eG Foodblog: hathor - Carpe Diem

[mizducky]

Hathor--

I'm guessing that your problems with uploading photos over a cranky dial-up line might be helped by converting them to a lower resolution (DPI). Do you have any photo processing software on your computer? (Like Photoshop?) Feel free to PM me about this if you'd like.

(Signed, a friendly neighborhood computer/food geek )

(edited to fix late night tyop )

Edited October 5, 2006 by mizducky (log)

[Catriona]

I have fond memories of the Festa Dell'Unita in the Fortezza in Florence... Turned out that communists did great food! Who knew!

Although my memories would be blurred, because commies also sold good tequila...

Ah, Bar Mary. I had a version of Bar Mary that I used to call into every morning. Does the interior look like it's stuck in the 80s? Lots of neon and black?

One of my favourite things in italy was the good, reasonably priced lunch places, where you'd be stuck in a sea of officeworkers all trying to get something good to eat before heading back to work. Does that scene exist in Montone, or is it too small?

[hathor]

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!

[Swisskaese]

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!

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I experience the time warp theory in Israel all of the time, except that it happens on Friday, when some of the stores close at 1pm or 3pm and do not reopen until Sunday.

We are also late eaters.

Edited October 5, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[hathor]

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

[mizducky]

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!

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Yay! eGullet telepathy, how about that?

[hathor]

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.

Edited October 5, 2006 by hathor (log)

[hathor]

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???

[hathor]

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.

[lexy]

Eggs were refrigerated in Korea, either, so perhaps egg refrigeration is a North American thing?

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I think you're right - they're not in Britain, but are refrigerated in Canada.

[Shaya]

Oh my goodness, you are killing me. First the pic of Claudio then that load of porcini - could you pleeease send some over to me (the mushrooms, not the man...)

  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???

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Do you have an apostrophe or some other punctuation mark in the title of the photo?

[bavila]

Ok, I'll fess up to being one of the Home Depot (even Office Depot) geeks. And the molino looks like a feed store to me. I love the smell in a feed store -- usually nice and humus-y.

Loving the blog!

Oh, and the porchetta reminds me of cochon de lait in Louisiana. My knees get weak over fire roasted suckling pig!

[Kevin72]

This is painful to look at: the beautiful pictures, the market, the food arrangments shots, the smug cats taunting me from their rooftop throne . . . love all the observations and nuances you point out, and a wonderful prose, too.

Please get a pic of a porchetta sandwich. This is the time of year for it, no?

[hathor]

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.

Edited October 5, 2006 by hathor (log)

[hathor]

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.

[hathor]

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."

[FabulousFoodBabe]

So, FabulousFoodBabe...what do you mean my husband looks familiar?? Are you one of his girlfriends too??   

No, hathor! "My" boyfriends are the Yankees ... as in Mr. Fabby calls to say he's taking an earlier flight/train home, so I can clear the Yanks out. (for him, it's the Lakers Girls.) Your husband looks famous/familiar in a 'haven't I seen you before" way. But since we're practically neighbors, who knows -- I wonder how familiar you will look to me!

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!!!!!

Hee hee. I'd take rough & vulgar over condescending/taking one's Mother issues out on me! I'm devoted to a couple of chefs for treating me the same as everyone else. The chef who asked me is cool, and I figure his attitude will lead the rest of his cooks. If I can/will take the stage, though.

I'm completely loving your blog. You write, you cook, you have a cool family .. sigh.

[hathor]

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.

[Milagai]

This has got to be one of the most mesmerizing blogs -

the pictures of yr house and kitchen sucked me into

another universe......

I'm lapping up all the other questions and answers

but cld you please share something about the history

of yr town and anything known about yr house?

When built? Who lived there? etc....

Thanks

Milagai

[Jean Blanchard]

Your blog is absolutely beautiful! The porchetta truck reminds me of our last trip to a market in Tuscany. I had never had nor heard of porchetta. For anyone who wants to try a "smaller" version, there is a good recipe for mock porchetta in the Zuni cookbook.

Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you!

[bavila]

More on the roasted squash seeds please. I saved some from last night's acorn squash and would like to roast them. When I've tried this before it hasn't quite worked for me.

What kind of squash? How'd you separate the stringy mess from the seeds? Time/temp? Any other details I should know? This is probably elementary to many of you out there, but I need help bumbling my way through!

Oh, and another question -- is how you eat at home in NY similar to how you eat in Montone (sequence of courses, style, etc.)?

[Shaya]

Oh Judith, do I ever know those pepitas well. My Mom used to crack those constantly when I was little. She had the crack-em-in-your-mouth technique down pat. I got into them a little bit when I got older...they are really addictive.

I actually saw some at our health food store last week and came so close to buying them...then I realized I didn't want to open THAT can of worms again.

[hathor]

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!!

[hathor]

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??

[Pam R]

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.

I'm no Sephardi but we've always had toasted pumpkin seeds around here (especially in the summer at the lake). I even have the point in, between the teeth crack, out falls the seed thing down.

To get the seeds out of the .. goop, soak them in a bowl of water for a while. It will help to release them.