Sunday lunch with good friends. We have a group of friends – all Americans. They all live south of us. Two live in Spello. One between Spello and Assisi on Monte Subasio. And one in Foligno. These places are all very near to each other. We are about 45 minutes north of them. I wish we were closer. We get together every month or two for a meal at one of our homes or an outing to a good restaurant.
i wanted us all to be together for a time during the Christmas season. I decided to host. Normally I plan and make the meal but this time I thought a potluck would be fun. I provided the two entrees and the panettone dessert. They brought munchies to start and two sides. Although one turned out to be a yummy soup. A little shuffling ensued so we had a first course of soup, then a salad and the mains. It was a very fun afternoon. The fog lifted for a time and the sun shone but then it rolled back in just in time to make their drives home difficult. Here are photos. Some of them mine, some by Roselyne and Steve.
Centerpiece from local floristI made baskets and filled them with chocolate as giftsThe set tableCounter where I was going to put the food.Clementines which I forgot to put outOne main, poached salmon with a cucumber dill sauce.Roast beef sliced thin with shaved Parmesan and horseradish mustard sauce.Doug finishing up his saladThe finished product.The panettone. We ordered a week ago at our local bakery and picked up this week. It is pistacchio and a boozy berry or grape. So fresh and delicious. A world apart from a store bought panettone.All of us except Steve.
We have no other official plans for the season so this was our big celebration. We do have friends who we may have lunch with after Christmas. And I may ask some others over. We are planning to move house from upstairs to downstairs for a couple months to use the stufa to supplement the heat. But first the Christmas tree needs to undecorated and returned to the terrace. Ciao for now!
Today was a very unusual Tuesday. My good friend Elizabeth, who is very well connected around these parts, invited me to join her at a tasting and luncheon at Vineria Del Carmine. Elizabeth is partner in a business called Altabella an Italian Villa vacation rental and Umbrian experience. She has lived here more than twenty years.
The event today was for restauranteurs and people who work in tourism in the Upper Tiber valley. Elizabeth was going and found she could invite someone else. We have been friends for a number of years and she appreciates this blog as promoting this area and tourism around here. So she asked me to join her! I happily accepted.
The tasting room had two long tables set for the event. There would be three separate lunches/tastings. At 12:00, 2:00 and 4:00. The table filled with many people. We were at one end of the table so only were near a few people. They brought three wines to taste during the lunch. A Trebbiano Spoletino (white), a rosato (rosè) made from Merlot and a big red called il Campanile made from Sangiovese and Merlot. All were very nice. We had a small lunch. They make their own very thin bread sticks and two dipping sauces with which we began. They also had delicious bread and their own olive oil. Then we had a nice small main from which we could choose — a polenta with a delicious cheese sauce or pork belly. We had the polenta. Finally a nice dessert which had a LOT going on. From crumbled chocolate cookies, dots of caramel, a panna cotta ring, passion fruit and blackberries. Very nice. Here are pictures with captions. The first two are the tables.
The polenta with the cheese sauce.The dolce.Across from the winery is an an abandoned church..
I really had a nice time. It was great to spend time with Elizabeth. Thanks Elizabeth for the invite!
Hey everyone. We had a great day with eight of our good friends. We all went to Calagrana for our Thanksgiving feast as always. This has become a tradition for this group. The story is kind of fun. Gary and Susan treat the meal, Luther and I treat the wine. Here is the story…
Once upon a time, twelve years ago, Susan wanted to have a Thanksgiving feast for her Italian friends. But her oven was small and she had no cooking skills. So she contacted Eli of Calagrana fame. She was happy to cook her turkey. But wait…she was British and had no idea how to cook a whole turkey. Seems only Americans cook whole turkeys. As luck would have it, Eli’s sister lived in Philadelphia and they consulted through the night to cook this (enormous) turkey.
At this time Susan and Gary hosted the feast in their home so they picked up the turkey and some appetizers and served them at home. They did this for a couple of years. Then Susan and Eli conspired to do the meal in Eli and Albi’s house. We were guests there and the turkey was roasted. By now, Eli was a pro at cooking an entire turkey, and because it was popular, even with the others around here, it morphed into a yearly feast in the restaurant with them taking reservations. They always have a full house. It is popular. So that is how our tradition began.
First turkey. 2014.Second turkey. 2015.
Our group is about 50/50 Italian/American. All of the Italians are “all in” for the feast. They have embraced it. It’s so nice to share traditions with our Italian friends. I will say, some really couldn’t embrace the concept of having all the food on one plate…you know…actually touching 😳. And gasp! There were no individual courses like they do here. But this group, have embraced it and all are just fine…especially our most enthusiastic Italian friend, Fabio 🙂 He exclaimed the first year he came, “why do you only do this once a year!?!?”
Here is the 2025 feast in pictures. Captions have descriptions.
Our table.Antipasto. Well, we are in Italy so needs be multiple courses. These bites were delicious.Primi. Amazing dish. There was a flaky crust. Inside was melty cheese and pumpkin bits. Underneath, melted Gorgonzola sauce. On top prosciutto. Yum!The star of the show. A 16 kilogram turkey (35.25 pounds)Turkey and…wait…Yorkshire pudding 🤔 ?! The chef is British, what can I say 🤷🏻♀️Dolce. Vanilla panna cotta with apple compote and cinnamon biscotti. So scrumptious you had to eat it even when you were full!
Hopefully we can continue this tradition for a bunch more years. I hope you all had a lovely day too! Happy Thanksgiving!
What is it about the sunlight in Autumn? Like suddenly the shadows are longer, darker, different. The mountains have a clarity that they didn’t have in July. Today was a perfect Autumn day. The sun was doing that certain something it does in September and October. I can’t get enough. We went to Calagrana for the first time in I don’t know how long. It was delicious as usual. The pictures are along the way or from their terrace. Just LOOK at that sky!
TobaccoCalagranaTobacco.
This is the picture I grabbed outside Calagrana. The view is always lovely. Ely’s flowers are always beautiful.
Lunch with friends today. I tried the winter salad with anchovies and the venison stew with a pastry top. Both were yummy and autumnal.
Overall, it was an outstanding day. We had delicious food with old friends on a glorious fall day. What’s not to like?!
This week we were invited to join our Italian famiglia for a Thai dinner. Vera’s birthday was last Sunday and for a present her family gave her the gift of a Thai chef who came to her house and cooked a meal for us all. She invited friends and her two daughters (who chose the menu) were there as well as Graziano, her husband. The other guests were Nicolai and Annette, from Denmark whom we have met many times, and Nik and Henrietta who I had heard of but never met. Nik is a pretty famous artist. He is British and has an estate here in Umbria. They were super nice. If you wish to look him up his name is Nic Fiddian Green. He does primarily sculpture and his subject is horses. In fact he is exhibiting in a town named Middleburg in Virginia near where I used to live next year.
Anyway, the chef was a diminutive Thai woman and her caucasian husband helper. The menu was three antipasti, one primi, and two secondi. I took pictures of my favourites.
I accidentally ate a sliver of red pepper and it was HOT! once I had stuffed a bunch of rice in my mouth and recovered I told Desiree not to eat that! But she was curious. I picked up a piece and said just taste a tiny piece. Well it turned out it was a sweet pepper. So she went to the plate and picked up another piece. She must have thought I was crazy, and she popped it into her mouth. it is funny, the lag from first taste to when the heat hits, but it did.
It was a fun meal. I like that Vera is super adventurous when it comes to food, She is adventurous in most ways. She loves to travel and see new countries. As do her two daughters. She is inhibited by Graziano who is by no means adventurous. But he did like the dumplings filled with sausage. The meal had a nice amount of spice. Thanks Vera, for the invite! And buon compeanno! ~~~~~~~~ Then Luther and I decided to have a sushi lunch at the place we went to in the summer, Shiso. It is relatively new in town and is finding its footing. The menu was completely different this time. It tells us it is learning its audience and what they will eat. The last time the menu was more complicated. It has been simplified and streamlined. We decided to get the 16 piece chef selection. I was also intrigued by the Poke bowls. They had three sizes which allowed you to pick the protein, the sauce, and the extras. I may try that next time.
I leave you with a picture of our Simba. He had to see the vet this week. He is 16 and that comes with problems of old age. And don’t I know it! He is a sweety.
Montefalco is the capital of the Sagrantino DOC wine producing area of Umbria and this weekend it was the epicenter of the completed grape harvest. Every year they have tastings and events culminating in a fun, hokey parade (of sorts). We just happened to have made reservations for our group of friends who enjoy lunches together. Then, yesterday I heard the ”parade” was starting at 3pm. I knew what it was about because I had attended this festival once before.
We all arrived and had a great table in the Piazza del comune. The main public space in the small hill-town. It was a gorgeous autumn day. As we sat there choosing our food and getting wine the other tables filled with groups and families. The hum of conversation and laughter filled the air. We asked ourselves more than once what it is about going out for a meal in beautiful weather surrounded by Italians that was different from every other place on earth. You can dine outside in nice weather in most cities, but you’ll never get the happy vibe you will in Italy. We love living here.
Here are some photos of the food, the piazza and the Harvest Festa. It is pretty clear the participants have been sampling the harvest wine! and having fun, of course.
The Piazza before.
The Lunch.
Our table.Appetiser of roasted peppers and parboiled onions on a bed of tonno sauce. mmmmTagliatelle with Funghi. Not my favorite.My dessert. Inside my dessert.TiramisuAmazing dessert of three things.
The Harvest Festival. It consisted primarily of tractors of all shapes and sizes pulling wagons full of celebrating people usually with a grape press and plates of food which was shared with the crowd. Very loud music accompanied each float.
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 bambinoDog 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!
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! 🌕
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.
Last week was pretty busy. I finished the final medical tests my doctor prescribed. I visited Ely, at Calagrana to pick up a chair a friend had left for me. It was early because I had gotten blood taken for the test at 7:15. The morning was lovely and I don’t think there is a more perfect, calm and beautiful spot than Calagrana’s terrace. Ely made us a couple of cappuccini and we sat on the terrace and had a nice talk. We should do that more often. ~~~~~~~ I also needed to pick up a couple of demijohns and a terracotta pot I bought from a lady nearby who is continuing to downsize her home here. They have lived here a long time but moved back to Maryland a few years ago for health reasons. They can’t yet let their home, up above Umbertide, go. I don’t blame them. It is pretty up there. You can see the city in the distance.
She also has cacti which were blooming. I am planning to make my planters, which are not irrigated, into a succulent garden and she is going to give me some of the cactus.
Next I did something I seldom do. I visited the Chinese store. You’re probably scratching your heads aren’t you? But this is a “thing” in Italy. I don’t know why I have never written about this before. Every town of any size in Italy has their version of a Chinese store. Owned by Chinese people (obviously) and full to the brim of all kinds of things. Too many to list but to name a few: office supplies, toys, kitchen tools and supplies, clothing, pool toys, pots for plants, art supplies, etc. To shop here is to get cheap stuff. Don’t look for quality or tasteful things. But for everyday things that people need, you can be pretty sure you can find them here.
What did I buy? Well, I bought a new wooden scraper spoon, some shelf paper, and a bunch of new clothes pins. Boring but necessary things. So there you have it! Another odd thing you’ll find in Italian villages and towns.
~~~~~~~ Otherwise, tomorrow I am getting cataract surgery. I’m very excited. I may not have to wear glasses anymore! And today we also did some planning for a short trip over to Sestri Levanti in Liguria for our anniversary. We went one other time, staying at Vis-a-Vis (thanks Matt🙂), just after Covid, and wow, what a difference between then and now. Then we had our pick of any room we wanted. We had two balconies, one sea view, the other town view. This time, I had a very hard time finding a nice room with a terrace and view at all. Back then, no one was traveling. Now, that’s not the case. It is the opposite. Anyway, it is not exactly on our anniversary, but we will celebrate as though it is.
That’s all the news fit to print. Enjoy spring. Our weather has turned glorious! Enjoy yours, and Happy Memorial Day.
