2016 – Page 2 – A True Love of Mine

DIY: Tea Caddy Potted Herbs

One of the things i’ve learnt as i’ve grown up is that you need to make your own happiness. My husband said this during his speech at our wedding and it is wise advice. So i’ve been trying to find things in my life that calm me and make me happy when things aren’t going so well. One of these things is my little balcony garden.

My mum was always an avid and talented gardener and we had the most luscious and colourful garden when I was a child. I never had much interest or success until we moved into this apartment and I thought I would have a crack at it. What was the worst that could happen?

Being an avid tea drinker I had a couple of cute, empty tea caddys lying around taking up space so I thought, why not use them as pots? I chose some herbs that wouldn’t take up much space and wouldn’t mind being a bit stunted (as the caddys have very narrow openings there isn’t much room for the plants to grow).

I decided on purple sage (hidden at the back of this picture) and lemon thyme for this potting experiment

bashed a few drainage holes in the bottom of the tins using a screwdriver and hammer (much to hubs’s chagrin…)

and potted the herbs with a bit of potting mix.

It’s far from a perfect situation for these little herbies to grow as its difficult to get enough potting mix in that tiny hole once the plants are in but they look so damn pretty I don’t even care!

And here they are, enjoying their new home on my balcony!

These little herbs have been so resilient and given me a decent crop for my cooking. I can’t say that they have flourished but they have certainly prevailed against caterpillars, scorching hot afternoon summer sun and some seriously neglectful watering. I would probably choose tins with a wider opening or cut the top out of them next time. Please, learn from my mistakes! In the end, this project certainly helped increase my happiness and I really love sitting on my balcony and seeing my little plants grow against the odds. What small things do you do to choose happiness?

What Katie Did in Milan: High Society at 10 Corso Como

After rubbing shoulders with the rich and fabulous at the Teatro Alla Scala we had a bit of a taste for the high life. The next day we decided to take a look at 10 Corso Como, a trendy mix of fashion and design with a sprawling garden bar where you can escape the heat of a Milanese Summer. Opened in the 90’s 10 Corso Como is the brainchild of Italian Vogue editor Carla Sozzani and houses some of the most exciting and outrageous fashion and home decorating pieces i’ve ever seen. It’s the kind of place that only people who are Croesus-rich could shop at and I had so much fun imagining the kind of person who could wear velvet loafers studded with gold spikes of varying lengths, sporting a four figure price tag. If you’re on a budget (like we were, after splurging on the opera!) but still want a keepsake, there is a huge range of fashion photography and biography books. Some are in Italian and many are in English and there are also some cookbooks in the mix too. I ended up buying a cookbook of Milanese recipes written in Italian so that I could keep practising my language skills.

If you’re far too broke or don’t want to use up valuable baggage kilos on a heavy book, you might just want to chill in the garden with a cool cocktail.

Cue picture of two delicious, icy cocktails!

I had a ginger and lime with dark rum and hubs had a gin fizz. I think it’s a bit of an Italian trait that the gin cocktails come with a maraschino cherry on top. Not that i’m complaining! The drinks came with the standard generous bowls of aperitivos which were salted nuts and chips. Not quite the olives I was hoping for but again, i’m not complaining!

We were also joined by a little sparrow guest who kept us entertained by hopping around on all the tables and fluttering through the surrounding greenery.

10 Corso Como is a short walk from the Garibaldi metro stop and also quite close to Eataly which is why we didn’t eat more when we visited. If you want to get out of the very busy center of Milan, this is a lovely, quiet district to wander through. You can also indulge in a little people-watching as you relax.

10 Corso Como

Address: 10 Corso Como, Milan
Nearest Metro: Garibaldi
Opening Hours: Friday – Tuesday 10:30am -7:30pm, Wednesday and Thursday 10:30am – 9pm

What Katie Did in Milan: Summer Nights at Teatro Alla Scala

You might be surprised to hear that eating wasn’t the only thing that we did in Milan. As we were treating the trip as a sort of ‘European Honeymoon’ we tried to do things that we probably would only do once in our lives. Doing something luxurious in this stylish city was a given and we settled on a night of opera at the iconic Teatro Alla Scala. The season had only just begun and it seemed perfect that the production that was on while we were there was Puccini’s Tosca.

We purchased ridiculously expensive tickets from the theatre’s website and ended up in an opulent box with an incredible view of the stage. The theatre is steeped in history and I felt as though we had wandered into a 19th century Russian novel where the rich and glamorous would conduct elicit affairs in private boxes when the lights were dim.

Can’t you just imagine what would go on in these boxes?

I felt a little bit sorry for some of these patrons because the angle of the boxes on the side of the theatre means that they would have had a pretty obscured view of the stage.

Each box had three rows of paired seats, each slightly higher than those in front. We were very lucky that the third couple in our box didn’t turn up so we were able to lean against the back wall for some support. The gorgeously decorated padded red velvet walls I should say….

The machine in our box that supplied English subtitles was broken and my limited proficiency in Italian meant that I was limited to understanding the occasional

Allhora!

Andiamo!

or the far less polite

STRONZO!

Still, with a basic understanding of the plot, the swelling of the music was enough to tell us what was going on in this romantic opera. We were both captivated and so glad that of all the things to do in Milan, this had been the thing we had splurged on. The prohibitive cost means that we will probably never go again but, if you can wrangle some tickets, this experience is absolutely incredible.

If you are looking to buy tickets, these are the best pieces of advice I can give you:

1. Spend some time getting familiar with the website – it can be tricky to navigate and tickets for desirable shows will sell out quickly so you want to be ready to go when your desired show becomes available

2. If you can afford it, try for a box as close to the royal box as possible and try to steer clear of the ones on the side of the theatre as you will have a partially (or mostly) obstructed view of the stage

3. Again, if you can afford it, buy tickets for the front or middle of your box. I’m not sure that the people behind us (had they turned up) would have seen much at all

4. Read up on the show that you are seeing so that you don’t get too lost

5. Enjoy the people watching! There were some amazing, glamorous outfits and some crazy, quirky ones but the people watching was almost as much fun as the show itself! Feel free to glam yourself up too. I brought a special little black dress just for wearing to the opera and I felt a little bit ‘Holly Golightly’ attending a fancy party!