Category Archives: everyday life in Umbria

January 2, 2015

We enjoyed our New Years Eve at Patrick’s Enotecca. He had a nice spread of food, some of which was from the Tyrol in northern Italy as his wife comes from there. It was paired with some wines from that region as well. The town shot off fireworks at midight which we watched until we were too cold. Afterwards we walked back into town and the band was in full swing. We headed on into our house while Susan and company stayed out and hopped up and down to the music as the Italians do. The noise was quite bearable and the cats seemed to have acclimated to the constant fireworks which everyone seems to have.

On January 1 we had a very nice New Year lunch with Susan and Gary and her sister, husband and Joseph and Paul. Very nice food catered by Colagranna. My cold caught up with me and I was a tired puppy afterwards and hit the sack early. Too much partying!

Today, January 2 I felt better but still not back to normal. Today was the day we had to drop off the Clown Car. We had decided we could live without a car for the time we needed to wait until our car was ready. We dropped the car at the train station in Perugia and then took the MiniMetro (only 2 blocks away) up to the top of the town. Then we wandered down to the Etruscan Museum that we had wanted to see. It was very good but a few more English write ups would have made me happier. After we were there a couple of hours and I was all Etruscan and Roman artifacted out we went up and had lunch at Pasticeria where we had eaten a couple of times before. The place was PACKED. It had always been pretty empty before but this time they had two big groups and lots of families with little children making it pretty chaotic. We had a nice lunch though and walked down to the OTHER train station. This station is a short line that only goes from Perugia to San Sepulcro. But it is pretty convenient and it dropped us off right in Umbertide.

Monday is the day Befana comes to town. In Italian folklore, Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5) in a similar way to St Nicholas or Santa Claus. But children get gifts from both Father Christmas and Befana. Lucky kids. I will keep a watch out for her arrival. Maybe grab a picture or two! But here she is as I could find her on the internet.

Next week we pick up our car… or we THINK we will. After all this is Italy. One never knows…

New Year’s Eve

Sitting in the (mostly) warm living room. It is funny that energy costs in Italy are four times the costs of other European countries and yet they have NO insulation in their buildings. We too have no insulation and live in a four hundred year (or thereabouts) building made of stone. Even though we have very good windows it remains drafty.

I see it has been exactly a year since my first post. A lot has happened in that year. It kind of amazes me that we could pull off our dream with no serious hitches. Last December I was writing about our up-coming house hunting trip. Today I am in my house in Italy! It was an incredible year. I have to be SO thankful to have found wonderful new friends in Susan and Gary who really helped us immeasurably. I look forward to many adventures with them. We also have found other friends John and Libby who live in Montone and helped us get our Permessi. I thank them as well. Hopefully next year we will be able to get to know them better.

This next year we hope to start traveling some. We think our first trip will be to Barcelona. We can grab a quick and inexpensive trip on Ryan air from the nearby Perugia airport. They fly once a week on Thursday and return once a week on Sunday. That seems to be about right. Other places on our bucket list are Turkey, Croatia and Greece. All three are on the Adriatic so not far away.

I also hope to take some classes in Italian from a school in Citta di Castello. Luther has arranged to practice his conversation with Vera who also cleans our house. He knows all the grammar but just needs practice speaking and understanding.

Tonight there is to be the big celebration Capodanno. Their way of celebrating the New Year. They have set up a bandstand on the Piazza. From what I am told the Umbertidese party until the wee hours. We shall see what they are made of because it is VERY cold here. And the winds are whistling down the narrow streets and through the Piazza. I cannot imagine partying in that cold, or playing instruments. But they have cleaned up after the small market today, readying for the show! We shall see how much noise we get in our new house from a party on the Piazza.

We are going over to Patrick’s Enotecca across the river. We are joining Susan, Gary and Susan’s sister and husband in some wine drinking and light dining. I am not sure I’ll last to midnight as I have a pretty nasty cold but I am up for trying.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!

Today is December 30. Almost to the New Year. And what a year 2014 was for us as you all know! And this morning we awoke to a light dusting of snow. So pretty and so nice to be in our own house.

Carta d’Identita!! And Buon Natale!

WOW! Today a red letter day! Here is what has been happening. Since we received our Permessi last Saturday we have been working hard to get our Residenza. We went to the Comune (city hall) on Monday morning and they did the paperwork for our house. Putting it into our name and showing we will move in at the end of the year for garbage tax etc. We took that to another department where they filled out our papers to get our Residenza which will include a visit by the Police to our house to make sure we actually live there.

On Tuesday we went car shopping in Perugia. It was not very hopeful. We thought we were going to have to order a car which would take a couple of months minimum. We decided we’d go up to Citta di Castello on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, where they have an auto row type street to see about ordering an Alfa. We went to the VW dealer first. The salesman was pretty helpful. We explained we needed to buy a car as soon as possible. He found a VW Golf Diesel with most of what we wanted in Arrezzo (not too far away). They would install the GPS for us at an additional charge. Seemed like a good deal. We told him we would think about it. We wanted to try the Alfa dealer. He pretty much laughed at us saying what we wanted was impossible. Since we did have the VW in hand we decided to go back and buy it.

We did so. They explained that our Permessi were not enough to buy it. We had to have the Residenza. SO when we got back to Umbertide we decided to visit the Police to see if we could speed it up some. Serendipitously we ran into Jim (our realtor) as we were turning away from the Police door after reading their hours. Jim is not put off by closing time. He rang the bell and ushered us right in. He talked to the Policeman who found our visit request at the bottom of a big stack. He explained where we lived and he stamped all our papers and called ahead and we went up and GOT OUR RESIDENZA permits!!! I think getting our Permessi and Residenza in only 3 business days must be a record.

This means we can actually close the deal on the VW and return our rental without extending it (we hope!). This is a most welcome Christmas present for us!

Other things of interest
We got our guest bed head and foot boards.

Looks and is comfy!

We also went to Castiglione del Lago with Susan and Gary for lunch on Sunday. It was a lovely, very mild day. Lots of folks out and about. We had a great lunch at Monna Lisa. This is a seafood restaurant that we were sure Susan and Gary would love as we had eaten there with Jodi and Don recently.

Pictures of Castiglione.

Finally, at the end of a very eventful year for us, we want to wish everyone a Buon Natale! We will have a nice Christmas Eve dinner with friends tonight.

Pranzo guests!

We have done a few errands this week. We found a store called Leroy Merlin which is like a Home Depot. It has a lot of stuff we needed. I got some plastic bins to help organize stuff and some plug adapters. Luther said electrical stuff here is haphazard and I’d say that’s an understatement. Everytime I go to plug something in I need an adapter. They have grounded plugs and ungrounded plugs and the reverse for outlets and I never have what I need!

We also paid a visit to Deruta of ceramics fame. I bought some salt and pepper shakers and a utensil holder for my counter.

We got our stuffa (pellet stove) working. Yay! Keeps the room nice and warm and is pretty festive next to the tree don’t you think?

We also got our grill!!! We ordered a standard Weber grill which I am intimately familiar with. Now I can start cooking but first I need to find charcoal. Baby steps. Luther put the grill together while I was working on lunch for our first guests.

We invited Susan and Gary and Joseph and Paul (all American lunch!) and I decided to buck tradition and make a green pozole since I had shipped some of the needed ingredients. It was a bit different because I had to substitute some stuff but it came out pretty good. Anyway my guests seemed to like it. I think when I cook, if possible I’ll make things that we can’t get here. It is nice to have some variety. We really enjoyed entertaining in our new home!

WE HAVE MOVED! FINALY!

At long last we are in our own home. December 8. It is soooo wonderful! We had a house cleaner in. Her name is Vera. She cleans for Susan and Gary too. She spent two full days cleaning and it looks good. Here are pictures.

Hall from in front of back bedroom and office.

Office.

Next two are the pantry.

Next three are the kitchen.

Dining room

View out really clean picture window.

Luther in the living room.

Space age dishwasher.

I even put up our itty bitty Christmas tree.

Here are a few pictures from the office window of the town Christmas tree and the Wednesday market.

A funny thing that would never happen in the US. We bought a 48 inch smart TV from Formica. He set it all up and left. We have not paid for it. €849. I guess we’ll have to walk over and pay them sometime. Strange.

Thanksgiving!

I am a lucky person to have shared our American Thanksgiving, and my first one in Italy with my good American friends Susan and Gary and their guests from California and six of our Italian friends and two Italian children. It was an amazing feast! It has been documented in pictures below.

Alas, I was still cooking in the borrowed apartment as we are not quite ready to move into our place yet. My contribution to the meal was dinner rolls, green beans, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. The cranberries had crossed the ocean with Gina and Mark. I also decided to roast the little Cannara onions in balsamic vinegar, stock and herbs to share. I had to send Luther on an errand to buy a mixer and it was pouring rain. He manned up and walked to Formica and therefore made his contribution to the mashed potatoes.

We gathered at Susan’s and Gary’s apartment at about 12:30. Gary, Gina and Mark had gone up into the Niccone valley to Calagrana to pick up the turkey. Since none of us have a big oven Susan had arranged with the restaurant to obtain and cook our turkey. I might add it was the largest turkey any of us had EVER seen. 15 kilos or about 35 pounds! Eli, restaurant owner and British, had started the turkey at midnight and collaborated with her sister in Philadelphia on Skype. The turkey roasted for 12 hours. She also made some wonderful appetizers, a pork roast in case there wasn’t enough food (!) and a pie. She sent along the drippings for us to make gravy.

Susan’s beautiful table!!

We started the preparations and Simone, Simona and Fabio arrived with contributions of their own. Simona and Simone are Milanese transplants who live off the grid on a farm south of Umbertide. Fabio is a technical guy and also creates olive wood utensils, lamps, etc. Fabio was the most excited of everyone. He had seen our Thanksgiving on TV and this was his first actual one. Most of the pictures below are from him.

Antoinetta, Barbara, Emanuele and their boys arrived last. We had a prosecco toast and dug into the appetizers. Here are some pictures.

Next we dished up the Meal. Here is the ENORMOUS turkey which had the boys in total awe!

And the buffet with all of the dishes. I demonstrated to the Italians how to load up their plates and I was pleased to see they did so with enthusiasm.

Fabio’s plate and the table.

Onions.

Gravy.

Beans.

Mark stepped up to carve the bird.

And finally we all sat down to the feast. We gave a toast to our friendship and our ability to share a wonderful, international meal.

Luther had helped with the wine selections along with Gary and Mark. Susan had made a pumpkin pie. There were two other pies we were too stuffed to eat.

Christmas tree!

On Thursday I watched out the window as they unloaded a big, round concrete thing with a hole down the center. I realized it must be fore the Christmas tree in the piazza. Sure enough a couple of hours later a truck began to maneuver itself in.

There was a difference between the way the tree is transported here and in the US. I have seen plenty of the trees that are brought into Washington DC, the capital etc. and they are trussed up tightly and on a very long flatbed truck that accommodates the full length. Not here. No trussing. Small dump truck style truck. I wondered how they must have gotten along on the highways. The tree spilled out the sides etc. Here are pictures of them trying to get down the narrow street into the piazza.

After the cherry picker managed to push the branches down so they wouldn’t take out the street lamp, the workmen had to go into the apartment on the left with a balcony full of flowers and help the old man there move them. Finally it was in the square and suspended above the ground so they could trim the trunk to fit in the hole. Sorry about the screen.

Here is the tree from our front door after it had been anchored into it’s base. It really is a big beautiful tree. I can’t wait to see it decorated!

We talked to Emanuele yesterday. Things are really shaping up over there. I am actually starting to get excited about moving in! He said next Saturday would be a good day – a week from today. He told us we couldn’t move in on Monday or Friday as they were bad luck days to move into a house. Oh-Kay. I asked him to attached my magnetic knife holder to the wall. I had bought a new one to bring with me. He was quite amazed at it. He had never seen one. I guess they don’t have them here. He also will have the shelves from the living room installed in the pantry for me. Yay! I guess it’s the Capricorn in me but nothing makes me happier than tidy storage.

And a final note. Last night in the middle of the night I was woken by a band playing. I got up and there, in the middle of the piazza, was a truck that had an entire band in it playing at the top of their lungs! I looked at the clock which read 4AM. I vaguely remember Susan mentioning this but I need to find out what the heck it was all about. Always something! They drove off out of the piazza to wake up the rest of the town.

Cantine Aperte a San Martino

Yesterday was Sunday, November 16 and there was a festival called Cantine Aperte a San Martino or Cellars open for St. Martin. We had gotten a brochure with the participating wineries and a map from a winery we visited last week. It was organized by Movimento Turismo del Vino Umbria. We had planned to visit one or two wineries and then have lunch and then maybe visit another.

The weather was threatening. The first place we went was just south of Perugia and it was closed (!) and it was supposed to be participating. So we headed south near Todi. This one was called Roccafiore. It was quite an operation. When we arrived it was raining and after going inside where they have a gourmet restaurant, spa and hotel, we found out they, too were not opening the Cantina because of the rain. Shoot. We called and made reservations for lunch and decided to try one more. This one was called Tenuta San Rocco – a cluster of confusing buildings and it was POURING rain. Finally we found their make-shift tasting area which was in a newish building with the bottling machines. The man was very friendly and there was another guy and a young woman there. They not only served us wines but also two breads, a sweet, nutty cookie, and hot bruschetta and then they roasted chestnuts on a little brazier right there on the floor!

Chestnuts in a cup.

One of the wines was the Vino Novello which is almost exactly like Beaujolais Nouveau from France. Very young and meant to be drunk right away. It was fresh and good. They explained that it was due to the St. Martin festival that they had olive oil, chestnuts, and new wine as it is the tradition. I found it all charming. They harvest everything by hand. At the end Dottoressa Grassini who is the owner and enologist came and met us. She also was very welcoming. All in all a very fun experience.

New wine.

Off to lunch at Locanda Rovicciano in Castel Ritaldi. We found it in our Gambero Rosso Ristoranti d’Italia book. Excellent restaurant. We were seated in a room with a big fireplace. I bet it would be cozy in the winter. There were large Italian families dining and many children. It was fun watching them. The kids were pretty well behaved and could go outside and blow off steam while their parents ate and drank wine. The table in our room had four women and four men. The four men sat at the end of the table, then the four women all together, and then the kids. So strange. We would never seat ourselves like that in the States.

I had the quail eggs with white truffles. They were fried and place on top of toasted bread with shaved truffles. Yum!

Luther had Maltagliata which means “badly cut”. And it was very irregular. It had onions and bacon.

I had the spit roasted Quail for an entree and Luther had grilled lamb. He pronounced it the best lamb he’s had here. My Quail was tiny and crispy and smokey flavored and not too much food. It was wrapped in bacon and I am pretty sure roasted over a wood fire. Very Very good. My Quail.

Here is the sky just before we went into the restaurant. Spooky!

All in all a fun day. This coming week will see us moving into our own place, or so we hope. I finished unpacking what I could unpack so there are not so many boxes. We went shopping Saturday and bought a vacuum cleaner. A Dyson Animal. We hope that will help us keep up with the cat hair.

Kitchen!

It’s Tuesday – Veterans day in the US. Our kitchen arrived yesterday at 10AM. There are a LOT of pieces. I have not been bothering the workmen but they are supposed to be finished by 6PM today. It’s 4:30 and I’m dieing to go and see!

This morning we went furniture shopping. First we went to Chateau d’Ax which has some nice furniture and I had not visited it yet. I saw some nice kitchen tables and one coffee table I liked. But not that much. I also still have to see the finished kitchen to get an idea what size kitchen table we can accommodate. We headed over to Divani & Divani which is the Natuzzi store where we got our sofa. I just love their stuff. It’s a bit pricy but Oh well! Luther found a TV stand he liked and then we found a coffee table that went with it. I didn’t take pictures. Here are a couple but they are small.

The TV stand is two pieces of a bunch of modules that you can get which gives us the flexibility to add on more later should we want to. The coffee table matches the wood and the black part swivels so you can make it crooked shaped, or long or squarish. We get the coffee table right away as it was on sale. The other won’t come for 3 months (!)

A side note. After all these years of cooking I learned something new. You may already know this so just call me ignorant if you do! You know how recipes say keep a cup of the hot pasta water to put in the sauce? Well I found out you need to put the water into the sauce and get it simmering. Take the pasta off the heat BEFORE it is cooked al dente. Then drain and put into the sauce and cook it the rest of the way in the sauce. It allows the pasta to soak some of the sauce into it as it finishes cooking. I found it to make the pasta much better. Doesn’t work so well with creamy sauces.

It is dark and 7PM and they are not done yet so I will wait until tomorrow to see it.

The Kitchen !!
OK, now it is Wednesday morning and I couldn’t sleep for wanting to see the kitchen. I went over before Luther even got up. It is beautiful, or I think so. Very sleek Italian styling. They are not quite done I think because the counter top bits that go around the edges are loose. And since there is no electricity yet nothing can be tested. Here are some pictures.

Notice the “back splash”. It has shelves and sliding glass doors for bottles etc.