Panettone and Prosecco
Good. Very, very good in fact, especially with everyone at the office at 4 in the afternoon, way before it is actually Christmas. And the very best thing is that we live a stone's throw away from the Tre Marie factory, where they sell slightly imperfect panettone for 1/3 of supermarket prices.
Lentils with Cotechino sausage
Bad. Well, the lentils are fine, but the cotechino is absolutely horrible. Maybe I got a dodgy one when we made it for New Year’s Eve last year, but as far as I'm concerned it's stinky offally horridness. Or, as my sister-in-law put it: smelly old boots.
Hot chocolate
Completely and utterly wonderful. If you think you know hot chocolate but you have never had Italian hot chocolate, you don’t know hot chocolate. Why? Because Italian hot chocolate is so thick and chocolaty that you have to eat it with a spoon.
Shooting fireworks off the balcony
Mental. Good to watch, but mental. I would never have the cojones to do it myself and Mr P&P is absolutely not allowed to try it either, but, seen from our 8th floor flat, it makes for a quite spectacular New Year’s Eve.
Skiiing day trips
Good, if you like that kind of thing (I don’t. I prefer my snow to come with hot chocolate not bruised shins and aching muscles). There are kiddie/beginner slopes just a train journey away, or alternatively all the travel agencies in the area organise buses to take you to the proper slopes near the Swiss border.
Good. Very, very good in fact, especially with everyone at the office at 4 in the afternoon, way before it is actually Christmas. And the very best thing is that we live a stone's throw away from the Tre Marie factory, where they sell slightly imperfect panettone for 1/3 of supermarket prices.
Lentils with Cotechino sausage
Bad. Well, the lentils are fine, but the cotechino is absolutely horrible. Maybe I got a dodgy one when we made it for New Year’s Eve last year, but as far as I'm concerned it's stinky offally horridness. Or, as my sister-in-law put it: smelly old boots.
Hot chocolate
Completely and utterly wonderful. If you think you know hot chocolate but you have never had Italian hot chocolate, you don’t know hot chocolate. Why? Because Italian hot chocolate is so thick and chocolaty that you have to eat it with a spoon.
Shooting fireworks off the balcony
Mental. Good to watch, but mental. I would never have the cojones to do it myself and Mr P&P is absolutely not allowed to try it either, but, seen from our 8th floor flat, it makes for a quite spectacular New Year’s Eve.
Skiiing day trips
Good, if you like that kind of thing (I don’t. I prefer my snow to come with hot chocolate not bruised shins and aching muscles). There are kiddie/beginner slopes just a train journey away, or alternatively all the travel agencies in the area organise buses to take you to the proper slopes near the Swiss border.