Sunday 30 October 2016

Full plates, mini-breaks and earthquakes

This blog definitely comes with a warning - get a cuppatea or glass of wine before you start, lest you die of thirst before the end. 

The last couple of weeks in Italy have been about food, food and more food. Recently we visited a slightly insalubrious-looking restaurant as is sometimes de rigueur in these parts, but one that was recommended by our new friends Steve and Marion so we gave it the benefit of the doubt. We ordered the antipasti for starter and three pasta dishes thinking this was a reasonable amount of food. What appeared at our table was epic in proportions - the 'antipasti' was about 10 dishes on its own and then the pasta began to show up which is when we realised our mistake. Three dishes turned out to in fact be five (one being a trio) and each one large enough to feed a team of hungry construction workers:
 
Pastageddon
Nevertheless the food was very nice and we got to take the rest home to eat for dinner. Steve and Marion were very helpful people to know and are currently renovating an old farm house, which is surrounded by their own olive grove. They intend to run holidays for foodies once it's finished, which we are sure will be quite brilliant and we've already done one of their cooking experiences (more on this lower down). We went to visit the farm, which was beautiful and Charlie got to sit on another tractor and beep the horn.   
Man, he did not want to leave that tractor
Ed's Mum Jennie came to stay with us for a couple of days and we repeated our trip up to Gran Sasso. This time the weather was completely different - all the snow had melted and it was warm and sunny. We were able to drive up to the observatory at Campo Imperatore and we decided to climb up to a mountain refuge about 400 metres up on the hill, a somewhat challenging escapade given we had a three year old with us. Katie was absolutely determined to get Charlie to the top and cajoled, bribed, threatened and finally carried him up there. The views at the top were rather majestic and there was even a bit of snow. We blamed our extraordinary levels of breathlessness on the altitude, rather than our increased mass and decreased fitness levels.
Mum climbing the path with a view down to Mussolini's place of imprisonment during WWII
Quite a view from the top, plus a lovely example of a glaciated U-shaped valley in the background for all you Geology nerds

A rare photo of Ed smiling and Katie pouting (it's usually the other way round)
After hoofing it up the hill we had BBQ (of course) and then went to San Stefano where a gelato place was open. They didn't have any gelato, but they did have semi-freddo cakes which were a) extortionate and b) strange tasting and mostly consisting of squirty cream. Naturally we polished them off as it would be rude not to. 


Charlie and Jennie wondering how much more strange crockery can be placed on the table
After Jennie left, we had a quiet day waiting for Cate, Paul e famiglia to arrive. Annoyingly the dishwasher decided to break down so Steve and his mates from up the hill came to have a look at it, which was very kind of them. They attempted to dislodge any obstruction by blowing into one end of the waste pipe, which precipitated a certain amount of juvenile guffawing which Katie chose not to participate in. Sadly, all this activity did not result in a mended dishwasher. Once they had left, Ed continued to try to 'fix it' which somehow (Katie still isn't sure how) resulted in him ingesting a large gulp of fetid water from the bowels of the machine. Thus followed ten minutes of Ed retching (unsuccessfully) in an attempt to make himself sick and Katie attempting (unsuccessfully) to conceal her amusement. 

 Cate, Paul, Dylan, Arwen and Quinn arrived late the following evening and of course we got far too excited and stayed up late into the night talking. Unfortunately, we three had decided to go to Rome for two days the next morning. So after just 2.5 hour's sleep (in Katie's case) we joyously leaped in the car and drove three hours down the road to the eternal city. Google maps did its usual trick of sending us down farm tracks on the way to the autostrada (we actually had to stop for a brace of ducks with their ducklings to cross the road!) but eventually we hit the unbelievable chaos that is Rome's traffic, which was all expertly navigated by Ed. We had booked an airbnb with parking, which turned out to be impossible to get into and Ed ended up with our car stuck touching another car. He finally got into the space by engaging in an Austin Powers-esque 53 point-turn-reverse-parallel-park while Katie looked on it awe and dread.
  
Rome was totally manic. I think it's fair to say we picked the wrong day to go. There was a general strike of all public transport, meaning the roads were solid. This didn't stop us from going on an open-top bus tour and immediately regretting it as we sat in the endless traffic fumes. It was also both half term and 'Misericordia' - apparently a 'Jubilee of Mercy', involving a papal audience and some canonising. Once all that had finished the many thousands of pilgrims flocked from St. Peter's Square into the city, each group larger and more infirm than the last. In spite of these many obstacles we saw all the main sites - the Colosseum (awesome - and Ed scared Charlie with lots of stories of lions coming through trapdoors)
"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"

We saw all the main sights - The Forum, The Trevi Fountain etc. (although we actually thought the Trevi Foundation was an entirely different one and we were slightly underwhelmed by how tiny it was and the total lack of throngs of tourists. Then when we found The Real Trevi Fountain, we realised our mistake. There were so many tourists they were pretty much falling in the water). 

Particularly impressive was The Pantheon, built by the Emperor Hadrian, reportedly one of the better emperors. Mind-blowingly, it was built over 2,000 years ago and is the largest un-reinforced concrete dome in the world. There is a hole in the middle of the dome which strengthens it, and the rain falls through into the building (which is now a church, obviously, because every second building in Rome is a church) draining away as the floor is also slightly convex. Out of anything else we saw in Rome, it revealed the staggering architectural and technical prowess of people so long ago. 


 Our night in Rome was the anniversary of our meeting ten years ago, at Mary and Tom's party in Sussex Gardens in London. We celebrated with a bottle of ten-year old Nicholas Feuillatte champagne (it turned out to be a very good vintage) which we picked up back in September when we drove through Epernay. Then Ed went foraging while Katie put Charlie to bed and found a burrata. For the uninitiated, this is the holy grail of mozzarella, which has had cream added to it, creating a delicious molten centre. It is one of our favourite things in the whole world and an apt celebration of what has been on the whole a pretty good decade!

The next day we had lunch at Gusto - thankfully well off the tourist and pilgrim trail and recommended to us by two people independently, so we knew it would be good. It was an epic-style brunch buffet, but rather than the buffets we recall from our bike trip across the US (where often the only edible item would be a luminous lemon-meringue pie), this was top notch. Tables groaned under the weight of vegetables, pastas, stews, pizza, omelettes, ham, chicken and anything other Italian treats you can imagine. 
2nd plate of 6 in Ed's case

Then a whole table for desserts - tiramisu, brownies, tortes and panna cotta. In short, we gorged ourselves like Roman emperors, but sadly after about seven platefuls we had to stop as the restaurant lacked a vomitorium and peacock feathers are surprisingly hard to find in modern day Rome. We stayed in the city until late that evening and then drove back to Abruzzo, via a minor suburban detour due to a disagreement between Ed and google maps. 
"I will not pose for this foto"
The next day it was up bright and early for possibly the best day of an entire trip so far - learning to cook pasta with Filomena, an actual Italian Nonna (granny) - organised by Steve as a tester for his foodie adventures. We were lucky enough to be invited to their farmhouse and we learned to cook a number of dishes that we then devoured with an extended group of Brits and Italians.

Raviolissimo

The lunch was one of those epic affairs that we thought were apocryphal - 20 people seated round a table outside under a pergola, surrounded by an olive grove.

We ate:
Like the Ferrari showroom but for olive oil (photo Steve Hughes)
  1. Bread and olive oil (in fact, an olive oil tasting of five local olive oils including the 'Ferrari of oils' which goes for around €25 a litre). Also with local cured meats.
  2. The name of this dish escapes us. It was a mix of chickpea and semolina cooked in water and thickened to a custard-like consistency, topped with fried lardo (bacon) and dried sweet peppers (which you see hanging outside most houses). Charlie ate about 12 of the peppers.
  3. Fagioli e zucca: a delicious dish of pumpkin cooked to a pulp with borlotti beans
  4. Pasta! The ravioli we made accompanied by Filomena's legendary tomato passata. We filled the ravioli with ricotta (both sheep's and cow's milk, into which parmesan and another hard cheese was added, along with egg yolks)
  5. Carne (meat). The regional specialty arrosticini was made from one of their own lambs, recently killed, alongside chicken cooked in the pizza oven. It was wrapped with olive oil and roasted in the hot oven which had made it incredibly succulent, almost translucent with the skin pretty much deep fried. In fact, the closest thing we can think of is a confit.
  6. Dessert:
  • fresh melon as a palate clenser,
  • homemade panna cotta with strawberry coulis
  • Gelato from Regina's (the best ice cream place in town) both frutta (frozen yoghurt with strawberry) and crema (a selection of chocolate, caramello etc.)
Washed down with local red wine, of course. And then the local digestive. And then espresso. 
Sun dappled late afternoon delight (photo Cate Hamilton)
Then after all that food everyone lounged around cuddling a lamb who had recently been born on the farm (and tried not to think about its compatriot who we had just consumed).

Katie's work experience on a sheep farm 20 years ago comes in handy
This experience is the tip of the iceberg of what has been a true gastronomic experience over the last month. We've explored the local market in Penne and bought among other things some salt cod, which we had to soak for four days before making into delicious fishcakes. Ed has developed the ultimate veggie lasagne made with a ragu of lentils, vegetables and oyster mushrooms plus freshly made pasta and topped with sheep's milk ricotta which may be one of our favourite dishes so far. We've also discovered the pasta shop in Penne, which can produce fresh tagliatelle, ravioli and tortellini in the blink of an eye with their enormous pasta making machines. And that's not forgetting the mountain BBQ at the top of Gran Sasso, which we have visited three times in as many weeks.

It goes without saying that if you see us over Christmas in the UK, please be jolly nice and don't mention how much weight we've put on. Just say something tactful like 'you're looking very well'. 

As has been well reported in the news, Italy has been hit by a couple of big earthquakes in the last few days. It was deeply alarming to see the house physically shake before our very eyes, but better it did that, rather than what has happened to many of the old towns and villages. But thank goodness no one has lost their lives on this occasion. 
It was with a heavy heart we packed up the car once more and took an overnight ferry to Greece on Thursday. We're sure this will bring it's own delights (we've already been invited to a Halloween party by our incredibly friendly airbnb hosts) as well as its challenges.
We truly loved Italy and are very grateful to Jean and Martin, who have let us stay in their house, as well as their daughter Cate and her lovely family who were such excellent company for our last week here. That's not forgetting Steve and Marion up the road who have helped us so much here and been great at recommending lovely local stuff to do. We hope to be back in Abruzzo at some point, and we chucked some coins in the Trevi Fountain which means at the very least we should return to Rome one day...


Arrivederci Italy (photo Cate Hamilton)

Friday 14 October 2016

High plain drifters

We have been neglecting the blog somewhat, which is down to a very busy couple of weeks, a couple of visitors, a proper head cold, and a mountain of wood to chop, bookshelves to construct etc. Those are our excuses anyway.

For the last two weeks we have been living la dolce vita and it is wonderful. We know a few Italian ex-pats in London and all we can say is - what were you thinking guys? It is seriously tempting to sell up the Palais de Hackney and stay here forever. Still, I suppose it's easier to be romantic about a place when you can't understand a word anyone is saying and yet still fully comprehend their hospitality.

So about a hundred years ago, or so it feels, we packed up the Alps house and drove another 10 hours further south to Abruzzo - our home for October. On the way we stopped at the Lamborghini museum, which Charlie claimed to prefer to the Ferrari one from two weeks before, although we were somewhat underwhelmed by their basic lack of effort, with just two rooms and about 20 cars. Having said that they did have two of the most beautiful cars ever designed on display so it was difficult to be too crestfallen. 
Concept Miura and we think a Diabolo glued to the wall in the background
We then drove to Sasso Marconi to overnight in a quaint bed and breakfast half an hour's drive from Bologna (our new spiritual home). The B&B was owned and run by an old married couple, Luciano and Loredana, who had between them about as much English as we have Italian so we awkwardly muddled through the initial meeting and felt a little out of place, ashamed at our lack of effort to pick up even a few Italian phrases. However, we needn't have worried as they were the perfect hosts and could not have been more welcoming. They adored Charlie and played with him once he got past his initial shyness. He got to pet their cats (although not the aloof, scratchy but pretty tabby), run around the farm rolling a Frisbee and even sit on a tractor and incessantly beep the horn which was very popular with him but no one else.

"which button is the horn again?"
That evening we put Charlie to bed and sat out under a pergola and celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary with a fusion gourmet picnic dinner of foie gras, parma ham and mozzarella. Sadly it didn't last long enough for us to snap a picture and we were also fortified by copious free wine and beer supplied by our generous hosts. 

The next morning at breakfast we fired up the google translate app and suddenly we could communicate with our hosts! Loredana offered us an impromptu pasta making lesson, which we jumped at. We made fresh egg tagliatelle and watched in awe as Loredana assisted our amateurish efforts to roll out the pasta, showing her years of experience. We've since tried it out again and will hopefully be doing another pasta making lesson soon, so we'll save the gory details of how to make your very own carb-fest for another post. 

Charlie made his own mini pasta dough, which Loredana claimed to be better than ours

After reluctantly leaving the B&B we raced into Bologna to pay another whistle-stop visit before heading south. Luckily we had the trusty bikes so we whizzed through the city dodging pedestrians to eat lunch at Tamburini restaurant, which is more a shrine to ham than an eating establishment. 
Ham salad, ham and cheese, more ham and controversially polpo salad
Then we nipped over to the ice cream shop of our dreams, Cremeria Funivia, before jumping back in the car to drive 4.5 hours south to Abruzzo. We arrived with our hosts, Jean and Martin, rather late but just in time for dinner and clutching our handmade tagliatelle, which went very well with the ragù that Jean had prepared. Jean and Martin are the parents of our very good friend Cate, and have kindly (or perhaps foolishly) agreed to let us stay in their house this month. The house has jaw-dropping views across the Abruzzo countryside right to the sea and to the Gran Sasso mountain. It's near the medieval town of Penne, which we are busy discovering along with the surrounding area.
Over the rainbow
Highlights so far of Abruzzo:
A charming book cafe in Penne, which makes a hot chocolate so thick a spoon stands up in it. 
Chocolate soup
Seeing Ed's Dad who was fortuitously holidaying nearby. Charlie bossed him around incessantly but Grandpa got his own back by chasing the little ragazzo around the beach flinging seaweed at him as Charlie squealed in a mix of terror and delight! 
"dig faster old man"

Having Charlie's best friend Remy to stay with his mum Ellen. These two insisted on having their photo taken in every doorway in Penne.

Visiting the beach in Pineto and astonishing all the Italians wrapped up in bomber jackets by picnicking on the beach and paddling in the sea.
Ed having numerous manly moments chopping wood and building book shelves for Jean and Martin. Katie may buy him a lumberjack shirt for Christmas.
Making our own spinach and ricotta tortellini and vegetarian lasagna, although admittedly with the help of a pasta machine.
They started pretty rough but we got better
But the biggest highlight has to be driving up to the Campo Imperatore. This is a vast alpine meadow about 2,000 metres above sea level surrounded by snowy mountains. 
It was cold, so Charlie opted for the three hoodie look
The best thing is that smack bang in the middle of this huge plain are two makeshift butchers/restaurants. You buy meat, such as sausages or the local delicacy arrosticini (small meat skewers), which are grilled by a man on a BBQ outside. Then eat that with a hunk of bread, some local pecorino cheese and a (small) bottle of Montepulciano. Charlie summed it up perfectly as we sat tucking into this rustic feast in the middle of the stunning mountain amphitheatre - 'Mummy, today is a good day'.
Cheese, meat, bread & wine, what more could a toddler want for lunch?
After that we visited the medieval towns of San Stefano di Sessasio and Castel del Monte, both of which featured in the 2010 film 'The American'. Indeed as we explored the tiny cobbled streets and hidden squares, we almost expected George Clooney to emerge from a dark corner (we live in hope). Sadly both towns are still far from repaired after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake and Charlie was fascinated by all the cranes. We were amused to note that the legendary sartorial elegance of the Italians even counts for construction workers, many of whom were wearing chic leather jackets and not a builder's bum in sight.

We've got lots planned for the next week including a couple of cooking classes and it will be lovely to see Ed's Mum, who is popping out for a couple of days. Then our friends Cate and Paul with their three children arrive, which will be wonderful for both us and Charlie. 

By the end of the month, we'll be on a ferry to Greece. We've decided that although it's fun marauding around the countryside like demented beasts devouring everything in sight, we might like to turn our attention to a more worthy cause for a bit. In November we're going to volunteer with Refugee Support Europe, working in refugee camps around Thessaloniki, doing whatever we can to be helpful to people who are far less lucky than we are. So if the weather in Blighty is getting you down (or just the grim politics), then swap a lot of pounds for a few euros and come and pay us a visit.
But before then, there'll certainly be lots more Italian food to tell you about...