Long time, no blog!

I know. I know.  Blogging has gone by the wayside for quite some time.  I never even finished up our fall in Italy.  Here is the condensed version.

We arrived back on Whidbey Island on November 17 and immediately dove into our U.S. lives.  The house and Mocha Kitty were both fine. 

We did suffer some damage to our front path as a result of a heavy rainstorm in October.  It is compressed gravel and so much water flowed down it that there were deep channels cut into the ground and a big pile of gravel at the bottom of the path.  Apparently about 5 inches of rain fell in one day.  We thought the  fall was wet in Italy but it seems it was not much different back here.

Thanksgiving was spent at my parents' ski cabin with Mom and Dad, my sister, brother and their families and my cousin John.  It was a very relaxed day but we noticed that the nieces and nephews are almost all adult size.  They no longer go downstairs and watch videos  Instead they sit in the living area and chat with the adults. Well, actually they seem to listen to the adults and text their friends.  It makes for a very crowded living area.

In early December Dom and I made a trip to Florida.  We went to Tallahassee first on business and then to Orlando for the annual Performance Racing Industry trade show.  Dom's brother Frank and his wife Ang met us there.  We all went out to Kennedy Space Center one day which fulfilled a life long dream of mine.

I was not into Christmas this year. Decorating seemed like and awful lot of work but I did put out all the decorations. The tripod for the high powered binoculars was wrapped in white lights and hung with multi-colored balls in lieu of a tree. The Lenox nativity set was arranged and most of the rest of the odds and ends were placed around the house. No outdoor lights but I did put my string of white lights on the deck on a timer so they came on every evening.

My father and I arranged our annual trip to the Space Needle for lunch followed by an afternoon at the Seattle Children's Theater.  Before setting off I took this picture of the nieces and nephews, my parents, sister and sister-in-law.  Peter Pan was the play and I was worried about what the young teen boys would think but they all declared it one of their favorites.  A grand time was had by all.

Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' houseboat for our family tradition of Papa Chuck's salmon chowder, salad, bread and cookies.  Brother Charlie and his family as well as a few friends joined us.  Afterwards Dom and I headed up to the ski cabin where Mom, Dad, Dom and I spent a quiet Christmas Day.

On New Year's Eve Dom and I joined neighbors Dick and Helen Francisco for a fabulous dinner at the Captain Whidbey Inn.  We really enjoyed the evening even if we did not party until midnight.

Since then we have been working steadily on business issues and house projects.  Dom is still busy with his race car.  It is coming along but slowly.  I have several upholstery projects started but far from finished.  The weather here has been quite mild so I have also been trying to get the yard in order.  A few leaves have been moved and the pots are all cleaned up but there is still loads to do.

We have been skiing a number of times although the conditions have not been good.  Nonetheless it has been a lot of fun mostly because we are usually with friends and the cameradery is great.  More snow was falling last night so I am looking forward to next weekend on the slopes.

That is about all for now.  We are heading back to Italy about April 1 so more Italian fare will be forthcoming.  In the meantime I will try to blog a little more often...

International Acadamy of Italian Cooking

Last Friday I went to cooking school. Arlene from New York arranged it and her friend David's future daughter-in-law, Brook, joined us. The school is right outside Lucca in an old villa and I was surprised to find that the kitchen was rather poky. It was also rather small once 15 people were crammed into it.

It turned out that the three of us were being slotted into one day of a four week course. Some of the students were local Italians training for restaurant careers. There were also five or six Japanese women who were taking the course and also studying Italian in the afternoons. They had an interpreter, who also spoke excellent English, but some of them and some of the Italians also spoke English. So,, with Arlene and my Italian, we were all able to communicate rather well.


In the above photo our instructor, Mariella, is giving instructions before we began to cook. Before this we all sat down and went over the menu and recipes for the day. The basic class structure is that the menus are prepared in common and then everyone sits down and enjoys the food for lunch. The day's selection included tortino di verdure (vegetable tart), tagliatelle paglia e fieno con ragu (tagliatelle with meat sauce), pappa con pomodoro classica (tomato bread soup), stufato di manzo con cardi (beef stew with cardi) and zuppa inglese ("English soup"--similar to trifle). Mariella would make her remarks in Italian and then I and the Japanese translator would relay the information to our groups.


After everyone moved into the kitchen it did not take long for the cooking to start. All the incredients were prepped except for being cut up. We divided into different groups, each one taking one item from the menu.



Everyone was required to have an apron and hair covering. Except for we Americans everyone had brought there own kit. As you can see above, some of the Italians were really into "the look."




Arlene, Brook and I and one of the Japanese women, Mika, were assigned the vegetable tart. We started by making the dought and slicing the vegetables. I started in on the leeks but as I was doing it wrong (!) Mariella showed me how to do it properly. We also had zucchini, zucchini flowers and porcini mushrooms for the tart. Each of the vegetables had to be sauteed separately. Here is Arlene working on the leeks.



In the tray in the foreground you can see the sauteed leeks and zucchini. The porcini are in the pan. I am not sure what Brook is talking about but it seems to amuse Mika.



Here Mariella is placing the bottom crust for the tart in the pan.



Here is the tart before the top layer of pastry is set in place. Each kind of vegetable was layered in the pan with the zucchini flowers on top. Mariella also tossed in a little parmesan cheese but that was optional.



Here is the finished tart before it was cut up. It smelled delicious!!



The finished tart plated artistically.



Throughout the morning everyone pitched in to help each other or stopped and watched as others made their dishes. Here two of the Italian women are making the pasta--half plain tagliatelle and half with spinach. They are mixing it the traditional Italian way without using a bowl.



Kneeding the pasta dough. They were doing this on a large piece of granite that could be moved around the kitchen depending on where it was needed or where it could be set out of the way.



Here is the spinach tagliatelle all cut up and resting before being boiled. The school has an extra large pasta rolling machine and then a small machine to cut it appropriately.



Here Mariella is starting the Zuppa Inglese. It is sponge cake soaked with liqueur topped with pastry cream and meringues. Several layers of each are put in the bowl and then it is refrigerated. This recipe used both plain and chocolate cream.



Here Mariella is placing the meringues on top of the chocolate cream.



One layer of everything. Three more were placed in the bowl before it was finished.



The meringues were made "in the French manner." Rather than baking them (the only way I have ever made them) they were cooked in a saucepan in a combination of milk and water. It was fascinating to watch. I even tried my hand at piping some of the meringue into the saucepan.



Here is the pot of pappa al pomodoro. We did not eat it for lunch but everyone got to taste it.



Here is a bowl of the soup drizzled with olive oil and decorated with a few sage leaves.



This lovely display of breads was on a sideboard in the dining room. Unfortunately we did not eat it. However, everything we did eat was DELICIOUS. The menu for the Monday class was going to be a variety of different types of game--wild boar, rabbit and pheasant. I REALLY wanted to go back and do that. Now my dream is to do an entire month of classes or at least a week or at least another one day session.

The school accepts students just for a day and the cost was E50 per person including a fabulous lunch. If you are in the Lucca area and have time, it is well worth arranging a visit.

A Day in Florence Shopping

A week ago yesterday Arlene from New York/Vermont and I left the guys at home and went into Florence to do a little shopping. The weather did not look terrific when we left but we were lucky. It stayed fairly warm, dry and partly sunny while we were there.


We parked to the east of the Centro Storico (historic center) and walked to the Sant'Ambrosio market. I remembered it differently and am still not sure I was in the right spot. However, Arlene found a lovely reversable fur and leather coat for E65! It was used but in perfect condition and just her size. The stall had lots of other coats but I did not see anything to suit me. I am still not sure fur is quite my thing but I really covet something soft and warm. I did find some unusual purses and delicious truffle salami.


After exploring the market we began meandering through the town heading for Piazza della Signoria. Our route took us by the church of Santa Croce, one of the most interesting in Florence. One of the nicest things about wandering Florence in November is the marked lack of tourists. This was the least populated I have ever seen Piazza Santa Croce.



This building in the piazza is one of my favorites. It is very distinctive with its frescoed facade. Years ago I read a book by a university professor who spent a year long sabbatical living in one of the apartments atop the building. If you enlarge the photo you can probably tell that the frescoes are damaged up as high as the second tier of arched windows. This is how deep the water was during the great flood of 1966!

We eventually made our way over to the San Lorenzo market and had lunch at Trattoria Za Za behind the grand Mercato Centrale. Afterwards, Arlene wanted to go to the Santa Maria Novella farmacia.



The church of Santa Maria Novella is another beautiful church. It has the common multi-colored marble facade of many churches in Tuscany.



The piazza in front of Santa Maria Novella has all been redone. It is now a grand pedestrian area with grass and benches. A number of people (mostly locals) were enjoying the late fall sunshine.

Around the corner from Piazza Santa Maria Novella is the entrance to the farmacia. In spite of its name, meaning pharmacy, it sells a variety of soaps, lotions, colognes, potpourris and similar products. They are all natural products and use recipes that were originally developed by the monks at Santa Maria Novella.

The products were interesting but I was particularly taken with the building and furnishings. This carved wooden bench is in a little antechamber as one approaches the main part of the store.

The store encompasses a number of grand chambers filled with interesting paintings and displays.

Even the ceilings were highly decorated.

Here is one of the display cases with a number of maiolica jars, some of which are available for purchase.

A closer look at what is inside the case.

There is a museum associated with the store. It shows many of the historic vessels and machines used in the preparation of the products. These maiolica jars held different ingredients.

This room holds different machines formerly used--presses, grinders and mixers.

There is a small reference library that has glorious frescoes on the walls. These are some of the most beautiful I have seen with bold colors and excellent composition.

This is a closer view of the previous photo. The panels are various vignettes from the life of Christ.

This panel is a lovely version of the Last Supper.

From the farmacia Arlene and I made our way back to the car. We managed to make our way down several streets that seemed new to me. They were definitely less touristy that most of the Centro which is always nice. As always, it was fun to have a "girls' day out." It was great that Arlene and I could both introduce to each other new places. I look forward to future shopping expeditions with Arlene.

The Errant Blogger - Mi Dispiace!

My apologies for not being a better blogger this fall. However, I have just posted three entries. Life in Italy has been very good of late. We just had about ten days of beautiful weather. The olives got picked and we managed to prune some of the trees and vines. Lunch was eaten on the patio most of the last week. The nights have been quite cold so the fireplace is in use every evening we are home. The cats are still showing up regularly although the kittens are rarely in evidence. No doubt mom has finally said, "Enough! This is MY territory."


Here is a shot of two of the kittens asleep in the grass one morning.



Every nice morning the mamma gatto basks in the sunshine, usually near the old olive tree closest to the house.


Yesterday and today the weather has been miserable. Today Dom and I went to Montecatine Terme to see an exhibit of paintings from the Tuscan Naturalists school. It was well worth the trip as there was not a single picture I would not have happily taken home. The pictures were mostly life like scenes of rural life in the 1800's. More information on the exhibit can be found at www.macchia-montecatini.com.

On our way home we decided to stop for a nice lunch. About the time we parked the skies opened up again. It seemed to be like that every time we went to get out of the car! Above you can see the rain pounding on the windshield.



Eventually we made a dash for the restaurant doors and discovered a lovely, warm, dry dining room. The food was fabulous and Ristorante Anfiteatro deserves a second visit.

Tutti Santi - All Saints Day

Last Sunday, November 1, was All Saints Day. It is a national holiday in Italy so there was a lot going on.

We started the day by going to a marcia podistica (organized walk) at Colognora di Compito, a little southeast of Lucca. It was a walk we had not participated in before so we looked forward to seeing new countryside.


The day started out cold and misty. We had to scrape ice off our windshield before we could leave Partigliano! That was a little tricky as we have no ice scraper. However, I managed to scrounge an old plastic discount card out of my wallet that worked just fine.



The walk started off through the fields. I have to admit I really didn't feel all that great to start with. The evening before we had dinner with friends and probably had too much wine and limoncello. The footing was uneven, a little muddy and there were a lot of people. We planned to do the 7 km. route but I thought seriously about bailing at the turn for the 3 km. route.



The path meandered through the frosty fields, past some lovely houses.



Then our way went up a hill past a lovely villa at the top.



A good deal of the 7 km route was through a park that crowned an even bigger nearby hill. We kept trudging along through lovely woods. The falling leaves, mostly copper and yellow, make it feel very autumnal. There are few maples in this area but the ones that are around now look like bright flames.



When we got to the ristoro (refreshment stop) they even had treats for the many dogs that are always part of a marcia.



The ristoro was nearly at the top of Monte Tristo so after that (with a little hot sweet tea and buccelato--raisin anise bread--to help us long) the route was all down hill.



Just before we got to the bottom of the hill the trees opened up and there was this lovely vista across the plain to the hills north of Lucca. This farmhouse really caught our attention. It looks like the perfect restoration project. If our current house would sell we might even consider taking it on.



The marcia began and ended at the San Ginese milk processing plant. So, of course there was a man dressed up as a cow when we reached the end.

After we got home at about 10:30 am I hurriedly showered and changed and went to mass. Afterwards there was a procession to the cimiterio (cemetary) where the priest blessed the graves.

When we entered the cemetary most of the people went to stand near their loved ones graves. In the days leading up to All Saints Day most of the local people go and clean up the graves and leave fresh flowers. This year I learned that chrysanthemums are the traditional flower to take and most Italians would not consider using them anywhere else. Thus, when we passed a garden today that was full of planted mums I had to wonder if the owners were Italian.

After the priest left many of the local people stayed behind for a brief visit. Almost all the graves had flowers on them. Even if none of the family was present for the procession, someone had been by recently to decorate leave some.

The misty morning had cleared off and it was a lovely day. In the afternoon we ate lunch and then watched the last Formula 1 race of the season. Afterwards, we went to an auction preview at a villa outside Lucca. There were many lovely items to be sold off next weekend but nothing we cannot live without.

On our way back from the auction preview we stopped and visited with Arlene and Dave from Vermont. We met them a couple of years ago when they stayed nearby. They are back for another visit and it is wonderful reconnecting.

Auto e Moto d'Epoca a Padova 2009

Again this fall we went to Padova to the BIG Mostra Auto e Moto d'Epoca (Historic cars, motorcycles and scooters show.) This is all the pictures we took as I forgot to charge the camera battery beforehand. The great thing about the camera is the battery lasts for weeks and weeks. The bad thing about the camera is that when the battery goes, it goes fast. There is not a lot of warning from a full charge to dead. So, well before we saw all the great cars and bikes the camera was done for the day.

No doubt many of the cars looked like this before undergoing tender loving restoration!

Capri's Lushness

One of the things I really enjoyed about Capri was it's lushness. Even in mid October there were still many flowers in bloom including roses. There were also interesting plants such as giant cactus and unusual evergreen trees. Here are a few photos of some of the plants we saw.

Terzo Giorno a Capri

Our third day on Capri was actually spent off Capri. We got going early and caught a boat into Naples to visit the Museo Archeologico where many of the Pompeii mosaics, frescoes and artifacts are located.


On our way from the ferry dock to the museum we saw a demonstration taking place. It was fairly quiet and, as is usual in Italy, there were lots of police on the street.


This statue of Dante Alighieri (author of The Divine Comedy) is the largest I have ever seen. They are not uncommon throughout Italy as Dante is considered the father of the Italian language. However, this one was even bigger than Michelangelo's David. It was located in an equally large piazza in front of Naples' Galleria.




This is looking into Naples' Galleria, an early shopping mall. Unfortunately, it looked like many of the shops are closed and it had a rather abandoned air.




The part of Naples we saw looked a lot like this. There were wide boulevards and many grand buildings that looked vaguely French.



At the museum we saw an incredible array of artifacts from throughout Italy. I did not take many pictures but I really liked this pottery.



This is one of the most famous mosaics from Pompeii. The individual pieces are very small--perhaps a square centimeter each. It has to have been incredibly skilled work to have created this sort of mosaic work.

It was well worth the effort to visit the museum. I have been to Pompeii twice and it is an incredibly place as well. It can be frustrating when touring the excavated city because there are plaques everywhere saying the original mosaic or fresco is located at the archeological museum. Sometimes pictures of the originals are there but often one is just left with the feeling of having missed something.



After the museum we found a pizzeria and had lunch. Then we walked over to the Duomo--the church of San Gennaro. Unfortunately it was closed until 5 pm.



On the way home it started to rain. Fortunately, it quit by the time we got to Capri so our journey back to the hotel was dry.

The following day we reversed our original journey. We went from Anacapri by bus to Marina Grande, from to Marina Grande to Naples by foot ferry, from there to the train station by taxi, from Naples Centrale to Florence by Eurostar train, from Florence to Diecimo by two more trains. Our friend Anna picked us up at Diecimo and brought us to Partigliano.

It was a fun and interesting trip.

Maiolica on Capri

At the south end of the Amalfi Coast, near Capri, is the town of Vietri sul Mar. It is a major center for the production of Italian maiolica. Everywhere on Capri one sees maiolica tiles. I took most of these photos in Anacapri as we walked back to our hotel on our second day on Capri.



The benches in front of the church of Santa Sofia are made of maiolica tiles with elaborate scenes painted on them.



This is a close-up of one of the scenes--a depiction of the traditional vendemia (grape harvest).



A restaurant sign.

House name and number.

A street sign and house number.

A shop sign--wine and drinks.

The local St. Vincent De Paul society.

This depiction of Giuseppina's house looks remarkably like the real thing.

Another house name.

Many of the houses had steps edged in colorful tiles. There were also a variety of maiolica insets along the wall at the back of the landing.

This tile matches the gate.

This alimentari (small grocery) was along the path to our hotel.

This collection of signs includes directions to hotels, a restaurant, a variety of local sites and the street sign--Traversa La Vigna.

Secondo Giorno a Capri - Seconda Parte

After we left the belvedere at Certosa di San Giacomo we walked over to the Giardino di Augusto. From what I had read I expected an elegant garden but it the giardino turned out to be a city park. It was nice but awfully crowded.


The views from the giardino were spectacular. We could look back into the cloister at the monastary.



To the south we could see the faraglioni--two of the large rocks that emerge from the sea around Capri.



This lovely statue was the centerpiece of part of the gardens. It was a quiet spot away from the magnificent views. The landscaping was actually quite nice but it seemed secondary to the views.



From the garden we discovered the path built into the side of the cliffs that links Capri town and Marina Piccola. From the plaque we read it seems it was impossible to get directly from one to the other until the early years of the 20th century when this path was finished.



We decided to walk down the switchback path and find lunch at Marina Piccola. Our decision was made after we were assured there was a bus we could take back up from Marina Piccola.



Many of the buildings on Capri have a distinctly Greek look to them. Often the roofs are barrel shaped as can be seen on this building in Marina Piccola.



When we got down to Marina Piccola we found a bar at the bus turnaround and ate panini in the sunshine. Afterwards we walked down to the water's edge. It was rocky in spots but there was also a fairly large sandy beach. It turned out there were two or three bars right there with decks over the water.



There were actually quite a few people in the water swimming. The next time I am on Capri I want to eat down here and dip my toes in the water.



After lunch we took the bus back to Capri town where we transfered to a bus for Anacapri. When we got back to the hotel we went out on the upstairs terrace and looked for the sheep we thought we had heard our first night there as we arrived. In the field next to the hotel we discovered two large sheep taking their ease in the shade. They had a stone hut in which to get out of the weather and lots of green grass. This is a great example of the classic Italian mix of town and country. It is often hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.