Buona Pasqua a tutti!

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Pasqua or Easter is a big deal here in Italy. They start on Palm Sunday with a Mass held outside with olive branches in lieu of palm fronds. Then on Good Friday they have a procession through town. They have a body representing Christ that they carry behind all the priests with big torches burning. The band plays a dirge and the faithful follow behind with candles. It is pretty moving to watch. I took a film which is below. It is from our third floor window down into the street below as the procession passed by. On Easter Sunday they have the traditional big lunch after Mass. Lamb is the tradition. Tomorrow is Pasquetta (also a holiday) and traditionally all the Italians go for a picnic but sometimes to a restaurant for ANOTHER big lunch! Their reward after Lent I guess.

We have been trying to get out and about more lately now that the weather is improving. We took a trip to Cortona (of Under the Tuscan Sun fame). We had been once before on a vacation and in all this time here we had not returned. It was a blustery day and the parking lots, normally full, were empty. The front of the theater has this cool lantern on it
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We went to the Osteria del Teatre for lunch. It is a very old fashioned Tuscan place with friendly service and was pretty popular. Note the projector and retracted screen for presentations on the beamed ceiling.
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I had the baccalà, or salt cod. It has to be soaked for days to go from it’s totally dried out state to something edible. It was good.
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I don’t normally have dessert but my interest was piqued by this odd looking thing below. It had a handle inserted into the center which they turned and a blade shaved it into curls. It is made of white chocolate and ground pistachio nuts. I had it on homemade gelato and it was divine!
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Our wine had the same name as the house from Under the Tuscan Sun. I don’t think they are related, but maybe?
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View from the town. See Lago di Trasemeno in the distance? Also the town, named Terontola, on the flatlands has the main Rome to Florence rail line. You can see the straight arrow of the tracks. This is the station we use to go to either place. It has safe, free parking.
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Then on Friday we drove down to DiFillipo winery in the Montefalco area to taste and buy some wine. They don’t call this the “Green heart of Italy” for nothing!
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And continuing my food theme. Another of the odd differences between Italy and the US. This time of year there is a lot of lamb for sale. Not other times very much. It is hard to find. So I indulged in the lamb shoulder roast as I had a recipe. As I unwrapped it I noticed that it had the actual leg attached to the shoulder. And on the leg there was what looked like the hoof! Or what was left of the hoof. Note below. I am here to report the lamb was very good. I just ignored the hoof!
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Goings On…

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Spring has sprung when the Monk’s Beard shows up and here it is!
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I also decided to ask our butcher for flank steak. I know it exists and I wanted to make fajitas. One of the butchers speaks some english so I asked him if he was familiar with them. He said yes and trotted off into the back. He brought out what is the most enormous flank steak I’ve ever seen. He held his knife on it to see how much I wanted. So what I ended up with was this.
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As you can see it is a very thick steak and I got a chunk of it. I grilled it in the fireplace without marinating it or anything else. It was a tasty bit of meat and worked fine in the fajitas. Always something new!

Our weather has been unrelentingly gray and wet but not particularly cold. The Tiber overflowed its banks again but not as bad as last year. All the little rivers were roaring torrents! And we’ve had some storms. This one loomed up over the mountains with the sun still shining in the foreground.
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This week we finally saw some relief…So when we saw the sun was going to be out we planned a trip to a winery in the Montefalco area. We head for one in particular but as often happens ended up at another because we couldn’t find the first one. We ended up at Antonelli. This is a very big operation for that area. They were very nice and poured generously for the tasting.

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Nina the dog liked attention.
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Packing up the purchases.
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The tasting room.
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They also produce olive oil and were pruning the trees back. See the piles of branches?
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After the tasting we went into the town of Montefalco and tried to visit the museum but it was closed on Tuesdays. One of these days we’ll get to see the purportedly beautiful frescoes of the life of St. Francis. We chose a little enotecca with restaurant and had a pleasant lunch. There were even two brave tables of folks sitting outside in the sun.

Montefalco piazza.
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View from Montefalco across the valley to Monte Subasio.
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An artist paints stylized pictures of local scenes. Here is one that was hanging in the restaurant. I want to buy one of his paintings sometime. I’ve seen them in a shop in Assisi.DSC05301

Finally, I wanted to address something that I have been hearing over and over in the US press. And this is not a political opinion at all but it does have to do with the presidential election. It is the fact that many people are looking for so called “exit strategies” if Trump gets elected. Wanting to immigrate to Canada, or Mexico, or wherever to get away. Well, as an expat who has already exited let me tell you…you can run but you can’t hide.

As a US citizen anything that happens in the US affects all of us no matter where we live. We, as Americans, still have to file and pay US taxes every year. I was surprised to get a letter with an additional tax form I have to file this year to prove I have enough health insurance over and above my Medicare. This is a new one for me. It will be amusing to see how my accountant handles it! As most of you know we are in the Italian health care system.

We also have to comply with a lot of regulations that Uncle Sam creates just to keep tabs on us and on all our financial dealings. For instance, FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report) and FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). Depending on our situation we must file these before June or face fines and possible criminal charges.

Yep, the long arm of Uncle Sam will always find you. You might as well forget that “exit strategy”.

Odd food

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Yesterday we went for our interview at the Questera to renew our Permessi. These police are in charge of immigration. They are based in Citta di Castello. They are generally very friendly. For this I am grateful because I’ve heard some are awful. After we got our fingerprints taken and had handed in all of our photocopies and passport sized pictures we thought we’d broach the subject of our Italian Culture class.

More explanation about this is called for. We had to sign an agreement to stay in Italy. The letter we signed is an agreement between us and the “State, in the person of the Prefect of PERUGIA”. We agreed to attend this class and pass the A2 Italian proficiency test. There is a point system. The letter clearly states that we get 16 points up front. If we do not take the class we LOSE 15 points. We need a total of 30 points after two years. I should mention that they did not give us this agreement until AFTER our scheduled class date. We believe they forgot to give it to us when we went in for our initial fingerprinting etc. They told us not to worry at the time. Since then we have been trying to figure out how to take this class with no luck. The two year date for our agreement to expire is September 4 of this year and it says it gets reviewed and we’ll get a letter if we are not compliant and they extend the agreement one more year. Then if we still don’t pass muster they deport us. This week, when we asked the officer about how we can take the class, she said it is not mandatory and not to worry about it. I can’t understand why the Questura told us this when this paper is quite clear. I am sure we have not heard the last of this. Sigh.

Last Sunday we decided to invite our friend Vera and her husband and two little girls over for pranzo (lunch). I made sure she was OK with something ethnic and she said she was. I made tortilla soup with added toppings of crisp corn tortillas, avocado, lime and cheese. Then we had a burrito with chicken with golden raisin sauce and sour cream. Next we had do-it-yourself tortillas. We had a tequila pork sausage with additional condiments of avocado, grilled onions, dressed cilantro, limes, tomatoes, with a mole sauce on flour tortillas. Everyone seemed happy to make their own. Graziano, Vera’s husband, was very adventurous for an Italian. Maja and Desiree who are 6 and 10 ate everything with gusto! And of course Vera, coming from Bosnia and Slovenia was excited to try all the new tastes. She also brought me the biggest chicken I’ve ever seen! And a bottle of Vin Santo as gifts. I should say it was all Italian spoken and I was ok with that. We had a lot of fun. Here we are at the table. Vera was taking the picture.

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This week our weather has been very changeable. Lots of storms, blustery winds, sleet and rain. One morning we even had a rainbow across the valley.
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Today is the Saturday market. We have noticed that both the Wednesday and Saturday markets were very small this week. The big Wednesday one had probably a third of the normal vendors. I had mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to try the gobbi. I have a recipe which sounds pretty good and good for you. Here is the product I bought this morning.DSC05253
You have to trim the crap out of it. It is a relative of the artichoke family and has some spines that need trimming. I also removed most of the outer leaves. Like celery it has coarse threads that need to be removed. Once trimmed and chopped it looks like this.
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Now I need to blanch it until fork tender. The recipe says this removes the bitterness. If you like it bitter boil it less. Once cooked you sautéed some cherry tomatoes in olive oil and add some garlic. Put the gobbo in the pot and sauté until done. Here is a picture of the finished product. The taste was…forgettable. Not worth the trouble.
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Finally I bought something I’ve always wanted to have…a lemon tree! Apparently they do well here and can be left out except for a hard freeze which doesn’t happen often. It will flourish in the sun on the terrace. And it flowers and fruits all year. See how pretty!
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Big soup

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Today was the small local market. The only vegetables I can get there are the winter growing ones. Things like cabbage, kale, leeks, radicchio, some lettuces, Brussels sprouts. Also an odd thing called Gobbi. Also known as cardoni and cardi in Italian. And cardoons in English. So far I have not bought any but, since it’s seasonal and kind of special I will the next time I see it. I have found a recipe and how to trim it.

I did buy some very pretty cabbage and radicchio for my planned minestrone soup. Here is a picture.
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Did you know minestra means soup and if you add -one to an Italian noun it means it’s a big one? Thus minestrone is “big soup”. I made a pot today. I had bones I saved from a chicken so I made a nice stock. Into that I put onion, celery and carrot, the traditional oduri in Italy. Then a can of tomatoes, a potato, a zucchini, pinch of pepperoncino flakes, chopped radicchio and cabbage and simmered for about an hour. I added a can of cannolini beans and some little pasta. Then I cooked it a bit more until the pasta was done. Served with a drizzle of good Umbrian olive oil. Yum! So healthy and warming.
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To remind myself that spring is not TOO far away I bought a bouquet of yellow tulips to cheer my kitchen!
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Bologna

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We decided to do a quick overnight trip to one the cities we once visited for a day – Bologna. It is called Bologna la grassa, or Bologna the fat because it is said the best food in Italy can be found there.

We took the local train from Terontola to Florence and changed to the Frecciarossa or “Red Arrow” train. It took only half an hour to get from Florence to Bologna on the fast and super comfortable train. Complementary newspapers, snacks and drinks were served. It is very like business class on a plane. In fact there are three different classes to choose from – Business, Premium and Standard. Here is a photo from TrenItalia.

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The weather was surprisingly beautiful. Bright blue skies and moderate temperatures. Here are a few pictures I took.

Reflections.
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The Christmas decorations were still up. This mall was full of the very high-end shops. AND the January sales are on!
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Pretty wrought iron.
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Square with pretty architecture and trees.
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Shop where you can get totally hand made shoes. Old school…
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The city has some of the prettiest architecture. It was not bombed in the war so it is intact. One of the endearing features of this city are the 37 kilometers of covered arcades. Beautiful arches and columns allow you to shop and walk quasi indoors. Nice when it rains. So pretty to see. They are all different.
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Bologna has the oldest university in Europe, over 1,000 years old. The city is full of young people who bring their energy to the vibe. It also has a warren of tiny streets with nothing but food. Food of every sort. A feast for the eyes and the stomach. I am surprised the city is not more of a tourist draw given all that I’ve seen there.

Speaking of food… We just had the one night so we opted for Trattoria Serghie. It was written up in Gambero Rosso and Osterie e Locande d’Italia. We booked because it is a very small place. I counted space for 22 diners. Surprisingly they had no Antipasti, just primi, secundi and dolce. That was fine. We really enjoyed the food. the Stinco di maiale was the best we’ve tasted. I also had the tagliatelle with bolognese sauce…what else!

Buona domenica!

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“Buona domenica.” It’s what you say here instead of “have a nice weekend”. The reason for this is because, generally speaking, stores are open Saturday, businesses and schools too. So people don’t get the whole weekend off, hence “buona domenica!”

Oh sure, some of the big box stores are open on Sunday just like in the US. But the smaller places like banks, businesses, family owned places close on Sunday. It is a day for families to get together for a big lunch. Either at home or in a restaurant.

Speaking of restaurants, since they are usually open on Sunday for the big Pranzo, they choose another day of the week to be closed. Monday is a popular closed day but it could be any day of the week. They do this throughout Europe. In Germany it is called ruhetag or day of rest. There is no equivalent word in Italian. It usually catches Americans by surprise so be sure to check that your restaurant of choice is open the day you want to go!

Househunters International comes to Umbertide!

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Just before Christmas Househunters International came to town to film Joseph and Paul, our neighbors across the Piazza. Luther and I had applied also but they rightly picked them. They are tremendous Umbertide boosters and were very proactive in showing the town in the best possible light.

I found the whole process very interesting to watch. They spent 5 days filming around 10 hours a day. They did a lot of B-roll filming of them walking along our little river path, through the pretty arches and visiting the Saturday Kilo-0 market. Then they filmed in their art gallery, Gallery Grefti, and in the local Jazz club. They, of course, saw three houses, one of which was theirs. The show producers wanted to have a moving company come and empty all of their belongings and furniture from their present apartment and put it all back! But Joseph and Paul objected. They had an alternative which was to see the apartment beneath them which has been vacant for years and was similar to theirs. I enjoyed watching them film and even got filmed with Joseph in the Gallery.

If we hear from the HHI people telling us of the air date for the show I will be sure to post that here on the blog. We cannot see the show here so I hope they will send DVDs.

Then, at the Kilo-0 market we again saw cameras. “what the??” we said. Well they were filming a TV show shoot in one of the stands. Cameras, lights, sound equipment, police! My my, Umbertide is getting a LOT of press lately! 🙂 turns out it was a show that takes place in Gubbio normally.

2016 begins

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I have been busy what with the trip back to the US and other holiday type things. I felt the need to do a little catching up.

Our trip back home was nice. It was great to see my Sister and spend the holidays, not to mention two significant birthdays (hers and mine) together. We stayed with her on top of her mountain in the Blue Ridge of Virginia. It is beautiful there. We had warm weather and lots of fog. More likely cloud as in we were up in them at 3,700 feet. She fixed many of my favorite things to eat to include a gorgeous standing rib roast and chili as well as several southwestern and Mexican things. These were all things I had missed in Italy so it was great. I was sad to leave after six days.

We had gone to the US with two ginormous suitcases. One was mostly packed with Umbrian specialties like olive oil, lentils, faro etc to give away as gifts to friends. Then we did some shopping for things we cannot get (or are hard to find) in Italy to fill up the, now empty, suitcase. Mostly things like heavy duty aluminum foil (they have very flimsy foil here), ziplock bags, medicines and spices. Carolina rice is a special rice we like so we stocked up on that and pozole for southwest recipes. We also got some things for friends. And I bought some new clothes. A lot of it I had ordered online in advance and had them sent to my sister.

During the trip we had time to catch up with many friends and family. We got to see all my nieces and nephew at a lovely Christmas dinner in Old Town. I also got to meet Alex, Niece Rachel’s boyfriend, and congratulate my nephew on his recent engagement. Lovely family. Thanks to Mike and Anne (Luther’s brother and his wife) for a lovely dinner!

Another thing on my list to do was visit a couple of ethnic restaurants in hopes of getting that spice I craved. Alas, I was disappointed in both of them. Maybe my tastes are evolving? nah…

We had a  beautiful view of the Alps on the way from Germany to Rome. Much more snow on the way back than on the way over to the US.
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We’ve been back for six days now and our jet lag is mostly over. The logistics of the trip worked fine. The air tickets were half the cost of tickets coming from and returning-to the US. I have NO idea why this would be but it was good for us. The car park in Fiumicino turned out to be great. Very efficient and quite cheap; only 38 Euro for 13 days and included the shuttle to and from the airport. A very easy and convenient way to use the Rome airport.

Our weather has settled into the typical cold and damp winter. The final days of the Christmas season were this week with Befana, the witch, visiting the children to bring candy or lumps of coal. We celebrated with a lovely lunch at Calagrana. There were about 14 people there.

And finally, last night I decided to try cooking on our kitchen fireplace. I am slowly getting the hang of using this fireplace. It takes a while for it to warm up enough to draw well so I keep the glass doors closed for the first couple of hours. Then I slowly can open them and use the fire to cook on. Last night it was Spigola or Sea Bass. Easy to do and it came out crispy and fluffy white inside. Future plans will be grilled vegetables, steak, lamb, other fishes and bruschetta. Maybe even flat breads. I am on the lookout for an iron pot.

Here is the fish-a-cookin’.
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Buon Anno to all! I hope it is a Happy and Healthy 2016!

End of Autumn, beginning of winter, fireplace, l’Imacolatta and Christmas!

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I am very late with this post. It has been pretty busy here. First a final farewell to Autumn color.
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And a hello to winter. It has gotten cold here. Real wintery. Snow on the distant mountains.
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Our town Christmas tree looks nice. Smaller but there are more lights.
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Along with the tree and the lights, Baba Natale came to our town to visit the kids. A wonderfully chunky horse pulled the kids in a cart. Isn’t he magnificent?

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We went for a short break to Chianti last week. Two nights. Pretty there with lots of fall color still. We stayed in Locanda il Gallo in a little town called Chiocchio. Fun to say – chee-ooch-che-ee-oh. It was comfortable and we ate there both nights. Quite good food. We also visited about 5 wineries. I enjoyed the pretty Tuscan scenery. This picture from one of the wineries.
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We got our new fireplace doors in the kitchen. Yesterday we built a test fire and it burned pretty well and the chimney drew. We have arranged to buy wood from a friend of ours whose husband who will actually bring it up here to our house. Nice! Also more pellets for the stove and Luther won’t have to tote them up the stairs.
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First/test fire.
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Other mundane things. We did a shopping trip to the big IperCoop for supplies and gifts. It was surprisingly empty considering the proximity to Christmas. Never in America!

We went to a new installation at Galleria Grefti. Our friend Joseph has teamed up with Francesco and opened a small art gallery down the street. Interest is great with lots of potential artists showing their works. This new one is sculpture made with wire and chickenwire. There was even a nearly full-sized rhino. The gallery is a nice addition to Umbertide

Our downstairs neighbor was so proud that he scored all the “seconds” from the market for free and somehow with the language difficulties I ended up with a crate of apples. Not sure how I can use them up! I made two cakes yesterday and took him one of them.

We went for pizza at Calcio e Pepe our new favorite place here in town. They are just so welcoming and Italian! They have great pizza too! They are from Napoli. There were families with many kids there so it was boisterous and happy and, did I mention, Italian?! The proprietors know us and we get many double kisses.

December 8 is l’Imacolatta or Day of the Immaculate Conception. We looked it up and discovered we were wrong about what it meant. Turns out it is the day that Mary was conceived to her mother. I had thought it was Jesus’ conception but was confused as it is only two weeks before his birthday.  This picture shows the procession of people who walk through the streets following the priests. The band plays music. I leaned out my window to get this. Sorry it’s blurry.

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And finally, I will be spending the holidays with my sister in Virginia. I am pretty excited about going back to the US after a year and a half. Doing a bit of shopping. Eating exotic things!! Reservations at Raisika (spicy Indian fare) YUM!  I am not religious but I still like to wish folks Merry Christmas! Please accept it in the spirit it was offered. Merry Christmas to you all!

Thanksgiving number two in Italia

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Happy Thanksgiving a tutti! Susan and Gary again hosted a bunch of folks for the Thanksgiving feast. You can take a look at last years feast in the Archives. We again had Calagrana Agriturismo make our turkey and all the antipasti. The turkey wasn’t as big as last year. “Only” 28 pounds. Beautifully cooked. I brought the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Joseph and Paul brought two pies, Susan made a pie and Jim and Denise brought a tart. The attendees were eight Americans and six Italians. Some of the Italians came last year. One named Fabio, brought his parents this time. A fine time was had by all. We were, as stuffed as the turkey. Fabio lamented that there was only ONE Thanksgiving a year! He is a real fan.

Susan’s table. Photo by Susan.
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Pictures from Calagrana of the bird in progress. Photos by Ely.
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Antipasti. Photo by Fabio.
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Fabio’s mom with the finished product. Photo by Fabio.
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On actual Thanksgiving we went shopping in Colestrada at the Ipercoop. It was pretty quiet. We noticed signs everywhere advertising Black Friday. Thank you America! It is kind of odd because they don’t have the Thanksgiving holiday to make the Friday date significant like we do. All the European Amazons had huge sales too.

On Friday we got our town Christmas tree. It is much smaller this year. There was speculation among the Americans that it was small because the town had bought a bunch of lights to string above the piazza, spending their tree budget perhaps? It is a pretty tree though. Not sure when they will decorate and light it.

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