Mumsnet little Italy 5

[francagoestohollywood]

Welcome!

What is a serum?
Not long ago there was a programme about creams and one came out really well, an antiwrinkle one, next day they had flown off the shelves at tesco. My problem is stains on my face, as well as wrinkles, if that make you feel better....
Grilled some salmon steaks tonight for everybody, so no effort at all...
Hope your dd gets better soon franca, che cosa fai di bello questa settimana? Today it was spring here, miracle!

yes, I remember that as well hhell, wasn't it a cream from boots? don't know really what is the difference between a serum and a cream.

I need to work a bit (doing some research job for a friend). Tidy up, pay bills, book smear test (not done yet), go to library for research thingy, but what makes me really apprehensive is that I have friends for dinner on wednesday and they are very sophisticated cooks, and I just don't want to "fare una brutta figura" (which is silly, I mean they are really good friends, but still...

Lol, if it was a Boots cream it's a fat lot of good to me. I will start my thread in a mo, hopefully someone will reply with a solution.

Franca, if you have loads to do it's almost a certainty your DD will get sick. They always do, small children seem to have a sixth sense about when it's really not the right time, the little buggers.

Have you got a menu planned for your dinner? You could always tempt your friends with some typical English cuisine. You know, roast beef and yorkshire pud, with asparagi or pea and mint soup for starters and apple crumble and custard for pudding. Or even syllabub, perhaps rhubarb and ginger or almond and rose petal.
Either that or black pudding and mushy peas (although I'm not sure where you'd find the ingredients in Milano), followed by jelly (ideally green) from the filipino shop and ice cream. That's bound to impress them, no?

Hhell, I have this Shiseido cream that's apparently good with lightening marks on the skin. DP bought it for me for Christmas. It's actually for age spots I think (gee, thanks DP) but I must say that it does seem to have toned down some of the scars I've had from my recent crop of spots. Are your marks from the pregnancy?

I was in fact planning to make orange jelly. with strawberries and whipped cream.
apple crumble, I make a good one, but fear it's to wintery.
traditional english roastbeef. hmmmm it always turns out troppo duro
shiseido is supposed to be very good. what about aveda?
uffa, dh wants to go to sleep.

Make a summer fruit crumble or a pear and peach crumble and serve cold with clotted cream. With the beef you have to rub the outside and not cook it too slowly or it will dry out. Lol at a vegetarian giving you tips on how to cook meat!

Aveda's nice, my hairdresser here in Monza uses it, but the only cream I ever used was quite rich. On an aside, I think I'm going to go to my old hairdresser in Milan sometime this week as I've decided that the Monza guy keeps giving haircuts that are a bit too "sciura" for my taste. And while I may be officially in the age range for "sciurismo" I certainly don't want to start looking it. Also, it solves my embarrassment problem re the huge grey regrowth as I can put the blame on me not being able to find a decent hairdresser locally. Hopefully he'll feel suitably flattered.

Must go to bed now, I'm totaly sfasata by this clocks going forward thing.

!
I think I'll make involtini alla messinese.

Have you got a good recipe for hummus?

I'm by the quantity of dust that accumulates in less than 24 hrs. I seem to be wasting my milanese life dusting the whole time. Also with the sunshine I notice it even more than in Exeter.

call me if you are coming into milan.

no, the spots are from too much sun..... even though i stop sunbathing ages ago, and wear big hats, still get them....your messages are making me hungry, off to raid the fridge...

Blurgh food no thanks. Orange jelly mmmmm but could you do a stripey one instead ????
What about mozarella filled chicken escalopes wrapped in pancetta - always go down well with my guests! I usually do with sesame potato and then fresh spinach if in season. I am a bit of a pudding queen so try anything and everything!!
Went to doc this morning seemed nice he said stai attento x il peso ma in un modo gentile non pesante like the other one had scan its only 1 ( phew) and all in norm . Now have list of blood tests ..here we go again !!
He has one of those posh scan machines ( is it 3D or 4D ??)so hopefully when bean bigger will see it better. Am down for Vilio at the start of May .DH is going to have to work a few extra hours to pay for it !!
The cream BTW was No7 Beauty falsh balm or something its about £14 Mum swares by it!

Hummous recipe

1-2 cloves of garlic, depending on how garlicky you like it
3 tablespoons tahini
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Pinch of salt to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Olive oil for dressing

Put garlic in the blender and whizz until it's finley chopped. Add chickpeas, tahini and lemon juice, plus a little water. Blend until smooth. Add more water, tahini or lemon until you have the consistency/creaminess/tanginess you desire. To serve, sprinkle with paprika ( or something equally pretty) and drizzle with olive oil.

I usually add a bit more tahini when making it for DD, and quite often more lemon as I like mine quite tangy. You really just have to taste it as you go along, as with everything. I also don't tend to add salt but that's just me

Rosa, can't you get the CVS free? Or aren't you an "older mum"

Hhell, that cream is apprently good for macchie di sole too. Did you sunbathe when you were pg last time? My friend did and is left with the "masque de grossesse" or however you say it in Italian. I was lucky and didn't get any (phew!)

have just made a HUGE disaster with the bloody jelly, as I didn't check the contenitore was sealed properly and while I was transferring it to the fridge.... gsdhk∆gsfknjsdgnjkdsg : a lake of orange juice (freshly squeezed by mois) all over the kitchen floor and the fridge, and spruzzi on the washing machine and dishwasher. I am the worst housewife in the whole world I want to CRY!

rosa: recipe for your chicken and the sesame potatoes pls .
good, glad he was nice and there's a healthy bean growing in there. isn't the cvs on the asl after 35??

hhell, a friend of mine was given I think a cream for that kind of macchie, I can ask what it was.

bugger. I have to go and clean the kitchen. have to pick up the dc in an hr.

brange thanks for the humus recipe, will make it. after this huge debacle.

Lol! that's the kind of thing I would do. Good luck with the cleaning

gfdhkljfhkjlhfkhf/v. done. thank god for the sgrassatore chante chair

I think the juice might have corroded some of the tiles

You know, however well you clean you'll be finding sticky patches 3 months from now.

What are your tiles made of, polystyrene? Or is it orange juice with sulphuric acid? I'm sure they'll be fine, if not just get a bit of stucco for when you give the house back, that's what we did with ours....

nono, they are those old milanese tiles, whose name escapes me at the moment. graniglia maybe. so they are really old and already a bit ruined. have to run now and get the dc from nursery.

Chicken or at or you can do turkey. Get butcher to do you however many fillet slices you need - bashed out flat. My butcher is good as he knows I dont like holes in them! I find turkey are bigger.
You will need approx 2-3 very finely slices strips of pancetta per escalope.
Take 1 fresh mozzarella ( or more depending on how many you are - I sometimes add a some finely chopped sun dried toms or fresh. Sometimes basil. Sometimes a dash of pesto. Then you need to put mozarella to one side of the escalope and literally roll up so it is a sausage shape. Then bash the ends of the sausage. ( so no cheese can escape) Then take pancetta and roll round the sausage shape. Making sure that all parts of the chicken are covered. YOu can do this quite tightly Tuck the ends in .
Bake in oven for a good 40 mins - hr. I tend to do in oilve oil and a dash of vino bianco. Baste regularly . Cover with tinfoil for first half hour and then take off so pancetta goes crunchy.
Sesame pots. Take small - Medium size pots and imagine of the potato is egg shaped you need to slice its tummy off so it sits flat in an oven dish.
Then you need to slice finely from its back to its tummy stopping the slices about 3/4 of the way down the bottom. Take brush and paint oil all over. Then sprinkle sesame seeds ( and salt of they are not gia rosto if you know what I mean)and roast in the oven. Mine normally take 40 mins - hr.
When the chicken is cooked I make a sort of gravy using teh juices , a bit of cornflour and brodo ( or Oxo if I have it).
Nearer Christmas and in the winter I make a stuffing of pancetta bacon, prezzemolo pan grattugato and a bit of melted butter and milk and do exactly the same.
I could have Vilio free but I would rather pay and get an experienced doc than risking it and getting a novellino. I did tell doc to add an extra 30 mins to the time needed seeing as I fainted not after the vilio but the jab last timeI had as I am O neg ! This doc is seeing me a week before to check position of placenta ( for free)before comfirming all.

mmmm sounds super delicious rosa! Will def make it (dh has invited some colleagues on Mon, will try on them!!!!!
rosa, how long does it take for the jelly to settle? It's still acquosa! It's a disaster!!!!!!

I dont think it will Franca as Fresh OJ is acid and jelly will not set with acid fruit in e,g pineapple, kiwi etc.
DO you have any pan di spagna ?? If you do. Take some pan di spagna.slice ( like a meredina and put some grated plain chocolate in the middle. Add a dash of alcohol to the jelly mix (not if also children are having it) . Put into individual small dishes like ramekins Pour some of the jelly mix on the top so it soaks in. Whip up some cream and put on the top. Grate a bit more chocolate on the top decorate with a slice of orange . Put back in fridge and you have a pudding.
If you need other ideas let me know what ingredients you have.....

really? Mil swore on it, she gave me the recipe ! Lol lol lol actually, do you think she was trying to boycott my dinner?

don't have pan di spagna

Is it a gelatine one..not a packet ( sorry for asking)?? It could be the type of gelatine then as I found when I used the cola di pesce then it did not work. I had to use far more than it said. In the Uk I used powdered gelatine......Try putting it for a short time in the freezer and see if that helps ????

si it was colla di pesce, maybe it just wasn't enough. oh bugger. Will try the freezer.
Otherwise I'll make another pudding. there is a yummie one in the latest issue of sale e pepe.

I always keep a couple of those Lindt packet chocolate mousse things in the cupboard they are excellent and you can brush them off as being home made!!!! I try to avoid cooking magazines as I want to do everything but I love the BBc good food one and buy 1 when am in the UK.
Hope it all works out for you !