The Vogalonga and Butterflied Sardines

This morning I am a little bit grumpy! In front of me, is a backed up sink, it is full of sardine heads, guts, and scales. In the other room I can hear Dino, singing and whistling and getting all his gear together to set out for the 38th edition of the annual Vogalonga!!! He is all chirpy, as he gets to row in the annual event with 7 other fellows, a 32 km regatta, through the picturesque Venetian lagoon.

the rowing marathon route - image taken from www.vogalonga.it

Naturally, he and his crew members will be making lots of pit stops along way, eating and drinking, and becoming merrier as the day progresses. I, on the other hand, have been assigned the duties of cook, photographer and baggage carrier. NOT FAIR, RIGHT????

Enough whinging, the Vogalonga is a famous regatta that began in Venice in 1974, and takes place each year on a Sunday in May when, for a few hours, the suffocating traffic of motorized boats ceases, and the water is left alone to the oars. 

rush hour in Venice

Loads of foreigners arrive and bring all kinds of vessels which ONLY move by means of sheer human strength. The foreigners seem to always have the event summed up quite appropriately, they are happy, smiley and sincerely want to save Venice from the wrath of motor boats. Most Venetians on the other hand, tend to moan and groan about how, on this one day, the public transport service is disrupted!

there's my little Dino

Nevertheless, our fabulous Venetian friends, who simply adore Venice, take to this event each year and really make it super special. This year we are back at our Rowing Club at the Giudecca, and each family has the task of bringing along something to devour after the 3 – 4, and  sometimes, 12 hour event. There will pasta,  fish, sauteed vegetables, and desserts. I am bringing along Sarde Impanate (Crumbed Butterflied Sardines), they are really light and crunchy and as we all know, oily fish are just so flavoursome.

ginger, our neighbourhood cat, also loves succulent sardines

Thus, as this day comes to a close, I sip on a very cold Prosecco, whilst still trying to remove the last few sardine scales from my hair... they just seem to fly everywhere. 

Go to Crumbed Butterflied Sardines recipe

Moving to Cornwall & Asparagus and Free Range Eggs

 THE GONDOLIER'S WIFE and her diminutive husband are going on a little trip to sunny England and even sunnier Wales.

a view over fabulous Fowey

“What?” I hear you say. “Leave splendid Venezia, just as the season is starting, for dreary old blighty? It's usually the Brits going to Italy in the summer, not other way round!” I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I haven't told you every thing about my paddling husband. Not only is he a fifth generation gondolier, but he comes from a family of artists. My little Dino creates whimsical paintings and  sculptures. We had a gallery in Venice, for quite a few years called, ART FOR SERIOUS PEOPLE. I decided to create my blog after we closed, but I can see that Dino is about to pop with creativity. So we're going to do some exhibitions in Cornwall, on the west cost of England. We are going to be staying in a fabulously, friendly little Cornish harbour town, called Fowey, that we fell in love with on a previously trip. She is an absolute delight. Believe it or not, there are plenty of culinary similarities that the Venetian lagoon and the Cornish coast share.

fields of gold

The first thing we noticed, as we headed out of London and into the gorgeous British countryside, were the radiant fields of yellow rape seed flowers, they seem to be grow it in every corner of the country. Cruising through the swathes of gold really brightens up the journey. Our trip also coincided with the British asparagus season, but driving around we didn't seem to be able to see any place that grew any. It's only when you get out of the car and look closer, that a plot of apparent mud, miraculously transforms itself into a garden, full of green and purple spears spurting up from the ground.

slow food...

Everyone kept telling us that English Asparagus is the best in the world, (they say the same thing in Italy, about theirs) so on our way to Cornwall, I couldn't resist stopping by a lovely road side seller and relieving him of some his fresh eggs and a beautiful big bunch of asparagus spears.

Go to Asparagus with Free Range Soft Boiled Eggs recipe.