Day eight at Wimbledon. The players had a rest yesterday due to an old Wimbledon tradition of no play on the first Sunday. But they are back today and raring to go. Food for Think’s Opponent drew gasps of delight from the crowd as she walked on court with what one can only describe as a high fashion outfit today.

The players warm up with five minutes until the game commences, with Food for Think to serve first.

You may or not have been following the French Open over the last couple of weeks. This is when I really start to get excited as it signals that Wimbledon is on the way.

Yesterday we jumped in the car and headed to our friends flat to host a mini Lavazza Afternoon Coffee Party. The idea? To spend the afternoon living the Italian lifestyle through Lavazza’s sense of sociability. I also wanted to share the culture of real Italian coffee through Lavazza’s brand values of excellence, tradition, innovation and experience with my friends. So we boxed up our Limited Edition Wimbledon A Modo Mio machine, packed up the food and drink and set off.

When we arrived we set up the coffee machine and I held a master class with my friend who took to the frothing wand like a duck to water – his milk was glossy white with no sign of bubbles and he marvelled at his creation, asking where he could get his hands on one. I told him to head to the Lavazza online store.

This was not my usual style of lunch. I decided to make the savoury food Italian themed, but more specifically Piedmont themed. So I made Tramezzino sandwiches and Acciughe in salsa verde. For dessert we had gluten free chocolate espresso brownies and a monster strawberries and cream cake.

The Tramezzino sandwich originates from Turin, where it was devised as an alternative to the English afternoon tea sandwich. We tried a range of fillings, including tuna, caper and black olive, egg, asparagus and tomato and cured ham, rocket and parmesan, all made on white bread with the crusts sliced off. Another Piedmontese speciality is  anchovies with salsa verde. This is one of my absolute favourite tapas dishes and it went down a treat.

To start I made a round of cappuccinos and we sat down to eat our afternoon treats with a jug of Pimms, another Wimbledon tradition, full to the brim with delicious fruit and lemonade. When dessert time came around, we tucked into the strawberries and cream cake, espresso chocolate brownies and I made iced coffee topped with naughty whipped cream. We snuggled down on the sofa to watch Nadal beat Ferrer to win his eighth successive French Open title.

The sun may not have been shining but it didn’t matter. We we happy as Larry playing with the A Modo Mio, drinking delicious coffee and eating Italian style snacks. What’s better, we were enjoying it to the tennis. I can’t wait for Wimbledon – I’ll definitely be hosting another party but I really hope I get to go and experience the atmosphere for myself.

Recipes to follow over the next week.

Don’t forget, you could be in with a chance of winning lots of Lavazza goodies, including 350 iTunes vouchers and tickets to Wimbledon (comp closes 19 June). Simply head to wimbledon.lavazza.com to take part in the ‘Enjoy Your New Tradition’ competition.