A Tuscan Paradise..Serenity, a Dog, and a Cooking Class

The final night in Italy...our group spent an evening in the Tuscan countryside. Together, we learned how to prepare a meal, under the guidance of a most pleasant and accomplished teacher.  We enjoyed our final dinner, and tried to forget about leaving Italy the next morning....

It was exactly two weeks ago tonight...

"Bon appetit!"

We arrived at the 12th-century stone house of Stefania Balducci late on Saturday afternoon.  Stefania conducts cooking classes in her modern kitchen in the cozy and contemporary interior of her home.  We stepped off our van, having made the trip to the little village of Montefioralle in the Chianti region, midway between Florence and Sienna.

We were greeted by the tranquil beauty of the surrounding hills and vineyards. 

Stefania's hospitality and openness made everyone feel as welcome as if we were home.

From her web site, www.pastaalpesto.com :

"In Italy the kitchen is the heart of the house.  Everything passes through it. This is where history, memory, communication, identity, love, culture, play, alchemy, fantasy and joy all come together. And this is the essence of our cooking !"

Also there to greet us as soon as our feet hit ground was Demo, the most gentle and friendly Border Collie, who whined with excitement at the prospect of making seven new friends.  She enjoyed the attention of everyone there:

While we had raucous fun while learning a lot in the kitchen, Demo remained pleasantly bored in the peacefully beautiful and rustic Dining Room.

 In less than three hours, we learned to make the following menu items:

Ravioli (from scratch) filled with ricotta and chopped zucchini;

Homemade pesto sauce;

Roasted vegetables

Pork loin stuffed with plums, Pine Nuts and Rosemary, simmered in milk;

Tiramisu

Our anecdotes, some of them hilarious, will become legendary among us: how we mixed a simple dough of egg yolk and flour with our hands; created the long strips of pasta by cranking the pasta-maker; chopping zucchini as finely as possible; soaked lady-fingers in coffee and mixed the marscapone cheese and egg whites; how we dropped eggs on the cutting board; poked the "air" out of the ravioli; and watched the pork loin brown in olive oil before adding the milk.

And of course, there was wine, and grappa! 

All of it was consumed voraciously, and I can state with pride that it all came out tasting superb!   

In spite of the hard work and laughter, there was a serenity at the heart of it all.   

And then we took our final ride together, down our last Italian  country road..... 



A Little Gem For Chicago Visitors

Our birthday fell midweek this year, so we did our traditional  2-night "outing" over the July 4th holiday weekend. We took a chance on a little Bed and Breakfast we had seen in our many trips to Evanston.  The rates proved  reasonable, the drive was quick, and it would be a refreshing change before the post-holiday work- week started again.

To our friends who will someday visit the Chicago area, we definitely recommend the Margarita European Inn in Evanston (the town just north of the city limits, on Lake Michigan, and home of Northwestern University).

Originally known as The Margarita Club for Working Women, it served as  a hotel/apartment for young business women needing proper housing starting in 1927.  Father David O'Leary and his sister Margaret Lynch purchased the land and built the facility. They named it after their mother Margaret.

Margaret O'Leary, after whom the Margarita Club was named, was the first female resident of Evanston, and was active in the Evanston community for 60 years, until her death in 1900 at the age of 99.

The Margarita European Inn now houses 42 rooms, each of them uniquely decorated, most containing  appointments and antiques found in the original Club. 

The Main Lobby/Ballroom is not only beautifully furnished with antique rugs, furniture, mirrors and dishware, it is also one of the most comfortable spots to relax in town.  Breakfast is served here every morning.  Small groups can gather around a baby grand piano for entertainment, read a book from the Inn's gorgeous library, or work on their laptops using free Wi-Fi provided.

More "adventurous" guests may climb to the 5th floor to enjoy the view from the rooftop deck.

In the evening the Pensiero on the garden level serves authentic Italian delicacies.  On a mild day, you can't beat the atmosphere on the small outdoor patio.  On Sunday there was a fixed menu served family-style. We were treated to homemade bread, a variety of bruschetti, pasta with pork, meatballs and "Sunday gravy" (red sauce), lemon chicken, seafood stew, and a banana-chocolate bread pudding. Bellissimo!

Within walking distance are the beaches by Lake Michigan, myriad shops and eateries, including the awesome Bookman's Alley Antique Bookstore, and one of the best movie theaters in all of Chicagoland.

Guests from all over the world are attracted to The Margarita European inn for its historic charm, comfort, and reasonable rates.

I'm sure we willl start a tradition of visiting here.


(Photos courtesy of the Inn's Web Site.  Next time we visit, I will have ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS!!)

St. Joseph's Day---Food, The Color Red, and Real Estate--A Humorous Saturday Journal

Buon Giorno di San Giuseppe!!

This will not be a devout history, but a lighthearted look at  St. Joseph's Day, a little-known holiday, always right after St. Patrick's Day, and its connection to my family of origin. 

Yes, I am continuing my brief series to commemorate my late Grandparents' 100th year.  Some might find this to be empty sentimentality.  To me, it's a way to keep the two of them alive, in the minds and hearts of new friends....perhaps the giddy sense of happiness they gave me will rub off on some unwary reader, who might come away with the same sense of energy they inspired in me...They would have enjoyed knowing that.

The custom, the devotion and the feast, originated in my Grandfather's country of origin, Sicily. It is not a totally solemn occasion, but one of much revelry, food, and gently humorous rituals. It brings to mind childhood feasts, relatives, the reminder that we need to laugh at ourselves affectionately, for keeping traditions long after we remember why (if we ever knew in the first place!)

BRIEF HISTORY:

The Italian community the world over celebrates St. Joseph's Day as ardently as Irish (and many others) celebrate St. Patrick's Day. St. Joseph is the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

In the Middle Ages, the people of Sicily, faced with a severe drought and famine, asked their patron Saint Joseph to intercede with God to bring rain. When the saving rains came, the people promised to show their appreciation with a series of feasts, festivals, feeding of the poor, and the Wearing of Red.  Why red?   Some think it's the closest color to the vestments worn during lent; others claim it's a lighthearted challenge to the Irish and their Green. Again, we're not REAL sure, but it feels right, and the tradition is comforting, so we keep it.

LOOKING BACK ON FOOD:

Entering the Arizona Condo where Sam and Lucy lived their final years, one notices their absence, the unusual quiet in the rooms;  yet, the two of them are everywhere there.  They are at once there and not there, like the optical illusion of the goblet morphing into two silhouettes....

In my imagination, the air is still filled with the warm scent of tomato sauce simmering, pungent and sweet. My mouth still waters at the mellowness, owing to their secret concoction of garlic and onion, tomato sauce and paste, a heady blend of seasonings, tender neck bones, a pinch of baking soda to take out the bite and extra acid, and the pinch of sugar to enhance the sweetnes of the tomato.


Under that aroma would be the all-pervasive, summery scent of greens with a simple dressing of olive oil, sweet red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, and oregano.


Lucy, my grandmother was the Queen of sauce and salad, and the recipe known as bracciole, the rolled round steak stuffed with breading and hard boiled egg, wrapped in bacon and tied with string.

When Sam, my Grandfather, was in the kitchen (he spent a lot of time there), he was the Master of Baking.  Pizza crust made from scratch always had the warm smell of beer as the dough was being punched and kneaded.  He even ground his own sausage, and stuffed the casings, which looked like enormous condoms when they were strewn across the cooking table.  Sam was also known for his cream puffs, and all kinds of breaded vegetables, like squash, and mushrooms.  (Later I'll relate his experiences as a 30-year employee of Nabisco.)


Sam and Lucy didn't have to wait until St. Joseph's Day to celebrate its spirit all year. The fact is, they never went to anyone's house empty-handed.  They lived to feed the ones they loved, and those who loved them, and we were an army.

One of the Sicilian staples was (and is) fava beans, which are still used in the Minestrone and other dishes for this holiday.  (See?  even Hannibal Lecter is in the spirit of the holiday, wearing his red..... )  Fava beans were considered lucky because during the drought, they thrived while other crops failed.  Using bread crumbs on top of certain pasta dishes brings to mind sawdust, to commemorate Joseph the Carpenter.


In fact St. Joseph  is the Patron Saint of carpenters, house buyers and sellers, fathers, pastry chefs (appropriately), wheelwrights, and working people.

St. JOSEPH  and REAL ESTATE

Maybe due to his being a carpenter, home-sellers have asked for his intercession to bring on buyers.
One of the goofiest traditions connected to St. Joseph is the burying of a statue upside down in the yard of a home that is for sale. You can even buy a kit for this purpose!

"When petitioning St. Joseph for help in selling a home, a believer is expected to bury a small statue of the saint upside down in the ground, facing away from the house but near the "For Sale" sign....The statue is dug up once the home has been sold and then taken to the seller's new home, who then must place the statue in a location of honor, in recognition of Joseph's help in making the successful move possible. According to some, failing to take that final step will have future repercussions, making it difficult to sell the new home when the seller decides to move again."

What are St. Joseph's Pants?  Click on this link for a recipe for special cookies filled with ground sweetened chick-peas (fava beans), a St. Joseph's Day staple in Sicily and elsewhere. 


Next up:  Another St. Joseph's Day tradition that nature lovers appreciate...and how it reminds me of an old Academy-Award-winning Short Film.....

Food Stories: Is Garlic An Alternative to the Stock Market? Should we Have Slow-Food Restaurants? Journal for Monday

Amid the world's anxiety, there are SOME things to make us smile.....

As a lover of Italian food, who enjoys cooking with garlic, I heard an amazing story abot how Chinese investment in garlic has proved to be as valuable as gold!

I did not know, until this weekend, that China is the world's largest producer of garlic.  NPR's "All Things Considered" featured a thought-provoking and humorous story about what appears to be a "Garlic Bubble" in China. 

Here's the short scoop:  When the world economy went south, farmers began to produce less garlic---50% less, which is a significant amount.  Then two things happened....

First, the H1N1 flu broke out. Chinese believe in the healing properties of garlic, and its ability to prevent illness.  So schools wanted to order truckloads of this humble bulb.  Second, the Chinese banks started freeing up funds and loaning money to stimulate their economy...and some crafty people saw an opportunity with the garlic shortage: borrow money to buy stockpiles of the stuff, so thast its scarcity would drive up the price, and then sell it when the price maxed out. One guy, according to the story, bought a Toyota with his proceeds. 

Next time I review my retirement investment....Instead of real estate, I might look into flipping garlic!

~~~~

And now from Italy:  Not fast-food, but Slow Food! (click for full story)

Again, thanks to NPR for making me aware of a sensible and somewhat amusing answer to Fast Food Nation..."In Praise of Slow Food".

Carlo Petrini founded the Slow Food movement initially as a protest against McDonald's setting up a shop at the base of the Spanish Steps in Rome.....(they opened, but without the Golden Arches). 

Petrini's manifesto can be summarized as follows:

"He collaborated on a manifesto damning the “fast life” of uprooted traditions, later adopting a swirly-shelled snail as mascot. He blasted the shrink-wrapped industrial system of modern capitalism and called his resistance “eco-gastronomy,” urging eaters to think of themselves as “co-producers,” along with farmers and artisans like parmesan makers. He also floated the proposition that any meal worth eating is one that’s “good, clean, and fair”—good as in delicious, clean as in environmentally sustainable, and fair as in contributing to equitable social ends. He proposed paying farmers and their workers a living wage, supporting community merchants, and ensuring access to decent food for everyone. As manifestos go, it combined boilerplate material from Italy’s communist brain trust of the 1970s with the crucial addition of an idea that red lefties had always spurned as a bourgeois corruption: the importance of gastronomic pleasure."

This is great news for an Italian hybrid like myself; I remember with love and fondness the Jell-O molds my grandmother made with cream cheese filling in the color of the Italian flag! And the sauces, and the meatballs, all simmered with meticulously sliced slivers of GARLIC....and the circle is complete.  BUON APETITO!