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September 2013 Newsletter

In This Issue

September Update
September Special Offers!
Story: Why do Italian children have good self esteem?
Italian Recipe: Tomatoes stuffed with basil, white wine & rice

September Update

Alan and Kathy

We've had an exciting time in the last couple of weeks unpacking the first couple of orders from our trip to Italy. We are delighted with new Italian Glassware just in from a brand new supplier in Venice. For the first time we are stocking now Italian hand painted crystal. It is truly amazing. We have just loaded these items onto our website, so browse our range of new crystal now. Be quick, as some of the items sold out as fast as we could take photos of them to upload onto the website! Also from this new supplier are some beautiful Murano Glass bowls, and vases. We are delighted with the quality and design of these new items.

In addition, we have just received a new order of Venetian Masquerade Masks in from Venice and we have lots of new masks up on our website. Check out the 'New Arrivals' page on our home page. We are awaiting the arrival of another large Murano Glass order, another large mask order, a stationery order, a calligraphy order and more! They should all be here well in time for Christmas presents.
Come & see us at the Italian Festival 2013!

Our thoughts this month are very much on the upcoming Festival Italiano 2013. It is going to be a bigger event than ever before in its new venue in Newmarket in Auckland with a real 'buzz' of excitement building. Colleagues from Alan's Italian class will be there dressed in traditional Italian costumes worn when performing the famous 'Tarantella' dance. Alan's Italian teacher (and Chairperson of the Dante Alighieri Society) Alessandra is running the event this year and is very excited about the wide variety of Italian experience that will be there, including food, Ferrari's and Fine Wines. Look out for the Dream of Italy stand - we will have brand new stock just in from Italy combined with some fantastic Festival specials. Aucklanders and visitors to Auckland ... see you on Sunday 29 September in Osborne Street, Newmarket between 11am and 4pm.

People Update

We are delighted to welcome Michelle to the Dream of Italy Team. Michelle has just graduated with a BA (Hons) in English Literature and she also has a B. Dance in Classical Ballet. The Italian connection for Michelle comes from a month spent in Italy recently and she is also learning Italian at the Dante Alighieri Society in Auckland. Michelle is also involved in the fashion industry and had to have some time away from the shop recently to take part as a model in the Fashion Week here in Auckland. Fashion, literature and dance are all big items in Italian culture as well, so Michelle fits in very well in the Italian world and at Dream of Italy.

We also have Peter working with us at the moment as a Marketing Assistant. Peter has been doing a fabulous job and we are very proud of our re-launched US site www.italymask.com, which was put together with his help. Take a look - we think you will be impressed too!

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September Special Offers!

This month we are featuring a special on a wide range of our ceramic products, and at a notable reduction. The canisters come in 3 sizes and plenty of different colours and patterns, and are a colourful addition to your kitchen storage items.

The bowls are cereal bowls, but easily double as small soup bowls. These are also offered in many different patterns and colours, so there are plenty of designs to choose from when you follow the link!

But be quick, the offer only lasts until the 22^nd of September!

Selected ceramic canisters and bowls reduced by 40%

Click on the picture below to see our great collection of ceramics on special. Remember, delivery within New Zealand is absolutely FREE!

Offer expires 22nd September!

To take advantage of the offer, you will need to be logged in to our site. In case you have forgotten, your login details are:

Username:

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Italian Story- Why do Italian children have good self esteem?

Many of you have told us you're enjoying our stories about buying a property in Italy - here's some more detail of our adventures earlier this year in our new home in Abruzzo.

It had been a very full day.

Building work on our little houses was in full swing. When I say building work, pretty much any change you make to a 17^th century house involves masonry. Very little timber is used in the construction of these houses, so change = dust, everywhere. After the ‘muratore’ or stone mason had gone home for the day, we cleaned up and relaxed with a nice glass of local red wine and thought about dinner.

Soon, some locally produced sausages (a specialty of our town) were frying away happily with some lovely fresh vegetables. Actually the butcher at the supermarket had given us the sausages as it was the supermarket's birthday! He was so passionate about his meat. The house was filled with a nice aroma, the doors were open to our lovely view out over the valley when the strains of "Tanti Auguri a Te" (“Happy Birthday to you”) rang out from the street immediately below us...

Italian Recipe - Tomatoes stuffed with basil, white wine & rice

There is no doubt that tomato and basil are two integral parts of Italian cuisine, so this months recipe explores exactly those ingredients together and how to slow-bake them into soft, mouthwatering perfection. And if you are into risotto, this is definitely a must-cook.

And best of all - it only takes a minimal amount of effort.

Recipe courtesy of Jo Seagar in her book,Italia

which we have for sale right here

Check out the full recipe!

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Feedback

We would love to hear back from you and get your thoughts on our products or services! Any ideas on how we could improve our service to you our customers would be welcomed too!

If you have any feedback at all for us you can send an email to alan@dreamofitaly.co.nz.

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Ever since 2007 when we started this business, we have been aware of a growing tide of goods from Asia flooding the market with 'Made in Italy' on them. It seems everyone wants to trade off the quality and design excellence that 'Brand Italy' has. Over the years we have learned to spot these copies in their various subtle guises and we have produced a video on some of the tell tale signs that could point to a Venetian mask not being all it is purported to be. Unfortunately, copied product is now very common in Venice itself and this is crippling many of our suppliers as fakes are sold at very cheap prices. At Dream of Italy we are constantly vigilant to ensure that the products we sell are worthy of the Made In Italy brand. In this way we are able to support our suppliers, many of whom are artisans who have inherited their skills from their ancestors. It would be terrible for these ancient arts to become a thing of the past - we talk to so many people who have a piece of Murano which they have inherited from a family member and which is still as beautiful as the day it was made.

Construction on our little house in Italy continues with management from afar! As autumn approaches in our village, we are missing some great times with the olive harvest and the vendemmia (the grape harvest). One day we will get there to experience these traditional events. In the meantime we are enjoying being in Auckland for the arrival of our Christmas stock!