I can’t eat anything more.

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I brought lots of lovely food ideas back from Italy last week so we had an extravaganza tonight and it took all day to prepare it. We started with cocktails: Aperol spritz for Madame, a negroni for sir and Diet Coke for junior miss. Then came a starter of caponata on crusty bread. The pasta dish was radiatori alla lucchese, and the meaty sauce was splendiferous - ground beef & ground pork spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, chilli and loads of other stuff like tomatoes and pine nuts. Dessert was panna cotta alla lamponi (raspberries). I must say I astounded myself and my missus was well pleased. I also gave her the rest of her birthday presents - she was 64 while we were in Italy so I just gave her a book on the day, and saved the rest till tonight. She really is very hard to buy for, but I delighted her with a lifesized clay cat with holes for its eyes. Light shines out of the eyes when you stick a lit candle into its colonoscopy socket. It’s magical.