Gras but in no way Mardi

[susie_flo]

It's strange to cook in a kitchen that hasn't got all of the implements and ingredients that you take for granted in your own.  The knives in this flat are so blunt it's like trying to cut things with a spoon...  and there is no steel.   Similarly we keep looking in vain for things like a sieve or a flat spatula...  but then again we did just turn up an unexpected food processor circa 1972 (in the ubiquitous dark orange shade that all kitchen gadgets were back then).

Another oddity in Venice is that we can't get fresh chillies anywhere.  Several supermarkets and the whole of Rialto fruit & veg market - and no chillies.  I thought maybe it was a seasonal thing, except that there is no shortage of bell peppers and other capsicums.  Having found a Venetian cookbook in the flat, I'm wondering if Venetians might favour dried chillies in cooking...  the ony time heat gets a mention is when it is time to "crumble in hot red chillies to taste".

Are you all celebrating Mardi Gras?  Right now G is making pancakes for breakfast, using 00 flour...  (insert tummy rumble here)

Later today I think we will visit the Peggy Guggenheim collection of early 20th century art.  We've been more or less hiding from the carnival mania until tonight, when the big finale happens.  Apparently this will involve a procession of 19th century boats floating at midnight down the Grand Canal, all lit by candlelight.  If I can get close enough I'd like to see that.

It's such a different experience staying in an apartment, rather than a hotel.  I could really get used to this - am not sure I will ever revert to hotels.  A few moments ago I glanced out of the window with a towel on my head and saw a boat load of Japanese tourists grinning and waving at me from a gondola.  I'm a little fond of Japanese tourists - I think they might be the most polite people in the world.  :-)

Yesterday I accidentally bought two balls of Italian yarn in (surNOTprise!) grey!  It's a disease,  I probably now have enough grey yarn, of varying fibre, to knit myself a pack of life-sized huskies.  Someone really needs to tie me up, Odysseus style, whenever I get near a yarn shop.  The woman who owned the shop was having a fag outside in such a beliigerent style that she did all possible to block me from entry.  But she cheered up considerably when she spotted me walking past the 'fun fibres' and heading straight for the cashmere... 

Ooh, that's my pancakes ready... 

Have a fun day fiends!

Comments

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Ah the joys of a holiday apartment - when I was little and my parents were very skint we stayed in one in Rhyl. Oh the glamour. Not. You had to pay 10p to rent the plug for the bath, extra for sheets - my Mum spent most of the 4 days we lasted there (we were supposed to be there for a whole week) saying 'don't let those blankets touch your face', if you touched the lace curtains they disintegrated below your fingers, there was a frying pan that the lard of millenia in it, needless to say we only ate out and Mum bought plastic plates, cups, bowls and cutlery from Woolworths as she wouldn't let us touch the stuff in the 'kitchenette' area of the flat. The look on her face when the landlord was doing the inventory to check we hadn't stolen anything on leaving was utterly priceless.
I dare say where you are is a bit more salubrious ;-)

I too am developing a wool habit - but I have finished my skull and bat squares in a purply aran which I'm about to sew onto black veleveteen cushion covers.

Hope you enjoy your pancakes and have a fab Mardi Gras watching :-)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Lol - that apartment sounds like something from the Welsh version of The League of Gentlemen :-)

Your wool habit will only get worse from here on... it is merely a matter of time before you start wondering whether you might solve your storage problems by doubling up balls of wool as cushion fillings.

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Now you mention it - Royston Vasey does spring to mind......

My sister was very young at the time and my Mum reckons that flat is responsible for the iron constitution she has today as early exposure to every germ in the world (if you listen to my Mum and to be honest I don't think she was far wrong as it unbelievably grimy) toughened her up.

[lazy-hoor.livejournal.com]

The joys of British holiday apartments! I've done self-catering on the continent and experienced spaciousness, free bread, cheese, ham, homemade jam, bottles of wine and bowls of sangria, bicycles (albeit knackered ones) and the owners offered to be our personal taxi service when we ran out of milk/booze/fags. They also said that if we wanted friends to come over they could stay in the gaff for no extra charge.

Last year I went to Paignton in Devon and we were told to bring towels and tablecloths (tablecloths?!) and we had to put money into a electric meter. A friend told me that we were lucky we didn't have to bring our own bedlinen.

[lazy-hoor.livejournal.com]

I much prefer s/c to hotels. So good to have your own space to chill and there's no chance of someone coming in to re-stock your mini-bar when you're in flagrante delecto. (Yes.)

Have you ever been to the Sistine Chapel? There's a security guard there and all day he sings 'Silencio! No cameras, Japanese!'

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Ha! Yes I remember the Sistine chap... (it somewhat spoils the experience having him standing there telling everyone off non-stop)

[lazy-hoor.livejournal.com]

Me and P still sing 'Silencio, no cameras, Japanese' at each other on occasion.

[chiller.livejournal.com]

This sounds like a totally brilliant holiday. I suspect you're right - apartments are the way to go.