Mare e Storia

(Sea and history) The sun was shining. No clouds in sight. It was 81 degrees with a light breeze. It was perfect weather to head to the beach and get a little color, and for the first time this summer I had the time. My back got plenty of color and now I can focus on my front. Zia made lunch so I didn’t have to cook. All I had on the docket was cleaning windows and screens.

Lemon Bar - fresh squeezed
citrus juice mixed with alcohol

Following a much needed shower after nearly 48 hours (how native Italian of me), Mom, Zia and I headed 5 km north to Termoli and the centro storico (historic city center). Tonight, we window shopped, took a passiagiatta (evening walk) through the ancient castle town built by King Federico II, and stopped by the best gelateria I’ve ever been to for a sweet nightcap.

Foodtopia Moments

Zia came over for pranzo (lunch) today. I cooked a sauce (no meat) from scratch with farm fresh pomodorini (small tomatoes), onions and basil. I threw in a little olive oil and sea salt, cooked until saucy, and then passed it to get rid of seeds and skins. For the second course, I roasted sausage with pepperoni rosso (red peppers), cipolla (onions), patate (potatoes) and basil. Again, the potatoes were a small, but important addition to the dish as they soaked up the flavor of the sausage and the peppers. There is even enough leftover to have over some pasta another day this week.

Pizza rustica

After resting and hosting two families of cousins, we headed into Centro, the center of town. There we had dinner at Lo Spuntino, a pizza a taglio (pizza by the slice) restaurant. Their selection is normally diverse and tonight we had one slice stuffed with sauce, cheese and prosciutto cotto (also known as sandwich ham), and another slice of rustica. The latter was a flaky crust with cheese, prosciutto cotto, and broccoli rabe. We ended the night with gelato from Shangri-La. Tonight they had a special fig gelato with chunks of fig running through it. 

Paradise Lost (at least for a little while)

The paradise that was the weather here has been lost, at least for a little while. I awoke to the sound of things crashing on my patio, and went outside to find our clothes drying rack and trash can turned over from wind. It was pouring, a full thunderstorm.

My whole life, I’ve been under the impression that Italians are good at handicapping odds. Somehow they got the weather wrong. A 20% chance for rain turned into a morning of storms. By mid day it had cleared up but throughout the afternoon we have been under cloudy skies.

The other part of the day was spent with family. Just before we ate lunch, my father’s cousin rode by on his bike and stopped in for a little while. Luigi is different than many Italians his age from their town, he is an accomplished world traveler. Then after lunch, My cousin Renato stopped by with his family and my cousin Vincenzo came by with his family. Once the dust settled, Mom and I headed into town to reserve a birthday cake for Zia and for a quick bite. Then we ended the night by browsing all of the African street vendors to see what we are looking at this year. I smell more watches. 

Foodtopia Moments

Today we had Italian potatoes au gratin. First you thinly slice potatoes, chop an onion, then mix with a little salt, olive oil, and parm cheese. Then bake for an hour uncovering halfway through. We also had a couple of spiedini di suino (pork kebabs). They had chunks of pork loin, pancetta, and sausage on the stick and were a great complement to the potatoes. 

Productive Day

Tonight I can rest easy as the hardest work is done. I was able to bag all of my garden clippings, filling six large trash bags. The amazing thing is that it is only an accent garden that lines one side of a patio and it produced 6 bags of trash.

Once I finished with the bagging I was able to sweep and wash the patio, which was beginning to drive me crazy with how dirty it was. Whenever anyone would come by, I would feel weird about inviting them in with it so dirty from a year of shore weather.

Mom went for a walk tonight, about two blocks away, then back. This is the farthest she’s walked in a while, especially since she broke her hip last year. Thank goodness for the walker. 

Foodtopia Moments

Pranzo

Pranzo (lunch), which is the biggest meal of the day here, was delicious. We reheated yesterday's roasted vegetables, added a little pasta, and topped with freshly grated grana padano cheese. It was mouth-watering good. We followed that with a simple salad of trocadero lettuce (butter lettuce or Boston lettuce), beets, and tomatoes with sea salt, olive oil and apple cider vinegar.  We also had a piece of bakery morning pizza with cipolla (onions).

Working, Shopping, Cleaning

Friday Market

Friday arrived and with it came the Friday Market, which is like a traveling bazaar that arrives here once a week. Meats, cheeses, olives, groceries, clothes, shoes, anything for the house, and belts big enough to fit me are only part of the items you can find there. All of the items are at a discounted price and every price can be, and is expected to be, bargained. We picked up a table cover, grana padano cheese, buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, figs, mortadella and roast pork.

Gardening scraps

When we got back from the market, I finished weeding and pruning the garden. Now I can rest easy and get to mopping this weekend. Then I can finally hit the beach.

The washing machine is working now

, so we have been washing like crazy. It's sunny, breezy, and very low humidity here so far so we want to clean as much as we can while it'll hang dry quickly.