The Luncheon

I went to a luncheon given by my friends Marcello and Roberto with my Honey and our next door neighbors and first friends in Italy, Emily and Enzo. I share two photos so you can smile as we did, be delighted as we were.  Roberto fashioned ladybugs from cherry tomatoes and olive pieces for the appetizer course and dolphins from bananas and grapes for the fruit course; our appetites were sparked by the symmetrical beauty of the food and our surprised delight at a friend's efforts on our behalf.

It gives you a sense of why I love living here. Imagine this thoughtful, delightful, creative touch to a simple luncheon with friends? Add in the conversation, the day temperate enough to be enjoyed outdoors and the sheer good will of building relationships across language and cultural boundaries and it defines more than anything else "la dolce vita" for me. Sweet indeed.

Naples, Italy: The Birthplace of Pizza

Do you like your pizza thin and crispy, like in Rome, or soft and pliable, like in Naples? I went to Naples yesterday for the first time (the streets looked just like this except more crowded for Christmas) and tried the Naples version of pizza. As an Italian man at my table said: "This is the best pizza I've ever eaten." He said this with a look on his face resembling bliss.

How do they get the pizza  soft and pliable? They make the dough the day before and let it rise for 10- 15 hours. Then, they cook it in wood burning ovens at 485 degrees C (905 degrees F) for 60- 90 seconds. The crust is then soft and light and tastes like a dream. It looks like this (this is actually mine).

Although some pizzerias will serve other types of pizza, the "authentic" pizzas are considered to be pizza marinara, made with tomatoes, oregano, garlic and extra-virgin olive oil, and pizza margherita, (named for a Queen and my favorite), made to look like the flag of Italy with basil leaves for green, mozzarella for white and tomatoes for red. Mine has buffalo milk mozzarella (popular in this area) as a topping in the middle. It was extraordinary.

The first pizzeria in Naples, Antica Pizza Port'alba, was founded in 1738, although the first appearance of pizza was in a Latin text from the Italian town of Gaeta in 997AD. Most food historians point to Naples as the area of origin, and to Napoletana, the pizza of Naples, as the archetype of this type of pizza. 

This pizza was served in this restaurant. People wait outside in long lines until the tables empty and they can experience pizza alla Naples. It's worth the wait.

What food are you savoring today? 

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

It's chestnut season where I live. Chestnuts used to offer tasty sustenance through the long winter months to the peasants in this Abruzzo area of Italy. They are now available at the open markets that dot our region. Look for skins with a healthy glow and a beautiful brown shine.

Chestnuts from our local market were roasted on an open fire right on my stove in a fancy roasting pan purchased in our little town.

Wash the chestnuts in cold water first. Cut an X shape on the flatter end (so it doesn't explode when cooked) but not piercing the skin, then roast on low flame for about 15- 20 minutes. Shake them frequently and put a lid on the pan since chestnuts open up dramatically and with force. Doesn't it look like they've just opened their hearts?

Drop into a bowl when they're all opened and nicely roasted. Squeeze the chestnut before peeling and it will peel easier. Sprinkle with a little salt or cinnamon and eat while warm. Wine is a wonderful accompaniment.

I'm sorry that a blog can't contain smells because roasting chestnuts have a gorgeous, abundant, open- fire scent that made my mouth water before I ate one. European chestnuts are larger, sweeter and easier to peel than American chestnuts.

But it's the taste that is most remarkable. Chestnuts, freshly roasted, have a smooth, substantial texture. I knew I was eating a tree gift with in its essential treeness intact. Their taste hints at cinnamon (before adding it) but nutty and sweet with a full on, ample chestnut taste of their own that kept me popping them.

It seems like such a bounteous gift from the tall ones, an extravagant sharing of tree substance with us two-leggeds. Have we lavished this kind of plentiful love back on them? Or offered gratitude for this all- inclusive nourishment? These sweet chestnuts are part of me. My strength redolent with this tree gift.

Irish Pasta

When this basil needed pruning, I looked at my husband, "pesto" we said together:

First, take the leaves off the stems:

Add pine nuts with some walnuts:

Add garlic:

Add olive oil from olives we picked. Mix it in the blender. Stand in the kitchen, close your eyes and breathe in the tang of basil that fills the room:

Add freshly grated aged parmesan cheese:

Which altogether becomes this:

Which, because the pesto and beans are green and potatoes are added to the butterfly pasta, becomes what my husband, chef extraordinaire,  has named Irish pasta:

Eat outside and savor the fresh flavor with a glass of crisp, white wine. Add avocado drizzled with lime. Enjoy.

A Simple Pleasure

My variation on caprese panini:

To the usual fresh mozzarella, fresh, sweet, juicy tomatoes and fresh basil (middle shelf),

add fresh arugula liberally on open faced Italian bread lightly toasted and drizzled with olive oil:

Then, simply enjoy. Follow with fresh cherries (it's cherry season here):

Ahh, life's simple pleasures.

What's pleasurable in your life these days?

Eat Locally

Barbara Kingsolver's first non-fiction book: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year Of Food Life is a great read that really made me think. It presents her disturbing research about the current state of the food industry and chronicles her family's year of eating food grown either in their own garden, in their neighborhood, or doing without it. Revolutionary concept these days and not easy, as her book describes. But she also shows it can be delicious fun. She includes favorite family recipes with most chapters. 


Turns out that eating locally is not only good for our bodies but good for our planet since it uses less fuel to get to our plate and maintains diversity. Farmer's markets are plentiful here in Italy (ours is on Wednesdays) and in most States as well. Our stalls carry the veggies and fruits picked that day by our local farmers and sold by them or their family. They sell direct, I know their name, I hug the woman who calls "Bella, Bella" as I approach. The food is fresh, I can get cooking suggestions or recipes, the food is abundant. 

Local food is different, more diverse, not just chosen for its ability to survive long distances. For example, delicate edible flowers or a tomato that looks like a little soft green pumpkin but is the yummiest, juiciest, tastiest tomato ever! The older women selling them swoon over them and get me over my American reluctance to buy tomatoes that aren't red and I buy them and then get oh, so rewarded with every caprese sandwich or salad I eat. Local food hasn't had to survive long trips from wherever during which time all its nutrients fall out. It still has its nutrients. It's food not just food cadavers. 

Do you know where your food comes from? Who has grown it? Have you been surprised or delighted by your food lately? Wouldn't you like to be?

Then, delight your senses, make your body healthier, support local farmers, save the environment and heal the planet. Eat locally grown food.


Do you have a farmers' markets in your area?

Unhand The Bananas

The list of all I didn't know and am now learning continues to grow. For example, that the best way to ripen bananas is to cut the whole stem off the tree just before they're totally ripe. Then unhand (that's what they call it) the individual bunches (hands). My daughter is doing that above. Then put them in a box and put newspaper around them until they ripen a couple to a few days later. They are then succulently sweet, fully ripe and elegantly flavorful. 

Of course, many ripen at the same time, but I've got to say that isn't a problem as far as I'm concerned! Especially with these small, extra sweet ones, called chiquitos. Any over ripe left overs? Then it's banana nut bread and banana punch. Oh my!  Life is good and I'm swooning!

"One tiny spot of beauty..."

Friends, we are traveling together.

Throw off your tiredness. Let me show you

one tiny spot of the beauty that cannot be spoken.

I am like an ant that has gotten into the granary,

ludicrously happy, and trying to lug out

a grain that is way too big.
(Rumi)

I follow Ruth's blog, Rumi Days, which posts a Rumi poem each day. I've come to look forward to the inspiration I find there. I had taken some photos today about the small pleasures gathered on my balcony and this part of a Rumi poem seemed perfect as the lead in.

My balcony is a tiny spot of beauty. I feel happy there. Here's what I'm grateful for today:


Roses from my rose bush. It was a gift from my neighbor. It continues to give beauty and lovely scent.



Geraniums and begonias in pink, red, coral,
blooming boldly in the warm Italian sun.

Strawberries,

sweet and red,

delicious

on my cereal.








Tomatoes growing on the plant that was barely 6 inches high when I planted it. I went away for a week and they were just marble sized beginners. When I watered them today, I was surprised how they've grown and how many there are.


If you can't tell, growing my own veggies is entirely new and such a kick for me!





The soft evening light on my current favorite view from the balcony.

It's an ancient stone house on a hill surrounded by fields, vineyards, olive groves.

This vista fills me with peace.




Thanks for letting me show you my tiny spot of beauty. I hope it brings you happiness as well.

Make Breakfast Beautiful

I don't usually think very much about breakfast but it occurred to me today to make breakfast beautiful. Stay conscious. Even eat the same thing, but consciously, with forethought to make it beautiful. So I got out a pretty place mat, put a cut rose in a little vase, mixed our own strawberries with the local ones, fresh squeezed my orange juice (from spring, red oranges) and opened the door to the balcony to enjoy the view. Usually I eat outdoors these days but I wanted to have the lovely crystal candle holders on the table for this meal.

The usual cereal tasted so unusually delicious. The juice and strawberries, so sweet.

Addition: Simple Joy #11

I forgot a very important joy on my list of May 10, which makes it uneven but HAS to be acknowledged none-the-less. Simple joy #11 comes to me courtesy of John, my honey. He travels out of the country regularly for business and do you know what he does for me? He makes meals and leaves them in the fridge. So I was eating one of them the day I composed my list. Plus, his cooking is in itself simple and flavorful using fresh local ingredients and the herbs that we grow on our balcony.

He's the cook for us - a most excellent cook. So when he leaves, he takes care of me by preparing meals ahead of time. He's thoughtful that way, special, and I'm spoiled. I mean, this man goes to cooking classes to become an even better chef and loves going. He reads cook books regularly- orders them online, reads them and gets excited: "What do you think about this?" he asks me. "Doesn't it sound good?" Then he experiments with delicious dishes to expand our already tasty repertoire.

And that's not the end of it. He even likes to shop to buy the food for the dishes he plans. Now that is LOVE. I'm so grateful to be his life partner, best friend and all round good buddy. I'm sure this simple joy of eating the food John makes is deeper because his secret ingredient is love. I can taste it.

Let's Make a Cake

Our plan was to clean house yesterday and go to the beach today. But in his fun way when we finished the clean up, John said: let's go to the beach for the couple of hours left in the day." Off we went, had a great time and made it home to a spectacular sunset. The photo is from our balcony. As luck would have it, it rained today and I was glad we took the time for fun yesterday.
Although we had a different kind of fun today. Our neighbor had 4 out of 5 of her daughters visiting with their spouses, boyfriends or friends. It's her youngest daughter's birthday and she was not feeling up to the job of making the cake along with everything else that needed doing so we volunteered.
John made a yummy tiramisú (his first and learned at his cooking class in Tuscany. [Yes, I shamelessly give him cooking classes of all kinds as well as cookbooks, anything to keep him in the kitchen!]) We bought a fruit pie from the local bakery as well and also served varieties of berries with vanilla yogurt. The other photo is of the goodies. Everyone had a great time and we enjoyed contributing to the festivities and spending time with such nice people. It is, indeed, the simple things that make life so rich.

Everything Is Growing

John said to me today: "Look, we're growing things!". It's true, our balcony has healthy plants galore- hot peppers, parsley, basil, small leaf basil, rosemary, marjoram and mint (has to have its own large pot because it's such a weed!). They smell so wonderful. And that doesn't count the beautiful begonias of all colors that are thriving as well. They remind me of my mother who grew them and loved them. And the rainbow colored coleus's are just exploding. All this is a first for us (other than the community garden in Maine which was really more our daughter and her husband's doing than ours).
It happened gradually but here we are and everything is obviously very happy on our balcony which faces south (but I do find shade for my coleus plants). We harvest the herbs and peppers and use them in our cooking. (Okay, John uses them in his cooking for us. In case life wasn't already good enough, my husband is the cook in our family!) He makes pesto, roasted hot peppers in olive oil to flavor anything and everything, roasted potatoes with rosemary, garlic potatoes with rosemary, basil on and in anything with tomatoes, and all manner of sauces and flavorings with the various herbs. He even makes his own tomato sauce for pasta with our herbs and fresh tomatoes from our weekly farmer's market. Plus, we make both green and black mint tea in the sun as our summer drinks.
Wow- how did this happen? We're now in sync with the open market and have our favorite "fresh vegetables and fruits from the fields" vendors. That and the fresh bread we buy at the local store and I'm in heaven! Or at least I can see it from here...