Buona Pasqua

My first Easter here in Sicily and we are in the Red Zone which means that we can only leave our house to go to the supermarket. It is Easter Monday and it is raining so I have made sure that I have kept myself busy. Today I made a big pot of Minestrone soup using up all of the ingredients in my fridge. It's chilly today as well here in Mussomeli so the soup was very comforting indeed! A friend once suggested that I throw in the rind from a block of Parmesan cheese into the Minestrone to give it that extra burst of flavour.

It's been a bit of a foodie adventure for me over Easter as I also tried "Pupa Cu L'ova" for the first time. This is a typical Sicilian Easter treat, a sweet pastry that has a boiled egg encased in it. My local baker Enzo had them on display and so I decided to try one. The challenge was that I did not know how to eat it. Was I supposed to crack the egg and eat it all at once? Was I going to offend my Italian friends if I did this? I thought to myself that the best way forward would be to go live on Instagram and ask my Italian friends how I should eat it. Apparently you can eat the pastry with lashings of jam and save the egg for later. I ate the egg with the pastry and it was absolutely delicious. So many people started to leave comments about their memories of their Nonna's making this treat at Easter and over the next few days I also had lots of messages from people all over Europe letting me know that they too had this treat in their country. Food is the one thing that we all have in common and I love how it can bring back fond memories no matter where you are in the world.

Last week I did not have any internet for a few days and this turned out to be such a blessing. I sat down and wrote a list of everything that I am grateful for and how much I have loved this move to Sicily and how in a short amount of time I have learnt some very valuable life lessons. I shared these lessons with everyone on Instagram and I wanted to share them with you as well - Age is just a number and it should never hold you back from achieving your dreams, I moved here when I was 56. You create your own luck in life, having a positive mindset attracts positivity. You can choose your reaction to anything that happens to you. You are not responsible for anyone else's happiness, only yours. You can't change anyone, you can only change your reaction to them. Laughter is the best remedy for everything! The last one is my favourite and I hope that you are all having a good old laugh every day!