eG Foodblog: hathor - Carpe Diem

[hathor]

Buongiorno tutti!! First, a morning rant: I have really, really, really, really slow internet, so loading pictures is a bit frustrating, but hang in there, I'll figure out some method. This is the Italian way: first complain, complain, then eventually......you complain a bit more. Complaining is a fine art here, but its not usually taken too seriously.

Let me try and catch up with your questions while I'm waiting for some photos to load.

Pan: you've been to Umbertide?? I'm having a love affair with Umbertide right now. Its basically a farm town, and I'll do a tour later. But traffic in Hanoi! Bah! We sneeze at traffic in Hanoi. Driving in Umbertide is like riding the gaunlet....medieval size streets, kamikaze old ladies on motorized bicylces (seriously this old lady must by 102 with a blue bike and I swear she aims for you), mammoth 2 story tractors, text messaging ragazzi, those 3 wheel API's, and circle of death roundabouts. Like Hanoi, top speed is around 10-15 MPH because you also must chat with people as you go by.

House questions: Yes! That is our house. Ground floor has the entry way and garage. A garage is a very valuable thing in this town, people would kill to have a garage on a driveable street. First floor is the kitchen, see the long window? I'll get somebody to wave to us...either my husband or one of the cats. Second floor has a bedroom, living room, and balcony bedroom. Third floor has 2 bedrooms, 2 small in the hall sort of offices, a kitchen hob (cool feature, show you later) and we have a roof top terazzo. Oh, a drying room/boiler room. There are no 'tumble dryers' in Umbria. I went to buy one and the man said, "Why?"

Montone is very tiny and very dense, it s a walled in city. There are 2 driveable streets, but you cannot park or leave a car on the street. Yesterday was 'traffico intenso' on via Garibaldi. I was going out of the street and someone was coming in. It was chaotic I tell you.

Language: oy-veh!! I'm running right now because we have Italian lessons twice a week.

Swisskaese: this one is for you. You may have my fridge, but do you have a concrete encased oven??

Gelato: I'll try later at the bar. It's almost out of season here. Yes, even the gelato is seasonal.

[Swisskaese]

You are living Tapenade's and my dream. We would love to have a casa colonica.

No, I do not have an oven in concrete. You definitely got me on that one.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[markemorse]

hi hathor!

pretty excited about this blog...my wife and i had a simlar impulse back in 2000 and moved from the states to Siena, Tuscany...

are those strozzapretti? one of our top 10 bowls of pasta in Italy was strozzapretti in a creamy sauce with pancetta and shrooms...eaten after valiantly struggling up the nearly vertical hill that is Urbino, which I'm sure contributed to our satisfaction with this lunch...

and are strozzapretti strictly regional? i never had (or saw) them again during our time in Italy.

mark

Edited October 3, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[Franci]

Buongiorno tutti!! First, a morning rant: I have really, really, really, really slow internet, so loading pictures is a bit frustrating, but hang in there, I'll figure out some method. This is the Italian  way: first complain, complain, then eventually......you complain a bit more. Complaining is a fine art here, but its not usually taken too seriously. 

That's so true!

I am really looking forward to your blog, thanks Judith!

Edited October 3, 2006 by Franci (log)

[Pan]

I haven't been to Umbertide; my father's old friend wasn't reachable until I had to leave and ran out of time. I know another artist who spends or at least used to spend summers somewhere between Gubbio and Umbertide, come to think of it. It's really beautiful countryside -- for those of you who are familiar with the rolling hills of Vermont and other parts of New England, Umbria is something like that, but with the additional picturesque elements of old stone Italian farmhouses and vineyards.

[Sentiamo]

Dai Hathor!!

This is wonderful. I lived in Italy for 10 years and already you have me almost wishing it were 20.

Api's ( damned noisy things)..gelato..formaggi buoni..Cooperativi (not usually Communist run unless my ex has changed political parties , una casa nel centro storica, una vista unica ecc.... sigh.....

Blog on cara Judith...blog on. Im loving it.

[hathor]

Just to give you an idea about slow loading pics: 7 pictures, pushing 30 minutes and still loading.

First, last night's dinner. We tend to eat simply when we are just the two of us; however the good news is that I bought the first artichokes of the season. Or at least the first I've seen. Woo-hoo...let the season begin! Here they are in all of their violet glory.

We had artichokes, roasted potatoes and a piece of beefsteak. The beefsteak was covered with coarse pepper, some salt, pan fried in butter and finished with a splash of Scotch. Not Umbrian...but very tasty. There is something about the combination of butter, pepper and Scotch that is just perfect. Sort of a quicky 'au poivre' sauce.

Can you see the wine bottle in the background? The one with no label? That is some vino 'sfuso' that we bought in Tuscany a few weeks ago. Vino sfuso is wine that you buy...in bulk. You bring your 5 liter bottle or plastic jug to the vineyard, fill it up and go home and bottle it yourself. Rough price idea: about 1.50 euro a liter. Hopefully tomorrow we will head over to Polidori vineyard which is just outside of Umbertide. They are an organic wine producer, and they make a great red wine. Great in the everyday wine sense of the word. Their white is undrinkable...for that we go to the Abbey. I'm not sure if we'll get there this week, but its a strange place. They have a little office where they keep the big wine conatiners, the kicker is that they only allow one person into the office at a time. Now, security is not really that much of an issue here, so who knows what the one at a time policy is about...!

I know I'm behind on questions...next post, ok??

[FabulousFoodBabe]

hathor! I love your blog already. (You write beautifully, by the way. ) Tell me about the attitude toward 50something women in Italy, work- and school-wise. I'd also love to hear more about your past life (or lives). I loaded Italian lessons on my iPod and when I told an Italian chef what I was "learning," he laughed his butt off!

[Shaya]

Buon giorno Hathor. You had me from the get-go; I do so dream of the living the dream that you dared not just to dream but to fulfill.

Then you really got me with two of my all-time favorites - artichokes, purple-y no less, and with those gorgeous long stems - I only see those kinds of stems in my dreams. And of course the perfect little roasted potatoes. Thank you for starting off my day with such lovely images.

Oh, and let me know how hard it really is to learn the language. Yes, another dream of mine. I speak French, so really, how hard could it be?

[hathor]

OK, let me try and catch up on questions. By the way, keep 'em coming. What if I run out of things to say?? My husband would immediately check to see if I had died or been possessed by aliens...!

Susan Snowangel: The Italian language is a gorgeous and impenetrable fortress. Everytime you think you have found the key....the locks change. I love learning it, I love trying to speak it but there are times when I get really frustrated!

As for Curtis, he is now a senior at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He's a film major, photography minor, talented glass blower and budding chef. Can you tell I'm a proud mama? He got tatooed in Buda pest (But, Mom it was so much cheaper there.) It wasn't until yesterday that I started wondering just why he had chosen to put that on his leg. Just what have I imparted to the fruit of my loins?? Can women have loins?

My anchovies were the last of a stash a friend brought from Ligura. The are headless but whole, packed in salt that is sort of blood tinged. Not photogenic, but they were outstanding. Highly recommend the packed in salt variety over the oil packed.

Sandy: Yes, I am a card carrying member of Slow Food.

No, I'm not a card carrying member of the Communist party. However, during the summer, the Communists throw great parties! Seriously. Music, dancing, porchetta trucks. One town will have a Festa of Unity, the next town has a festa of liberty. We all go...but we never, ever sign anything!

Markemorse: Nope, not strozzopretti. That pasta is indeed Umbrian, but I had some dried pasta from a Napoli company.

This is my favortie brand of dried pasta. I mixed it with some 'casarecce' pasta just because I needed to finish up some little bits left in each bag.

FabulousFoodBabe: I think tomorrow I'll have a visual aid reply to your question about 50 something women in Italy!

[hathor]

Tuesday mornings we have Italian lessons in Citta` di Castello, which is about 10 kilometers from here. There is a nice bar in the Commercial Center where the school is and that is where we like to have our breakfast.

Here's part of the selection.

We chose this very plain cake that is split and layered with a bit of not-sweet cream. We were running late so we got all 4 cappucinos at one time. The dirty ashtray comes with the table. Italians still like to smoke a lot, what can I say? But the good news is that they can only smoke outside now, not in bars or restaurants.

[Swisskaese]

Is Preggio going to have a Chesnut Festival this year? If so and you are going, please post pictures and a report on your blog.

I love chestnuts and can't wait for chestnut season here.

[BarbaraY]

So looking forward to this blog. I have long wanted to see Italy but I think that it won't happen so You will have to be my resource.

Love the house, the fridge would drive me up the wall.

[hathor]

Ciao! Barbara, I've kind of gotten over the small fridge thing. Not a lot of condiments, or salad dressing, even eggs don't go in the fridge. Boh! What can I say.

I don't know about Preggio and a chestnut festa, I'll check around. We have our Festa del Bosco at the end of October and the roast chestnut man sets up his booth right in front of our house. I love, love chestnuts. The first day they smell great...by the third day, my whole house reeks of chestnut smoke and I'm over them for another year.

Shaya, my brain is as hard as day old Umbrian bread, its tough to beat another language into my head. I spoke French too, when I got stuck in Italian the word would come in French, now I can't remember my French. Old bread brain, that's me.

Lunchtime! It was blustery this morning, but by lunchtime it was clear, so we had lunch on the roof. I know our al fresco lunch days are numbered, so I'm enjoying our time up there as much as possible.

Cream of cauliflower soup. There are tons of cauliflowers in the market right now.

Rucola and tomato salad. Glass of wine. Works for me.

Those are garlic toasted bread crumbs on top of the soup. I wanted a little texture/crunch along with the silky soup. This was a tasty soup and dead simple: chopped carrots, onion, celery sweated in some EVOO, add the chopped cauliflower some salt and some water. Go hang out on eGullet for an hour or so. Come back, puree, add some cream to taste, and serve.

We were joined on the roof by our feline friends.

Here is the king of his domain: Rusty

And the lovely Bella, hanging around on the roof tiles.

View from the roof, looking towards the bell tower.

[bleudauvergne]

I am loving your blog, Hathor. I would definitely love to see the Abbey. But only if you have time. Rooftop dining - it really looks wonderful. That soup looks very good.

[Catriona]

Hathor, Gorgeous photos... Ispent some time in florence, and you make me miss it. Florence is very grey, though, compared to lovely Montone.

Have to sympathise with you on the Italian/French thing. I had good french, then went to Italy. Had some terribly confused trips from Florence up to my great aunt's house in Geneva... in the end, I just couldn't speak at all (though the mistakes in my french would be italian-speaker's mistakes, which was fun)... And now I'm marrying a frenchman, and the italian (language, not man - there was never an italian man) has melted away...

[Pontormo]

Judith:

While I have a feeling that you never would run out of things to say, I was wondering if you could expand upon an earlier comment you made about eating locally, especially since you would be lending an international perspective to a subject that phlawless explored in her American blog.

Would it be possible to share (some of) your knowledge of regional food in Italy, focussing on Umbria here in your food blog?* Especially since you were asked about Slow Food, I am sure there's enough interest.

*Umbria is the subject of the cooking thread for October in the Italian forum.

[shellfishfiend]

Hathor, i am loving your blog. The rooftop view, the artichokes with loooong, slender stalks, the adorable cats basking in the sun.......

Do you find that your style of cooking changes a great deal from New York to Italy? If so, is it due to the surroundings (faster pace vs. slower pace) or is due to the availiablity of different foods?

Edited October 3, 2006 by shellfishfiend (log)

[nakji]

But traffic in Hanoi! Bah! We sneeze at traffic in Hanoi.

Slow Internet?! Bah! Here in Hanoi we laugh at your slow internet. Sure, you can upload a picture a minute, but it'll only work two days out of seven!

Your pictures look like a dream. I can see why you'd want to live there, crazy traffic or no.

I noticed you had cappuccino and cake for breakfast (/jealous/)...is this a typical type of breakfast in your region? What do people in your area usually have for breakfast?

[hathor]

Ciao tutti!

Lucy, we'll try and swing by the Abbey tomorrow. As with many things in Italy, you need to keep track of opening and closing times. I think the red wine guy is open in the morning, but white wine is in the afternoon, and no one is open for lunch! We have a little pizza place in town that closes for lunch. You order your pizza before they close for lunch.

Catriona: I totally get what you are saying. I went thru a stage where nothing came out in any language. Now the French is melting.

Eatling locally. Its not really a choice here. Tomatoes are in season and you have them coming out of your eyeballs, you can them, the season for fresh tomatoes is over. Granted we still get tomatoes coming up from Compania and Sicily, and I'm not that much of a purists that I won't touch them. But I can't go to the orto up at the Tower and pick my fill. Builds desire for next year.

Now eating regionally, that's a choice.

For example: eating beefsteak

in Umbria: it will most likely be simply grilled and served with a wedge of lemon

in Toscana: grilled, but with dressed with fresh herbs in olive oil

in Puglia: you won't find it, you might, but fish is more prevalent

in Emilia-Romagna or Piemonte: they have meat that is more suitable for boiling/braising

These aren't iron clad rules, its just a rough comparison.

Now cooking in Umbria scared the bejeezus out of me at first. No technique to fall back on, no sauce to cover up a cooking mis-step, just the ingredient, simply presented. There is not much of a garlic presence in Umbria. Many recipes call for you to crack a clove, warm it in the pan with EVOO and then discard the garlic. That's it. (Don't tell anyone...I keep the garlic in...sssh). Same thing with chili peppers, very, very mild heat is marginally tolerated. People here believe that the tongue cannot process more than 3 flavors at a time. Oh, and most Italians get squeemish at the thought of mxing food on a plate. It's an entire country of people that don't like their food to touch. Example: your pasta is eaten and taken away

Meat is served on one plate, vegetables on another

Bread is eaten between courses to cleanse the palate.

On one hand, it seems like overkill. On the other hand, these guys have really sensitive palates. No jaded, overworked palates going on here. They've eaten the same dishes all their lives, they pick up on the subtle variations instantly. I made a giant pot of amatriciana sauce for our festa in August and really worried if I had over spiced it. Reactions ranged from: too spicy, to another woman who bottled some up to take home, and my favorite reaction, one of the townspeople told me I made it as good as his mother. 'Course not everybody's mother can cook....hmmmm....

Meats are cut differently than they are in the States. There is more gristle, bone and fat left on. People are horrified when you cut the fat off...you've cut off the flavor. I'm planning on going to the meat market tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to show you what I mean. Umbrians love their meat; primarily pig and lamb, but there is plenty of beef and everything you could find in a barnyard. The lamb here is fantastic! Hunks of grilled meat, with a piece of lemon, eaten with your fingers, followed by a long session with dental floss is my idea of heaven!

Ah. And then there is the Umbrian bread, which shares a common trait with Tuscan bread. Its salt less. It also takes a lot of getting used to. One theory I've heard was that not putting salt in bread was a way at getting back at the Papal state and their salt tax. Then again, I've heard that Umbria was never subject to the salt tax. The salt free theory that makes the most sense is that the plain bread is a neutral foil for all the salty flavors present in the meats.

Here's something you can do at home, so you feel more "Umbrian". Make some bruschetta. In Tuscany, bruschetta is usually grilled bread topped with chopped tomatoes. In Umbria, its grilled bread, that then gets rubbed with a raw garlic clove, drizzle of EVOO and a sprinkle of salt. The best garlic bread you will ever eat. Try it. Get back to me.

OH! I haven't even touched on pastas or wine. We'll leave for tomorrow, ok? This post is toooo long already!

[sanrensho]

This post is toooo long already!

Please don't trim your posts! Keep the floodgates open! The paragraphs above tell me more about how Italians approach food than many cookbooks I've read.

I look forward to your dissertation on pasta.

[KatieLoeb]

Judith!

So excited to see you blogging, expecially from your lovely home in Italy! This is going to be great. Beautiful food, great scenery and cute kitties (OT - is Rusty an Aby? He's gorgeous!)! All the makings of a fantastic food blog.

You go girl! Mille grazie for taking us on this little vacation to Umbria.

[hathor]

Sandy, you asked me a question awhile back...and if you didn't fall asleep during that last post, here's your reply. You asked what type of agriculture goes on around here. With the exception of the poppies, all the photos were taken on bike rides right outside of Montone. The poppy field is a little further down the road, on the way up to the Tower. Oh, and the 2 photos from today we took on the way home from Italian lessons.

In May, there is the first harvestable crop:poppies. Poppies!! Cue Wizard of Oz music.

Then comes wheat, which gets fully harvested by end July. You want to talk hay fever?? Holy moly!! I sneeze for about a month. But then you go down to the molino (the mill) and the smell is divine.

The wheat picture just won't load!! If it loads later, I'll drop it in.

At the same time, one of the farmers puts in these wacky onions.

Late July, early August is sunflower season. I'm happy to report that the Italian government is no longer subsidizing tobacco, so there were a lot more sunflowers this year, and a much higher water table. Tobacco requires a lot of irrigation. There is still plenty of tobacco around, so smokers, you don't need to panic. Young sunflowers just crack me up, they have goofy smiley faces. I hate it when they mature and hang their heads. This photo is from early August.

This is what they looked like today.

This is one of the last fields left to be harvested. The farmers leave the flowers until they look like they are burnt to a crisp before harvesting. I don't really understand how there could be something useable in this, but obviously they know what they are doing. Anybody care to enlighten me?

And one last photo from today..these 'russet things'. There are a couple of fields of them, anybody know what they could be? They're beautiful, aren't they?

They have sort of a narrow corn plant leave, with this russet colored frou-frou frond on top.

I don't have any pictures of the corn. It makes me too sad. Its all feed corn. No sweet corn. Looks just like any old corn field.

Most grapes have been harvested already. The nut trees are a little late this year, its been off and on unseasonably cold. Figs are done. Boo-hoooo!!

[hathor]

Shellfishfiend: what a great name!! Drop what ever you are doing and go to Puglia. All your wants, desires and needs will be met.

What happens when I cook in NY is that I have a whole lot more ingredients available to me. I don't really change things that much, try to stay local, but I'm not rich enough to shop at the Greenmarket. What the hell is up with that?? I thought the green was for the vegetables, not about the prices!! Ouch!

Nakji: I want to go to Hanoi!! Seriously. It's been on my to-go list for awhile.

Most Italians do the 'cappucino and cornetto' thing for breakfast. Cornetto is a croissant type pastry. Upshot is everyone is very hungry come lunch time. Around here, farming country and all that, lunch can wind up being the big meal of the day. We change around depending on what's going on, sometimes lunch is big, sometimes dinner. Which speaking of...it's time to go make dinner.

ciao!!

[I_call_the_duck]

I'll second Katie--thanks for taking us along on your vacation, hathor.

Out of all the pics you posted so far, the one of the poppies made me really miss Italia.

Will we get to see the market at Umbertide tomorrow? And perhaps the Coop?