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Thanks for watching the video It's Lucky We Bought Those Extra Beds!
Want more of life in Positano? Follow me on Instagram for daily Stories @NickiPositano
My novel A Boatful of Lemons is available on Amazon worldwide and currently free on Kindle Unlimited:
Amazon US here: https://a.co/d/hCGJmVv
Amazon UK here: https://amzn.eu/d/fTXVQOY
Amazon Australia: https://amzn.asia/d/gTBvZ4v
Amazon Canada: https://a.co/d/hMc1m4e
My recipe and story Ebook is available to purchase here, as is my guide to Positano with info on how to get here, where to stay, what to eat and what to do: https://positanodiaries.com/our-positano-cookbook
Join my Patreon to receive extra weeekly videos, chats and blog posts here:
https://www.patreon.com/nickipositano
All music from Epidemic Sound
End screen/subscribe button and lower third graphics were designed by Video Editor Alex Ransome at vimeo.com/alexransome and on Twitter @aransomenote
#travel #tuscany #vlog #travelvlog #italy
Thanks for watching the video It's Lucky We Bought Those Extra Beds!
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Let's have a little recap of what's been happening the last couple of months.
00:16We came back to Tuscany from our home in Positano at the end of January bringing Carlo's mother
00:21with us.
00:22Unfortunately, on her third night here she had a big stroke and was rushed to hospital.
00:27After three weeks she was transferred to a rehabilitation clinic for 30 days where
00:32she's now slowly building strength and learning to use her left leg and arm again.
00:38We've been visiting every day and there's ups and downs but she is able to move a little
00:42bit more every day.
00:44Carlo's brothers have been back and forth to visit so we often have a full house.
00:48For Carlo's mother life will probably not be the same as before and we will soon have
00:52the task of taking her back to Positano and settling her back into her home with a full
00:57time carer.
00:58Although this has been a sad and stressful time, there are also moments to be grateful
01:03for.
01:04The five brothers have become closer, spending more time together than they have done in
01:08years.
01:09Also, Carlo and I have taken a step back from renovating, our lives have slowed and we're
01:14enjoying long morning dog walks before the afternoon drive to the hospital and back with
01:19loads of time for chatting and planning for the future.
01:23There was an arch here covered in wisteria and the strong winds knocked it all down so
01:30Carlo is going to mend it and make it stronger.
01:53And we all know that in Italy we're not allowed to use cement.
02:06I would be helping him but I'm currently cooking some risotto because it's going to be lunchtime
02:12soon so I'm doing a mushroom and spinach risotto.
02:19So all I've done is chopped up some onion, fried it for about four or five minutes, added
02:24some mushrooms, fried it for another four minutes altogether, added the rice, I'm using
02:29canaroli rice, splashed red wine, a bit of salt and pepper and add water bit by bit and
02:37keep stirring to get the starches out and make it nice and creamy and I'll add the spinach
02:43last minute because it doesn't really need any time to cook so that's going in and I'm
02:48I mean the only thing I'm weighing is the rice and I usually do about 100 grams per person
02:53and that tends to be about right for a portion.
02:58We have one post up and secured.
03:04An interesting little fact if you're learning Italian, the stalk of the spinach or I suppose
03:11any edible plant is called the gamba, the leg, so you take the legs off.
03:41I don't understand, I make a hole here, I put this inside and the soil is not enough to fill the hole, it doesn't make any sense, where is the soil going to end up?
03:55Ah, I forgot to tell you that Massimo called me, he said he wanted to come tomorrow, he has a few days off.
04:03With Eugenio or by himself?
04:06I don't know, I think I understand him come alone.
04:12Alone, okay.
04:15Tomorrow is Saturday and then Luca was definitely coming on Monday?
04:18Si.
04:19Okay.
04:22Luckily we bought those extra beds.
04:24I added a couple of these little French goat's cheeses, like soft, almost like Philadelphia but goat's cheese.
04:41Put them in a little, I added a couple for a bit of extra flavour and it's quite nice isn't it?
04:48Right Carlo is worried because it's not quite straight, it's not quite level but I don't
04:54think it matters because it's supposed to be an old rustic arch and it's going to be covered
04:58with wisteria and leaves and flowers and we're not going to see it anyway.
05:15I don't think it matters.
05:24I don't want to see this for the rest of my life, I don't want to see something like this, badly done.
05:32I don't do badly done work, love.
05:36But it's worth doing it better.
05:44I've lost this all the time.
05:54Ah!
06:24I have to take something and cut this.
06:36What I want to say is that this space here is a bit shorter than this.
06:40Yes.
06:42So I can pull those in there.
06:44Yes.
06:54We have come out for a dog walk and we have been traipsing through the woods here and I came across an asparagus.
07:02Then I found another one, these are wild asparagus, it's March so they grow at this time.
07:08And once I pick two, you sort of have to keep going because you've got two asparagus, it's not enough for a risotto or pasta or whatever.
07:14So you have to keep going.
07:16So I've been picking and picking, look what I've got so far.
07:18I'm really pleased with my little haul.
07:20I'm going to keep going and see if I can find some more and I'll have enough for a risotto or a pasta dish.
07:26So this is the plant that you look out for, this is the best way to find them.
07:30Look out for these, they're quite spiky.
07:32There's two similar, one of them is very soft and this one is much spikier.
07:36This is an asparagus plant.
07:38And then somewhere near it you're going to find an asparagus, which could be dark like this one or light like these ones.
07:46And that's it, there's normally one or two, sometimes there's a few more per plant.
07:52There's only one on that one.
07:54Let's see if we can find some more.
08:00I'm going to bramble fit it.
08:02Ok, I'll go.
08:04Bramble resistant.
08:06All this for one asparagus tip, possibly two.
08:10It's broken.
08:12Ok, it's broken.
08:14But this is an asparagus.
08:20I think I've nearly got enough for a nice risotto or pasta dish.
08:24Let's just find a few more.
08:26Another plant there.
08:28And it's a very very tiny asparagus, this one.
08:30It's almost not worth picking.
08:32I'll leave that.
08:34What is it?
08:36I don't know.
08:38That's strange.
08:40No idea what that is.
08:42Something from the space.
08:44Ok, let me get these asparagus.
08:46They're only tiny.
08:50One there.
08:52And another one here.
08:58There's more here.
09:08There we go.
09:12That's a nice fat one.
09:14Ok, well I've got a good bunch.
09:16We've got to go now because Massimo,
09:18Carla's brother, has just called
09:20and he's coming back for another visit.
09:22So he's just let us know that he's on the train.
09:24He's going to be here in just under an hour.
09:26So we've got to go pick him up.
09:28Carla's just found this one.
09:30Look at this one.
09:32It's growing, still hasn't got any colour to it.
09:34It's huge.
09:36It grows if people leave it.
09:38And here's the plant right next to it.
09:42We're just walking back along the road
09:44on our way back to the car
09:46and there's all the plants just on the side of the road here.
09:48I didn't think there'd be any asparagus
09:50because I thought other people would have picked them.
09:52But there are a few.
09:54There, it's a good one.
09:58It's covered in asparagus plants here.
10:00One of them.
10:06Right, as usual,
10:08I'm doing 20 million things at once.
10:10But what I'm going to do is
10:12rather than just do pasta with asparagus
10:14and pancetta
10:16or asparagus and gamberi prawns,
10:18I'm going to do a sort of salad
10:20with cannellini beans.
10:22So I've got a can of cannellini beans here
10:24that I've just rinsed.
10:26Asparagus,
10:28some broccoli, some peas.
10:30I've got some goat's cheese
10:32that I bought at the supermarket.
10:34I've got goat's cheese that I bought yesterday
10:36and it's soft goat's cheese.
10:38And I've done a dressing
10:40made with garlic,
10:42seed mustard,
10:44or grain mustard,
10:46lemon juice,
10:48olive oil, salt and pepper.
10:50And I'm going to
10:52bang it all together and hope for the best.
10:54I've never done it before.
10:56It's a recipe, I've just basically found it on Instagram.
10:58And I'm going to do that.
11:00And I'm going to cook some
11:02wholemeal rice as well.
11:04Some brown rice, just so there's something to
11:06bulk it out with. And I know that's not going to be
11:08enough for Carlo, so I've got
11:10a little bit of
11:12pasta left over from the other day,
11:14which I bought in the supermarket. And these are
11:16big, big pastas
11:18and inside they have brie,
11:20radicchio and speck.
11:22Very, very yummy.
11:24So I think all in all that will be enough for the three of us.
11:26I'm also making myself a cup of tea
11:28and I've recently been doing
11:30this. I've been
11:32juicing an orange,
11:34adding that to
11:36a mug, filling it with hot water
11:38and then adding some grated
11:40not garlic, that's not what
11:42I want to add, grated
11:44ginger, a quarter
11:46of a spoonful of turmeric
11:48and a sprinkling of
11:50cannella, cinnamon.
11:52And I've been drinking that and it's
11:54really, really yummy. So I've been having
11:56that every mid-morning as well,
11:58even though it's not quite mid-morning anymore,
12:00it's half past one already. We ended
12:02up very late because we did our walk
12:04and we didn't plan on picking asparagus, so we spent
12:06an extra hour picking asparagus. Then we had to dash
12:08to the station to pick up Massimo,
12:10who's outside currently with Carlo, having a
12:12wander round. And now we're
12:14back and having a late lunch before they go
12:16off to the hospital to visit Mama.
12:18That's the broccoli, peas
12:20and asparagus. I'm going to give that two minutes.
12:28...
12:30...
12:32...
12:34...
12:36...
12:38...
12:40...
12:42...
12:44...
12:46...
12:48We've just got back from a dog walk. I just want to
12:50show you how clever Indy is. She has
12:52learnt that she has to wait
12:54by the back door
12:56because she needs to be washed because she's
12:58all muddy. And she's learnt
13:00that that's where she has to go.
13:02...
13:04...
13:06...
13:08...
13:10...
13:12...
13:14...
13:16...
13:18...
13:20...
13:22...
13:24...
13:26...
13:28...
13:30...
13:32...
13:34...
13:36...
13:38...
13:40...
13:42...
13:44...
13:46...
13:48...
13:50...
13:52Don't lose the water, it doesn't leak.
13:54Don't lose the water, you can check.
13:56I'll look down here, love.
13:58There are also the cushions, you see.
14:00The fabric is perfectly dry.
14:02Here too.
14:04There is no loss.
14:06Obviously, it's true,
14:08wood is not the most suitable material
14:10to go with water,
14:12but I managed to make it work.
14:16And it's comfortable.
14:18I don't have back pain.
14:20And she loves it.
14:22It's true.
14:24It's true that you like to be clean here.
14:26And the little sausage here.
14:28Are you having a wash too?
14:30Are you mucky?
14:32Are you mucky?
14:34Good girl.
14:36You are such a good girl.
14:38Stand up.
14:40Good girl.
14:44Ok, it's ok.
14:46Come, come.
14:48Good girl.
14:54And now it's your turn to wash it.
14:56Ok.
14:58At first, I didn't like
15:00this washing station.
15:02It's not at all what I envisaged.
15:04I'd save things on Pinterest that were pretty to look at
15:06and tiles and stuff,
15:08but we didn't really have the money to do anything like that.
15:10And this works
15:12really, really well.
15:14We don't have to bend down.
15:16It's really easy to get the dogs up here.
15:18We've got an area that we can put them and dry them.
15:20And couldn't have asked for anything more, really.
15:40You weren't too bad today.
15:42You're not too dirty today, were you?
15:44Right, let's dry you.
15:46Come here.
16:10Bright and early in the morning,
16:12Stefano is inside washing the breakfast dishes.
16:16Stefano is on the phone to his wife out there.
16:18Carlo and Luca are both
16:20up in the garden
16:22somewhere because I think
16:24Giovanni has arrived and has started
16:26pruning the olive trees.
16:28So we've all got to learn how to do it,
16:30so next year we can do it ourselves.
16:36We've obviously been chopping away for quite a while
16:38because there's a big, big pile
16:40of olive branches here.
16:44There is a very specific way of
16:46pruning olive trees here in Tuscany.
16:48I think there's two different ways to do it.
16:50The idea is that you
16:52open up the tree from the inside.
16:54You take out the middle so that
16:56the light can get into the tree
16:58and they say so that a bird
17:00can fly straight through the tree.
17:02Now, our trees at the moment, there's no chance
17:04any bird is going to fly through the tree
17:06at all because they're really, really thick
17:08and they haven't been done for a few years.
17:10So I'm really interested to see what they'll look like afterwards.
17:28I'm just walking around
17:30the other side of our property because I want
17:32to show you the way one of our neighbours
17:34prunes his olive trees
17:36because he does it in a really specific way
17:38and they look really, really different from ours.
17:40They look quite spooky.
17:42So if you can see,
17:44the top of the olive tree
17:46is completely bare and he
17:48prunes it and makes them grow
17:50so that all the branches grow
17:52downwards rather than upwards
17:54and it makes
17:56it much easier to actually harvest the olives.
17:58That's the reason why.
18:00They look completely different from our
18:02olive trees and they look
18:04quite scary.
18:14Now that Carlo
18:16is here with his brothers
18:18for a few days, I'm going to take
18:20the opportunity to go and visit Dad
18:22in England. I was due to go
18:24at the end of January but then Carlo's mum had her
18:26stroke and I cancelled my trip
18:28and obviously I've been here
18:30to help with the hospital visits and
18:32cooking and washing and dog
18:34walks and all the stuff that we've been doing.
18:36But now that Carlo's in good company, I think
18:38it's the perfect time for me to take
18:40five days and go and visit
18:42Dad and see how he's doing in England.
18:44Also, I'm looking forward to
18:46visiting my brother Martin who
18:48has also just been in rehabilitation.
18:50If you remember back in May,
18:52he came onto one of my videos
18:54and he's been almost
18:56paralysed for the last couple of years
18:58after an operation went horribly
19:00wrong and he's been in rehab
19:02at exactly the same time as Carlo's mum has
19:04so they've both been learning to walk at the same time.
19:06And Martin's been doing really really well
19:08I'm glad to say, so hopefully I'll be
19:10able to show you his progress.
19:18What a mess!
19:26We've just been for a dog walk and we've filmed it
19:28and it's a video for our other channel
19:30Aperitivo 50 which
19:32videos come out every Wednesday
19:34and we've had a long talk about
19:36why are there so many abandoned houses
19:38in Tuscany. So you can find that over
19:40on Aperitivo 50. Now we're on our way
19:42to the supermarket quickly because I need to pick up
19:44some Italian cookies for my
19:46Dad as I'm going to England
19:48tomorrow and he's requested that I
19:50bring him some of his favourite cookies
19:52if I can find them.
19:59Here we are
20:01Gran Ciriani
20:03These are the ones he likes and these
20:05are the really nice ones
20:07salted almond with chocolate chips
20:09I'll get him a packet of these.
20:23They've certainly got their work
20:25cut out for them.
20:28For the next
20:30week or so.
20:32This is the reality of having an olive grove
20:34it's not just harvesting, there's a lot
20:36of other stuff going on.
20:38What a mess. I mean you can't even
20:40get in there.
20:42But now
20:44you can actually see the house when you're
20:46coming down the driveway.
20:48Couldn't see that before.
20:58It's time for me to go to England
21:00I'm really excited to go but I'm also sad
21:02to leave. I'm always sad to leave but I'm
21:04always happy to go. These two know
21:06that something's happening, look at them, they're standing
21:08they never do this, they're standing there waiting
21:10they've seen the suitcase, they know something's happening.
21:12Thank you
21:20Thank you for watching
21:22We'll see you next week, maybe
21:24from England, maybe from here, who knows.
21:26Who knows.
21:32I know it seems ridiculous
21:34that I've got a suitcase for 4 days
21:36but it's full of olive oil.
21:405 litres, yeah there's 5 litres in there.
21:42We've got plenty still.
21:56.
21:58.