Man With a Big Heart

 

Have I already mentioned that one of my daughter's favorite things to do is visiting "Tonino",
the owner of the antique store down at our road.
He's one of the most friendly man I've ever met in my life. We often pop in to his magical studio, where he works with wood and takes care of birds.

When he meets my daughter, he sings, makes jokes and laughs.

He makes her presents with old toys and treats her with sweets...

he's simply wonderful. A man with a BIG heart.

I will surely miss him once we've moved out from the city centre.

What comes to our moving schedule, it looks like we'll be finally moving out in April.
Then some more exciting news...
Next week one of my best friends is getting married in Portugal, and we'll be staying
three nights in Lisbon. Needless to say, I'm very excited about this.
Firstly because I'm SO happy for my friend to have finally found a great man in her life and
secondly because I love Portugal and Lisbon. My family used to spend holidays at the sunny coast of South Portugal and I visited it alone (or with my x boy friend, that buster ) around 13 years a go.
I remember thinking back then :
"I'll come back here, one day I'll be back in Lisbon"
And here we go !!!
Life never fails to surprise me.

Delicious Oats and Banana Cookies

 This is what I've been up to this week. Trying out a receipe of simple two ingredient cookies I've found online. When I first saw this receipe of just oats and banana I thought, yeah right, can't be good as there's no added sugar nor butter or fluor. It turned out they're even better. 

These cookies make also a perfect breakfast for my three years old daughter and she too 

loves them a lot. I've been making various versions with some added smashed pear or apple, raisins, coconut flakes and chocolate chips. I'm thinking of trying out with some pieces of almonds and nuts and some seeds and honey. The options are endless really and the result is DELICIOUS and healthy.

Just mix and match, just the way you like it.

Preparing time is quick, just about 5 mins. Cooking time about 10 mins. 

I must have a bite now.

See you later.

Today I made these cookies with smashed banana and apple, coconut flakes,
oats and some milk chocolate chips. Try it with a cup of coffee or tea, yum yum !!

Goalkeeper's Daughter

Today was a lovely sunny Sunday in Bari so we decided to took our kids to play some football. 

My partner M plays every now and then with his friends and when he does he's a great goalkeeper.

I watched my daughter running hard after him, just like a shadow. She is clearly SO in love. So proud of his dad. What a pretty thing. I wonder if she'll ask to play more when she grows up. I wouldn't mind, any kind of sport is important. And after all I played football at the age of around 10-16 years and I've got so many good memories of those times.

...Well, maybe she'll need just a little more practise.

It was a lovely sunny day.

Home Sweet Home

I've taken a looong brake from writing a blog. My family is in a middle of a moving process. We currently live in the centre of Bari in a one bedroom flat. Needless to say, I simply can't wait to have more space for all of us. The new apartment is about 15 km North from Bari, close to the airport and in a short distance (1 km) of Adriatic sea. My daughter has already started the new kinder garten just 100 m away from our new apartment and the neighbourhood seems very friendly and lovely. Lots of kids, more space, no traffic and hassle, ...ahhh welcome the hassle free new life.

I think we'll be moving in a couple of months time, fingers crossed !

We ordered the furniture for our bedroom from Maison Du Monde, the French furniture store that 

opened their first shop in Bari last year. The furniture are on their way and should arrive in a couple of weeks time.

(Pictures by Maison Du Monde).

Italian Bank and Olives

If you work in a South Italian bank in a little town called Bitonto 

and you take a good care of your clients, you'll be lucky. Why ? 

Because your richest clients would be farmers and as Italians are incredibly generous and caring people, they might bring you bags and boxes of the goodies. Oil, olives, fruits and vegetables. Even wine. Right now, among some other fruits and vegetables, olives are freshly collected from the trees. Before I came to live in Italy, I thought olives were fairly delicious although too salty for my taste. I had never tasted a fresh olive. I can tell you it's another thing. So what did my Italian partner do the first thing on Sunday morning. Sliced some fresh olives and tomatoes and in they went to oven with some oregano, oil and salt. I had it with some whole grain rise for a lunch and it was the best thing I've had this month. Got to love him !

October

September and October are wonderful time in Bari if it doesn't rain. 

This autumn has been really dry and calm. Just beautiful. Warm, fresh and sunny.

It was just a lazy Saturday, first eating out with my family, then having

"gelato" at Torre a Mare (south along the coast from Bari ).

I know a little girl who definitely appreciates living close to the sea...
Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Clay Necklace

So here are the very first clay amulets I've ever done. And the very first necklace that came out.

I've used a brown fine metal string and some metal parts together with the clay. I'm thinking of

using also some stone pearls in the next necklace.

This evening I'm gonna be modeling new amulets. 

Please feel free to leave some comments or 

suggestions for illustrating the amulets.

Bye for now, xxx

The three necklace looks quite nice with this Pull&Bear sweatshirt.