HERE IT COMES!!
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HERE IT COMES!!
Category Archives: everyday life in Umbria
New food – Agretti aka Roscano.
So, I have been seeing a vegetable unknown to me called Roscano here in our markets in Umbria. It looked a lot like chives with its roots but with the texture almost like a rosemary leaf. Finally, curious I grabbed a bunch and looked on-line for recipes. Here is what it looks like. (photo from wikipedia I forgot to take one before I used it!)
…and from the food network.
Also, during my exploration on-line I find that there are food fights going on in England over this stuff. Who knew what I was missing?!
As for my preparation. You can just saute it in butter or oil with lemon and garlic as a side dish. Or you can make a pasta, which is what I did. It was a little tedious to clean but then you just blanch it in boiling water for a couple of minutes and add it to your pasta sauce. My sauce also had fresh fava beans, lemon, garlic and toasted walnuts. I liked it. The Agretti was grassy and unlike anything I’ve had before. I would do it again. I hope the season is not over yet!
It’s GELATO time!
We decided today was the day to have our first gelato. We can get gelato at any bar nearby but we opted to walk the few blocks to the shop that is ONLY dedicated to gelato.They have all sorts of interesting flavors. I think they make it there. It does stand shoulders above the others. I decided to break away from my normal favorites and try a new flavor every time. Today it was Migliafolia. Chunks of chocolate and flaky bits of pastry in vanilla ice cream. Very satisfactory for my first gelato.
We also just got our recently ordered divani letto or sofa bed. It adds a new place to sit in the house and uses the office more fully and makes an extra double bed for guests. I like it.
And finally, a solution to our big window. I love this window and the view but it faces west and steadily the sun has been working its way along the horizon and is pouring into the living room by afternoon. When it’s hotter I figured it would add significantly to the heat in the room. It took a bit but we managed to explain what I wanted to Mr. Tiziano first by a visit then by sending pictures via email. He came and measured and, voila! a white translucent shade that disappears up to the ceiling when not in use.
Tomorrow we are off to Ravena for an overnight. It is only about an hour and a half away. Unfortunately it is supposed to rain both days. Boo. We’ll still have fun I am sure.
Accessing “foreign” sites from Italy
I think people are sometimes surprised that they can’t access a site that they used to get from their house in the US. For instance, Netflix. They do not yet have an agreement in Italy so if I try to watch a movie, their server detects from my IP address that I am in Italy and says, “sorry Netflix is not in your part of the world yet”. Most annoying since I am paying for the service.
To overcome this there are websites that, when you become a member, allow you to “hide or change” your location. When I want to watch a Netflix movie, I “move” myself to the US. Right now this computer is in Miami FL. Or, sometimes when I try to watch a YouTube video in, say, England, it says sorry we do not serve people in your country. SO I just put myself in London! Easy peasy!
The service we use is Hide My Ass – hidemyass.com – There is also one called unblock-me. Both charge a monthly fee of between $5.00 and $10.00. I am sure there are others. It is well worth the cost to access American TV, Hulu, and my Netflix account from Italy. That said, if you plan to move to Italy, keep your account with digital Netflix. You must have an American credit card and an American mailing address to subscribe to it.
Cedro
Today was market day. We went out to purchase our fruits and vegetables as usual. Today the woman that we usually buy our vegetables from showed us an unusual citrus fruit. It was about the size of a grapefruit but she said it was between a lemon and an orange. Curious, I decided to bring one home. Looking it up on Google – it is called a Cedro – it said it is one of the 3 citrus’ that all subsequent citrus came from. It is a very old species. The ancient Greeks had it. Here are some pictures.
This is it in the bowl of oranges. Big huh?
Next to a normal lemon.
Now I just have to figure out how to use it. The woman at the veggie stand mentioned a salad or with fish. Also on the internet was a picture of it halved. Seems only 20% of it is edible. Most of it is peel!
Also there is another phenom going on here right now. It looks like snow but it’s some plant that is broadcasting it’s seeds on puffs of white. I’ve seen this before but not to this extent. The stuff is piling up like snow drifts in all the corners, on stairs and especially in our garage. It swirls around our feet. I tried to open the windows today. All have screens but the big one in the living room. I had to close that one because so much of the stuff was coming in. I tried to take a picture but it really doesn’t give the real feel of the quantity of the stuff. Anyway, here it is. You can sort of see the white bits of fluff. Sure hope it stops soon!
May day
Wow do they keep the Umbertide band busy or what?! Friday May 1 is a European-wide holiday similar to Labor day in the US. We had the band out again. The local union leaders and polititians got up on the podium and speechified for a couple of hours. Umbertide is majority communist so labor unions etc. are very important. Later they blessed the tractors… I missed it but I am told it is the tradition.
After my sister and her husband left I asked them, since they were the first to use the guest room, what it lacked. All in all it served them well. The only issue is the odd steps in our hallway ready to trip you up in a very real sense. These steps are between the guest room and the designated guest bath. For their visit we moved a small lamp from their room into the hallway. It did the job but was a temporary fix. After they left I purchased a night light which is activated automatically. It comes on when the lights go out.
The weather is very beautiful now. Sunny and warm. It will be in the 80s for the next few days. It makes me want to plant things so I purchased some plants from our market and we got some dirt from the hardware store just down the street. Here is what I call the herb corner.
Sweet basil. Here they sell it oddly. You don’t get just one plant. Rather you get a densely packed bunch of small stems. I have to see how this works out.
First of the flowers. Three lonely petunias. There will be more soon.
View of Umbertide in the evening sun.
Finally here are my purchases from our Wednesday market. The strawberries are local now. The artichokes are perfect and YES! those are new spring peas. Sauteed them in some butter with salt and pepper. So sweet!
25 Aprile
Today is the 25th of Aprile. In 1945 Italy was liberated on this day. But as the Germans moved northward up the country much damage and many lives were lost including citizens of Umbertide. Also on the 25th of April but in 1944, one year earlier than Liberation Day, Allied bombers, attempting to hit the bridge over the Tiber, killed 72 people in Umbertide. The square, since called Piazza 25 Aprile is now a parking lot but where the walls of the houses were is delineated in red brick with openings where the doors used to be as well as the house number. There is a plaque on the wall with the names of the killed.
We knew something was up yesterday when the Kilometer Zero market set up on an unusual day of the week, Friday. This morning the street cleaners made the Piazzas pristine and I noticed all the police were wearing their spiffy dress uniforms. Then, at 9:15 am the bell in the old church tower on the piazza began to ring. I wondered at the significance of the time. Later I read the bombing started in the morning, probably at 9:15. I didn’t count but perhaps they rang it for each person killed. Then the Umbertide band marched through town.
We ventured out a while later and they were giving speeches in the Piazza 25 Aprile. I noticed a number of old men about. I wonder if they remembered the day. Later when I was talking to Susan about it she mentioned that she felt guilty and avoided the celebration because the Americans did the bombing. I had not felt that way at the time. Perhaps I was being insensitive.
Last night I took this picture of the Tiber. It was a pretty sunset.
My sister’s visit
Well, all things must come to an end. My sister has flown away home. She brought the best weather with her and we enjoyed it completely. Here is a brief recap.
On Monday we went to Gubbio and walked our socks off. It is very hilly.
This was my appetizer at lunch at Ristorante Taverna del Lupo. It was a truffled egg. Looked better than it tasted.
Next day, Tuesday we were off to the Montefalco wine region. First stop Di Filippo winery. It is a bio-winery so they use no chemicals, let the geese free in the vineyards to help fertilize, and even cultivate with horses.
Lunch was in Montefalco at Locanda del Teatro. A new place for me right in the town square. They have a lovely terrace out back where we ate. I tried out the pasta with tiny, wild asparagus and fresh fava beans. Yum! and it was as good as this picture looks.
Bye Cindy and Bill! We really loved that you came to see us in our “native habitat” as you say.
Eventful week
What a difference a week makes. Last Monday we woke to this.
Yes that is snow on the mountain tops! Today, Sunday nearly a week later we have this.
Last Sunday was Easter. We had a fantastic meal at Calagrana. Here are a few mouth watering pictues!
The best thing though, by far is that my sister came to VISIT!!! I am sooo happy to have her here with me! We drove down to Rome and spent the night prior to their arrival in Fiumicino at hotel Pascucci Porticciolo. Luther enjoyed the bright green bath. We dined in their one star Michelin rated seafood restaurant. Very wonderful experience.
The next morning we picked them up at Leonardo da Vinci airport after their overnight flight. All went smoothly. Since they, Cindy and her husband Bill, are our first guests in our own house and we had not picked up anyone from the airport yet we were doing this for the first time. Parking was easy. Finding the international arrivals was easy and after watching several thousand people exit the doors…there they were!
We drove home and they visited the kilometer zero market, did a little Umbertide stroll, unpacked and we headed to Montone for lunch at Erba Luna. It was so beautiful we could sit outside! Wow. Here is my sis!
We had some lovely food.
Today we headed for a couple of hill towns in northern Umbria and very eastern Tuscany. Such a perfect day. We walked the towns and took pictures. Then we headed for lunch at Calagrana. I knew Cindy and Bill would love that place and the food was outstanding as expected. Everyone had a lot of fun.
Unfortunately they are only here for a short week but we have planned a number of excursions and the weather is going to be perfect all week. Yay!
Ceramic table arrived!
Yesterday was Venerdi Santo or Good Friday. You may remember we purchased a ceramic table top in Deruta, world famous for it’s ceramics. We have been dealing with Ceramiche Artistiche Gialletti Giulio. They are friendly, helpful, and seem to treat us fairly on cost. In February I ordered a 100 cm table top and iron base. They promised to get it to me by the end of March before my sister visits. They got close. April 3 they delivered it. It was only one person, Michele whom we deal with and he asked Luther to help bring it up the stairs. It weighed around 70 Kilos so it was HEAVY. All is well. It looks beautiful on our patio!
Close up of the artists work.
Last night was the Good Friday Fish Evening at Calagrana. They had a packed house. I think everyone there was British. That is the one disadvantage of Calagrana. But Ely is British and her husband is Italian. I believe Ely is the one who dreams up the dishes and Alberto makes them. They are a pretty good team.
Here is what we had.
First course was Spicy fish cakes served with garlic dip. Forgot to take a picture. It was fairly spicy and I would have liked more of the garlic dip.
Next was Prawn and aubergine Millefoglie. The eggplant was like potato chips! Really crunchy and the prawns were sweet. My favorite dish of the evening.
Then we had Creamy risotto Frutti di mare. Perfectly cooked, crunchy arborio rice and mixed seafood to include mussels, shrimp and squid. High on my like list.
Next was the main or Secundi. This was a Mixed grilled fish. By this time I was pretty full. It was not a really exciting dish either. But the fish was well prepared.
Finally dessert of Panna cotta of white chocolate and raspberries on a crumble base. Very good even after all that food. A fun evening.
We got back and the streets were crowded with the faithful who had just finished carrying Christ around town. I went into the church before we left for dinner and saw the “coffin” type wooden box with a glass top inside of which was Jesus. There were poles that stuck out of the ends for carrying. Interesting.