Antipasto, Panzanella salad and rosemary focaccia. The two magic words are "please" and "thank you".

My second child, Gabriel, is two and a half years old and goes to a beautiful, lovely and warming school called LIFE. The teachers greet him every morning with a happy smile and a musical tone that makes me feel relaxed and content when I hug him and say I will come to pick you up soon, as always.

After dropping Gabriel off, come back home to feed Juanan, my third one of nearly 8 months, I rush to do the groceries. I read somewhere that "Women go to do the groceries like they were in vacation". It is so true for a home stay-in mum like me, at least. I love walking around the store, pushing the troller, and checking for the ingredients I might use for dinner. 

A few days ago I was planning to make a fish macadamia curry so I use my shopping list with a single item "macadamia nuts" as the perfect excuse to go on a "vacation" to Rustans supermarket. When I was waiting for my turn to weight the bag of macadamias, I had the most uncomfortable and indignant incident since I moved to the Philippines. 

Just in front of me in the queue there was a wealthy, apparently, Filipina old lady with her two yayas escorting her on both sides. The Rustans sales girl was in her twenties but she could be older as Filipinas have this lucky nature of looking always much younger than her real age. 

- Give me 200g of dried cranberries- said the wealthy woman. I noticed she forgot to say please but the young sales girl seemed to take it as normal. 

The girl weighted the bag, made a knot and returned it to the arrogant client who looked at the bag and threw it to her, and said contemptuously: 

- I said 200g, do you have a problem with hearing?

The Rustans sales girl weighted the cranberries again, carefully but with shaking hands. The old lady  yelled at her saying:

-What is wrong with you!!! you didn't stick the price label in the bag!!! 

My blood was already about to boil. I just couldn't be quiet any longer and allow this arrogant woman to think that money can treat people rudely. I touched her shoulder and opened my big mouth:

- Excuse me, this girl might have a hearing problem as you said, which I doubt but in any case it can be fixed. However, your lack of manners cannot be fixed, sadly.

I wanted to keep telling her that she was too old to correct herself anyway, despite her expensive plastic surgery of her face. But I didn't add further comments because then I would become rude too, at her same low level.

What made me sad was what I heard right after the incident. 

When I was pushing my empty troller -I was so distressed that I forgot to buy the nuts!- away from the old woman, her two shocked -but I am sure smiling- yayas and a terrified sales girl whose name I memorised to mention later on to the sales manager as "a highly charming and wonderful girl who assisted me during my shopping" to make sure she didn't lose her job, I heard this apologise I am really sorry ma'am from the poor girl to the rude woman and not to the other way around as it should. 

I think my children are learning at school and not only at home how to treat and respect people, besides the academic subjects. However, I need sometimes to remind my children the two magic words, please and thank you. 

I hope no one in the future have to remind my children the good manners in LIFE like I did to this arrogant woman.

An Italian feast...

Panzanella salad with a Spanish twist

Panzanella or "bread salad" is a rustic Italian salad, from Tuscany, of vegetables and herbs with stale bread soaked in water and squeezed dry or perhaps fried in olive oil. I didn't include the bread because I made the focaccia as accompaniment.

This recipe is based on Jun Tanaka's Charred pepper and tomato salad  which I twisted a bit by adding  sweet cherry tomatoes, some stuffed green olives with anchovies and a few pieces of good tuna in olive oil.

Serves 4

• 2 yellow peppers
• 2 red peppers
• 100 ml olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• a sprig of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of caster sugar
• salt and pepper
• 30 ml of good quality red wine vinegar
• a handful of cherry tomatoes
• 20g of capers, rinsed
• 1 can of tuna in olive oil, drained
• a few stuffed green olives with anchovies
• a small bunch of fresh basil, torn

1. Find a bowl large enough to fit all the peppers and fill with cold water. Place each pepper straight on to the naked flame of a gas ring (like when you make babaganush with eggplants). Blacken the skin all over, turning the peppers for about 5 minutes. Place in the bowl of water.
2. Rub the peppers with your hands to remove the backbend skin (don't worry if there is some left). Cut the peppers in half, remove the seeds and core and cut in strips.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently cook the pepper strips for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and sugar. Season. Cook for a further minutes, add the vinegar and remove to a bowl.
4. Add the tomatoes, olives, capers, tuna and torn basil to the peppers and mix well. Remove the garlic, if you wish, and the thyme.

Refreshing antipasto

In Itlalian literally means "before pasta" and it is an appetiser or starter but we make it as a light dinner  or Sunday lunch: a plate of good jam on serrano, thinly sliced; a smelly French soft cheese; a green salad with French vinaigrette; a bowl of green olives with almonds marinated in garlic, a bowl of cooked mushrooms in butter, garlic and thyme; and my home-made tomato and chilli chutney…

At home, we also served the antipasti with my focaccia, a flat usually round Italian peasant bread flavoured variously but always with olive oil- that's why it is my favourite bread-. It is similar to pizza but with more dough and less topping. 

Each region in Italy has its traditional flavourings, shapes and styles. This rosemary and spring onion is quite popular. It is a great snack to make in a dinner party not only because it looks fantastic and like you have spent hours working hard in the kitchen, but also the whole house smells wonderful with the rosemary…hence a welcoming atmosphere.

Focaccia with rosemary and spring onions

According to David Tanis, "the focaccia works best if you mix it the night before". I made it in the morning for dinner time and it had a fantastic crunchy texture in the outside but soft inside. This recipe will make a standard baking sheet.

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast (I used 15g of fresh yeast)
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt- Check your salt first, there are different kinds of salts. Mine is too salty and  it made this focaccia you see in the photo above too salty too!!! As the American chef Tomas Keller says  in his book Ad Hoc "you are a good cook when you know how to control the salt"-.
• 1/2 cup of olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1/2 cup chopped white part of spring onions
• 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
• Coarse salt for sprinkling

1. Put 1/2 cup of warm water in a mixing bowl. Add the yeast and 3 tablespoons of the flour and stir together. Let the mixture sit ntil it gets bubbly, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the remaining 1 cup water, the rest of the flour, the salt and olive oil. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture gathers into a rough, stick mass. Sprinkle the dough lightly with a bit more flour and knead the dough - I did it in the magic Kitchen Aid-. 
3. Lightly oil a bowl of medium size - the dough will raise a bit in the fridge-. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6-7 hours.
4. Remove the dough from the fridge and pat and press it into a oiled baking sheet -it is a bit wet,true-. Let it rise for an hour covered well with wax paper.
5. Preheat ovento 400F. Scatter the spring onions and rosemary evenly across the top of the dough and drizzle with olive oil. Poke little holes over the top of the focaccia. Sprinkle some sea salt.
6. Bake for 30 minutes until brownish on top. Serve it warm.