Summer pudding

Summer is almost over. Have you made a summer pudding this year yet? It's so easy. There really is no recipe for it. I made a discovery while making this one, dip the bread, the outside, in the berry sauce, the side that faces outside. This way every part of the white bread is stained with the berry juice. You can use just one kind of berry, in this case, just blueberries or a mixture of berries or just red berries. Bring them to boil with some sugar, till the berries are mushy. Then slice your whie bread, remove the crust, dip into the berry sauce, line the bowl with the bread. You can line the bowl with plastic wrap first, so the pudding can flip onto a plate easily. Then place all the mushy berries into the bowl, cover with a layer of crustless bread and spread the remaining berry juice over it. Cover with plastic wrap, place a small saucer over the pudding and weigh it down with a heavy can. Keep in fridge for at least 12 hours, preferably overnight. Flip onto a plate and serve with pouring cream. Mmmmmmm delicious, can't wait for another reason to make it again before the summer is over.

Saorge, France

This is one of the sweetest places in the world. I don't even know how I got to visit it. I guess we were in Ventimiglia and was reading a pamphlet about the cute places we can visit up in the mountains outside of Ventimiglia, a place where cute villages dot along the railway line shared by both French and Italian railways. Some of the villages are French, some are Italian but they are all accessible from Nice on Franch rail and from Ventimiglia from Trenitalia. From the description Saorge looked like a fascinating place and it was. We had to walk 20 minutes from the railway station and we came upon this view of the village, perched on the rocky mountain side. What a pretty sight and what a sweet little place. There are still a lot of pretty litte places we didn't have time for. Maybe one day...... we'll go back and visit them all. As in life, one only have time for so many things, we have to pick and choose, maybe life will grant us a do over, maybe not..... whatever it is we must grab at it as it comes along.

Dolce Acqua, Italy

This and a lot of other cute villages dot the area between France and Italy. We would get to see many but not all of them. One day we'll go back to see the rest. Dolce Acqua is an hour and a half away by bus from Ventimiglia. Ventimiglia is the last Italian town before the French border with Italy. No sooner have we arrived on the train from Camogli and having checked into our hotel, we were on a local bus bound for Dolce Acqua.. We didn't even stop for lunch but ate at a restaurant in Dolce Acqua, pasta with vongole (again), just can't get enough. The old and new town are separated by an old bridge. The old town is perched against the rocky cliffside and is so picturesque. It's become an artist community. We saw a few European tour buses there filled with European tourists. We had a great time visiting. It's only by planning your own trip that one is able to see little unknown villages.

Comments

I'm envious of blogs that get a lot of followers and comments. The few I get, to them, I'm deeply grateful. 'Sicilyscene' commented on my stunning pictures in previous posting on 'Camogli'. Thank you. To this I want to add, the places I visit must earn their keep also, they must be so photogenic. Camogli is one of them. It is so beautiful that one gets an incredible picture anywhere the camera is pointed. There are a few places like this in the world. You don't need to dig or stage anything, every corner is a stunning picture.
Yesterday we got together to fete a favorite niece, a sweet girl who's just finished her first year in college and today is winging her way to Tel Aviv, Israel, to get acquainted with her birth heritage. We were reminded of her toddler years, of her first few words, her shyness (extreme) as a little girl and to grow up into this amazing person. She's very aware of the challenges facing her generation, of the loss of traditional jobs. I encouraged her by reminding her that the opportunities are going to be there, albeit they will be different.

Camogli, Italy

Little fishing villages dot the coast of Italy and Camogli, sweet Camogli is one of them. We arrived from Rome for an overnight visit a few years ago. All the apartments perched against the steep coastline and we had to haul our luggage down some steep steps and up again. The view of the harbor from the top is just so magnificent. These and various other images is what's keeping me going every day. I wouldn't be able to stomach the insults at work is not for trips like these. I long for that plate of pasta vongole. The next trip is not to Italy but I read they serve incredible mussels in Istanbul. So I will bring back stories of how great the mussels are in Istanbul. Can't wait.