Sunday Morning In The Kitchen

  Nothing like a grey and wet day to inspire me to stay put in the kitchen.

  Plus, it's Sunday, so that makes it even better. 

  Why? Because.

  Remember all those veggies I bought this week at various roadside stands?

  Well, some were gifts from our landlord, too...all the yellow peppers. 

  I cut those up in pieces, along with the veg stand potatoes, then tossed them with good olive oil, salt and pepper. 

  Also, I had a bunch of wild fennel seeds that I picked on our walk yesterday. I thought these would be perfect in this dish...

Out of focus, but those are the fennel seeds...

All ready to pop into the oven.

   I was so happy to find some local Japanese eggplant at the stand, too. I sliced these up, soaked them in heavily salted water for a good hour, then rinsed them and patted them dry with a clean kitchen towel. I brushed a little olive oil on them, and set them on my hot grill pan...

Slow and steady is the way to go.

All they need is a sprinkle of flaky salt.

  Since I had the grill pan out and hot, I decided we needed a slice of toast with lunch, and why not grill some figs? These were beauties from our pals, Jody & Bob.

 
I had held back a couple of the smaller peppers to roast, cut lengthwise in half.
  We had some like this at a cicchetti bar in Venice. OMG, So good! I smeared some soft cheese in them, and topped with bits of sun dried tomatoes...this was also the preparation in Venice. I used stracchino cheese, a mild soft cheese found all over here, in Umbria.

 All the components done, we enjoyed our crazy Sunday lunch!

Perfect lunch for two...I forgot to mention the whole roasted garlic heads.
I did these a couple of days ago when I roasted tomatoes.
Perfect to spread on the warm grilled bread.

Just add a glass of local white...

Best garlic bread ever.
Sweet and roasty.

  While all that went on, I was still roasting the peppers and potatoes with fennel seeds. The house smelled so good! These are for another time, in the next day or two. Maybe with a nice salad...

  I love a rainy Sunday morning. So does my tummy. And Johnny's, too.

Back Home At The Nut

  I can't keep up with all the posts I want to do! How can I be so busy here? It's not like back in California, where I work a solid five days a week, with tons of chores on my days off...

  I have very few real commitments here, other than a daily (and non-negotiable) sweeping of the house...there are morning walks, trips to the market, a little puttering in the garden. But where on earth do the hours go?

  Could it be all that time sitting sipping a glass or two of wine here and there? Hmmm...maybe...

  Anyway, it's clouds and rain this Sunday morning, so I'm staying in bed later than usual to write this post. Luxury!

  We got back from Venice Tuesday evening, and our landlord gave us this impressive bowl of delights, so we popped up to the local market for some black olives and feta to make a Greek style salad. 

  It wasn't bad...but I forgot the important cucumber component! Damn!

Those peppers will be roasted today.

  We've had a mellow week of morning and evening walks, lots of home meals, and some time with pals. The weather has been stellar, until the much needed rain we are getting now. Big lightning and thunder last night, too!

Morning walk earlier this week.

A couple of our next door neighbors...

I love the grasses around here.
Spotted this on a walk.

Beautiful in the morning light.

Traffic on our walk up the hill to The Nut.
This would be our landlord. 

  

  I've always loved clematis, a climbing vine, and I really enjoy seeing the massive wild ones here along side the road. I never see them bloom, though I know these are a variety which have clusters of small white flowers. I'm just entranced by the seed heads in the fall!

Wowza!

  We've been taking long walks alongside the canals down in the nearby fields. The views are lovely, and it's easier on our aging knees, etc.

  The landscape changes everyday, as fields get turned over and new crops are planted. 

There are still some little batches of sunflowers here and there,
Though most of the big ones are done.

 

 This time of year, there are a few roadside stands selling fruit and veg straight from the fields. They are all different, some have lots of this, and others have loads of that...we try to stop at them all.
  These stands aren't open when we are here in the springtime, so this is a treat we look forward to.

The potatoes are especially sweet and tasty.
Those peppers...gonna getcha today!

  With all the tomatoes we've been gifted and have bought, lunches are very tomato forward!

Caprese style salad with grilled bread.

I added some beans and topped with seeds.
I like the textures.

 I roasted up all the marzano tomatoes Carlo had given us. We've made a couple of meals out of them this week.

Slow roast with olive oil, salt and fresh thyme.
You will know when they are done.

Wonderful on grilled bread, smothered in olive oil and parmesan...

  Friday, we walked to the neighboring village to buy some bread from the 'forno' that we like there, and were delighted to see this charming 'installation' of colorful umbrellas.

  I'd seen some photos of this on social media posted by local pals, but assumed it would be gone by now.

  Really so much better in person!

What joy!

One of the half loaves of bread we bought on Friday.
Uh...yum.

  There were some roasted tomatoes left, so of course they became lunch with the above bread. I grilled it, rubbed it well with a clove of garlic, drizzled olive oil, a pinch of flakey salt....

Always best with an arugula salad on the side.
I always like to dress mine with lemon juice, a touch of oil,
salt and lots of parmesan.

I love our lunches here...

Some odds and ends have become our table decor.
Those are tiny solar lights that we brought over in the spring.
They are perfect for the terrace.

  What's next? Well, Johnny has started painting in his studio here, so I'll have more time to myself to cook, write, read, garden and do more language study!
  (And I'll sneak in some Netflix, too, ok?) (...and a glass of wine, ok?)

"Red Regatta"

  We were so very lucky to have been in Venice on Sept 15 to see the 'Red Regatta', a major public art project by New York artist Melissa McGill. This was one of several 'performances' that happened throughout the Biennale, May-September.

  We spied a poster which told us where and when, and we put it on our calendar as a 'not to be missed' event.
  I am so glad we did!

  This regatta took place in the lagoons between Torcello and Burano, about a 40 minute boat ride from Venice. It was a gorgeous day for to be on the water, and the bonus was being able to get a pretty good look at the latest installation "Building Bridges" by artist Lorenzo Quinn.

  This work is kind of tucked away near the back side of the Arsenale, so it was a treat to see it from the waterway...

It is massive.

 
Once we hopped off the boat bus (vaporetto), we took a stroll along the canal and soon saw the first sign of what we were here for...

 

We were later informed that all the boats involved in this piece are traditional vessels
from this area of the Veneto. On this day, there were 40 in all, we were told.

  As it got closer to 2pm, the 'launch' time of the event, we watched as more and more boats gathered. The crew of each boat were wearing red t-shirts. There were men and women, some kids... all ages, really.

The gathering tide....

 Soon the sails began unfurling. It was quite something to see. 

In the distance you will notice the church bell tower on the island of Torcello. This just added to the 

magical feeling of the moment.

  We were sitting along the canal with a bottle of local white wine, mesmerized by the whole scene. There was a small but engaged crowd, and we got to know each other over the hour we spent together waiting and watching...

  Finally, the boats all lined up and headed into the canal, where they sailed around together for quite some time. It was so beautiful. The reflections in the water from the sails were lovely. The weather and wind was perfect for them.

The colors of the sails and the water...perfection.
I think Mr. J was inspired!

  We found out that each sail was hand painted and each was a slightly different color. Once we were told, we could make out the differences...

Some were pinker, some more magenta...some very close in color, but no.
All different!

  I shot two short videos, though the quality isn't great. You can see more of the color differences here.

  Hopefully, you'll still get the idea...

  

  We knew they would be out there for some time, and that they were ending the day in Torcello, so we hopped yet another boat to get to that island, about a ten minute ride.

  We wanted to hike up to the top of the bell tower for a bird's eye view!

Torcello is actually one of the first islands to be inhabited here. Before Venice...
This is a very historical spot. Perfect for this Regatta.

Yes, we did...

Looking up the inner tower.
Yikes.

  I'm so happy we made this choice! Though the boats never made it to Torcello. I don't know why...

  I still loved seeing the end of the event from this vantage point.

Some of the boats came near, but most pulled in their sales nearer Burano, in the distance

The red and green and silver, too...
Yum.

You can see the skyline of Venice way back there...

This single boat made it over to Torcello.
I was quite taken by the poignant image this created.

Thank you all for a very remarkable afternoon.

  Afterwards, we stopped in at a very local lunch spot for a bite to eat. We love these places! You order at the counter, find a table...they call your name, and there you go! Lunch, Italian style!

Waitin' for lunch.

The boat ride back was packed, as was most of Venice, to be honest.
This is the reality of a Sunday trip to the outer islands.
 We're too tight to call a private boat taxi...

But, you know what?
We STILL had a blast!

Here are some cool links, if you want more information on this day:

Melissa Mc Gill's 'Red Regatta'

Lorenzo Quinn & 'Building Bridges'

Torcello

Burano