oh my gourd

so the sunday after we arrived home from london, g and i set out on a adventure to a gourd festival that the guardian had pointed us to...
we drove for about 2 hours, about 30 miles into the mountains north of lucca, and after a few wrong turns we found the village, and went in search, after a while i ran off to see where it was and the accessibility, i found two old people gardening, so i asked them where was the gourd festival? their reply, la domenica scorza, last sunday....
but it wasn't all bad, it was beautiful, and although we only had a fairly dry sandwich of prosciutto and pecorino, we had a lovely drive around the mountains, and the air was so fresh and clean that it washes out all of those fumes from the city, so it was well worth it in the end...

went out for lunch last tuesday to this little italian (obviously!) bistro, with two old women, and two what seemed to be trucker men, and had a proper first and second course, i had tomato risotto, and then pork and chips.. it was cheap cheerful and tasty, and authentically italian...
we also snook in a pizza, a buffalo mozzarella for me, which was beautiful.. but i have mostly been cooking, lots of lentil curries, some tomato, some coconut, and i bought some more pulses too, black beans, chickpeas, mung beans..
g's mum arrived on monday, and the nurse zophie left to go to morocco for a holiday, we went out for din dins on monday, and i had a shin of pork, with roast potatoes, served, on a wooden plate! it was beautiful, but a whole lot of meat, and then had tiramisu to wash it down, i am on a hunt to find the most delectable tiramisu in the town, its quite a fun hunt...
I also got myself a new coat recently, and monday was cold, so it gave me the oppurtunity to take my new coat on its first outing, it, like my hat, is beautiful, and deserves a picture, which i will attempt soon, possibly incorporating the hat..
This week i have mostly been reading, the diceman, down and out in london and paris (orwell), i am currently reading ghandi, and i must recommend to everyone a book by tom robbins, called jitterbug perfume, it was one of the loveliest books i've ever read...