The Burnt Cream Blog

25/02/2026

An Ode to Japanese Toilet Culture

During my recent 10-day trip to Japan, I was amazed by the prevalence of heated seats in various facilities, from transportation to toilets. While in Tottori, I very randomly re-connected with Mees List via an Instagram story from a Chinese restaurant, highlighting the interconnectedness of the wine world and the charm of Japan's unique, err, "facilites."...

During my recent 10-day trip to Japan, I was amazed by the prevalence of heated seats in various facilities, from transportation to toilets. While in Tottori, I very randomly re-connected with Mees…

02/11/2023

Filling a 1.2l bowl with sultanas, cranberries, figs, chopped apple, orange and lemon peel, some mixed spice and a generous pour of both cherry liqueur AND amaretto to make a traditional Christmas Pudding. 😋

The figs and the cranberries were not actually in the recipe but I'm not able to find sultanas AND currants AND raisins here; plus I love the richness of figs and I think I'll like the burst from a cranberry in the finished pudding.

Speaking of finished, there's still a long way to go. I mixed the ingredients yesterday (with help from the four-year-old, of course) and let them sit in the liqueur overnight. Today the pudding is steaming for eight hours and then I'll leave it to mature, tucked away behind the wine bottles, until Dec 25th.

If you think that's bad, there's a five star hotel in my hometown where they make their Christmas puddings in January for the following December! 😱
https://www.instagram.com/p/CzIzJgHNVwN/

31/07/2023

https://www.instagram.com/p/CukBVFttnoJ/

These fish look too good to be called barboni, which literally means a vagabond or tramp. 🤔

If you don't want to be waiting by the docks at 4am when the boats come in, the Chioggia fish market behind Palazzo Granaio is where you should go. 30 stalls selling the freshest fish (today there were probably only 20 fishmongers open, but there was still plenty of choice!) Open to the public every morning, except Monday.

31/01/2023

Come and find me over on .

According to Italian legend, the last three days of January are the coldest in the year.

25/06/2022

The first figs of the season! ☀️🌿🍹
These are called "fioroni" (literally, large flowers) which are fleshy and sometimes rather lacklustre.
In another month or so (you might be able to spot two further along the branch to the left) we'll get the real figs (in Italian "fichi forniti") which tend to be much sweeter and more flavourful. I'm not sure I can wait that long! 😋

18/06/2022

I hereby declare season open!

Stale bread, tomatoes, cucumber, basil, (onion optional) : a masterclass on how simple ingredients can transform into something great. 🇮🇹

Tip: assemble it directly in a Tupperware so you can shake it about a bit. 😉

09/06/2022

My favourite kind of meal: millions of little dishes and each one better than the previous one.

08/06/2022

You may think that Italy has just one type of pizza...but no. This is the kind you find in Naples but made by a chef from Campania: with cloud-like, fluffy edges and a centre so thin that it needs the support of cutlery. Acqua e Farina (Water and Flour) is a no-reservations, in-out kind of pizzeria where I had the Parmigiana for lunch today, with eggplant/aubergine, smoked provola cheese and sausage. 😋

17/10/2021

I'm more likely to cook Jacques Pepin's roast chicken but this is beautifully written!

The giant Italian pie was the centrepiece of the star’s Big Night film. Now he’s invited Jay Rayner round to his house to make it.

25/06/2020

It's so close to being the weekend, it's hard to sit still at the computer. That feeling is particularly bad right now because on Saturday, we'll drive down to the seaside to a campsite near Venice for a week! 🏖☀️👙🌴
It felt for so long that this holiday might not go ahead that I still can't quite believe that we're so nearly there.
What about you guys? Are your summer plans this year the same as the majority of Italians?
~~
"One in two Italians will go on holiday this year although only 5.5% has already booked, according to a Demoskopika survey on the post-COVID tourist.
Sicily, Tuscany and Puglia are the preferred destinations of this 51% of Italians, 92.3% of whom will stay in Italy for their holidays and only 7.8% of whom will go abroad.
Among those who won't go on holiday, 25% are afraid and 16% can't afford it, the survey said, adding that the self-employed, factory workers and the unemployed are the worst affected."

One in two Italians will go on holiday this year although only 5.5% has already booked, according to a Demoskopika survey on the post-COVID tourist. Sicily, Tuscany and Puglia are the preferred destinations of this 51% of Italians, 92. © ANSA

05/05/2020

"I have news" says my husband at dinner last night.
"Good news or bad news?" I ask.
"You tell me.." he says, smiling. "Do remember that guy I was in touch with in January? He called to say he's had a bad allergic reaction to a bee sting so he needs to sell his hives ASAP. There are a dozen hives, all the bees and some equipment."
---
Tomorrow evening we'll be getting at least one new hive and a ton of honey-making equipment which will need to be found a home. It's good news for Ale, bad news for me! 🙈
(Picture is Alessandro examining one of his bee hives on Sunday morning. The dots around him are the swarm of bees which emerge to protect their queen bee. I took the photo from the safety of the bathroom window because I'm not courageous/foolish enough to put my hand in a bee hive!)

01/05/2020

At 6pm most days these days, we have a standing appointment around a table with three bowls: for pods, peas and discarded pieces. Tonight we opened a rosé from Lazio because the winemaker was chatting live on Instagram.