A Photography Workshop With Gabrielle in Italy

I can write, without exaggeration, that every single photography client I've worked with has made me feel so very privileged to know them.

Gabrielle was no different to all those who came before her. And perhaps it's the fact that the workshops are all about photography &  travel.  Or that they happen in Italy or Antwerp or that they attract women who are ready to wander or already wandering.  Like-minded souls out there in the world.

I end up feeling like I'm working with old friends.  People I would choose to spend time with.  People who somehow manage to pack so much life into the hours we have to work together.

Gabrielle and I walked all over Genova, ate some divine food, met at Douce every morning for breakfast (and returned there whenever we could think of a reason).  We dined at Il Genovese and enjoyed it intensely, we explored Castelletto and Boccadasse, found exquisite gelato and took a million photographs too.

It was a special few days.  Grazie mille, Gabrielle!!

Remembering Good Food and Good Friends

Last week ... this was the dinner starter at Il Genovese. 

It's a little of this, a little of that, to be shared between five.  Outi, my Finnish friend living in Liguria.  Alessandra and Davide, lovely Italian friends from Genova.  And Gabrielle, my Australian client, the one who has become a lovely friend too.

The food was exquisite ... of course, and the company.

Today finds me at my desk and working, back here in Belgium, freezing.  I'm wearing Fiona's hand-knitted woolen rainbow socks and warm clothes.  It's grey, cold and raining, and I remembered this photograph.

Mmmhmmm, I just had peanut butter on toast and a coffee for lunch.

I miss Genovese food. 

Writing from Milan Airport ...

I'm that woman sitting in the midst of those traveling to Berlin, here at the airport in Milan.  There's limited seating, I'm almost sure I shouldn't confess I'm on the flight after theirs. 

I arrived early.  It's my way of dealing with those rumours I've heard of an unreliable Italian train system.  I've never found it to be unreliable over the years but I do arrive 3-4 hours early most times.  When the trip to the airport involves a two-hour train trip and 45 minutes on bus, it's just simpler to arrive early.

Genova was intense. Perhaps I should write, 'as always', but these hard metal seats are barely keeping me awake as I finally allow myself to sink into being here, with nothing more required of me except boarding the plane.

There are so many photographs from my 8 days away, so many stories but I'll keep it simple and leave you with a 'selfie' I took in a beautiful Genovese villa, one that has a fountain from the 15th century and the room you see in the mirror.


Ravioli Fatti in Casa Al “Tuccu” Di Carne, at Il Genovese, Genova.

Il Genovese, located at Via Galata 35R here in Genova, serves a Ligurian meat sauce that I simply adore.

For me, Ravioli Fatti in Casa Al “Tuccu” Di Carne captures, or perhaps represents, some of the best of my food memories so far. 

There is the nostalgia for those stews my Nana used to slow- cook on her coal-fired stove in Invercargil, New Zealand - although her stews never tasted this good.  Never have I tasted a meat sauce like this one. 

Then there is the delicate pasta that hosts the exquisite filling I may have been known to rave about previously.  There is the meat sauce, the one that spends a day cooking ... until it is so tender it simply melts in your mouth. 

And that combination of ingredients I cannot name but that come together to create this dish I adore.

This was dinner tonight.  Grazie mille to Il Genovese!!