Some of you will notice that I’m a day late with my posting; none of you will care. But I find that when I go off to do “research” as I did this past weekend, it’s hard for me to get the new posting done on Monday. So, from now on, Tuesdays will be new blog posting days.

Last weekend was Valentine’s weekend, and Dennis and I decided to head to the romantic town of Cortona for an overnighter. This is the town where “Under the Tuscan Sun” was filmed, and near the place where the author of the book renovated her villa. As a result, this is a touristy town, and we noticed more Americans than we’d seen in any other town we’ve visited to date.

We dropped our things in the little apartment we had rented for the night which was right off the main piazza, and headed out to explore the town. As usual with Italy’s hill towns, one of your best bets is just to head “up”. One of the first sights we discovered was a beautiful church dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. It is the second largest church dedicated to him outside of Assisi. This church had some beautiful frescoes whose photos I have included, and lots of renovation was going on to restore them.

As we continued our trek steadily upward, we caught sight of beautiful views of the valley below. The day was cold, clear and crisp with the smell of wood fires in the air. The higher up we went, the fewer tourists there were and we began to catch glimpses of everyday life in an Italian hill town. There was the apron wearing woman on the street talking to her neighbor who was hanging out of a window above (They were discussing a soup recipe). There was laundry hanging on a line in the sunshine three stories up. There was the fattest cat we’ve ever seen majestically guarding a doorstep, and an old man walking his sweater clad little dog.

We were out of the commercial area of the town and into the residential. As we walked along, stopping in old churches, we peeked into backyard gardens. Though it’s still very cold here (colder than it normally is), winter gardens are in full swing. Here in Italy, they are very fond of various greens that are less commonly used in the States. Almost every house had a well-tended garden with beautiful rows of chicory, chard, broccoleti, spinach and other unidentifiable greens. (Read today’s recipe column for a great chard recipe.)

By the time we headed back down hill in the late afternoon, we began to hear drums as we approached our apartment. It seems we were just in time for a procession of medieval pageantry! First came the buglers, followed by the drummers. Next were the flag bearers, and last of all the procession of royalty and crossbowmen. These were townspeople of course dressed in replicas of medieval costumes. When the procession arrived at the main piazza, the flag bearers gave a show as the royalty looked on in appreciation. After about half an hour, the procession reorganized itself and marched away. What a treat!

Speaking of treats, as usual, the weekend was full of culinary wonders as well. For lunch we went to an enoteca and treated ourselves to a lovely glass of red wine each. I had a bowl of ribolitta which is a very old peasant recipe for a soup. Back in the day, it was a way to use up veggies that were getting old as well as stale bread. It’s really more like a stew as it is so thick with beans, vegetables and swollen bread chunks. It’s quite hearty and very filling. Dennis had a platter of bruschetta; lovely hunks of grilled bread covered in melted cheese and cherry tomatoes with fresh basil and of course, drizzled in olive oil. We also shared a beautiful ball of buffalo milk mozzarella. Each bite made me close my eyes, murmur an “ahh”, and savor its soft, salty milkiness.

For the first time, our lack of making reservations ahead stopped us from eating in the best of Cortona’s restaurants for dinner on this Valentine weekend. We had to settle for a lesser trattoria, but the meal was wonderful nonetheless. Dennis indulged in a gigantic plate of grilled steak smothered in porcini mushrooms, and my bowl of spaghetti with a tomatoey duck meat sauce was quite yummy.

The next morning, we headed out of the apartment to find a cappuccino, and lo and behold in the piazza where last night there had been medieval pageantry, now stood about 10 white booth/tents. When did this happen? And guess what was in these booths?! CHOCOLATE! Yes, we had stumbled upon a Valentine’s Weekend Chocolate Festival! Oh, the sampling! One woman was selling the most delicious cake. It was so incredibly moist, and almondy, fruity and chocolatey all at the same time. Unfortunately, Dennis was headed out of town for the week. If I bought this cake, I would have to eat it ALL by myself. I refrained…..and now I regret it. Can’t stop thinking about it. We did not refrain however from purchasing a slab of dark chocolate studded with hazelnuts for Dennis and dark chocolate covered candied orange peels for me. And for both of us, the most intriguing, delicious, velvety smooth bottle of chocolate liqueur with hot red peppers. Spicy!

Two nights in Montefalco:

Now that I have discovered red wine, Dennis and I spend a fair amount of time hanging out in wine shops, of which there are many here in Rome. After discovering Sagrantino in Todi, we realized that many of the wines we love come from Montefalco. And it dawned on us that rather than continuing to pay more money for these wines in Rome, we should just go to the town of Montefalco and hope to find some bargains.

So, just prior to our trip home for Christmas, we took a train to Montefalco. Weather-wise, it was not the best of weekends. We’re talking torrential rains. The bus from the train station let us off just outside the city walls, but the rain had let up, so on a dark Friday evening we passed through the city gates and climbed to the piazza at the top of the town. As usual, there are not many hotel choices right in the ancient city, but we found an empty one, with nice rooms, that included a little breakfast.

The town appeared nearly deserted when we arrived, whether due to the weather, the time of year, the economy, who knew? All the shopkeepers came alive as we passed by. Customers! But at that point, we were only in the market for dinner. After settling into our room, we scouted the area for restaurants and settled on one where you had to walk through a shop selling artisanal products before heading downstairs to the actual restaurant. So this is where all the people are! The restaurant was quite full, but we were able to secure a table for two.

We are in carnivorous mode. I decided after previous experiences that the next time I had the opportunity to eat a steak with black truffle sauce; I was going to order my own and not share. It’s on the menu! I’m ecstatic and my decision is made very quickly. Dennis decides to have wild boar stew. We order a half bottle of Sagrantino from a vineyard called Còlpetrone. My steak is tender, juicy, and oh so delicious, I can barely stand to give Dennis a bite. But I do, in exchange for a bite of wild boar, which is truly phenomenal. All I can think is, “the boys would love this meal”. The wine is perfect, and we take a picture of the label.

The following day brings sightseeing, shopping, and dodging rain showers. It doesn’t take long to walk around the town. We find lots of wine shops and eventually pick one for a longer look see. The woman is a great salesperson. She opens fresh bottles for us to try, serving bread in between tastes. We leave the store with eight bottles! We find a museum where we learn that it has only been in recent years (the last 30) that the area vintners have been making dry wine from Sagrantino grapes. Prior to this, for hundreds of years, the local monks made sweet Passito wine from the same grapes. Underground, below the museum we find the remains of an ancient church whose walls are still holding beautiful frescoes. It’s here that we wait out a monstrous thunderstorm. Between flashes of lightning and claps of thunder, we view frescoes of tortuous exorcisms and beatific monks. The area is known for its weaving as well as its wine. We find a shop selling beautiful linens and invest in a fabulous tablecloth in shades of green trimmed with olives as a memento of our time in Italy. We buy ceramics for Christmas gifts (and for me). We share a fabulous pizza for lunch (with a less than fabulous house wine) before discovering another church. On display are the mummified skeletal remains of the old keeper of the church keys in the same position in which he was found dead outside the doors of the church long ago. Amazing.

After an afternoon siesta; a requirement of living in Italy, and more shopping, we search for a dinner restaurant. The weather is so uncooperative that we choose the enoteca that is right next to the hotel. What a fabulous choice! We arrive a little early and of course don’t have a reservation. After discussion, they think they can squeeze us in. We laugh to ourselves because the place is empty, but by the time we leave, every table is full, and joyous customers are partaking of the owner’s wonderful offerings.

We each choose something from the menu and we ask the owner to pick out a nice Sagrantino that we can order by the glass. He is thrilled to be asked to choose, picks out a nice bottle, pours us each a glass, and sets the bottle aside at the bar. Before our dinner arrives, he brings out a huge flat pan. “This has just come out of the oven. It’s hot, please don’t touch. It’s so beautiful, I must show it to you.” He leans over to show us a huge focaccia bread studded with cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with herbs and glistening with olive oil. We ooh and aah over it, and soon a plate loaded with small squares of it arrives at the table, “on the house”. He sees us eyeing a leg of prosciutto at the bar, and comes over to explain that it is the best ham from Spain and we really should consider ordering it for an appetizer. We do. We’re making him very happy.

To be honest, I can’t remember what our main course was for dinner. Maybe it’s because for the first time ever, Dennis and I finished a whole bottle of wine over the course of one dinner. But after dinner…..out came a bowl of roasted chestnuts, hot from the fire, “on the house”. And after the chestnuts, came a bowl of cold mandarin oranges that were so sweet and juicy, “on the house”. And when we ordered our after dinner coffees, out came a plate of miniature cookies made on the premises filled with almonds and dried fruits. Last, but not least, we ordered one glass of Passito, the sweet Sagrantino wine to share for dessert. Normally, passito comes in a small aperitif glass; this huge portion came in a giant red wine glass, and was like nectar of the Gods. It was so heavenly; we decide to buy a bottle to take home. As we wait for our bill, I glance at my watch. Three hours has gone by! Now that’s a dinner to remember.

Driving in India

Happy New Year to all my blog readers! My wish is for good health and good food for all. I’ve taken quite the hiatus from my blog due to being in Beaverton for one month over the holidays. When we returned to Rome mid January, we were barely there a week when we had to hit the road again, this time to Dubai and India. So, though my blog is entitled IreneinRome….I am actually in India at the moment, and I’ve decided to write a bit about India and hope that you will find it interesting as well.

Dubai was vaguely interesting. Yes, there are modern architectural wonders, but really it is like being in Las Vegas; fancy hotels, lots of shopping, but no gambling. The downturn in the economy has certainly affected Dubai, and its’ gajillions of construction cranes seemed to be stopped mid-project. I was able to have coffee on the 27^th floor of the 7-star hotel that is shaped like a sail. There was a stunning sunset view, but unfortunately, it cost me US$25.00 for two cappuccinos. Enough said about Dubai.

On to India which is always interesting to me. There may be parts of India that are supremely dirty, have huge issues with the disparity between the rich and poor, and bear many problems with their infrastructure, but it is always fascinating to me. The people are so kind and sincere, the food is phenomenal, and the cultural differences never cease to amaze me.

Driving in India is an adventure to say the least. No, I am not driving here, and neither is Dennis. The company provides a driver, for which we are most grateful. Without the skills of a native (I was going to say “professional” but changed my mind to “native”.) driver, we would have been road pancakes long ago. Carston and Drew have experienced driving in India and can attest to the excitement/danger of it. We had to go visit Dennis’ hydro dam project which is in the middle of nowhere in a place called Maheshwar. Our flight from Delhi arrived to the nearest big city, Indore (yes, you can start humming the theme from Star Wars now…I always do.) at night, so we had to make the two and a half hour drive to go a mere 70 miles, on treacherous roads late at night.

The car shares the road with a much wider variety of modes of transportation than a car in the US. We are dodging not only other cars, but cows pulling carts, plain old cows just wandering around, bicycles, motorcycles and much more. Stray dogs must be honked out of the way, many of them hobbling on three legs as they’ve already had run-ins with cars and know better a little too late. There’s the occasional elephant coming home from work, or camel tugging a heavy load which really causes traffic to slow.

Seatbelts, and indeed seats in general are not mandatory here. Many three-wheeled “taxis” meant to hold two passengers regularly carry six. The driver can up the fare a bit for more passengers, and the passengers can then share the fare making it cheaper for them. Small SUV type vehicles are popular here and I think when the boys were visiting last year, we counted 11 people in one…..or was it 15? Regardless, you get the picture. Not only are 6 people squished into the space 3 should occupy, but the back door is hanging open and people are hanging on by their fingernails.

Unfortunately, nighttime means truck time, and the roads are simply full of them. They drive with their brights on, and I have to close my eyes as they approach. I can only hope my driver is not doing the same. Motorcycles regularly carry families of four. It seems a sedan is not needed until you bear your third child. Women ride side saddle only, colorful saris blowing behind them. The youngest child is clutched by the mom and sandwiched between her and the husband driver. The oldest child gets to ride atop the gas tank in front of the father. No helmets of course, except sometimes for the dad. Sigh.

Indian drivers drive with their horn. As they approach a vehicle they want to pass, (and they want to pass everyone and everything) they lay on the horn to warn the car ahead of their intent. They lay on the horn if any person approaches the side of the road. Considering we are screaming through tiny villages at the equivalent of 55 mph in a spot that would be 25mph in the US, I guess this is a nice courtesy. They lay on the horn to warn off bicycles that of course have no lights, and also to ward off the familial motorcycles. They needlessly lay on the horn as they approach a cow. Cows move of their own accord. Horns mean nothing to a cow. After awhile, a person could go insane and be driven to violence listening to this horn. It’s not as though you want to reach through the drivers’ mouth and back out through his belly button and grab the horn from the steering column and pull it back out through his body or anything like that…….but almost.

Lines mean nothing to the Indian driver. I’m not sure why they bother to paint them. I guess it gives someone a job. The road we are on is pretty much two lane, so all passing must be done against oncoming traffic. Drivers on both sides constantly drive off the road onto the shoulder dirt (versus the actual road dirt) to avoid each other. When we came to a railroad crossing with its’ barrier down, an amazing thing happened. All the drivers on our side of the barrier took over all lanes on both sides of the road trying to be the first one through when the barrier went up. Unfortunately, all the drivers on the opposite side of the barrier did the same thing. Guess what happened when the barrier went up? Nothing! Because no one could go anywhere! It took a while to untangle that Gordian knot. And they all blew their horns at each other while trying to maneuver as if that would help! Dennis and I just roll our eyes. This is why though we sometimes scream along at 80mph; it takes us 2 ½ hours to go a mere 70 miles. That and getting stuck behind a cow, camel or elephant.

We only had 3 near misses. One was versus husband and wife on a motorcycle. When I saw their headlight dead center oncoming, I threw my jacket over my head and held on. The screech of tires matched my little scream, but somehow, somehow, that motorcycle managed to remain upright. We did not hit it, and the sari wearing, side saddle riding woman on the back stayed on. Amazing.

Hiatus in Oregon

Happy Holidays Blog Followers! I am on hiatus in Oregon at the moment. Hopefully, I will actually see most of my blog readers over the upcoming weeks. I look forward to starting up the blog again when I return to Rome which should be about mid-January. I will send out an email to let everyone know when I'm back to writing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time out of your busy schedules to spend a few minutes reading what I have to say.

I wish all of you the happiest of holidays, with good friends, good food, and most of all, joyous times with your families.

With love,
Irene

Pasta Making

This is the third and final blog post about cooking school. I don’t mean to drone on about it, but I just have to tell you about pasta making day. We start the day with something new for breakfast; fresh ricotta on toast with jam. Very delicious. (I’ve since bought it from one of my cheese men and shared this wonderful delicacy with Dennis.) I try not to eat too much of it that morning as I know it will again be a big eating day. Maybe just one more bite before we go out the door. I do need energy for making pasta after all.

Susan, our host, drives us to a restaurant way out in the middle of nowhere called “Maria Fontana”. It is a wonder that anyone ever eats there. It takes us nearly forty five minutes of countryside driving to arrive. As it turns out it is listed in the Gambero Rosso, the Italian version of a Zagat dining guide. The owners of the restaurant are participants of the slow food movement; where everything is purchased from local vendors, made from scratch, and cooked at the moment it is ordered. Waiting for us is the pasta lady. Her only job at the restaurant is to make pasta. She speaks not one word of English, so Susan translates for us. Everything is done by approximation, but of course turns out perfectly every time. She has won awards for her “maccheroni” which is similar to what we think of as angel hair pasta.

We watch her expertly crack eggs into her “well” of flour, and begin mixing by pulling the interior of the “wall” of flour to the center being careful never to break the wall and thereby losing her eggs. She kneads and kneads and kneads, and I point to her arms, noticing how strong they are, then point to my own puny arms. She smiles in acknowledgement of her strength. I can’t imagine doing this all morning every day, but this is her life and she is quite proud of it, and you would not want to arm wrestle with this lady.

Eventually, she creates several small disks of dough. But rather than whipping out a rolling pin, she fetches an unpainted broomstick. She will work each small disk into such a large, thin circle of dough, that no ordinary rolling pin would have worked. The 6 inch disk quickly becomes a 30 inch paper thin circle under her fast moving broomstick. She folds the huge circle of dough over her broomstick, carries it over to another table to dry, turns to us, and motions that it is now our turn.

Barbee and I look at each other…..okay, it’s our turn. She hands her broomstick to me, and turns to fetch another one for Barbee. It is obvious that Barbee has more rolling pin experience than I do. She quickly begins on her disk, and slowly it widens. Mine is growing, but somehow, it is also growing quite wrinkled. The pasta lady reminds us that we are supposed to be making circles. I point to my wrinkles (in the dough), and shrug my shoulders in question. She grabs my broomstick, works her magic and my wrinkles quickly disappear. I get back to work and the wrinkles quickly reappear. Oh well.

The pasta lady shows us how to fan fold our giant circles so we can get ready to start slicing into ribbons. She grabs a very sharp knife and begins to slice her stack into thread-thin “maccheroni”. I try to take a picture, but her hand is moving so fast, I have to reset my camera to “sport mode” in order to capture the action. We begin to slice our stacks. No need to use the sport mode setting. She reminds us that we can just cut the pasta wider, and make fettucine out of it instead.

After the maccheroni lesson, we get a gnocchi lesson from the owner of the restaurant. The pasta lady says goodbye, and we thank her profusely for her time. The owner brings in a large plate of potatoes which she has already cooked, and roughly mashed. She slides the mass onto the pasta making board telling us that she uses a combination of red and yellow potatoes. She sprinkles the pile of potatoes with a good dose of grated parmesan cheese. She tops this with a generous helping of flour. Again, the kneading begins. This time, there is less finesse involved. It’s more like working with Playdough. After it is well kneaded, we slice chunks and roll them along the board into “ropes” just like we used to do as kids with pink and blue clay. When the rope is about the thickness of a finger, we simply chop off little chunks and the gnocchi is done!

We then get to walk through the restaurant kitchen, watching all the preparations that are going on. We see the brother of the owner cleaning mushrooms fresh from the forest. Another employee is making a “pancake” in a sauté pan out of potatoes and chicory with lots of garlic and olive oil. They show us giant jars of antipasti that they make themselves: pickled zucchini slices, pickled carrots, and eggplant. We see the huge pot of pasta water that is always boiling waiting for a customer’s order of fresh pasta which only takes a few minutes to prepare.

We are told to go wash up and to take a seat at the table that has been prepared for us, as we now must eat what we have made. Today, we have worked hard for our lunch, and we are ready to eat. We start with some ravioli they made earlier, served with a very simple tomato sauce…..so tender; it melts in your mouth. Next up, comes our gnocchi, also served with tomato sauce. Darn! We make good gnocchi! We are getting full after two pasta dishes, but they insist on serving us a third with the other pasta we made, this time served with a fresh mushroom and asparagus sauce that is so different and delicious. Oh no, they’ve forgotten to serve us antipasti…..don’t worry, they’ll go get some for us. Out comes a platter with the various pickled vegetables, and oh yeah, you should have some sautéed chicory as well. Here, eat this too.

It’s time to go. Barbee and I can barely move. We thank the restaurant owners for their generosity and time, take lots of pictures, eat the parting pastry they insist we taste, and finally roll out the door. It’s time to move on. We have a train to catch back to Rome, but we still have an artisan chocolate shop and an olive oil mill to visit! The olive oil mill is simply fascinating. The smell of pressed olives assaults our nostrils the moment we enter. We see the giant bins of olives brought in by various olive growers. We get to watch the huge stone wheels turn to grind the olives, and witness the beautiful green oil spewing from a spigot. We now know what “cold pressed” means, we can talk about an olive oil’s acidity and we know how to warm it with our hands for ultimate flavor. Our final stop is the chocolate shop where we purchase WAY too much chocolate, and make a mad dash for the train station. We’ve had a very busy couple of days. We learned a lot, ate a lot, and met a lot of great people! I highly recommend cooking school in Italy!

We continue. Lunch being over, Barbee and I roll our way out the door and into the van so we can take a look at the nearby town of Rieti. The upside (one of many) of paying for cooking school is that you don’t have to do the dishes. Rieti, like many towns in Italy has its charm concentrated in its old city center. Susan shows us the marker which denotes the very “center of Italy”, an old church with a lovingly restored crypt area, and she points out to us other interesting little tidbits as we walk along; the benefit of having a local person as your tour guide. After stopping at a grocery store for pignoli (pine nuts) which Chef asked us to pick up, and a wine shop where all three of us purchase several bottles each, we head back to the house for our dinner lesson.

Upon arrival there is Chef Maurizio again waiting for us with all ingredients for dinner laid out. We start by making an orzo and chick pea soup. This is not the pasta orzo as I know the word “orzo” to be. It is a grain similar to pearl barley. And of course he does not use canned beans. Susan has been presoaking dried chick peas and kidney beans overnight as per his instructions. He has already cooked the presoaked beans over a low flame for about 45 minutes with a little salt. In a soup pot over high heat, sauté chopped onion, carrot and celery in extra virgin olive oil along with a whole garlic clove, and half of a dried chili pepper. Set a tea kettle of water on the stove to boil. When the vegetables begin to brown, add 2 large ladles of stewed tomatoes to the pot. Add 150 grams of orzo, about a cup of hot water and some salt. Lower the heat to simmer. After about 20 minutes, add another cup of hot water. When a lot of the water is absorbed, add the cooked beans with their cooking liquid. After simmering another 15-20 min, add another 2 cups of water. Simmer and taste for seasoning.

Next up on the menu is Pollo alle erbe Sabinese or Chicken with Herbs Sabine Style. This was my favorite dish. See the recipe column for details. I was so excited to make this when I came back, but I must admit I was a little disappointed when I did. I’m having a hard time finding canned stewed tomatoes. Every time I think I’ve bought them, when I open the can, they turn out to be little cubes of tomato with lots of sauce thereby changing the texture of the dish I’m trying to make. When I made this it tasted good, but ended up being a pasta sauce rather than a stew, and it definitely tasted better the next day. I will keep searching for stewed tomatoes but even if I don’t find them, I would make this again.

Our side dishes were grilled pumpkin and swiss chard. The pumpkin, he simply sliced about ¼ in thick (takes a sharp knife and lots of muscle), grilled on the stovetop, and drizzled with olive oil (what else?) just before serving. The swiss chard was very interesting. I always thought chard was a bitter thing, one step worse than cooked spinach. Turns out, it’s quite mild, and when cooked the way Chef Maurizio did, it’s become one of my favorite new veggies. I made it last week and it turned out great.

I went to my local veg market and found a gigantic bundle of swiss chard. I asked to buy half of it. The vendor looked at me like I was crazy and simply shook his head “no”, stuffed the whole thing in a big plastic bag, and charged me a whopping 95 centimes for it (about $1.25). Upon bringing it home, Dennis undid the tie holding it together and it exploded into what appeared to be enough swiss chard for about 20 people. Dennis diligently washed it all…..it being very dirty…….a sign of being fresh from the field, and sliced it crosswise into about one inch strips. It took two large bowls to hold it all. It looked like we were going to be eating swiss chard for a week. I boiled a pot of water, and as I added handful after handful of chopped chard to the water, it shrank and shrank just like spinach does. I needed to serve 5 people for dinner, and there was barely enough!

After it wilts, strain through a colander, and press out the excess liquid. In a small saucepan, bring some water to a boil, throw in a handful of raisins, and remove from the heat to let the raisins soften and plump up. Drain. In a skillet, over high heat, melt some butter, (no olive oil!) add in the drained raisins and a handful of pine nuts. Saute to brown the pine nuts a little, being careful not to let them burn. Turn down the heat, and add the well-drained swiss chard. Stir it around to warm it up, and that’s it. The chard is soft, the pine nuts are crunchy, the raisins are sweet….it’s a lovely combination of goodness. And the nice thing is you can cook the swiss chard ahead, and do the reheating with raisins and pine nuts when your guests arrive. Just be sure you buy enough chard.

Well, Barbee and I managed to eat all of the above, along with bread and wine, on top of the lunch which I discussed in last week’s blog. Truly, a phenomenal eating day! We really felt that we could never eat again. But the next day was our pasta making lesson! And once again, we were expected to eat what we made.

Next week:

Barbee and Irene hit the pasta table with broomsticks. Really!

I have so many places in Italy that I want to write about; Perugia (where I had an art epiphany rather than a wine one), Siena (where I realized I’m a little claustrophobic), Florence (from where I’ve most recently returned with visiting Barbee), and I want to tell you about my two (soon to be three) hiking experiences on the outskirts of Rome. But, no, those will have to wait for future editions, because everyone has been emailing me asking about: Cooking School!

As most of you know, my dear friend Barbee was visiting me here in Rome for a week from Nov. 12-19. Since she had been here as recently as last May, we wanted to do something different than see the sights of Rome again, so I went online and found us a cooking school to go to about an hour north of Rome. As a result we spent two days in Rome, two days in Florence, and two days with an Italian family learning to cook Italian food. It was a wonderful experience with a peek into the daily life of a local family.

We arrived by train to Terni on the afternoon of Nov. 16^th from Florence. We were greeted by Susan and her husband Bruno. Susan is an American who married an Italian about 40 years ago, and has been living in Italy ever since. Some time ago, they moved from Rome to the countryside; to a tiny nearly deserted hill town called Paterno. There is room in this town for about 300 people. Approximately 15 live there, Susan and Bruno being two of them. They remodeled an old home and turned it into and bed and breakfast. Recently, there has been so much interest in Italian cooking; they decided to concentrate on this aspect of the tourism industry.

Our first stop before we even go to the bed and breakfast is a fantastic castle in Labro. The van climbs up into the hillside until we see a tiny town perched on the side of the hill. As we approach, we spot a turret, and are introduced to the elderly owner who is still living in the castle. He proudly escorts just the four of us on a tour of his home. The most impressive room to me is the archive room where the shelves are lined with 6 inch thick volumes of all the records of the castle; all handwritten, dating back to the 1300’s. He shows us documents signed with the giant red wax seals of Louis XVI, lists of what was purchased for use in the castle on a day to day basis, and records of ownership going back hundreds of years. We climb the castle turret in time for one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen….a blood red sky burned into my memory forever.

On our way to the bed and breakfast, we stop at a roadside stand to buy some porchetta and pecorino cheese for dinner. The porchetta man is adorable and asks me if there are men as handsome as he is in America. He happily agrees to pose with his pork, knife in hand. After settling into our room, we head to the kitchen of the house where tonight Bruno will be making pasta for us. He uses the last of the fresh tomatoes from their garden along with olive oil, garlic and basil to make the most simple of pasta sauces. This bowl of comfort is served with the porchetta, pecorino, bread and a salad. And for dessert? You won’t believe it……chestnuts roasted over the open fire! Irene is in heaven. Bruno slits each chestnut, places them all in a special pan similar to a cast iron skillet but with holes punched through the bottom, and takes the pan to the fireplace where they are shaken around until the skins pop open. The golden nuggets are then served with red wine……mmmmm good! Off to bed because we need to store up energy for all the real food consumption that will begin tomorrow.

The next day brings us a typical Italian breakfast….small. This is a good thing, because over the next 12 hours, I will consume more food than I have eaten in one day in a long time. Susan takes us for a walk through her ancient hillside town of Paterno, showing off the view of the small lake below, and pointing out the few houses which actually have people living in them. When we return to her house, there is chef Maurizio clad in his Tuscan yellow apron and white chef’s toque waiting for us. He has decoratively spread the kitchen table with all the ingredients we will need to make lunch and has set out cutting boards and knives for each of us.

We start by helping Maurizio chop up pig’s cheek or “guanciale”. It has been hung to dry and has been aged approximately 6 months, making it very firm and while the small stripes of meat are very dry and have a wonderful intense flavor, there is still a large portion of pork fat. Barbee has a problem with visible meat fat. She is looking at me askance especially when all our pieces go into the frying pan with absolutely no fat trimming involved. A lot of the fat melts to a pool of liquid and when seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little dried red pepper, this is what becomes the “sauce”. Chef pours tubes of freshly cooked, drained pasta into the pan and tosses them with the seasoned pork fat and strips of remaining fatty pork. Guess what? It’s done. How simple was that? Pour this into a bowl, sprinkle with pecorino, and believe it or not, there is so much flavor here, I consume every fatty bit. Barbee is trying.

Our main dish is a fantastic pork stew with, you guessed it, roasted chestnuts. See the recipe column to the right for directions. Also accompanying our meal was a fennel salad. We basically sliced the fennel into thin strips, added black olives, a chopped up orange, and dressed it with a combination of olive oil, tangerine juice, salt and pepper. Chef Maurizio also prepared cauliflower for us in a way we’d never seen before. I must admit, I’ve been most unimaginative when it comes to cauliflower in the past. He adds several garlic cloves to a pan of hot olive oil and when they begin to brown, he tosses in all the florets. He stirs often and seasons with salt, and when they begin to brown, he adds about 2T. of red wine vinegar and two wineglasses of white wine. It’s been on high heat to this point. Now cover, and lower the heat. If the liquid begins to dry out, just sprinkle with more olive oil and white wine. When the florets are tender, sprinkle with a splash of red wine for color, and serve.

So far, we’ve had Pasta alla Gricia, pork stew with chestnuts, fennel salad, cauliflower and bread. We are stuffed but he insists on fixing us dessert. He quickly whips up some crepes made with, take a guess…..chestnut flour, and stuffs them with, guess again…..chestnuts which have been soaking in brandy and then drizzles them with caramel sauce and grated dark chocolate. Just a reminder here: this is merely lunch. We will take a much needed walking tour of the nearby town of Rieti and come back to make dinner……….which I will tell you about next week. Stay tuned for another episode of “Irene eats her way through Italy”.