After getting my well-earned accounting degree, I started working in the IT field when computers were still giant towers without hard disks and you juggled with about four or five 8” floppy disks as if you were a DJ. Monitors were huge cubes, green or amber phosphor, and the mouse was just a disgusting little animal.

My first programming language was the antediluvian GW-Basic, the language in which the software for companies and accountants that we sold in the company where I was a partner, was written. In that company, I used it to make customizations for clients with particular management needs. I was the sole director and managed customer support, so my accounting diploma found its reason for helping me assist accountants and accountants.

After years of customizing software and measuring inches of delivery note and invoice forms by adding or removing fields, and when computers finally emerged from prehistory and created the wonderful world of social media, I decided to start my own blog.

I am from Sicily and, as per tradition, a food lover.

I am interested in researching the origins of traditional recipes from my homeland, so I started writing the first version of my website, Palermo a Tavola. My blog is not just a collection of recipes, but a website that tells the culinary history of my city through ancient dishes and popular traditions.

I also opened my Facebook page, if you didn’t have a Facebook account you weren't going anywhere! So I started broadcasting interesting stories of traditional Sicilian dishes, holiday dishes, how and where they were invented and why they are eaten on that particular day.

I love cooking and I never miss an episode of Masterchef. So I cook and carefully plate my dishes like a starred chef, take some photos which I then edit in Photoshop and write my articles. I always end up eating my dishes cold and sticky to take pictures, but for fame and glory you do this and more!

I love making fresh pasta, Italian sauces and canned food and packaging them with handmade ribbons and labels, take a beautiful pictures of my dishes and manage my food blog. My most beautiful creation was the homemade chocolate Easter egg I made last year for my daughter. In perfect Italian style, I put her gift inside, a Pandora jewel of course! It's not an Easter egg if it doesn't have a surprise inside!

Now I am redesigning my blog as the layout is obsolete. It will be online very soon.

After I cut my teeth on my blog, I also wrote the website for my company. I took care of the code and the content, basically I was a jack of all trades on the web!

My first real professional website was the one for photographers that I created in the final stage of the Visual and Web Communication course, where I learned to use the Adobe graphics suite, to develop code in HTML, CSS and PHP and to create and manage databases in MySql. Take a look at my certifications below.

By an extremely lucky chance, I ran into a former client of mine and, from there, a new marvellous adventure was born with a non-profit association of which I am a founding member: L’Insieme Famiglia. I designed the corporate identity, company brochure and business cards and I created the website. I still manage all aspects of web development and web and visual communication. I used to run social media too, but now we have formed a team to manage marketing and corporate communications and someone else is in charge.

As a member of the board of directors, I also used to collaborate in the management of the events that the association organizes; today, considering the distance, I continue to give my support by designing the posters and marketing material.

During this adventure, I came into contact with an institutional body, Forags Sicilia, Regional Forum of parents' associations in schools, and I created a new corporate identity for them. And I also restyled the website of another important national non-profit association, Coordinamento CARE.

I also did two projects for children, in the kindergarten my daughter attended, following a double learning path.

Project “Rino il computerino”: I taught them basic IT skills through activities aimed at stimulating eye-manual coordination and the acquisition of basic skills on knowledge of space and self-awareness. In my lessons I have included the basic theory, many practical examples and exercises that children have made playing and challenging each other.

Project “Il cuoco pasticcione”: making crafts and cooking simple dishes that the children brought home to share them with their parents. The aim of the activities was to stimulate imagination, taste, smell, touch and manipulation.

Working with kids is one of the best things in the world! And, aside from the flour all over my hair and the keyboard keys disappearing as if by magic, it was the best experience I've ever had in my career.

And then, I had my sweet little girl with me, and that was the most beautiful thing.

Lastly, I landed in England, where I started an ESOL English course and eventually obtained the Functional skills level 2 certification.

In the UK I was a chef for a while, in a quasi-Italian restaurant and I gave also Italian cooking lessons to friends and my English teacher. She and her family are very enthusiastic about Italian food.

I currently work at Abingdon & Witney College where I also volunteered on an Excel course for adults. In this volunteering experience I helped the teacher in one-to-one support for students and I met amazing people from different parts of the world.

I also volunteered at Barnardo's for a while. It was pleasant to donate my time for a cause I believe in and have been linked to for years through my association.

What I miss most about my homeland, apart from loved ones and home food, is the lapping of the sea, the sun shining on the waves and slowly setting on the horizon as another day draws to a close.

But here, the slow and placid flow of the Thames through the historic city where I live, takes me back to another story, a new me.