Kicking leaves and catching rays.

Things with Ginger & Mora are going well, which is wonderful. It does mean that I am spending lots of  time running around these days (aren't we all?), balancing a growing business and family life. With so much going on, sometimes it's hard to just sit back, and enjoy the "now".  I guess that's what makes those unexpected "take your breath away" moments so special, the ones that even when you're in a rush make you stop in your tracks. The thing is, it's almost always something simple, free and spontaneous that creates that moment. 

With the change in season from summer to autumn, here in the U.K, we are so lucky to be getting this utterly beautiful early morning and evening light. It just makes you want to bathe in it's rays.  It's impossible, at least for me, not to stop and just take it all in.

With the help of my three year old daughter I have enjoyed some wonderfully simple pleasures this week; from trying to "catch" the early morning rays, to playing amongst those deliciously crisp golden leaves of the season. 

 

Because the song really is right, "the best things in life are free"...

What simple moments have you enjoyed this week? 

Sunday is a Funday

Sundays for our family here in Italy usually mean a day trip somewhere new or a big lunch at the Nonni's farmhouse. Either of these options are always thoroughly enjoyable and certainly make the weekend seem like it lasts much longer!

However I have to be perfectly honest and say that for me some of the best Sundays are spent right at home, doing a few mondane last minute jobs around the house or simply spending some quality time with my hubby and two little ones.
With the arrival of Autumn, what seems like the last of the summer's sun has appeared after a day or two of rain and everything feels brighter and fresh.  It's the perfect kind of day for a walk in the countryside, some gardening or bit of good old baking!
My sister has, unsurprisingly, had the same idea this Sunday and spent it enjoying a beautifully sunny day in her Essex home as I have in mine here in Tuscany. What follows are some of the pics we messaged each other throughout the day and it's funny to see how although we live in two quite different countries, we still spend our carefree Sundays enjoying very similar things!

                                          

                                           

While out and about walking along country roads or through vast fields, part of the attraction for our girls is to pick pretty flowers and make tiny bouquets to carry. Once home we add our colourful finds to our own garden blooms to arrange in glass vases around the house reminding us of the weekend.

                                            

                                           

                                              

                                

                               

                                

We do enjoy to spend lots of time in the garden and at the moment there's a lot of work to be done to prepare our outside spaces for the winter.  On a sunny Sunday like today, the whole family takes part in some horticultural fun! 

                                          

                                          

Of course Sunday at home means time to make pancakes in the morning and yummy muffins or cupcakes to decorate in the afternoon!

                                             

All in all it's not hard to see why we love Sundays at home ( despite the fact that of course a Sunday always comes with the dreaded feeling the next day is a Monday!) 

What do you get up to on a funday Sunday? 

GYO and why we do!

If you have been following our blog, by now you'll know that we love food, making it and of course eating it! There is another aspect of food however which we are also passionate about and that is growing it. Whether your garden is limited to a window box or you're lucky enough to have a spacious garden, the benefits to growing your own really are too many to count and you'll undoubtedly reap the rewards when giving GYO a go!  Between my in-laws farm and our own garden in the countryside just outside of Florence, we manage to produce enough fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat to allow us to be reasonably self sufficient. 

My sister hard at work in her own garden

On the british side, my sister's family in their Essex garden also have a wonderful glut of a wide variety of veggies and fruit each year which means our text messaging is often full of pictures of the "fruits" of labour in the garden and comparing what is growing at the time! 

My sister's autumn harvest last year.

Growing your own vegetables does not mean that one necessarily needs lots of land or even a garden, it really can be done even in the smallest of spaces! With good soil and some care you can provide yourself with fresh herbs, salads and even grow some larger veggies like tomatoes and aubergines.. My sister has often grown strawberries or tomatoes in hanging baskets with great results.

There's no denying that the flavour of freshly picked and home grown is hard to beat and if there are children in the house, the experience of watching their food grow always makes for a fun and valuable lesson! The sense of accomplishment my son and daughter get when picking salad leaves they have sown themselves is a pleasure to see.

 With huge supermarkets at our fingertips providing every type of fruit and vegetable throughout the year, the importance of seasonality and provenance seems to have been somewhat lost. Really knowing where your food comes from and enjoying it when it is locally at it's very best is truly a pleasure. Even if you don't have space to grow lots of veggies try and find out what's in season before heading to the supermarket. You'll soon find that you're not serving up the same old choices throughout the year.  

Without a shadow of  a doubt though, for me the best bit about having a veg patch is how easy it is to create something full of flavour in a few minutes. Take some eggs and potatoes and ten minutes later you can have the most delicious supper. 

Figs, great at this time of year, wrapped in some prosciutto ham also make for a wonderful primo, or starter for friends and family and in late summer are a firm favourite round our table!

Figs from the garden wrapped in parma ham with buffalo mozzarella.

Have you tried growing your own? What's your favourite veggie or fruit to grow at this time of year? 

A cool escape...

Every year in July we head off on holiday with the kids to the mountains in order to escape the worst of the Tuscan summer heat. In my opinion in Italy there's one ideal destination for this type of holiday, The Dolomites in the north east of the country. 

 I literally fell in love with the area from the first time my hubby took me (more years ago than I'd care to remember now!) and so it has meant my summer doesn't feel complete unless we've spent at least a week there.  There are several valleys to choose from. Some of the most popular are Val Gardena and Val di Fassa but since the birth of our first child five years ago we've made Val Badia our  choice spot for incredible, breathtaking walks through woods or easy treks on top of the mountain range surrounded by impressive rocky (and often snowy) peaks.  

With it being the most agricultural of the valleys there is always a busy, working buzz  where you see whole families out drying and raking the hay covered hillsides and young boys and girls moving the cattle from one mountain field to another. 

 My children adore discovering new adventurous paths, playing in freezing cold streams, running through beautiful,  flowering fields and of course we all enjoy visiting  the traditional Malghe (our usual halfway mark in a day's trek) for a lunchtime treat. In these rustic wooden structures found everywhere along the hundreds of marked paths you can try some delicious local dishes. Cheeses, cold meats, polenta with wild game stew, fresh yoghurt with warm fruits of the forest and my favourite the famous Canederli in broth ( balls made of bread, cheese, Speck and herbs) are all on offer. 

With entire mountain sides covered in pine forests, in the Dolomites there are many artisans working the wood into beautiful furniture, figures or accessories for the home. Of course this meant that despite being on holiday I couldn't resist making a couple of my favourite finds a part of the Ginger & Mora collection! More on that later...

Do you have somewhere idyllic you like to escape to with all the family? If you do, I'd love to hear about it.

Cooking up a storm in a heatwave..

Vanessa and I have always been passionate about food, I wouldn't necessarily say we are "foodies", that seems to conjure up an image of someone who would never try a battered Mars bar and I don't think Vane or I could ever vow to that! We just love the whole ritual of picking out lovely ingredients, cooking and sharing (and of course eating!)  delicious meals and recipes.  It is quite common for us to text or email each other pictures of what we're having for dinner, a  mouthwateringly yummy looking ice cream we may have just bought, or even a nice veg display in the market. In fact if you follow us on twitter you may already have noticed this! I must admit though that with so much going on, (starting a business and doing up our house to name but a few..) I have become a little lazy in the kitchen of late. In fact you could say, I have been stuck in a bit of a culinary funk.

I am very pleased to say though, that this unexpected and utterly wonderful heatwave we are having appears to have snapped me right out of it and I'm back to relishing time spent cooking. 

What is it about the sun? Perhaps it's the prospect of al fresco dining, or the fact that, at least for me, it seems to recharge my batteries.  Quite contrary to basking lazily in the sun, I seem to become much more productive with all that extra vitamin D.  I just don't tend to feel as tempted to go for the "same old" dinner option even after a day spent running around the garden with two little ones. With Vanessa living in Tuscany, I should already have it engrained in my mind that the best food is always the simplest..meals shouldn't take forever to prepare to be delicious, but on a grey day I find that harder to remember! 

So, to celebrate my new re-found love of all things food..here are some pics I took of what I made for the family this weekend. 

We started off with a lovely greek salad...This is one of Jamie Oliver's recipes..super quick, super easy and it screams out summer!

As a snack in the afternoon I made some deep fried calamari rings with lemon and garlic mayo. I'ts actually the first time I have ever tried making these, which means I've missed out on years of a very tasty and super quick starter/snack. I am not ashamed to say I did not make the mayo from scratch..one step at a time people..but I did add garlic and lemon.

My little girl seems to be loving the whole jam jar trend (she loves having all drinks and snacks in them) and was delighted to see her portion of calamari served up in one. 

For dinner it was Spaghetti con Cozze al Sugo Bianco (I confess that does sound a bit "foodie" in Italian but it's actually just spaghetti with mussels in a white wine sauce.) I have always loved spaghetti alle vongole or spaghetti with clams when we are visiting Vanessa and the family over in Italy and wanted to have a go making it here but we couldn't get any clams on Saturday so we went for mussels instead and found an amazing recipe in "The River Cafe Cook Book".  I am a bit sad I have only just come across this book as I have to say, apart from sunshine, it has to be one of the best remedies for even the worst of culinary funks! 

So there it is, my Saturday in food..today, Sunday, it's barbecue day and apart from my offer to marinade the chicken, my husband is taking over the cooking....Here's hoping the heatwave lasts. In the meantime, Pimms anyone? Or perhaps it's time I tried something new...Any suggestions welcome!

Sundays are baking days..

Sundays have always been "baking day" in our house, and with mention on twitter of it having been International Baking Day yesterday we thought it was the perfect ocassion to celebrate with a yummy, Italian style, apple cake and to introduce our 'sweet' new cake stand! 
(Not that we ever need an excuse to bake a scrumptious cake...)

We got the recipe for this light, moist cake from G's Italian mother in law, or Nonna as we all rightly call her. It's one of many gorgeous recipes that have been passed down through the women in the family for generations and once you've tasted it you'll know just why! 

The best thing about this cake besides its wonderful texture and flavour, is that it's also very easy to make! It only requires ingredients that you're already likely to have in your pantry on any given day and the end result is incredibly pretty. What's not to like?

300 g of plain flour
100g of sugar
100g of unsalted butter ( melted)
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of baking powder 
2 large apples 
Icing sugar
Honey (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C
Peel, quarter and thinly slice the apples and set aside.
In a bowl stir in all wet ingredients first then add all the dry ingredients making sure everything is mixed well. 
Pour the mixture into a large cake tin then carefully add the apple slices, pressing each one down a little so that it is part submerged into the mix.
Decorate the cake with a few rounds of apple slices in a rosette pattern and finally dust with some confectioners sugar before placing it into the oven for about 30 minutes or until the cake starts to go golden brown and comes away from the sides of the cake tin. 
One nice touch is to take the cake out just before the end of its cooking time and brush some honey over the top then pop it back into the oven for a few minutes.. It comes out with a lovely glaze and even more delicious! 

You may have noticed our beautiful new "Allegra" cake stand which is providing the stage for Nonna's cake.  We wanted to create something reminiscent of what you might find displaying prized cakes in the windows of a traditional patisserie. Entirely hand made in Italy, its classic white sets off any type of cake and makes it ideal for mixing with existing tableware while its frilled edging just adds something extra special. 

Do you have a favourite cake recipe that's been passed down the family through the years? If so we'd love to hear about it! 

A lot of inspiration from the littlest of creatures...

 The other day I watched my son sitting happily in the garden, fixed to the spot for what seemed like an age (at least for a 4 year old!).  Curious to see what had him so captivated I walked over to him and sat down only to find he was admiring a tiny ladybird munching on a leaf.  Although little boys are perhaps the most common appreciators of bugs and all sorts of insects we can't help but admit that creepy crawlies are fascinating! David Attenborough himself has dedicated a number of documentaries to these guys and their often dramatic lives!  Even in the smallest garden one can, if sitting for long enough, witness some amazing goings on. This is exactly what our close friend and nature and landscape photographer Claudia Beretti does.

 Looking at these fabulously detailed shots it's hard not to imagine the setting to be some tropical forest rather than an average European back garden. 

Claudia certainly inspired us with her amazing collection of photographs and after some thought we decided it was time to bring these little creatures into our homes! Not to worry though, our version is much easier to "handle"! 

These gorgeous plates are designed exclusively by G&M  in collaboration with a Tuscan ceramics artisan who brought two of our favourite insects to life. 

They are hand made, then dipped in classic white after which the artisan delicately hand paints the detailing of the dragonfly and butterfly making each one truly unique.

Our lovely butterfly and dragonfly plates will be available at Ginger & Mora from the end of June. These two insects are our own personal favourites but if you could choose, what bug would you put on a plate?