good morning ischia! sunday 17th november 2013
GOOD MORNING ISCHIA! SUNDAY 17TH NOVEMBER 2013
Welcome to our Ischia blog, Good Morning Ischia! Here you can see the entry for Sunday 17th November 2013.
Good morning Ischia!
It's a beautiful morning here in Forio with clear blue skies and a calm blue sea dominating the landscape. The wind and rain showers from yesterday seem to have decided to go and play somewhere else, leaving us with bright sunshine and a light breeze. Temperatures are also slightly up and we're in for a pretty warm day with a minimum of 20° celcius (68° fahrenheit) expected for this afternoon and a very healthy minimum of 18°C (64°F) this evening - not bad for the 17th of November!
The choice of today's photo was made by Mother Nature herself, the very first sound I heard this morning being that of a ripe orange falling from our tree onto our roof and subsequently rolling noisily along its surface before making its second, and slightly less forgiving landing of the day on the concrete patio outside.
The fruit and vegetable stand in the photo is a fine example of a typical shop of its kind which can be found all over Ischia and is one of the iconic images that we regularly see of Italy. This image also acts as a snapshot of daily life on the island and shows the type of produce that can be found here and that are popular. The first thing you notice at the top of the photo are the chillies hanging from the roof, this is something you will find in every grocery store in Ischia, pointing to a penchant for dishes with a little spicy burst to them although in general they are used in fairly mild measures and blended with herbs and other spices to create some mouthwatering concoctions.
As anyone who has eaten Italian food (surely everyone!) will testify, tomatoes are one of the most important ingredients, used in lots of different pasta sauces (sugo) as well as salads and those delicious pizzas that we all love. You'll always therefore find lots of different varieties of tomatoes so that they can be used in different ways. Also seen on the left hand side of the photo are courgettes (zucchine) which are used in a variety of dishes including my particular favourite when they are mixed with scrambled egg to stunning effect! There are also aubergines/eggplants (melanzane) another ingredient popular in Ischian cuisine and used to make delicious dishes such as "Parmigiana" which will instantly become one of your favourite meals after you've tried it for the first time. So confident am I of this that I've linked a recipe so that you can try it at home.
Most of the fruit and vegetables shown in the photo will have been grown in Ischia at the many small farms and brought down to the grocery stalls in the main shopping areas such as the one shown in Forio town centre. The island's climate coupled with its volcanic soil make it incredibly fertile and perfect for growing great produce all year round. It's not unusual to see houses on the island with all manner of fruit trees and vegetable patches and most people will be only too happy to offer you some examples from their gardens such as lemons or oranges if you happen to be passing by.
As the months pass by there's always something new coming into season, so just as you start to get a bit bored of eating the same fruit or vegetable, there's something different to look forward to every breakfast, lunch and dinner time. To top it all off, apart from providing us with a rich tapestry of natural foods to choose from, Mother Nature even goes so far as to act as an alarm-clock like it did this morning when the orange rolled on to our roof at just the right time for me to wake up! Idyllic indeed.
Ok that's all for today, I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing Sunday and I'll be back with more tomorrow morning.
A domani!
Dion Protani - Sunday 17th November 2013 - [email protected]
Today's Saint's day/Name day: Santa Elisabetta, Elda
Today in history: The Suez Canal in Egypt opens for the first time, linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea (1869)
Sun-rise (alba): 06:52hrs - Sun-set (tramonto): 16:44hrs
It's a beautiful morning here in Forio with clear blue skies and a calm blue sea dominating the landscape. The wind and rain showers from yesterday seem to have decided to go and play somewhere else, leaving us with bright sunshine and a light breeze. Temperatures are also slightly up and we're in for a pretty warm day with a minimum of 20° celcius (68° fahrenheit) expected for this afternoon and a very healthy minimum of 18°C (64°F) this evening - not bad for the 17th of November!
The choice of today's photo was made by Mother Nature herself, the very first sound I heard this morning being that of a ripe orange falling from our tree onto our roof and subsequently rolling noisily along its surface before making its second, and slightly less forgiving landing of the day on the concrete patio outside.
The fruit and vegetable stand in the photo is a fine example of a typical shop of its kind which can be found all over Ischia and is one of the iconic images that we regularly see of Italy. This image also acts as a snapshot of daily life on the island and shows the type of produce that can be found here and that are popular. The first thing you notice at the top of the photo are the chillies hanging from the roof, this is something you will find in every grocery store in Ischia, pointing to a penchant for dishes with a little spicy burst to them although in general they are used in fairly mild measures and blended with herbs and other spices to create some mouthwatering concoctions.
As anyone who has eaten Italian food (surely everyone!) will testify, tomatoes are one of the most important ingredients, used in lots of different pasta sauces (sugo) as well as salads and those delicious pizzas that we all love. You'll always therefore find lots of different varieties of tomatoes so that they can be used in different ways. Also seen on the left hand side of the photo are courgettes (zucchine) which are used in a variety of dishes including my particular favourite when they are mixed with scrambled egg to stunning effect! There are also aubergines/eggplants (melanzane) another ingredient popular in Ischian cuisine and used to make delicious dishes such as "Parmigiana" which will instantly become one of your favourite meals after you've tried it for the first time. So confident am I of this that I've linked a recipe so that you can try it at home.
Most of the fruit and vegetables shown in the photo will have been grown in Ischia at the many small farms and brought down to the grocery stalls in the main shopping areas such as the one shown in Forio town centre. The island's climate coupled with its volcanic soil make it incredibly fertile and perfect for growing great produce all year round. It's not unusual to see houses on the island with all manner of fruit trees and vegetable patches and most people will be only too happy to offer you some examples from their gardens such as lemons or oranges if you happen to be passing by.
As the months pass by there's always something new coming into season, so just as you start to get a bit bored of eating the same fruit or vegetable, there's something different to look forward to every breakfast, lunch and dinner time. To top it all off, apart from providing us with a rich tapestry of natural foods to choose from, Mother Nature even goes so far as to act as an alarm-clock like it did this morning when the orange rolled on to our roof at just the right time for me to wake up! Idyllic indeed.
Ok that's all for today, I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing Sunday and I'll be back with more tomorrow morning.
A domani!
Dion Protani - Sunday 17th November 2013 - [email protected]
Today's Saint's day/Name day: Santa Elisabetta, Elda
Today in history: The Suez Canal in Egypt opens for the first time, linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea (1869)
Sun-rise (alba): 06:52hrs - Sun-set (tramonto): 16:44hrs
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