Food and Wine Archives - Page 9 of 11

Foreign correspondent Midge checks in from Umbria!

Today we saw Jurgen who said we “had some work to do on our garden&rdquo . . . ! Wiley and I came back to look, but it looks great to us. Wonder what Stew would do?

PANICALE, UMBRIA — A world away that always feels just like home. How does it happen? Wiley and I arrived in Panicale just as the town prepared for Tuesday evening supper. We ate on the balcony at Masolino’s with friends from Hawaii who may soon be neighbors. They already had a favorite local wine, Boschetto, and enjoyed the mouth watering medallions of pork with the chickpeas that always please.

As daughter Wiley prepares to spend an extended period of time here — more than any of us ever have at one time, there is always something new to consider. Will the supplies we have work well, or will she find a million little things she needs? Well, the first thing we got for her is an Aldo Bar charge card! That way I know she will head to Aldo’s for her daily caffeine and meet all the neighbors! Today we saw Jurgen who said we “had some work to do on our garden&rdquo . . . ! Wiley and I came back to look, but it looks great to us. Wonder what Stew would do?

Allora, ci vediamo. We are off to make some phone calls, as there are several fun house hunters here in Italy now. And we also want to wish our friend Daniel in England a Happy Birthday. Soon, he will be enjoying Panicale in person too!

Ok, see you in Italy,

Midge

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Note from Stew: Midge is just now back. I kept waiting for photos from my own Thelma and Louise team, but as The Wiley Traveler said “We were having too much fun to take photos, babbo!&ldquo Oh, sure. That old excuse! So, this is a photo of Midge from summer vs September. Wiley says she is going to be right there so she is taking action in the garden. We’ll make Jurgen proud!

Umbria in Autumn. What to do, what to do?

PANICALE, Umbria— In the previous blog (below, scroll down) I wrote about my intention of seeing the Folk Traditions Center in Citta della Castello this fall. OK, fine. But what else will there be to do in Umbria during the season? Wait till your see the list I just got in an email from our good friends Francesco and Alison at Umbria Rentals. You will be in shock how much there is to do — just in and around the town of Panicale. This Umbrian Calender of Events, below, is totally typical of the level of cultural activity there in every town all year round. At some level we know that. But to see some of it all written down in one spot, it does seem overwhelming. They have waaaay too much fun there. As my wife’s sweatshirt says “Life is Too Short Not to be Italian”. Of course, like most Vreelands we are not Italians, but just forever wannabes.

Francesco’s web site, from the very dawn of the web era, was the reason we first “discovered” Panicale and shortly thereafter discovered we could not live with out it. As the Eagles said in Hotel California: We could check out any time we wanted, but we could never really leave. And sure enough, the next thing we knePANICw we were buying a house. So, beware. Umbria may be habit-forming! Here is their autumn 2005 calendar:

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September 10, 14, 20, 24
Moliere’s The Miser (L’avaro, Panicale’s theatre)
Ever wondered what it is like to be transported back in time a few hundred years, take your place in the box of a 18th century theatre, restored to its former glory, and enjoy a few hours of comedy by Moliere with Panicale’s theatre group. This is not to be missed!

September 11
Renaissance Music, San Sebastiano Church (Panicale)
Come and listen to renaissance and baroque music enjoying in the San Sebastiano church, where typical background curtains have been replaced by a fresco by Perugino, himself.

September 15 – 18
La Festa Dell’Uva (The Wine Festival, Panicale)
This is another event not to miss, as the various quarters of the town (neighborhoods) compete to make the best float as they give thanks for the years grape harvest. Parades are on Friday night and Sunday evening. As you may imagine the wine flows and the evening feasts are plentiful, so book your tickets early.

September 18
Paciano e Sapori (Tastes of Paciano, Paciano).
At a five minute drive from Panicale, Paciano has its own food festival, specialising on tastes of the palate –Food and wine, that is.

September 20
Classical Guitar Concert, (Panicale)
A locally organized String Guitar concert will be held on the theatre.

September 24 –25
Festa Dell’Agricoltura (The Agricultural Festival, Panicale)
If Umbrian farming interests you, you can find out all about it here as the latest technology is proudly on display and stalls are set up with local produce.

September 25
Concerto Iberiano, (Iberian music concert, Panicale)
At 9pm, in conjunction with the agricultural festival, do nor miss an Iberian music concert with music and instruments from the 900s. It will be held in the charming St. Agostino church.

September 28
Concert of Organ Music, (San Michele Church, Panicale)
At 9pm, come listen to Francesco Cera, one of the best organists in Europe take over the San Michele church with his music.

October 1
Voci e Strumenti (Contemporary music, Panicale)
A concert of contemporary music for voices and instruments will be held in Panicale’s theatre at 9pm, blending in modern sounds in ancient settings.

October 1 –8
The Festa Della Castagna (The Chestnut festival 1, Piegaro)
If you can’t make Panicale’s Chestnut Fest then you can eat chestnuts and drink Mosto a few days earlier in nearby Piegaro. Two festas no waiting.

October 23
The Festa Della Castagna (The Chestnut festival 2, Panicale)
This one speaks for itself. The fires are lit and the chestnuts shared around amongst friends with the Mosto, the fermented grape juice which is used to make wine.

* Special Offer for Last Minute Bookings

Between now and April 2006, we are offering everyone who books less than 4 weeks prior to arrival a 10% discount on our rates, with prices as little as 388 Euro for the first week. The condition is that the whole balance is paid in full when booking. The offer is not valid for the Rocca, which has an excellent last minute discount, or the Masolino Hotel, which already has ridiculously low prices. To see our last minute availability, check out our calendar at :
Umbria Rentals

Combine your stay with one of the winter events described in this news letter taking place where Umbria, Tuscany and the Lake Trasimeno meet.

* Special Offers for 2006

We have now started accepting bookings for 2006 with some apartments filling up fast! We will be raising the prices on some of the properties for 2006, but for all bookings made prior to November 1st 2005, we are accepting this year‚s prices. Low season discounts of 20% up to April 9th 2006, and starting again October 15th 2006 are as always in place. On top of that, for all seasons, there are incremental discounts ranging from 10% – 50% for stays longer than a week. Visit all our short term properties at
Short Term Umbrian Rentals

DOUBLE DATES. COOKED FIGS. AND BURNT GOOSE.

The Burnt Goose Pizzeria. It is smack in the middle of Paciano. It is big, with flower-laden terraces right down to the street. It is on the main square and I’ve just never noticed it? How dense am I? Do not answer that.

With Midge and Wiley both on their way to Umbria, I look back on our trip last September. Stories that I had not shared here yet. Just to give you a taste of what kind of unplanned adventures a traveler could expect to have on any given fall day in Umbria. Part three of three loosely connected ramblings

PACIANO, UMBRIA — The grand finale of this day of our trip is going to L’Oca Brusciata in Paciano. The Burnt Goose Pizzeria. It is smack in the middle of Paciano. It is big, with flower-laden terraces right down to the street. It is on the main square and I’ve just never noticed it? How dense am I? Do not answer that. None so blind, I guess. In my defense, the sign is so tiny, the building is so nicely residential, so it could pass for a house?

I’ve never been on so many dates with my daughter. And dates they appear to be. Everywhere we go Eric and or Dante are sure to be. Some times planned sometimes not. A coincidence? I ask you. Like tonight, they are both there. I’m sure we are a strange group. Dante has jet black crew cut, and that clean-shaven, Young Republican, All-American, Boy Scout from California look. He’s wearing a golf shirt and clean jeans. So far we are all pretty much Norman Rockwell in Umbria cover of Post magazine. And then. Here comes Eric the Great Dane – in long blonde hair and beard, Harley Tshirt, carrying an open half liter of Henniken. He has a trucker billfold on chain, biker black boots, bold, tribal tattoos. Eric is ok. I’ve known him for several years. Making Umbrian figs into fig marmalade He plays at being shocking to nose-tweak some of the more conservative factions in this fairly traditional part of Italy. He is Danish but speaks perfect American English (he was Born in the USA. In the state of Springstein) and was raised eventually in Panicale. He starts rolling his own cigarettes as soon as he sits down but first asks waitress if its ok and she says no because there little kids at the next table and he pushes the tobacco gear back and sweet as a kitten says but of course, totally fine, I understand. Everyone assumes Eric has brought his own beer into the restaurant to tweak our collective conservative noses a bit. Wiley harassed him about it the next day and sure enough we’d all unjustly put him in that place. He’d bought the bottle from the waitress before he came to the table so it wouldn’t end up on our table’s bill. OK, we all got burnt judging a book by its cover. Typical day in the neighborhood when dad goes dating with daughter.

FURTHER FIG TALES

Here’s how hard it is to make fig marmalade: Not at all. A fig is almost jelly when its on the tree. But know this – your neighbors don’t want to see you go up that tree. If I’ve been told once today, I’ve been told twice (Carla and Bruno, separately) that you just don’t go there. Figs are strong plants and aggressive growers but they are more strong like corn than strong like oak. You wouldn’t climb very far on corn and I guess you don’t want to get up on a fig either. They LOOK like a tree but grow like weeds so don’t grow particularly dense wood. Carla says to Denise, ”Remember Old So and So?” Denise nods in a way that you know the story didn’t have a happy ending. Carla seems to have some sort of nursing background which is why she was consulted on the Australian malady earlier. She says ”I rode in the ambulance with Old So and So when he fell out of his fig tree” she looked at each of us and shrugged ”But he was dead. Poverino” ok, ok, I’ve been up the tree but not going up again. I notice later, sawing up a branch from our tree, that it saws like sheets of Styrofoam when you are doing a craft project. Gulp. Point taken.

Our Umbrian fig tree in full fruit But I digress. Why am I sawing up a branch of our tree? It spreads its branches up and out to the street above us to share with the people passing by. Bus loads of them are now almost tearing it apart in a fig feeding frenzy. Even when we are in the garden. Turning the other cheek, Wiley will often gather a hand fulls of figs and take them up to the people on the street, just to get them to back off a bit. But still, would you believe the biggest branch was ripped right off the trunk? Weird, but true. Sweet older Italians of all stripes flocking to the tree to relieve some inborn fig deficiency. In the crowd of bus tourists, two old dears waved to us. We could just see their tiny bird like hands and their faces from the noses up above our garden wall. In trembling old-people voices they asked ”dove siamo”? I have days when I wonder what I’m doing, but usually I’m set on where I’m doing it. Afraid that the question is too easy I had to answer a bit tentatively ”Panicale?”no, no they mutter over the top of the wall, Che Provincia? They were in a state, they just didn’t know which one. Heck of bus trip.

FIGS AND NEWTON

I know. If you want figs marmalade, you must harvest your figs. But! Remember, under no circumstances am you to go climbing trees. You must use ladders at all times. The gravity of the situation will kill you. Things fall down. Check. But of course Alec the I am a Yorkshire Man came by at that time to say not to go up that ladder as he had a friend die of that. Chee. This is harder than I thought. Ok, assuming somehow figs have fallen into your hands, we will want them to be big and soft but mature. But try to harvest them before it rains. After rains mature figs split right open into three angry pieces, hideously meat red inside and looking like they are trying out for Little Shop of Horrors. And I’m not eating THAT.
Sunset over Panicale in Umbria So. . . Big and soft. But not split open. Bring them to the chopping board and merrily hack to pieces. Skin and all. Smaller the pieces, the smaller pieces in final product. Carla like them cut in only 3-4 pieces each. I like much smaller bits I’ve decided.

Sprinkle with white sugar, leave overnight. That’s it. Maybe cover. Don’t bother putting in frig or anything. The next morning boil long and slow. 2-3 hours max unless it interferes with shopping and gossiping. Then do more or less. Even I, with my minimal culinary skills, can hardly mess that up. Is that a sweet deal?

Well, there may not have been much of a plot or plan but we did have us a time last September and I expect Midge and Wiley will have one equally unstructured and fun time this September as well. My time will come. Thinking October.

Until then —

See you in Italy,

Stew

WILEY GOES HALF NATIVE

Paulette’s hands guided her down memory lane to total recall moment from her childhood. In short order she remembered exactly how her Italian grandfather had taught her to make them when she was a little girl. I was glad I was there to see her uncover that moment.

As Midge and Wiley get ready to head over to Umbria, I look back on our trip last September. Stories that I had not shared here yet. Just to give you a taste of what kind of unplanned adventures a traveler could expect to have on any given fall day in Umbria. This is part one of three parts.

The Annual Grape Harvest Festival in Panicale, Umbria
DOWNTOWN, UMBRIA — We always get a big bang out of September in Panicale because that is when the Grape Havest Festival is. But that is not the only fun we had in September. Almost everyday this month, Wiley has had a nice hilltop to hilltop walk from Paciano to Panicale. I think that walk became very special to her. Good way to peacefully sort out all the system-overload from two hours of intense, private Italian lessons etc. She can, by the way, and does, seriously string sentences together in a meaningful way now. I think she is pleased as punch. She had a friend from Maine here earlier in the week. Then, a few days later, she was off to see Jenny where she was studying in Florence. They have decided that between them, if they stick together, they can cumulatively say nearly anything in Italian! Wiley made me proud when she went right up to the ticket window at the train station in Chiusi and ordered her own train tickets. Look out now.

Girls enjoying Italian Gelato in Perugia on a fall day in Umbria The other day after I dropped her off at class in the morning I got a fresh loaf of chibatta at a bakery, two crooked brick alleys away from her school, and talked to a lady weaving in her shop a few doors from that and bought some samples of the weaving. Then I was nursing a coffee and listening to the stories an American guy I know was telling me at the outdoor part of the café (yes, it appears he has had 1) one Norwegian wife and 2) two Swedes and now lives in Italy with an American wife – number 4) four. And if you think I was going to miss any part of THAT story. . . ) Anyway, deep in Scandinavian lore we were when Ms Wiley and her Professoressa Daniella strolled by us for one of their many coffees of the morning. They were just a-laughing and a-chatting up a storm from what I could see. And she could not have looked more intent when I popped in on them later in the garden back of the school. They were sitting in the Umbrian sun. The green valley stretching out in front of them all the way to the lake. All good, happy and memorable moments.

DANGER. HOT JAM ALERT

Our uphill neighbor Youngi was in the café and bought me coffee and croissant. As Wiley says ”it is not a croissant dad, this is Italy, it’s a cornetto. And a cornetto is better.” Right you are. Either way, Aldo wants to know which kind I want: créme or marmalade filled. Apricot marmalade, please. And then, after I’ve chosen, he almost won’t let me have it. He’s got it in his hand, but is holding it back, protecting me from. . . The hideous danger. That is. Hot jam. Can he cut it open? Can I make another choice? Please. He’s alarmed, Youngi is alarmed. Alarmalade Crisis? I assure them I can work my way through hot jam. And did. Yesterday, Daniella absolutely refused to warm up an egg and ham panini because it had mayo on it. I grill Grilled Cheese Sandwiches after slathering them with mayo. Have done so since doing a TV shoot about mayo in the Kraft Kitchens in Chicago. And have lived to tell the tale. Here, today, hot mayo is something out of a horror movie and not to be considered lightly.

Cars were featured in a news paper supplement that Simone, Aldo and Daniella’s son and I are looking at. And relative to that and the herd of Ferraris that have just exited the piazza we have a good car talk.Then, I filmed a bit of Biano at his barbering best and then caught a moment with the Ladies of Linda’s. All the ladies from the grocery store were having their morning coffee clutch and they drug me into the café with them. Earlier Linda’s store and the meat market were jammed to the teeth but now it is just the family and me and the video camera. I was there yesterday and got behind a lady with maybe forty coupons and ordering bedspreads with what must have been the Italian version of Green Stamps and oh my gosh I didn’t think that would ever end. What a long, strange trip that appeared to be.

in an Umbrian garden havesting lavender PAULETTE GETS OUT OF A JAM.
BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY.

There are cars with bows on them outside the gate. Aldo had warned me: wedding today. Busy place, just got busier. Now Dante is at the door, asking if I will meet them at Masolinos for dinner. We are celebrating that his aunt, our friend Paulette has been cured. Praise the Lord. Her doctor in California said Cipro and there was Cipro and it was Good. Some places you might need a prescription. Funniest thing. But in Italy you may get lucky and just be able to verbalize it to the Pharmacist. (Do they all smoke here? All the pharmacists?) Anyway, the pharmacist listens to her description of the medicine, takes a couple deep and meaningful drags on his cigarette, exhales thoughtfully, steps over his dog and hands her a sack of Cipro. A day later she was cured — after a week of weakness and misery. She must have been too screwed up to have thought to call her doctor or underestimated the take no prisoners attitude of the ”malatia”. Now she and Wiley are in the garden making interesting little sweet smelling, braided sculptures out of our lavender. Paulette’s hands guided her down memory lane to total recall moment from her childhood. In short order she remembered exactly how her Italian grandfather had taught her to make them when she was a little girl. I was glad I was there to see her uncover that moment.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD DAY: THE KEY INGREDIENTS

I woke up to morning bells ringing out eight times in the blue blue skies. Before waking Wiley, I started laundry and put the fig marmalade we’ve made the night before on to simmer for a couple hours. Eventually, Wiley and I made it to Aldo’s for our morning coffee. For several mornings in a row we’ve met Emma and her friend Manuela there too, just on the same general schedule.

Emma and everyone we met that morning is atwitter about the coming fireworks in Panicarola. I Fochi d’la Madonna del Busso. I don’t know how they could beat Panicale’s fireworks, during our fun Festa del’uva. Seems almost disloyal to praise another festival, doesn’t it? When viewed from a distance of a couple car lengths from where they were being set off, filled me with sufficient awe. Totally tilted me off my axis, mouth wide open and making ooooh noises as every explosion seemed to be the finale but then, no it just got wilder and bigger and louder by the minute. What a rush. And yet . . . . they say, ”that weren’t nothing, wait till you see the famous ones from Panicarola. Probably just watch them from the balcony here as Panicale looks over Panicarola.” Finally! Some people with a real fireworks tie in. A solid, logical reason for lighting off some major explosions. The story is that some local fishermen, years ago were out doing it the easy way. Easy, but typically illegal way. The way where you throw a bomb overboard, it stuns or kills everything in the vicinity and you go about scooping up what looks good to you. The local equivalent of the ever-popular ”jacking deer” with spotlights as rumored to be practiced in the wilds of Maine.

Italian fireworks festival in central Umbria BOMBS AWAY
So it seems that the ”fishermen” were really just ”mad bombers” doing this bit of illegal activity when one of their fish bombs went off a bit prematurely. In their boat. Living to tell about it seemed such a miracle, they quickly founded a church, of course, of course, and named it Our Lady of the Bomb. And now, there is a full blown festival of fireworks in honor of those original bad boys and their fireworks. Being saved from aborted criminal activity seems fairly far off the list of usual saintly miracle reasons to start a church. But, who am I to decide when to start a church?

After coffee and that quasi-religious moment, I walked over to city hall and shook hands around for a minute to remind them I’m here and to not forget about my part of town. When are we really going to repave our street? Wasn’t that supposed to be LAST fall? No pressure, just saying I saw the poster with last year’s date on it and you know, wondered. Again.

Back at the bar, one of the town’s Australians needs a doctor. He does what I do when I have a problem. Go to the bar and tell Aldo, the bar owner and head barista. Steve looks like he might have a a good case of oh, I don’t know, leprosy or something. Nice rash, Big Guy. Whew. Someone is wicked allergic to something. The whole bar votes and decides Steve needs to run off to Pronto Soccorso. Pronto.

More September soon to come. Stay tuned to this spot on your dial.

Stew, you’ve got something Green in your teeth!

Leaving a town as small as Panicale is hard, once you’ve goodbye’d your way through town you hate to go out again. Hug, hug, seeyousoon, kiss, kiss. Tante Cose Belle. Ciao. A settembre! Hey Stew, you still here? Sigh. Such sweet sorrow.

LAST DAY IN UMBRIA — You bet, I’ve got something Green in my teeth. Annnd, I’m loving it. So there. Final night in Umbria. I can do what I want. Tomorrow we are leaving for England and daughter Wiley’s graduation. We had so many kind offers of party time that we hardly knew what to do but we did what we could till early evening and then snuck off for a quiet final dinner together. I think we needed to settle down regroup a minute. And figure out where the plane tickets were. And figure too how and when the packing would happen between early evening and way early morning departure.

But we soothed that sorrow by going off to a nearby pizzeria. Nearby, but someplace where we weren’t 100 per cent guaranteed to see everyone we had just said goodbye to. The Burnt Goose in Paciano filled the bill. L’Oca Bruschiata. They have everything, full menu, etc. AND they do a great wood oven pizza. And that was all we had in mind. Oh, Waiter!

We ordered. And watched the sun go down in shades of neon pink. It was setting behind the similiarity colored pink geraniums in the flower boxes on the railing of the terrace over my shoulder and casting a peachy glow over us all. Where di the day go? Where did the whole week go?

The sun may be setting on our trip – but here comes the pizzas!

Mine was green as a leprechaun. Did they call it Tutto Verde? Hmm. Did not permanently register its name. What made me order it? I do not know. Zucchini being full in season, probably. So, the three greens were Zucchini, Salvia (sage) and Basilica (basil). With mozzarella thrown in for good measure. If only I could have captured the taste and smell in my photo. But a picture does tell a certain bit of story. See Midge&rsquo’s fork digging into her pizza? She was not, in any way, willing to let hers cool off for the sake of art. Or even Stew-art. Hers was strictly porcini and mozzarella. It tasted like a thousand carefully selected exotic flavors, but no, only two ingredients. Both pizzas had cracker snap thin crusts, and roll your eyes back taste. High art in deed.

And on that happy note we say goodbye and turn out the lights on another trip to Umbria. See you next time.

See you in Italy,

Stew