A Room with a View

This was my view this morning when I woke up...  I am staying in a friend's apartment in Rome with the most incredible views imaginable. I have a panoramic view of the city from the 6th floor and there is a huge terrace on which to wander about and breath in the atmosphere. To my right is Piazza Venezia, directly in front is the Colosseum and in the opposite direction is St Peter's Square. I love this place!! Rome has a magical quality about it and I'd be quite happy to stay here pottering about on the terrace, doing a bit of gardening and not venture out into the streets at all... A Lovely Room in Notting Hill has made all this possible for me as I have a reciprocal arrangement with my friend whereby he can stay in my flat if ever wants a little visit to London.

Yesterday I watched the Royal Wedding on tv and enjoyed an italian take on the proceedings. Why is italian tv so unbelievably bad? It's hilarious. In the end I had to turn the commentary off as they were so over the top.  In fact watching the RW on youtube was the best bet as there was no commentary at all. It was all very moving and Kate looked  beautiful. The whole event was planned with such military precision it was awesome. We Brits may have slipped in the world power stakes but we know how to put on a good show. I felt a pang of wishing I was at home in London participating in the excitement with my friends and neighbours but then I looked around me and felt an overwhelming joy at being in Rome.

I set off on foot to see Piazza Navona which I adored the first time I was here. Then I headed towards the River Tiber and crossed over Ponte Umberto I, wandering up to see St Peter's Square before it gets taken over by a few million Catholics all wanting to be present for the beatification of Pope John Paul II on May 1 at the Vatican. Rome is going to be a seething mass of humanity on Sunday and I will probably head to one of the gardens for some peace and tranquility... I let myself meander through the streets on the way home and found myself in countless lovely piazzas, one of which is pictured below

I have received instructions from Michal to research any new gelato recipes in Rome and will be applying myself to this task with great enthusiasm. There's nothing I like more than eating italian icecream than making it. My God it's delicious!!!! In fact I love most Italian food and will have to do a lot of walking for the week that I'm here to work off all those calories... probably best not to think about it.

I have brought sketch books, paints etc and plan to do some sketching while I'm here. Didn't bring a scanner with me (joke!) so any results will be posted on my return to London. Today I am meeting up with an old friend who I haven't seen for years and I am also meeting someone new so I am feeling happy and sociable. La vita è bella! 

Ciao

Baking with Michal

My friend Tonya very kindly invited me along to a cake baking workshop last week at a private club in London run by the super talented head chef Michal. A small group of us enthusiastically followed instructions given my Michal who first demonstrated what to do and then gave us each one recipe to follow. Tonya and I were given  lavender cupcakes (I am after all the cupcake girl!) and other recipes were tiramisu, chocolate mousse, strawberry cheesecake cupcakes, a very sophisticated pastry called pasta frolla for a fruit tart that also included pastry cream (really delicious) and peanut butter cookies. I have to say that it was the most fun I've had for ages and more than made up for the debacle at the cafe. It was great experience to attempt some quite complicated recipes with the expert guidance of Michal who bravely guided us through all the stages until we finished with a pretty impressive display of cakes and tarts. (see above). We all sat down at the end of the session and did our best to eat as much as possible of the delicacies with  several cups of tea... such hard work!! We ended up taking away bags brimming over with goodies and with an increased knowledge of the wonderful world of patisserie baking.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Time and time again I have to remind myself to keep life simple. It is so easy to get caught up in other people's madness and each time it happens I get my fingers burnt. ouch!! I'm feeling a bit annoyed with the whole cafe business. It all went a bit pear shaped as the owner (who is a perfectly nice woman but a bit all over the place) invited me to bake cakes at the cafe but also asked another much more experienced cook to do the same. On my first day at the cafe I arrived to find the table heaving with several huge, lavish cakes made by the other woman... not only were they extraordinarily over the top but done in a totally different style to those previously made at the cafe. I was a bit stunned and disappointed. After a couple of days it was pretty obvious that there really wasn't room for both of us and I aired my feelings to the owner. She did have the good grace to apologise but it took the wind out of my sails and I think we both realised that there was no point in me continuing to work at the cafe.

So keep calm and carry on is the theme this week. Instead of dwelling on the frustration of the last few days at the cafe I want to focus on what I've learned from the experience. It really wasn't my fault. The cafe setup was fairly dysfunctional as the goal posts were constantly changing and that actually created a lot of anxiety for everyone concerned. I think it was an odd way of managing people but I couldn't control this situation so it was best to walk away. I have at least learned how to make a pretty nice cup cake and I can work a bit faster now. I know that everyone makes mistakes and I'm aware that no-one set out to be nasty - it just didn't work out. I also know that it's not a good idea to let people take advantage of my creativity and I know that when I got excited about re-designing the cafe it was because of my enthusiasm for the project. In reality, there was no budget to make it happen and once I realised this I pulled back to save myself from further disappointment. It's a shame but there it is.

Keeping calm saves one from investing too much time and energy into things that lead nowhere. It's a really hard thing to do as it's so natural to get excited and positive at the beginning of a project. The problems arise when you have to work with other people and they don't have the same level of commitment or have a completely different agenda. I am learning how to not dwell on difficulties and try and move on with insight as opposed to fear and loathing! Good thing I have yoga to help me with that... also I know that I am extremely lucky to be able to have the opportunity to try out new work situations. It's a challenge and also quite humbling to set out on something new. I don't expect to be the queen of pavlovas just yet...