This is how I want my garden to look next year.  Aren’t these the most amazing rows of zinnia and iris that you’ve ever seen?

Look at the color!!

This woman plants the same thing every year and her flowers last for a ridiculously long time – she’s got blooms from May through the end of October.  *So jealous*.  I don’t know how she does it because she doesn’t even live that close to her garden – I always see her going to and from her flowers on an old orange Vespa with her harvest basket precariously balanced between her knees.

I hopelessly abandoned my garden this year after planting herbs, rhubarb and tomatoes.  The cuore di bue (ox heart) tomatoes below are about the only thing we harvested – they were really good, but most of them ripened while we were on summer vacation.  Here we prepared them with garlic, olive oil and basil and ate them with rustic bread and fresh ricotta that our mountain neighbor made.  I think always having colorful flowers would be a great incentive to pay more attention to what’s going on in the garden.

Va beh (oh well).  Better luck next year.

Pictured above is Luca’s Dad, Franco with his harvest of the day (our dinner tonight!)  It’s mushroom season here in Piedmont and we’re lucky enough to have an expert scavenger in the family.  Not to brag or anything, but these were the most flavorful mushrooms I’ve ever eaten.  They were so freaking good (of the porcini variety).  We’ve actually been eating them all week (apparently when the mushrooms are out, they’re OUT).  On Monday with steak, on Tuesday in Ratatouille, and tonight baked in the oven with sliced potates, onions and rustic pancetta.  Too bad for you that Internet isn’t more multi-sensorial, or I’d send you all a whiff and a taste.  You’ll just have to use your imagination (or come visit!).

The area we live in is actually internationally reknowned for it’s mushrooms – we’re five minutes outside of Alba in the Langhe region, which is the White Truffle Capital of the World.  It’s always pretty easy to get truffles around here in season – they’re still expensive, but in these parts there are no added shipping fees, so that helps.  There are actually two truffle seasons – Fall is the more important White Truffle season (late September through mid December) while Summer is the Black Truffle season.  Experts say that the white truffles are more fragrant and flavorful, but we’ve had some extremely awesome black truffles that were much better than many of the more expensive white truffles.

Here’s Franco in October of 2005 with the fruits of a successful mushroom scavenge:

 Witch skirt for Sydney’s American girl doll

I decided to sew a bunch of American girl doll clothes for my neices for Christmas this year, but couldn’t resist making a special Halloween outfit (pictured above).  I didn’t use a pattern, just got the AG doll measurements and winged it.  I’ll try to post the template I used later on – basically I cut six six-inch long and 2 inch wide strips out of an old black shirt and sewed them togheter.  Then I added five layers of orange and black tuille and sewed them all together with a  folded piece of orange satiny ribbon.  The trickiest part was adding the velcro to the back, but it seems to have come out alright.

This is the back view – velcro closure

Shirts are a little out of my sewing ability at the moment, so I’m bidding on a hot Hallowen knit sweater on Ebay

and I ordered some cute converse sneaks to complete the outfit.

One of the best things about living abroad is the old-country ambiance that seems to have infiltrated the entire nation. Admit it, when you think “Italy” you think stone streets, gondoliers in Venice, old people with gold teeth and spaghetti with meatballs.  And to an extent these American stereotypes of the Italian way of life are on target: most roads in city centers are stoned and not paved, there are an awful lot of rowed boats in Venice, 4 out of 5 people have at least one gold tooth if not a whole set, and…well, I hate to break it to you, but nobody actually eats spaghetti and meatballs in Italy.  It can be romantic, but in many aspects, Italy is a backward country.

Take the mail for instance, I only get one English language magazine subscription, but in the two years that I’ve subscribed, it hasn’s once arrived on time.  Now, you may think that getting culinary news a month late could be a real disaster, but it’s really a blessing in disguise because by the time you get your Bon Appetit or Cook’s Illustrated, all of the featured foods are in their prime!

This was definitely the case this month when I tried out Bon Appetit’s recipe for Salad with Avocado-Lime Viniagrette and Spicy Pumpkin Seeds.  It is so incredibly awesome that I’ve already made the salad twice and the spicy pepitas four times in the last two weeks.  Their “viniagrette” is more like a garlicky spicy green goddess dressing than a viniagrette.

Luca mixing things up

The method for the pumpkin seeds is so much easier than the oven-baked version I usually make – BA made the recipe way more complicated than it needed to be – I mean who has chiles de árbol laying around in their pantry?  I used some cayenne and a mix of other random spicy things I found in our spice cabinet and they came out great.  I made the same substitution in the salad had great results too.  I also switched the cilantro that the dressing called for with parsley, which is way easier to find here.  Had to leave out the cucumber (Italians DON’T do cucumbers, at least in our neck of the woods) and the jicama (yeah…never seen that around here either…), and I switched the cotija cheese to parmigiano instead.

I guess I made more changes than I thought, but it was still an incredibly wonderful salad – the dressing and the spicy pepitas are the key ingredients, you can change up the other ingredients without any real problem.

I’ve also made some interesting crepe recipe discoveries lately, but that’s another story…

My Finished Avocado Pepita Salad

Listening to this great new song by a bunch of great Italian singers. It was made to raise money for the victims of the earthquakes in Abruzzo. Check it out:

www.domani21aprile2009.it

I started working in the garden a couple of weeks ago – turning the earth over (what’s the term for that in English? tilling by hand?), pulling weeds, removing debris and hoeing. I also built a little wall using old floor tiles from the 1800s. Today I’m going to have a bonfire to burn all the old branches and whatnot and our friend, Gianluca is coming this week to till with his tiller machine! Then, finally it will be time to plant. As you can see in the pictures below, I’ve already started some seeds inside. Mostly flowers and basil. After planting almost everything by seed last year I’ve decided it’s easier to buy the seedlings that are already a couple months old. They cost like 50 cents and save so much time.

I suppose I should be apologizing for not having posted in such a long time, but I’m not going to.  Ha!  I’ve been rediscovering the joy of reading this month with Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series.  It is so fantastic.  My Mom (Janet) gave me the first book in the series, Clan of the Cave Bear, which had been given to her by one of her college roommates (Jane).  (I find it interesting that the names of these three women all start with J, don’t you?)  After devouring the Cave Bear in record time (it is a whopping 468 pages), I absolutely HAD to have the rest of the series.  As you can imagine, this created a dilemna.  English literature isn’t exactly aboudingly easy to find in Verduno, so I book mooched the entire rest of the series for free online.  

Or I thought I had.  When I finished the third book (which had a little more sex than was necessary in it) two weeks ago and went to start the fourth I realized that I was missing #4.  Woe was me!!!  If you’re not a big reader, you cannot understand how it feels to be going strong on a great new series after a ten-year drought of quality reading material and then run out of books!! GHAIGHAIA!!  It’s THE worst.  (The same thing happened to me when I was twelve and discovered, on a trip to Wellesley to visit my Grandparents, Tamora Pierce’s The Song of the Lioness series.  I unknowingly purchased the third book in the series and loved it.  Unfortunately, the rest of the series was not available at WML and I had to wait a whole year before going back to that book store near Nonnie’s house for the rest of the series.  (Which, obviously, they didn’t have.)  I ended up finding the last book FOUR years after reading the first one.  Can you imagine?!  That was life before internet!)  It seems this missing book in a series is a recurrent theme in my life and a burden I must bear.  Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of book #4…

In both of these series’ there’s a strong female protagonist that I am one with.  Seriously, this is more of a spiritual bond than I’ve felt with most of my boyfriends.  You know you’re in deep when start seeing parts of these fictional characters’ lives in your own life.  In Earth’s Children, there’s Ayla, daughter of the earth.  I knew I was in deep when I started wishing I had a birch tree near by so I could chew on that instead of brushing my teeth in the morning, and wearing my fake-suede slipper boots and pretending that I hunted the deer and prepared the hide myself.  In The Song of the Lioness, there was Alanna, the lady knight who also knew magic – I tried some of her magic spells myself in secret.  And in Anne of Green Gables (my other favorite series of all time, though I prefer the movies to the books), there’s Anne – I memorized and can recite from heart all of her favorite poetry.  (I find it interesting that all their names start with A, don’t you?)

What will the next series be?  Suggestions, anyone?

We went to Torino last night to participate in the Gusto del Territorio – an iniziative to promote typical products from various regions of Italy and unite chefs young an old for an exchange of innovative ideas.  In short, we ate and drank for four hours.  The event (part of a series) was hosted by the restaurant L’Birichin with guest chef Walter Miori from Trentino.  It was an awesome night.  Here’s what we had (I’ll let you use your imagination): 

Menu

Aperitivo Welcome  -  Isac Le Baladin e Super Baladin – Birrificio Le Baladin

Spuma di seirass (see below) ed agro di mosto San Giacomo

Polentina di Storo con sarda in saor 

Tartare di “carne salada” con verdurine e bavarese agli asparagi

Canederlotti alla verza e puzzone di Moena su burro e tartufo del Baldo

Pancia di maiale con polenta di patate porri alla crema con tartufo nero, salsa al miele Valdivia

Guayaba, frutto della passione ed Olio Terre Rosse

La torta sbriciolina con zabaione al Maso Grill

Bicchierino alla cioccolata modicana Quetzal, grappa Solera Selezione e gelatina al tabacco 

Wines

Ferrari Perlé

Ferreri Perlé Rosè

Tenuta Podernovo Tenuto igt Toscana

Lunelli Maso Grill

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Seirass -
Cow’s, Goat’s & Ewe’s Milk Whey

The name Seirass, Seras derives from the Latin Seracium and is the local name for Ricotta in Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta. The product has many different forms in the region, ranging from rounded cones to cylinders or an upturned basketshape. When dried and salted, it may have a roundish shape and varies in weight. The cheesemaking technique is the classic Ricotta method – the whey is heated to 90°C – with the difference that Seirass del Fen whey comes from mountain dairy milk used to make Toma cheese.  As is well-known, the whey of soft cheeses produces soft Ricottas while whey from cooked cheeses gives a more solid product. It is also difficult to obtain ricotta from pasteurised milk naturally. After 12-36 hours, the Seirass is taken out of its moulds or cloths and kneaded by hand with white salt. It is then exposed to the atmosphere. This operation is repeated several times. The cheeses are then placed in a dry, well-ventilated room to dry, after which they are wrapped in freshly cut hay (fieno or fen). In some cases, the Seirass is also lightly smoked.

Body: the fresh cheese has a delicate, lumpy body while the mature version has a firm, translucent, brownish-white or straw-white body.
Height/weight: varying from 2-5 kg
Territory of origin: Seirass is made almost everywhere in Piedmont, but hay maturing is typical of the valleys around Pinerolo.

Here are our pictures of Venice (and Padua)!  We went for a quick weekend trip with our friends Claudia & Fabrizio from Torino at the end of January.  Warning:  they’re mostly pictures of buildings/landscapes.  Not too many people pics, but if you’ve never been to Venice, it’ll give you a good idea of what the city looks like.  I have to say, it wasn’t what I was expecting.  I thought there would be more…water.  I suppose when you dream about going to a certain important destination for so long,  you can’t help but feel a little let down when you actually see it in person.  Though this isn’t always the case.  I remember when I got to Las Vegas I was like, “Holy crap!  This is SO not what I expected!!”  Venice is certainly beautiful, with gondolas and striped poles and live musicians like you would expect, but I always thought it would have a romantic feeling about it, and instead it just felt touristy.

We also visited Padova on this trip.  The highlight of the city for me was the Basilica di San Antonio, which is this huge basilica dedicated to Saint Anthony.  I’ve never seen a church like this, and I at least peek my head into all the churches I go to in the area.  Every single inch was covered with some sort of painting or sculpture or marble decoration.  I think they’re overdoing it a little on the whole Saint-Anthony-worshiping thing though.  There was a line of about 20 women waiting to throw themselves on his marble tomb and wail their miseries, and two walls dedicated to pictures and notes from people asking for his help.  Containers asking for donations abound, though I found it odd that they don’t let you light candles like they do in most churches.  You can donate money for candles or donate candles, but you can’t actually light one yourself.  There was also a chapel inside of the basilica that was filled with Saint Anthony’s embalmed body parts (cheerfully on display in golden canisters).  Umm, eww.  Besides, isn’t that like illegal in this religion?

Perhaps you can imagine my dilemna: I love eating and am on a diet. Here are the results from my latest attempt to turn a butter-rich muffin recipe into a more healthy treat. The original recipe for Apple-Pecan Buttermilk Muffins came from Bo Friberg’s The Professional Pastry Chef.

I cut down the butter, increased the amount of liquid, substituted low-fat yogurt for buttermilk, and skim milk for half and half. I also got rid of the streusel topping. You might be thinking, “how are these muffins ever going to taste like anything if you take all the good stuff out??” But the muffins are chock-full of pears, raisins, nuts, spice, and ok, chocolate chips. If you want to reduce calories and fat even more, leave out the nuts and chocolate chips.

This is not a quick-and-easy recipe, in the sense that it uses two kinds of flours and you have to poach pears and measure honey. Speaking of which, I used Waiheke Island Manuka honey, great stuff that a bride from New Zealand who was staying at the B&B I used to run gave me as a thank you present. As with any muffin recipe, you don’t want to incorporate too much air or overmix. So beat the butter with a paddle just until smooth, mix the wet ingredients together well and whisk the dry ingredients together well before incorporating the two together. And remember, more acid = increased tenderness, so if your yogurt’s a little old, all the better.

Smart Raisin & Pear Muffins

6 oz. Butter, soft
8oz. Light brown sugar
1/2 cup Honey
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Baking Soda
10 oz. Cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg, ground
3 oz. Whole wheat flour
1 cup Low-fat yogurt
2/3 cup Skim milk
4 Pears, poached (or very ripe) & diced
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Chocolate chips/chunks
1/2 cup Nuts, chopped

Method

1. Cream together butter, sugar & honey. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

3. In yet another bowl (thank god for dishwashers!), mix together the yogurt and milk.

4. Add the dry and wet ingredients to the butter mixture in three alternating segments. Stir in pears, raisins & nuts.

5. Fill the cups of a buttered or paper-lined muffin tin 3/4 full and bake in a preheated 395° F oven for 20 minutes. For mini-muffins: 400° F oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool 2 minutes and turn on sides to finish cooling.

Yield: 14 muffins + 24 mini-muffins or 24 large muffins