September 2010 Archives

I'm afraid I am exhausted tonight so I'll include the new recipes in
tomorrow's post. I was able to cue up photos today and should be able
to post them tomorrow as well.

Today's big task was preparing the peperocinis for making peperocini
marmelade. We started with about 4 gallons of the peppers and it took
us (mainly me) 3.5 hours to deseed them all and another half hour to
chop them. This has got to be the definition of Slow Food. They are
now sleeping under a blanket of sugar and Giovanna will finish the
marmelade tomorrow I think.

After lunch, clean up and some laundry, I took the 5km walk into town.
It is much nicer is the daylight and when you know where you are
going.

Radicondoli is beyond charming! It is a town of about 1,500 and there
is only one road for cars through town and there is very little
traffic on that road. It hugs the side of a fairly steep hill, so I
frequently caught glimpses of the valley (including the Porcu family's
villa and sheep) and beyond as I wandered the narrow, stone streets.
The town was quite a bit more interesting, picturesque and had more
services (cafes and restaurants and groceries and even a bookstore)
than I expected.

There is a very lovely, well shaded town park on top of the hill on
which Radocondoli sits and the location affords views in every
direction. The area is know for geothermal activity, which is
harnessed for power generation. Steam plumes dot valleys to the
south, giving away the locations of the power plants.

I stopped in the tourist office just as the office manager was closing
up. I asked the time of the bus back to the formaggeria and she
offered me a ride because it was on her way home. How nice!

When I returned to the house I made the family chocolate chip cookies
for dessert. I unveiled the chocolate chips and cookie recipe a
couple days ago, so there has been a good bit of anticipation. I
remembered to bring measuring cups and spoons as a gift, as well as
vanilla and baking soda, but didn't think to bring brown sugar, which
of course does not exist here - molasses is fairly American I guess.
So I made a passable substitute with sugar in the raw processed for a
minute with a tablespoon of honey. (We've had some good laughs talking
about the important difference between tablespoons and teaspoons and
what cups and half cups are - our whole system is quite novel and a
bit absurd to them.) I got Giovanna and Maurizio to join in the
traditional practice of eating the dough before baking.

I received a request to reinstate the meal descriptions, so here goes.
There was a guest tonight (a man from Rome who stays here
frequently), which meant that Giovanna put together a more formal meal
and all freshly made.

The first couse was bruschetta using their saltless bread with a well
salted eggplant and garlic topping, sprinked with parmesan. Next was
a lentil and wheat berry soup - she started with a simple base of
sauteed cabbage, carrot, celery and tomato instead of using broth. Oh
it was so good! Next was a sauteed cabbage and tomato dish served
with large croutons of bread as well as the slightly damped flatbread,
which I love. Meals are definitely influenced by what is ready to eat
in the garden that day. Today it was two huge heads of cabbage and
piles of tomatoes.

As accompanies every meal we had pitchers of water and Montepulciano
wine as well as the saltless bread and salted flatbread (usually not
dampened). At the end of the meal there is typically a tiny shot of
espresso served.

Tonight we had our espresso with the chocolate chip cookies, which
were a big hit. They don't tend to have soft cookies here, so these
were a novelty. I'm so glad they worked out and that I saved Giovanna
the trouble of making dessert for one night.

Tomorrow I hope we make cheese!

Buona notte!

Today was my debut as a cheese monger! Yesterday morning Giovanna
informed me that they'd like me to go to Siena for a special and
important market. My job would be to design the table because my
career had to do with design. Luckily they didn't require a
portfolio.

Giovanna fussed all day yesterday, asking me which tablecloths should
be used and what sort of greenery and how to wrap the egg shaped
cheeses. I handed out verdicts on everything to live up to my
designer reputation.

This morning Giovanni and I left the house just after 6am, after I
grabbed some pears for the display (I read yesterday that they are
supposed to pair very well with pecorino) and Giovanna tore a couple
branches from a tree with tiny apples as her pre-dawn idea for the
display.

It was about a 40 minute ride into Siena, plus some waiting around to
get a special permit to drive into the city center. (Cars are not
generally permitted in Siena's town center - what a lovely concept!)

I had my guidebook open as we pulled up to the store. To Giovanni's
surprise and mine, the shop was the number one shopping recommendation
in the guide. It was like Siena's version of Made in Oregon crossed
with Whole Foods - a very upscale grocery specializing in Tuscan-made
delicacies. This was prime time!

I set to work right away as Giovanni parked the car. The table was in
an ideal window location near the main door so that people could come
in and sample the cheeses after seeing them from outside. I will post
the photo of the display tomorrow - we went for a rustic look that
highlighted the rinds of aged cheeses nicely. The pears, apple
branches and even the grape wines that Giovanni picked near the side
of the road on the way all came in handy.

For about half of the day I stayed with Giovanni and did my best to
entice all the English speakers to buy cheese. The Americans were the
worst at buying cheese. If they bought any at all after sampling it
would be a skinny little slice. Whenever Europeans (even the
tourists) buy cheese they get at least 1/8 and usually 1/4 of a wheel.
Future travelers to Europe, please keep this in mind.

For the other half of the day I wandered Siena. I came across the
huge central plaza first. You'd think it was a beach the way groups
of people lounged on it, all facing the lower side of the slightly
sloped plaza.

Next I stumble onto the university and its botanical garden with
lovely views of the city wall and the rolling countryside beyond. I
was my father's daughter as I scavenged several plums and a perfectly
ripe fig from under the fruit trees. The plums were some of the best
I have ever tasted.

Most impressive was the Duomo cathedral) and the panoramic viewpoint
above it. I promise to share photos soon. Every inch of the church
seemed to be covered in some ornate carving or painting or sculpture
or mosaic. The color and detail of the decor reminded me of the
Islamic architecture in Spain and Morocco.

I also went to the Wednesday Market, a huge, sprawling affair with
hundreds of vendors selling mostly clothes, shoes, kitchen wares and
hardware.

By the end of the day both Giovanni and I were exhausted from
standing. Somehow my muscles were at least as sore as the day I rode
a century in Cycle Oregon. We departed at twilight, nearly 12 hours
after we arrived in Siena.

On the home front I am happy to report that Tamara's Maurizio returned
to the farm with her yesterday evening. Tamara was obviously
delighted, which was a big shift from the sullen Tamara I had come to
know. Everyone seems happy to have him back - even Rocco the donkey
gave a heehaw that I heard from about a quarter mile away.
Unfortunately for me I seem to be allergic to M's tobacco. When he is
not smoking he seems like a very agreeable if quiet guy.

I only caught one simple recipe today. Boil 8C loosely packed
radicchio greens until very limp, then stir fry with olive oil and
three eggs, beaten. Salt to taste.

On the cheesemaking front, I got to wash aging cheeses, assist with
packaging about 1000 Euros of cheese for customers and today's market,
and salt a day-old cheese. While salting Giovanna clarified for me
that how long the salt is left on the cheese before washing it off
depends on the weight of the particular wheel of cheese. A 1kg cheese
gets salt for 5 hours and a 3kg cheese gets salt for 15 hours. For
large cheeses, about 3kg and above, it is best to flip the cheese 1/2
or 3/4 of the way through and apply more salt to the now-top.

A domani...

I've added Debbie's latest photos to the album for you to check out!

http://www.brettanddebbie.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Formaggio

It's been a slow day, but I picked up a couple of gems over lunch today -
pesto and acquacotta, a sort of stew of tomatoes, cheese and eggs. Recipes
are at the end of this post.

After feeding the animals and cleaning the floor this morning, Tamara went
to Siena with the hopes of coming back to the farm with Maurizio - so there
is still hope! I still don't know why Tamara was so mad at Natalie when she
got back yesterday.

I wasn't given any tasks, so when I got bored of dusting and then reading I
went for a hike. There are forested hills across the street and it turns
out that there is a nice trail along the ridge so that I could see into the
next valley and also get very nice views back into Radicondoli.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been able to pick up some good info on
cheesemaking. This may be a bit dull for the non-cheesemakers, so feel free
to enjoy all the new photos or skip down to the recipes.

Yesterday they had a small amount of milk (since many of the sheep are
pregnant or have just given birth) so they chose to make a cheese that does
not produce much pecorino, but leaves a lot of solids in the whey so that
they could produce a lot of ricotta. Giovanni said that the ricotta tastes
especially good from this whey. I think that they have constant demand for
the ricotta, which is why they chose to produce less pecorino in favor of
the ricotta.

I didn't get to see the pecorino production process, but they wound up with
6 to 8 10-inch wheels and 6 to 8 7-inch squares of pecorino. Giovanna said
that the two cheese are very different, but I can't figure out how or why
they would produce two such small batches instead of one batch. Maybe only
the aging is different? Hard to say.

They have two different aging rooms - one that is at 8 degrees C for their
pecorina fresco and ricotta salata. The other is kept at 14-16 degrees C
for the aged cheeses and there is a ton more mold happening in there.

Summary of my cheesemaking lesson with Giovanna yesterday evening:
Pecorino Fresco with raw milk
Heat milk to 38 degrees C.
Add 80g of salt and 5g of rennet per 10 liter of milk. (Note: salt slows the
curd formation, so slightly more rennet is needed for batches in which the
salt added during cooking rather than applied before aging.)
Wait for 15 minutes for the curd to form.
Cut the curd - not sure of exact size, but somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2
inch.
Wait 15 minutes.
Stir the curd for 15 minutes.
The acidity should be 5.10 or 5.20, which will inhibit the growth of most
bad bacteria.
Pour into molds.
Let sit at 27 or 28 degrees C for 20 minutes.
Turn over the curd and press with hands to promote whey removal. It is
possible to combine curd from multiple molds together as cheese compresses.
Let sit for another 30-45 minutes.
Turn over the curd again.
I'm not sure if you repeat this process one more time. In any case, the
last time the cheese is turned they do not press it with their hands.
Age at 8 degrees C for 30 days. Flip every 3 days. I'm not sure if they do
any additional treatment during the 30 day aging.
If the wheel begins to bulge excessively, that indicates too much bacteria
growth. In this case, they age the cheese for a total of 60 days to ensure
that all bad bacteria has died off. The taste is still mostly okay and the
cheese will look a little weird, but it is edible (though they don't sell it
in this case).
A little bulging is fine.

For aged Pecorino (my details on this are a sketchier, but the following
is what I understand), do not add salt to the milk and add only 40 g of
rennet.
Age at a higher temperature - 14-16 degrees C.
One day after making the cheese, coat it with a generous amount of cheese
salt. She said something about 5hrs for 1kg of cheese, 4 hours on the
cool. I think this had to do with the salt, but I am really not clear on
what this meant. Any ideas? Email me if so!
After 10 days, wash the rind with water, then apply oil. For certain
cheeses (Giovanna said, "as desired") they wash the rind with tomato juice.
Turn over every three days.
I think that the length of aging depends on the cheese.

Now for the pesto and stew recipes. These were both OUTSTANDING!

PESTO
4 C loosely packed freshly picked basil
2 medium-large cloves garlic
1/2 C fresh walnuts
1/2 - 3/4 C pine nuts

Process the above in a Cuisinart for a few seconds.

Add about
1/2C of 1/2" chunks of pecorino
1/4C of chunks of parmesan

Process for another 15 seconds.

Add 1 C olive oil.

Process for 15 seconds.

Add 1/2 C olive oil.

Process for 15-30 seconds.

Add another 1/2-3/4C oil and salt to taste.

Process for another 15-30 seconds.

She used about 1.5 or 2 cups of pesto along with a few tablespoons of the
reserved pasta water for what was probably a little over a pound of
linguini.

ACQUACOTTA
The name translates literally as cooked water. This is a traditional Tuscan
peasant food because it uses ingredients that are very easy and common to
grow here.

In a large skillet, heat 2 C olive oil over medium high heat.
Add 1 chopped red onion and cook until onions begin to soften.
Add about 10 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped. She added several different
types of tomatoes. I don't think you need to be picky about what type.
Cook for about 8 minutes.
Add 1C loosely packed basil and 1 finely chopped pepperoncini, seeds
removed (optional - just adds a small amount of spice).
Cook for about another 8 minutes.
Add 1/4 C coarsely grated parmesan and 1/2-1C chunks of mozzarella (Giovanna
used pecorino instead because that is what she had on hand.)
Cook for about 3 minutes.
Crack 3 eggs into the stew and let cook for a minute before breaking the
yolks and stirring the egg into the stew.

She served it with very thin flatbread that we have been having at meals for
the past couple days. Before serving the bread she dampened it slightly
with water. She then used it a bit like a tortilla to scoop up the stew.
They also ate it with the salt-free bread that they have at every meal. I
read in one of my guidebooks that this saltless bread is typical of
Tuscany. It is made without salt so that it stays good for at least
a week. They have a huge loaf of it and put it out at each meal, either
slicing a few slices and putting them in a basket or just leaving the whole
loaf on the table and slicing off a piece when desired. I find it tasteless
- even with the stew I had trouble enjoying it. But the flat bread and stew
was truly outstanding.

Buon appetito!

Translation:
Raw milk organic sheep cheese
White fresh
Robiola
Blue cheese
Semi-aged
Aged
Martolino
Wrinkled
Ricotta
Rovaggiolo
Bouquet of oils of ?
Pecorino made with ?

Thanks to the space age technology called Google Translator I had an
in depth conversation about cheesemaking and aging with Giovanna
tonight. I think that she makes cheese the way my mom cooks - she
just does it and it is a stretch for her to describe each step in
order for another person to understand, but I got a lot of great info.
It is too late for me right now to go into detail, but I will do a
special cheese post in the next couple days with photos and cheesy
details.

There was not a lot was going on today so I uploaded some photos with
Brett's help. You can finally see where I am now! I have several
more photos cued up - it takes a mere 15 minutes per photo to
upload... hopefully I can post a few more tomorrow.

On the boyfriend front, Tamara returned from her visit with Marizio
just before dinner this evening looking somewhat disgruntled, no
Marizio in tow. She almost immediately came over to the table where
Natalie was sitting with Giovanna and me, pointed her finger at
Natalie, and started a very accusatory dialogue. I understood none of
the specifics, though they kept saying something about going to Siena,
which is where Natalie goes to school and where Giovanna has medical
appointments from time to time.

A yelling match ensued, during which Giovanna kept saying, "Basta!"
(enough!) After a few minutes they stopped. Tamara was quiet at
dinner and went straight to bed after clean up. I am sure I will get
to hear details from Tamara tomorrow, when my first task of the day is
"to Hoover" the main room with her.

There were two food highlights today, a super fast and fresh pasta
dish for lunch and the white beans at dinner.

First a quick note about the Pasta Sauce #2 recipe yesterday - it had
Italian parsley in addition to basil.

Fast Pasta
The sauce for this pasta can be made in the time it takes to boil the
water and cook the pasta. They typically use Barilla brand pasta.

Cook linguini, fettuccine or spaghetti as directed on the box.

While preparing the pasta prepare the sauce in a skillet or saute pan:
Heat 1/4 C olive oil. At about 1 minute intervals add about 3 cloves
of coarsely chopped or sliced garlic, then about 2 lbs of halved
cherry tomatoes or small roma tomatoes, then 1/4 C coarsely chopped
basil, then 1 chopped pepperocini (no seeds). Let cook for 5 min then
add 2 or 3 T grated pecorino if you have it. Remove from heat. Salt
to taste. Toss with pasta and serve with parmesan on top.

Beans
Last week when I arrived we had white beans, which are a Tuscan staple
I've read, but they were bland. Today's were marvelous!

Soak white beans overnight. Bring to a boil in plenty of water with
fresh sage, rosemary, celery and garlic cloves. Simmer for an hour or
more, until beans are cooked through. Drain and remove most of the
leaves and cloves. Toss with 1/2 to 1 C olive oil per 6 C cooked
beans. Salt to taste.

Now for bed. We'll see how well I sleep because I just noticed that
the carcasses from the 2 bugs I smooshed the other night are no longer
there and no one has swept in here. I'm getting the heebie jeebies
from thinking about what carried them away... ick!

I've posted the latest photos from Debbie with some of the photos showing where she is staying:

http://www.brettanddebbie.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Formaggio

It is Sunday here, which is typically a big family day. The Porcu
family (the family I am staying with) hosted a huge Italian family as
well as 24 Americans on a bicycle tour of Tuscany for lunch this
afternoon.

Giovanna was already hard at work on the chocolate, hazelnut and
almond cake when I arrived in the kitchen at 8:30 am. She didn't know
quite what to do with me at first so I helped Tamara mark two of the
four (super adorable) month old shepherd puppies - one for her
boyfriend and one for a couple coming to buy a puppy today.

After this task I was occupied in the kitchen until 5pm setting the
table, chopping potatoes, breading pork (the one thing Giovanna
obviously thought I did poorly - go figure), cleaning the endless
stream of cooking and table dishes, and rolling about a gagillion
noodles.

The pay off was a real Italian Sunday meal with grandparents,
brothers, sisters, inlaws and several kids tearing around torturing
the cats. The food was the most elaborate and tasty of any meal here
so far and I got to watch Giovanna's every move so I have a half dozen
well documented recipes. The best are the recipes for today' pasta
sauce and pici (hand rolled noodles that are a specialty of Tuscany).
Both are included at the end of this post. The pici was out of this
world! So I'd say I made out pretty well today.

The bicyclists, on the other hand, got a tray full of the family's
cheese and a lunch that I think the bicycle guides brought in. The
family didn't have any interaction with the bicyclists, though they
got to enjoy a lovely view and great cheese. On my typical vacation I
would be with the cyclists enjoying the Tuscan experience. I realized
today what an amazing cultural and culinary experience I am having
compared to my normal travel experience.

The Italian family and I ate hand rolled noodles with freshly made
sauce and parmesan cheese. This was followed by platters of fried
breaded pork, battered beef, and floured chicken along with a single
sprig of battered and fried rosemary, which made the entire kitchen
smell amazing. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I did not eat the meat.
I did eat the side items which were fried potatoes, sage and romary as
well as a simple salad of mizune (sp?) greens and small chunks of
pecorino tossed with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, freshly grated
parmesan and salt.

Next came the cheese platter with red pepperocini jam and green tomato
jam - the pepper jam is especially amazing with the cheese. They also
passed around fresh ricotta (yup, the batch I helped with) and honey
to drizzle on top. I'm sad to say I didn't get to sample this, but
there will be other opportunities.

Then it was time for Giovanna's torta, which was like a very light
brownie jam packed with toasted almonds and hazelnuts.

Then espresso was served, followed by biscotti with grappa and port.
(Everyone chose grappa for biscotti dipping and them a few people
poured themselves a glass of the port.)

I promise not to detail every course of every meal from now on! Now
that we have seen all possible courses I'll just point out highlights.

In the conversation after dinner I got the gist of Giovanna telling
one of the ladies that my Italian is poor - I conjugate the verbs
wrong and use childish words - but that I am quite smart. So I
thanked her and she laughed. I was impressed with myself for
understanding what she said!

I'm afraid I could not upload more pictures tonight, though have some
good ones of cooking. The younger daughter, Natalie (who is only 16 I
learned), was on the computer all night watching episodes of Chuck and
playing an online fashion game that seemed to involve dressing and
undressing an unrealistically-proportioned model as quickly as
possible, though she assured me that this was not the point of the
game. Hopefully I'll have better luck tomorrow.

Now for the recipes, for those who are interested.

Pici
A pasta of Tuscany

Giovanna explained that pasta grosso thick pasta) such as this uses
the following recipe and that pasta fino (thin) uses the egg recipe I
blogged the other day. BTW, the egg recipe ratio is 100g semolina to
one whole egg and she does add a little salt to the dough.

Mix semolina or finely ground white flour and salt with enough water
to make a dough that is the consistency of modeling clay.

Put in air tight container and let sit for 30 min, or up to a day if
refrigerated.

Take 1 to 1.5 cup sized chunks of dough at a time, leaving the
remaining dough covered. Use hands to roll dough into 9 to 15 inch
long noodles that are about 1/4 inch in diameter.

I didn't catch how long she cooked them, but boil at a simmer
justuntil cooked through.

Pasta Sauce #2
Makes a least a gallon
Sautee at least a head, maybe two, of crushed garlic in 3 C olive oil
for 3 min. Add 1C pine nuts and cook for another 5 min. Add 1C
coursely chopped basil leaves, 1 minced red pepperocini (seeds
removed) and cook for 2-5 min. Add 9 to 10 C tomato sauce and several
grinds of pepper. Boil for 20 min (it was definitely beyond a
simmer).

Check out Debbie's photos from Day 4:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/DebbiesPhotosFromItalyDay4

Today is a slow day, good for sending photos and updating you on the family
drama and how to make pasta. I am sending a few photos to Brett - if
everything works out he will post them by end of day today.

Maurizio, Tamara's boyfriend, has still not come back and Tamara is beside
herself. When she is not working with me (as well as during the half hourly
breaks she takes when working with me) Tamara spends most of her time on the
stoop outside the front door alternating between smoking and talking on the
phone with him.

In addition to being angry at her father, she says he sounds anxious and she
thinks he might be angry with her, though she doesn't know why. The family
has said that they would like him to come back, but he says he wants to find
other work. He doesn't want to live here any more. He wants her to live
with him in another town, which puts Tamara in a difficult situation because
her work is here. Every meal there is a big discussion about it all!

She will be going to see Maurizio tomorrow afternoon and will come back on
Monday. She hopes that he will come back with her, but she doesn't think
so. Check back on Monday for the next installment.

At the farm here there are 300 sheep (I supposed the number is 305 now
because there were two sets of twins and a single lamb born yesterday), 24
cats, 10 dogs (4 of them are month-old all-white shepherd puppies that are
beyond adorable, one of them is a miniature doberman pincher that looks just
like a chihuahua to me), 10 chickens, 1 rooster, 1 duck, a boar, a sow, and
a donkey named Rocco. I learned how to feed the animals today, which will
be one of my jobs. It's good to have things that I can go do without having
to wait around reading or making up jobs until someone has something for me
to do.

I will do more with the cheese today or tomorrow - something with Giovanna -
and then on Monday or Tuesday Giovanni will make cheese again. I got to see
their affinage (aging) rooms today. There are definitely some unusual
cheeses in there. I have about a 100 questions, the Italian language skills
to ask about 5 of them and the skills to understand the answer to none of
them. Maybe I can con tomorrow's lunch guests, who reportedly speak both
Italian and English, into translating a few questions for me.

Now for the pasta. First I should note that I managed to erase all the
photos and videos from my SD card this morning so I don't have the photos
from the pasta making as I had hoped. Smart. Luckily I didn't loose
anything that I can't recreate except for the mountain of laundry - I hope I
don't have another opportunity to photograph that spectacle. I've already
been able to retake most of the shots and the next time we make pasta I can
take new photos of the process. If you are not into cooking you can stop
reading now.

Giovanna made the pasta dough using her Kitchen Aid mixer and she said the
only ingredients were semolina flour and egg. I wonder if she put a little
salt in there - I'll have to ask to confirm. She used the mixing paddle
until the mixer made a bad noise, then she switched to the dough hook. The
final consistency and moisture of the dough was like play-doh after the
bubbles have been mashed out from playing with it a bit.

She took half of the dough (about 3 cups) and uaed the mixer to knead about
a half to 3/4 cup of well steamed greens that she had processed in a
mini-processor for about 10 seconds. She needed to add a little more
semolina to the dough to balance the moisture of the greens. The greens
looked like chard, but she told me it was borage that she picked from the
yard - see the photo. So now she had half giallo (yellow) dough and half
verde dough.

She let the dough sit for about a half hour or so in a tupperware container.
To roll the pasta she would take about a cup to a cup-and-a-half-sized chunk
at a time and feed it through the pasta roller attachment for her Kitchen
Aid. She would feed it, then fold the ribbon and sometimes stretch it and
turn it 90 degrees and then feed it again, over and over, about 20 or more
times per chunk. I'll have to ask what she trying to achieve by rolling it
so many times. I know that part of it is a shape (fairly straight edges),
but I think that part may be the additional kneading.

At first she made just 4 ribbons of dough - two yellow and two green - about
20" x 4". Then she would take just one ribbon at a time, just before she
was ready to cut and form it, and pass it through the roller again. First
at a slightly thinner setting, and then at about a 1/16" setting. This would
make the ribbon about 3 feet long. She would have to gently bounce it along
in her hands to feed it onto the semolina-powdered counter.

Then she would use pasta rollers to cut squares of about 1.5 to 2".
Finally, we would roll each square diagonally around a dowel about the size
of a typical wooden cooking spoon, then roll the dowel with the dough on a
ridged surface and slip the ridged pasta roll from the dowel. See the photo
of the tool we used. They were now ready for boiling. Giovanna tossed them
with her pomodoro sauce and then put more sauce on top and served it with
parmesan cheese.

The photos to be posted include a photo of Giovanna's recipe for the amazing
biscotti she served at the end of the meal.

Delizioso!

It was the most mundane of times, it was the most exciting of times...

My entire morning and early afternoon consisted of plucking the stems
of dead geranium flowers from the stalks. Of at least 20 large potted
geraniums there was only one that completely overwhelmed me and I gave
up on it, though I swept under it very nicely so it would look a
little more spiffy.

While geranium plucking in the back yard, the Canadians staying in the
"Sheep Barn" (really a comfy little cottage just below the main house
at the edge of the pasture) began exclaming something about a lamb. I
thought I had heard some weird noises from the sheep a couple minutes
before - as it turns out a lamb had been born in the last few minutes
just 100 feet from where I stood. It was amazing to see the lamb up
and about and looking so cute immediately. I'll post some photos
tomorrow. Not 10 minutes later the Canadians spotted another new
lamb. Later Giovanni told us that two sets of twins were born today.
I'll have to keep an eye out tomorrow - the Canadians leave in the
morning so they won't be able to spot for me.

Lunch was Barilla pasta tossed with a homemade pomodoro served with a
variety of vegetables from the garden drenched in olive oil and
roasted. It was all delicious.

After geranium pruning Tamara and I folded and ironed the biggest
mountain of laundry I've ever gotten to know up close and in person.
Mom and Dad, I know I'm heading to NY next, but don't get any ideas.

On the plus side, the ironing room was right next to the kitchen where
Giovanna was preparing a feast for dinner - the Canadians and another
couple from Arkansas had made reservations for dinner at the house.
Fig jam, greens and tomatoes simmered away on the stove as she made
pasta dough, a pork roast and biscotti. The following is how she made
her pomodoro sauce. (Windy and Colleen take note!)

Giovanna's Pomodoro Sauce
Boil the bejesus out of a pot of garden fresh tomatoes for about an hour.
Use a strainer to pulp tomatoes and remove skin.
Return tomatoes to pot and add olive oil, carrots, basil, garlic, salt
and celery leaves (these celery leaves were a nice dark green and
looked like overgrown Italian parsley, though she assured me it was
not).
Simmer for 1 or 2 hours.

I know that the ingredients and general order of the steps is right,
but the ironing kept me from closely observing and timing all that she
did.

After the ironing I got to help Giovanna make the pasta, which
immediately made up for the torture of ironing. I'll describe more
about the pasta tomorrow when I can post pictures to illustrate (I
hope).

Dinner was enough fun to make up for days of ironing and flower
plucking (remind me of this next week). I had a great time talking
with all of the guests, explaining how the food was made, answering
some of their cheese questions and even doing some translating - the
Arkansonians only knew about 4 words in Italian. At the end of the
evening Giovanni joked that I was part American and part Tuscan.

The first course of dinner was the pasta (bigoli shape) with pomodoro
sauce and parmesano cheese. Second course was roasted pork served
with braised cabbage with bacon,and they kindly remebered to set out
the roasted vegetables from lunch for me. Third course was their
pecorino with Giovanna's savory pepper jam as well as green tomato
jam. Both were beyond delicious with the cheese. The final course
was a sweet white wine in which we dipped Gionanna's freshly baked
mini biscotti. She said that the recipe is typical for Tuscany. I
need to get a copy.

Buon appetito!

It was my first full day with the Porcu family and I got to make
cheese with Giovanni! We made about 24 wheels of pecorino and 20
quart-sized baskets of ricotta. When I say "we" I mean that Giovanni
worked with the milk and I cleaned everything that needed to get
cleaned, which was a lot. In fact I cleaned most of the time he
worked, and then we both cleaned for another 20 minutes at the end of
out 2+ hour cheesemaking session. But I was still able to see his
technique well. Hopefully I will get faster at the cleaning and will
be trusted to work with the curd before I go.

Other work activities today included watering the 50+ potted plants
around the house and pool, hanging and folding laundry, and harvesting
figs - all of which are much more pleasurable with an idyllic
landscape of rolling hills followed by mountains in the distance and
perfectly preserved Tuscan towns dotting the hilltops.

Earlier this morning when I arrived as instructed at 8am (walking just
10 steps from the door of my apartment to their front door) I was
greeted by daughter Tamara. As she prepared tea for me she gave me
quite a long story in broken English about how her boyfriend, who
lives with her here and works with her father on the farm, got in an
argument with her dad yesterday and left. She seemed quite distraught
about it and continued to bring it up every time I was working with
her all day. I hope he returns for her sake!

The other daughter, Natalie, cooked a lovely meal this evening of
pasta with ricotta salata, tomato, and extremely thinly sliced and
fried eggplant served with fresh ricotta and cucumbers - everything
but the pasta was made/grown here. I even helped make the ricotta
today! Unfortunately Natalie didn't eat a bite of it because she is
on a diet. She did her best to enjoy every last bit of her single
serve cottage cheese.

The family had a heated discussion all through dinner about Tamara's
boyfriend. I think most of it centered around whether she should
leave a message for him or not.

I couldn't hope for more from my Tuscan family experience! Even
though I only understand a fraction, they provide plenty of drama to
keep me well entertained.

Fino a domani!

Debbie

Hi everyone,

I made it to Rome and even managed to get the train to the city center, then
the metro to the bus station, and now I'm on the bus to Siena.
I am hopeful that I'll catch the bus to Colle Di Val D'elba and then my last
bus to Radicondoli. It will be quite an accomplishment if I pull all this off!

So far most of what I saw of Rome was apartment buildings and the insides of
stations. Now we are in the countryside and I can see mountains in the
distance. The terrain is changing from flat fields to rolling hills with
very mediterranean looking vegetation as we approach the mountains.

...

Well, it took me until after nightfall to find the place, but I made it!
The family seems very nice and the bit of food I sampled tonight (tomatoes
with olive oil, white beans, and homemade ravioli with their
own ricotta and spinach) was tasty. With the help of their two
twenty-something daughters the conversation was animated and lively. We
worked together to translate for each other.

I have my own apartment with large living space and private bathroom. The
view from here is amazing - everything you would hope for in a Tuscan view!

My updates may have to be short because it seems that my power converter
does not fit in the sockets here.

We have posted some of the amazing photos from the Cycle Oregon trip for you to enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/CycleOregon2010#

We really had a great time, saw amazing scenery, and met some great people. I was surprised with my endurance through the week, although I needed the 2 rest days my knees and legs felt relatively good the whole time.

The most surprising thing to me about the trip was the number of people, in addition to the 2200 riders on Cycle Oregon there were numerous "supporters" who helped set things up, run camp, serve food, fix bikes, etc. Together, tent city was truly a city!

What fun!

We finished the final day of Cycle Oregon today with a big 76 mile ride, including a 20 mile, 5000ft climb!

We woke up at 5am to pack our tent-in-a-puddle and damp gear after a rainstorm last night (real rain with lightning and wind this time, no sprinklers) and started riding at 7am. We felt strong and fast for the early riding, which was a comination of relatively flat and long rollers. Then we slowly pedaled up the big climb efficiently. Debbie being somewhat faster had time to stop for some photos of the great views and for chats with friends. The exhilarating descent was another matter, with both of us cruising down a long, steady, nearly traffic free grade to the finish. Brett took advantage of his "extra potential energy" to accelerate down the 15 mile descent and finish with a very fast, experienced group of riders in a paceline. This is the way to finish a ride with a smile..!

A 4.5 hour bus ride and we're back home to sleep in our own beds tonight.

Brett rode 380 miles in total this week, and Debbie did a few more for 390 by adding some extra miles to accomplish her first century on her birthday!

We had a good 76 mile ride on day 5 from Waitsburg to Pendleton via Athena. The headwind made it a bit tougher than we originally expected, but at least the altitude was lower than most days we've had so far. Debbie managed to get to camp in time to visit a fun waterpark that was opened specially for us!

The evening camping on the football field was made more exciting by the sprinklers going off at 10pm, proving the new waterproofing on our tent to be successful, but soaking a number of other people's stuff before someone found a shut-off valve. Everyone took it in stride.

Friday we rested from riding, opting out of the 55 mile loop. Instead we went to the Pendleton Round-Up Parade and the 100th anniversary of the famous Pendelton Round-Up Rodeo! We were amazed by the proficiency of the cowboys and the timeless quality to the whole experience, including the closest thing to a western saloon we've set foot in at the Let 'er Buck Room where they pretty much only serve Pendleton whiskey. The pictures when we post them will be amazing!

We're trepidacious about tomorrow's final ride of Cycle Oregon. It will involve many rolling hills followed by a 4000 ft "epic" climb on the ~75 mile ride. So we will be trying for an early start. Wish us luck!

Debbie and I are resting in Waitsburg (waiting in Waitsburg?) recovering from some soreness in our backs and legs while we enjoy the very charming town around us. We're having a great experience. Yoga at the end of each day is helping to keep our muscles happy. At meals, rest stops, in camp and along the ride the camaraderie is very strong among the fellow riders - we've been striking up conversations of riders from all over the US and even a few folks from Europe and beyond. Debbie's bike license place, "formaggio," is definitely a conversation starter, especially on those long, slow uphill grinds.

We're glad to have a day to relax and see town, and we're excited to avoid spandex for an entire day!

Here are Brett's bike statistics so far:
Day 1 4:23 53.31 miles 12.1 average mph
Day 2 6:31 89.74 miles 13.7 average mph
Day 3 6:34 84.61 miles 12.8 average mph
Day 4 resting...

(Debbie's are similar but farther and faster. She accomplished a century that took her to three states - OR, WA, ID - for her birthday on Monday. We already knew she was a little wacky.)

That's a total of 228 miles over some beautiful terrain!

Here are some photos (these are not at the usual Picasa site yet)

Debbie and I succeeded on finishing our 84 mile ride on Day 2 of Cycle Oregon and are feeling a bit sore but happy. We also did yoga, watched a sheepherding dog demonstraion, and Brett had a much needed massage.

We had a strong ride today despite the 10mph headwind for nearly the entire ride, we led and jumped in a few pacelines to help fight the wind. There were some hills today including a smaller one around mile 60-70 that was harder than some of the others because of the heat and length of ride.

It is fun to visit these small towns where everyone waves and says hi, Cycle Oregon must be the talk of the town with 2200 cyclists descending on these places in droves!

Brett rode a hard 90 miles today, and Debbie did a full century on her birthday by adding the extra option to the end of the ride! This is both of our longest rides ever, and on some serious terrain with ~4 thousand feet of altitude gain total!

We are a bit sore, but having a great time and enjoying great company while meeting lots of nice new people.

After a relatively easy 53 mile day of biking across beautiful scenery Debbie and I are enjoying beers next to a small stream and grassy area at the Terminal Gravity Brewpub in Enterprise, OR. The Double IPA is excellent, and Debbie's Extra Special Golden is tasty.

We started in Elgin this morning with a frost on the tent at 6am, but it quickly warmed up to a comfortable temperature. The mood of the tent city was more mellow than yesterday evening, which was a little overwhelming. We hadn't realized the far-from-pastoral hubbub that would result from 2200 riders plus support staff and multiple vendors.

The ride today started straight off with a 1000 ft hill. Most of the remainder of the ride was pretty as the route hugged the Wallowa River. The rough chip-seal pavement made it a little bumpy - Debbie's minimally-padded triathlon shorts didn't hold up the challenge! On our third and final stop of the day we rested under a blue sky and a shady tree for what felt like an hour.

We are camping on a golf course tonight, where we found a great tent spot overlooking the sea of tents and the Wallowa Mountains.

Tomorrow is a big day - 84 miles (Debbie hopes to do the optional mileage for a total of 102 miles) and 3000ft of climbing. Debbie will be breaking out her ultra-padded shorts for a more comfortable ride! Now we're going to rest up and rise early for a long ride.

We're having a great time and a great ride! Thanks for all the encouraging emails!

This is my first post from a blackberry.. Cool. We are on the bus watching the Columbia river go by. Many passing cars have bikes on the roof, presumably to go to CO also. There are lots of nice people we have met so far.

We are really doing this!

Debbie and I are embarking on Cycle Oregon tomorrow! Wish us luck on our ~400 mile ride that we've been training for since February! Cycle Oregon has a blog but I don't know what kind of info they are going to be posting during the ride. Hopefully something good with pictures! I'll try to post on http://www.brettanddebbie.com as I can find time in the blogmobile, or blackberry if we happen to find service out that way!

You can see more about the route here Check back here and see what you find this week..