American and Canadian Thanksgiving

Canada holds Thanksgiving on another date from America, the second Monday of October. Tied to the end of the harvest season, in the north, (that is several weeks before America's holiday). Oct 12 2026. Oct 11th 2027, October 9th 2028, according to Farmers' Almanac. 

It is the equivalent of the UK and European harvest festival. 

Food includes Brussels sprouts, pumpkin, and tart cooked with maple syrup.

 

The Canadian flag showing the maple leaf.

In America it's Thanksgiving, third Thursday in November. 

Thanksgiving for Americans, is thanks for arriving safely across the Ocean, surviving a year in a new country. The year after they arrived, they celebrated the anniversary of their safe arrival, and survival.

Please share with colleagues, family and friends the links to useful posts.

Italian words easily learned from art Works and Art Museums; house, museum and more

Italian flag

It is easy to learn Italian words for foods from menus in restaurants or online and from recipes and good sold in supermarkets.
Another fun way to learn Italian is by looking at list of works by your favourite Italian artists. I just looked at works by de Chirico.

Some Italian words translated

Italian - English

A
amore - love

anatomico - anatomical

anniversario - anniversary

autoritratto - self-portrait

B
bagno - bath

bagni - baths

biscotti - biscuits

busto - bust

C
casa - house
cavalli - horses

con - with

D
del - of the

di - of

donna - woman

due - two

F
frutta - fruit

I
interno - interior

L
le - the

M
mare - sea

maschere - mask

metafisico - metaphysical
museo - museum

mysteriosi - mysterious

N
nudo - nude

P
principe - prince

R
rimorso - remorse
riposa - rest

ritratto - portrait

T
test - head

triangolo - triangle

English - Italian

Some Italian words translated

love - amore

A
anatomical - anatomico

anniversary - anniversario

B

bath - bagno 

Baths - bagni 

biscuits - biscotti 

bust - busto 

F
fruit - frutta

H
horses - cavalli
house - casa

I
interior - interno 
L
love - amore

le - the

M 
mask - maschere 

metaphysical - metafisico 
museum - museo

mysterious -  mysteriosi
N

nude - nudo 
O
of - di
of the - del
P
portrait - ritratto

prince - principe 
R
remorse - rimorso 

rest - riposa 

S
sea - mare
self-portrait - autoritratto

T
the - le
test - head

triangolo - triangle

two -due

W

with - con

woman - donna

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

wikipedia

wikivoyage


Author
Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

LANGUAGE TEACHER/TRAINER
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product-21713991
drink
Other posts about Italian food, drink, restaurants and artists and museums and destinations.
Previous post on de Chirico.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

A Heathrow Airport lounge with free food and drinks, where you can enter if you pay

The swanky Quantas lounge at Heathrow is now open to anybody who is flying on any aircraft but willing to pay the entrance fee. Expensive, yes, fifty five pounds.

What's In It For Me? (WIFM)
What do you get for your money? Fifty five pounds for a meal. And drinks.

And a shower.

And wifi.

More privacy. More importantly, more security for your carry on luggage than sitting in an open place with people milling around.

Reasons Against
Why would you spend so much, regularly, or once off? After all, you will get free food on the plane.

Reasons For
Maybe for a birthday, or a honeymoon. Maybe for a business meeting, or when you are on expenses.

I would be more inclined to use if if I were flying to Australia. You feel you are leaving England when you see the scones. You feel you have started your journey to Australia when you see the lunch or dinner buffet includes Pavlova.

Pavolva
Pavlova is a hard meringue formed into a circular bowl with a raised edge and hole in the centre for fruit. The dish is claimed as a national dish by both Australia and New Zealand. From a tourist's point of view the good thing is that you can find it in both countries. When I first went to Australia I tried to track it down to the hotel in Perth where it is said to have been invented and named the Pavlova to honour the light dancing of ballet dancer Pavlova. I imagine her wearing a white tutu. New Zealanders had a similar recipe printed, they claim earlier.

Another topic you could bring up in conversation. In either country. Australia. Or New Zealand. Or England.

Watching Your Flight Times
Another advantage of the stop in the lounge is that you are more likely to keep in touch with other passengers on the plane and see when they start leaving for the flight, regardless of whether any announcements are made. The staff are more likely to be able to tell you how long you need to allow to reach your departure gate. Or to call for assistance if you are late or too tired to walk a distance.

Other Advantages
I can imagine having a business meeting, or any meeting, in a lounge, using Heathrow in transit.

If you don't meet anybody until you arrive in Australia, at least you have something to talk about on arrival. The lounge. And Pavlova.

Useful Websites
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7887675/Qantas-opens-luxurious-airport-lounge-London-Heathrow-Airport.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed
https://www.qantas.com/sg/en/promotions/100-reasons-to-travel-in-2020.html?alt_cam=sg:dg:omd:sem:gg:new-year-sale:

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Bottle Basics - how to store those bottles you bought on holiday - and the cheese

Bottle Cork.

Problem
My parents stored bottles of Champagne upright in the house for years for special occasions. One or two of them had gone off. What a disappointment. Also an embarrassment, when we opened them specialilly for our visitors from France.

What went wrong? Now I know. But we recently visited friends living in the same street and they also had bottles in the house stored upright. What's wrong?

Now that we know, we assume everybody else knows. But they don't. So here's a reminder for you, and to check your family firends, nieghbours and colleagues, to be sure they are not storing bottles wrongly. Who should you learn from? We learned from the French and the professionals.

Horizontal?
Which bottles should be kept horizontal? Unopened bottles with corks. That way the cork is kept moist. If the cork shrinks, the air gets in and out. The bubbles escape. The aroma escapes. Hot air gets in and the wine spoils and goes vinegary.

Metal and Cork?
Many wine producers are turning to metal cap bottles. However, some prestige wines are still made with corks because it looks traditional and prestigious. If you buy old wines, or inherit them, or buy them for prestige or an investment, they will probably date back to the days when corks were widely used.

Answers
If you buy Champagne, you have probably seen bottles stored in warehouses, shops and cellars in a horizontal position. They are also stored for years in cool cellars. This is not just to hide them. It is to keep them cool.

Are other bottles not stored horizontally? Why? Are they kept in a chilled cabinet and just brought out for an event?

Champagne. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

A bottle stored in your warm kitchen near the stove is in a hot place. On top of a cupboard is a bad pllace because heat rises. In summer the heat is even worse. As for the tropics - !

Bad places to store good wines
Upright on the top of your kitchen cupboard.
Next to the hot oven and stove.
A well heated house.
On the table in the tropics.
Upright in the rack in a wheeled trollery.
A little cheap freestanding rack in a warm kitchen.

Good places to store include
A cool cellar.
An unheated outbuilding.
An unheated pantry with a grill to the cool outdoors.
An old fridge - temperature adjusted to suit the wine.
A wine compartment in a fridge.
A horizontal bottle rack in the kitchen only for items you will use soon.
A garage.

I don't like bottles kept in garages or sheds unless they are in a dedicated wine cabinet with a list of contents on the inside of the door or inside wall or a book stored in the cabinet. When you find an odd bottle or two in a garage or shed, you can never be sure somebody has not filled an old bottle with cleaning fluid or other undrinkable products.

Warning About Garage Storage
(In one case, people in the UK cleared out the garage of a deceased relative and gave a bottle, still with the label, to a raffle. The results were disastrous. I recall one permanent injury. One fatality. )
A couple in England were lucky to not suffer long-term effects:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318462/Couple-nearly-die-drinking-antifreeze-thought-vermouth.html

Anther accidents in Spain involved a wine bottle used for another product then placed in a fridge.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/man-dies-after-waiter-accidentally-serves-him-glass-of-detergent-instead-of-wine-10324018.html

Also check drinks which are not served from a bottle. In Indonesia I was served alcoholic drinks from a coconut. I was once in a group when everybody was served the same 'non-alcoholic' house special cocktail, at a time when alcohol was supposedly banned because of an election. I always ask to see the bottle.
http://www.abc.net.au/health/features/stories/2013/09/10/3845522.htm

A wine fridge can be expensive. The bigger and better ones have a lock. You can also store chocolates and medicines and photographic equipment. In the tropics you can use a wine fridge to store biscuits out of the way of rodents and insects without actually freezing the food. A white normal fridge suits a kitchen. A black wine fridge with a see-through door might be a decorative addition to a less used and cooler dining room or spare bedroom.

Blue cheddar. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Cheese
If you buy from a cheese shop, ask them how to store the cheese. A big cheese protected by a wax covering is protected from the atmosphere. As you cut it up and more of the cheese is exposed, it lasts less long. A cheese will have different shelf life if it is organic, soft, grated, wrapped in plastic, in a fridge, on a cheesboard under a glass cover which is sealed, or not a good fit. And so on.

Cheese Outdoors
We once had an au pair girl who kept her cheese on her bedroom windowsill in winter. The cheese bag handle or string was attached to the window handle so she coudl retrieve it from inside and so it could not fall off the ledge. (After that we were very careful about cleaning her outside windowsill regularly.)

Now we have cats and foxes and I don't like food stored outside unless it is protected. Restaruants have to aboide by regulations covering food, to prevent rats and other rodents, mice and so on, either eating the food or simply scampering across it and urinating into it.

I have given you a simplified version of what to check and why. I suggest you ask when buying wine. Most major supermarkets emply a master of wine as their buyer. You can ask to speak to staff or write to customer services. Also look for the manufacturer or importer and research the type of wine, wine bottle and closure.

Cheese
The same goes for cheese. Different cheeses, cut to different sizes, hard and soft cheese, protected by rind, or not, require different treatment. Some cheeses contain dried fruit, garlic, added salt. Labels may tell you. If not, ask.

Vineyard, Champagne And Wine Tours
You can take vineyard tour and go to wine tasting all over the world. When the guide asks 'any questions?', you can ask them how to store any wines you buy.

A good place to learn about wines is at the Denbies complex south of London in England. In summer you can buy tickets for either the outdoor tour, showing you differnet types of hillside, in sun or shade, from the hilltop. The other cellar tour shows you how the wine is made in barrels and stored - and you end up with a tasting. It's all in English, too, no struggling to understand a guide with a foreign accent.

Cheese tours are also fascinating. Again, ask about storage.

Travel websites
visitbritain.com
English wine. Scottish whisky.
visitwales.com (Welsh wineries and stays and tastings)

Wine tours and tasting UK
https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en/food-and-drink/beer-cider-and-wine

Wine tours and tastings France
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g187070-Activities-c42-t205-France.html

Wine tours and tastings USA
https://uk.viator.com/USA-tours/Wine-Tasting-and-Winery-Tours/d77-g6-c21

Wine Tours, Tastings & Education
Several companies specialise in wine tours of Europe, South Africa, Australia, USA and worldwide.

You can also join wine tasting club in major cities and take a beginners' course with WSET (Wine and Spirits Education) in England and other countries. (I did level one. My husband did levels 2, 3 and 4 and has a diploma.

I go to several club dinners and tastings, and tastings, talks, dinners, at the Wine Society in Stevenage.  They hold events around Britain, London, and other cities, with talks by their own staff and/ or visiting winemakers from the UK and other countries.

Berry Brothers & Rudd, who have a big shop in London, England, also run more expensive wine tastings and dinners all year, good for a birthday or anniversary present or Valentine's Day gift.

Tips
To test whether your wines are still drinkable, buy or borrow a Coravin. This takes a tiny sample through what looks like a small Metal straw. Expensive to buy, but saves you money and embarrassment. See their website for pictures and demonstrations of how it works, as well as stockists.
www.coravin.co.uk

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my previous posts about wine tastings in the UK, England, Wales, Italy and worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Saving Breakfast and Other Recipes For Holidays And For Students And Second Homes

Problems Of Lost Recipes
1
Mother's Recipe Book
After my mother died I wished I had had her recipes.

2
Granny's Recipes Never Written down
I never had the recipe for my paternal grandma's crispy biscuits. She would not have needed to write it down. She would have had a standard recipe When I was a child and a teenager I visited her every Sunday afternoon and the biscuits were always the same.

Answers
A
Many months after mother died, at the back of the kitchen utility cupboard, I found a battered old recipe book (the classic Florence Greenberg). Old newspaper cuttings of recipes were folded inside the back cover. On the notes pages and flyleaf were recipes written out by hand by my mother, spidery almost Italic writing. She had compiled the recipes for herself, not for me. However, it was very useful and nostalgic for me.\

To be sure I could find mother's book in a hurry, and to ensure the book was not thrown out or given away by my family after I died, I pasted a photo of my mother on the cover.

Angela's Mother Netta's Recipe book. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

B
Classic Biscuit Recipe
When I described my granny's 'crispy biscuits' to a friend, Gene, at a book group, she said that like British scones, crispy biscuits were a staple of Poland or Eastern Europe. Therefore I could probably find two or three recipes online.

Biscuit Oven Temperature
The recipe must suit my oven temperature and type. I have a fan assisted oven.

Biscuit Texture

My friend, Gene, pointed out that I would have to try them out until I found one which was right. I could adapt it to the right crispiness and brittleness to suit myself.

What texture would suit me now? I don't like chewy biscuits because I think they pull out fillings. Crispy items which don't melt annoy me because they stick in my teeth. A biscuit which is crisp at first bite, yet melts in the mouth would be right.

Biscuit Ingredients
I imagine the biscuits would be made with butter, not margarine. Being poor, my maternal granny would have bought food at the market, not in a shop. (Aside. I remember eating waxy chocolate, which my paternal grandparents bought in the market. I now know how the recipe would have been different from the milk-based chocolate I was used to, made by Cadbury's.) However, I imagine her recipe would probably be from her mother or mother-in-law and pre-date margarine.

Saving Your Recipes
The question now arises, how to save the recipes from the major cook in your family. In our case, it is my husband who cooks. When he is in one country and I am in another, how can I reproduce the recipes and pass them on to our son, and our yet unborn grandchildren?

Compiling A Family Recipe Book
I have asked my husband to collect together his recipes and make them into a book for me for my birthday and for our son for his birthday. This involves collecting together all the recipes. Add a photo of the family eating, or my husband at the stove or oven cooking (on the front cover), and bringing the food to the table (back cover).

He has agreed, but he agreed last year. He was too busy writing a technical book requiring research. It never happened.

Making Notes
The answer is for me to do it. If he hasn't time, I must ask him questions and surreptitiously make notes. I shall do it the way I wrote my mother-in-law's life story for her 90th birthday.

For a year in advance, each time we met for Sunday lunch or dinner, or Saturday night or Friday night dinner, I would ask her a question. I would dash to the toilet and write up her answer on a piece of paper. Later, at home, I stapled the notes into my diary. If possible, within 24 hours, I wrote my notes out neatly. Then, within a week, I typed them up. When my diary got too full, the written recordings went into a notebook. (You could also do a video recording each week of your granny, grandad, mother or father cooking.

Alternative, a son or daughter or student grandchild can show a widowed grandparent how to cook simple meals. Wouldn't you think anybody can cook a boiled egg or a piece of fish in a microwave oven?

Who Needs Your Help?
My stay at home mother had done all the cooking for my father, her working husband. After she died, aged 89, my retired father, also aged 89, kept phoning me asking how to cook.
'How do you boil a soft-boiled egg? The first time I did it in a saucepan with water and got a hard-boiled egg. The second time I put it in the microwave and it exploded and made a mess."
"How do I cook a piece of fish in a microwave oven?"

You might not yet know who is going to need your family recipes. By the time you discover that a widow or a student grandchild wants a recipe, it might be too late. Your parent or spouse or friend may have moved away to a different time zone or passed away.

Collecting Spoken Records
I shall do the same surreptitious collecting as I did for my mother-in-law with my husband's recipes.
Today I got the home made Museli-style breakfast fruit, nuts and cereal recipe.

My husband said:
(Answering, 'What are the ingredients?) "The ingredients are porrige oats, apples, sultanas and milk. (I asked, "How do you make it?) The night before you take porridge oats, 25 grams, the same as you would cook in the morning, not 25 grams each, 25 grams for two. Add in two good (heaped) spoons (dessert spoons) of grated apple. Then sultanas. Finally, some milk. Leave overnight in the fridge.

Hot or Cold Breakfast?
A soaked oats breakfast takes time to prepare the night before. However, it saves time and energy in the morning.

Slow Mornings and Quick Starts
Good for night owls. Good for both slow and quick starts. Good for a lazy start, no work making breakfast. Also good for a quick departure - if you are self-catering on holiday and need to rush off for a coach tour or day out.

You are using porridge oats, but unlike porridge, no need to heat it up. (Good for summer, or hot countries such as Singapore, maybe in Florida or the south.) Good when you are happy to eat a cold breakfast, and don't want cooking making your hot kitchen even hotter.

Mixed Fruit Breakfast
This is a filling breakfast we devised with fresh fruit as a recovery diet after cancer when with a compromised immune system we could not risk meat products and preservatives. No more bacon and eggs nor full English breakfast with sausages at home nor at hotels.

Fruit and Cereal and Yogurt Breakfast
Chop bite size pieces of apple. Add small segments of orange fruit such as madarines or s , two prunes (plate on one side for the stones), apple chopped into bite size slices or cubes. Add yogurt. Sprinkle on top small nuts such as almonds, flaked almonds, broken walnuts, pine nuts, hazel nuts. On weekends or when you have time, or failing all else, halved fresh brazil nuts (time and mess from breaking them open).

I add milk as well as yogurt, for extra water, extra calcium, and teeth whitening after prunes.

Nuts or Not Nuts?
Obviously, but worth a reminder, you leave out nuts if anybody is allergic to nuts. So if you don't know your house guests, leave off the nuts until you have checked they are not allergic to nuts.

Cereal or Porridge
Either add half a piece of Weetabix or follow with a plate of heated up (in a saucpan) salted porridge with milk. (We add an 'unhealthy' teaspoon of maple syrup.) You could add

Mail Recipes
If you have a child such as one at boarding school or university, or at home when you are away on business, or living as an ex-pat, and your offspring who likes to receive recipes, or whatever you send, you could email a recipe every week. At the end of the year make a collection.

Time For Compiling, Proof-reading, Printing, Posting twice
 Allow time to sort out the book structure and cover and for the book to be mailed back. Also, allow time for the proof-reading. If the book has a mistake, such as a blank page in the middle, you might keep that copy for yourself as a spare and send off for another correct copy as a gift.

So you should start compiling a month earlier for a birthday or anniversary, two months earlier for Christmas, especially if you have Christmas recipes to use at Christmas time, or want the gift in time for Christmas and not delayed in the post arriving just in time for New Year!

If the book is posted to you, then posted by you to the recipient, or recipients, that is another double postage time. As they say about vines and trees, "The time to plant a vine/tree is twenty years ago. If that's not possible, start today."

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

When Should You Send Birthday Messages Across Time Zones?

Problem
When I am in the UK and I receive a message that a friend in the middle East (four hours ahead) has a birthday day, it's already lunch time by the time my message reaches them. I'm one of their afterthought friends, second rank. When I am in London or a European city and my friend or business contact is in the Far East / Asia, the time difference is even worse. By the time my message reaches them the day is nearly over.

The same applies if you are in the USA but more so. Your UK and European-based family. friends and colleagues are a few hours ahead of the East Coast of the USA (New York and Florida), another hour or two on from the central area, more so from the west coast such as San Francisco and LA.

Since your friends may also be travelling, you can't know where all of them are when you send a message. They could have gone abroad for a business trip. Their surprise birthday gift from the family could be a flight off to somewhere else.

The same applies to your goodwill messages for a wedding - they could already be off on a honeymoon, or a wedding anniversary. The same applies to Christmas and Easter.

The same applies to Chinese New Year. (This year, 2017, in January - always on moveable dates in January and February - which may catch you out if you are not Chinese and not living in Asia. Chinese New Year is a family reunion time, which means your holiday flights will be expensive and busy.

The same applies to Jewish New Year and Hanukah. Also, Passover/Seder night which moves about around Easter time and like Christmas is a family reunion dinner.,

For years I have been trying to adapt my holiday messages to suit all occasions. I thought belated wishes already put the sender in a bad light and made the recipient feel forgotten and slighted. So I turned my message into something about the recipient's future happiness of success.

Now I realize that if I am sending a message across time zones I can use this to my advantage. If my friend is celebrating a birthday on the second of the month eight hours ahead in Asia when I am in London, England, a message sent at midnight from London, England will reach them at 8 am in Singapore and all of Asia (except Thailand and Western Indonesia which are an hour behind).

We said ahead - I mean behind. If you are not sure, use an online clock to sort this out. Also note that your laptop or phone or computer may be set to the wrong time zone. Or an app or website may be fixed to the time of its country of origin.

You may be able to set your laptop so it is always set to your home time zone, so that your blogs are set to reach American readers in their daylight hours, or your messages to your own family and children reach them in their daylight hours.

This is handy to have. But it means that if you don't know, or forget to change it, your computer may be not telling you the right time for the recipient of your birthday or seasonal message.

You probably know that New Year starts in Next Zealand and Australia, moved to Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, China) across Russia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, East Coast America and New York, finally the  Mid West and San Francisco and Los Angeles. If you think of that, it will help you to visualize when you should be sending your birthday messages.

So now you have a choice. Adapt your message to the recipient's time zone, or send out earlier if you want them to be sure of getting the message on the birthday morning.

Happy birthday to you, a happy year of sending goodwill messages, whether you are staying home, travelling, or letting your fingers travel.

Useful Websites

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

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please bookmark so you can come back later and share links to your favourite posts.

Caviar At Heathrow - or gourmet picnics?

Problem
What do you order for a special occasion? A birthday, wedding or wedding anniversary. Or if you are a special person for whom every day is a special occasion?

Caviar
Heathrow had a Caviar shop in the departures area. Caviar to take with you, to brighten Christmas, or brighten your arrival, treat or amuse your hosts and their other guests - if your hosts like caviar.

You have to know your audience. We took caviar to hosts we were staying with for a week in Singapore. Unfortunately, the Australian friends was away and his new girlfriend, Singaporean Chinese was not keen and not impressed. She ate out a lot and didn't open it. Their diet was Asian food. All four of us had separate meals.

Eventually, we decided the unopened jar was sitting in their hot kitchen and we wondered if it had an expiry date. We opened it and gave them some. They were interested.

After that we cooked them some food. Then they cooked us some food. We had just got the catering sorted when it was time to leave. The moral is, write and offer them two or three choices of food. Some people would love to try caviar. They would have extra days of pleasure anticipating receiving it. You could read the company website in advance to work out what you want to buy. Or, if buying for somebody else, ask them to make a shortlist so you can select from it something which is in stock

(Saying it wasn't in stock is also a polite way of picking something within your budget. If the gift recipient picks something too pricey, look for a special offer. If they pick something too cheap, buy them extra in bulk, or both items on their list.)

Russians will tell you that the best caviar comes from Russia. What is caviar? Eggs from fish.

Cheap So-called Caviar?
Can I get cheaper 'caviar'. Yes, sometimes in supermarkets. Basically, the best or real caviar is from specific large fish, resulting in large eggs, often black. Small eggs from other fish can be dyed bright orange and sold in little pots in supermarkets. I must admit I like the cheap fish roe. Sometimes real caviar is sold cheaper after Christmas in the January sales.

Caviar House and Prunier.

They also have a restaurant in France. What do I fancy? Pink salmon and pink champagne.

https://www.caviarhouse-prunier.com

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Mothering Sunday UK is Sunday 26 March 2017

Problem
When is Mothering Sunday? It varies year to year, and Mother's Day in America is not the same as the UK's Mothering Sunday.

Answer
How do I know that Mothering Sunday in the UK will be Sunday 26th March in 2017? Because restaurants are sending me offers by email.

Stories
I heard from the cafe at Cobbs Farm shop in England.

Tips
Enter important dates in your calendar on your laptop or mobile phone. Add a second date a week or more earlier to remind yourself to book a lunch, a card, or flower delivery, or book a last minute holiday.
http://www.cobbsfarmshop.co.uk/events.asp?contentID=206

Last Minute Cards
Need a card? 123 Greetings online, very handy if you forget and need to send something instantly. I particularly like the Happy Birthday with animation and c cappella (like a Barber Shop quartet - four male voice with no accompaniment).
http://www.123greetings.com/birthday/birthday_fun/happy_birthday_song_a_cappella.html
I also liked the card called Beak Boys reminiscent of the Beach Boys.
http://www.123greetings.com/birthday/happy_birthday/the_beak_boys_birthday_song.html

You can send a birthday or anniversary e-card with a customised message such as the venue for the lunch or a weekend away or holiday. Just tell the recipient to keep the date or dates free, and say details will be in the card.
http://www.lastminute.com
You can set the card up to be delivered at the right time, local time for the recipient, even if you are on a different time zone.

More Lunches
http://cinnamonclub.com/mothering-sunday-2017/ Indian food. Upmarket. See my previous review of this restaurant on this blog and on TripAdvisor.


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

How Many Countries have you and I visited?

Problem
Yesterday I was asked how many countries I had visited. When you have visited fewer than ten, it's easy to remember and to count. But what if you have visited more countries?

Answer
I was about to type the list from memory, gradually adding, when I decided it would be quicker to list all the countries and tick them off. Easier still, copy a list and print in bold those visited, then add up the number in bold.

Alphabetical list of all countries in the world
A
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
B
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
C
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic (CAR)
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
Costa Rica
Cote d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
D
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
E
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
F
Fiji
Finland
France
G
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
H
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
I
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
J
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
K
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
L
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
M
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar (Burma)
N
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
O
Oman
P
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Q
Qatar
R
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
S
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
T
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
U
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
United Kingdom (UK)
United States of America (USA)
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
V
Vanuatu
Vatican City (Holy See)
Venezuela
Vietnam
Y
Yemen
Z
Zambia
Zimbabwe

In addition to my initial list I have been to places I could not immediately place which I later added to my first list and / or leave here as additions:
Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey and Sark, part of the British Isles).
Corsica
Dubai - I just checked and found Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates so I went back and highlighted that.
Dubrovnik was in Yogoslavia.
Hong Kong - which I visited when it was under UK rule and later when it was under the rule of China.
Isle of Man (politically independent, independently governed, off Great Britain).
Macau - was Portuguese, now part of China.
Madeira - part of Portugal
Minorca and Mayorca - both part of Spain
St Martin (French speaking) and Sint Marten (Dutch speaking) in the Caribbean;
Sardinia
Tenerife

Stories
My latest count is 44 countries. If I want to add islands which are miles from the place of origin or changed hands or seem like a different destination, I would add
Corsica, Sardinia, (British) Channel Islands, Corsica, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Macau, Madeira, Mayorca, Minorca, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Sardinia, Tenerife. That would bring me up to 50.

In addition I shall count the states I have visited in the USA. (See next post.)

Tips
Here's just one of many sites listing countries of the world.
The quickest way to find a list of anything, out of copyright, is to go to Wikipedia. For your own use, you might just take the first one which comes up in Google searches. I found:
https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/all-countries.html

This is also very useful if you are planning a holiday and want to go to a new country every year, or to plan a surprise break for a birthday or anniversary.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

Castle Hotel, Castello di Monterone in Umbria

Castello di Monterone means castle of Monterone in Italian. Monte is mountain and I remember the end of the name is the same spelling as Toblerone, the mountain shape Swiss chocolate. Where is Monterone? About three kilometers from Perugia, the capital of Umbria. We flew from Stansted airport in England to Perugia airport. I have spent hours reading through the TripAdvisor reports on hotels in Perugia to see if I had missed out on staying anywhere better and other people's reviews confirmed my impression that this castle hotel is THE place to stay.

Why? I stayed there four nights and every time we drove into the driveway and saw the castle set on the hillside overlooking Perugia my heart lifted when I saw the battlements and said to myself, 'I'm staying in a castle hotel!'

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The doorway and entrance hall match the outside perfectly - you are straight into rooms with painted ceilings, wood and heavy stone walls with inserted antiques. I met the owner whose family have restored it.

He speaks perfect English, as did the girls on reception. The building is listed and they have brought it up to date with modern conveniences such as power showers and lifts, plus the obligatory and reassuring fire extinguishers. You can go from the restaurant in the basement to a bedroom on the second floor or clomp up and down the wooden staircase via the little library.

I tried both and each time passed a suit of armour, standing waiting. Returning upstairs after two glasses of Prosecco by the fireplace before dinner the first evening, I nearly asked it what time was breakfast.

I contemplated doing a mock interview as a selfie video with the suit of armour. But I realised it was a waste of time talking to the suit of armour, which probably spoke Italian.

I had been learning Italian on Duolingo, which teaches me to say things like the cat is on the bed. I now needed useful things, such as, 'What time is breakfast?' which I should have learned from my Earworms disc (a budget version of Berlitz teaching tourists the 200 most needed words).

I shall tell you about learning English in Perugia in my next post. However, here I shall concentrate on the happy hotel.

We had a view across the green valley to hilltop Perugia from our bedroom window. If you don't get a room with a view, you can go out onto the rooftop (or down by the outdoor pool in summer). The pool is closed and covered in winter.

After I got home I discovered the hotel has a sauna. I was so busy out travelling, excited by wineries, frescoes and the place where St Francis of Assisi lived, that somehow I missed my hotel's sauna.



The castle's bedrooms vary in size. You can have a larger room if you pay more. Our room enjoyed a view but was quite small, so that two of us with laptops on an antique desk were covering the box which had a local chocolate or two hidden inside it on the first day.

I loved the servicing of the room. My night dress was folded on top of the pillow or underneath the pillow. The black hotel slippers were placed neatly together under the basin. The bathroom kit included toothbrushes and mini toothpastes. The shower was perfect. The giant marble or granite tiles were spotless. The towel rail was so hot my clothes dried out overnight.

You can't please everyone. My new friend in the next room would have liked a coffee maker in the bedroom. I would have liked a chocolate on my pillow every night, not hidden in a box. I somehow only got a chocolate the first night. I assumed that was the way things were. But according to the girl in the next room and the website I SHOULD HAVE HAD A CHOCOLATE EVERY NIGHT! Maybe mine was taken by my husband, the person who serviced the room, the ghost or the suit of armour. Minor details.

The downstairs dining room seemed more modern and not in keeping with the medieval theme. I enjoyed the selection of dinner time music which included my favourites such as Amy Winehouse, but something Italian, a snatch of opera, would have added to the atmosphere.

However I loved the Prosecco and orange juice for breakfast. I followed this with the perfect scrambled egg on a slice of the hot seed bread. Then a small croissant and a small Danish pastry. (What do the Italians call them? Paticceria danese). I still had room for a sensibly small size chocolate chip muffin and a sachet of Nutella. You could enjoy fatty salami and solid cheese, but I decided to feel fit and virtuous eating healthy fruit. Breakfast is included in the room price which, depending on season and room size, ranges from just under £100 up to £250.

What does the highest price get you? The honeymoon suite. I think if I'd had any room in this hotel on a honeymoon, birthday or wedding anniversary I would have been delighted.

The ceilings were decorated like a cathedral. As a bonus, on the last day an exhibition of colourful paintings including colourful local scenes with masses of tiny figures. When I looked closer at one of the paintings I saw that what I took to be tiny brown-robed Benedictine monks were cycling along tightropes! Were their trips business or pleasure? They were obviously enjoying a holiday!

See the castle hotel website:
www.castellomonterone.com
See the regional website:
www.umbriatourism.it

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2016.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Silver and gold almonds, for celebrations at home and overseas - arguments for and against

Silver and gold covered almonds were one of the most eye-catching features I saw at the Italian food and beverage promotion show.

Special Occasions
Silver or gold covered almonds. Look stunning. When would you need them? Ideal for a wedding, anniversary, dinner party, bar or bat mitzvah, christening, confirmation, birthday party, Xmas party, Xmas gift or hamper, annual works dinner, Valentine's Day, Engagement party, romantic dinner a deux.

Colours
Colour schemes I envisage for a wedding or special occasion are all gold or all silver, as was shown on their stand. Or for an opulent themed wedding, mixed silver and gold. For more colour, silver and royal blue, or silver pink and purple, or green and gold, or red and gold.

Pros and Cons
I look for two opposite qualities in food and life and things to write about: the first is novelty, amusement, pretty pictures, bigger, better or never seen before, news worthy and memorable. That's what news and features is all about. Secondly I look for healthy. (And it's opposite, unhealthy!)

You could argue that sugar coated almonds fit into both categories.  The almonds are nutritionally good by reputation, and some studies show they help reduce weight by filling you up with the good things, including protein.

Treats
Treats by their nature are for special occasions, not everyday. You might argue that sugar is not good for you. If you have brittle bones and fragile teeth, you might worry that hard coating grind down your teeth or risk cracking your teeth. Then instead of biting them, suck them.

Can't Please Everybody
I was delighted with my discovery, and disappointed when somebody on another stand (was it organic food - I can't remember) asked what I had found, then sneered, "Silver coloured almonds - is that the best thing you could find!"

Her remark really brought home to me the contrast between what different people want out of life and on different occasions.

You might not want to eat sugar all day every day. But you might want silver coloured almonds for a special occasion, to go with a theme colour scheme.

Nut Allergy
Some people are allergic to nuts, but others, such as me, love nuts. I'm nuts about nuts. I eat them with fruit every day.

I'm allergic to shellfish. I avoid preserved meats. But other people love salamis. I'm partial to the occasional frankfurter. Chocolates are bad for you or good for you, depending on whether you think a little of what you fancy does you good. Chocolate is bad for you or goof for you. As the old song says, 'It's immoral, it's illegal or it makes you fat'! The diet starts tomorrow.

For those of us who are delighted by the sight of confectionary, this page is for you. A delight for the eyes.

Italian Style Gift Bags
Silver and gold covered almonds are a novelty to me and many people. If you are organising a wedding in Italy, where wrapped bags of favours are given to every guest, these are ideal. I remember being a guest at an Italian wedding in the part of Switzerland near the Italian border. Sugared almonds are a novelty you can buy on line or in bulk for a wedding or celebration.

Super silver covered almonds, and gorgeous gold.

Confetti & decorazioni, luxury dragees,
www.decorazionieconfetti.Italy

 Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Elvis, Sinatra and other Theme Nights in 2016 at Orama restaurant Hatch End: Elvis enthusiasts and salsa

Obama means vision in Greek, as in Panorama. You can enjoy salsa on Mondays, and theme nights throughout the year ahead: Elvis, Sax, Sinatra, Soul. Orama is on the same side as the entrance to Hatch End station, in the first parade of shops as you walk downhill from the station towards the shops.

Email: info@vivalasalsa.co.uk

Phone 07956 921521

O r a m a theme nights Tel: 020 8428 0066

Facebook oramaevents

If you have a birthday, anniversary, hen night, barmitzvah, whatever, a very jolly evening. Put the dates in your diary.

See next post on Elvis.

(Sorry - I have had to insert spaces because spell checker keeps changing O r a m a to Obama.)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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WINE: Berry Brothers Wine Tastings - Matching Wine and Chocolate

For an anniversary treat we went to Berry Brothers near the Ritz Hotel in London for a pre-booked wine and chocolate event. Another charming, chatty couple from Leicester had been given tickets by their lovely daughter-in-law as a Christmas gift.

From the shop upstairs we are led down to the cellars where we start with a glass of sparking pink wine. I looked at the cartoons on the walls about wine.  

This event is about matching wine and chocolate. Here's real cocoa before it's turned into chocolate.

The end product - a special chocolate. The one on the left has citrus flavour. The one on the right is Earl Grey flavour (with the magic flavour of bergamot I presume).  

I learned that after eating different foods and drinking different drinks you go back to a wine you liked and thought was sweet and find it tastes quite different. Also lemon is as great an additional flavour to chocolate as orange.

Rococo Chocolates London

Chocolate shops - wander in at your peril. They are all terribly tempting and terribly expensive. I asked, "Any special offers?" We fell for the four chocolate blocks for £16. They are usually £4.50 each and we would have bought two. We chose Lavender, Crystallised Ginger, Rococo Rose and Orange and Geranium. The heart shape chocolates and boxes are great for special occasions. I liked what I thought was a chocolate tree, gold leaves and gold foil wrapped chocolates - turns out the gold decorations are Balinese wood painted gold. But what a great idea, a chocolate tree. Just don't turn on the fire, or candles or all your chocolate decorations will melt! 

Where is it? Just round the corner from Belgrave Square, with all the embassies, and Petrus restaurant.

Rococo Chocolates, 5 Motcomb Street, London SWIX 8JU. Other branches in London in Marylebone Street, and Chelsea, also in Chester.

rococochocolates.com