Hazelnuts

Having a quiet time while awaiting lunch - its a nice change of pace to be in a place where I am not cooking daily. I arrived last night to a very full house - 3 permanent adults - 2 Italian and one French; 2 volunteers from Montana, 2 from Britain, 2 from France, 1 from Southern Italy and friends of the owners - 1 from France and a family of 5. Dinner was a raucous experience and I have really learned to appreciate lardo - an Italian delicacy of cured pork fat with rosemary, salt and lots of pepper. I had been told about it by a friend who had spent time in Italy and could not imagine eating it, but Lupe - one of the owners and a former professional chef who has worked in Michelin rated restaurants in Paris and Milan made a beautiful dish of potatoes sauteed with olive oil, salt, rosemary and garlic and then placed in a roasting pan and topped with thin sliced lardo and roasted until the lardo is crisp and the potatoes are done and nicely coated with the fat and flavorings - belissima.  We also had a beautiful salad of roasted peppers, sauteed greens, the ever present tomato salad and of course pasta with tomato sauce. Dinner was accompanied by much wine and caffe and grappa to finish off the meal. All eaten somewhere after 10:30pm; finishing just close to midnight in true Italian fashion. Morning arrived early as they take advantage of cooler temperatures to pick the hazelnuts - a very labor intensive process of raking and sorting each nut by hand. 6 of us produced a wheelbarrow full of nuts by about 11am when Lupe arrived to tell us that it was time to end or the morning. We will have lunch, a siesta and then head back out to the fields around 6pm to start again until dusk. A nice leisurely pace and a very jovial group has made this a nice first day. I think I will enjoy my week here and the change of pace.