away. I always go away for my birthday which takes the edge off getting older - something I'm not keen on even though it's inevitable of course. I highly recommend it. We went for a really great meal in the evening and had a table overlooking the Ponte Pietra and Adige river. The wine list was PAGES long and went right up to 350 euros a bottle! We didn't have one of those.

The weather was really good. It rained the first day but every other day was sunny and warm with dusky, hazy sunshine which made sitting outside café's on the piazza's really pleasant. We did quite a bit of that and had some lush coffees too which often came with free biscuits and wine which came with a bowl of complimentary salted crisps!

The highlight for me was the Arena. I do like an Amphitheatre and this is the third largest one in Italy. They host opera performances earlier in the year which look incredible. It was the one thing I really wanted to see and it was free to get in with the 'Verona Pass'. The pass costs 10 euros for a day or 15 euros for two days and got you into loads of places for free or provided a discount for some others. Most sights were six euros so it was definitely worth buying.

 I decided two things whilst I was away: 

1) This was the third time I've noticed that four days is a day too long when visiting a European city. So I should now start to act on this and stop going away for four days when three is enough! Three full days seems to be enough time to take in the main attractions and sights and to also chill out and just get a feel for a place by people watching and wandering.

2) I think I'm going to travel alone a lot more from now on. My friend was fine but, perhaps because she's 10 years younger than me, she's very preoccupied with her appearance, men and calories which I find quite dull. On the last day we were going to get the train to Venice and I decided I just fancied a day by myself so we did out own thing. And I loved that day! 

Being alone gave me a real one-to-one personal experience which 'cemented' Verona for me. I had woken up feeling a bit narky but as soon as we decided to spend the day apart, I felt fine. So I think from now on I may just travel by myself. You don't have the whole 'are you hungry, shall we eat now?', 'what do you want to do today?', 'shall we eat here or somewhere else?', 'are you ready to go now?' type of questions when you're by yourself - you can just do whatever takes your fancy and I like doing that more than I like having company.

Three days is definitely long enough to see Verona. It wasn't as picturesque as other Italian cities I've visited but it was still absolutely lovely and other Italian places spoil you with their attractiveness I think! My friend hadn't ever been to Italy and she thought it was beautiful. It's also very centralised and really easy to get your bearings, so after a day you kinda knew where things were and what direction to head in.

We went up the Torre Dei Lombardi which is a massive tower in the centre. There are 289 steps up to the top and I felt every one. There is a lift but we though we'd walk off our morning croissant with Nutella (Nutella is BIG in Italy!). The view was well worth the pain as you can see. 

Verona is of course famous for Romeo and Juliet and they do milk it somewhat. Funnily enough it was the only disappointing part of the trip - tourists go to Juliet's house (even though she wasn't real) and people (mainly men) queue up to cop a grope of the left boob of her statue "for luck" it's a tradition apparently. The house was just full of Romeo & Juliet images in literature and film but I was more interested in the origins of the 13th century house they'd acquired for the purpose. Neither me or my friend took one photo inside the house actually.

Nice pics huh? I know you can see them in my Instagram photo stream in the sidebar, but it's better to see them in their full glory I reckon. My next post will be some scrummy food ones - get ready for the dolci people!

(Sings) Hooray, Hooray, I've Booked My Holiholiday!

Every year in November I go away for a few days over my birthday and this year is no exception. In the past I've been to Jordan, Sorrento, and Rome and this year I'm going to continue my love affair with Italy by going to Verona for five days.

Verona is famous for being at the centre of two of Shakespeare's plays: Romeo and Juliet, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. In fact you can visit 'Juliet's balcony' (obviously not real as it's a work of fiction but very cute) and there was even a film called 'Letters to Juliet' based around the habit of lovestruck women leaving notes for Juliet (or her secretaries) to answer - although quite an odd thing to do as Juliet didn't do too well out of her relationship if I recall. 

I was originally going with the guy I was seeing but because I dumped him for being irritating and boring, one of my friends said she'd like to go instead. I didn't actually mind going away on my own but it will be nice to take the trip with her. She does go on about food and diets a lot and I will be stuffing my face in Italy because I'll be on holiday and the food is better than any other country on the planet. I'm going to tell her that what I eat is not up for comment before I go though. She can eat salads if she likes but I want wine, pasta and cake!

We're staying in a little one-bed flat through Air BnB - the flat we've rented is really near to the centre and only costing £215 between us for four nights. It'll be great to have a private base to go back to rather than a hotel, and it even comes with an espresso machine apparently! 

The flat we've booked

Being part of Europe means that it's really quick and cheap to get from the UK to Italy. Flights to Rome are only around £40 return and the flights to Verona were £70 return which is still pretty good. Verona was founded in the first century BC and it even has an amphitheatre - I love historical places and am particularly partial to an amphitheatre. It's also a World Heritage Site which means they try to preserve it as much as they can.

I have to say that I'm pretty excited about going. I adore Italy and could go at least once a year - in fact I suppose I do! Both my friend and I run our own businesses so I'll be taking my tablet to reply to emails each day and I think she'll be doing the same. Although we're on holiday we do need to keep an eye on our businesses - plus I've taken on some work to help coordinate a big global event and I'll be spending two weeks at the event next year... in Austin, Texas no less!!

What a jet setter.

Amalfi Coast Birthday Trip - The Food!

The food in Italy is amazing. They don't like to mess around with lots of ingredients preferring instead to focus on the quality of what they use instead. So everything is quite simple but the flavours are pure.

These bomb-like items above are firm smoked cheeses similar to mozzarella called scamorza affumicata that we found hanging in the local supermarket. We took one to Capri on my birthday for our picnic and it was divine. You think the cheese will be inside a rind, but you kind of just cut it open and eat it. My ex took a couple of these home in his suitcase which was one of the reasons we got stopped coming through customs - the other reason was my corkscrew with a knife on it!

The deli counter in the supermarket

They have tiny little pastries - ricotta-filled Cannoli, flaky chocolate or hazelnut-filled Sfogliatelle (my favourite so thank God they sell them in an Italian cafe here in Brighton!), and Cannoncini. You buy them by the weight rather than individually so they are so cheap it's embarrassing - you can fill your boots and not make a dent in your wallet!  And what do we have...? Greggs and Forfars. It's no wonder we lost the empire.

hot chocolate on a rainy afternoon in Sorrento

Caprese salad - which as I'm sure you know is tomato, mozzarella, and basil with a drizzle of olive oil and some sea salt - originates from Capri because that's where the ingredients are best. We had this with nearly every meal because the ones here in the UK are shite. The tomatoes actually taste of something in Italy and the Mozzarella is so creamy it makes the ones you get here seem like cardboard in comparison.

The remains of my cheese platter. Scuse ex's hand!

The tomatoes were astonishingly cheap as well. A bag of on-the-vine cherry tomatoes that we bought for two of us to have a picnic with came to 0.39 Euros which is cheaper than chips (as we say here) these are the most expensive tomatoes in the UK and would be around £1.80 for the same kind of amount. This is why they eat so well over there - the fruit and veg is actually affordable.

We spent quite a lot of time sitting around drinking coffee and having long lunches while reading our books or watching the world go by. I had the Gnocchi Sorrentina quite a few times which is basically just gnocchi (which I've made at home before - it's easy) covered in a rich mozzarella and tomato sauce. I can highly recommend it. The one above was baked and, although it looks a bit of a mess, I can assure you that it was a delicious comfort of a meal.

No lemons in this photo though!

Sorrento is famous for its lemons which make the stunning Limoncello digestif. I still haven't had a go at making this yet but it's on my list of things to make for Christmas presents along with the usual peanut butter fudge, vanilla biscuits, rose and peppermint creams, chocolate truffles, and lemon curd.

The above photo is very dark as it was taken in a dimly-lit restaurant but it was the antipasti platter that the owner bought out for us. Lots of lovely meats and the creamiest mozzarella I had ever tasted. He was a brilliant salesman actually and gave us complimentary prosecco and ice-cold Limoncello afterwards.

Italy is a big place and I so look forward to being able to try more of its food some day. The nearest thing I've found since I returned is the pastries in the Italian deli here and the photos in my new recipe book 'Two Greedy Italians' where Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo take me on a culinary tour of Italy. I think Gnocchi Sorrentina is going to be the first thing I make!

Amalfi Coast Birthday Trip - Sorrento

Finally I'm ready to write a blog post about my recent holiday trip to Sorrento which is on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. I got back a few weeks ago but It's taken me ages to go through the photos and Picmonkey them until I liked how they look! I have quite a lot so I'm going to focus just on Sorrento itself in this post then show you Pompeii, Capri and all the food in separate blog posts. 

Vesuvius across the Bay of Naples From Sorrento

I went to Sorrento (well Sant'Agnello to be precise which is slightly up the road) with my ex as we had already booked it and we didn't hate each other or anything. We decided that if it was weird then we would both go off and do our own thing. But it was fine. I've been to the same place twice before but I loved it there so much that I wanted to go again. It was a very cheap holiday coming in at £280 between us for 5 nights!

Above is the Sorrento Working Men's club. Only men are allowed here and they sit under the ancient emblem of the town outside a 16th century dome playing cards.

One morning we saw the most amazing rainbow over the Bay of Naples which then turned into a stunning double rainbow. Not only that, it was actually IN the bay and was the one and only time that I have ever seen not only one end of a rainbow, but both ends of a rainbow. You never see the ends, so to see both ends curving round almost in a circle straight into the sea was something quite special.

You can just about see that there's 2 rainbows with the ends going into the sea

My ex managed to get this cool photo - I've fiddled with the pic on Picmonkey a bit to make it more saturated.

Later that day we were reading and enjoying a coffee outside a cafe at the Marina Grande and we saw yet another rainbow in the bay. Not a double one this time though. 

Above is another view of Vesuvius which is on the other side of the Bay Of Naples. Naples itself is at the base of the volcano and is a hectic, dirty, chaotic place that I found a bit too much for me personally. I went to Naples and to the top of Vesuvius last time I visited the area but we didn't go this time. 

This is a view of the other direction down the Amalfi Coast. This is the little Marina which is the one the boats use when they go over to the island of Capri (pronounced ca-pree ) which you can see the outline of on the horizon.

The narrow street of Sorrento sell all sorts of tat

Sorrento is famous for its Limoncello digestif which I adore. I recently discovered an online recipe so now I can make some for myself at home - woo hoo! This is also a good idea for Christmas presents so I'm going to have a go at brewing a batch. I'll let you know how that goes of course!

last evening in Sorrento

If you've never been to the Amalfi Coast and can afford it (ie you're not in the US!) then I highly recommend you go for 4 or 5 days. The place is very beautiful and you can use it as a base to see Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples, Vesuvius, and Capri. Sorrento is a little down at heel now but you can tell it was once a really chic happening place. It reminds me of an ageing once-fabulous European dolly bird - she's still a bit glam but her looks are fading and her best days are now behind her...

Rome Was Amazing!

I've been back from Rome since Tuesday and have been psyching myself up to write about it ever since. I took 300 photos (which I've whittled down to 140) and went everywhere I could except for the Vatican - which means there's a lot of stuff to write about!

We spent a brilliant 4 days pounding the streets taking in as much as we could. Rome is stuffed full of beautiful things and around every corner was something remarkable - 2000-year old ruins, beautiful architecture, towering statues, secret gardens, massive entrance doors, and huge plazas. Rome doesn't really do things on a small scale...

The architecture in Rome appeared quite consistent. The buildings were my idea of aesthetic heaven with square symmetry and straight lines. They all had shutters and massive doors with little ones secretly hidden inside. They were imposing and bold and I thought they were stunning. Even newer buildings had been designed to fit this ideal so there wasn't this awful mish-mash of elegant old buildings and nasty 60's carbuncles.

The food was simply outstanding. It was cheap (if you knew where to look) and we spent very long lunches at little trattorias drinking wine and eating pasta. The wine was 8-10 Euros for a litre and we had one for lunch and one at dinner most days! The coffee was just gorgeous and served exactly as it should be - which is to say not in buckets with a tonne of shit on it.

I love how the creator of Starbucks wanted to recreate Italian coffee for the masses but made such a hash of it they won't allow one single Starbucks to open in Italy. Italian coffee is smooth, dark, strong and hot. It cannot be beaten and shouldn't be fucked around with. I have very strong feelings about this as I've written before. It also costs about 90p a cup which is a gift from heaven if you ask me.

Another ritual we seemed to fall into most days was eating ice cream. There were so many places to find astonishing flavours that we just had to try as many as we could. I rediscovered chestnut ice cream which I first come across in Sorento and completely forgotten about. I introduced it to BBF and he was more than grateful.

Rome is quite hectic but not a patch on Naples. Lots of scooters zip around and, with cars coming at you every direction, you have to keep an eye out. What look like zebra crossings are in fact meaningless and even if the green man is lit up, you still don't have right of way. We discovered you just have to stride out and hope for the best! We only saw 2 brave cyclists the whole time.

One afternoon we met a Yorkshire couple outside the Colosseum looking for directions into the Palatino and Forum. These suckers had just paid 20 Euros to have their photo taken with a mock 'Gladiator' (read bloke in Reebok sandals and a skirt) and they couldn't wait to get home. Bizarrely this bloke was saying how Rome was really dirty and how he'd never knock the UK again. I'd swap Rome for Scarborough any day and I felt grateful we weren't those kind of travellers. Obviously you have to seek out the good places and avoid the touristy ones.

The only thing I'd change if I went again is to have 3 full days there instead of 4. Our feet were absolutely killing us by the second day even though we used the bus a lot. We got a Roma Pass for 25 Euros so could use the public transport for 3 days and get into 2 major attractions. This doesn't include the Vatican but the Colosseum, the Palatino and The Forum count as one and The Pantheon is free anyway as it's a church. You can also jump the queue with the pass. 

One of the nicest moments was the first night we arrived. We dropped our bags at the hotel and took an amble into the centre. We found a little place and had wine and pizza outside while we circled places on the map we wanted to see during our stay. We then went for a wander, turned a corner and there stood the Colosseum. The place was deserted, all lit up and it looked stunning. We stood looking at this age-old monument in the warm night air and felt really lucky to be there. It was a great start to our holiday.

In fact, if you live in the UK it would be possible to go to Rome for a day. It was only £60 return each to fly to Fiumicino, 14 Euros for the train from the airport to the Termini station, and then the food and transport were really cheap. You could get there late morning, fly back in the evening and only spend around £150 You'd need a bit more for the sights but for a couple of hundred quid you'd have an amazing day in Rome. 

So I would have to say that my birthday trip was a resounding success. We had a great time and BBF even bought some presents out for me including a card from Dillinger that he'd nibbled and scratched to authenticate. I've spend 3 birthdays in Italy now and may spend the next one in Muscat with Star Trek Girl. But for my 40th birthday, all roads led to Rome.