Farfalla

Images via jak & jil and theyallhateus

A week in the Park..

All images belong to Dacre Park.

Photo of the Day

National Geographic has awarded Ken Thorne a merit for his photograph Girl and Baobabs, Madagascar in the 2012 Traveller Photo Contest.

The photographer describes the ancient forest of baobab trees on the west coast of Madagascar, "...Walking amongst these giants is like nothing else on this planet. Some of the trees here are over a thousand years old. It is a spiritual place, almost magical."

As though time has stood still.

Image via National Geographic

Columbia Rd Flower Market

London's Columbia Road Flower Market comes to life every Sunday morning transforming the East End street (home to sixty independent shops) into a floral haven.

According to their website you can find everything from pot plants to 10 foot banana trees.

Banana trees? I'll take two.


Images via columbiaroad.info and park & cube.

Home Food

Whenever I am asked to recommend a restaurant in Italy, particularly in the culinary capital of Bologna (where I lived all of last year), I do my bit, suggesting one Osteria or another. Yet I always seem to walk away nursing an uncomfortable pang of regret.

This is because I know the truth about dining in Italy. A truth I discovered credit to the outstanding fortune of having a rich network of friends and family spanning from the southern pizza forni of Naples, through the medieval mountain villages of Abruzzo, and halting in the gastronomic region of Emilia Romagna –where any north bound train will cover the cities of Bologna (home of ragù), Modena (home of aceto balsamico), and Parma (home of prosciutto and parmigiano-reggiano) within only half an hour. 

So why do I feel mere restaurant recommendations are never enough?

Because the best food in Italy is to be found inside peoples' homes. Most specifically but not limited to the home of the elderly Italian woman; La Nonna.

It is inside the home where one may really begin to explore both the pinnacle of authentic Italian cuisine, and the extent to which the Italian's traditional, region-specific foodways speak volumes for their unique cultural mores. Now, thanks to the Home Food project, you don't have to be well connected to experience a real Italian cucina. The Bologna-based company allows you to suggest any location in Italy through their website, no matter whether it be a bustling city or countryside village, they will see if there is a nonna willing to cook for you in her home.

The project is ingenious as it harnesses the everyday Italians' innate flair for hospitality and cooking, whilst providing tourists with the much desired yet increasingly unobtainable authentic cultural experience.

Now, when friends come to me for advice on where to eat, I can do little but smile, and I walk away assured that they will experience something special.


Images sourced from the inspiring Classe Touriste Blog where you can also read about their experience with Home Food.