A few things I learned in Italy

There are rewards to not being able to sleep your first few days of vacation.

There are a lot of Lamborghinis in Tuscany.

The Food Blog

Due to our inadequecies with uploading pictures we have not been able to keep you updated on our culinary adventures.  We have found the food to be amazing.  Usually the more simple the better.  Here are a few of the antipasti, primi, secondi and dolce we have shared. 

Melted pecorino

Braised chinghale (wild boar) in Brunello

Spaghetti with tartufo (fresh truffles)

Coniglio (rabbit) braised in Brunello with polenta

Home made dinner at Poggio di Sopra (by Cinda).  Lentils, sausage, tomatoes and pasta.



Tonno (tuna) carpacio



Antipasto Mista (of the house)

Pici (hand rolled pasta) with fresh tomato sugo (sauce)

Pizza a Napoli (capers and anchovies)

Assorted crostini with cheese, lardo and tomatoes



Ricotta Rice Cake with fresh berries



What's left of panna cotta

Assorted cheeses in store window

Firenzi

We have left the Chianti country side and have made it safely to Florence (Firenzi).  Quite the culture shock to go from the laid back way of life in the country into the bustle of the city.  We had a little bit of a problem (but a great adventure) finding where to drop off the rental car but were able to have a great tour of the Duomo driving our car in the restricted areas with all the pedestrians. We pretty much drove right up to the steps.  I am sure the four of us laughing were quite a site!! Hopefully we will have pictures or maybe a video to share later.  We finally found the rental car drop off and said a sad good bye to our faithful Mercedes station wagon and took a taxi to the hotel.  Much better to leave the city driving to others however Roberto was a master.  We are staying at the Hotel Porto Rosso close to the Duomo.  After our ride it did not take us long to find an osteria for pranzo (lunch) and vino rossi ( you know what that is).  A short walk back to the hotel and we are taking a short respite before heading out to explore Florence.

Roberto is currently reading a book about traveling through Italy.  There is mention of ordering an espresso and saying "float a sailor on top" which is supposed to mean with lemon rind however our waiter did not quite know what to make of Roberto when he ordered his macchiato and said "and float a sailor on top".  Here is the progression of picures taken of Roberto and  Maurizio right before ordering and right after.  I'm sure you can tell the order.

Random photos

So, I'm at home, reading a book and nursing a stuffy nose and cough while the others are
visiting San Giminano. I've been placed in charge of trying to upload some photos. Being, the
techno-peasant that I am, I'm not so sure of the wisdom of this, but here goes...


Angela, "our Angel", from the Piccolomini winery
near Poggio di Sopra. When we got to Castelnuovo
del Abate it was getting late & dark. We had been
on every road (we thought) & still couldn't find our
place. We stopped at the winery and Angela, in perfect
English, gave directions and even drove part way there
while we followed. A few days later, when we needed
to find Castello Romitorio it was Angela, again, who provided
assistance, as well as an outstanding wine tasting at the
Piccolomini winery. Thanks, Angela!

Maria Teresa Ferrari, making the world
turn in the pine cone courtyard at the
Vatican. Not just anyone is allowed to do
this. The technology is amazing. No mechanical
parts, just one good push from Teresa and it
turned for a very long time.

This is a picture of an ancient communal olive
press, taken through a window of the building it
is used in in the tiny village of Volpaia




Prosciutto hanging from the ceiling at a wonderful
shop in Greve. We are loving the cured meats!

Roberto, Fernando and Maurizio during our very

special visit to the Montefioralle winery

Tweedle-dee & Tweedle-dum

Oops, Tweedle-dee & Tweedle-dum again. The

techno-peasant can't figure out how to delete

this without losing the whole thing. Surprising,

I know! I'm actually amazed that I've gotten this far.

A few random thoughts and thank yous

First of all, to those of you following the blog and enjoying it, we are so glad. To those of you who are posting comments, thank you so much. It's very nice to hear from you. Josh, call your sister and tell her I'd like to hear from her, too!

Second, another huge thank you to Maddie, the travel agent. The places and people she has hooked us up with have far exceeded our expectations. I knew before we met Monika the other day that it was going to be a great experience. Our friends, George & Eleen, were in Italy last July and had told us about this amazing day that they had with a guide named Monika. In one of those "small world" phenomena, we ended up being booked with the same guide. By the way, Monika says " Hi, to George & Eleen". I think you've already read about most of the amazing things we did with Monika. She seems to know every road and almost every person in Tuscany. As we were having a quick espresso at the shop of one of her friends, Mo asked what she does in the off season. Turns out she's affiliated with 2 very small colleges in the U.S. Of course, one of them would be Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wa. What are the chances?

Thanks again, Monika, for the amazing day and for your suggestions of things to do on our own. Yesterday we went to Rapolano Terme on the advice of Monika. This is a natural hot spring spa that we never would have gone to had it not been for Monika. I'm pretty sure we were the only Americans there. Again, it was a little challenging manevering through the different bathrooms and changing rooms that had no signage in English. Cinda & I thankfully found a nice woman who spoke enough English to keep us from doing anything embarrassing. Not sure how it went for Mo & Robb, but I heard no screams or funny stories.

Lisa, thanks for all the books and suggestions. We think of you so often here. I can see you living here. We were shopping at the local street market yesterday in Castellina in Chianti. Came across the most beautiful black swater with ruffly fur down the front. I asked Mo who it reminded him of and he immediately said Lisa. We would have gotten it for you, but I wasn't sure about the size.

On the subject of shopping; WOW! I want to buy everything. While there are a lot of large, high end shops in the bigger cities, I especially love the small artisan shops in the small towns. Scarves are all the rage here. Everyone wears them. Even Mo and Robb are rocking the man-scarves. Mo got himself a lovely black leather man-bag in Radda yesterday and a belt in Castellina. A pair of pointy leather shoes and maybe some red pants and he really will be "Euro-Mo". One of my favorite places to shop is, of course, the kitchen stores. It's probably good that I'm limited on how much I can carry on. I made a huge haul at the ceramic shop and fortunately, that will get shipped. Also arriving at home when we get back will be lots of vino and olive oil. The only thing we can't figure out how to bring back is the meat and cheese, and it's a real shame. You just can't get meats and cheeses like this at home. Most of you reading this blog probably don't know who Topo Gigio is. You should google it. Topo Gigio was a little Italian mouse puppet on the Ed Sullivan show. Topo Gigio is my new name here. I LOVE the cheese. The Pecorino di Pienza (that we bought in Pienza) is outrageous. The other night we had antipasti with aged Pecorino and Pecorino fresco on bread drizzled with honey, then broiled. The only thing better than a hard Pecorino is a soft Pecorino. I know, I never thought I would say that either!

Well, enough from me for now. By the way, if anyone from Longview is following and you talk to Trish, tell her to give Lil a kiss for us. Has she driven them nuts yet?
Ciao
Topo Gigio

Pictures

Toasting Fernando's wine and our buono fortuna

Buon Giorno

I'm up this morning early and hoping to send a few pictures along.  There are not enough words and I am not a good enough writer to convey the emotions of this trip.  Every corner we turn is a new sight much more amazing than the last.  We are meeting such wonderful people who are sharing their crafs with us, being patient with our struggles to communicate and feeding our stomachs and souls.  There are so many threads and pieces of my life I recognize here that are similar to my life growing up with an Italian mother and all her family.  I have learned from Fernando, my favorite wine maker, that putting your heart into your wine is the way to make the best wine and also to never add cheese to baccala!  I promised Fernando from now on I will not add cheese to my baccala teala on Christmas Eve.

Fernando giving Roberto advice

Angela, the very talented ceramist