My Tuscan Life

Well, after what was shaping up to be a never-ending summer things are slowly starting to change around here. The days are still wonderfully warm and sunny, but the evenings are beginning to feel fresh, almost chilly at times. I know I sound surprised, but believe me it is a welcome change. Leaves are turning to a golden hue and there is a hint of woodsmoke in the air. I love Autumn!!

This week saw the start of the hunting season in our area, The first shots were fired at around 5am, I must admit it was a bit of a shock to the system. The hunters cars were all parked at the end of the lane and you could see them marching across the fields with their trusty dogs. Talking to my Florentine neighbour we discussed the pro's and con's of shooting small, helpless birds and decided that we both thought it a little barbaric, after all who would eat these small birds one might ask. Well about a year ago I was at a restaurant up in the hills and as part of the antipasti there appeared a piece of bruscetta with something that looked like pate on it. Erm, very gamey in taste I thought. Needless to say after consulting one of the other Italian guests at the table I realised I had just sampled well, you can imagine what. Personally it's not for me.

MTL has just started to receive some press, particularly in the UK. Vanilla magazine has done a small piece about the site and Italia! magazine have featured the site as well.....courtesy of my husband Ian who writes for Italia! Hopefully more magazines and websites will be carrying editorial about My Tuscan Life soon. If you know of any suitable media outlets that might want to feature MTL please let us know. Watch this space!

Having just spent 2 weeks in Puglia, it was a real eye opener to see the difference between there and Tuscany. The Puglian countryside as I drove from Naples to Bari was much less hilly and more open. I have to say the orchards of olive trees that I saw there were the best I've seen in Italy so far. Some of the orchards must have been hundreds of years old. All said and done even though I enjoyed my time in Puglia, Tuscany is definitely for me. I suppose sometimes you just feel drawn to a place!