Friends and Unicorns {Roll the Dough}

Our Italian friends love to talk at the beach; you would love to lie down, listen to the sound of the lapping waves, let the sand flow through your fingers and engage in a monologue with the smiling sun or even take a nap (sacrilege!) - nada.

In less than five (Italian) minutes, you will be surrounded by energic, talkative and smiling Italians and without even noticing you will find yourself engaged in all kinds of invigorating conversations: food, parenting, traveling, baking, reading, designing, doing sports, cooking, shopping...

Food.

Baking.

Cooking.

In Nigellissima (p. 182), Nigella Lawson refers to the Italian tradition of baking ciambella (ring shaped yogurt pot cake). Really? Even though I cooked this marvelous cake a dozen times in the past, I had never heard of such a thing in Italy, but it is undeniable that it might take an external eye to find out about yourself, your country, your people.

Guess what? Nigella chatted with me at the beach. One of our friends mentioned quite naturally that in the evenings she bakes so that her (oh so lucky) son has his breakfast cake ready the next day. (No wonder Italian men stay with mommy for so long.) 

There, with toes deep in the warm and silky sand, I was holding my unicorn.

Funnily enough, and as though I needed the confirmation of a native, only after this conversation did I embrace the possibility of baking my very own breakfast ring cake and shine in a new kitchen tradition.

Guess what (again)? No sooner had I returned home to a working Internet connection that I stumbled across an inspiring recipe by one of my favorite bloggers (I talked about Barbara Toselli and her talented friends in one of my previous posts).

Blueberries are part of our September stock (not for long, I am afraid) and the rest of the ingredients as listed here are regular staples at The Daydreamer's.

Thanks to real and virtual friends this how this dense, delicately fragrant and curvy ciambella came to   be about a week ago - a myth come true.

Note: I religiously followed Barbara's recipe, so instead of copying it here, I think this calls for a jump directly to her ridiculously beautiful and interesting blog (written in Italian, if you need help, you know where to find me).

Credits: TheDaydreamer