A Morning in Termoli

 For the past few days, I've been mainly heading to the beach for a couple of hours in the morning, and a few hours in the afternoon. I've been returning home for lunch in between, usually reheating something i cooked the night before, or trying some new ideas. 

Monday, however, I took a break from my routine and trekked north to the bustling metropolis of Termoli. In no way is this actually a metropolis, although it seems like one when compared to Campomarino. I needed to do some banking, pay some bills, and look for a second suitcase since it's prepaid already and I have bought a few things. 

After handling the banking and my cell phone bill, I stopped at a paneficcio (bread bakery) and picked up a slice of focaccia. Topped with burrata, mortadella, and crushed pistachio, the only thing better than it was the view I had of a nearly 1,000 year old castle kissed by the Adriatic Sea. 

Following the snack, I set off for a couple of shopping malls to look for a suitcase. I had seen one in the center of Termoli that was just about right for me, but wanted to make sure I was getting the best deal. While at the mall, I went to the supermarket for a few things, but id not find a suitcase I liked for the right price. I ended up walking back to the center of town to get the one I had originally seen. I threw my groceries in, then moved on to the pet store. All of the times I'm criss crossing the town, I had to travel through the tunnel below the train station. People waiting for trains saw me going back and forth a few times were probably wondering what I was doing. I even stopped by a pet store to get some gifts for the dogs back at home. The suitcase was filling up by the time I got the bus back to Campomarino. Once I got off the bus, I had. mile and a half walk back to the house. Really tested out the suitcase wheels. 

Aside from the excitement of a trip 6 km up the coast, I've been mainly relaxing and writing some screenplay scenes. I had a whole script mapped out, and then had a much more exciting idea, so I've started writing that one instead. Jazzed to get the words on the page. 

Foodtopia Moments

 The wonderful thing about summer for me is the time to try new things. My lunch today was one of those moments when I think of how I can make something and it comes out better than I dreamt. The pancetta (pork belly) is something I make for my business often. I cooked it along with some ribs the other day, and just reheated it for today's lunch. The pasta, however, was new. I stopped at a local market and picked up some fresh tagliatelle pasta. While the water got up to a boil, I mixed a few tuorli d'uovo (egg yolks), grana padano cheese, olio d'oliva, sale e pepe nero (salt and black pepper) in a large bowl and whipped the ingredients together. As soon as the pasta finished in the boiling water, I drained it, and immediately tossed the hot pasta in with the egg yolk mixture, being sure to toss it vigorously to coat the pasta and heat up the egg mixture. It was outstanding with the consistency of sunny side up egg yolk.

Foodtopia Moments

 

The other night, I roasted some veggies with salsiccia (sausage). I included pepperoni rossi (red peppers), zucchini, melanzane (eggplant), patate (potatoes), pomodorini (little tomatoes), and cipolle bianca (white onions). Roasted with the sausage, a mix of regular and piccante (spicy - though not by American standards), the veggies picked up a lot of flavor, especially the potatoes. So I've been eating them as parts of different meals, including todays omelette that was filled with the sausage and veggies. It was a delicious pranzo (lunch), and very simple to make once you have the veggies prepped. 

Beach Days...Then the Heavens Opened

 

The past few days have been very relaxing, possibly the most relaxing days of 2022 for me. I've been spending most of the day at the beach, developing scene ideas for a script I want to write, catching up on laundry, and just relaxing. I've been averaging about 15,000 steps a day as well, and just passed the 27 straight months of getting 10,000 steps per day or more...everyday. 

The beach has been peaceful this year, but as August approaches I'm noticing more and more people coming to town. My umbrella neighbors are ending their stay on Sunday, so it'll be interesting who comes there for my last couple of weeks here. Everyone around me is very nice and friendly this year. 

Rain has been in the forecast the past three days. On Monday, some clouds approached, then went away. On Tuesday, it drizzled for about 10 minutes in the early evening. Today, however, the storm roared in. Rolling thunder, lightning, and lots of wind and rain. Some nearby towns are completely flooded out. I was about to head back to the beach after lunch when I noticed the wind pick up. Then I saw the clouds on all sides of our sunny little beach town, and thought, I should wait a few more minutes. Within a half hour it was storming.

Sitting outside under the stars now, its so much more comfortable than the past few nights when the humidity was extra heavy. My neighbors are all in sweaters and telling me to put on long sleeves. I've been so hot for days, generally sweaty, that I'm just gonna stick with the t-shirt. 

Foodtopia Moments

 For pranzo (lunch) today, I made a quick bowl of pasta. I used fresh pomodorini (little tomatoes), zucchini, cipolle bianca (white onion), and olio di oliva, cooked it up for about 15 minutes with a little sale marino (sea salt), then added some tonno e pisselli (tuna and peas). The tuna and peas are canned together in a tomato sauce and they blended perfectly with the other veggies and sauce from the fresh tomatoes. While the veggies blended together, I heated the water and cooked up some ditalini pasta. Then I mixed it all together and plated. Just before I ate this pasta, which was full of flavor, I added some freshly grated grana padano cheese. It was a simple dish made with things many people here have in the house. 

Back from the North

 

My cousins Maryanne and Diane flew home this morning from Milan and I hopped on a couple of trains and made my way back to Campomarino. My trains were almost as long as their flight. I beat them home by only a couple of hours. 

We left on Thursday night to head back up north. The first stop was in the Tuscan town of Firenze (Florence). We made it there in time to have a quick Aperol Spritz and a meal in the Piazza della Repubblica, then do a quick walk around the city. The next morning, Friday, we set out for the sites. We found a tour outside of the Academia, where we saw many works by Michelangelo, including a Pieta, il Prigione, and the David. As many times as I've seen it (don't worry, I'm humble enough to know that I am privileged to have seen it many times), it's still awe inspiring to see the detail that Michelangelo was able to put into that piece of bad marble. 

My old Italian cell phone from 2018 was starting to give me fits, so I broke down and bought a new cell phone that I'm loving. It's a Redmi 5G by Xiaomi. I've never seen the brand in the states, but it works well and was economical. They even put a new screen protector on it, one like I've never seen before. They sprayed a gel, then put the plastic cover on the phone, pressed out the bubbles, then hit it with a blow dryer and heat. The salesman said it was a new process that lasts longer than what I am used to. 

We made our way through the city's sites, had a nice pizza lunch in the Piazza della Signoria while looking at the Palazza Vecchio and major works of art, then hit up the leather market. We bought a couple of things, then made a wish at the

Fontana del Porcellino (fountain of the boar). After making the wish, and downing some water (temps were triple digits most of the day) we visited the famed Ponte Vecchio. Even when I buy nothing, I enjoy window shopping all of the different vendors. I feel like a giant there sometimes as the entrances are very small. I tried on pinky ring, but they're not my style. Did not like the look of a ring on me.  

We pushed off Sabato (Saturday) for Milano. Getting in around 1 in the afternoon, we said goodbye to the rental car. The Fiat 500 X did us well. After assessing the suitcase situation, we took the train to the center of Milan to window shop, see the Duomo, and grab a drink before dinner back at the hotel. We visited the Campari bar. It was very elegant, and I immediately felt underdressed even though we were just having dinner and the most interesting snacks I've ever been served with drinks in Italy (they serve little snacks because it's taboo in Italy to drink without food). Besides pate, there was a tomato and basil candy like treat that was interesting and surprisingly refreshing. It was a little on the sweeter side, but not sweet like candy. But the most interesting snack was the one that had us all guessing. In the center of the dish was what we all thought was an olive, but there was no pit nor was it pitted. I thought it might be a large caper, because it was pickled. We finally asked the waiter, who told us it was a pickled baby peach. As soon as he said it, I bit one and could taste a slight peach flavor. 

Today was sad as I bid my cousins bon voyage. After they left, I had a little time to kill. I bought new headphones at the newsstand so I could watch stuff on my journey, then had a seat in the hotel lobby. Then I hopped aboard a train bound for the Milano Centrale train station. I walked around for a half hour, grabbed a couple of pieces of foccacia with procuitto cotto (ham) and some bottles of water, bought some reusable water bottles for the beach, and hopped on board the train bound for Termoli. After about five hours and 45 minutes, I arrived in Termoli. I wanted to visit the ATM while I was there, then went looking for something to eat tonight, settling on two slices of pizza. After taking the cab home, I ran to the farmer nearby to pick up some tomato and cucumber to make a salad to have with the pizza. It was a delicious meal to end the weekend. Zia came down and we hung out for a couple of hours, and now it's bedtime. Tomorrow I hit the beach. 

Foodtopia Moments

On a recent trip to the northern part of Italy, my cousins Maryanne and Diane, and I made out way through Toscana (Tuscany). Known for its beautiful cities, ancient and Renaissance past, and countless treasures in museums, the region is also known for meat. We went to the restaurant Osteria Filetto d'Oro, which was tucked away in a little side street behind the Duomo in Firenze (Florence). The restaurant was hot, like sitting in sauna hot, however the food was delicious. My cousin chose the wild boar, which I tasted and it was delicious. Loaded with flavors like wine, cinnamon, and nutmeg, it was as tender as one could imagine. I chose the tagliatelle con ragu di coniglio (pasta with rabbit gravy). It wasn't a tomato based sauce, but more of a brothy sauce with carrots, celery and onions. The lip of the bowl was sprinkled with black pepper which added to the pasta while twirling. 

For my secondi (main dish), I went with the tagliatta di manzo con rucola e parmagiana (sliced grilled steak over arugula with parmagiana reggiano cheese). The steak, like standard in Firenze, was served rare, almost to the point you could hear the mooing. It was tender and flavorful, and with the lemon I squeezed on top was the perfect way to have beef.  When in Tuscany, get after the meats.