Welcome and Benvenuti to all my Lovely Followers
The final sunset of 2016. Foto J Fielding.
Well, where were you on the stroke of midnight? My man, my sister-in-law and I were at the bottom of our garden on the Terrazza watching all the fireworks going off around the valley, from San Gimignano to Certaldo and beyond. Cheers and excited voices echoed around us, bouncing off the distant hills and up from the valleys below, and whilst we could not see Fiano we could hear it! There is something very warming about not being in a big noisy party, but hearing them going on all around you! Then back to the log fire to toast our toes.
Capodanno in Florence La Nazione
In Florence, the annual bash was going on. A very popular singer called Marco Mengoni was performing and there had been lots of excited babble from the local girlies beforehand. More than forty thousand people attended the Festa and every single person was checked over by a metal detector before being allowed in. What a task that must have been!
Local celebrations and the backup support for health and safety! la Repubblica
Locally, apart from all the house parties, Fiano held a big bash in the old cinema where a set menu with ten courses was served up and a local band played 70’s and 80’s musica. I must give a mention for the support network of which is largely voluntary including the police, carabinieri, fire brigade and Misericordia. And a warm welcome to two local New Year babies!
Special New Year guest Granddog Zoe. Photo J Fielding
On New Year’s Day, we had a big family lunch here in our kitchen. Guest of honour was our granddog, Zoe the boxer dog, so the day was absolutely perfect. What did we eat, I hear you say? Well, we are not all veggie, but I only cook that way, so we had lovely baked jacket potatoes filled with spicy spinach and ricotta, a cauliflower cheesy bake and ratatouille. Then a pear crumble with cream, very English and very filling! I could not eat a thing in the evening, just washed it all away with some lovely Chianti wine.
My choice of festive outfit on the left, from Prada. Glossy mag.
Meanwhile and just before the festivities, I was at Sandra’s in Certaldo having my hair colour topped up when I saw this gorgeous Prada outfit (below) in a glossy mag, which for me is the perfect colour combination for when I am not wanting to dress completely in black, which is often. So this is my festive outfit of the year. Dare I go online and see if Prada has a sale on? Very tempting…..
Anyway, my book ‘The Italian Connection’ is back from the editor and I just need to do a final honing. Then I will select the new cover. I find this bit hugely exciting as finally, the book takes on shape and personality. It won’t be long now and thank you for waiting so patiently for this third book in the trilogy. However, I must warn you, my heroine is already heading off in new directions and a fourth book is very likely to appear in the not too distant future!
OK, lovely people, best get this blog posted and think about warming up all those leftovers from yesterday and a bit more besides. One of us was obviously not concentrating yesterday, as a missing bottle of red wine has just been found in the fridge!
Have a really great 2017 and I look forward to seeing you all at some stage either at my concert on 24th June or at one of my ‘to be organised’ book signings!
Buon Anno and Salute June x
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