MUMsnet little Italy

[mediterraneo]

buonasera!

Well, there are 2 alternatives.

You buy some vanilla ice cream, mould it into a big oval and a small oval (for the head), get chocolate buttons/biscuit pieces/whatever's suitable for the prickles and stick them in all over except on the face. 2 chocolate buttons for the eyes and sprinkle face (or all body if not using buttons) with cocoa powder. Put back in the freezer and remove about 15 mins/half an hour before eating.

Alternatively, you could just pop down to your local gelateria artigianale and buy one.

I have done both. Needless to say the gelateria one was more aesthetically pleasing.

Alternatively you could make a dinosaur. It uses the same principle but there is a lot more scope for "creativity" as you just invent the species on the basis of the result.

Brangelina, I love that!
No gelateria artigianale in Exeter !

lol at gelateria artigianale in Exeter! I don't think there is one in London either. Thinking of getting an ice cream maker, how middle class is that?

My problem when trying to make the gelato hedgehog is have to take everything out of the freezer to get it to fit and that lot that I take out melts so best to send dh to get one from shop at last minute. Now Franca you could start a gelateria in Devon . Decent gelato is so hard to find and I hate the Mr Whippy stuff how that is ice cream I don't know.

I could rosa , mind you there are some excellent organic ice creams in devon, made with the lovely milk and cream of lovely devonian (and possibly cornish) happy cows... my fav is honeycomb flavour (there's a good gelateria in plymouth near the aquarium...)

my mum used to make gelato alla crema without the machine. it involved the use of lots of eggs... she stopped making it when she became (boringly) more health conscious.

do any of you have an ice maker? is it difficult to use?

we used to have one back home and it was super easy to use. you just put the ingredients in and leave it to mix it. and that was more than 10 yeras ago, i'd bet there are much easier now. we loved it.

I wanted one on my lista nozze but my freezer is so small it would not be worth it so I put a Fondue set instead.. And have used that twice !!!
I find some of the Cornish ice creams just too creamy . I like cream especially clotted but I think I will just have to keep researching until I find the good ones !
Are you all ok after the horrible weather ??

lol rosa. We never used the fondue set we got for our wedding . Didn't rain much here, but it turned really cold in the afternoon.

I always wanted one but could not justify buying it so thats why it went on the lista nozze. Its turned cold here as well . Yesterday we were on the beach. Is your ds better now ?

A few showers here in London. Never understood the point of fondue I must say. All that cheese to eat in one go, yuk!
Franca you are going to so miss the English rain when you are back in Milan for good. Friends back home are all moaning about the incredible heat....

I think that, if we really decide to go back, I'll miss lots of things from England, but believe me, not the weather, I'd rather be moaning for the heat . Although of course I'm scared about the climate change. I get really pissed off by the Italians attitude towards it, which is complete delusion, judging by how much they use cars...
Anyway, ds is much better, he is now looking for things to dress up like Dart Vader. This bugs leaves them knackered, today he woke up at 8.30 again. Have to go find him a pair of black trousers

I am so glad to be here and not in Italy sorry but the heat is fine but not the humidity. When you cant sleep as your pillow feels like an oven and you cant cuddle the children as you are both sweaty ( sorry !!)
Having said that Franca I hope you have a wonderful time and you manage to log in once ina while to keep us updated.
Med I use oil in my fondue and you cook meat and then of course there is the chocolate one. I think too much melted cheese would make me sick !!

Med, I think you are talking about raclette, that's the one with cheese. Fondue bourghignon (sp???) is either with hot oil or broth, I like it with salsa rosa
Rosa, I know. Humidity is awful. But I really really need scorching (sp???) sun on my shoulder and the freedom to walk in canotta e mutande (. Ok, you can't walk in canotta and mutande around venice or milan...). It's nice here today.
We are leaving on tuesday morning, whihc is supposed to be a lovely day. It'd better be, we are taking the ferry from plymouth.

Hang on though fonduta is also with cheese . Riguardo fonduta O need to raccontarvi this aneddoto. We went to Anguilla on our honeymoon, in the summer (half price). We were staying at a small (relatively cheap) hotel run by a family from Switzerland. Lots of swiss and german guests. On tuesday nights they had fonduta dinner. We didn't try it though. Can you imagine eating fonduta in the caribbean heat?

Isn't Raclette the one where there is a lump of cheese ( sort of held in like a proscuitto stand !!)and they heat the top or the knife or something and you get this lump of melted cheese on your plate that you eat with pickles, potatoes ?
I have done the oil one , friends does a wicked broth and its better as its less greasy . As DH hates cheese its not for him. Yes weather is forecast to be good on Tues will keep fingers crossed.

Yes, that's raclette . Dg doesn't like cheese either, but would (strangely) eat it fuso, so I often cook pasta al forno ai 4 formaggi. Actually haven't done it for ages...

dh!

DH the same...He will eat formaggio in toast and Mozzarella. Also the cheese you have on the griglia from the mountains begins with a T but any 'smelly cheese' its a no way !!
Have you packed yet. I must go and cook DD tea.
Guess what am looking for holidays AGAIN for January ..Lanzarote, Gran Canaria kind of thing will let you know if we book after last time !!!

you have to book this time rosa . I'd love to go to madeira. I was also told that the northern side of tenerife is lovely and less busy, but the weather less reliable... I'm the same, I'm always thinking of holidays.

Yep, i was thinking of raclette! all that cheese gives me a headache.
today it didn't rain in london.
I do think I would go mad leaving in italy with the heat, and most households do not have air conditioning, why????
Franca will you speak in English in Italy to the dcs?
Had a lovely day round the Tate today!

at you at Tate Gallery. What did you do? what did you see?
I'm not sure what we'll do with English Med. It's one of my main concerns. There are two private English schools in Milan, but I'm not keen on private education. We'll have to think about this as well.
Domani partiamoooooooooooooooooooo!

I guess the English will go unless one of you speaks it daily to them. Would you feel confortable speaking in English to them?
I looked at the permanent exhibitions and had coffee...heavenly!

Were you.... .........alone????
I know. Not sure I can speak to them in English. My English is not very good. English school should be the best option, but as I said, it's expensive, it's far away from where we'd like to live, and I'm not a private school sort of person.
We haven't made up our mind yet as to going yet!!