Category Archives: Eating

The excellent adventure begins…

8 Replies

Well, here we go! We have embarked on our excellent adventure. We left pretty early on Friday and the google person said it would be a 6.5 hour drive. It ended up being more than that because of what looked like the removal of a burned out truck. It sure slowed us down. This was in Bologna. The traffic there is always bad. Then we continued north, passing Ferrara (one of my favourite towns) and Padua. Then Venice and finally Udine. The alps were now visible ahead, the traffic sparse and the air clean. ahhhh.

We checked into the Werzer Strand Casino. It is apartments that are part of a hotel. Despite the name it is not a Casino. We have a one bedroom apartment with a nice terrace right on the lawn that slopes down to the lake.

There was a mishap in the underground garage. Luther scraped the Porsche against an Audi parked in the spot next to us. He met the owner and they have worked out an agreement without getting the police involved. I felt sorry for the German guy who was just trying to enjoy his Urlaub in Austria. In fact he lives in Aschaffenburg very close to where we once lived. Cars can be repaired so no real harm done.

We had stopped for groceries before we checked in so I got us all unpacked and by then it was near dinner time. So we went to the closest place which abutted the property we were on. It was a beach restaurant called Werzer’s Boothaus Café. It was right on the lake next to the boat landing. We sat outside and watched the world go by. A family came up to the dock in a beautiful solid wood oversized rowboat with electric motor. it had a nice table aboard.

Here are views of the lake. It is just north of the the Alps so some mountain views too.

I can’t say the dinner was amazing. I did like my appetizer. It was sliced beets with feta and grilled octopus. A nice combination.

Since Austria is still very old fashioned and nothing will be open on Sunday we went looking for a wine store and a farmers market on Saturday morning. We were successful on both fronts. The wine store was amazing! It had so many Austrian wines which are among my favourite wines. We bought a lot. They also had more spices than I have ever seen. Maybe more than Penzeys!

Then we navigated over to the farmers market which turned out to be very nice. Not huge but nicely varied. There were two vegetable stands, a couple selling fresh and cured meats, at least 3 cheese stands and a wine stand. I bought some pork chops for dinner and we bought cheeses and meats for our lunch. It is open on Saturday and Wednesday mornings. Excellent find.

It was a laid back day. We enjoyed the nice weather and watching all the activity on the lake from our terrace. I cooked the pork chops which were good. We ate them with fresh tomatoes which are quite nice and new potatoes. Ciao from Österreich. Until next time…

Upcoming trip

7 Replies

We have been madly getting ready to go for a whole month to an apartment we rented in Austria. When I made these reservations last fall it seemed like a good idea to plan a trip to the mountains to beat the heat. The memories of the summer heat wave were fresh. I reasoned we could close up the apartment here and bring the cats along. The drive is about 6.5 hours.

Now that the time has actually arrived I had second thoughts about bringing the cats on such a long trip. I would have been bringing them for me and not thinking about them and the stress it would bring them. So in the end I engaged a cat/house sitter. She is an American who lives in Rotterdam. She has three cats of her own. I know I will miss my boys terribly and I hope they will be healthy during our trip. They turn 16 in August so I know they won’t be with us all that much longer.

We will stay in Wörtersee. It is a pretty lake surrounded by mountains. We will do some short trips to other spots in Austria while there. Two nights in Graz and 3 nights in the Bergenland which is a big wine producing area. We will stay in one of the old buildings the winemakers used while working. They have been repurposed as rooms. We also will do a side overnight into Slovenia. Anyway, the time will pass and I am hoping I don’t get too homesick. I am always happiest in my home.

Our friend Vera came last week and brought me some globe zucchini and some cucumbers. She told me to stuff the zucchini with ground beef and rice. So I took her advice and did just that but I added some tomato paste, garlic, onion and thyme. Plus a good amount of grated pecorino. I parboiled the zucchini and sautéed the rest. Stuffed and baked them. Luckily we have had about a week of cooler, nicer weather which allows for some baking. Here is our dinner.

I also bought a new MacBook Air so I could bring it along and post about our trip while gone. I am doing my first post using the new Mac right now! Stay tuned for some posts from our Austrian retreat. Ciao!

Luther’s birthday

7 Replies

We are still dealing with heat but we did have some people over lately. Our friend Karen from Toronto came for lunch Wednesday. It was great to see her, and then Thursday our newest friends Don and Sarah came for aperitivo. The terrace has a decent breeze most of the time.

Saturday was a busy day. I had books for dogs at eleven. But I needed to go earlier to get tomatoes and also to take pictures of the biggest field of sunflowers (girasole) I have ever seen. But even more important was to leave in time to get home and change clothes because I was taking Luther out for a birthday lunch.

Not the best pictures but you get the idea. It was very hot today. It is high summer in Umbria.

I drove to a place to park but had a ways to walk. Then the market had been moved out of the piazza because of a basketball event with a court set up there. So I walked to find the vendors. I did finally find them and bought a few tomatoes and then headed back up into Centro. I stopped into Bar Mary for a bottle of water and then sat out at the tables until my shift. But by this time I was sweating copiously. 😳 I worked my shift and I left a bit early to go home and try to make myself presentable for a fancy lunch.

When I got back to the car the car thermometer said it was 40C. That’s about 105F. When I got home and walked up the 61 steps to our apartment (did I mention our elevator died?) I was dripping. I got in a cold shower. That helped some. I put on my new linen dress and got all ready but my hair was still very wet, from sweat. Is this TMI? If it is, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to paint a picture of living in this heat. Anyway. Off we went to our Birthday celebration pranzo.

Luther had always wanted to go to Reschio. It is the enclave of the rich and famous in this part of Umbria. They say the rooms are €1,500 a night. It is hard to describe. It has evolved over the years we have been here. The first things they did was to sell lots, build houses and restore all the old out buildings and dependencies. Some of these are rented out to families for vacations. They constructed a huge barn and arena and outside horse rink for their equestrian center. They began renovations on the castle and then opened it as a hotel. There is a LOT of money invested in this place. I don’t know who is doing all that investment. A lot of movie stars come and stay here. And many other notable people. It is where Meryl Streep stayed for her birthday party a few years ago.

There are two restaurants. One, in the castle, called Ristorante al Castello, the other, more casual, near the equestrian center called Ristorante alle Scuderie. Only this last one is open for lunch. Here are pictures from their terrace where we dined, and also of the food we had.

Overall we liked it quite a lot for a splurge. The food was good, not great. There were many families there having lunch. The wait staff was very nice. The pacing of the dishes was too fast for me. A little time between the first and second courses would have been better. We had some of the Reschio wines and their own olive oil. Both of these were super. I am glad Luther enjoyed his Birthday.

Here is Rocky, trying to keep cool. He knows how to do it. I also harvested my first big tomato from my plants. I’m glad I got to do this before we left for our summer vacation. My house and cat sitter will be the beneficiary of many others. I do hope there are some left when we come back home in August.

I call him Moby Pomodoro. He got more ripe and I cut him from the vine today. We will have him for dinner. Stare fresche! 🥵

Pizza night at casa Vera

6 Replies

As I mentioned recently, we were invited to pizza night with Vera’s family. Our famiglia italiana. There was an interesting group. Of course there were Vera and Graziano and their two girls Maya and Desiree. Then there was Graziano’s mom and dad and his brother and his wife and their two children. A couple from Brazil who were unrelated friends with their two children, one, a 2 month old. Finally Vera’s nephew and his wife who was visiting from Slovenia. Many languages a tavola. 🙂

It was a hot evening after a hotter day but we dressed for it and it was shady with a light breeze so not too bad. During this past winter Graziano had build a new pizza oven with prep area under roof. It is a beauty. He said it was a lot of work. It replaced the old oven that was 40 plus years old and had done its duty. This was the very first use of this oven so Graziano and Vera were nervous to see how it went. One of the things I was surprised at was that they have no refrigerator downstairs. Everything cold is up one or more floors and has to be carried down. I mentioned to Vera they need a frig in the shelter. Make life so much easier. I’m pretty sure she will do it. 🙂
Photos have captions.

The new oven and place for making the pizza.
Graziano and Luther in the yard before the activities began.
Desiree and the new bambino
Dog that was abandoned which Graziano’s dad took in. He is very frightened. Obviously has been abused.

Now for the action. Pictures of the oven.

Moving wood and ashes.
Oven is ready for the pizzas.
Cooking it up. Margherita. It takes less than a minute to cook..

This is where Vera assembled each pizza, and her mis en place with all her ingredients.

All important tomato sauce.
Mis en place

Now for the pizzas.

First Margherita next to a pizza bianca. They started with three of the bianca sort of as a test run.
Salsiccia – sausage.
Gorgonzola with salumi piccante – spicy salami.
Zucchini with blossoms pizza. My favorite.
Salads. Melone e prosciutto is a standard for summer in Italy. The watermelon, melon and feta with mint was cool and sweet.

And finally…Vera sat down to eat the fruits of her labors.

I ate a ton. It’s impossible not to taste every single one. Their salads were delicious. Graziano’s mom, who is an excellent baker, made a delicious dessert, coconut cake. We stayed until well after dark, and headed home.

Below are links to three video I took of the action for the first pizzas. They are short. You may notice she and Graziano are a good team. He holds the pizza peel on the table so she can place the dough right on it then add the ingredients. She says “vai!” Each time and he takes it and slides it into the oven. A minute later the pizza is done and they repeat the process. Boom boom boom! Pizza’s on!

Catching up

10 Replies

It has been busy here and there, but it is mostly very mundane! I’m going to show a few photos and tell you a bit about what we’ve been doing. I finally finished my medical things. Navigating the system is hard for us stranieri. We don’t ever really understand it. But I did it and all is ok and I’m happy. Our two cats will be 16 in August. That’s a pretty old age for cats. So far they seem OK. We can’t decide if Simba is getting deaf. Rocky, pictured below, loves the terrazzo but he doesn’t go far unless we are out there with him. He seems to love the heat(!) which is inexplicable given that thick coat of fur! 😳

On Sunday we were invited to Pranzo at our friend Doug’s beautiful home. Sunday lunch is a tradition here. The best day to get together to eat with friends. Below you’ll see his amazing view. We sat on this terrace and enjoyed that view. It was hot but not in the shade. The beautiful table is next, and finally his coup de resistance- a grand salad Niçoise. Everything he served was cool. Perfect on a warm day.

We saw our friend Vera for a chiacchierata. That means chat in Italian, it is so much easier in English. I still have a hard time pronouncing it! She invited us for a family dinner this Sunday. They will make pizza in the big wood oven.

Today we had a treat. We went to Arezzo to meet our good friends Susan and Gary who live in Florence now. Arezzo is a city in Tuscany about 50 minutes from us driving. It’s about the same from Florence by train. We met up at Osteria 54 for lunch. It had a small menu but plenty of good things to choose from. It was so great to catch up with them. They were our first friends when we moved here. They lived in Umbertide then. They helped us out a lot and we got to be great friends. It’s not that often you meet completely simpatico people. We traveled together and discovered a billion great restaurants together. We all love good food. We had a great time today catching up. We miss one another a lot. We have a trip planned together for October but I’m sure we will see them sooner than then. Picture below is of my appetizer. A cold tomato tartar with burrata cheese in top. Perfect on this hot day.

Otherwise we have been doing some trip planning. The October trip is to Lecce in Puglia. We also have an anniversary coming up so have reserved in a Ligurian seaside town, Sestri Levanti. We were there once before and liked it a lot. And finally our big get-away trip to Austria for a month in the summer to beat the heat. We will have an apartment in the mountains and we will do a couple short excursions from there so I was busy making reservations for those as well. These are all happy things to look forward to. That’s not always the case nowadays. We need some things to distract us from events in our world right now. That’s about it. Enjoy June…happy strawberry moon which is amazing right now! 🌕

Summer, here we come!

4 Replies

The weather is picture perfect right now. Quite warm, 31C or 88F today and getting hotter. Our terrace is the perfect extended living space. Last night we inaugurated eating dinner outside, and then watching a movie. 🙂 It was lovely. Luther smoked a cigar but I really think he has decided that cigars are no longer a big part of his life. It is hard for him to transition. But it’s a good thing. Maybe now it will be an every-now-and-then thing rather than an every night thing.

Today is a holiday here. Republic day. The day, in 1946 when they voted that Italy would become a republic. Nothing is open. I had a basket of the kumquats that I harvested from my tree sitting on the counter for a week mocking me to use them. I found a recipe for kumquats and apricot chutney. So today I amused myself making a batch. It’s quite tart and a bit piquant. I think it will go as a relish with many things.

Last Saturday night we had rather an unexpected experience. Goes to show we can still mess thing up after all these years 😁 We used to have a restaurant in town called Locanda Appennino. It had a lovely outside summer terrace which sat right on the city walls. Sadly it closed several years ago. Recently friends told me it was open again under new management.

We had friends visiting in town who own apartments in the countryside and we always try to have a meal together when they come. I made a reservation at this new place for us all. Or at least I thought did. I first called the number on the Internet and ended up with the old owner who said they were closed. But I “knew” they weren’t! So I found another number and called it. I made the reservation and let our friends know.

Saturday we went into the restaurant and looking back on it now, they didn’t seem to have a reservation for us but said if we came back they would open up the terrace for us. So we did that and returned.

The place was a little basic (understatement!). I think it must be a work in progress. The owner and cook were your basic, rather “rough” Umbertidese. But sweet, as all Umbertidese are. They told us what they had. Basically an antipasto assortment, a primi which was tagliatelle with ragu, and a secondi of pork. We had one vegetarian so we asked for a non-meat pasta which they made for us. The wine was red…or white in re-used bottles.

The antipasto was good and varied. We had cheeses, meats, roasted baby onions and radishes on platters to begin. Then a plate of the thinnest sliced eggplant ever (super good), and a plate of bruschetta fegato, (liver). Oddly, no bread. In the end, we all got fed and had a laugh. 😆

At nine o’clock I got a call from the other Locanda Appennino. Yes, there are two. I was so embarrassed that I had reserved a table for six on a Saturday night and then was a no show. I never would do that. I even told him when he asked where we were that we were there now, eating. Until we figured out the confusion.

We are finally enjoying summertime in Umbria ! 💚

AWOL!

20 Replies

So sorry I have been gone a while. I was really hoping to wait for final bathroom pictures. It took longer than expected. But we are close enough for me to post pictures. My statement was the towel rack. I like it. Some might not but it is my little statement.

OK. Tell me what you think. I’m fine if you don’t like my green pop. 😁

Calagrana had a lovely bistro lunch on Wednesday. We asked friends Debbie and Bob to join us. And they invited their Swedish friends to join us. It was a lot of fun. Here is the food.

The meal was excellent as always.

Our weather is going to turn icky after today. Much rain ahead. But that is the way here. Spring we get rain. Dry from May to September. So happy to get the rain now.

Buona domenica a tutti!

Almost done

12 Replies

These will be the last pictures until the bathroom is completely finished. We had the idraulico (plumber) put it all the appliances and fixtures yesterday. Then the elettricista came today and put in the above the shower lights. There will be another row above the sink so he will come back. The muratore came to install the bars and seat in the shower. I insisted I have the seat. I like to be able to clean my feet well and shave my legs and it is so much easier when I am seated. The last thing is the shower glass and the mirrors, which I think will be next week. Here are pictures.

On another note, I ordered a bunch of Mexican food from Mexabores. Seems it is based in the Netherlands. They have a lot of good stuff. It arrived today. I see some good Mexican in our future. They gifted us the Corona and the chips. The chips looks yum!

Ciao for now!

It’s Marzo!

9 Replies

A gray Sunday but it’s my normal laundry day, because the electricity is cheapest on a Sunday, so I’m just enjoying a quiet day. Starting Tuesday the temperatures are really warming up. Daytime from 15 to 18 or about 60 to 65. Not too bad.
~~~~~~~~
This past week I made progress on the inscrutable Italian health system. It can be hard to get appointments here, especially if you want a location or a doctor specifically. But my doctor wants me to see a Hematologist because she has some concerns about my blood tests. She specified the appointment was urgent and was to be within ten days. Mainly this was to speed it up, not because it was really urgent. I went to the CUP in the Farmacia (they make appointments) who said I would get an SMS with the appointment. Which I did, the next day! So I’ve got an appointment next week. I’m not concerned at this time but it needs to be checked I guess. And I really am only writing about the process, which involves a steep learning curve. I am on the wait list for two other appointments. If it’s not an emergency it can take some time.
~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile I worked at Books for Dogs/Libri per i Cani yesterday. I’ve written before but this time I took a few pictures so you could get an idea of the shop. The charity supports two canile which are kennels for rescued dogs plus one other which rescues anything that needs help. I love that she, and she does this all alone, does this.

We get a constant stream of people either donating things for us to sell or those who love to browse for a bargain. We keep busy checking people out and also pricing and displaying the goods. There are a lot of regulars too. Some I like. Some are a bit of a pain. Yesterday a woman came in just at closing and spent a lot of time browsing. She had several things but wanted me to throw in a set of measuring cups that were priced at €2.00. Well, I wasn’t in the mood at that time so I looked at her and said “it’s for the animals”. She put them back. 🙄 Here is the shop. You may notice the Italians are dressed like for the Arctic? Stocking caps and puffer coats. Yeah. They wear these until June. They dress for the calendar, not the weather. To each their own, right?! 🤣

You can get some bargains there for sure. People sometimes bring in Armani designer items and other designer things. The goods do tend to turn over pretty quickly. They also sell furniture. They rent a garage for the bigger things and there is a catalog with pictures. This three piece set of antique inlaid dresser and bedside tables is in the shop. They are asking only €240 for the three.

They also sponsor fun things like quiz nights and bingo at a local restaurant. The quizzes are in English but the bingo is very popular with the Italians too.
~~~~~~~~
Bathroom. Slow but steady progress. It is amazing how much work goes into a small bathroom. Floor with spacers.

Grouted floor.

Grouted wall.

~~~~~~~
Italians have something similar to our chicken soup. Not literally but the food that you eat when you’re not feeling great. Called pasta in bianca, pastina in brodo, riso in bianco or maybe straciatella (egg drop soup). All light and comforting. I made my version this week. It is a soup of pasta in a nice home made chicken broth with a bit of greens. Very much a classic and light comfort food. This is mine 😋

Buona domenica a tutti!

Feels like springtime

2 Replies

We are heading into a slight warming trend. The earliest fruit trees are blooming pale pink. The almonds are white. It’s uplifting. We decided to go to Calagrana for lunch. They have begun to open for Sunday lunch again. It was fun. There were three tables of English speakers and two tables of Italians, one of which was 14 people. So I think we English speakers were overpowered today. This is a change from the past when it was primarily English speakers. I’m actually very happy about this. We saw some friends from North Carolina who have a home here. And the other table were all Books for Dogs people. The big Italian table were having fun and VERY loud. As always, the women sat at one end of the table, the men, at the other. 🙄

The food was delicious. I chose the Crostone topped with roasted peppers, anchovies, capers and tomatoes. So good. The combination of sweet peppers and tomatoes, tart capers and salty anchovies really worked. Picture by Ely of the ingredients.

Luther had the house smoked Umbrian trout with pickles and toast. No picture. Our second course choices were lamb chops for Luther and Guancia (beef cheeks) on puréed potatoes both really good.

Calagrana had a tough week this week with the loss of Archie, everyone’s favorite terrier. He worked the front of the house and had his own bench, which if you sat there, you shared with him. He had been at Calagrana for all the years I had been going and I really missed his sweet little self today. 😔 RIP Archie. 🌈

Bathroom. Last week they began the process of waterproofing the floor and walls. This is the future shower space. We are getting closer to the “pretty stuff” 🙂. Here are the latest pictures.

Buona Domenica a tutti!