Our car has been sick and so required two overnight stays at the garage in the last week. Finding a reliable mechanic is no easy job anywhere you go in the world, but here in Sicily it involves a rather formal introduction process. A friend will take you along to the workshop and you’ll have … More Pottering and Doodling
It is very easy to focus on the beautiful and charming here in Sicily. There is a such a lot of it. We live in Mascalucia, a peaceful village within a short distance of the city of Catania. I have to admit though, we really struggled with Catania when we first arrived. The dirt, the … More Persistence Pays
All of a sudden, like the flick of a switch, Sicily has snapped into summer mode. Spring, so far, has been a pretty poor affair so it has been good to watch everything come back to life. The granita sellers are back on the street. I will have to write more about Sicily’s answer to … More Feeling the Blues
I have mentioned before how moving to Italy has allowed us to develop a greater awareness of food seasonality. This is even more the case now we live in Sicily. You only need to look at what all of the street vendors are selling to know what is being grown locally. Just now, we are … More Seasonal Sicilia – Oranges
As I mentioned in my previous post, my parents and little brother came to visit last week. It was a good opportunity for us to have a really good look around the island on which we live. Until now, we have actually done very little exploring so we relished the chance to explore a little … More Exploring
Some months ago, friends of ours from Northern Italy were relocating to Sicily. They were talking about what they would take with them and what could possibly be left in storage. In my innocence I suggested that, as they were moving so far down South maybe they wouldn’t need all of their winter coats and … More Moody Skies
We have spent most of this week in the beautiful city of Vienna. We’d had to visit London at the weekend and, given that there are fewer direct flights to London from Catania, we thought we would make a virtue of having to connect and have a short holiday. Despite living a few hours drive … More Viennese Colour
We are settling into Sicilian life very well. Moving from North Eastern Italy to here is really like moving to another country. The culture and way of life is so very different to what we have become used to. Most of the changes we have been happy to embrace….with the exception of the driving. Oh … More Arancini
As mentioned before, Mr Stitches and I made a brief visit to Barcelona last month. I always feel nervous about visiting somewhere of which I have heard nothing but glowing praise. Will it really be as good as everyone says it is? I am pleased to say Barcelona far exceeded our expectations….and a little more. … More Catalonian Colour
A couple of weeks ago, before the relocation mayhem started, we took a trip to Spain. Mr Stitches’ parents recently moved there after retiring and we thought we would pay them a visit. We flew to Barcelona and stopped there for a couple of days. So much inspired me creatively there that I think I … More A Woman of Letters
Ambrosia Stitches 