Pink Pink Pink Day today for Breast Cancer prevention! And a very special recipe…

A heavy family history of Breast Cancer in my home makes this a cause close to my heart.


 


October has seen the Pink Ribbon Campaign against Breast Cancer come into full swing remembering those who have died, those who are suffering but also the survivors of this insidious disease.





Prevention is perhaps too optimistic a word but there are healthy changes that you can make to make your body stronger to fight the disease should it rear its ugly head.

Eat food containing antioxidants, exercise




and of course get your breasts checked regularly at any age.


 
Sculpture by Juanita Aiello-Pansini


A full list of risk factors can be found on the Breast Cancer Campaign Organization site.
Please click here to fund free mammograms for underprivileged woman. It will cost you nothing but mean so much to another.
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My mother, an exceptional cook, died of Breast Cancer just under two and a half years ago.
I would like to share her very special recipe for Brandied Lemon Ricotta Cheese cake with you in her honour.


Brandied Lemon Ricotta Cheese Cake:
 
Ingredients:
Sponge layer or Savoiardi biscuits
500gms Ricotta cheese (a fresh Italian soft cheese similar in consistency to Cottage Cheese)
125gms of castor sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 teaspoons of grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons of gelatin
1/2 cup of water
1 1/4 cups of cream
2 tablespoons of brandy
Method:
Line a 23cm spring form pan with paper and cut sponge or biscuits to fit in single layer.
Beat eggs and sugar till thickened. In a separate bowl, beat ricotta cheese, lemon rind & juice, vanilla & brandy together. Dissolve gelatin in the 1/2 cup of water over a very gentle heat. Beat it into the ricotta mix a little at a time.
Whip cream until semi-whipped. Fold cream, egg mixture & ricotta mixture together. Mix well. Pour over the sponge/biscuit layer. Refrigerate several hours until set. Decorate with fruit of choice just before serving.

TORTA DI RICOTTA AL BRANDY E LIMONE (per le amiche Italiane)
  
Ingredienti:
Savoiardi oppure Pan di Spagna
500gm di Ricotta
125gm di zucchero semolato
2 uova
2 cucchiaini di vaniglia
2 cucchiaini di buccia di limone grattugiato
2 cucchiai di succo di limone
1 1/2 cucchai di gelatina
1/2 bicchere d’acqua
1 1/4 bicchiere di panna
2 cucchiai di Brandy
Ricoprite la base di una teglia per torte di 23cm (con il lato apribile) con i Savoiardi oppure con un sottile stratto di pan di Spagna
Montate le uova con lo zucchero. Sbattete insieme la ricotta, la scorza di limone, il succo, la vaniglia e il Brandy. Sciogliete la gelatina nell’acqua al fuoco basso e poi agguingetela un po` alla volta alla ricotta sbattendola bene.
Montate la panna finche` non si sia addensata a meta`.
Mescolate insieme alla ricotta, la panna e le uova in modo che ogni elemento si  amalgami perfettamente.
Versate il composto nella teglia e mettetela al frigo per un paio di ore.
Ricopritela con frutta al momento di servirla.

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Today we have come together with other Italian bloggers in the Blogosphere to bring the Anti-Breast Cancer campaign our solidarity by painting the internet pink:
Linda - News From Italy
Anne - Anne from Oxfordshire
Laura - Ciao Amalfi
Cherrye - My Bella Vita
Lucy - On my way 2 work and Other Stuff
Donna - Maremma Guide
Lauren - Mamaquest
Veronika - Modenus Blog
Eleonora - Aglio Olio e Peperoncino
JoAnne - Frutto della Passione and contest!
Michelle-Bleeding Espresso
Pat - Sicily Scene
a full list of almost 300 participating bloggers can be found here at Mamma Felice.
Grazie! Do go visit the others!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Think Pink!

It’s been Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and these lovely ladies have joined in with me to promote the campaign by posting pink pictures and information on their blogs.

I’m offering a virtual flower from my garden to each one ♥

Laura from Ciao Amalfi gave us a whirlwind tour of the towns of the Amalfi Coast and amongst the rainbow of colours, she found pink in the most unexpected places! She stresses the importance of early detection with facts from The National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Sue from The Pownall Chronicles had a great line up of women photographs from her travels and facts from The Pink Ribbon Foundation.

Anne in Oxfordshire shows us her feminine side with pretty pink objects from her dresser. Many of her friends took part in Breast Cancer walks in Paris too.

It was cyclamen season with Pat from Sicily. In Sicily Scene, she stressed the importance of not ignoring lumps however tiny and that men are also subject to Breast Cancer. Thank you for putting up the link to LILT, the Italian Tumor Foundation too.

Darling Fifi from Fifi Flowers Design Decor has used her talents to help the campaign, by donating 10 percent of sales of her zany French pink painting collection to Breast Cancer research.

Michelle from Bleeding Espresso supported the campaign with jewelry and pink coffee machines. She had links to important information from the Breast Cancer.Org and simply suggested that we don’t forget about being vigilant but have Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer in our minds all year long!

I think that that’s a very good point to end on!

Thank you so much girls!

Think Pink!

The tags on blogs have been tinged with colour lately.  Laura from Ciao Amalfi saw red, and Anne from Oxfordshire, and Rowena from Rubber Slippers, to name a few, have both posted with blue objects from their houses .

That gave me an idea. Many of you will be aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I thought I might see things through Rose Coloured glasses with hope for a cure and post some pink things from my life in Positano.

 

I don’t want to rock anyone’s boat, but Breast Cancer affects us all.

I’m certain that everyone knows a person who has been touched by the illness.

 

Show your solidarity for these people.

Go on walks, post Pink, wear pink, give to research or simply hug a survivor.

Check, check check your breasts every month after your period.  It is treatable if you get it early. Get any change, however small, checked by your doctor.

Have a mammography or ultrasound every 2 years.

Post your Rose Coloured Photos this month and let me know. I will do a post on October 30th linking you all together in solidarity for the victims, the sufferers and the survivors. 

Think Pink! And remember that the 15th of October is Breast Health Day.

Getting things into Perspective.

I have had more than my fair share of wallowing in self-centered pity these last few months as the nightmarish quality to this year, where I lost my mother to breast cancer and had my father lose a kidney to cancer, has taken a recent plunge in what feels like the descent to hell.

Everything happens for a reason I try to tell myself, and as my own health suffers too, I try to look at the whole picture rather than concentrating on the negative. But it's not easy.

I came across a post the other day where they asked themselves where they'd rather be.

I'm in Luxembourg at the moment but I'd rather be in Positano.

If I was in Positano it would mean that I could concentrate on the holidays.

Christmas would be by the roaring fireplace lit only if the breeze came from the sea and not from the mountain. A breeze, even slight one, from the wrong direction, means a room full of billowing smoke because the fireplace, it seems, was built more for esthetics's than practicality.

An oversized fresh pine cone, closed unto itself would release the scent of incense as it warmed the resin amongst the woody petals. After hours of sitting prettily next to the embers like a closed flower bud, it's petals would slowly unfurl and open to the pine nut treasures under each one. With a nut cracker or even a hammer to split the nut, we would expose the tender kernel . It's a tedious job but there would not be much else to do to while away the time.

We would buy the small parcels of lemon leaves dried and tied with a raffia string. Leaf by dried leaf the handcrafted parcel would be opened to get to the contents inside. The layers removed revealed the dried raisins, candied Cedro (lemon) and candied orange peel which had taken on the perfume of the leaves in which they were wrapped and dried. All locally grown.

Split chestnuts , would of course sit on the coals in their rusty holed pan, passed down from the war times, roasting away with the occasional pop and splutter from fresher logs.

In winter, the house is not heated. We transfer a small table into the sitting room, put sand filled snakes under the doors to block the drafts and eat and live in front of the fire.

The house is at it's iciest in the mornings, so sweaters are pulled over our night clothes before we come down for breakfast.

Oranges from the garden abound and fresh juice is always present. Smaller oranges are carefully spiked with cloves and set in strategic places to waft their perfume our way. Mandarins imitate their parent trees in the gardens as they bend the boughs of a the small Christmas tree set on a table in the corner.

We have a sort of sun room coming off the terrace and welcome the pink sunrise over the edge of Praiano in winter because it means that we might go outside and warm ourselves up soon, as well as open all the doors and windows to dry the mustiness inside.

Salsicci (Italian sausages) with fennel seeds prepared lovingly by Carlo our butcher in Positano, would feature heavily in our menu there, accompanied by cime di rape or bitter broccoli lightly boiled then sauteed in light olive oil with garlic and peperoncino.

Le zeppole, a specialty at Positano of sweet fried dough with sultanas, orange and lemon peel drizzled with local acacia honey would arrive from well wishers by the plate full, and figs dried during summer and stuffed with chocolate and nuts before soaking in liqueur would be the after dinner delight.

Sun lit walks on abandoned beaches in the afternoon with the smell of wood smoke in the alleys on our return would be all the exercise we'd need after meals. No worrying about fighting crowds in department stores or negotiating icy roads.

I really wish I was there.

My husband read an article in the paper about the Maldives slowly disappearing and said haven't you always wanted to visit there? I answered that I'm so unlucky lately, that the Maldives would probably disappear under a tsunami because I went there.

My eight year old son piped up " But you are lucky Mum , you have me. No one else has me !"

I really am blessed.