We had arrived early at the railway station and waited for our host<\/p>\n
The day was quite warm with a gentle southerly breeze<\/p>\n
But what struck me most about this little town was the perfume that hung in the air<\/p>\n
At first I thought it was artificial but there was no mistake the air was sweetly perfumed<\/p>\n
The Ghost of Thomas Carlyle soon arrived in his impressive 4×4<\/p>\n
I helped my wife into her seat and placed our travelling bags in the boot<\/p>\n
My host remarked that it was not uncommon for days to be perfumed<\/p>\n
As March was a changeable month<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We were greeted by Jane at the gate of their house<\/p>\n
She embraced us both and ordered her husband to take our bags upstairs<\/p>\n
He agreed with a good humour and declined my assistance<\/p>\n
As we went into the kitchen we were greeted by a delicious smell<\/p>\n
My wife enquired of its origins and was told that it was a traditional Italian stew<\/p>\n
It was called Caponata \u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
On enquiry we were told of the ingredients<\/p>\n
Olive Oil
\nAubergines
\nBanana Shallots
\nTomatoes
\nCelery
\nCapers
\nGarlic
\nRed Wine Vinegar
\nLemons
\nHoney
\nPine nuts
\nBasil leaves
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
But Jane would not give us the recipe as it was a closely guarded family secret\u00a0<\/i>
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Both my wife and I understood her reasoning<\/p>\n
Taste is everything<\/p>\n
Always trust your palate<\/p>\n
I remarked on the perfumed day and was told that no-one actually knew why some spring days were perfumed and others not<\/p>\n
Some had tried to discover the reason but without success<\/p>\n
My host said it was easier that way and that we should not try to discover the reason for everything<\/p>\n
Certain things were better if they were left alone<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We had arrived early at the railway station and waited for our host The day was quite warm with a gentle southerly breeze But what struck me most about this little town was the perfume that hung in the air At first I thought it was artificial but there was no mistake the air was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}