Just wait ’til you turn the pages of….Italian Coastal, by Amber Guinness
Hello everyone,
How very excited I am to invite you to an AFTERNOON and TWILIGHT SUPPER with AMBER GUINNESS author of ITALIAN COASTAL on SATURDAY 06 APRIL.
In collaboration with our dear friend Barbara Sweeney of Food & Words, who has been tasked by Amber’s publisher Thames & Hudson to arrange a very special event for Amber (who will be on a whistle-stop tour down under): when Barbara got in touch, it occurred to me that that particular date is the last of daylight saving…the last of those extended pink hued evenings…when being in the garden is so captivating…how sad it would be I suggested…if our guests left before the magic hour? Hence…we have an enchanting event planned!
We would love for you to join us…when we’ll all meet in the Hayshed at 3.30pm for a little spritz and apertivo on arrival. You can take a gentle turn around the garden, spritz in hand, whilst we settle Amber into the Dairy for a Conversation on Life in Tuscany: from land to coast and seascape…food, produce, history…and tales of the residential painting school she runs from the restored Tuscan farmhouse where she was raised…Arniano. I expect we’ll all be held spellbound!
Whilst I have yet to actually hold this blue and white beauty in my hands…I’ve been lucky to have a sneaky-peaky on my screen and….couldn’t help but feel positively giddy with excitement…(much as I did on our honeymoon in that magical land all those moons ago!)…transported to that place where the glorious Tyrrhenian Sea meets with hazy evening horizons…a land of lemon trees and figs, of market tables heaped with veg, of aqua waters filled with fishies…a land where plenty arrives on your plate. (I’ve copied Barbara’s description of her reading through an actual copy of Italian Coastal below…I think you may enjoy reading her words…penned on a drizzly, February, Sydney afternoon!)
There will be time for Q&A and to chat with Amber as she signs copies of her books (I’ve asked Barbara to also arrange for copies of Amber’s previous book ‘A House Party in Tuscany’ to be available too…together they make for a happy pigeon pair!)…and then…we’ll all find our place to sit in the Loggia, where our tastebuds will be in for a treat, as we enjoy a delicious almost Tuscan twilight supper! Of course Amber can’t be in two places at once, so…we have lovely Harriet Davidson preparing a few light dishes for us from Italian Coastal, before she too takes off on her next European adventure.
What a way to punctuate our change of season…a delightful and inspiring guest with transportive tales to tell; tasty, seasonal morsels to devour…a new book (or two!) to add to our collections and all to be enjoyed as the colours of the rusty old hayshed roof, set off by those apricot hued canna lilies intensify in the gloaming. As a fine mist rises over the dams…you will head home… full of heart, happy and inspired as if you’ve been on a holiday….and out the gate by 7.30pm so you’ll be well home before turning into a pumpkin!
All bookings for this particular event will be via Food & Words (where you will also be able to pre-order a copy of the book/s). You will find all the details and booking form here; but if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. All of us are so excited and cannot wait to immerse in a little hint of Tuscany!
With very best wishes as always,
Mickey
ps Barbara’s teaser on reading Italian Coastal…
‘I have swum in turquoise waters and felt the heat of the sun on the soles of my feet as I strolled on promenades and scrambled over rocks. I’ve been everywhere from the undulating land of Tuscany to where it meets the sea at Mondello Bay, outside Palermo, Sicily, without leaving my day-dreaming bed. I’ve licked the garlicky tomato sauce from a bowl of mussels and scraped Iggy’s bread through the remains of a bowl of caponata. I ate gnocchi and granita, anchovies and artichokes. Gelato was, as you would imagine, on the menu. And now, aperitivo hour has arrived in the form of a water-beaded glass of Prosecco, poured over limoncello granita and a leaf of basil’.
Please can I have what she’s having?!! Mx
