Monthly Archives: August 2026

Hiding from the heat

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Friday was the peak of our FIFTH summer heat wave. 100F and to top it off we were the recipient of enormous clouds of Saharan sand. Great huh? Can it get any grosser?

Today, Saturday, it is not as hazy but more humid than I have ever felt here. Oppressive. Also still going to the upper 90s. I managed to get out to the market this morning. We are in the middle of our big town festival. It is the four day fest called La Fratta Otto Cento. Unlike most towns in Umbria who do medieval festivals, our town does one celebrating the creation of Italy as a country in the 1860s. It reenacts the events. People dress in costumes from the 1800s. The town was dressed to the nines for the festival. I used to live right in the middle of it so I have gone many times. I’m not going now, but here are a couple pictures with the bunting. The Rocca with the Italian flag, which the Briganti will take down and replace with theirs tonight. Also the market which was moved to the foot of La Rocca.

I’m such a summer tomato freak. You all know that. So here is what I bought. 😁 we are almost at the end of the season. 😞 These ones look great though. Also, everyone had habaneros! Millions of them. What the Italians do with them I don’t know. I bought some for my Haitian stew and also what I think is a cayenne. I will use that in my penne arrabbiata tonight, angry pasta!

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What I have been cooking

Spanish omelette. I had never made one of these before. I saw a recipe for one online and saved it. It was super simple with just three ingredients. It called for parboiling potato and onion slices. I decided to do a little research on the internet. I found a Spanish recipe which sounded more authentic to me. It called for cooking the potato slices in 1/2” of good olive oil. And then caramelizing the onion slices. You let them cool. Then whisk five or six eggs well and add the onions and mix them in. Then add the potato slices and mix gently. This should sit for no less than 15 minutes. Then fry this mixture in a frying pan. The recipe said, “put a large plate over the pan and confidently flip it so the omelette can be returned to the pan” and the other side gets cooked. I am proud to say that I confidently did this and the omelette turned out perfect. It tasted sublime. The sweet flavor of the caramelized onion really came through. I served it with a green salad.

Tomato Avocado chickpea salad with Feta dressing. This was a perfect summer salad for when the tomatoes are at peak ripeness and flavor. Recipe modified from NYT recipe.

This weekend is the “grande rientro” the grand reentry. The highways will be jammed. Best to avoid travel on this weekend. All the Italians are returning home to prepare for real life again. Everyone goes back to work. It will be possible to get things done again. The kids get ready for school. Life returns to normal. It’s a bit sad. Ciao!

Ferragosto

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Hi everyone! Yesterday was Ferragosto. 15 August which is also Assumption day. The Roman holiday celebrating the harvest was combined with the religious holiday. It originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of Emperor Augustus who made 1 August a day of rest after weeks of hard work in the agricultural sector. As the festivity was created for political reasons, the Catholic Church decided to move it to 15 August, which is the Assumption of Mary allowing them to include this in the holiday.

In present day Italy it signals the beginning of the most popular vacation time. If people can afford it, they go to the beach or mountains or to their country house. Everything grinds to a halt. Many of the factories close from 1 August to 31 August. Most businesses will close for a week or two. Getting anything done is impossible so it’s best to go with the flow and take it easy!

On the first floor of our building we have a rosticceria called Girrarosto di Sara e Luciano. They are hugely popular. People buy entire family lunches on holidays like Ferragosto there. I awoke during the night and smelled them cooking, roasting meats, at one AM! They cooked all night. On Saturday morning the people lined up for their food. We often smell the cooking smells up in our apartment. They do a roaring business but work very hard.
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Mornings are cool. We always have a nice breeze on the terrazzo. I take advantage of that because by about 10 or 11 it becomes unbearable. Morning sun on the table. ☀️

We hadn’t planned anything for the holiday but friends, Roselyne and Steve, offered to bring up some ratatouille they made plus focaccia and delicious mini tarts from their town bakery. I made cookies and we had the warm vegetable dish with a steamed egg on the side. We also tried a Perticaia sparkling rose before lunch and with lunch a muscadet. Roselyne is Belgian/French and the muscadet reminded her of home. 🙂 We hadn’t seen them in a long time and is was nice to catch up. A perfect way to spend Feragosto.

Laundry Day
Sunday is my traditional laundry day. It is when the power is cheapest. They have structured rates. Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 7 PM is peak rates. Then intermediate rates are Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM; Saturday, 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM. The cheapest are Monday to Saturday, 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM, plus all day Sunday and public holidays. So Sundays have become my laundry day. Peak rates are usurious.

In summer the clothes dry so fast on the terrace in the sun. I take advantage of that to not use the drier. Most Italians don’t even have a drier. The act of hanging out clothes to dry is so integrated into Italian society it has become part of the fabric of life here. An added bonus is how fresh they smell, like sunshine!

Photo credit Sarah Bahous. – laundry in Napoli

Garden woes
I’m having problems with my tomatoes. They are literally cooking on the vine. Honestly. The sun is so incredibly hot and on the terrace the temperatures are over 40C or 104F. I have found out from on line friends and they say they are still edible and easy to de-skin, so I’ll use any more I get for sauce. Here are pictures.


What’s Cookin’ (besides us!)
I’m using my Orto Box vegetables. I made zucchini fritters last night to use in a salad. Not quite successful. I didn’t have a recipe so it could have been the wrong ratios. Or it could have been the thickness of what I dropped into the hot oil. I’ll try again, since I’ve got plenty zucchini 😁🙄

I also made a “Summer Tomato Tart” using a David Leibovitz recipe. Turned out ok. Served with a green salad. It had a flour and polenta crust which made it a bit crumbly. Take a look.

Then I decided to make a cold cucumber soup. Tangy with yogurt. Super easy to make. But I don’t think I would make this recipe again. It was still nice on a hot evening. I served with ravioli in butter sage.

Ciao a tutti! 👋

Orto Box

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Today Mr Luca the Orto Box man arrived with a new box of vegetables. It’s high season and everything is growing like crazy. These ones are beautiful. Pepperoni, pomodori, zucchini, lattuga, cetrioli, fagiolini e cipolle. There is the Italian lesson for today. 😁 This cost the princely sum of €25 or about $28. I am so lucky to be here where I can get such beautiful things that are biologically grown and just harvested this morning. Wow. This will keep us fed for the two weeks until another delivery. In fact, we may have trouble eating it all!

This reminds me of something some friends who were visiting did. They ordered pizza and one got a pepperoni pizza. Imagine his surprise when it had just red peppers on it. 🙂

I love those globe zucchini. I cut the top off and hollow them out, par boil til tender, then stuff with rice, peppers, onions, lots of grated cheese, herbs and sometimes hamburger. I par boil the zucchini early in the day. Last I top with more cheese and bake. Unfortunately it will heat up the kitchen but that’s ok. They are so delicious.



We are STILL in a mega heat wave. Not seeing any significant cooling for the next two weeks 🥵 Hope it is cooler where you are!

Agosto!

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The past couple of weeks has been spent recovering from what we are pretty sure was Covid. Neither of us has ever had it so we looked up the symptoms for this version of the disease and we had them all. We are better now. I still have a cough but I expect it to last a long time. It’s just me…

We are also now in the midst of our FOURTH heat wave. Temps here in the low 100s for the next two weeks. Europe is on fire, climatically and literally with multiple fires across the continent. Terrible ones in France and Spain. Italy has some too, to the south, for now.

Due to the mass migration of 60,000 Moroccans who swam into an autonomous Spanish territory which is situated in North Africa called Ceuta, italy has temporarily rescinded the Schengen Agreement. All people entering Italy will again have to go through passport control and customs. Half of the immigrant wannabes have been turned back. 34 people have died. Almost all the people coming in are young men.

So that’s the news of our summer so far. Today is the first day of August (agosto) which is the beginning of the mass migration of the Italians to the beaches, or the mountains. As of today, nothing will get done in this country, for a month. There is no sense railing about it, or complaining. This is a sacred rite amongst Italians. Even the poor go on vacation. Somehow. I’ve become accustomed to it. All month there will be sagre, or fests of all sorts. Recently I saw a polpo festa. That’s octopus. An unusual choice.

Bought at the market today.
This guy is from my plant! Handsome fella.

Umbertide is really hopping. There are many summer residents here with big houses in the hills. And also there are a lot of vacation homes that people rent for weeks. If I go to the store for groceries now I hear a mish mash of all languages. People come and shop to stock their houses. This morning I went to the local market in the piazza. Busy. Then I did a shift at Books for Dogs. It was so hot! There is no AC anywhere. Didn’t seem to stop folks though. It is fun. I bought pomodori because my two plants have finished their next spurt and I’m running short.

When our last heat wave broke we had massive thunderstorms during the night. It wrecks havoc on the roof terrace. I go up and do damage control in the morning. Much to my surprise my kumquat tree, which is doing very well after a difficult period was blown over and its massive terra cotta pot broken. Must have been some wind! So now repotting will be in order.

The industrious Italians are setting up a weekend festival in Piazza Carlo Marx which is in front of our building. I am bracing for loud music. I think it will in some way benefit the Colonie Feline Umbertide which I’m down with. So I will endure the noise and maybe even venture down to see what they have to see! Buon agosto a tutti!