Category Archives: Eating

Shutter Management

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Yes! It is summer! For better or for worse. Wednesday we had our first hot day 39C or 102.2F. We seldom use our air conditioning. We only have two units anyway, and they are old. We keep cool the old fashioned way — shutter management and fans.

We close all shutters around 11am. Making it dark inside. In the evening, after sunset, we open all the windows and shutters and let the cool evening air come in. We place fans in the windows to pull in the cool air. This makes the house very comfortable all night. Next morning, when we close up we keep all the cool inside. Works well. Every now and then it will just get too hot for too long and then it can get tough.

My orto is doing pretty well. I planted seven tomato plants of all sorts from seed. They are now happily growing in the new planters I have. Today I spied my first baby tomatoes. All the herbs are doing well except the rosemary which has croaked. Don’t know why. Basil is big and bushy. The little jalapeño I got is struggling for unknown reasons. But it does have quite a few peppers on it.

Qua and Quo, our fishes are doing well. If you’ve been reading this for long you’ll know last year we got three fishes for a small “pond” I made, Qui, Qua, and Quo. Qui unfortunately died of unknown causes. The other two are doing well and getting quite fat. Especially Quo.

This week has been busy! I had a final dentista appointment Monday. Then we met some new friends in the piazza at Bar Mary for caffè on Tuesday. Afterwards we shopped for groceries because we were having friends over for lunch Wednesday. Then, Tuesday night was quiz night, a benefit for a local charity called Books for Dogs/Libri per i cani. They have one every other month. We have a team. So we always attend. It is a British founded charity to support two canile (kennels) that take in abandoned dogs. One has 250! Very sad for the animals. Then our friends came for lunch which was fun.

It is now tax time here in Italy. We visited our Commercialista today. It is not my favorite time of course. I doubt I have talked much about this. Once you’re a resident here you are liable to pay income tax on your worldwide income. This includes a wealth tax and taxes on investments as well as social security and other income. The tax rates are higher here, but I reckon it all works out in the end because we have no property tax, nor state tax, and health care fees are negligible. We must file in the U.S. but we pay no taxes there because of the Italian/US tax treaty. I truly believe if a person wants to come live here they should contribute to the system, and pay for all the things they are enjoying.

I also met with Irma (our architect) to begin a new project. All three baths here are probably circa 1980, when this place was built. So they sorely need an update. We decided to start with the guest bath. It has an old shower which is the one we use because the bigger family bath has only a tub. We will rearrange the room. We will remove a laundry sink which we don’t use, and the bidet. This will be the spot for a new, bigger shower. I want a seat built in. And we both want a rain shower with separate squirter. Then the sink will move into the present shower spot. Probably two sinks. And the toilet will get updated plumbing from the old overhead tank. The dark blue tiles which go nearly to the ceiling will go and we will have a half wall of probably white subway tiles I think. Who knows when we can begin, but it will eventually get done. As always here in Italy, piano, piano!

Friday was our anniversary. We had a good lunch at San Giorgio in the Piazza to celebrate.

We, unfortunately have the horrible Saharan sand in our air again. This is the sunset Friday.

Luckily, today, Saturday, the air has wonderously cleared. It is not as hot either. A gorgeous day. The high will be about 82. There’s a nice breeze. Being market day I decided to walk into town and see if there are tomatoes yet.

Along the way.
It was bustling. I got there at 9:30.

😃 YES! I see my first caprese salad in my future!

And I got all of this. I was in time for fresh eggs. The gigantic garlic is called Aglione. Which means big garlic! It is used in pasta dishes. Milder than the smaller bulbs.

Buon weekend a tutti!

Greve in Chianti

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We went for an overnight to a bed and breakfast outside the village of Greve in Chianti. I had ordered a long time ago, some hand painted ceramics. The artist is pretty popular and put me on the list. It was finished, and ready to pickup in November. I wanted to stay in the BnB which was owned by her friend, and where her studio was.

Turned out, I couldn’t go in December because of travel plans and Christmas. And then in January she went back home to Spain and the BnB was closed for the winter. Then we had the big March trip to the U.S., and on and on. When I finally decided to try to reserve a room he was nearly booked! So I took the one day he had open.

Finally on Thursday we headed out for our nice overnight. It was pretty weather. Perfect top-down weather. We decided to do a wine tasting/lunch combination. We went to Savignola Paolina in Greve. It was a pretty place. Not too big. We had reserved online but they didn’t seem to have our reservation. The staff was super friendly. They set a table for us outside with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. They were all very friendly and seemed genuinely to enjoy chatting, asking where we were from and telling us all about the winery and the wines.

We enjoyed a plate of three types of bruschetta, a plate of charcuteries, and a risotto made from their red wine. We tasted a rosè, and three Chianti Classicos of ascending quality. There is no white wine made in the Chianti district. At the end we had a taste of the one Merlot, which is not a DOC wine. And then the one called Mio which was made by the Swiss owner. Both of these had productions of 1200 liters only. I loved the top Chianti we tasted as well as the one just down from it. The rose was also quite nice and much more complex than any other rosè I have had. We bought a a case of wine.

We then went into the town of Greve. Chock full of tourists. We had a dinner reservation there that night. On we went to find our BnB called Selvabella in Chianti. It was down a tiny little gravel road about 2 kilometers. Thank god we didn’t meet any other cars. We parked and were greeted by Marta, the Ceramicist, and three resident dogs. She was super nice. We toured her studio and I got to see my ceramics.

The top two are the two fish platters. Then my favorite, the bird plate with a European Robin, a European blackbird, and a Hoopoe. The last being a favorite bird. Then two nice sized bowls with a snail and a hoopoe. They are a size I was lacking. Big enough for a big serving of whatever side or salad I made.

We were kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t want to negotiate the narrow road out and drive after eating and drinking. We asked if they could prepare dinner for us and they said they could. We had a nice dish of pasta and a pretty dessert. Both delicious. There was another American couple there from South Carolina and they also enjoyed the same dinner as we did. Bernardo, the proprietor was a good chef. He loved to experiment so had a lot of ingredients that were unusual. For the pasta we had a goat and pork ragu. On top was a pulverized bay leaf powder. The dessert (pictured) a panna cotta, was topped with a pulverized fig leaf. We talked a long time about cooking.

Next morning we packed up and headed home. Took a southerly route which was much better. We can do the trip in just over two hours. I love the Tuscan wine areas. They are also popular with tourists and the whole area is pretty much booked for the season.

Buona domenica a tutti!

Inauguration of the new kitchen

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I know it has been a while so I’m catching up now. We have been pretty busy. We had to outfit the kitchen, both by buying some new things and also bringing things up from the other kitchen. It took a lot of work but it has now reached a state of usability!

We took a trip south of Perugia to a store called Alessandrelli. It is a housewares store. I bought some frying pans, some glasses, plates, salt and pepper shakers, sugar bowl etc. These things along with what I bought online pretty much put me in action. Pictures on the ride to and from show the beauty of Umbria in spring. 💚

I had invited four friends for lunch on Thursday which was Liberation day here in Italy. It may have been premature! But it all worked out in the end. I didn’t know how to use the appliances. I learned how to use the oven. I made a cake! I also learned how to use the induction cooktop. Interesting and will be a future post.

On Monday, we go on a short trip to…Albania! Yes. Albania. Not just anyone wants to go there, but it is what they are calling the “new Croatia”. The beaches are said to be legendary. And it is incredibly cheap! I will, of course do a trip report. It is just for four nights. Probably too short but we can go back. There are flights from our local Perugia airport which makes it easy.

Ciao for now!

Pasquetta – little Easter !

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We are home in time for the Easter festivities. We have the misfortune to have a cyclone that is carrying Saharan dust high into the atmosphere and the sky is a murky mess. Cars and surfaces are coated with sand. The weak sun tries but it’s too much for it. This dust is spreading all over Europe even up into Germany.


Today was Pasquetta. It is traditional that the Italians make a picnic and enjoy the outdoors. It was horrible and murky to start with. You couldn’t see any distance really. Then we had a good steady rain all afternoon. It washed all the murk away! We enjoyed a fine lunch at Calagrana with good friends. Four courses plus a cocktail and snack. Many dishes had spring veggies like sweet fresh peas and fava beans. Delicious. This photo is after the storm but it doesn’t do justice to the brilliant red we had.

I went to the Otorino last week (ENT doctor) for a private consult. I have a bad infection, no doubt. He gave me antibiotics and nose spray and scheduled the operation. He is at a private hospital. Private hospitals are required to take some public patients so we checked availability and it would be September (!) before I could go in on the public system. So Luther and I opted to pay for it. TBH it isn’t that expensive. €2,500 all tolled. Includes one overnight and the operation and follow up if needed. I am pretty miserable and would love to feel better after over six months of this. I will report on the experience.

Ciao! 🌸🌸🌸

Doings

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Time to do an update on doings in Umbertide. Normal every day errands like grocery shopping can be more interesting here. This day I was shopping with a Monk, he had a jacket over his robes but still had his sandals plus a warm wool hat. I saw he was perusing the toilet paper…because even a Monk needs toilet paper I guess.

We also ordered another pallet of pellets for our stufa. While I was standing next to the checkout window I noticed this ad for poultry. You get 10 one day old chicks if you buy a 20 kg bag of feed.

Sunday, friends who have moved away were back and we were invited to join them for lunch at Calagrana. Of course we accepted and were so happy to be a part of the looooong table of about 20. I knew nearly everyone there so it was like a big family event. Much fun and good food.

All my gifted bulbs are coming up. I don’t know what these are but they are the earliest bloomers. Such a pretty deep purple. I cut back all the ferns and I could see the furry fiddleheads all curled up ready to grow. I weeded all my beds (Jill 😁). Those weeds just keep coming back but they look good now. And I added four bags of soil to the bed with the olive tree which had a lot of settling and I could see the olive tree roots. I hope it is happier now. I did all the final preparations for spring in the gardens. Brushing off my hands for a job well done!

I ordered some tomato seeds from a website with hundreds of heirloom varieties. And I bought some trays to start the seedlings. I haven’t ever tried this before. I always just bought plants. I wanted some different varieties and they just don’t have a lot of variety of types here. We shall see if this was a lesson in futility!

I have been very busy up on the terrace this week other than the gardens since we had a really nice day yesterday. Mostly we have had a lot of rain just about every day. After the construction, of which much took place outside, the surfaces were covered in cement dust.

Then I scrubbed all the pavers on the floor of the terrazzo. You could hardly see the color of them through the dust. I’m sure there is still dust there but they are much better. I also washed off all the chairs which were filthy and the table top and all counter surfaces and around the fireplace and oven. What a mess. And a lot of work. I still have another half of it to do but it may need to wait a bit.

The reason for the wait is an upcoming trip next week. What exotic place will we be visiting this time, you ask? Well it is the United States. Yep. We have not been back for five years. So it truly will be an “exotic” place. I think we may be in for culture shock.

It is not a “for fun” trip. We are finally going to empty our storage facility which has become quite expensive. Much work. It is important that I am successful but I’m feeling pretty good about it now.

My local cousin has a friend who will take my antiques. Sadly no one in our family wanted them and I don’t want to ship them. I have some new stuff which I will give away for free on the FreeCycle network. What I want to keep will be shipped over with an international shipper. They will help with inventory and valuation. A person can ship their own household goods over here duty free for one year. Obviously I am far beyond this time so I have to play customs duty of 34% of the value. It kind of stinks I have to do this with my own used stuff. I will need to look into every box and be sure I want to send. The cost of shipping plus duty makes me want to limit the amounts. Thing is, I left my favorite things there. I assumed I’d move back. It is the biggest mistake I made when we moved here to keep it in storage. Things I don’t want will be donated and finally I’ve got an appointment with NOVA Junk to come pick up all that is left.

I am bringing some really big suitcases. I will put some things into them like my paintings and art that I own (that will fit) and also all my Christmas ornaments. I will wrap well in bubble wrap and hope for the best! I also have silverware. I’m thinking of bringing that in my carry-on. I read the TSA webpage and it “should” be allowed but as we all know, the TSA agent makes the decisions. Makes me nervous. I will also, naturally, be doing a shopping trip for some things I use here. Stuff that is expensive or not of the quality I like, or just can’t be found here. OTC drugs, vitamins, aluminum foil, hominy, canned hot peppers, chili powder, chocolate chips, pecans. Not much really.

I will be pretty busy and a little stressed (ya think?) but I will feel much better when I am done. I have not made any plans for social things during this time because I don’t know my schedule. I am sorry I won’t be able to see my friends. We will see family who live nearby for a meal sometime.

I will be writing about my impressions of the U.S. I know I am in for sticker shock big time. But I am also very interested to see what things I notice, that make an impression with my new eyes. It should be interesting. Stay tuned! 📺

New kitchen – post 9

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Today they pretty much finished the space which will now wait for the cabinets and appliances. There are some covers that need to be made to go over the electric and plumbing. But the walls and ceiling are done and have been painted. The floor is laid and grouted and the terrace has been rid of all the trash and built up detritus. There is still a ton of dust that needs to be cleaned up but I will do that a little at a time. I can finally access the upstairs internally again. I am pleased with it.

From the door to the stairwell.
From the stairs
From the terrazzo

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Over the weekend we had lunch to celebrate our friend Doug’s successful passing of the extremely difficult written driving test. I’ve spoken of this before. The test is in Italian, technical Italian, and draws 30 questions from over 7,000 possible questions. You can miss 3 and pass. All Americans, and Canadians (I think) must take this test within a year of becoming a resident in Italy. After a year it is illegal to drive on your US license. I’ve got lots of friends here and every one of them has passed despite not necessarily being fluent in Italian. It takes months of study, you must enroll in a driving school and really it is a matter of memorization. Anyway, it was a special day for Doug and five of us had lunch in Bevagna. It was sunny but chilly. First picture is of an early flowering tree in front of one of Bevagna’s gates.

Lunch was at le Delizie del Borgo which is situated just outside the walls of the city in a pretty park. Captions beneath the photos.

Steak with fennel and pomegranate
Passito – after lunch drink
Doug’s dessert. No idea what it was but it looked great!
They have cute coffee cups with hats! Keeps the coffee nice and hot.

Then, we lucked into (not) another parade past our house. I was just taking a nap and was roused by the pounding bass from enormous speakers. I have no idea what the occasion was but I took one photo.

You can’t say Umbertide is not a happenin’ place!

New kitchen – work begins!

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Exciting times. I met with Irma, my architect, along with Alessandro and Donatello. Such pretty names for construction men. Donatello is the idraulica, plumber. He will move the pipes and gas. Alessandro will do the demolition. The work begins tomorrow. There is nothing much interesting in these pictures except to document what it looked like before the work started. First The Wall. This will be demolished.

The floors will be jackhammered up and removed. This was a conundrum for Irma. With two floors there already, how can we integrate a third? It had to kind of blend in color-wise, and also not clash with the patterns. It had to be plain. I hope what we finally settled on will look ok.

The place where the kitchen used to be which our sellers removed when they left. That is the caldaia on the left on the wall. A caldaia is a boiler. We have two. This one doesn’t work now. Most houses heat the radiators and the water with these. This means the wall is full of pipes. Water and gas for the heating system upstairs and the water. This makes demolition a bit harder. The pipes will have to be run under the floor and they will install a new caldaia outside.

Pipes.

I boxed up all our books and things and piled everything up on the two couches so they could be covered and sealed against the dust. This is just the one. The guys will roll up the carpet for me.

I don’t know how awful the noise will be yet. If it is too bad we may have to find a place to retreat to in the day time. More for the cats than us. We could always leave but they can’t unless we find a place for us all to go. Jackhammers are loud 😳.

The work will last about two months. The worst should be over in the beginning. They will completely seal the upper floor from the lower meaning to access it we will have to go out and up the elevator or stairs and then in the door upstairs. Not really all that hard. The washer and drier are up there and some plants outside which will need watering.
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I have only one key to the upstairs door. I went out last week to our Ferramenta – hardware store EmporioCasa. They made two keys. They didn’t work. Back this morning. I pointed out the difference in the two keys. He made two more which looked the same to me. They didn’t work 😡 So I went back right away because I need the keys tomorrow. Finally this time they work. Whew.

The Ferramenta is a cool little place, long and skinny with two floors the bottom of which is open to the top floor. Stuff is everywhere! You don’t really browse in here. You ask for what you want. I sometimes take a picture of it and show it to them, which helps. Although the place is a jumble, the father and son and helper know where EVERYTHING is. This is outside sign. The building is right behind the train station.

You really can get just about anything here. Zoom in on these. This first one I wanted to show all the baskets they have up on the ceiling, for hunting mushrooms and truffles.

Two more. They have things seasonally. Now you’ll find heaters and fireplace tools and grates. Also pellets for the stufe. In the olive harvest season, they have rakes, and beaters, nets and the big cans the mill puts the oil in as well as smaller tins for separating it into usable sizes.

We decided to go out for lunch on Sunday, Calagrana was having a Sunday Roast and all the fixings. This is a British tradition every Sunday at all the pubs. It had been a while since we had eaten out. My appetizer was an artichoke, beet and goat cheese insalata (really good). And we had the roast. Which was not beef but lamb and pork belly. Pictures.

Ely seated us at a table next to Americans who live here part time that we had never met. Dale and Mark from Dayton Ohio. They have a house near the Niccone valley. We had a very nice time getting acquainted. They apparently had just met friends of ours a few days before Joanne and Lynne in a cafe in Passignano. There are a lot more of us around here than we know!

So stay tuned for more regular posts about the kitchen renovation. Ciao!

Orecchiette con rapini

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Last night I made probably my favorite dish. I could eat this for every pranzo and every cena. If you asked me what I want for my last meal, it would be le orecchiette con rapini 🙂. In the winter, which is when rapini grows, I snap some up to make this pasta whenever I see it. Yesterday I stopped in the Egyptian market next to us and saw some, nice and fresh. I won’t recap how it is made because I have written about it before, but here is the link orecchiette con rapini and a picture of our pasta last night. It is super easy to make.

We have a cold front coming but the last few days have been springlike. Yesterday started rainy, then turned sunny, then partly cloudy, and then, a thunderstorm rolled through. It made an amazing sunset after it passed. And during the storm I went up to the terrazzo and snapped a couple photos of the rainy, winter terrace. Then the sunset.

Buon weekend!

Doings on and around Christmas

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I made a big ole batch of my chocolate chip pecan cookies which I make every year. I had a lot more places to take them this year. On Saturday I took them to Angelo, my old friend in Centro near our old apartment. And also to Irene at Bar Mary as I always have. I also took a box to Vera and her family. I just snuck into their building and left it near their door – they weren’t home. Luther and I took one box to each neighbor in our stairwell. We don’t do a lot of socializing with them, we just see them in passing. They are very nice and seemed to be happy to get them. The two little girls across from us made us a lovely thank you card which they hung near our door.

Hand made card from the little girls across the hall, Celeste and Chiara.

We were invited by friends to a Christmas open house on Friday and I took some cookies to them. They live out in the mountains between Umbertide, Pietralungo and Gubbio. Beautiful home and location. It was cozy and we really had a great time. Here is a picture we took on the way home. Amazing views as you run along a high spine of a mountain.

Winter can be beautiful!

Christmas Eve I heard a band playing outside! Who says nothing happens outside the Centro?!

Santa band

I picked up an 8.5 kilo Turkey, which is about 19 lbs on Christmas Eve from Calagrana. It came stuffed with aromatics and stuffing balls cooked on the side. Such a pretty day. Winter in Umbria is upon us. I took a picture.

Niccone valley, all buttoned up for winter.

Christmas Eve we were invited to friends house for dinner in Montone. We walked down to the small square to see the town tree. And a presepe (crèche) on the way back.

Montone tree in the one and only piazza.
Presepe contest in town. People put these nativities outside and townsfolk vote.

There were six for dinner, our Montone friends and an Australian couple who are part time Montone residents. An extra special evening. Delicious food and good conversation. We went outside their home to view their Presepe. I thought it was lovely and a bit spooky. I would vote for it!

When we got home that evening we found this in the hall. A little something for Babbo Natale and his reindeer.

I cooked the Turkey and made mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli and the dressing from Ely on Christmas. Very nice and now I don’t have to cook for a while! I see many turkey sandwiches in our future!

Pre-gravy
Finished gravy
Tacchino was delizioso!

Later we had the very special panettone we pre-order from the bakery in the Centro, pistacchio creme. Amazingly delicious.

Today is also a holiday here. We are taking it easy after our over indulgences of yesterday. Turkey sammiches for lunch! 🥪
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Alla prossima! Nancy 💕

I’m back!

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Hi everyone! I guess I have some catching up to do. It has been a busy couple of weeks. I have had a spot of trouble with my website so I held off posting until I could do some cleanup and fix a few problems with the help of a friend (thanks Roger!)

We had a very cold snap which pretty much killed off the remaining plants on the terrace. I built the first fire in the upstairs fireplace and after about four hours it finally warmed up that floor which at present has no heat. I also grilled a whole branzino for our dinner so as not to waste the heat in any way.

Speaking of upstairs things are moving along with the kitchen. I met with Irma, our architect, and we have nailed down all the colors. We also went and met with Nicoletti who will make the cabinets, order the appliances and install everything once the preparation is done. The builder who will do the demolition came to see how we could move the heavy flooring upstairs and the countertops. I have insisted that the counters not have any seams. Both the kitchens I’ve put in here have had seams and this time I was determined they be in one piece. There are two and they will be heavy. So they will use an elevator truck to bring these things up.

We had a lovely pre-season lunch with three of our friends in Spello. We each brought something and it was great fun. We all get along well and the conversation flows. Here is one of the arches in Spello. It is a lovely hill town.

The Christmas tree was delivered to the piazza but this year I didn’t see it delivered as I have done in every other year. So I decided I would put up my own tree which at least brings some festiveness to our house.

We had some company for a couple nights and we did a bit of sightseeing. We picked them up in Foligno and we went so DiFilipo a bio winery near Bevagna. This is our first visit to them since pre-Covid. They have upped their game. They have many more wines now and they have created a nice outside space with tables and chairs — not that we could use it in this weather but they did build a nice fire for us to enjoy inside.

This winery does not use any pesticides. It also doesn’t use any machinery in the vineyards. They use horses to plow and cut the grass between the vines. And they use geese to control the insects. Before going in we went to visit the animals.



We had reserved a tasting and they brought us goodies to enjoy along with 7 wines.

After the tasting we didn’t want lunch so we paid a short visit to Bevagna. They had a small Christmas market. This was L’Immacolata. The immaculate conception. It is a national holiday and the official beginning of the Christmas season. After we returned home we walked into town. It was very cold. We had a drink in Bar Mary and waited for them to light the tree. Right on time – there it was!

Next day was Saturday and we did have a tough time doing anything I had planned. We headed to Assisi. We got there around 10:30 and were turned away by the police as there was no parking left. I had to cancel our lunch reservation. So we decided to visit Perugia. Our guests had not been to either city. Well, we headed to the MiniMetro and found the big Saturday market was there. But we still went to the metro station where we found the place a mob scene. So we decided to just walk through the market and go over to Lago Trasimeno for a walk and lunch.

It was one of the prettiest days ever. Not as cold, in fact it got into the 60s, and it was crystal clear with bright blue skies. Perfect to visit the lake.

We chose Ristorante Il Molo. Known for creative food and a good wine selection. The food was quite creative for sure.

My starter of pasta in brodo with mushrooms
My secondo — fish filet fried crisp with cabbage and mayonnaise

These next are my table mates food and I cannot remember what they all were but everyone like theirs.

Here we are and we had a nice view.

Afterwards we went for a walk around the town. There were quite a few people there but not crowded. Just folks out enjoying a rare warmish sunny day.

Upcoming for us. We planned a trip to England. First one since before Covid. We are glad we got our boosters (first in two years) last week. We leave on Friday and will spend five nights in a National Trust Cottage in a town called Corfe Castle in Devon. We look forward to pub lunches, touring the towns within reach and maybe a walk on the cliffs for which the area is known. We hope there will be some Christmas merry olde England style too! Of course there will be a trip report. 🙂