On summer evenings, the Italian gelateria (ice cream shop) is the busiest part of town. The shop teems with people inspecting the mounds of gelato on display, choosing their favourites, deciding which two or three to sample tonight (that’s right, you can get THREE flavours in one cone!). Outside, the pavement is blocked with locals congregated to eat their ice cream, or just to hang out. You might run into a relative or a friend here and stop for a chat. Whatever else you’re doing, treating yourself to an ice cream is an important part of the evening.

So you can experience a bit of the magic, here are twenty of the most common ice cream flavours (gusti). Which would you choose?

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Whatever Paul the octopus predicts for the FIFA World Cup final, in Spain, people have faith and want to believe in victory. We face serious political and economic issues. We are not sure of what the future will hold, we don’t know if we can trust our politicians and when and if the economic crisis will end. But we are sure we want to win. There are many mottos in Spain for this final football cup. One of them is “¡Podemos!”, which reminds me of Obama’s “Yes, we can”.

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Karen, aka ‘Miss Footloose’ has lived outside her country for many years. Here she describes a trip back to her native Holland.

Visiting my family and friends in The Netherlands (Holland) is sometimes an interesting experience. Having lived abroad for such a long time, I get a fresh look at life in the Low Countries. They’re special, my people.

It is said that God created the Earth, but the Dutch created Holland. The Dutch, as a people, are a down-to-earth, pragmatic lot. It’s in our genes. For centuries we’ve been in a death struggle with the sea, building mammoth dikes and sluices and windmills to keep two-thirds of the country from being swallowed up by the ocean. Being soft and romantic wouldn’t get that accomplished, we can safely assume.

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When it comes to the valuation of art, I’m a pessimist. Especially after the experiences I made as a musician in Germany, before moving to Ireland.

In direct comparison (although I’m not an expert) I would say there is a noticeable difference between Germany and Ireland when it comes to the valuation of art and acceptance of new artists. From what I’ve seen, the independent artists here in Ireland are much more easier accepted as artists by the public than in Germany, where most artists are only considered so when this is declared as profession on their tax declaration.

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This is a guest post by Kim Jordan, an American living in Barcelona.

I originally came to Barcelona as an au-pair. My host family lived in the Catalan village of Cabrils, in North-East Spain. Arriving jet-lagged and starved to my new home, I was shocked to find that dinner time wasn’t until 9:30pm. Then, instead of dinner being the heartiest meal as in the States, it was light and Mediterranean offering vegetables and seafood.

Credit

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This is a guest post by Kim Jordan, an American living in Barcelona.

My first encounter with the Spanish language was through a study abroad program in college. I spent three months at a foreigner’s school in Guadalajara, Mexico. This was quite brave as French had been my linguistic endeavor in school and I didn’t know a bit of Spanish. Everyone I spoke with had to repeat themselves at least once. It seemed the only word I could correctly use was “que?”

Before I knew it, my three-month exchange program had timed out just as I was getting the hang of the language! Luckily, I was given a second chance to master the Spanish vernacular in Barcelona.

Photo credit

But just because Barcelona is in Spain doesn’t mean everybody speaks Spanish.

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Today is Good Friday and in the UK it’s traditional to eat hot cross buns. We eat them toasted with butter - perfect with a cup of tea.

Happy Easter!

We love food photos from all over the world. If you have a great pic to contribute, go ahead and join our Flickr group where we are always looking for delicious things to post.

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