From the monthly archives:

August 2009

Osteria al Pugnalone

August 31, 2009
Chef Francesco Sacco

In case anyone was wondering if the Verizon Global Access international wireless modem works, the answer is basically…no.  We arrived in Rome on Saturday and I’ve had no internet access since we left the house in Benano.  After about a thousand dollars worth of Rome-USA cellphone calls with Verizon, I am on line.  At least [...]

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Benano Barbecue

August 28, 2009
Benano barbecue

I remember you.  So said the extremely attractive lady manning the counter at the butcher shop in Torre Alfina.  And Bones is certainly memorable.  For starters, he is six and a half feet tall.  This makes him a good foot or so taller than most of the population of Torre Alfina.  Then there is his Italian.  Bones’ [...]

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Cucina di Bambini

August 28, 2009
Fettucine with Shrimp and Cream

It’s not all sagras and restaurants.  Hotel rooms are fine for a day or two, and I love a good restaurant meal.  But I need a kitchen.  I need to shop the local markets, check out the local ingredients.  I need to cook.

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Market Day in Orvieto

August 24, 2009
Pretty pink things

We’re all rather fond of the local Coop supermarket.  The girls like being able to get Italian Cocoa Pops and I’ve become embarrassingly addicted to the Coop brand of sliced, pre-packaged mortadella.  I think it reminds me of the bologna I ate as a child.  Whatever the reason, I go through an average of a package a [...]

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Lake Bolsena

August 23, 2009
Tiny car

When two food-crazy grownups travel with two not-quite-teenage girls, some compromise is necessary.  This particular grownup would be happy with a visit to the local market in the morning followed by a leisurely three hour lunch, an afternoon nap, and then dinner.  Throw in the exploration of a few ancient villages, a cathedral or two, and a museum, and that’s all I [...]

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My House in Umbria

August 23, 2009
Sorting fennel

No train attacks, no mute children, no carpenter ants, no Maggie Smith.  But, like the character, Aimee, in the movie My House in Umbria, I’d like to stay forever.  My house in Umbria is the Rocca di Benano, in the tiny hamlet of Benano, just up the hill from Orvieto.

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Italian Lessons

August 20, 2009
Pizza

Lest you get the idea that all the food in Italy is orgasmic, let me assure you Italia has its fair share of disappointing eating experiences.  But there can be a lesson in any restaurant, even this poor one on the shore of Lago di Bolsena.

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Osteria La Quintaluna

August 17, 2009
Baccala

Sometimes you know.  You just know.  You stop at a restaurant for lunch at 12:30 and it’s closed.  Mostly likely closed for the August holidays.  But something brings you back another day to try again.  It’s that voice inside that says “go here, not there.  Here is where you are meant to be.”  A few [...]

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Sagra degli Gnocchi

August 17, 2009
Hooray for sagre

Another day, another sagra.  And so it goes in Italy during the August holidays.  Sunday was the last day of the Sagra degli Gnocchi in San Lorenzo Nuovo, a few miles down the road from Benano.  We meant to go to the sagra at Sorano in the afternoon but jet lag overtook us and everyone slept most of the morning.  [...]

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Season of the Sagra

August 17, 2009
Sagra delle Pappardelle al Cinghiale

Italy makes me cry.  My first trip to Italy came about during a rough point in Bones’ and my life.  We were grief-stricken parents and came to Italy to heal.  We did a lot of crying, a lot of eating, and eventually, though slowly, we came back to the land of the living.

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Oysters on the Road

August 17, 2009
42nd Street Oyster Bar

Audrey and I are on the road again, this time to Italy.  Airport food is usually not much to write home about but I got lucky this time.  We found a 42nd Street Oyster Bar in the Raleigh airport, a welcome alternative to the usual chain grub on offer.

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Blackberry Peach Cobbler

August 10, 2009
Fresh summer fruit

The trick with amazingly fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables harvested at their peak is simple – try not to mess with them too much.  No fancy preparations or sauces.  Just let your produce speak for itself and don’t screw it up.  It will speak to you. It does to me.

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Travels with Rupert

August 7, 2009
The honeymoon suite

 
I’ve come to Black Mountain to collect Audrey from Camp Merri-Mac and I spent the afternoon at the camp closing ceremony.  I am now full of mediocre Thai food and comfortably ensconced in the honeymoon suite of the romantic Comfort Inn.  Bones, my husband, is not with me in this matrimonial wonderland.  Instead, my traveling companion is Rupert.  Not [...]

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How Not to Make Sushi

August 3, 2009
Bad sushi

Oh good, it’s raining.  That means I don’t have to get out for that vigorous hike I was planning in an effort to try and undo the effects of the biscuits and gravy.  They need the rain here in Walnut Cove.  Really.  Which leaves more time for indulging in my favorite activities, reading and eating, with drinking wine and hard liquor coming in a close [...]

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The Hillbilly Hideaway

August 2, 2009
The Hillbilly Hideaway

Driving down Pine Hall Road, we leave Stokes County, cross into Forsythe County and then double back into Stokes.  The churches, trailers and tobacco fields out the car window let me know, without doubt, that I’m back home in North Carolina.  We’re on our way to the Hillbilly Hideaway in Walnut Cove.  My father took us to the [...]

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