Mumsnet Little Italy 9

[Brangelina]

Aka le Patatine

Lol Rosa, my dad's a bit like that too having been brought up in and lived in various Asian countries. He thinks he's being charitable if he says things like "that Indian chap is actually quite clever you know". My mum's worse though, she swaps papers with her neighbour and gets given the Sun, which she absorbs from cover to cover and then rants about foreign immigrants stealing all the jobs (er hello mum, you're one too), schools where most pupils' 1st language isn't English (er hello again, you sent me to one of those) and all sorts of ignorant tripe. It's not all the fault of the Sun, some of her sources are the local narrow minded Norfolk bumpkins, the same ones who used to call us "that foarrin family".

and lol at cannibal!

aarghh wrote long post and then disappeared.

to summarise. not tooo shocked as I;ve herad them so many times unfortunately. problem is that young people say such things that can be understood (not accepted) for the older one. my dad can be old school too, and for sure he does the over nice bit. (although he's learnt not to make such comment in front of me anymore as I do not agree, obviously). immigrant stealing jobs mentality makes me vomit but is the most common fuelled by papers and I've heard same comments in umbria and berkshire.

like the new look.

recipe for carrot cake pls?

I have one but have got to dash out and pick up DD. Is it urgent or can it wait till later?

can wait. thanks.

I think the media play an important part in fueling rampant racism. There was a good debate yesterday at Anno zero about immigration, but as I said, I got tired of that chap from lega nord. I cannot stand him and can't remember his name...

Not sure if we are really house hunting. And yes, we'd like to remain in the same area as U don't want the dc to change schools again. But the prices here are high. Very high.

allora? have you seen them franca?

I was half listening to annozero as well, but I get sooooooo het up at these programmes and start shouting at the tv and then I don't sleep so I went back to my book....

My Mum does the over-compensating thing too, anyone black is automatically a "lady" or a "gentleman" because she's so desperate not to offend she goes completely bonkers in the other direction.....It can be some mad hoody with a knife in his socks and if he's black she'll call him a gentleman!

And my late (and not terribly lamented) step-grandmother refused to speak to my German penfriend when she came to stay- and muttered things about "what they did to our chaps" for her entire stay.....gah!

Laughing at Obama tucking into mansteak though.....

Yes I saw them:
One: mediocre/expensive/posh area
Two: perfect lay out/but on busy road/has been recently expensively restored... but not to our tastes!
Three: fantastic location, quiet road, huge terrazzo, tutto da ristrutturare/expensive nevertheless.
I think we'll rent forever... and move to my lovely small flat when the children leave home

(and a bit ) and your step grandmother Bucharest!
Did you see the Pianist the other night? (a proposito)?

Franca, do you mean The pianist with Isabelle Huppert or the one about the holocaust, or something completely different?

I am getting used to the new look of mumsnet, though i felt like stamping my feet and have a tantrum this am...

lol at obama and mansteak - i must say i have sexi dreams about him, finally a good-looking politician and clever too!

looking forward to carrot cake, ta very much.

what did you think of desperate characters franca? anything else you would like/cannot get in Italy, my dear?

it must wonderful looking at posh flats in Milan, very envious. here nobody is buyijng because they expect prices to go further down, isn't it the same in Italy?

Carrot Cake
150g butter
130g demerara sugar
1 large dollop molasses (optional, but it does make the cake moister)
2 eggs
250g grated Carrots
100g ground or finely chopped walnuts (or hazelnuts if preferred)
1 tsp vanilla essence/bustina vanillina
150g plain flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Baking powder
(or just do SR flour and add 1 tsp bicarb)
1 tsp cinnamon

Slowly melt butter in pan, remove from heat and add sugar and molasses, if using. When slightly cooled add beaten eggs. Stir well. Add grated carrots and nuts and coat well with the mixture. Sift flour with various powders then fold into the mixture, about 1/3rd at a time, until well blended. Pour into a loaf tine or a round tin lined with greaseproof paper. Bake at 180° (I think that's gas 4) for around 25 mins if in a round tin, 35-40 mins if in a loaf tin (actually in my long narrow Ikea tin it actually takes nearly an hour).

You can make a cream cheese frosting but I'm far too lazy. I think you need cream cheese and icing sugar, and possibly some extra double cream.

I saw The Pianist, got to about halfway through and couldn't bear it anymore, far too heart-rending. I'd already seen it on DVD though so I knew what to expect.

House prices are still ridiculously high in Milan, aren't they? Most are pretty grim for the price or have been restructured but to dubious taste (wall of pale pink vetrocimento anyone?).

yumm, need to try it tomorrow....

Yes, the pianist about the Holocaust.

The housing market has slowed down a lot in Italy. But prices in Milan were shockingly high, and haven't got down that much. Especially in desirable areas (according to estate agents) and we are squashed between 2 desirable areas . But I really wouldn't want the dc to change schools again.

I thought that Desperate Character was superbly written (especially the party and sophie's affair), but couldn't find much empathy towards otto and sophie.

Yes it seems prices are not really going down here either, and not much new stuff seems to be coming on the market. We need to move though and we're fed up of waiting and spending all our weekends looking at crap houses so we have put an offer in on one and they've sort of informally accepted it, so looks like Rome here we come.

It's not very big but has lots of light, is in a niceish area an there's a massive park 100m down the road. Gio did you get anywhere with the Rome scuole materne?

Rosa you should check out mutuo arancio. Even the tecnocasa guy trying to sell us a mortgage admitted they were more conveniente.

Thanks Sputnik - We are not going back to looking right yet until we see how the year starts to pan out. We have seen too many that we think oh goodie and then we get slapped in the face by something. January is a dead month so we have to ignore that one. Feb brings Carnival and then things tend to get better from there. Our Americal agency that we work with has so far cancelled 40% of the bookings up to June .
Gio love the Obama statement - I bet he will come out withs ome more in due course so keep us informed!

Oh wow Sputnik, that's exciting! And near a park!

at the cancellations rosa

How do you make cream cheese frosting Brange?

I don't think I like this new format. I have a headache

yesthe canibal comment is unbelievable. How did you keep a straight face for that

Its a bummer. SO far the first 12 tours look bad - one can only hope that the rest pick up .The city is very quiet as well !
I am having a few problems with this new MN but it seems like I am not the only one - my talk is all in small and its very pale !
Bummer I put minirosa in her cot and she is whinging - she wants to sleep in arms !