BACK TO ITALY!

Okay, I think I've covered just about every aspect of our transatlantic journey! I hope you enjoyed reading about the voyage and seeing the photos, but I'm sure by now you're saying "but you live in Italy - what's going on there?"! so, without further delay, here's the update from Umbria:

Spring, really wants to arrive, but it's apparently going to be a very long, slow process. Yes, it's just March, but there are daffodils blooming and forsythia budding, and although it still seems to rain more often than I'd like, we are seeing a little more of the sun these days, or at least less rain than before. We've been able to take our afternoon walks about 5, maybe 6 days out of 7, so that's pretty good, but even on the days we walk it still might have rained in the morning, or later in the evening. The nights are also still cold - as in near zero cold, so spring is still somewhere off in the future.

We took some friends to visit the Vini di Filippo winery just outside of Cannara the other day, and then went for pizza at Carlo Magno pizzeria in Cannara.  We all really enjoyed the pizza, but what made this place really special were the onion dishes.  Of course Cannara is famous for it's onions, and holds a festa dedicated to all things onion every September.  At Carlo Magno's we ordered some fried onions, which were fried onion RINGS - and yummy! - and we also ordered a few plates of the onion parmagiana, and this dish was the hit of the evening!  It's listed on the menu under "vedure" (vegetables) to be served as a side dish, but we ordered it as an appetizer.  If you're in the area, you can find Carlo Magno's on the main road through Cannara (Piazzale C. Bonaca), between the IP gas station and the Conad grocery.  They're open every day, and the phone number is 074 272 234.

For dessert the kids had lemon gelato, which was served inside giant lemons! 

ONIONS IN EVERYTHING!

The other day I wrote about the Festa della Cipolla in Cannara, and last night Art and I just happened to be in the neighborhood so we decided to stay for dinner. A friend had asked if this festa was really all about the onions, since many festas might feature only one or two dishes using the food for which the festa is named. Cannara isn't like that at all. In fact, if you don't like onions you might as well stay home. Everything on the menu (except for the drinks) has onions in it, which was alright with us! Take a look at the menu - and note that even the desserts have onions!

The festa continues through the 6th of September, then again for 6 more days, September 8-13th.










We even bought some onions to take home with us. The squatty mild yellow onions that Cannara is famous for are soooo good roasted in the oven. Now that cool weather is on the way we're ready!

FUN AT LA FATTORIA DEL GELSO

Wow! We've spent several days with our friends Bill and Suzy, at their villa, La Fattoria del Gelso. The villa is just outside of Cannara, surrounded by farmland and views of Assisi...not too shabby! Over the next few weeks I hope to share most, if not all, of our amazing experiences...we tasted wine....and more wine, and olive oil and went truffle hunting and ate some amazing food.

I'll start this series with a story about something funny that happened as we were leaving the villa this morning. Bill and Suzy had gotten up early to take another guest to the train station in Foligno. The train left the station around 7:15, so we expected them to be back before eight o'clock....but eight o'clock came, then 8:15, then 8:30, and still no Bill and Suzy. We all just assumed that they'd gone straight to Wendy's office for a series of meetings she'd scheduled for them, but we were disappointed that we wouldn't be able to say goodbye.

Bill and Suzy had suggested that we just hang around the villa and wait until the meetings were over, but this being Italy, there was really no guarantee when the meetings might be over. We weren't sure if the technician was going to come this afternoon to service the caldaio, so we knew we'd have to leave sometime in the morning. Just as we were hemming and hawing about whether or not we should go, who should walk in the door but - Bill and Suzy! Needless to say we were all a bit surprised, and when they told us where they'd been (and why), we all practically fell on the floor laughing.

The train from Foligno to Rome had been running late, and when it did finally arrive Bill helped Dick onto the train, carrying one of his suitcases until they found his reserved seat. Bill had checked the train schedule and knew that the stop in Foligno was scheduled for three minutes. What he didn't know was that apparently in an effort to make up for lost time the train wouldn't wait the full three minutes. Just as Bill was putting Dick's suitcase in the overbid bin, he noticed the train was moving!! I'm not sure if he even got to wave arrividerci to Suzy, but he was headed to Rome with Dick!

Luckily the next stop was Spoleto, not too far away, but unfortunately he just missed the train that was pulling out of the station headed back to Foligno. Amazingly there was another train due in about 30 minutes, so he knew he wouldn't have long to wait. Since both Bill and Suzy had their cell phones with them, they'd been in contact and no one was in a panic. Of course they did have to call and cancel that first appointment with Wendy! And since Bill had the only key to the rental car, Suzy just waited at the station until Bill returned a little over an hour later. What a way to start the day!

For us, it was just further proof that when you're with Bill and Suzy you just never know what's going to happen, but you can be sure that in the end everyone will be laughing and having a great time! I can't wait to write about Bill and Suzy, about the villa itself, and about all the amazing things we did!

A SUNDAY OF SAUSAGE, CELERY AND SAGRANTINO

Last weekend we drove across Umbria, past the vineyards of Sagrantino, past the olive trees waited to be harvested, to Trevi. Trevi is famous for the beautiful celery that grows in the region. It's sweet, stringless and so dark green it's called black celery. We arrived early, as is our style, and on a Sunday afternoon this meant we were able to find a parking spot just outside the centro!

Stalls were set up selling antiques and knick-knacks, candy, and, luckily for us, onions from nearby Cannara. I bought several braided bunches of the flat sweet variety, perfect for roasting in the oven, some 'regular' onions for cooking, and a small bunch of garlic. Before we'd even entered the centro the trip was a success!

On our way into the centro we stopped in a small side piazza where potted herbs, apples, wine and grains were on sale. The pictures of the grapes in the previous two posts were from one of the booths, hosted by CANTINA BARTOLONI, one of the many producers of SAGRANTINO WINE. At €15 a bottle, this was our best bargain of the day.

Once finally into the centro we were surrounded by crates of beautiful celery and the smell of sausages on the grill. I'm guessing that this was the festa of sausages and celery because a festa with only celery wouldn't be quite as tasty! Art and I split a sausage sandwich and I resisted Art's urgings to buy more celery than we needed, knowing that we'll be back in Trevi on November 2nd for the FRANTOI APERTI. Hopefully there will be more celery for sale like there was last year.

For the drive home we took a new route, one we weren't sure of, but one we knew would get us to our destination.....eventually. The leaves of the Sagrantino grapevines are just starting to turn, and in a few weeks the vineyards will offer a dazzling display of reds, oranges and golds, our answer to fall color here in Umbria.

As always, more photos on OUR FLICKR PAGE.