We are in luck today because Marco, a member of the Gialletti Pimpinelli family is in the shop today and very willing to give us a tour. Though the artisans are not working (as it is a Sunday), he explains all the phases of ceramics making to us and shows us about the factory. He and his sister are the 3rd generation to be involved in the factory. His grandfather, (Gialletti) founded the company and his father, Graziano is the master ceramist. 

True to form, shopping has made us hungry. We have an appointment for lunch at a lovely restaurant on the main piazza of the charming town of Bevagna. So many times, I have come here to find a fun event happening in the piazza, and today is no exception. There is a little craft and antiques fair going on, and I purchase a fun necklace. I love this town! It’s so small, but I always find something good to eat here, and best of all, it has one of my favorite wine shops. Today we’re dining at Ristorante delle Mura, recommended to me by Fabrizio Antano….of my favorite wine shop.

After lunch, we only have a short distance to stroll to reach my favorite wine shop. I’ve blogged about Fabrizio Antano’s shop before. It’s a great combination of truly wonderful wine, Fabrizio’s generous pours, and his wonderful personality. Today, we’re in for a special treat as Fabrizio’s friend Pino has decided to pay a visit as well. Pino is a great photographer whose most recent subject matter are the flowering fields of the plains of Castellucio. These fields of lentil plants in Umbria erupt into riotous color at certain times of the year. You can see Pino’s photos on canvas in the background of one of the photos.

Ah Rome. I have just returned from a ten day research trip to Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Umbria. As usual, I intended to blog my way through this most recent trip to Italy….but sigh, life got in the way. I was so busy meeting up with old friends, meeting great new friends, eating, drinking wine, driving a stick shift again, strolling, sightseeing…..the list is really endless. Suffice it to say, I was busy. My morning alarm went off at 7a.m. every day, but I wasn’t going to sleep until between midnight and 1 a.m. every night! With all those waking hours, you’d think I would have had more time at the computer. But I did not. Oh well. Here are my “better late than never” blog posts:

 Whenever I arrive to Rome, my routine is basically the same: Drop bags off, shower, and hit the streets on foot. Rome is a wonderfully walkable city, and the best way to get over jetlag is to just get out there in the fresh air. I always arrive hungry (because that's usually the state of my life), and in need of a coffee (which coincidentally, is also the usual state of my life). I had a lot of appointments in Rome during the first three days of my trip. However, I always leave time to just stroll the streets of the city either alone or with friends. Walk along with me, won’t you?

In the top photo, you see a selection of pizza by the slice. It was all so delicious, and look how fresh that basil is!

The luscious whipped cream concoction you see above is one of my very favorite treats in Rome. It is called a caffe granita con panna and it is a surefire jetlag cure. The barista places some unsweetened whipped cream in the bottom of the cup, tops it with two scoops of coffee granita; a sweet, frozen, caffeine-laden concoction then tops the whole thing off with more unsweetened whipped cream. It is so delicious, so refreshing, and so delicious! Did I say that already?

Below, a few street scenes:

Are these not the most adorable dogs? They were all blissfully napping in the sunshine. I was thinking I should join them, but there was so much more to see.





Yard art anyone? I love this outdoor shop. I wish I had bought something from here when I lived in Rome, so I could have had it shipped back to the U.S. with all my other household goods. Instead, I stop in here once in a while to do some wishful shopping.....and leave empty-handed.

Okay, I had to do a double take when I saw this street performer! He appears to be floating in mid-air! Street performers want you to toss a few coins in their bucket to have your picture taken with them. They are in every city, but usually it's the same old tired golden mummy or creepy Statue of Liberty. Kudos to this guy for coming up with something new.

One of the things I love most about Rome are its neighborhood covered markets. The produce and other products available are amazingly fresh and delicious. Here are a few photos compiled from several markets I went to:

And last, but certainly not least, I always try to set aside a day for cooking with my kitchen cohorts. We made an amazing lunch of  a spaghetti carbonara, homemade gnocchi with amatriciana sauce, a spring vegetable dish called vignarola alla romana, carciofi agrodolce and agretti. Delizioso!

Do you see now why I had no time to blog at the computer? 
After Rome, I headed off to Naples.....what fun! I can't wait to tell you all about it. Stay tuned for the next post-trip blog. A presto!

This biscuit may look simple, maybe even a little boring. But believe me, it is not. It was made at a wonderful place called Granarium, located in the countryside in Umbria. Their tag line is “dove il grano diventa pane”, or “where wheat becomes bread”. This amazing place is not just a bakery, it is also a mill. Work further backwards with me…it’s a farm. Yes, they can truly say “from wheat to bread” because they grow the grain, harvest it, mill it into flour, bake it into countless delicious products and sell it….all in the same place.

Granarium is the brainchild of Gian Piero Lucarelli, a man so passionate about his end product, he decided he needed to control every aspect of its production. He explained to me he wanted to sell bakery products that were the best, and the only way to do that was to begin with growing the grain. Gian Piero is no stranger to farming. He hails from an agricultural family, so tending the fields is what he grew up doing. He took me and some friends of mine on a little tour of his facility. I say “little” because physically, it’s a small space; not a giant production factory. But in this small space, every step of the production is carefully tended and watched over; from the grinding of grains, to the cleanliness of the kitchen, to the giant wood-fired oven, to the lovely counter space where the bakery products are sold to the public. It is a dream come true for Gian Piero, and luckily for the rest of us as well.

The harvested grains are stored in these silos which are attached to the Granarium building. Wheat grains enter the building through tubes, and go through various stages of machinery to separate the wheat from the chaff, and remove stones and dust, before beginning the grinding process. 







Below you see the various stages of cleaning the wheat. In the third picture, Gian Piero shows us the clean wheat ready to be ground.

After being ground, the wheat goes through a three part sifting process. The sifter separates the wheat germ from the flour from the bran. Each separate entity has its different uses when baking a wide variety of products.

As we move from the factory area into the kitchen area, Gian Piero snags a scoop of flour and asks me to taste a pinch. Raw flour? I am not excited about this, but not to offend, I take a goodly pinch and pop it in my mouth. I am amazed. I expected it to become gluey in my mouth and have no flavor. Quite the opposite, this flour maintains its texture and is actually full of wheat flavor. It’s flour, and it’s delicious! 

Next, he shows us racks of biscuits that are cooling from the ovens. He offers us each one. This time no one hesitates, and we each happily take a bite. These unadorned, simple biscuits have four ingredients he explains. They contain freshly ground whole wheat flour, sugar, butter and organic eggs. They are so incredibly, simply delicious….not too sweet, not too buttery, filled with the flavor of whole wheat like I’ve never had before.

Moving into the next room, he shows us the wood burning oven. Yes, singular oven. There is only one, but it’s a mighty big one. In the back corner of the interior of the oven is a walled off area, where a wood fire is built. Beech wood is fed into it to maintain its constant heat. And because the wood fire is behind its little brick wall, there are no ashes all over the floor of the oven. The baked goods don’t get blackened by ash, but appear to have been baked in a regular oven. The wood maintains a constant heat, and gives off a nice aroma to the baked products.


I'm sorry my photo of the oven did not turn out. Instead, I offer you a peek at the wooden paddles used to take things in and out of the oven.

Back to the little storefront, we have polished off our delicious biscuits, but our eyes are big for all the other goodies to be found behind the counter. Tiziana is there to offer us more tastes and to wrap up our purchases. We buy all manner of cookies while munching on wedges of jammy tarts she’s insisted we try. We also buy squares of “pizza” crust topped with cherry tomatoes. In addition to all the baked goods on offer, there are bags of flour to buy as well as sacks of lentils and beans that are also grown by the Lucarelli family. Purchases in hand, and so grateful for their time, knowledge and skills, we say goodbye with hopes to see them again soon. Gian Piero, the Lucarelli family and Granarium are the very definition of the farm-to-table movement. This is truly “slow food” at its best. 

One of my purchases was a big bag of the very same biscuits we’d been lucky enough to taste on our tour. They were quite heavy, but I only gave a momentary, fleeting thought to the weight of my luggage as I needed to have these biscuits. Today is a sad day. I have eaten my last biscuit. I am trying not to cry. They have been a morning staple with my first coffee of the day….and now they are all gone. I am trying not to cry.

Dear readers, you should think about stopping my tears. Join me in 2014. Let’s visit Granarium together and munch our way through the Umbrian countryside. PS: And just beyond Granarium is a quite lovely winery I’d like to take you to as well :)
Drop me a line at:
 [email protected]

At this point, I know you think all I do is eat. You would be wrong. I also love to shop for food and take pictures of food.  The most popular food market in Rome is at Campo dei Fiori. It is a lovely market, very centrally located, but quite touristic and on the expensive side. The food market I take you to on my tours, on the other hand, takes a bit of knowledge to get to, but is cheaper, bigger, has much more variety and is shopped mainly by locals. This market is a little bit out of the way, thereby not really making it onto the A-list of tourist activities. However, EVERY time I am in Rome, I am careful to leave enough time for a stop here.  Not only do I have favorite booths to return to for my personal food shopping, but I am also sure to capture some really wonderful food photos.

It is early October after all, so pumpkins and porcini mushrooms are all over the place.  Porcini mushrooms have a relatively short season, so when they’re ready, everyone is mad for them.  They have a rich, deep, earthy flavor and are delicious grilled. At this time of year though, you will find them on everything including pizza, in pasta sauces, and in risottos. Tis the season for mushrooms and they are for sale in every market and along many country roadsides.

I love buying pumpkin or zucca in Italy. What is so wonderful about buying pumpkin you ask? It is the fact you don’t have to buy the whole darn thing! Every veg vendor sells pumpkin by the piece. He proudly displays a beautiful pumpkin and you tell him how much you want by weight, or better yet, with hand gestures to say you want a piece “this big”. Pumpkin here is grilled, or chopped to make risottos and to fill pastas among many other recipes. This way, you can make a pumpkin recipe, but you don’t end up eating pumpkin for every meal for the next two weeks. You buy just the amount you need. Genius. 

Another food item often sold by weight, is salad. Italian food markets are great about doing some of the prep work for you. They sell artichokes already trimmed, green beans already stringed, veg chopped for minestrone soup, etc. But these items are not pre-done and shrink wrapped. There’s someone in each booth doing it as the day goes along. Your purchases are freshly prepared. Such is the case with salad. Mixtures of various greens, and in this case carrots and radishes are prepped just ahead of your purchase. You choose how much you would like to buy. You can ask for a certain euro amount, or you can ask by weight. Genius.

There are lots of items which can be purchased by weight. This particular booth sells all kinds of beans and lentils. In addition, they sell a wide variety of rices.  It’s like shopping the bulk section in a U.S. grocery store. The difference is they can tell you where every grain comes from and if it was grown organically, as well as give you ideas for preparing them. This is the joy of having a real person who is completely knowledgeable about the items they are selling rather than making your bulk purchases from a spigot.

There are so many items at this market that I Love. There is a man who offers tastes of porchetta or pork roast. One of my favorite booths has such a bargain on pecorino cheese.  For me, it’s worth bringing a whole wheel back to the U.S.! On this trip I also bought delicious cookies baked with red wine, yummy slices of candied ginger, and dried chestnuts to add to my soups and stews when I return home.  I could spend a whole day here.

But, I do have other things on my agenda. Like visiting with old friends and meeting for a fabulous lunch. Welcome to my old neighborhood; Monti. It’s such a familiar haunt to me; I love just strolling the streets stopping in at favorites spots and looking for new changes. In fact, I had invited my friends to join me at my favorite pizza spot, only to disappointedly find it closed for the day. No worries. Monti is filled with fantastic eateries. We find another just a very short distance away and have a delicious lunch filled with seasonal favorites.

We all decide to order several appetizers rather than having the usual pasta. My first appetizer is grilled pumpkin topped with a slice of grilled prosciutto which is garnished with a creamy gorgonzola concoction. With each bite of pumpkin and prosciutto, I have a little nibble of gorgonzola. The combination of slightly sweet pumpkin, salty meat and the strong gorgonzola is really delicious. Next up are small local peppers which have been grilled, sliced open, and filled with a creamy mixture of fresh ricotta and pancetta. Smoky, crunchy, creamy, Heavenly. Last of all a deep fried combo of artichoke pieces and calamari. The breading is very light and very crispy. Inside, the artichokes are perfectly cooked and the calamari tender. I will return. Yes, I will.

Once again, I know you must think all I do is eat. But as it happens, after lunch comes dinner. What's a girl to do? This is the cycle of life….thank goodness. There is a restaurant I have been dying to try and somehow when I want to eat out, there is always a good friend willing to accompany me. My friend and I share three dishes: 
1)      An incredible pasta made with pistachios and guanciale. Seriously intense, seriously delicious. I will be trying to recreate this dish once I return home. It will be a matter of rendering the fat from the guanciale which is the cured jowl of a wild boar, and adding ground pistachios and ground pecorino…something to that effect. When I get it right, I’ll write a blog post about it. Until then….it’s a lovely memory.
2)      A lamb stew.  My friend, who is of Italian descent, proclaims the dish just like the one her mother used to make. Hurray for authenticity!
3)      And last, but not least, cicoria ripasatta. Cicoria is simply chicory. And I do mean simply. The beauty of Italian contorni or side dishes lies in their simplicity. The chicory has been boiled to tenderness, then cooked again on the stovetop. It is sautéed with garlic, a fair amount of olive oil and maybe a bit of red pepper flakes. Chicory can be bitter, but cooking it this way mellows it; the olive oil makes it tender; the garlic and red pepper flake give it a little kick. Simple genius.

And so ends Rome, Day 3. I have two weeks to go.  More food, more wine, more beautiful sights on the horizon. Stay tuned......Day four is filled with art.

Rome was calling me. No, I don’t have the pope on speed dial, but Rome was calling. Once you have lived in Rome, regardless of whether you tossed coins in that beautiful fountain, you will return. Rome gets into your blood, under your skin, into your pores like no other city on earth to me. Yes, it is chaos and noise and bureaucracy, but it is also infinite beauty, and a way of life that is simply so…..simple. And so I find myself back in Rome, ready for a resurrection, eager to return to a city where a new discovery is around every corner. Join me on a little pictorial trip of Rome: Day one.

Lucky me, I have arrived in Rome just in time for lunch. Never one to dilly-dally where food is concerned, I toss my bags in my room, take the quickest of showers to refresh and revive myself, and head out the door to find good food. It’s Rome; I don’t have to go far. Not long into my stroll, I discover a new pizza-by-the-slice place called Grano. I wander in to see if it looks good, and……well, let’s just say it was so hard to decide which kind to have….so I only picked three.  Pizza-by-the-slice is weighed in Italy.  Isn’t that a great concept? You merely point out how much of each kind you would like, they cut off your piece with a big pair of scissors, weigh it, and put it in the big oven to reheat. In the meantime, you get your receipt, take it to the cashier, pay for your pizza, adding a drink if you’d like and by the time you get back to the pizza counter, your hot pizza is ready. This new place had some really interesting and delicious combinations:
1)      Radicchio with gorgonzola and walnuts
2)      Porcini mushrooms (They’re everywhere because they’re in season now!) with truffles
3)      Eggplant with tomato sauce
Not only will I be returning to Rome; I will be returning to this place!

Jet lag is beginning to set in. Time for a pick-me-up, and I know just the thing.  I head over to my favorite building in the whole city, the Pantheon. Nearby is one of my favorite treats in the whole city; a granita di caffe con panna from the coffeehouse Taza D’Oro. They squeeze some unsweetened whipped cream into the bottom of your cup, add in two scoops of sweetened coffee flavored icy granita, and top it off with more whipped cream. The strong coffee is tempered by the sweetness of the granita mixture which is tempered by the unsweetened whipped cream. It is perfection. It is THE cure for jet lag….in my opinion.

With a full belly and a nice jolt of caffeine, it was time to take in a little culture.  And what could be more apropos than a viewing of a fresco by Rafael.  Tucked in a little out of the way corner, not far from Piazza Navona, is the Chiostro del Bramante. The Cloister of Bramante is attached to a church called Santa Maria della Pace.  In this church is a most beautiful fresco by Rafael commissioned in 1500.  And from the upper reaches of the Cloister, if you look out a certain window, you get a bird’s eye view of Rafael’s fantastic work of art.  Looking at it makes me……sigh.

Next stop is one of my favorite markets for some food shopping to bring back to the U.S. This is one of many cases where the internet is simply misinformation. The market is not open late on this day as I had read on-line. Most of it is closed. Most, but not all. The fresh pasta shop is open. No, I will not be bringing fresh pasta back to the States, but the lady who makes the fresh pasta happens to also love making red wine cookies, and she has a fresh plate sitting out! When she sees me eyeing them, she hands me the plate and tells me to have one. Not wanting to offend her in any way, I help myself. They are SO good; better than the ones I've been trying to make at home which need more work. I’ll take a dozen please. For the equivalent of $4.00, I get 12 huge, delicious crispy cookies baked with red wine and glistening with sugar crystals.

With not much of the market open, I realize I will have to return another day to finish my shopping and so I head out. Glancing at my watch, I realize, it’s “wine time”. This is perfect!  Nearby is a wine bar I’ve been wanting to try out. The little bar has a few tables and chairs out on the sidewalk. Securing a spot on this beautiful day, I pop my head indoors to let them know I’m out there and find an adorable basement wine bar filled with music paraphernalia and legs of prosciutto ready to be hand-carved. Passaguai prides itself on its use of local products, and so I order a wine from the Lazio region. Ever in need of a little munchie, I also order a plate of mixed bruschette and a bowl of olives. The olives are incredibly buttery and when the bruschette arrive, they are beautifully plated and delicious. The wine, a blend which includes the cesanese grape, is one I hope to learn more about on this trip. It is wonderful. My bill amazes me when I ask for it. Not by the expense of it, but by the lack of expense. Welcome back to Rome.

As I head back to my dear friend’s apartment, I catch a glimpse of the sunset over St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. What truer sign is there that I am in Rome? I have been resurrected. 

I know….it doesn’t sound very appetizing, but thankfully I’m not talking about wine made from chickens.  (That would just be gross.)  I am talking about chickens on the label and chicken jugs. Okay, maybe I’m not making sense yet. Let me start over.

I drink a lot of wine. Am I making sense now? And coincidentally, two recent wines I really liked both featured chickens on the label. One was from Italy, and the other from the state of Washington; two of my favorite places for fantastic wine. And all that chicken labeling made me think about chicken jugs; one of my favorite ceramic pieces from Italy.

Let’s start with the wine. The first one was a primitivo from Puglia, Italy. It comes from Primaterra Wines.  I consider this a real bargain find; one of those wines I call a “case buy”.  No, I haven’t bought a case though I probably should have, as we’ve gone through several bottles already, and I must admit to having a couple more waiting in my wine rack. It was about $10 and for that price, it really delivers. It’s nicely balanced making it an easy sipper. It goes well with food, but doesn’t Need food for it to taste good. I taste the bold and dark berry flavors I love; but it’s not too fruity. It has an alcohol content of 14.5%, so watch out, but really, it’s just delicious and at this price point, it could be my “house” wine.

The second wine with a chicken (well, on second glance, it’s actually a rooster) on the label was a syrah from Jones of Washington http://www.jonesofwashington.com.  It was one of the wines I poured at The Bite event in Portland last month and was featured by The Pacific Northwest Wine Club http://www.pnwc.com. It’s a nice bold wine with lots of dark berry, oaky, and leathery flavors.  It too has a 14.5% alcohol level. (I seem to lean toward these for some reason.)  Its winery won the 2012 Winery of the Year award for Washington State. I love this wine for its complex flavor and lingering taste.

Now as I said, these “chicken wines” made me think about my Italian chicken jug. Italy, widely known for its ceramics is home to the chicken wine jug. Supposedly the chicken wine jug came about way back in the mid 1400’s when the Medici family was the ruling family of Florence. One of the members of an opposing family wanted to murder one of the members of the Medici family.  When the assassins made their approach in the dark of night through a small village where the Medici family member had been attending a festival, the local chickens were awakened. They caused such a ruckus that the assassins were captured and received the fate originally intended for the Medici family member.  The end result is that the ruling family member was so pleased with the chickens that he ordered ceramic chicken jugs made to commemorate the event.  Since then, chicken jugs have been traditional gifts of good fortune and safekeeping……or so the story goes.

Do you enjoy Italian wines? Do you love Italian ceramics? Me too! Join me on a tour of Italy featuring food, wine…….and even chicken jugs if you’d like. Booking now for Spring/Fall 2014. Drop me a line and let’s talk about your trip: [email protected]

I’ve been obsessed with Norcia of late; since I realized I missed “Nero Norcia”.  This festival spans two weekends at the end of February and the beginning of March, and celebrates all things having to do with black truffles.  Norcia is located in the southeast of Umbria and though it is a little out of the way, it’s well worth a visit.  Located near the Sibillini Mountains, Norcia is a hunter’s paradise, especially for hunters seeking the thrill of chasing a wild boar, or for foragers seeking truffles.  As such, this little town is overflowing with really delicious earthy food.  This is a town for steaks, sausages, and of course the ever prevalent black truffle.  In fact, this town is so famous for its sausages and meats that there are shops (all over Italy) called “norcineria”. These shops sell nothing but pork products.  These are the shops to look for when shopping for prosciutto, guanciale, coppiette, salumi, etc.

There is another product the area of Norcia is famous for as well, and that is lentils or lenticchie.  These are grown in the high plains of Castelluccio di Norcia.  Grown at this altitude, in the shadow of the mountains, these lentils are very special.  They are thin-skinned, but when cooked still maintain their shape and texture.  Lentils are an important part of diets in many places around the world. I have eaten lentils in other countries and found them to be somewhat mushy and not to my liking; these however, are quite different.  It wasn't until I lived in Italy that I began to appreciate lentils at all.  Lentils from this area are so specialized as to have received “IGP” certification.  This stands for Indicazione Geografica Protetta which stands for “Protected Geographic Indication” and is your guarantee they come from Castelluccio di Norcia.



This recipe is for pork sausages with lentils, a very basic, very homey, very comfort food kind of meal…..one of my favorites!

Here’s your list of ingredients: (Serves 4)
Olive oil
One garlic clove, smashed
Pork sausages
Onions, diced
Carrots, diced
Lentils (I used 200 grams which made enough for four people)
2 cups of water, plus a little more as necessary
Fresh sage, chopped (or dried)

This is a stove top recipe and the beauty of it is that it’s a one-dish meal.  You just need one large skillet to get started.

Heat your pan, give it a good drizzle of olive oil and toss in your smashed garlic clove.  Rub the clove around in the oil a bit, and add the sausages.
As the sausages are browning on one side, dice your onions and carrots.
Turn the sausages over after the first side is brown.

Move the sausages to the side of the pan and add the onions and carrots.  (I would have used diced celery as well if I’d had any on hand.)  Saute the onions and carrots for a bit before adding in the lentils.  Mix the onions, carrots and lentils well, making sure they all get nicely coated with the olive oil and sausage fat that’s in the pan.  Then gently pour in two cups of water.

Bring the whole mixture to a boil, and reduce the heat to keep it simmering.  The lentils will need about 30 minutes to cook.  Check in on them once in a while, adding a little more water if necessary and turning the sausages over now and then.  After about half an hour, taste the lentils to see if they are done, and if they need some salt and pepper.  I added some chopped fresh sage at the end.  Be sure not to add too much extra water at any given time.  The lentils should be absorbing the water; this is not a soup.

And there you have it; salsicce con lenticchie.  There really is something special about Italian sausages; I simply can’t get enough of them, and if you can’t find lentils from Norcia at your local store, drop me a line.  Let’s go shopping together in Norcia!  Travel with me and Bella Giornata Tours and you will never go hungry….I promise.
mailto:[email protected]
    

Before living in Italy, honey was that pale, sticky stuff that came in a plastic bear.  It was okay.  I used it in my tea when I was sick and occasionally in a recipe.  Ho hum.  But living in Italy changed my outlook on many things, and looking at honey in a whole different way was one of them.

When I had my red wine epiphany (described in a previous blog post), my crostini were covered in not only melted gorgonzola, but drizzled with honey.  What?  Honey on cheese?  New concept.  Then I went to a book club meeting and the hostess served a plate of sliced pears, yummy cheese and a small pot of honey on the side for drizzling.  She told us her mother-in-law (Italian) had given her this honey, and warned that some people might not like it as it was quite strong.  I peeked in the pot to find the honey was dark as night!  What kind of honey could this be?  I drizzled it on my cheese and fruit, took a bite, and my eyes rolled back in my head.  Yes, it was that good.  I asked her what kind it was but she couldn’t remember…something that started with a “c”.

Fast forward to a weekend trip in the Italian countryside:  Pienza is a favorite little town.  It’s in Tuscany, but on the edge enough to make it a relatively easy drive from Rome.  When you are in Pienza, you are in Cheese Land; home to wonderful Pecorino.  And since all Italians know how well honey goes with cheese, you are by default also in Honey Land.  Seriously, once you’ve arrived to the Land of Cheese and Honey, why bother driving back to Rome?  Stay overnight.  Indulge.  We did…....many times.

Charming shops line the very few available streets in this tiny hilltop town, and they are filled to overflowing with cheese and honey and other delectables.  At one particular shop, we were given a generous cheese sample topped with a drop of dark honey.  I popped it in my mouth and thought, “Is this it?  This is it!”  I asked the proprietor for the name of the honey.  “Corbezzolo,” came the reply.  Yes, it starts with a “c”!  Since then, I’ve always had a jar of corbezzolo honey in the pantry.  It’s forte (strong), sharp, sometimes nearly bitter, but always sweet.  Does that even make sense?  And it’s perfection with cheese.

Not long ago, I discovered another fabulous honey product.  It’s called Abamele and it hails from the island of Sardinia.  This small jar of deliciousness is honey cooked down with orange slices.  Also, bee pollen has been added.  Orange marmalade has always been a favorite of mine, but this dark, dense, intensely flavored version is phenomenal.  It’s almost like caramel with more than a hint of orange. The bee pollen and orange bits gives it an interesting texture and it is incredible drizzled over my homemade cheesecake.  My initial taste sample was over fresh ricotta cheese, and I had to stop myself from hogging all the samples.  The ingredient list contains three items: 95% honey, bee pollen, oranges.  Amazing.

I found Melata honey for the first time in London of all places, at a fabulous food market that I used to shop at regularly when we lived there.  When I inquired where it came from, I was told he imported it from Italy!  Since then, I’ve been able to find it on trips to Rome, and various friends there have been lovely enough to pick up jars of it for me and save it until I come visit.  It’s a wonderful all-around honey; good not only on cheese but in sweet applications as well.  It has a beautiful well-rounded flavor that is deep without being too strong (but notice how dark it is).  I can eat by the spoonful….and I do.  I’ll be right back.

Another wonderful honey product is il mieleaceto.  This little lovely bottle comes from the Modena area which is famous for its balsamic vinegar.  In fact, mieleaceto is basically balsamic vinegar cooked down with honey.  The resulting inky syrup is nearly indescribable.  It’s sweet of course, but you get that vinegar hit at the end; a truly awesome combination.  This is lovely not only on cheeses, but on steak, risotto; darn near everything.  The bottle is soooo small.  I’ve been hoarding it.  Note to self:  Next time….buy bigger.

And on my most recent trip to Rome, I discovered Miele di ‘Erba Medica.  I was at a food festival booth featuring all kinds of honey.  I was told this particular honey has anti-inflammatory properties and that one should have a spoonful “after sport”.  I play tennis.  I run.  I am…..of a certain age….where anti-inflammatory anything is beginning to sound pretty good.  I recently read an article about how wonderful honey is for curing cough; in fact, some studies show it is better than cough syrup.  I used to wake up in the middle of the night quite often with a dry throat and an irritating cough.  But, I honestly have been letting a spoonful of this honey drip down my throat before going to bed every night, and it hasn’t happened since!   I also recently read another article about a particular island in Greece, famous for the longevity of its residents.  The secret to their longevity?  When asked, their reply was a spoonful of honey every day.  Of course they were referring to a specific honey available only on their island.  But nevertheless, the way I figure it, if a spoonful of honey will relieve my aching joints, get rid of my cough and help me live longer, I’m all for it.  In fact, maybe two spoonfuls would be even better.  I’ll be right back.  
(Don't you love my honey pump?  Thanks Holly!)

GREAT NEWS!

I've just published a new tour agenda for May.  It's called "Girlfriends on the Go", and promises to be loads of fun.  Grab five of your best friends, and Let's GO!  You get a $100 discount for being the lead girlfriend and rounding up your best buds.  I take over from there, doing all the work and planning for you, ensuring that you all have a Fabulous trip!

For full details click on the tab for Spring 2013.  

Dear Diary,

We start October 8th by boarding our lovely vehicle and making our way to Deruta; land of ceramics.  What fun to stroll from shop to shop perusing all they have to offer.  Then, as luck would have it, we are offered a spur of the moment backstage tour of the Gialletti Giulio shop and studio!

We watch as the potter makes a vase lickety split, followed by a bowl with scalloped edges….all in about 2 minutes.  We’re shown the giant kiln and are then amazed by the ginormous vat of underglaze each item is dipped into.  The best part is getting to watch the artists at work.  They are amazing…painting all the very delicate and intricate designs with a steady hand.  Maybe they don’t drink as much espresso as I do.

After hauling our purchases to the van, we make our way back to Todi for lunch and to get ready for cooking class.  We have a delicious lunch in a restaurant with a stupendous panoramic view of the valley.  It’s such a fabulous day to eat outside and soak in the natural beauty of the area.  Everyone opts for something different; pizzas, various salads.  We’re trying to eat light in anticipation of cooking class tonight.

Our cooking class is held in a beautiful winery called Decugnano dei Barbi between Todi and Orvieto.  It’s perfectly perched on a ridge with a view of Orvieto in the distance and row after row of grapevines falling away from every side.  We take a tour of the winery and even get to see how sparkling wine is made and stored in the old Etruscan tombs.  After the tour, we’re off to the restored chapel for cooking lessons.  We’re joined by another small group to make:  Focaccia bread, tagliatelle pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce, stuffed zucchini and brutti ma buoni cookies.  What a great name for these cookies!  It means, “ugly, but good”.  Along with each course, we get to taste the wines made here.

We had a long night last night.  We spent five hours at the winery and made our way back to the hotel rather late.  So Oct. 9th is a sleep-in morning.  Yay!  No alarm clocks.  But by 11:00, we are off to Montefalco.  For the first time, the weather is not cooperating.  Since its raining so much, it’s hard to sightsee.  What should we do?  I know…let’s eat!

We have a fantastic lunch; pasta cooked in Sagrantino wine, lentil soup…everyone chooses something different.  But there’s one thing on the menu that we ALL seemed to want: roasted artichokes.   Oh my!  They melted in your mouth leaving the crispy brown edges to crunch on.  Oh. So. Good.

After lunch, we’re in for a real treat.  We have a wine tasting at a winery that is so passionate about natural wine making.  We tour the facility and are amazed to see the freshly picked Sagrantino grapes drying on their racks.  Soon they will begin the process to become Sagrantino Passito, the famous sweet wine of the area.  I have tasted many passiti from Umbria (I am either proud or ashamed to say), and the passito from Paolo Bea is simply the best. 

We’ve been busy the past two days and the trip is winding down….only two more days left on the tour, but there is still so much to see and do!

More coming soon,
Irene