Christmas Hampers

It always seems strange just how early the world prepares for Christmas. At least in certain parts of the world, it seems like window displays start promoting Christmas as early as the beginning of the fall season! Have you ever seen a plastic Christmas tree in a store window in October, or heard Christmas carols softly playing in the background at local malls in September? This comes of course on the same day no less than Justin Bieber will turn on the lights at Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush.

It seems that there are two reasons for this ridiculously premature tendency that stores and malls seem to have: first, it is simply exciting to be preparing for Christmas. Who doesn’t look forward to the holiday season, after all? However, early promotion of the Christmas season also encourages people to shop early, and get the hard or tedious parts of the holiday over with in advance. In London, for example, they are already offering products like Marks and Spencer Christmas Hampers to simplify people’s shopping experiences.

Many people who are not from the UK, or who tend to do more hands-on shopping for individual family members and friends over the Christmas season may be wondering what exactly a Christmas Hamper is. Essentially, it is just what it sounds like: a sort of gift basket full of Christmas treats or gifts, and often decorated according to the holiday.

Of course, with this sort of gift, there is a good deal of variety. It is not as if “a Christmas Hamper” is a single item that is suggested as a gift. There are plenty of different types of these Hampers… some full of small gifts, some with foods and treats, some with alcoholic beverages, etc. Ultimately, the selection and style of this gift makes it very easy to purchase in advance, and simplifies not only your shopping experience, but also your decision-making process when trying to figure out what to give people this year.

Overall, it is still almost comical to see such items already available for sale in stores all over the world. In many parts of the world, people are still enjoying the warmth of summer and have not even begun to think about the fall, let alone the wintery holiday season. However, if you are interested in convenience, or even if you just happened to find last holiday season particularly stressful, it might be an appealing option to get the bulk of your shopping done in advance. There is after all a certain appeal in simply stashing Christmas gifts away in a closet so that instead of hitting the crowded stores and shopping malls this December, you need only open a door and send out your gifts.

Happy preparation everybody, and good luck with all your presents!

[Disclaimer. This post was brought to you by M&S.]

I’ve recently been discovering the Green side of the web, and was amazed by the numbers and the quality of such websites and blogs, not only worldwide but also UK-based, as I’ve been doing a bit of work with Tesco lately.

I got to know extremely interesting campaigns, informative websites, real-life-situations blogs, inspirational stories, and cool products.

One of the ideas I liked the most is JugIt, a (guess what?) jug specifically designed to work well with milk bags. Milk bags are particularly clever and “easy” on the environment when compared to the regular milk bottles, as they use 75% less plastic. The jug is very easy to use and it only takes three steps to have your milk ready for your cup. It is now available for purchase at some Tesco and Sainsbury stores (with full list on the JugIt website), as well as Ocado.

Of course, you can only use it if your store sells milk bags, which, again, it’s not as common as it probably should be.

All in all, I think it’s a great idea and above all a very simple one to implement in your dayliy life, as it realy does not change your “behaviour” (you still buy milk, and you still pour it in your cup, only thing you need to do is put the bag in the jug, and wash it between uses). I’ve been using it only for a couple of weeks but I’m very happy with it, and I hope stores find the milk bags worth keeping (as in, I hope they sell) because I’d really like to keep on using it.

(Please note, this is not a paid post, nor it has anything to do with what I’ve been working on lately. I just like the idea)

What’s up with you guys?

We’ve been a bit busy with work/freelancing/dissertation/things to go to (events, Oasis gigs…) and of course the blog suffered a bit. Sorry about that. But we come with bells and colours as we announce that we finally managed to meet and plan for the next AperiTweat!
AperiTweat 3.0 will take place at Viva Verdi, on the 18th of August 2009.

Viva Verdi is a very lovely wine bar just behind TATE Modern, between London Bridge and Southwark tube stations. It’s also easy to get to from Blackfriars (bear in mind the tube station is closed till God knows when, but rail station is open!) by crossing the bridge and turning left in Southwark Street. For the digital geo-junkies in you, the full postcode is SE1 9AN. Type it, get there. As simple as that. You can also see it on OpenStreetMap when you search for the postcode.

As usual, expect quality drinks (the Prosecco is awesome, ’nuff said) and free food to accompany your drinks and chats. Cause we’re there to chat, right? Of course, the atmosphere is perfect for your networking needs, and if we’re lucky with the weather, there’s also some room outside. The room outside is there anyway, even with bad weather, it just might be not as interesting!

What I personally love about the place is the ham slicer, aka “affettatrice”. It sits at the centre of the bar, and it’s surely the most scenic one I’ve ever seen in my life of ham aficionado. And it’s not just the slicer, the ham, or “prosciutto crudo” is amazing too. What’s the point in having the coolest slicer if the prosciutto is not good? The guys at Viva Verdi thought the same.

We will have some surprises in the next days and weeks, but in the meanwhile please have a look at the official Aperitweat blog and also please join us and RSVP here.

We hope to see you there!

]]> http://www.twoexpats.com/aperitweat-30-coming/feed/ 0 http://www.twoexpats.com/patate-in-tecia/ http://www.twoexpats.com/patate-in-tecia/#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:54:26 +0000 Matteo http://www.twoexpats.com/?p=216

Surely the title of the post will mean very little to most of you, and those of you who know what this is all about will read through anyway!

And after the pubs, we are now starting the new food series. Coming from two Italian Expats in London, it might be worth following…

Patate in Tecia are a traditional recipe from my home town, Trieste, in the Northern-Eartern corner of Italy. They are not to be confused with the Spanish tortillas, nor with the Austrian potatoes wth sweet onion, which my German does not allow me to mention in the original language.

They are, officialy speaking, a side. Usually enjoyed (and the usually is not related to the “enjoy”, that’d be an “always”) with meat, they are quite heavy for a side dish.

The original recipe, for 4 people, is the following:

1 kg of potatoes

1 onion

100 grams of bacon

4 spoons of lard

You boil the potatoes, and then peel them. In the meanwhile, the onion and the bacon are to be lightly fried in a pan (the “tecia” in the name, which is not Italian but Triestin, my dialect) with the lard (I personally use olive oil instead of the lard, and I suggest yo do so). A nice variation sees the bacon being replaced by Sardinian sausage. Then you “squeeze” the potatoes in the pan, in a gross way, you don’t have to mash them. You leave them there till they form a nice brownish crust on one side, then you turn them over and wait for the other side to be ready.

Patate in Tecia, from our Flickr food photoset

As simple as that. They’re a very simple dish that you can easily find in any restaurant in Trieste, but you can also prepare them yourselves at home.

And, don’t they look wonderful?

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Tonite is a great night for us Italians in London. The football National team is playing Brazil in a friendly at the Emirates Stadium.

It’s a rare occasion to see the two best teams in the world, with 9 (n-i-n-e) World Cups won among the two. The top winner Brazil plays the current title holder Italy: the match is completely sold-out, and that means some 60 thousands people will cheer for Italy and/or Brazil (you never know!), or just enjoying what we hope will be a good game of football.

In what is going to be a very Italian evening, we’ll have a pizza before the game. The chosen destination is a little place in Drury Lane, in between Holborn and Covent Garden. It’s my favourite pizza place around work, and Gioia never managed to have a pizza there. We managed to meet once there during our lunch break, but that happened on the day the oven wasn’t working…

So we’ll get some pizza tonite, I checked earlier today and everything seems fine.

Write you later about the match!