TEA-TIME TALES

"I am glad I was not born before tea." - The Rev. Sydney Smith

Linda, Chiara and Gino organised a lovely birthday tea for me today and Gina, Carlo, Irma and Venetia came too. Here you see a very Sicilian table set for a very British tea:

Yes, those are Digestive Biscuits you see there. We can get them here and that is fortunate, as if you put half a packet in a plastic bag and bash them enthusiastically with a rolling pin, the crumbs make a fine base for a semifreddo. Served as they are, they surprisingly go down rather well with the Sicilians, once you have explained that although they have the word "Digestive" written on them, they are not consumed because they help your digestion!

There were ham sandwiches, scones, Sicilian honey and British jam, followed by this wonderful lemon curd birthday cake, made by the indefatigable Chiara. The cake decoration of fresh flowers is a very Sicilian touch and here she has used winter jasmine:

One symbolic candle is very tactful when a girl reaches un certain âge, wouldn't you agree?

Gina had brought along these irresistible Sicilian handmade chocs and I can tell you that the strawberry-shaped ones on the left were particularly divine:

All Italians think the British are strange because of the habit of drinking tea with milk, but at this birthday gathering we discovered the true reason why Gina had been unable to get used to it; she'd thought the milk had to be hot! This reminded me of the time I sent a Christmas pudding to another friend here. This friend, an English teacher, hadn't bothered to read the instructions on the pack and proudly served this "unique English dessert" cold and raw to his family on Christmas Day. It was unique, all right! Anyway, this evening Gina had a cup of tea with cold milk and decided it wasn't so bad. [I'm a tea with lemon lady myself.]

The tea and the company were gifts aplenty, but I also received these from my kind and thoughtful friends:

This necklace from Rosa and family - exactly the type of jewellery I like.

These pretties for the balcony from Linda and family.



Beautiful flowers from Gina and family.

And, of course, the outfit from Irma that I mentioned last week.

I am, indeed, blessed and this afternoon I saw a sight I haven't witnessed in four winters. Yes, it snowed! Only for about ten minutes and it turned into rain before it hit the ground, but it was definitely snow. And on this cold night, as I cuddle up to my beautiful, warm doggie, I'll be telling her that there is no one I'd rather spend my birthday or Valentine's night with in "all the widey, woofie world".