hathor

Buongiorno tutti! Swisskaese: Israel is on our to-go list as well, and anything called "shakshuka' has to be good. That is a great name. Ludja: Porcini recipes? Well...the Umbrians tend to keep thing simple, so you might see raw sliced porcini salad, or grilled or sauteed porcini. When they are fresh, you want to keep the other flavors in the background as much as possible. That's a good question about the churches. We just came back from Puglia, and this was the first time we had gone this far south. Their churches are so elaborately decorated compared to our austere Umbrian ones. I'll try and post some photos a bit later.

Pontormo: that 'green heart of Italy' bit apparently comes from a poem written about Umbria. I just found that out a few minutes while researching the intro for the Umbria thread. Umbria is indeed landlocked, and is a major agriculutural producer. Lentils are a mystery, I don't know what the season is. I do know that its faro soup season right now! Someone mentioned it on the Umbria thread, and it sounded like an excellent idea to me. Actually, maybe I'll do a little research and we can talk about the 'pulses' tomorrow. This is pretty much sheep territory. There is one flock of Chiania (sp?), I mean herd (!!) of Chiania cattle near the tower. They graze on a nearby field, I can, I'll get a picture. They are huge, and I do mean huge, white cows, that taste incredible. Their meat is considered to be one of the best, and you pay the price for it. Uh, there is also a horse farm where the horses are bred for slaughter Yes, 'cavallo' is eaten in Italy, there is even a horse section at the COOP. I've eaten it, doesn't taste good enough to be killing horses . Back to the sheep, I would have given anything to be able to figure out how you could 'hear' the sheep. They wear these little bells, and they all tinkle like the sweetest wind chime that you have ever heard. Its one of my favorite sounds. There is a fruit orchard at the bottom of our hill, right now, he has apples. The orchard is run by this very old gentleman, with a very old dog, and you drive up and buy whatever...peaches (fantastic peaches Pontormo!), these little pears, what ever it is that he has in season. The fruit is fully ripe when you buy it, so it tastes like fruit, and its 1 euro a kilo. Now, if 10 cars go by in a day, that's a lot. Is this just a hobby for him? I can't figure it out.... Another one of those mysteries in life. ciao...gotta run. I've got a date in the piazza...with Arlo Guthrie!!!

Check with the nice people at Gustiamo.com. If they don't have, they probably know who does.

carp stuffed with garlicky lard. fantastic. ← Do I sense sarcasm?? Don't mock the lard! Lard is good. Bacon tastes good....pork chops taste good.... (name that film)

Good Lord! I had no idea my husband was a followr of St. Francis!! I also had no idea that Umbria in Bocca was a website! All I have is the book, which is in Italian. Thanks Pontormo, that's a great resource!

You know I'm a sucker for a good negroni!

I_call_the_duck: I'm sorry, I missed your question. Simple chicken brodo for the tortellini, nothing the least bit aggressive. I think we all need a moment to aknowledge the accomplishment of our friend, Michelle Swisskaese..!! She has us pepita crack-and-droppers beat by a mile! edit for a p.s. Let's meet in the piazza later for an aperitivio, ok?

I've been wanting to take you to Francesco Monei's house. He's a Sardinian sheep farmer, who also makes excellent cheeses. When we went on Tues, no one was home, which was unusual. Normally, we can pick up our fresh ricotta around 11:30- 12:00, its still steaming hot, but at least you can get it home. We came back this morning, and their son explained that they weren't making any ricotta this time of year because all the little lambs were being born and needed to be nursed. You can just make out 2 of them nursing on the right had side of the photo. Some of the really young ones are below the grass line. Toooo cute for words, on their little wobbly legs. Thats all fine and dandy, until he told me they wouldn't start ricotta production until this coming January!! What! I'm all about eating in season...but to lose my ricotta connection?? That's a disaster...... There is some consolation: frue. Those of us on the Italian forum, when we were studying Sardina might remember me carrying on about frue. Essentially is a ricotta salata, an aged ricotta, with a very low melting temperature. Its absolutely delicious, with a good, strong, 'sheep-y' taste. Here is the frue, drying in the sun. Oh yes....and here is Jeff, saing hello to everyone! Now! Before you get any ideas...that is MY car, and I let him drive it. Yes, those are NY plates, and yes, we shipped the car over. And, YES, it is a blast to have this car over here. It's my baby, he has a motorcycle. We also have an old rusty pick up truck for when we really need to haul stuff around. On the way home, Jeff asked me to make him "domat con quesu" for lunch. That is a rough, phonetic spelling of a Sephardic dish that was commonly eaten in his family. It is a humble origin, peasant dish of stewed tomatoes, onions, a poached egg and some cheese, in this case: frue. So here's lunch, 'domat', cucumber salad and some sauteed broccoli. Now, I'm thinking, uh-oh, this looks like it belongs in the Regrettable Dinner thread...so, I'm trying to make it look....presentable. *note the large peppercorn on the egg yoke. My pepper mill broke in June, so I've been crushing the peppercorns by hand, with a mortar and pestle...gives new meaning to coarse ground pepper! Jeff insisted that I take a 'proper' picture of this dish, covered in the frue. I swear it tasted really good...honest!! We had a nice ciabatta bread to soak up the juice, and along with lunch, we sipped a Sicilian rose, Corvo, that I especially like. Rose wines have been maligned and I'm on a small personal crusade to give them the credit that is due. Are you with me on this, Katie Loeb?

Friday mornings we have Italian lessons, so breakfast was 'ciambelle' and cappucino. We all know its a dougnut! The guys who run the bar know we are students, so until we pronounce the name of the pastry correctly, they won't give us our breakfast! What torture. Our teacher had told us about an art exhibit in Citta di Castello, so we thought we'd take a quick run in and see what it was about. The artist is Milo Manara, he's probably best known as a comic book artist, of an erotic bent, but he also does political satire, and caricature work. The exhibition is being held in a large, community palazzo that we've always meant to visit. This will be a very short cultural interlude...because you cannot visit Italy without seeing some art. The palazzo just blew us away! It is incredible, every ceiling was either completely frescoed, or coffered and painted. Those are missing panels, and about 20 feet above that, you could glimpse the actual beamed roof. The place is in dire need of restoration, but, "Ma Dai!", what a job that would be! This is the view from the window, I'm assuming these are Roman ruin remnants. These ruins are within the town walls, and we never had any idea they existed until today. There is also this sort of stone grotto over on the side. Its all stalactites and niches and statues; from the exterior, on the street side, its just a curved brick wall. There is no signage of any sort to explain what it is. And just to bring us back on to the topic of food...here is an example of Milo Marano's work. The attendant at the exhibition didn't mind me taking photos, so I don't think I've stepped on any copyright toes. Come to think of it, I do need an avatar....

Well, we were going to go to San Guistino last night, to this great pizza place, but then we remembered they are closed on Thursday, so we went to Umbertide for pizza. What I was really hungry for was one of those calzones that everyone has been making on the Campania thread. The restaurant is subterranean and it was either a convent or an abbey, with a tunnel that lead directly into the church that is across the piazza. The restaurant is really pretty...it would be a great place for a Halloween party....but the pizza is just ok. And the calzones on the Campania thread are still calling me. As a bonus, as we were leaving the restaurant, the church across the way was celebrating the Feast of St. Francis, and inaugurating their new organ. We went across to listen to a soprano singing her heart out, wearing a slithery, sexy, red, one shoulder gown, while standing in front of the altar. You don't see that in Kansas.

Buongiorno! Lots of questions! Pontormo: We have 2 bars and 4 churches! Seems to be about the right ratio, don't you think? No, we're not the only foreigners. There are 4 or 5 other American households, and I think some Australians within the walls, but we spend the most time here. The painter, Daniel Lang, was the first foreigner to move into Montone, about 30 years ago. He tells a great story of when he first moved in, he was puttering around in his kitchen, when he heard very heavy, raspy, asthmatic breathing. He looked up, and it was an enormous, ancient eagle perched on one of the ceiling beams. They both screamed in fright, and the eagle flew away, never to be seen again. I'm hoping for some passagiata tonight..the weather has not been cooperating, but so far, today is spectacular. Foodman: No smoking in public places in Italy, not in all of Europe. Ireland was the first to go this route, then Italy. The French are dithering about it, not sure who else will follow. Is there anything bad about living in Umbria? Let me invite over some neighbors, open some wine and they would be happy to tell you all the things that are wrong. There are a lot of socio/political issues, but that's a discussion for another time and place. Preferably over that bottle of wine. Miriam: You've captured what its like to live in a medieval town perfectly. We are just passing through, adding our little bit, but the town remains. It puts many aspects of your life in perspective when you live somewhere with a long history, even something as venial as personal aging. Doc Slaughter: the winter months here can be lonely and long. There is lots of rain, some snow, fog, bone chilling cold and wind. Most of the fair weather people (summer residents, those who come and go from Rome/Milan) aren't around. It gets very, very quiet. Dina, from the trattoria, had already begun complaining about the lack of people and the quietness. I love the snow, the quiet, the fog, but for me, its a personal choice. Christmas time in Montone is pure magic, secondo me. This photo is from Feb. '05 when we had a ton of snow. That is part of the walls that keep us Montonese protected. What state in the US has a similar climate? Boy, I'm not sure. We've got some palm trees around town, it snows, lots of fog, can be brutally hot and dry in the summer.... I would say the Berkshire region except for the palm trees. MizDucky, you made me spit water all over my computer screen!! Wait till Jeff comes home and sees that!! As far as going back to NY....if it weren't for our son, family and dear friends, oh, and some work obligations, we wouldn't go back. I feel a need to make a little disclaimer to many of you who have not been to Italy: I'm living in a very small, postage stamp size part of Italy. What happens in my little corner of Umbria, may not be what happens in all of Italy. Regionality is a very strong influence here and should be taken into account. Its like saying you've been to Sante Fe and that represents all of the U.S. Disclaimer over. Visit with us over on the Italian Forum to get a feeling for the different cuisines of each region.

This morning we went to the piazza and had a coffee at the bar. Simple sentence, right? This is what it means...the piazza is the heart of the town, a live beating heart. If you want to know what's going on...you head to the piazza. You meet your neighbors, catch up on gossip, etc. Its a damn shame that US cities don't have piazzas, all through Europe piazzas are meeting places, and there is no more comforting thing than heading to the piazza. The flip side of this: if you need to get somewhere quick, if you aren't looking your best, don't have time to chat....don't go thru the piazza. A bar is not just a place for drinking, its critical to the life in the piazza. Bars sell coffee and pastries, sandwiches at lunch time, cigarettes, water, gelato. Everybody has their favorite bar that is their personal hang. We hang at Erbe Luna. This is Martina, she owns the bar and restaurant with Claudio...and they have the 2 kids that I'm in love with. Martina doesn't talk with her hands, she talks with her entire body. She said she was going porcini hunting this afternoon, and I asked if I could come along, "Come` non?" So, I went. This is a porcini. Beautiful, isn't it? Well, I didn't find that one...I didn't find any at all, but I had a great time crawling around in the woods. I wish I could explain just how steep the woods are here...it was a lot of hand over hand, hauling yourself up by tree trunks. I love getting muddy! There were 5 of us: Claudio, Martina, Martina's mother Eva, the beautiful Gina and myself. Gina is a white haired nona, without a line on her beautiful face. I didn't get a good picture of her, I'm sorry. That is her lovely hand holding the procini. Eva is pretty beautiful too... We weren't very successful at finding porcini, but we found lots of other mushrooms. Gina and Claudio were the final authority on what was good, sort of ok, and deadly. There was a long discussion about one type of mushroom, with Claudio declaring that he was Roman, I was a New Yorker and we should leave that mushroom to the Montonese. The routine was I would bring my basket to someone, and they would declare it "non buoni", and I would throw it out. I did get some yellow, coral like mushrooms, and the group split down the middle on whether or not you could eat them. Here is Claudio coming out of the woods, holding a puny porcini. He's a maestro at finding porcini, so he was making fun of his little bitty mushroom There was an interesting 'meeting' between us and some caccitore (hunters). Its cinghiale (wild boar) hunting season now. The method for hunting cinghiale is called 'battuto', as in beating. Some hunters beat the woods to flush the animal, others stand around on a ridge with rifles waiting, they all have wire less radios connecting each other. Its a huge past time here and the woods are full of hunters right now. Claudio and the hunters exchanged a few words about who has the right to the woods, porcini or cinghiale hunters. It was a little tense, but nothing serious. Land use issues crop up all over the place, don't they? Whether its snow mobilers and tele mark skiers...or porcini and cinghiale hunters. And here is how Montone looked as we were heading home.

For lunch....it needed to be quick...because I was invited to come along with some friends who wer going porcini hunting! woo-hoo! We ran to Dina's, its a small trattoria right outside the walls. Its real name is Il Fonte, I think, but everyone calls it Dina's. She's a great lady, there is simple food, home made pasta and the best agnello alla brace (roast lamb pieces). Here, we call this 'crostini'. In Toscana, its bruschetta. Anyway you look at it, warm bread, tomato, salt and a drop of oil, you can't go wrong. Tortellini in brodo. I'm a big fan of soup, and Dina's tortellini in brodo is like mother's milk for grown ups...well, its comfort food at any rate! Spaghetti alla tartufatti. Need I say more??

Milagai...what a pretty sounding name. There has been some sort of civilization living here since around 800 AD, probably Etruscan. Historians, feel free to help me out here. Our house dates back to around 1200 AD, and that does includes the original internet connection. You cannot tell where anyone's house starts or stops; if you look at the exterior walls in town, you will see traces of old windows, doors, floor levels, etc. The only place that our house goes all the way through is on the second floor. There are two closed off mysterious windows on the back side, third floor, and we don't know if this is unaccessable space or actually part of someone else's house. Some peoples houses just go and on, up one level, down two. Its pretty cool. I've met a woman that everyone calls Nona Lucia, and she was born in our house. Recently, at the festa of Madonna dei Confini (remember...kids eating panini pictures), we met Marta who had grown up in our house, and she paid us the nicest compliment. She said she was very happy to see our house full of life and love. Gives you the warm fuzzies, don't it?? Bavila: I buy the seeds already dried. I've dried pumpkin seeds, you just stand there and pull off all those icky threads of pulp until they are clean. Wash them thoroughly and then lay them flat in a low temp oven, add salt while they are wet, and roast until the insides are all toasty. That's a rough guideline. I just keep tasting them until they are done, remember that they will dry out a little more as they cool. FFB: you cook, write and have a pretty cool family yourself!!

This is what I woke up to this morning: a lot of fog. This is looking up our block towards the piazza. This is from our back balcony, which faces onto Silvano's garden or orto. Silvano is just an amazing gardener, and he shares his bounty with us from time to time. He's been known to show up at the door, shove a bouquet into my face, literally, and demand that I smell the roses. They smell fabulous...these are true, old fashion roses. And just to remind you that Italy produced Fellini. Take a look at this poster that is all over town. It's an 'invitation' to join the town band.

Christopher, the architect, builder, engineer and il capitano of the Tower Project came over for dinner last night. We were talking too much and I forgot to take a picture of the taglietelle with porcini that was the first course. But here is the sole that I bought at the market. After dinner, we wound up munching on these, as they had just come out of the oven. My husband's family, who is Turkish-Sephardic, calls them 'pepitas'. They are roasted squash seeds. A true pepita eater, takes the seed, pointy end goes into the mouth, your teeth crack it open and the seed falls on your tongue. This is a learned technique. Poor Christopher, he had a pile of shell and nut dust in front of him, and kept saying, "I just don't get this."

oops. Forgot to post a picture of the view from the rooftop at lunchtime. Weather was looking just a bit ominous. It felt like we were sitting in the eye of a hurricane. Well, not quite that epic.

Shaya, you're right...I had an apostrophe in a picture name. silly me. Kevin, not sure what you had in mind, but here's some happy little friends of mine eating porchetta sandwiches. We were at a little festa celebrating the reconsecration of a tiny chapel near the Tower. A porchetta sandwich is the pork meat on a crusty roll, maybe a sprinkle of salt, maybe not. That's it. No condiment of any sort. We ate our porchetta, neat, on the roof, with some sauteed spinach and a tomato salad.

This is what did load. Polidori is a vineyard on the south side of Umbertide. Its an organic vineyard, with a D.O.C. designation. This means that they certify that they are using only their own grapes. D.O.C.G. is another standard that you will see, and this is a step up in terms of quality. I'm a dolt and forgot to ask what kind of grapes they use, but my best guess is sagratino. This is on the way up the hill to Polidori. The 'vendammia', or harvest is almost complete. Grapes are hand harvested, production is small, quality is good/every day wine, and the price is right. You must drive slowly on the road, there are a fair number of chickens running around. The front door. It's not photogenic, there isn't a 'tasting room', its just a working vineyard. Here is the labelling machine, churning out its bottles. Now we are getting our jugs filled. There is a cantina in Citta di Castello that actually has an old gas pump, you know the kind were the numbers flip around, and they use that to fill the jugs. 18.00 euro and 10 liters later...we are on our way home. Not that the view was particularly 'fantstic!", but I keep thinking of something Flocko said in his blog, "I came for the beauty, and it hasn't let me down yet." Amen to that.

Well, now I'm getting "SQL syntax error" message when I try to upload. Its coming up on a white screen with a box that reads like a DOS message. Anybody know what that means???

This is the entrance to the molino. A molino is a mill. Depending on the season, they will mill wheat, corn, etc. Right now, its corn. Here's where the trucks pull in. Here's the feed corn. Yeah, yeah, nice mill. OK. How many of you get a little lost at Home Depot? Like to spend a little time wandering around the aisles of a hardware store? Come on, I know you are out there. This is like a hardware store, feed and grain, hunter's clothing, wine making, bee keeping, canning, sausage making, work gloves, rubber boots, and gardening store, all rolled into one. You see where I'm going with this? Right?? You invent excuses to just 'run into the molino'... I really need to go to the molino for..... Today we needed salt for the water softener, and kitty litter. Yes, I go to the molino for kitty litter, they are the only ones that carry Tidy Cat...which is pronounced "Teedy Cat". Check out the tops of the giant glass wine bottles on the bottom right center, you can just see the tops of them. Here is the wine cork, sausage making, bottle cap aisle. The other cool thing about the molino is that they have plantings outside that are appropriate to the season. What I mean is, when they put out the carciofi (artichoke) plants, its time to plant the carciofi. In this picture there are carciofi, onions and maybe brussel sprouts? I'm not sure, I didn't have time to ponder the plantings today. Pansies? I guess they last thru the fall, I'm not sure. After the molino, we headed up to the Polidori vineyard/catina.

This is the entrance to the market. Yes, its always this crowded. Umbertide's food market is held in the main piazza. There is a clothing and other hardgoods part of the market, but that is held in a different section of town. The vendors come in big trucks and set up their stands in a horse shoe shape. This view is looking down one side of the market. This old gentleman is one of my favorites, I wish you could see his hands. The are huge, his fingers look like gnarly, burled wood, his fingernails are wide, flat, and crammed with earth. He also carries more unusual varieties of vegetables. He and his wife (you should see her hands!) had this wonderful red tinged garlic in the summer, when I asked them the name of it, they looked at me as if I was crazy and said, "red garlic". These are people truly of the earth, completely in tune with their product because they raised it and know its value. Value in the sense of flavor and goodness, not cost. This is Claudio, my cheese guy. No, I don't go to him just because he is very, very cute! He's fooling around with some baccala and anchovies, that they keep on the side of their truck. This is Claudio's wife, so is as sweet as she looks. We all share a fondness for strong, sharp cheeses, so he keeps little treats for me. This time it was something they called "Pecorino Gorgonzola". Now, it looked nothing like a blue gorgonzola, it looked like a pecorino that someone forgot about. It was all puckered and wizened, but boy was it tasty!! We had some last night, eaten with a few drops of honey. Claudio is also a maestro at porcini hunting. Its been raining, so everyone is talking porcini at the moment. Right outside the piazza, there is my favorite porchetta vendor and my fish people. Porchetta is, uh-oh, words fail me. Porchetta is a sacred dish in my area. Porchetta up shows at all gatherings, festas, important ocassions. Basically, its a whole roasted young pig, that has been boned and then filled with garlic and some herbs. The fragance of this roasted pig will make you swoon, it turned a vegetarian friend of mine back into a carnivore, its salty, porky, garlicky, unctuous all at the same time. Ordering porchetta from the porchetta man involves decision making: lean or fat? some liver? crusty skin? I like a mix, hold the liver. Here's my fish vendor. Umbria is land locked, unlike most regions in Italy that have some coastline. We only get fish on Wes. and Fridays; sure you can go to the Coop and get fish, but you are never quite as sure about the freshness. Sometimes the Coop is outstanding, sometimes it smells like ammonia. Nakji, I'm guessing here is another similarity with Viet Nam....wicked old ladies that will elbow in front of you. Man, you have to be on your toes or these old ladies will cut in front of you everytime. Its a fierce battle, best won with elbows firmly akimbo. I'm sorry I couldn't get a good shot of the fish,, but between the glass case reflecting and the old ladies, I didn't stand a chance! These guys are great, fresh fish from the Adriatic and if you ask, or even if you don't, they give you a running recipe as they wrap and weigh. Oh, and most vendors throw in some parsely, or carrots, or celery along with your purchase. Nakji, to answer your question about haggling. Yes, sometimes. Normal grocery purchases, no. Couple flats of tomatoes, yes. Over at the hard goods side, yes, always. One last market story: if you look at the teaser market photo, where the tomatoes are, there are some tomatoes that look a little funky on top and are more pink than red. A few weeks ago, a friend had just come back from Positano with these pink tomatoes. They were amazing, plump, pillowy, seductive. Eaten in big chunks with a little salt, oil and oregano. Well, these tomatoes looked like the Positano tomatoes, so as I'm buying them, I ask what they are called. Well. This starts a conversation between about 5 or 6 people, and the final story is that these are called "mercatale" after the town they are grown in (its nearby), they are ONLY grown in Mercatale and the seeds come from the Vatican and were given to these guys by a nun. Gives new meaning to the expression "Holy Tomato", doesn't it??? Next stop: The mulino

Whew-hew! Wheew-Hew!!! That's me singing and doing the happy dance. Seems the photos are uploading. I did a big drop in the resolution and that seems to work. Either that...or last night's rain washed the rust off the paper clip ....I'm mean satellite connection. Miz Ducky I was getting your message while I was sleeping...thank you! Nakji: how strange is this?? You are right the comparisions, or parallels just keep coming. Viet Nam and Italy, who knew?? Catriona, maybe the Communists are secret foodies? They've got the COOP, they've got those parties with porchetta trucks. Hmmmm....maybe we are on to something! I"ve been a very poor host, I haven't even taken you to our piazza. I will rectify that a bit later. But to answer your question, we are far too small to have office workers crowding anywhere for lunch. For the most part, everyone goes home for lunch. Round about 11:30 or so, the whole street starts to smell good, and everyone comes back for lunch. All shops and business close for lunch. Lunch is usually around 1:00 and then most shops reopen around 3:30, then close at 8:00 for the evening. If you are not used to this time frame, you can really blow the whole day. Which brings me to the Italian Time Warp Theory. You wake up at 7:00, alls good. You plan your day, look at your watch, or in my case, listen to the bells, and its noon. Welcome to the time warp....morning gone and you don't know where it went. As you try to make up for lost time, you realize its lunch time so you can't get to the hardware store to buy that particular electrical adapter, so you have lunch, look at the time and its 5:00. Some days the time warp is fiercer than others, but I'm sure anyone who has been here or lived here knows exactly what I'm talking about! I'm always falling into the Time Warp, which is why we eat dinner at 10:00. 'nuff blah-blah-blah....let's go to market!

Sandy, I'm sorry, I should have answered your question earlier about the Coop. Its a large grocery chain, prevelant in central and northern Italy. There is nothing counter-culture or overtly co-operative about it. I also belonged to a Co-op in Westchester, help out, lower prices, all that. No. This is just a Shop Rite. Unless...you go to the IPER COOP. Which is a much bigger COOP, it sells dishes and clothes. The most entertaining part about the COOP is that you pay for your shopping bags, BUT, and here's where the fun come in....you need to guess the amount of bags you will need before you check out. Fun, right?? After you reach a certain level, you get a week where you get 10% off. Everyone shops at the COOP, we all need paper towels and Maestro Lindo (Mr. Clean type stuff...only Maestro Lindo is cuter)...oh...and Fairy dishwasher cubes. But, I'd rather spend my time and money at the market. One last word on the COOP, we have been slowly, slowly converting all of our Italian friends to call it the coop...as in chicken coop...once they get the joke, they love it. Subversive, no?? Curtis loves Phllly. He thinks its a fabulous food town. I don't know what his take is on the cigarette ban, probably in favor of it. He's not a ....cigarette...smoker. Curtis did a great piece on the 'war' between Gino's and Pat's. Cheesesteak competitors, where I think maybe the competition is part of the publicity. He's becoming a good cook and is learing how to shop. He's too poor to eat out. That is very interesting about Slow Food and Farm Aid. I didn't know anything about that, and its an interesting and intelligent angle. So, FabulousFoodBabe...what do you mean my husband looks familiar?? Are you one of his girlfriends too?? As far as staging in Italy goes.... it all depends on the chef. Same as anywhere. I worked with polite, respectful chefs and I worked with total jerks. (I just edited what I really wanted to say...) As much as possible, target where you want to go and how you will be working with. Kitchens can be rough and very vulgar and women get the brunt of the 'joke' more often than not. Thick skin is required regardless of where ou work. PM or we can talk in Nov when we come back to NY. Oh..no....it's October already!!!!! Nope. Can't load any pictures at all!! It rained today. I'll get up early tomorrow and figure something out!! Oh, if it rains or is windy we tend to lose the phone and internet. It's a medieval town...wiring came much, much later. Buone notte!

Ciao tutti. I'm losing the battle with the photos. I'm trying to reach Chris Armault to see if he has any words of wisdom. On a brighter note, I thought I'd step up to the cardoon challenge! Those long standy-up celery-esque stalks are indeed cardoons. The first of the season. Over in the Italian forum, we've had mixed results cooking them. I'm happy to hear any hints. Regarding the eggs, depends on the ambient room temperature. During the summer, I'll put them in the fridge. This time of year, I'll go thru the dozen within the week, so I don't worry too much. These eggs come from the chicken man at the market, mostly he's sells about 20 different varieties of chickens. Live chickens are cheap! Some guy ahead of me bought maybe 4 quail and paid a euro apiece. I've seen big chickens sold for about 2.50 euro a head. Almost makes me want to raise chickens. Almost. I think I could do the slaughter part, its the plucking that bothers me. The market was good today, some tomatoes, early artichokes (more of the purpley ones), lots of peppers and dirt cheap grapes. Whole flats of white grapes for 3 euros. Fabulous Food Babe, this is for you. This is Jeff with Mary. Oh. Just in case, Jeff is my partner and husband....Mary is one of his girlfriends. Jeff has a lot of girlfriends, most of them have been collecting pensions for years, Mary is by far the youngest. Anyway.... Mary runs "Bar Mary" where we have our coffee on market mornings. She's a woman of a certain age, and she struts her stuff, lots of backless, skimpy tops. Everyone loves Mary, she's just fun to be around and she makes great coffee. So, the long answer to your question is, if you think you are looking good, Italian men love you no matter what age you are. There is far more acceptance of women aging, its viewed as a natural occurence, not a cause for panic or shame. In general, there is more acceptance of who you are and what you look like. Its a good thing. Back to food....breakfast was capuccino and cornetto!