Thursday, March 29, 2007

Biscotti

We found the following recipe for Biscotti and decided to try it out.

Here's our translation of the recipe:

Ingredients for 4 people:
300 G Flour - 180 G Butter (or Margarine) - 70 G Sugar - 1 Egg - 1 Bag Vanilla - 1 Pinch of Salt

Mix the butter with the sugar, add the egg, add the flower and the vanilla.  Roll out some of the mixture and cut them into your desired shape.  Place on a baking tray lined with some baking paper. Cook in the oven at 180 degrees for up to 5 mins making sure that they do not go brown, just golden coloured.

Hat Mission successfully completed!

Last Saturday Shane and I went to Dublin to pay a surprise visit to his dad who is celebrating his birthday this coming Sunday. Jennifer, our knowing accomplice, came to pick us up at the airport with Isabel (second accomplice), Arthur and Linus. We reached the town centre and hit every possible hat shop. After a bit of looking around and after having a beagle, I bought a dress in Powerscourt Townhose in the Little Black Dress. After looking at some hair accessories nextdoor we finally enterd the Design Centre, a paradise displaying Philip Treacy hats and bags. After dreaming about hat for a while weleft and visited a few bookshops- the usual suspects of Hodges Figges, Waterstones and Easons. It was time now to get back at Jennifer's for the surprise!There was also Ellen and Seb who arrived at Jennifer's and after playing for a while with Isabel and Arthur Shane parents came in and found all of us waiting for them in the living room! I can't describe Seán's face so surprised and without words a part from saying: What!???The first day ended with a nice dinner and a trip for us back to Shane parents.


On Sunday Shane and I left Portmarnock to visit some more of the bookshops and eventually found some nice and hopefully usefull books for my thesis. Lunch was again at Jennifer with Ellen and Carol contribuiting too. And again we went back to Portmarnock.


Monday was the busiest day. We spent a good few hours in the Trinity College Libraries researching/photocopyng books about Pleasure Gardens. While waiting for some texts to be delivered to the Library, I decided to have a look around for some ideas about hats. We walked again towards Powerscourt Townhouse and when in there I succumbed to the temptation of buying a Philip Treacy hat. I decided that if I could find a pair of shoes and a bag to go with it, I would go back and get it. Seizing upon this decisiveness I run outside of Powerscourt Townhouse and walked into Brown Thomas shopping centre where I eventually spotted, with Shane's help, a nice pink bag and a pair of matching shoes! After less than 10 minutes I left Brown Thomas with bag and shoes in my hands and run again to the Designer Centre psycologically ready to buy the hat I was earlier. Once in there, the final look at it convinced me that I had made the right decision.


Hat, shoes and bag in my hand, it was time to have a quick snack with Jennifer, Larkin and Linus in Fallon and Byrne. After this little break, it was time to go back to the Library where books were waiting for me! Shane helped me photocopy some texts and later that evening we returned back to Portmarnock for dinner with Seán and Carol.


The next day, with books, photocopies and of course the hat, we flew back to Rome unfortunately with Shane having a bad dose of the flu.


Philip.JPG

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Rugby Time

March has seen me busy supporting the Italy Rugby team. I went to see the rugby guys playing at the home matches and I also went to see their training sometimes.

I got the chance to take some photos with them and also had a chat with some of them. They are simple and friendly guys.

Here there are some photos.

The first one below on the left is of me and Mirco Bergamasco (very friendly and talkative). The one on the right is of me and Ramiro Pez (friendly enough unless there is no milk after the training!)

The next one below on the left is of me and Paul Griffen (very friendly and happy to talk in English he he). Then, on the right is of me and Roland who turned up at the bar one morning for breakfast then proceeded to break Irish hearts by scoring with the last play of the game!


Irish and Italian supporters before the italy- Ireland match held in Rome on the 17th March 07

Let's begin with thesis

Yesterday I got good news: one of my Prof. accepted my request to do my thesis about London's Pleasure Gardens with her. Finally I know not who I am going to deal with for the next few months: Prof. Colombo and Prof. Salvini.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Thesis or Rugby? Or both?

Exam done, but thesis yet to begin! I went to talk to the Prof. who I wanted to supervise my thesis, but sadly found out that she has moved to another university in the North of Italy (Venice). I found myself a bit lost in the crowd and now I do need to find someone else who can supervise me while doing my research.
Shane and I went to see the Italian Rugby team during one of their training sessions and eventually took some photos with my favourite players.

Last exam done and dusted

February was quite a busy month for me, the highlight of which was sitting and passing my last exam. Despite getting the flu 2 days before before, I managed to pass the Linguistics exam!

The Rugby Six Nations Championship started on the 3rd of February. The first game I went to see was Italy - France, but for Italy it didn't go so well, infact we lost: Italy 3-39 France. There was a good atmosphere at the Stadio di Flaminio and I really enjoyed the afternoon under the warm sun. The next game England - Italy wasn't that good either for Italy (20-7), but the big surprise and joy for the Italians Rugby supporters arrived on the 24th of February when Italy beat Scotland 17-37!!!

The end of the month saw me doing some retail therapy to cheer me up after all the studying for the last exam.