Oobit, woubit

A while back my barber asked, at the end of the cut, if I wanted my eyebrows trimmed. While they are not yet at the hairy caterpillar stage it was a first time to be asked; the "joys" of getting maturer.



It reminded me of one of my favourite pair of definitions from the OED: oobit and woubit. But googling "define oobit" and "define woubit" did not return any definitions. So here to put the record straight are the relevant entries from the Shorter OED (without the etymological bumpf):

Oobit

See Woubit.

Woubit

A hairy caterpillar; a woolly bear.

Sapphire Bullets 2

Saturday saw the second Sapphire Bullets gig [previous gig], again at The Grey Horse in Kingston on Thames. And a fine set it was too.

This time sister Jane was not on the door so was able to join Mary and I for a meal at Jamie Oliver's Italian. Last time we had to queue for 25 minutes as JO's do not take reservations. This time we walked straight in - whether that was because the novelty has worn off or everyone was down at the river-side restaurants I could not say. We had a very enjoyable meal then off to the gig.



The pub is a proper pub and serves Young's Special so that made my beverage choice for the evening a no-brainer. The band had a different fiddle player who they were pleased with and they had put in a lot of rehearsal between the two gigs. I thought it was good last time but what do I know. Then home on the train.

A fine way to spend a Saturday evening.

Peaches and Blue sleeping

The cats' biggest decision of the day is where to sleep after a breakfast of Felix pouches.

Blue sleeping on the cushion

Blue's current favourite is on the cushion under the radiator. Peaches on the other hand is attempting, chameleon-like, to blend in with the carpet on the stair.

Peaches sleeping on the stairs

While fine for Peaches she does present something of a Health & Safety hazard. A good job pet owners do not have to conduct a risk assessment before taking on a new companion animal.

Everyday differences in Puglia: market vegetables

We like to support our local farmers' market and buy food that does not suffer from jet lag. 

The last time we went to Wandsworth Town farmers' market the veg du jour were sprouts and parsnips. When we went to Locorotondo market it was fava beans (broad beans in English) and artichokes. I know which have more appeal. 


Globe Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus)

I have never been sure how to prepare artichokes. By the time I have trimmed away the outer leaves to get at the heart the pathetic inner core in no way resembles those served up as part of the antipasti. 

Mary took the opportunity of her sabbatical to watch Zia and Carol showing her how to tackle this problematical vegetable and have a go herself. Of course we will now have to wait till next spring to put into practice this new found knowledge as by the time of of next visit some other veg will be in season.    

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Call My Bluff Wine Tasting

Steam Bar Wandsworth arranged an entertaining wine tasting in a novel - to me at least - format: Call my Bluff.

We were presented with six pairs of wine: three white and three red. Then two presenters the proceeded to give us their own descriptions of the wines, one true, one a bluff. We had to guess which was the true definition and, for bonus points, the vintage.

We went as a team of four with our friends Tim and Sarah. We got five of the wines correct and one vintage which was enough to earn us second place. Then we ate and drank some more wine.

Good fun but I would suggest to the manager, Crispin, that a slightly faster version would be better. It lasted two hours which is a long time to drink without eating - notwithstanding the nibbles at half time.

It is a sucessful tasting format with descriptions, both true and bluff, full of interesting factoids. The false definition was a true one but for a different wine.

The pairs were generally of the same grape but new world versus old which in itself is an interesting challenge to identify the stereotypically contrasting styles.

Everyday differences in Puglia: garden tools

We searched far and wide for recognisable garden implements but without success. The common, or garden, fork and spade in their English form are simply not known in Italy.  The same is true of the hand fork and trowel. 


Italian spade

The Puglian design seems to be unchanged from it's mediaeval forebears and lies somewhere between a shovel and a spade. It has a shield shaped blade and long straight handle. 

I must say I do prefer the English version. The blade has a more pronounced flange across the top for applying foot pressure. The shorter haft and D-shaped handle allow the digger to apply, or control, turning action.


English fork and spade

We met an ex-pat couple at the local garden centre who had resorted to bringing a fork and spade out in their hold luggage. We may consider doing the same.

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Gardening in Puglia

The garden is looking a lot better than when we went out at Easter. Mary has spent a lot of time this last month weeding the beds and she has a very brown back to prove it. Also our neighbour, Michele, had rotavated the rest of the plot.

We have a new bed that was created when we had the back courtyard area paved. It had some soft weeds and Mary decided the best way to keep it weed free was to lay down black sheeting covered with gravel.


Collecting gravel from the quarry

There is a nearby quarry where you can collect your own for a very cheap price. So we borrowed six old whitewash buckets from John and went down to start shovelling.


Tubs of gravel in the boot of a Fiat Punto

Each tub weighed 24kg and we did six trips to cover the entire bed. Both of us had aching limbs the next day from moving the better part on a tonne of gravel by hand. If we ever do the big bed we will get a lorry load delivered.


Gravel spread on the herb bed

With the gravel spread and the herbs peeking through the bed should, hopefully be maintenance free. It will look better when the herbs have grown a bit.


Lemon tree in the courtyard

We have always intended to have ourselves a lemon tree and this trip we bought a small tree and planted it in a sunny , sheltered corner of the main courtyard. Like the herbs it has a dripper from the irrigation system to make sure it thrives while we are away. So hopefully next time we are out I can have a gin and tonic with my very own lemon :-)

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

May Day weekend in Puglia

I went out to Italy to retrieve Mary after her month long sabbatical in the sun. The Friday I spent painting the bathroom and on Saturday we had our long overdue house warming.


The inaugural firing up of our pizza oven.

I always said that I would feel I really owned Trullo Azzurro when I had cooked my first pizza in the oven. Well foccacia is good enough for me. I had to use a formidable quantity of olive tree prunings to get the thing up to heat. Some of that was because it has not been used for years and a lot of moisture needed to be driven out.


Mary's home made foccacia ready to go it the oven

Not only did it come out well it was so tasty that Zia, who taught us how to make it, went back for a second slice.


Friends and neighbours round for lunch

We have had people round for supper before but consider this our house warming event. A proper Italian style gathering of our neighbours - eleven people round the table They left about six hours later after much laughter and good company. Also I may have had a glass of wine (hic).

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Monetising the blog

I was chatting to a colleague who also has a website and gets a similar number of hits as me - about 4,000 per month. I saw that he had Google Ads on his site and he revealed that it brought in several hundred pounds per year. Fair enough, so I thought I would do the same - hence the sudden appearance of a small block of ads in the right hand panel.

After two days my estimated earnings are a whopping £1.45 so that scuppers the early retirement plan. Still if it does bring in a few hundred quid each year that is better than a slap in the face with a wet kipper!

And just for Technorati - CWG9YEQPTNA8