Settling in

One week since I left home; almost one week since I arrived and I am finally settling in.  I ran the kitchen solo for both lunch and dinner toady and quite enjoyed the chance to cook Italian food for Italians and get kudos. Perhaps my techniques are not 100% authentic, but I hope that I can surprise a few folks with some cool new things. I am also learning some great ideas that I hope to bring home with me - absolutely loving zucchini carpacchio and discovered a beautiful tuna packed in olive oil that I hope to land in my suitcase before the end of the trip.

My Italian has improved immensely; I have spent the last several days working along side their cleaner/kitchen helper Inez. She understands just enough English to help me along, but not enough that we can communicate without using Italian. Of course food is the universal language and Italians speak with many gestures and much expression.

I was finally able to get into the cheesery to help out with the cheese making on Tuesday. I only had a brief introduction to the process and hope to get deeper immersed on Friday on the next day we go back. Cheese making is a process of patience and an amazing amount of cleaning after the process is done. I hope to share more once I better understand what is happening.

Ciao for now . . . .

La Cucina

Yesterday was another day spending time in the kitchen. We started the day with a bread making class for 5 young girls (5-8) from Abu Dabi. They were fluent in English, Arabic and French and three also spoke Italian. I started the morning by mixing, kneading and proofing 21 kilos of bread - if you have never made bread before, that is a lot of muscle work. We lit the pizza oven to make the bread, served breakfast for the guests and by 10am were ready for our students. The girls were absolutely delightful and very creative in their bread making - many cute pictures to come when I have the ability to post. With bread made, it was time to make lunch - simple pasta pomodoro along with various vegetables from the previous night.

We had 15 guests for dinner, plus us - making it a nice sized meal for 24. I finally got a chance to get creative and made a beautiful chilled minted, cantaloupe soup - what a beautiful site served in champagne flutes with a melon ball and mint sprig floating on the top. It was an absolutely perfect start to the meal. We grilled eggplant for a simple dish topped with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice; a tomato salad with feta cheese; simple sauteed peppers, roasted potatoes, black chickpeas with rosemary, I made a zucchini risotto and chicken roasted in the pizza oven. Of course the meal had to end with a cheese plate, espresso a simple semolina cake and grappa.

Meals are a beautiful occasion here - there is no hurry to finish, much laughter and happiness to be had and every meal feels as though a celebration. This is the reason I am here!

Day 1 - reflections

The farm I am staying at - Podere Il Casale - is a true working farm. The sheep and goats keep a full time herder, Marco busy, along with a help from the occasional volunteer. They must be moved from pasture to pasture and milked once or twice a day. There is work to be done watering plants, weeding, working in the vineyards, and of course feeding and entertaining the guests. Breakfast is a simple affair with homemade bread with assorted preserves made from fruit grown here on the farm, and of course cheese is featured at every meal - with ricotta being the cheese of choice in the morning. There is nothing more delightful than freshly baked bread slathered in ricotta with fruit preserves that taste of the sun.

They produce an amazing array of cheeses - I have yet to work on them. Milk production is lower this time of year and cheese making happens just twice a week. I hope to get in on the next session on Monday. Tonight a group will arrive for a cheese tasting and I will get my first real tour of the array of cheeses being made.

Yesterday, I spent the day getting oriented to the farm and helping in the kitchen - there are usually at least 8-14 people at every meal with the family, workers and volunteers and an array of guests. Last night was dinner for 25 - we made a beautiful vegetarian meal with a cheese plate and assorted prosciutto/salame made here on the farm. Dessert was peaches in red wine with whipped cream - using peaches that someone had dropped by as they were ripe and bruised. It is beautiful to see the respect paid to each and every ingredient and every aspect of the food. The food comes from the farm, from neighbors, every item that is made is known intimately.



Podere il Casale is a family affair - Sandra runs the kitchen and makes sure that guests are taken care of; her husband Ulisse is in charge of the farm and cheese making. Sandra & Ulisse have 5 sons who also partake in activities - 2 now live in Switzerland - having moved from there 20 years ago to start this farm. At any given time, there are 2-6 people around to help out as I am and they have a few other part-time workers to help with cheese making, cleaning and merchandising of their products. Meals are eaten as a group - long, multicourse affairs with many languages being spoken and much laughter and fun.

Time for afternoon siesta - I am off to take a nap  - days start early and dinner is often not on the table until 9pm or later. Ciao for now . . .

Finally here

Its now just after 4am local time and my body decided it was time to wake up for a bit. Jet lag does weird things to a body. The trip was quite an experience. Flight from Seattle to Frankfurt (shuttle bus * 2); Frankfurt to Florence (shuttle bus); local bus to Florence train station (45 minutes of confusion while determining that the train station is not in the same building as the bus station); just over an hour by bus from Florence to Sienna; off at the wrong stop - I got off at the bus station (to catch another bus) and apparently needed to be at the train station; another local bus from Sienna bus station to Sienna train station; many hours for the late arriving train to Montepulciano. Called my hosts and found out that I should have taken the bus as I was at the wrong station because alas they are 10 miles apart. Tried to find a bus from the train station to the bus station - no luck. Found a couple who had just called a cab and asked to share a ride - 40 minutes later the cab arrived. 20 minutes later we arrived at the bus station and minutes later my beautiful hostess Sandra arrived - warm and friendly she gave me the low down on all the other volunteers and guests at the farm. Amazingly, a mother son pair from Seattle who are long time regular visitors to the farm and a sweet girl from Penticton (that's in the BC Okanagan).

I arrived just in time for dinner; a many hour affair with easily 12 cheeses that they are making on the farm - I am in heaven - each one was better than the last. At 8 am I will help Sandra with breakfast for the guests and continue with touring the property; cheese making will wait a day or two to begin.

I am awe of the true beauty of so much of what I have seen so far. I must go back to Sienna and explore - I see a day trip in my near future. And in Montepulciano I witnessed an older gentleman and two younger ones rolling a giant wine cask down the street - of course I have pictures, but they will have to wait as I left my cable to upload them at home and am awaiting it to be sent to me.

More updates soon - must go help with breakfast . . .

The travels

Its 1:40am Seattle time and I am sitting in the Frankfurt airport awaiting my connection. I was not able to sleep on the flight; frustrating as I only sleep 4 hours the night before and it is 10:40am local time – I have a long day ahead. On arrival in Florence, I must find my way to the bus station where I while take two buses to arrive at my final destination. It is nice as I am waiting in Germany, but listening to passionate Italians talk loudly on their cell phones – I feel like it’s getting more real. I don’t really expect this posting to be too logical or insightful, just rather a state of affairs of the reality of my current sleep deprived, adrenalized mental state. I hope that I can stay awake to enjoy what is supposed to be an amazing trip through the Tuscan countryside.

On the flight from Seattle, I met the most charming woman. She is a PT in Seattle who arrived there recently via Victoria/Vancouver BC and before that Iran. She is on her way to Delhi where she is celebrating her guru’s birthday – a 3 day affair with 50-60,000 in attendance. Following that she will spend the next month continuing her time in India with her studies in meditation – a true spiritual journey.  I couldn’t help but be reminded of Eat, Pray, Love and felt as though between the two of us that we were conquering EAT & PRAY; I suppose the coincidence is not that amazing – how many people go to Italy to cook & eat and to India to worship and pursue their connections with their spiritual side. Regardless, it was a treat to start my trip with a kindred spirit; someone who is looking at the journey and not the destination.

Ciao for now; must spend a few minutes getting shut eye before the next adventure begins . . .

It all begins . . .

In bed at 2am, up at 6am. A few more things to do and I am off to the airport. Who would have thought that it would take so much work to get ready for a trip like this. It was so much easier in my 20's when I did not own/owe anything. Now I must tie up the business, tie up the house, tie up the finances, tie up the animals (well, not tie them up, but make sure they get to their temporary home). The list is slowly, but surely getting checked off and the excitement to leave is mounting.

Ciao for now; more to follow once I land on Italian firma terra.

Almost there . . .

It has been quite some time since I posted here. I decided to take on this adventure and suddenly life went crazy - in a great way. My business is thriving and planning this trip has been amazing. I leave in 4 days and cannot wait to begin!

I picked the name for my blog in the early stages of planning - 10 weeks seemed like a reasonable goal for my travels. And then I went to book my ticket and alas could not get 10 weeks to work with all the other factors in play. So, I will be gone 9 weeks. Still thrilled and just so excited about what the future will hold.

On night one, I will be participating in a beautiful meditation to bring positive energy to the gulf in this time of need. This is being organized by my dear friend Val in Sarasota - she has sent me a small handful of stones that I will be buried at various places along my journey.

I begin my trip in Florence. Time there will be short lived to begin as I immediately get on a bus and head to my first adventure just outside of Montepulciano (about an hour and a half south of Florence) at Podere Il Casale. I have the good fortune of helping make cheese for 3 weeks while one of the cheese makers is on vacation. We'll be making sheep milk Pecorino and goat milk Caprino, along with ricotta using organic, unpasteurized milk from the 150 sheep and 26 goats raised on the farm. At the property, they also have olive orchards, 12 aces of red/white grapes for wine, bee hives, wheat fields, pigs for charcuterie and a small garden harvested for the 45 seat restaurant. They make breads and pastas from the wheat and try to be self sufficient in every possible way.

I hope you will join me on my adventures and share in the beauty of Italy through my eyes.