"The only joy in the world is to begin"  - Cesare Pevase

What do these people have in common?  Jean Cocteau, Cesare Pevase, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, Kurt Cobain, Frida Kahlo, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Anais Nin and John Ruskin….   They were all Diarists and writers of a certain moment in time.  And they found solace on the page, and for some of them their diaries were published for public consumption too.
Today I am sharing a few pages from my own travel diaries from moments in Italy, Paris and Nepal....  They were great adventures and a fun way to share some moments on the travel journey...

Enjoy...
Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

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© 2022 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2022

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"We often need to be alone to reconnect to life and to ourselves, which then allows us to connect more meaningfully to others" - Sarah Wilson, This One Wild and Precious Life

Welcome to Episode 57:

Solo travel is make or break in my opinion and not for the faint of heart.  However, traveling alone can be a lot of fun too.  I love sharing the journey of travel with family and friends, yet I know there can be plenty of wild and beautiful moments when you take the reigns and travel solo.  

After a couple of adventures up may sleeve where I leave the kids and the husband at home, here is my take on what is good and bad, and deliriously wonderful….I love the quote from the book Alone Time:  Four cities, Four Seasons and the Pleasures of solitude….
“Alone time is an invitation, a chance to do the things you’ve longed to do”.  Exactly, and there is nothing wrong with that!

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

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Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2022

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“It’s not just the great works of mankind that make a culture.  It is the daily things, like what people eat and how they serve it” - Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking

Welcome……
There is something about food that weaves its way in and out of life, that we cannot deny.   When I wrote this some time back I was in the middle of the day to day yet, musing over women and food, and how everything was pulsing around me, the orchard, the sunshine, the books on the shelf, the mentors I would seek to understand through the many resources on my bookshelf….. Julia Child, Elizabeth David, Nigella Lawson, Diana Henry and many more.

These writers and culinary mentors were singing to me, and somehow I was in the middle of it all, somewhere between the daily and the sublime, reaching for a pear, scrawling down words, moments, memories, menus, and recipes.  This is the art of eating and everything I love about life.

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

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“Recipes are like stories. Once told then re-told, they become familiar and part of our families heritage. Families would share food and recipes with one another and through this organic process a cuisine was born.  Spread a little wider, and this tale becomes regional. There is handmade pasta created without eggs, sources that are meat free and celebrate seasonal vegetables. So now, in each region of southern Italy, there is a wealth of accidentally vegan dishes for you to enjoy” - Nadia Fragnito

Welcome to Episode #55

If you are in the mood to be transported to the dreamy world of Southern Italy look no further than Nadia’s, ‘A Vegan Summer in Southern Italy: Recipes and Culinary Adventures’. 

I love this book for not only its visual beauty but its recipes based on plant based cooking, and the traditions of Southern Italy.  Food is more than the sum of its parts, it is culture, tradition, place, flavour and that connection between family and home.
Enjoy.....

Visit Nadia:  The Vegan Italian Kitchen

Book Share: A Vegan Summer in Southern Italy: Recipes and Culinary Adventures by Nadia Fragnito

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

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Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2022

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"You can make the world beautiful just by refusing to lie about it" - Gio Ponti (1891-1979)

Welcome to Episode #54:

The last day of a travel adventure can be a quite distilling, generally it is a tricky day where the emotions run up and down, with that inner knowing that something special is about to end.  Sometimes it can be a relief, sometimes the wheels fall off the cart, and sometimes the pressure to just enjoy it all can be simply too much, yet whatever the case it is a day to enjoy and revel in no less.  

And that is why I organised a ticket to the Villa Necchi Campiglio in the heart of chic Milan.  Not far from the Corso Venezia and the Fashion District on Via Monte Napoleone, this urban and modernist villa is quite the inspiration if you are interested in Italian design and Beautiful Things….

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

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© 2022 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2022

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"Let us be honest: who hasn't wanted to be just a little bit Italian?' - Kay Plunkett-Hogge, Aperitivo.....

Welcome to Episode #53:

Have you ever wondered how the effervescent Spritz drink customarily enjoyed at Aperitivo time in Italy became a cultural icon?  Once a purely Northern Italian cocktail and now very much a sign of the Good life wherever you are. 

On my recent adventures in Italy I fell hard for the bitter sweet Aperol Spritz number and started to wonder how it came to be, and why mostly the word Spritz was not exactly sounding like the pure sweet notes of Italiano.  So I went on a little journey to discover how the Spritz became the drink of the Veneto region in Italy and beyond.

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

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© 2022 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2022

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“Sometimes I think we only half live over here.  The Italians live all the way” - 
Ernest Hemingway,  (letter to his sister)

Welcome to Episode #52:

Come with me on a journey to Turin, we will board the Italo service at 10.35 at Milano Centrale and arrive an hour later at the Porta Nuova in the beautiful and the elegant Torino in Piemonte.  Travel days are such great experiments, where occasionally the spontaneous finds you, willing and open.

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

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Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2022

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“I never travel without my diary.  One should always have something sensational to read on the train.”  -  Oscar Wilde

Welcome to Podcast #51

I thought it would be great to share a little more of the adventure and what happened next in Italy on the journey from Liguria to Milan.  On the last days  there was much to savour and explore.  I love the adventure of it all, and the time to reflect on moments that continue to inspire along the way.

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

Visit:  Michelle:  Instagram:  @awriterinitalyand @theyellowhouse__

© 2022 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2022

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“Place will have its way with you” - Frances Mayes, ‘See You in the Piazza’

Welcome to Episode #50

I am sun kissed and sharing this moment with you from Liguria.  I am in Camogli on the Italian Riviera, a surreal and beautiful experience I have to say.  And so I share this with you as I reach the happy milestone of 50 Episodes! 

So that is kind of fabulous.  I never really imagined I might be in Italy!  After sharing much over the last few years from home (Australia).   Otherwise, this episode is just another beautiful moment on the travel journey....

Enjoy,

Michelle xo

Shownotes are up live with a little photo montage and details of the travel journey.

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

© 2022 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2022

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"Whatever it is I am trying to preserve may not be entirely real, but it isn't altogether false" - Andre Aciman.....'Homo Irrealis, Essays'

Welcome to Podcast 49....And another in the moment share while traveling in Italy...

Reflections on Parma, Genova, La Spezia and more....

Enjoy,

Michelle xo

Shownotes are up live with a little photo montage and details of the travel journey.

Please find all Show Notes and details mentioned at:
michellejohnston.life

Visit:  Michelle:  Instagram:  @awriterinitalyand @theyellowhouse__

© 2022 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life

Music Composed by Richard Johnston, © 2022

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