Biding Our Time

  Well, it's getting to be that time. 

  Time to head over the pond to our our little piece of heaven in Umbria. 

  There is way too much to do in the meantime, as always, and I should buckle down and get to it...but I'd really rather look at photos and dream a bit.

  Is that so wrong?

  No, no, it isn't.

  That being in mind, I'm looking at our visits from last year. Spring and Autumn. Both were a blast.

  Upon arrival in late February, we were greeted with a blanket of snow...

Our 'first morning' view from the terrace.
Um, Brrrrrrrr!

  Fortunately, the snow only lasted a couple of days, and eventually the area warmed up and got green and pretty...

Now, this is what I dream about!
Lunch with a view.

 Unfortunately, the winter took it's toll on our marble table, and it broke! We had to borrow another table from our dear landlord, Carlo, for the rest of the year.

This temporary table worked just fine.
Thanks, Carlo!

Lunch at The Nut is always a dream come true for me.

  We are having a new marble piece cut to fit the old iron base, though, and I can't wait to see the new terrace table when we finally have it in place.

  Another new addition will be a much more efficient wood burning stove. I'll miss the fireplace, which has been knocked down and removed, but we really need a warm Nut to come home to, and the new stove is going to be great.

  We loved the romance of the old fireplace, and it was a blast to cook in, but if we weren't right in front of it, we were really cold. We'll be super cozy during those brisk days now.

  We ordered wood in October, so we'll be all ready when we arrive:

Johnny will still have his work cut out for him!
Good thing he likes to chop wood.

We have lots of good, green Umbrian oil waiting for us, too. We helped with the harvest, and the trade off for our hours of work was oil, oil and oil. Oh, boy, I can't wait!

Green Gold.

Watching the olives from the trees at The Nut being turned into oil.
That was a treat to see!

  

There are many things I'm looking forward to, but one of my very favorites is to spend time watching sunsets at Lago Trasimeno. With a glass of good Umbrian wine, of course.

  This never gets old, man...

Isola Polvese, one of three islands on the lake.

  I'm always up for a day trip, and if we go by train, even better!
  I love looking at the train schedule. It gives me wanderlust.

Let's go, Baby!

The train is perfect for catching up on reading.
Or sleeping, like the dudes over my shoulder...

  We love being able to relax with a little treat to sip and a little something to munch...

Mid-day Proseco enjoyed in a pal's garden...

Wine with a view in Spello...

...or with a view in Montepulciano.

  

  If you have spent any time at all on this blog, you know I love to eat.

  I'm holding back calories now so I can enjoy double doses in Italy. I enjoy eating out as much as cooking and eating in. It's all good, and to have the time to do either is pure luxury. When we are here, in California, I'm working full time, and on my days off, we do chores, etc. We do enjoy ourselves when we can, don't get me wrong, but it's usually work, home, sleep...repeat.

  I love being able to enjoy a leisurely lunch out, especially in Umbria...

  

Cheesy good pasta and grilled eggplant, why yes, please!

My favorite pizza in the world.

Spring veggie risotto for Johnny, simply wonderful
stuffed pasta with tomato sauce for me. Mmmmm.

  The thing I don't usually share?

  What my reality looks like after one of these meals:

Just find me a sunny, warm spot, and I'm good.

Real good.

  I don't know if I'll get another post done before we leave, but I'd like to.

  If not, just know that there will be many more once we get there, and this year we'll be stopping in Paris for a week, so that will be big fun to blog about.

  While we wait, I'll just think about stepping onto the terrace at The Nut at the crack of dawn to enjoy the sunrise....

Ahhhh...I can already hear the birds singing.

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.....