Category Archives: Eating

Cursed pranzo

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We had our “gang” over for Sunday lunch because our last (🤞) heat wave finally has broken. This was the hottest summer ever recorded in Italy. I knew the terrace would finally be nice enough to eat outside. All of our gang are going away soon for vacations in far flung places so I rushed to do this before we all were coming and going. Doug wins the prize for most distance. He is going to South Africa. Roselyne and Steve are off to Paris for a “significant” birthday celebration, buon compleanno Roselyne. Jen goes on a road trip to Calabria the heel of “the boot”. And Luther and I are going to Hamburg Germany and the north coast.

The lunch was cursed right from the getgo. I knew it would be a busy morning of cooking. I had done what I could to prep but this one called for a lot of more last minute work. I had planned an all Spanish meal. I’m never afraid to do a recipe I haven’t made before. The main course was a Paella Valencia. The snack was toasted bread rubbed with garlic and a raw, juicy tomato. This is a common tapa. And the primi was the Spanish omelette I had made before with good success.

The first disaster was toasting the bread in the broiler. I neglected to watch it and that is not smart. I smelled it burning. It was black. So I started again. This time with success. Then I started working on the omelette. All went well until I wanted to “confidently” flip the pan. That was fine but it had stuck and only half came off. I had to manually remove the rest. Then returned to the pan. I flipped it again to remove hoping it would look better on that side. It didn’t look terrible but the pretty brown crust remained stuck to the pan ☹️ So, it was cooked but it sure wasn’t pretty. I was beginning to feel like everything was going wrong.

The paella would have been delicious but there were technical issues that I couldn’t overcome. You may remember my spiffy induction cooktop? Well, it just wasn’t cutting the mustard. It would not heat hot enough for the enormous paella pan. I have an extra induction hot plate and I decided to try that. This was all before my guests arrived. I was precooking the vegetables. They cooked ok but I noted the heated part was really just in the center of the pan. While my guests were chatting I made the paella. But the bubbling fish broth was just in the very center of the pan. You’re not supposed to stir it, but I realized the outer edges wouldn’t cook unless I did. So long story short it tasted pretty good but some of the rice was not cooked enough. Third strike! I’m out! First pic is while it is cooking, second is it on the table.

Thank the heavens Doug brought the dessert! 🙄 And it was delicious. A peach tart extravaganza.

Luther and I also got a wonderful, amazing, stunning gift from Jen. It was for our anniversary which was in June, BUT she started this project when we had our 50th anniversary which was seven years ago. Yes, she has been working on this for all those years. She also took it on all her adventures and travels working on it in many places. She gave us statistics. It is double stranded, lace weight cashmere. The color is nightshade. A deep blue-gray. Made with no mistakes it takes 372,380 stitches. She explained she made many mistakes and had to undo and go back and fix so many more than that number. I am so touched. I took some photos but they don’t do it justice. So I borrowed some of Jen’s pictures.

I am so touched by this gift. It is so beautiful, soft beyond belief, and took so, so, so much work. Grazie di cuore,! amica mia, 💕
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Now the weather has broken I hope to get out and about a little more. I’m going to push for a trip to a winery. That would be fun. I hope wherever you are, you’re enjoying life! Here is to autumn! My favorite season. May it be long and lovely 🍂

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!

Orto box

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Orto box (vegetable garden box) is the name of the enterprise our entrepreneur farmer has created here in the upper Tiber valley, or Val Tiberino. I met him today. Luca, a young farmer. He brought my first delivery. It is very early in the season yet so I got two big heads of lettuce, some red spring onions, 5 big zucchini, and a few zucchini flowers. It cost 10€. Picture.

Since the lettuce was so big, I shared half, plus e a zucchini, with my cleaner, Linda. She was thrilled to get it.

Last night I used the zucchini flowers and one zucchini to make a pasta sauce. Chop small onion, two garlic cloves sauté in olive oil. Cube the zucchini and chop flowers and add. I added thyme and a few pepper flakes now. Then cook a few minutes until softened. I used orecchiette pasta. It was good. Didn’t take a photo! Oops.

Pizza night

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Pizza night with friends! Our nearby Degusto pizzaria. The pizzas are stellar. The crust is stupendo. I love this place. Here are three of our pizzas,

We are having great weather now. It went from cold, wet spring to hot summer practically overnight. I’m fine with it! The orto did not like that cold, damp, gray weather. Now, with the hot sunshine things are starting to grow. I took some pictures, first my impromptu potato crop to be. They are doing great. Potatoes are easy to grow. The tomatoes are doing well. Two have baby tomatoes. I’m not sure about the third. It gets a bit less sun so maybe it will start to produce. The pepper is very slow to get going. Even with the sun it is not thriving. Crossing fingers. The basil was also affected by the weather but it may start growing now with the heat and sun. And all my herbs are looking great.

The poor jalapeño plant is in front of the tomatoes next to the white flower. It is tiny.

On Saturday night we joined Susan and Gary to celebrate their anniversary. They came from Florence for a couple nights in the Calagrana agriturismo. Our friends Christie and Jane also came and Jane surprised Christie with an overnight there too! Fun. The food, as always was great, as was the company.

Spring days bring a few chores

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It is definitely primavera!. A perfect string of days. Sunny and in the 70s. What more can we ask? It made me want to plant my vegetables, herbs and flowers for this year. Here is one of my ferns. They aren’t called fiddleheads for nothing!

Last week we went to our local plant store — and well, just about everything else. But I had no luck finding what I wanted. I did buy bags of dirt so I wouldn’t go home empty-handed. Yesterday I decided to drive up to Città di Castello, about 20 minutes north. There is a viviao there called Mariottini. They have good quality plants and they usually have what I’m looking for. Yesterday it was especially tomatoes and Jalapeños. Also herbs and a few flowers.

Bingo, I found three pomodori and a pepper plant. The jalapeño was one of only three left. They had tons of habaneros and Carolina reapers and the like, but I wanted jalapeños this year. It is fun that they have these since, as a rule, Italians aren’t into hot food. I also got sage, rosemary, basil, mint and 3 daisy type flowers in different colors. The tomatoes I chose were a Buffalosteak, Fantasio and Honey Moon. No idea except from the pictures what they will be like. I knew I didn’t want Romas and I didn’t want cherry tomatoes.

This is Orto 2026. This bed has the basil, pepper and tomatoes. Check out the cool tomato cages I bought. I hope they will support the soon to be heavy vines.

I also, on a whim I decided to stick a few potatoes that I had that had sprouted into some unused planters. I’ve grown potatoes once before and it is fun to dig up your own new potatoes. Well, they started growing happily so we shall await the results. here are three.

I had ordered a new pump for the piccolo pond. This time I got what I wanted. I didn’t want a fountain, I wanted to create a little waterfall, which I did. I made a video, but for some reason it doesn’t work.
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For a treat for Luther I got a whole duck. He, for some reason, loves them. I cooked it a couple days ago. Sorry, I had to show you how they are sold here. A bit strange, but the good news is, I could use the extra “bits” to make a rich stock, which I did today, plus the carcass.

Tonight we had Left Over Roasted Duck Soup. I made the broth over six hours. Then I added cabbage and after it cooked I added ramen noodles. I rewarmed the duck and added it along with more slivered cabbage for crunch and some spring onions. It was pretty good for a left over type dinner.

I leave you with a pretty sunset we enjoyed tonight.

Buona domenica a tutti!

Something new to come I hope!

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A couple of months ago I saw an ad in Facebook. I NEVER respond to ads there, but this one was different, it specified only people in the Alta Valle del Tevere should respond. That is me! And it was by a local farmer and entrepreneur who was starting something similar in our valley to a CSA (community supported agriculture).

In the U.S.. I used to be a member of a CSA, and it was a lot of fun to pick up my veggies once a week. The good thing for the farmers in the U.S. is that all the shareholders pay an annual fee for whatever produce grows that year. So if the farmer has a bad year, the shareholders take the hit. It is guaranteed income for the farmer.

Here they will deliver to my home (!) which is much easier, and it will be about 7kg of veggies every two weeks starting in June. That’s about 15.5 lbs. The cost will be 23€ (about $27) each delivery. We can’t choose what we get. That’s always been ok with me because I love figuring out how to use it all.

He has a network of farmers who will be growing specified crops just for those of us who subscribed. The list of subscribers filled up fast and he closed the subscriptions. He is very eco friendly, it is all bio, and he wants it to have minimal waste. He contacted me today and wanted a final confirmation, which I did. He will now be meeting with farmers to decide who grows what because the season is just beginning.

I’m excited for a new thing in my life here. You all know I love to cook and experiment, and I love locally grown food that is chemical free and super fresh. I will be posting pictures in June of my first delivery, but for now, here is a picture of a typical CSA box in the U.S.

Photo courtesy of The Sprice Eats.

Easter week

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This is Easter week. Lot of religious things on the religious calendar. I am not religious, but I enjoy learning about things. There will be the usual Good Friday procession in Centro. Sunday is Easter. Everyone either goes out to eat, go to family homes, or make a feast themselves. After all, Lent has ended so it’s ok to pig out! Speaking of which, we have reservations at Calagrana with friends. This is the official opening of the summer season. The weather doesn’t seem to know that though.

Last week we had snow. It snowed hard for three hours, then turned to rain. It was pretty while it was happening. The mountains are still snowcapped. This from our terrace.

Today, we had a really nice lunch with our friends Steve and Roselyne. We decided on a very traditional, family owned place where they serve delicious, very traditional Umbrian food. There are fireplaces in the dining rooms so on a blustery and cold day like today they were welcomed. We’ve been coming here for 12+ years and it is not different food wise, but their two sons now work there. In the past Mom recited the food choices that day. Now one son speaks English and can do it in English which would be good if we ever took guests there. All of us today speak Italian reasonably well so we would have had no issue but it’s nice they can do this now. They have a ton of animals there. Outside there are chickens galore and peacocks. Inside there was a calico cat who had pride of place beside the fire. She also was an accomplished beggar.

We returned home and the wind and rain were fierce. We were full of wonderful food so we took a nap. While we did so the wind wrecked havoc on the terrace. It actually blew the entire sofa across the space it moved a glass topped table! And it ripped a door off the outside cabinet. I was amazed!

Trust me, this is NOT where this sofa was, or should be!

I am sure Spring will come back. Who knows when? But it will. Today, on the way home I grabbed couple pictures of a field of rapeseed plants. So pretty and yellow!

Buona Pasqua to everyone, even those who aren’t religious, like me.

It’s quiz night! And it is March!

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I am celebrating spring. The cherry trees are blooming and the Mimosa. The Japanese magnolia, always first, is blooming everywhere. Most of the trees have obvious buds now. The weather is springlike with cool temperatures and showers interspersed with sun.

We had a meet up for Sunday pranzo with my friend Doug up in his amazing home. It was the gang of six. A perfect day and we welcomed primavera. It was the final day of the Olympics and he made the signature dish from the north of Italy which was served everywhere from the cafeterias at the Olympic village to 3 Star Michelin restaurants in Milan. It is called Pizzoccheri and is made with buckwheat pasta (homemade by Doug), potatoes, garlic cheese topped by butter. A real calorie bomb. But good! 😋 plus a refreshing salad to make up for it and a beautiful lemon tart. Thanks Doug for a fun time and it was lovely seeing the “gang”.

I have been out and about a bit. I went into centro last week and met up with the local cat carer, who is also a lawyer. She has 7 cats of her own but cares for the Umbertide registered feral cat colony which presently numbers about 40. She was sweet. I gave a donation for one of the ferals who is in the clinic and sick. No one knows if he will make it. We met at Bar Mary, where else? One of the houses erected for the colony. Photo by Marta.

And here is a pic of the Saturday action, along with a tree the likes of which I have never seen.

Tuesday night was the Quiz Night benefit for Books For Dogs. They have it in a local restaurant. The questions are in English. It always sells out. It is very fun and we have a team, this time it is all Americans. I think. Two people are new to me. We are at a disadvantage since the questions are compiled by a British person and they can be British centric. So best to have a Brit or two on the team. It is all for fun and a good cause so who really cares. The tickets get you a free wine and some snacks. Here are some pics of the action.

They had this amazing pot of pansies outside, so petty that I had to take a picture.
The players.
One part is id identifying pictures of famous people. Harder when they have masks.
You play the joker for double points on the round at which you feel the most competent.
The bar area. Grace is the restaurant that hosts us. It is a nice local restaurant.

Sadly our team, Perché, came in last. Next time we will have to try to find a few other nationalities to join up with.

Today I went to my first session of private PT. I came to the conclusion I need some help to strengthen my muscles. My therapista is Ricardo. He was quite nice and we communicated in mostly my poor Italian. The words used in this new activity are new to me so I did a lot of improvisation. I now have a program, and “compiti” — “homework”. I vow I will exercise everyday. Another appointment next week,

Happy primavera a tutti!