wanted to write earlier, but was in such a pissy mood! went to bed grumpy, woke up grumpy. the weather suited my bad mood: deep clouds of fog and rain, so thick and low that when i looked out of my bedroom window i couldnt even see the other house 50 yards away, just a wall of grey smoke, little whisps filtering in, swirls and puffs. i loved it. i brooded. not sure why i was so grumpy, except that i ate so much and drank so much at the festival yesterday, and then got a call from jane pretty much securing the fact that- surprise!- shes not coming afterall. for some reason this prompted me to call FL, tell him that he needed to buy a house, with a kitchen and a garden and a bathtub, and when he said, "ok, and? give me something serious to do", i hung up on him. was evil and bratty ("caprisciosa", by the way, is the italian word for brat. perhaps you've seen it as an option for pizza with every imaginable topping, for the girl who just cant decide. FL uses it all the time, and for some reason it cracks me up, probobly because i generally always deserve it, yet know hed never mean it seriously. but seriously. im a brat). anyway. am better now. the problem with blogging is that i just dont even know where to begin. i want to give character descriptions of all the people here. we live on a tiny mountain top, in two 700 year old (!!!) farm houses, all on top of each other, no city or town or anything for miles, just us and work and meals day in and day out. the days fly by. it seems its always morning milking, always lunch, always evening pasture, and the all the sudden its dinner and we're all happy and exhausted and thinking, lord, that was quick.
i cut all of my hair off. nicole helped me. it was that horrid mullet-type thing from a while back, and i just got sick of it. now its short and simple and i can run my hand through it and go. a little lopsided. maybe will try and get it shaped up some when im with marion. she has a good hair salon.
on sunday there was a food and wine festival in town, and the whole gang went. we paid a 15 euro cover, then spent the next 5 hours wandering through the cool, cobble stoned streets of the medieval town of Murazzano, stopping at different posts, each offering local wines, cheeses, dishes of meat and vegetables. the best was this miracle of a puff pastry, it seemed like 50 different air-thin layers of soft crunch, and inside was a stuffing of hot, melted blue sheeps cheese. they would fry the pastries right before our eyes, and then lay a rather thick (considering) strip of cured and aged pork fat, pancetta, over the top. the heat from the fresh fried dough would melt the fat, and the whole thing just like, gelled together into one of the most primally delectable bite sized morsels i have ever had the pleasure of craving. it was divine. there was also homemade sage and butter ravioli, fresh hams, roasted sheep, weird grilled cheese sandwiches that were like, beyond what one could hope for alongside a bowl of tomato soup on a rainy day. and the wine...well, i take back my first accusations, that piemontese wines were MERDE. i dont know about the barolo being the King of Italian Wines, but they were pretty danged good. a whole new ball field of grapes and production, so different than friuli, types and history that i had never heard of. wrote simone one of my first days here and told him that friuli wines had spoiled me, and that everything in piemonte so far had been acidic and the color of watered down blood, but of course i was in shock, and my senses were dulled and partial. mario had a stand at the festival where he sold his cheese, and elina, the girl from latvia, was there making her famous sun hats out of grape leaves. she was going to give them away for free with a purchase of cheese (mario encouraged this), but the americans, as capitalists, sai "screw that, lady, you could make a killing!". she sold about 10 hats at 10euro a pop and like, trippled her travel budget. brava. need to learn a skill...
the day was wonderful, and it was so nice hving all of us there. we kept running into each other and splitting into little groups, everyone so happy and comfortable with everyone else. when we got home i made fried green tomatoes for everyone.
so i have leanred to make ravioli, and i have picked up some secrets for the kitchen in general. theres a wonderful recipe that i know my mother will enjoy: mint and ricotta penne with zucchini. my father would be proud: i have been eating lots of beets ("natures candy!); we make a salad out of them with lemon, fresh herbed goat cheese, and hazelnuts. i made pickles and oiled artichokes, preserved anchovies in salt and white wine (anchovies, by the way, might be the only food in the world that i can 100%, officially say that i do not like. they are soooooo fucking gross, actually), fried zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese. i have made soft goat cheese and started the process on aged, hard sheeps milk cheese. shaved truffles and raw veal is now one of my favorite quick-and-easy lunch-time dishes. all in all, id say that i am one spoiled, lucky little caprisciosa. the food here is incredible, but im ready to move on...
so today rachel and i are making nanas carrot cake. im using fresh hazelnuts instead of walnuts, and fresh peaches for the glaze instead of frozen-canned orange juice concentrate, and i think im gona mix some honey and goat cheese into a paste to add a little moisture instead of using so much oil. ill let yall know how it turns out.
love to everyone, ill write again soon!