Pull-apart, quick on quick off spectacles - to look at a centenary bottle and sparkling blush wine from cantinepaulis in Sardinia, Italy

Video by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

He pulls the spectacles apart at the bridge of the nose and puts them aside. To replace the spectacles, he pushes them back together. Connected by magnets?

He said he bought them on Amazon. I saw these and looked them up once before.  I had thought they would be handy whether traelling or at home. If I remember rightly, the cheapest spectacles (now only fifteen pounds for a pack of two pairs) were those for eyes the same strength (or weakness) in both eyes. You can order online glasses from a prescription done by an optician, with both eyes different at a higher price. They are not - yet - available from my optician for varifocal lenes, and when I asked my optician he said he could order them, but they were not ideal for me because they did not come up with lenses to correct for eyes which had slight astigmatism

  

But if you have a separate pair of reading glasses used at home and when travelling, a handy idea.

I had such an entertaining time talking to him.

His company is on the island of Sardinia. The company name is cantinepaulis. Not Paul's canteen. A pauli is a marsh. the large marsh is a park with pink flamingoes.

I asked, 'Aren't all flamingoes pink?'

He answered, 'I don't know. But ours are, because they eat prawns.'

I used to eat pink prawns. I didn't turn pink.

Until I developed all allergy to shellfish.

I has stopped at his stand at the Real Italian Wine & Food, trade show, at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on April 29th 2025. I was attracted by the blush wine he was displaying, and his welcoming smile. 

The blush wine is available as sparkling. It also comes in two shapes of bottles, straight-sided and curvy.

After I got home, I went onto their website and clicked on the little Union Jack symbol to read it all in English, quicker than my Italian from 6 months of learning Italian on Duolingo. However, their leaflet is in Italian, so I have translated some words below.

I learned that the winery is a co-operative. So, not a family business named after a Mr Paul. Instead named after a marshy area where there are lots of growers who formed a co-operative years ago.  That accounts for the large numbers of bottles, red, white and rose, and sparkling, and different bottle shapes.

The Co-ops

Co-ops operate like supermarkets. They bring together lots of suppliers giving you a big choice in one place. 

I went to the masterclass at the show, featuring Sardinian wines. The most memorable statment for me was that co-ops, although often considered suppliers are cheap everyday wines, not as good as the individual suppliers, perform a very useful service for their own members. The co-ops provide employment, sustaining their members through the bad years, economically and/or weatherwise, and promoting them in the good years. And offering reasonable prices within the budgets of tourists and locals alike.

I went onto their website and was able to find a blush sparkling wine for about ten Euros and another for twenty. I like sweet wines, but many people prefer drier.

Sardinian and  Italian

The co-op has operated for over one hundred years. One unique wine was launched with a special label to celebrate the centenary, celebrated in 2024. I had tried translating paulis in google and the Italian translation brought up nothing. But google went to AI, I kept googling. Eventually I found out the answer. The translation was marsh, but it was the Sardinian language. I had heard long ago that Italy had had many languages and Garibaldi united the country and made one of the many languages the universal Italian. I think of Sardinian as a dialect. Yet I find it confusing when the Chinese call their totally distinct languages dialects, giving status to Mandarin. Now I sympathise with the Chinese. From a foreigner's point of view, it's challenging enough to learn one language for Italy or China. Anyway, you and I now know one word of Sardinian. The word is easy to remember. It sounds like the name Paul. Pauli for marsh.

I have translated words from their leaflet, which will help any look at bottles and websites and leaflets in future.

Handy Translations For Wine Lovers, Wine Drinkers, Wine Buyers, Wine sellers

Italian - English

allieteranno - they will cheer up

antica - old

bianco - white

brut - dry

Cantine - cellar

caraterra - character

cari - dear

coi - with

cui - which

dal - from the

della - of the

di - of

dolce - sweet

e - and

enologo - winemaker

fondatori - members (the i ending is msculine plural)

giorno - day

Giulio Cesare - Julius Caesar

it - short for Italy

maestria - mastery

la (feminine) - the

nostra - our (feminine)

nostri - our (plural) nostro - our (singular masculine)

ogni - every

oltre - beyond

pauli - Sardinian language for marsh

per - for 

più - more

ricordi - memories

scorci - glimpses

soci - members

spumante - sparkling

Sardegna - Sardinia

sapore - flavour

scelte di vite - life choices (choices of life)

selvatica - wild

terra - earth/terrain

tra - between

uve - grapes

via - street

vigneti - vineyards

vini - wines

vitigni - vines

English - Italian

Useful Websites

wwwcantinepaulis.it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Otcmuky-Magnetic-Presbyopic-Adjustable-multiplier_x/dp/B0C73NK6WW/

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Chocolates Galore from Italy, from Marcantognini

 

At the Real Italian Wine & Food trade show in London and saw some unusual products. What Italy does so well are nut chocolates. but these chocolates were also filled with fruit flavours and other delights.

Marcantognini is an Italian diminutive of Marc Antony, or a surname related to the first name, as you may have suspected. The name of the contact at the company is Valerio Marcantognini. The master chocolatiers are Davide and Daniela Mancantognini.  i colori del ciocolato translated as the colours of chocolate.

These chocolates look gorgeous and taste fabulous. The handy leaflet tells you their chocolates, as well as looking great, are made from organic ingredients, gluten free and low in sugar. 

Their flavours are transated into English on an English leaflet, but most of the words are almost identical in both languages, such as (alphabetically)

blueberry cheesecake  (cheesecake mirtillo - the adjective usually comes after the noun in Italian)

caramel (caramello)

classic (classico)

cream (crema)

crispy caramel

gin tonic

hazelnut (nocciola)

lemon (limone)

peanut butter (burro di arachido - di means of)

pistachio crunchy

raspberry  (lampone) cheesecake

salted (salata)

strawberry (fragola)

strawberry & lemon (fragola e limone - e means and)

tart/cake - torta (torta Sacher - Sacher torte)

tiramisu

They make chocolates, bars and Easter eggs, items created to suit their clients' requirements.

They were looking for an importer to the UK.

Look at their Facebook page and you can watch videos showing their creations for Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter. At Christmas they make Christmas trees, the size of the larger Easter eggs which you see in Supermarkets, in chocolate, of two colours, dark and light brown, and green chocolate. The shop is in  Mondavio PU in Italy.  

www.marcantogninicioccolato.com

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Sheep cheese from Italy

 When you go to Italy, look out for sheep cheese, called pecorino, all over Italy. You'll find it if you happen to be in The Marche region on the  east coast, near Ancona airport, near Macerata, or Recanati, towns. Visit a working farm to buy their cheeses and charcuterie, called salumi in Italian. The word comes from the Latin word for salt, sal, salted meat to preserve it dating back to Roman times.

Cheese, like wine, and people, is aged. Some people are keen on cheese which is young, new and fresh. Some are are keen on what is aged, firmer texture and stronger flavoured. I liked the newer cheese. I was surprised to learn that most other people do, too. Well, not necessarily, most people, but more people. It is the most popular of the three cheeses I was shown.

They also have cows and make cheese from cows' milk.

So there you have it. Now you know.  Industrious and energetic farmers from ancient times until now, benefitting themselves and customers from all kinds of animals, sheep as well as cows, and in all seasons.  By preserving milk and meat so it it is salted or dried or kept cool, to keep it edible and tasty in winter time and summer, all seasons.

Regarding their company name, it consists of the Italian word for of, di, then two Italian male first names, Pietr (Peter) and Antonio.

 Useful Website

www.dipietrantoniosnc.it

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Highlights of the Italian Food & Wine trade show - including a passion for pasta

 

 

Pasta in three colours, Tricolore, in shapes including orecchiette, ears. From Pastificio PMC s.r.l. Their motto is, a passion for pasta. Their pasta is made from Durum wheat semolina paste. What creates the colour? Not just food colouring.  They use dehydrated vegetables, herbs  and spices  Tomato, spinach, mushrooms, truffle, wine, lemon. 

You can buy their products in Italy at the prestitious GDO supermarket chain. They were looking for a distributor in the UK. I shall let you know if and when I hear more.

www.pastificiopmc.com 

Angela Lansbury, photojournalist, left, with Serena Delorenzi of Fondazione Villa Russiz, right. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Vineyard Visit & A Villa

Here in a hillside area of north Eastern Italy, you learn how a lovely loving couple founded an orphanage and today the childen benefit from the profits of the vineyard. Later in 2025 when the Villa Russiz foundation finishes their renovations you will be able to visit a restaurant as well as stay in one of several double bedrooms. 

www.villarussiz.it

The wines are available from DolceVita which has a shop and a wine club.

Sicilian spirit in the larger full size as well as small size bottles. The small size with a spray is packaged with a panettone to reinvigorate the panettone which is infused with the spirit.

So you can have a chocolate topped panettone, or one flavoured with spirits. Dee-lish. An amusement for your guests as Christmas.

They were looking for distribution.

www.Dunciamaru.it

wwwcantinepaulis.it

Useful Websites

For the Italian Food & Wine show details and catalogue to read and download

https://www.realitalianwinefood.co.uk/

For the vineyard supporting children

www.villarussiz.it

For three colours of pasta is various shapes

www.pastificiopmc.com 

For the century-old Co-op

www.cantinepaulis.it

Panettone packaged with Sicilian spirit

www.dunciamaru.it

Dolce Vita

https://dvclub.co.uk/dolcevita-wine-club-about-us/

Angela Lansbury

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Real Italian Wine & Food - including Bottarga, from tuna and the best Prosecco

Introduction To Italian Food

Seeing Sicily

Italy produces some of the world's best wines and foods. As a child under the age of ten I travelled half-price on P & O cruise ships and we landed in Sicily to visit Taormina and the Roman ruins.

Then as a student in the Sixties I went with our car on a small plane to Italy, visiting Rome, and Pisa, enjoying the myriad types of pasta. 

Sardinia

Later I visited Sardinia, with its turquoise clear sea on sandy beaches.

Best Prosecco

My first favourite Italian wines were the lower alcohol sweet and/or sparkling wines such as Asti Spumante. Now I am a protagonist for Prosecco. 

At the Real Italian Wine & Food show I shall be looking for the prosecco which has been awarded the title of best Prosecco ten years running, from the company Azienda Agricola Biasiotto.

Two masterclasses introduce speciality wines.

• 1:30pm – Calabria on the radar – indigenous whites and reds

• 4:30pm – Sicily’s indigenous varieties

Our favourite lunch time meal every Saturday back in the sugar-laden Sixties was at the Italian restaurant Dino's in Edgware station where we had canneloni. We knew nothing about healthy food and had no idea that pasta was fattening as well as filling, nor that chicken was more fattening in a sea of white sauce. It did not occur to us that a three course meal, starting with pasta, continuing with a main course containing cream sauces, ending with ice cream, might contain more calories than a one course meal. Dino's food was delicious.

Later I learned to like more sophisticated Italian food and drink which had exotic names. Tiramisu, was trifle. Now almost everybody of any age is familiar with long lists of Italian coffee names such as cappucino. For the aficionada (enthusiast with affection) for ice cream, with coffee, or other flavours, poured on top, affogato.  

The Real Italian Wine & Food

But there are still more Italian treats and specialities to discover. The Real Italian Wine & Food show is at the Royal Horticultural Halls near Victoria station on Tuesday 29th of April, an annual event, last year's fondly remembered, the next year's eagerly anticipated. It is a trade show, with producers and sellers keen to find new buyers, wholesalers and retailers in the UK, shops and supermarkets in Britain, restaurants, importers, hotel bars. 

I downloaded their list of those attending with descriptions of their products. The event is only for one day. Some of which may be taken up by the two masterclasses on wines, from the Cantabrian region.

By checking the list in advance, I had the chance to check out who I must not miss. Also I was able to spot and translate any mystery words. I have been learning Italian on Duolingo. Even so, speciality food names are not immediately recognizable.

From the show's catalogue I was able to find some interesting names.

Bottarga - what is that!

Bottarga is not something I have noticed in Lidl, or even Waitrose.

Bottargo is tuna roe or more expensive and exotic mullet roe, pressed into a large roll which resembles salami. You slice off pieces of the compressed, aromatic, tasty product, or grate it over - whatever, anything and everything. 

I vaguely remember trying mystery large roes at other trade shows and thinking that regular little pots of orange roe at a cheaper price were more to my taste. But I had not liked roe as a teenager. It took several tastings for me to get used to the texture and flavour and now I love it. So I look forward to adding Bottarga to my repertoire in years to come. Meanwhile, I already feel mightly pleased and proud that this year, if I attend the show and get offered a sample, I shall know what it is, and be able to listen comfortably and nod knowledgeably on hearing of its virtues from the supplier. 

Kosher Food - a Find!

What really surprised me was seeing that a company had kosher accreditation. That's pretty rare. I had a real problem when invited to a seder meal for Passover in 2025. If you don't keep kosher, but are invited to somewhere with kosher keeping guests, it is hard to find anything to take to a home where the hostess keeps kosher all the time, or for a particular event, unless you are in a kosher food shop. We ended up taking 'kosher for Passover' wine. Now I have something to talk about or recommend to anybody I meet who is interested in buying, selling or eating kosher food or just learning about it.

Rocca La Botarga is looking for an importer to the UK.

www.roccalabottarga.com

Truffles

I shall also be looking for the invitingly named Tasting Truffles. I translated La Cerqua Tartufi which means the truffle circle, who offer traffle butter and truffle honey. I must admit that truffle seems to enhance butter or truffle cheese, which we bought in England from La Fromagerie. At a truffle supplier in Umbria we were treated to truffle scrambled eggs and truffle chocolates, both diet defying.

Pasta

Past comes in all shapes and sizes. I have charts on my kitchen wall, cut from advertisements and leaflets.

Pastificio makes coloured pasta. Green, white and rose-hued, reminiscent of the Italian flag, in three colours called the tricolore. You can buy a pack of one colour pasta and and flavour. Most amusing and amazing to me last year was the packet of mixed colours.  Cuttlefish ink pasta. Pasta flavored with basil, tomato, chili pepper, spinach, wine, lemon, mushrooms, truffle.The flavour is very subtle. I found the colour more memorable and impressive than the flavour. 

Chocolate

At the show, chocolate comes with limoncello and other flavours. 

Olives

Olives are a great snack to go with wines. 

Olive oil is good for dressings, sauces, salad dressing. 'Not so great for frying,' says my family chef. Even so, spray-on olive oil is interesting. That eliminates wastage, and drips. 'Good for grilling tomatoes when you want to stick on herbs, instead of using a brush. Virgin olive is famously the best.'

For cake to do with coffee at Christmas time, there's a supplier looking for distribution for next Christmas if you want something new. The aptly named Cristian, of Cristian Marzo, has panettone and torrone (nougat, a confectionary slab made from egg whites, sugar, honey, with nuts such as almonds). Pasticcere means pastry chef, and is part of his website name which translates as Marzo the pastry chef. 

If you are in the trade, try to get an invitation to the show. If not, take a look at their list or read my blog posts about their food. I shall write more tomorrow and later this week.

Useful Websites

For the show details and the catalogue to download

https://www.realitalianwinefood.co.uk/

For wines

www.vinibiasiotto.it

For Bottargo (Roe of tuna and mullet)

https://roccalabottarga.com/

For truffles

tastingtruffles.com

lacerquatartuffi.com

www.marzoilpasticcere.it

www.pastificiopmc.com

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St Luke - St Luke's - who and where? England, Italy, the USA and globally

St Luke - see his relics or statues or places named after him in England, Italy (Florence and Padua), Greece (Thebes), Czech Republic (Prague), and France (Notre Dame).

I have been doing a lot of shopping in St Luke's charity shops which raise money for their hospice(s?) in north west London. They have seventeen shops in North west London and sell online through ebay. I searched for shop locations and found other organizations with  hospices in other parts of England which had a different logo. So the London hospices called themselves St Luke's but had no monopoly over the name. After all, saints are created by the Roman Catholic church, presided over by the Pope, who decides who are saints because they were martyred or did miraculous deeds, or good deeds, hence the word saintly.  

Who Was St Luke?

St Luke - the doctor

St Luke was a physician or medical doctor, preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases and injuries.

St Luke - The Writer

 He wrote two books of the New Testament. The Gospel according to St Luke. The Acts of the Apostles.

St Luke - The Painter

St Luke painting the Virgin.

He is sometimes shown with a brush or items connected with painting.

His symbols are the bull and the winged ox. The ox represents sacrifice and wings represent the travel - of the message.

He was not one of the twelve apostles seen sitting with Jesus in the famous painting of the last supper. He was with Paul (who later changed the rules of Judaism by eliminating the requirements of circumcision, and the ban on eating pork, to make the message about resurrection more acceptable to gentiles meaning non-Jews).

That rang a bell in my mind - so St Luke is associated with the sick? Why? Who was St Luke? What did he do? Where? Which country or countries? Which churches, buildings, monuments, streets, oranizations, statues, holy places or cities, are associated with him?

I googled St Luke and found that he was buried in Padua, Italy. Actually, according to Wikipedia, which summarises many sources, listed at the end of the article, most of his body is there, but his skull is elsewhere, and a rib was donated to Thebes. Carbon dating of the bones has shown they date back to the first century during and/or after the life of Jesus and those who knew him. (This is assuming the story of Jesus is about a real person, one person, at one time, not a myth, nor a conglomerate of several people, descendants and disciples, and/or unrelated namesakes from different eras).

I recall the words with the memorable rhyme, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, guard the bed that I lie on. So, if you are interested from either a cultural, historical or religious point of view, you can see paintings of St Luke in the USA, Roman Catholic countries in Europe, as well as in the UK from the pre-Protestant era (before Henry VIII separated England from the Pope) as well as Eastern Orthodox countries. Plus statues, churches, schools, hospices, shops and other buildings.

ITALY

St Luke is known in Italian as San Luca.

See the statue in Florence. (Cathedral or museum or both?)

Statue in Milan, Milan Cathedral.

Padua.

FRANCE

Statue at Versailles.

When?

His feast day is celebrated in October, on October 18th.

GERMANY

Berlin Cathedral.

LITHUANIA

Statue on the facade of the cathedral in Vilnius.

MALTA

Wooden statue in the National Museum.

UK

St Luke's churches in the UK inlcude St Albans, and London's Chelsea, Kensington.   

USA

Statue in St Louis, Art Museum.

Statue in a cemetery in Houston.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_the_Evangelist

How to make a DIY Holiday theatre from a Tissue Box And Corks

 

Cork people in a tissue box theatre. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I made this little DIY theatre from a tissue box. I removed the tissues. I cut a view of mountains from a holiday brochure of trekking in Peru which I had picked up from the trade travel show, the World Travel Market, last November.

How To Make Cork Puppets

The little people are four corks of different sizes. It seemed an awful shame to spoil the corks, but other people, such as my husband, who is a wine educator and wine writer, had thrown them in the bin.

I was going to use the corks as bodies, and add something on top for the heads. Then, I was in a hurry and I could not find anything suitable for making heads. So I drew little faces on the cork using a black biro.

The corks kept falling over, so I stood them in small, empty, washed, glass honey or jam pots from breakfasts. 

The pots lids also were useful. A cap from a milk or juice carton made a crib (cot) for the cork baby.

With a little creativity, you can have lots of fun making amusing toys for entertaining children and adults. 

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The DIY Dolls' House Or Theatre For Holidays

Kleenex Tissue Box House or theatre. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Kleenex Box Theatre

Here's a game for a dolls' house or theatre made on holiday. I have used an almost empty Kleenex tissue box. The had a dozen white tissues at the back form a backdrop. No need to remove them.

Ring Box Display

Inside is the lower half of a heart shaped plastic ring box. The lid broke. I was wondering what use I could make of a ring box with no lid. To display a ring handily on holiday, by a bathroom wash basin? On the bedside table? 

I found some tiny Guatemalean dolls, fingernail size. They stick upright in the slit intended for a jewellery ring. 

You can use an open ring box during the day for play whilst the ring is on your finger. Retrieve the box at night for the ring when the children have gone to bed.

Shoe Box House

You could also make a theatre or dolls' house from one or two shoe boxes, with an upright cereal box for the side staircase. Cut square or round windows using a cup or glass or coins as a template. Behind the window place a holiday brochure showing the sea or mountains or city skyline.

For afternoon entertainment, or bedtime, you could read my poem.

Alternatively, simpler, make a theatre with a stage. Make two dolls or puppets from silhouettes cut from a magazine.

Dolls' House comical poem by Angela Lansbury

 Ava had a little dolly

And the dolly's name was Molly

Molly had a taller sister

And her sister's name was Elsa

The sisters lived in a big house

Which had a dog, a cat, and mouse

A front garden, pots with flowers

A sundial clock counted hours

 

Outside was small blue car

If dolly wanted to go far

And a train in the train station

And police in the police station 

In the hallway was a rug

Where Molly met you with a hug

In the hallway by the window

Was a long inviting settee

When you had nowhere to go

Shut your eyes, dream of the sea - or tea

In the kitchen the best honey

Which had cost a lot of money

In the kitchen was a cook

With an apron, bowl, and book

Upstairs was an attic bed

A pillow where you put your head

And a box with lots of toys

But the toys made no noise

And a wardrobe with a mirror

Where dollies could dress for dinner

And some pictures on the wall

With blue gum to fix them all

On the roof a helipad

Where you could land a little plane

Some of the roof was sloping

Made a runaway for the rain

The roof had statues of a dog

A Noah's ark, tortoise and frog

A cow, a horse, even a bear

A monster with a lot of hair

On the roof the cat with claws

Sat beside the Santa Claus

He hid on the roof all year

Waiting to deliver Christmas cheer

Yes, dolly did have a brother

And a father, and a mother

Dolly-sitter Ava came to stay

When dollies' Dad went on holiday.

But the dolly girls went to school

And the school had lots of rules

About the times when you could play

The long weekends, and holidays.

At bedtime with a sigh

Dolly had to say goodbye

But Dolly was here to stay

Ready to play another day

So Ava shut the door, the house

Put in the cat, put out the mouse

She said, 'dear dollies, please sleep tight

I wish you, both, a very good night'.

-ends-

This poem should have been on my blog on comical poetry but I saved it quickly onto this blog by mistake. Tomorrow I shall add pictures to the version which I have now saved to my poetry blog. 

Toys and DIY

It would be easy to print a tiny list of rules for a school wall, or dolls. house kitchen. Six point type. Or a psotage stamp size piece of white paper with your best calligraphy. Or a piece cut from one of those irritating instruction books in tiny print in multiple languages. Or a postage stamp with the head of the president or king or hero or your country or the country you visit on holiday.

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Moving - straight away use a spirit level to hang pictures

 Use the spirit level on your phone for hanging pictures. 

The Apple phone has a built--in spirit level. Photo of an iphone by Angela Lansbury.

Most people associate using a spirit level with using it for bigger projects such as installing a new ladder-style towel rail. 

Plumbers, engineers and DIY enthusiasts usually keep a spirit level in their physical tool box. 

If you don't have a physical spirit level, you can use one on a mobile phone.

Apple has Measure

An Apple mobile phone comes with lots of helpful software such as Measure.  

On an android phone you can use an app such as bubble level. To find an app, type use a search 'engine' such as Google and type in Bubble app or Spirit level or Level app. You might find that a free app pays for itself by sending you advertising.

An orange colour ski resort souvenir top reminds us of the uses of ski resort tops

What use is a ski resort souvenir top when you get it home? It keeps you warm in variable weather. You might choose to wear it just because you like the colour. Or it reminds you of both holidays and work. Maybe a working holiday. 

Alpe d'Huez Top

The tee-shirt collar and motif are in orange. The wearer bought it because the company which he works for has orange as their colour.

Several companies online offer tee-shirts in a range of colours. This enables you to give all the staff in a restaurant or small business a matching tee-shirt. You can also create a matching parent and child outfit. 

Matching outfits are useful on holiday. They enable you to find your family quickly in a restaurant or queue (Americans say line-up), or a busy market. You can tell bystanders who you are looking for, 'somebody wearing the same tee-shirt as me'. 

The uniforms offered by suppliers to restaurants for staff serving and kitchen workers can be custom-made, but even the plain ones are often expensive, especially for short runs. The garments designed for work use may be of more durable quality because they have to last all day every day for several hours for a year or more. However, ski clothes often have the same long-lasting functions. Garments are usually thick fabric, yet light to wear, and have reinforced seams, waterproof and windproof, as well as handy multiple outside and inside pockets with secure fastenings.

Useful Websites

https://printerval.com/uk/alp-dhuez-cycling-t-shirts-

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Shakespeare Day, St George's Day, April 23rd, and Shakespeare places to visit

 This year, 2025, the United Nations put out a video of actors reciting Shakespeare's speeches from various plays advocating peace. Some of the actors read in languages other than English including Chinese.

I was going through papers and discovered my Shakespeare quotations slides which I had used for a speech.

My favourite quotations were

To be or not to be

Neither a borrow nor a lender be

Methinks the lady doth protest too much

Into the breach once more

All's well that ends well.

Stratford, England

In summer in England you can visit Stratford upon Avon and see houses associated with Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway.

London

In central London, England, you can see the theatre in the round where his plays are performed.

 Shakespeare's bust is in a church. 

You can also see for free a bust of Shakespeare outside the Guildhall Art Gallery in London which has an excellent art collection. A third sight to see in the art gallery, for many an unexpected bonus, is a Roman ecavation indoors under a glass floor. (For a cost you can go down and see that close-up.)

Shakespeare bust outside the Guildhall Art Gallery. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Canada

Over the ocean in Canada you will find places with English names, such as London - which is why I always specify London, England when referring to my home city.Canada has a Shskespeare festival. 

USA

A statue of Shakespeare is in Chicago. In Lincoln Park.

Useful Websites

You Tube Video of UN English Language Day Celebration

Useful Websites

https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+united+nations+shakespeare+recital

I have other posts mentioning Shakespeare in this blog. See m posts on Shakespeare phrases, poetry day, and Guildhall Art Gallery.

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The Pen Museum, Pencil Museum & Collecting Pens As Souvenirs

 I am often given a pen or pencil by a conference centre or hotel or restaurant. Here are some questions and answers regarding pens, as travellers are all experts and enthusiasts.

1 Are there any pen museums? Yes. Birmingham Pen Museum, England.

UK Pen Museum

Birmingham Pen Museum. Photo from Wikipedia on Birmingham Pen Museum.

The Pen Museum is in a former pen factory in Birmingham's landmark Jewellery District.

Great reviews on Tripadviser.

2 Or sections of museums on pens,

3 or founders of pen companies?

These include

Biro

Waterman

4 Are there any display cases for pens or ways or displaying them or sorting them tidily?

The Museum has the funds and space to install a display cabinet with pens laid out flat at waist height under an A-shape glass top.

On Amazon you will see lots of ways of storing pens so that each one is visible and accessible. You can buy or make your own container.

1 Hide expensive pens or travel with them in zip up containers.

2 Art shops sell roll up pouches for pencils and brushes, sometimes for pencil shapes only, sometimes with bands of elastic, or cyclinder shape holes which are wider for rubbers (which are called erasers by Americans) and pencil sharpeners. These containers protect the tips, store items neatly, and stop them poking holes in pockets, or rolling out and getting lost.

I have thimbles and spoons in display cases, but my increasing numbers of coloured biro type pens and souvenir pencils and pens wwith animal heads and shapes need to be displayed.

3 Store in one large beaker. I also tried putting pens in one beaker and pencils in another.

4 Use a multi-cylinder display. You can buy these in a plastic desk tidy device. Or make one using the insides of toilet rolls. Cover with pens or pen caps.

5 Use a vase with a flower display insert which has a series of concentric holes.

Make something similar with holes for each pen to be displayed vertically. For example, make one from a biscuit tin. Put holes in the lid or the base.

6 Make a horizontal tray with grooves, like corrugated paper, for each pen to be displayed horizontally.

7 Put a series of hooks in a pin board. Each pen can be held horizontally by two hooks, or vertically with a loop from an elastic band.

Any thoughts? Contact me through Facebook.

National Handwriting day is January 23rd. I have been helping my four-year old grand-daughter to draw and write. She loves colouring. She was holding the pencils and felt tip pens grasped between her thumb and other fingers in the web base of the V shape gap. I showed her how to hold the tip of the pen or pencil between the tip of her thumb and first finger for better control. (That is also how you hold a chopstick pair.)

In American there is a trade association for manufacturers of pencils. Their website talks about safety standards. Safety? Yes, Think of lead pencils being sucked. White paints and paint components on hands, from splashing paints, face painting, and making hand prints. Yes, so safety is important from the point of view of both manufacturer and consumer, teacher and parent, writer and artist.

UK Pencil Museum

In the Lake District, England. Kendal. Pencil Museum. Great for adults and children.

German Pencil Museum

Factory Tour and Museum, Faber-Castell, Stein, near Nuremburg, Germany.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186402-d1475163-Reviews-Pen_Museum-Birmingham_West_Midlands_England.html

https://www.derwentart.com/en-gb/c/about/company/derwent-pencil-museum

https://www.facebook.com/fabercastelluk/

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285692363390?_skw=novelty+pens

Translate Spanish Menus and Maps

Flag of Spain

When I return from holiday I often have the advertising flyer, the business card or the menu of the day from a restaurant. I now have so much paper that I have to select some to discard. But before I do so, I try to translate the Spanish or French or Italian or Portuguese. Some words I recognize because they are similar to English, others I know, and a few have to be translated and added to an alphabetical list like the one below which I am sharing with you. 

Spanish Hotel Menus

adobado - pickled

ajo - garlic

anguila - eel

agua - water

arroz - rice

calamares - squid

caldo - broth / soup

cálida/o - warm

caliente - hot

cerdo - pig

charasko - steak

chuleta - chop

churrasco - steak (churrasco de ternera - beef steak)

combinados - combinations

con - with

croquetas - croquettes

del - of the

empanada - pie

ensalada - salad

entremeses - appetisers

espanola (note sign over the n) - Spanish (style of cooking)

especial - special

filete - fillet / steak

frita - fried

galeras - 

gallego - Galician (in Spanish and Italian you do not have capital letters at the start of a country or country style

hamburguesas - burgers

huevos - eggs

lomo - back

lubina - sea bass

marisco - seafood

menu - menu

merluza - hake

Meso 

meson (accent on the on for emphasis) - house (like the French word maison)

mixta - mixed

o - or

pan - bread

parillada - barbecue

pasteles - pastries / cakes

patatas - potatoes

pechuga - poultry breast

plancha - griddle, iron, plate

plato - plate or dish

platos - plates / dishes

pollo - chicken

postre - dessert

Primer - first / starter

pudin - pudding

quesadilla - tortilla (omelette or wrap) covered in cheese

queso - cheese

rusa - Russian

Segundo - second

spaguetis - spagetthi

tartas - tarts

ternera - veal / beef 

tomate - tomatoes

tortilla - thin omelette containing slided potatoes and onions cooked in olive oil

ternera - veal

variados - varied

vino - wine

y - and

Addresses, Directions, Maps 

avda - short for avenida or avenue

avenida - avenue

C abbreviation for carreta

carretas

catedral - cathedral

de la - of the

hospedaje - accommodation

peregrino - pilgrim

pza - short form

Santiago - Saint James

telf - tel / telephone

tenemos - we have

Useful Websites

Translate google

Many more similar websites.

Buttons for Decoration - what to do with spare buttons - for sarongs, beach wraps and holiday wear

Button box. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Do you have spare buttons from sewing kits? Or from clothes you threw away or gave away? Where do you keep spare buttons?

I keep my spare buttons in a button box. How do you find it in a hurry? Decorate it with buttons. I have small shirt buttons in a small box. Larger buttons are in larger bozes or sections of sewing boxes.

Here are some ideas for buttons.

1 Buttoned Up Beach Wrap

Add buttons and ribbon loops to create fastening for a wrap-around skirt or beach sarong. You can turn a towel into a beach wrap. Cut a t shape slit in the middle for the neck. If you have two matching towels, the second towel can make the top into a tunic or make the tunic longer. Buttons can be used as fastenings, as decoration, or to hide untidy joins.

2 Thread them onto safety pins or hand them from same colour or contrasting colour safety pins to make brooches.

3 Sew them around the neck and cuffs of a plain sweater.

Make a row of false buttons down an item with no buttons. Or beween the real buttons down the front of a cardigan.

4 Stick onto magnets to decorate the fridge with photos and postcards of your last trip.

5 Make ear-rings, necklaces and bracelets.

6 Use as handles or handle decoration or simpley stick on decoration for  a sewing or crafts cabinet or underwear drawer.

7 Scatter them across on old torn garment to hide holes and tears.

8 Use as eyes for soft toys. (Not for children uder three yeas old, Only for four years old and upwards.

9 Sew onto a headband or belt or both.

10 Decorate slippers

11 Decorate a picture frame

12 Decorate Button boxes and sewing kits. 

13 Use for dolls house furniture.

14 Entertain children at a holiday let o a rainy day.

Useful Websites

Button Decor

https://diyeverywhere.com/2024/09/25/lady-collected-mismatched-buttons-instead-of-tossing-them-she-came-up-with-these-10-brilliant-ideas/

Buying Buttons

Button covers

Useful Websites

After Easter Eggs - best eggs to buy?

After Easter, like after Christmas, I am looking hoping to see that the prices of the leftover seasonal goods are now reduced price. 

Even if not, I sometimes buy because this is my last chance as the shop won't be re-stocking. I have non-buyer's remorse. Fear of missing out. For short, FOMO.  

The opposite of buyer's remorse is consumer satisfaction. The extreme is panic buying. 

By the end of the season I have tried at least two products or brands and decided on my favourite or favourites.

I am now the expert on all the Easter egg options I have tried. 

Interesting Easter Egg Ideas

After Eight Easter eggs. Mint middles. Good idea.

Unfortunately, it didn't work well for me. I had to try it once but won't buy again. Their After Eight mints are ideal mints, somehow the perfect proportion. So sticking their brand name on another individual portion of wrapped chocolate covered sweet treat appeals. However, despite the product's visual appeal, how do the new shape and flavour compare with the brand leader mints? The mini eggs are a different combination - more white mint filling, so less chocolate, also in an egg shape. 

Why was I not thrilled with the taste? Maybe their trial run customers told them make eggs less minty for children. 

Maybe I was just expecting the same familiar After eight taste from a new shape which creates different proportions.

Maybe I, a real customer, was the trial run. The sales assessors might find initial results are good from adventurous customers, or people looking for novelty goods. This might become a new staple.

Or it might disappear next year. Why? Maybe the lack of repeat purchases results in lack of repeat production runs. Whatever their intention was, mint mini eggs didn't work for me.

Victory Verdict

Lidl's little marzipan filled eggs are the clear winner for me. I get repeated purchaser's pleasure. Smacked lip satisfaction. 

We divide one Lidl egg into two portions to eat one half per person after our morning coffee.

Lidl supermarket Easter egg cut in half showing the marzipan centre. Photo by Angela Lansbury.  Copyright. 

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Easter Egg Novelties in 2025 in London - Small size eggs

 Who would think that two branches of Tesco in London would have compeltely different sets of Easter eggs. 

In Mill Hill I found a large selection of novelties in Tesco supermarket.

Tiny After Eight Easter eggs. Just right, bite size.

Bite size Easter Eggs. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

What are the advantages of a small size Easter eggs? For the buyer, a chance to share with a group of people. For the eater, better for the diet and the teeth to eat lass sugar in one go. 

My favourite small eggs are from Lidl because the filling is marzipan, but for size the Tesco ones are perfect. 

Lidl's website has recipes.

Tesco supermarket in Mill Hill stocked the Full size, chicken egg egg size Kinder Surprise, which our almost four-year-old grand-daughter chose. Also four brands of Mini eggs, After Eight, Milky Bar, Smarties and KitKat. 

Left to right, After Eight mini eggs, Milkybar Mini eggs, Smarties mini eggs, KitKat mini eggs, Kinder Surprise. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The mini eggs were one pound fifty pence, reduced to one pound if you have a Tesco card, which has two advantages, cheaper prices in the shop, and occasional monthly discount vouchers, according to how much you have spent.

On another aisle I saw orange mini eggs, at a higher price.

Useful Websites

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/buylists/easter-treats/easter-eggs

https://www.lidl.co.uk/c/easter/s10039051

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Mill Hill, marvellous Numa restaurant for freshly cooked food, home made

 We had planned to eat in Mill Hill in north west London. My husband checked the online menus of several places and chose Numa because they specifially stated that some of their dishes were home made and my husband wanted that.

 Numa restaurant serves Middle Eastern food. The word numa means 'so what' in Hebrew, according to their website. It is also written as pneuma is Greek for breath, spirit or soul. Perhaps think of it as soul food. Our server was Greek. Numa is also a word in Arabic and Indian and other languages.

Decor

Decor is pleasant and original. 

Attractive features of the decor included an arch over the bar.

On the back wall is an elephant. 

If you want to wash your hands before eating, the ladies' toilet is adorned with imitation greenery.

Food

Olives were placed on the table when we arrived. My Prosecco came up fast.

I had checked the menu in advance by looking at their website.

Starters

Our starters included  potato wedges coated in truffles. I could not see any specks of black truffle. My husband said. 'It must be prepared using truffle salt. That is very common. '

Main Courses

For the main course, my shredded chicken was accompanied by pots of garnish.

The steak was the runaway leader. The most expensive dish for good reason. A thick and soft steak.Accompanied by those lovely potatoes.

We had enough food to have the surplus packed up by the restaurant. 

Useful Websites

https://www.numacafe.co.uk/menus

https://wearenuma.org/home/numa-the-story-of-our-name/#:~:text=The%20ancient%20Greek%20word%20pneuma,soul%20the%20energy%20to%20act.

The Cinema Museum Sells Posters. What is a Quad poster?

I looked at the shop page of the Cinema Museum and they were selling quad posters. What is a quad?

I was at first confused by the term quad poster. I searched for the word quad. A goodle and wikipedia search produced nothing useful. I wondered if it was a brand name. 

When I used the two word search for quad poster, all became clear. Quad refers to the size. 

See my previous post about the exciting Cinema Museum.

The Wikipedia entry about thte Cinema Museum has lots of pictures and a video.

The website has 39 pages of posters for sale. For example, Isadora, Halloween, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Lots for fans of the cinema, or just to decorate in season, or all seasons, in your hall, living room or bedroom, or as a housewarming gift, for someone who has eveything, except this poster.

The Cinema museum in London, near Elephant and Castle London underground tube train station.

Useful Websites

http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/shop/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Museum,_London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Film_Museum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_Museum

https://www.sign-holders.co.uk/snap-frames/movie-poster-frames.html?

Please share with your family, friends and colleagues the links to your favourite posts on this blog. I also have blogs on travel and comical poetry. My books on quotations and writing poetry are on Lulu.com and amazon.co.uk

Collecting Souvenir Thimbles - And Staying With Collectors

 I used to buy thimbles showing local landmarks as souvenirs of my travels. I am a keen sewer, but I found porcelain thimbles too bulky to use and preferred metal ones. So I stored my increasing numbers of thimbles in a small display case.

Thimbles in a display case. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Thimbles were small enough to go in my handbag, and did not take up lots of room in a suitcase. 

You can buy display cases for thimbles.

Display cases which are open are more likely to collect dust. But provide easy access if you want to take items out and read the detailed wording.

\

If you are travelling on budget airlines such as RyanAir, you need to buy small souvenirs, or look for a company which will ship to your home country.

 I looked online for thimble display cases. The ones on Amazon cost over one hundered pounds sterling. But you can buy a case, a bit scratched and battered looking, already filled with thimbles, for under twenty pounds plus about 3.95 postage, online from charity shops.

If you are keen on collecting thimbles, you can join a local or international thimble collectors' club. I was amazed and delighted to hear that thimble collectors stay with each other, admire each other's collections and swap stories about all kinds of thimbles, such as the open top thimbles used by men who used only the side of the thimble to push needles. More information below.

Useful Websites

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-antique-thimble-collector-sue-gowan/

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Italian words for cooking and shopping in Italy and Italian delis

At an Italian show in London I saw some pasta in different colours. The brand name was Livera. I came home with a brochure showing handy pictures of different shapes and colours of pasta. 

Here are my translations into Italian which will help you translate Italian pastas and other foods on restaurant menus. Also for trnaslating packaging of items you consider buying in shops or online. 

Italian - English

acqua - water

arancio - orange

bicolore - two colour / two tone

colori - colours (plural)

di - of / made of

doppio cuore - double heart

duro - hard

e - and

farfalla - butterfly (feinine singular ending in a)

farfalle - butterflies (feminite plural, shaped pasta piece)

fischi - whistles

fischietti - little whistles

funghetti - mushrooms (or mushroom shaped pasta)

giallo - yellow

grano duro - durum wheat

limone - lemon

maxi  - large

mini - small

monumenti - monuments

nero - black

orecchiette - ears

orsetti - teddy bears

papillon - bow tie

peperoncino - paprika

spinaci - spinach

rosso - red

tonde - round

tricolore - three colours / three tones

English - Italian

Black - nero

Bow tie - papillon

Orange - aranchio

red - rosso

round - tonde

spinach - spinaci (plurral)

teddy bears - orsetti

Three colours - tricolore

Whistles - fischi

London's Cinema Museum

 I subscribe to several London information services. London World told me about the Cinema Museum in London. 

I looked at the museum's website and found they had a shop. The shop sells a tote bag for ten pounds, and lots of pictures of posters. I liked the boy who caught a crook.

You might also be interested in the London Film Museum.  And the Theatre Museum.

A cinema museum is not the same as a film museum. A film museum is about the films shown. If you are interested in films, you are more interested in film locations. 

But you are probably interested in both. Two possible visits.

A cinema museum is about the cinema buildings, the clothes worn by the ushers, the seating, the seats, the ice cream sellers.

Volunteers at the Cinema Museum, wearing the uniform of usherettes.

The Building

The building was orignally the workshouse where Charlie Chaplin was brought up.

Old art deco cinema doors.

Old Art Deco Cinema Doors

See my later post about quad posters.

Useful Websites

http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/shop/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Museum,_London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Film_Museum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_Museum

Remembering the International NATO Phone alphabet with pictures

at home and when travelling you often need to spell out your name or a place name. It is handy to remember and recognize the NATO alphabet.

 First of all, if you look up phonetic alphabet, the phonetic alphabet is how the letters sound, such as AY for A, bee for B, but the the one you use for telling the spelling of your name or a place name is more often called the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Using Pictures

If you want to recall the NATO alphabet, I thought it might help me and you to pick a few pictures. It is easy to find pictures of golf, India,, Whisky and hotels, and Romeo and Juliet on a balcony. If you have a friend called Mike, add that. For Charlie, either a friend called charlie, or champagne after champagne Charlie (who was a real person). 

Where to Find Pictures

You could search on Wikipedia. You might find you have a few items at home. A hotel brochure. A golf ball., or ball. You might take pictures on your travels. The hotel. The golf course sign. A whisky bottle. A map of India. A flag of the USA, Canada, Peru.

A - alpha

B - bravo

C - Charlie

Champagne Charlie from France. 

Or Charlie Chaplin

D - Delta

E - Echo

F - foxtrot

G - Golf

H - hotel

I - India

J - Juliet

Juliet, from Verona in Italy.

K - Kilo

L - Lima

(Capital of Peru)

M - Mike

Michael Jackson with microphone

N - November

O - Oscar

P - Papa

Q - Quebec

In Canada.

Flag of Canada, maple leaf.

R - Romeo

Romeo and Juliet from Italy.

S - Sierra

T - Tango

U - Uniform

V - Victor

W - Whisky

From Scotland, spelled Whisky, from the USA spelled whiskey.

X - X-ray

Y - Yankee

Person from the USA. American flag.

Z - Zulu

From Southern Africa.