School time

So I have never shown you where I go to school! Today is your lucky day kids!!
I go to the Agriculture faculty of the University of Florence which has 2 campus'. One is at the Cascine which is a park near-ish the city centre and the other is at Quaracchi which is out near the airport.

 

As first years we get banished out to Quaracchi for all bar one of our classes, then our analitical chemistry class is in the faculty of medicine out with the pharmacy students on the other side of the city
Next year we get to go to big kid ag college at the Cascine, which is where the library, study halls and most of our professors are based, so it makes it a little more convenient, it is also about 20 minutes closer to home which will be nice!

 

I try to ride to uni whenever I can, which doesn't work so well when it's constantly raining (like this month) but when it's a nice day, it's such a beautiful ride along the river!

Have a good weekend!!

Taste

Every year there are lots of events organised by Pitti, the most famous are probably the Pitti fashion festivals (Pitti Bimbo and Pitti Uomo) but then there are others like Pitti Fragranze (perfumes and fashion accessories), Pitti Super (pret-a-poter and accessories for women) and Pitti Taste.

A couple of weekends ago was time for Pitti Taste. An enormous hall filled with close to 300 producers of cured meat, cheese, wine, beer, tools, tea and coffee, chocolate, truffles, preserves, oil, vinegar, honey, breads, pastas, etc. etc. etc.

It was huge. And it was so very hectic; 13,500 people over 3 days, but there were some incredible producers with some incredible samples!

It was great! We went home fat and happy, but exhausted from so many people! Definately be going again next year though!

Tortelli

For a while now Lorenzo has been bugging me about having a tortellini day. So we finally did! And if I do say so myself, we did rather well! Even had the tick of approval from Lorenzo's mum! (well, with only a few little changes!)

 Lorenzo wanted something a little different from the usual mortadella and pork tortellini, so he made a beef, prosciutto crudo (cured ham- prosciutto as we know it in Australia) and parmesan filling instead. I admit that I had my doubts, but it was realllllly tasty!

 

We tried some of them with a cream and ham sauce, and another batch just tossed through some butter and parsley. SO good!

Newest member of the family

On this very wet and stormy Sunday, I bought a fish from the market. His name is Bloom and I think he is sick. Already. He doesn't swim so well. Any fish experts out there have any suggestions for Bloom? Apart from the obvious of not ever buying animals at the market!!

Love heart ring

When I was home for christmas, my brothers beautiful girlfriend Mayumi had this sweet little love heart ring that a friend of hers made... When I came home I kept thinking about this ring, and how much I liked it... So I set saw to silver and tried to make myself one similar...

My only qualm is that the point of the heart catches on things and, because it is so fine, bends the end up. But hey, for now I think it's pretty cute, even if it's not perfect or even... it's meant to be like that!!

Run run as fast as you can!

"Look, there's a half marathon in Scandicci tomorrow... why don't you go and do it?"
"Oh really?! That sounds alright, but I haven't done any training... I don't think I could run 21kms"
"Yeah but there is a 5km and an 11km stroll (stroll... like you just casually "stroll" 11km before breakfast)
"That sounds alright, will you do it with me?"
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm I don't think so"
"Riiight... well can you drop me there?"
"What time does it start?"
"9.30am"
"Pffffff, ma che dici!! That's way too early!!"

This was the conversation I had with Lorenzo a couple of Saturdays ago. So rather than waking Sir, the next day I rode the 4kms to the start line ran my 11km and rode home! It was actually a really nice way to start my Sunday, and also mean I didn't feel guilty eating as much as I liked at Sunday lunch with Lorenzo's mum!!

I ended up running most of the way with a guy that works for Lorenzo's dad! And because they know all the photographers we were able to get the photos! Sexy right!? haha.

La sedia famosa!

About a month ago I found myself in the attic looking for something, and I came across an old unloved and unwanted dining chair.that used to belong to Lorenzo's nonna. So naturally I claimed it for my own and announced that I was going to reupholster it and make it pretty. I was met with those smiles that say "Sure you are dear, you have fun now", all the while thinking that the chair would be back in the attic in a matter of days.

 Undeterred and excited by the prospect of my new chair (and my new project of procrastination) I went straight to the fabric store and bought the fabric to finish my chair (everything in order right!) then I got to work stripping back the old fabric, straw, string, springs and what seemed like a thousand nails until I was left with a bare wooden frame. From there I spent a good 2 weeks sanding off all of the old stain then re varnishing it a lighter colour.

The next challenge was finding all of the bits and pieces that I needed to finish my chair, and on top of that finding it in Italian when I don't even know what they're called in English. Though slowly, piece by piece I found everything that I needed with the help of Lorenzo's mum (who clearly had more faith in me than the others!).

I lined the base with webbing, stitched in the coils, tied the coils across the top, covered it with hessian, stapled foam around the edges, padded with wadding, covered with foam, covered with more wadding and then finished with the fabric (a completely different one to what I bought that first day incidentally)...

Until today I FINALLY got to this...

No this didn't happen in one day and I wont lie, I didn't figure out how to do it all on my own. This DIY on Design Sponge is incredible and guided me through all of the steps. Unfortunately I didn't take photos of most of the steps, nor are the photos I took of very good quality... But there you have it!
Once I got to a point where it was clear I wasn't going to destroy the chair... and that it probably wasn't going to end up back in the attic, a matching one magically appeared... So now I get to do it all again! :)

Lost time

So what have you missed since the last time I set hands to keyboard?
Quite alot really, if I think about it!!

I have officially passed my first semester of Viticulture and Enology at the University of Florence, and can say that I am rather enjoying student life! Last semester was very much the 'Ag school welcomes you, but doesn't want you to get too excited' semester with maths, physics and chemistry. Next semester however (which starts on monday) we are starting some classes related to viticultre, which should be fun!

Over the Christmas break I headed back to Australia for 2 weeks as a surprise to my family. The flight was terrible- as usual, but going home was the best idea ever and I would do it again in a heartbeat just to see the look on my mum's face!!

Since I have come back I have been getting creative around the house... which has been really nice and really rewarding, because as soon as something is finished it's put to use! I'll show you my little projects another day :)

I think that's enough overwhelming for one day... Have a lovely weekend!!

Changes a happening

OMG you say. What's going on!?
Yes, in one hit it may be a little hard to deal with. My parents are going "what the?!" while the rest of the world goes on unaware. For it were they who told me that every morning they check my blog to see if, after 5 months, I have decided to blog a little something, and are always disappointed. Until now!
Yes, I am back. No longer without a home, but still somewhat a gypsy. So with this change of living I thought it fitting to have a change of style in my blog too. Starting with a new name, and eventually actually writing posts ;-)