An Evening In The Garden...

  Geez...I didn't think the garden could get any prettier than when we first got home a couple of weeks ago, but she's gone and done it...

  More roses, fuller maples and geraniums and all the shrubs are just bursting. 

  Sigh. 

  How delightful to gaze out from the back porch, or the kitchen window. Birds galore, enough sunshine (for now) to soak in the warmth, and color, color, color.

  So on our day off this week, we decided to putter around the yard, maybe do a little laundry...and grill a pizza. Why not?

  And while we were in the "deciding what to do" part of the day, we went ahead and harvested three artichokes to prepare 'Roman Style'.

  These are actually a variety of Italian 'carciofi' that I bought many years ago. They start out purple on the stalk, and I usually just let them flower. 

  There's still just a touch of lavender on the tips. 

  Note the 'spikes' on the chokes as well as the big leaves. I kid you not, these things could be used as weapons. I am so ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.

Picked and ready to clean.
Ouch. Double ouch.

   I know I've mentioned sneaking some herbs back to the states from the Umbrian fields, and this is why.
  Mentucchia is a wild herb that tastes like a cross between oregano and mint. It is an essential ingredient in true 'carciofi all Romana', so I just had to bring some home for my herb garden.

  The recipe calls for a good amount of the herb, as well as an even more than good amount of garlic. You can finely dice these two ingredients, along with parsley(I don't use parsley), and sort of stuff them into the cut and cleaned chokes. I just toss the herb and garlic into the water/oil/white wine mixture. Add the carefully cleaned chokes, and let them braise until soft. Then gently boil off half of the excess water, so you just have a gorgeous golden liquid to dip bread into...

  This was our first course on our night off. Notice the bowl of liquid gold on the left. We drizzle and dip our grilled bread that has also been rubbed with extra oil and garlic. We couldn't resist having extra bread, un-grilled, too...

Yep. That's pretty much heaven on a plate.
Don't forget to cook the cleaned stems, too!!

Mash all that soft, tasty goodness on that bread, man!
White wine is a nice beverage in this situation.

  Well, after gorging on 'carciofi all Romana', we started the charcoal up, I took some time to photograph the garden again. The light was just so nice, and there are more roses popping open.

David Austin rose "Tamara".
One of my favorites. Killer color combo,
I have to say.

Another David Austin rose, "English Garden"
She is one of the first I bought, almost twenty years ago, I guess.

Lemon Verbena, just to rub our hands in. 

These guys are loving their new digs.
They used to be in the old gallery garden.
I brought them home. The old gallery has been totally demolished.

I love,  just love my "Lady Banksia" rose.

'Constance Spry", again...

Sweet little "Penelope".
Another twenty year old in my garden.

  Back to grilling...

  Pizza. Margherita Pizza. 

  Is there any other? I mean really?

Maybe too thin?

Cooking fast!

Flip that baby!
I do like some char, as regular readers know...

Red, white and green.
So Italian!

I think that our grilled pizza is better than any pizza in town.
Right, Mr. J?

Right.

Dreaming Of Meals To Come...Soon!

  In just a few days, we'll be packing our bags and heading to Umbria. As usual, Mr. J and I have been  doing our pre-Italy dieting, getting ourselves ready to chow down with gusto after we arrive.

  I'm looking forward to the simple fare I'll fix at home...

Tomatoes with beans and pecorino.
Wonderful in front of the fire.

Typical lunch on the terrace.

Yolanda's market has the best little tomatoes!

Grilled veg for a potluck with our landlord, Carlo.

We eat lots, lots, lots of tomatoes with pecorino.
Here, paired with onion and sage 'pizza' from the town bakery.

Another tasty salad on the terrace.

I'm not kidding...it never gets old!

I can whip out a pretty damn good risotto, too.

Charred shishito peppers were great with parmesan in the summer.
And a surprise to find at the Chiusi weekly market!

  As nice as it is to fix meals at home, we always look for somewhere new to try at lunch time. In July, we heard about this place that we didn't get to until November. It's another of the 'working man' lunch spots that are often only open on weekdays, and are outstanding.
  Again, except for the staff, I was the only woman in the place. That's how these rough and ready places are. See lots of cars and working vehicles parked outside? That's a good sign.
  Fine with me...I can't wait to go back.

  I knew we were in for a treat when I took a peek at a side dining room, and saw tables covered in fresh pasta set out to dry a bit before cutting.

No kidding.

It was beautiful sight to behold, my friends.

Wine and water, of course...

  

The fellow who told us about this place said we had to try the 'pici alla briciole', a speciality of the house. Hand made pasta with breadcrumbs...wow. Not for the light eater, I'll tell you that. 

  But, damn...it was good.

Yes, those breadcrumbs were toasted in lots...LOTS..of olive oil and garlic.
Fantastic.

Really good grilled veg.

Perfectly fine ceci beans, but not for this meal.
We couldn't finish them. They would be great with grilled meat.

  Don't even try to ask me where this place is. It goes in our little black book of places we want to keep hidden away. 

  There are lots of tasty treats I'm dying to get back to....

Piadini at Bar Gallo....

Suppli at Supplizio in Rome....

Fried porcini at Dardano in Cortona....

Tagliatelle with truffles...here at Da Suaro on Isola Maggiore...

More truffles with ravioli... somewhere?
I can't remember, honest.

Pappa al pomodoro...a summer treat at Masolino's.
Tomato and bread soup. Yummy.

My favorite salad of buffalo mozzarella and zucchini.
Bar Gallo.

  Lastly, because you just can't get it like this anywhere else...
  Pizza at Remo, in Rome. We will actually stay over night, at any cost, to delight in this 4.50 euro pizza.

Yep, it's that good.

  Counting the days/hours.....

Ahhhhh…The Staff Of Life

  We headed out early for our morning walk Sunday, hoping we might find the bakery in Paciano, the next village over, open for business. 

  We have been told that 'Lo Scoiattolo'(The Squirrel) is only open on Sunday and Wednesday…and you'd best get there early, as they sell out fast.

  We have had their breads before, but since last time we were here, they have an official place of business and are taking orders online and by phone. They'll bake some extra things to sell for walk-ins, as well, but we found out today that it's always good to order early.

  Lo Scoiattolo is a small shop, off the main drag, but just follow your nose, folks. You can smell bread baking as you get close. They are using a wood stoked oven, and it sends out the yummiest of fragrances….

Fausto tends the oven, as well as the wood fire.

  Step inside, and right away you know you are going to have a hell of a time deciding what to try first.

  We knew we would get at least one twisty, cheesy, herby breadstick. It was warm and fresh from the oven. Like everything when you arrive early.

The hard part? Stopping at only one!

  We enjoyed espressos as we chatted with Fausto, and the baker herself, Lia…We had met them last year, and had tried Lia's yummy breads the year before when she was selling at the Spring Festival in Paciano.

  At that time, word had it that she wanted to open a storefront, and we are so glad it has finally all worked out for she and Fausto.

  

The Magician at work, making pretzel magic.

  There are wonderful bakeries all over, but most don't sell real hearty whole grain breads. The usual fare here is the typical Italian white bread with a good crust, not much flavor, as its main job is to sop up all the goodness on the plate. 

  Lia's breads are full of seeds, nuts, and even fruit, in some cases. She makes whole grain rolls, farmers breads, and even flat-bread type pizzas.

Just some of this morning's offerings.

Far right, potato pizza, next to a margherita pizza.

     We don't eat a lot of bread, but we will be righteously tempted when we come here!

We wolfed down a warm-from-the-oven pretzel minutes after we left!
We only bought one…what were we thinking?

In reality, these tasty morsels were all pre-ordered.
We were lucky we got what we did.

Uhhh…yum.

    We joined the 'club', so now we will be emailed the weekly list of what's on the menu, so to speak. We can order to pick up later, which works. Just need to remember what day it is….which gets harder the longer we stay.

Plus, it's really warm in here.
I could hang out here all day, baby.

  We'll still be making regular visits to our favorite bakeries in the area, but it's so nice to have another option which offers something very different, indeed….

Thanks, Lia & Fausto, for making it happen.
You guys are an inspiration!

  Here's the new Facebook page they just began…become a friend! And learn more, too:
  Lo Scoiattolo