Pbenjay's Blog

Aside from the fact that it really has rained every day since we we have here, there have been some minor adventures.  But first the rain, OF COURSE THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS CLIMATE CHANGE!  Seriously rain every day at one time or another; rain at night, sunny morning, nice day, clouds in the afternoon,  gray day, sun pops out at 4:00pm, sun is out and we have a shower! Yesterday was nice all day and as we left a restaurant last night at about 9:30 pm it started to sprinkle. It just doesn’t stop.

Ahhh BUT the memorable moments…

The first incident  happened probably the second or third day we were here, but since it wasn’t part of of the GPS debacle, I didn’t mention it.  The house has double doors leading to a small balcony off the kitchen and I wanted to open up the to get some fresh air in and step out on the balcony.  There’s a top-to-bottom screen that rolls up like a shade and I struggled to release the latch mechanisms in each corner.  Peter heard me cursing the screen and yelled, “Just give it a good knock”.  And I did and it hit me back!

Bang, Bang The Screen Hit Me

Believe me I tried for an hour to figure out how to reduce this photo!!

I’ve had some delicious meals these past two weeks, too many to describe and most of the time I’d forget to take a photo.  However, I had two Birthday meals, so I did capture those fabulous pasta dishes.  Since I slept through most of my birthday, my first meal was dinner at La Meridian;  Orecchiette with porcini mushrooms.

ORECCHIETTE with PORCINI MUSHROOMS

The next  day I had my belated birthday lunch at La Piccola Perla Del Maltese  in Cusano Mutri.

La Piccola Perla dell Matese

After some bruschetta that was made in heaven, I had an amazing Spaghetti Carbonara,  every strand creamily delicious.

Spaghetti Carbonara

And then there was the morning we woke up to find we had no water!  I called Pasquale who already knew about it. He said there was a problem on the road and the next door neighbor had already reported it.  “Look out the window”, he said.

No Water!

Miraculously fixed in a couple of hours! And the bricks in the road were replaced.

No water, no problem,  there is always wine in Guardia!  On a warm Wednesday, we joined a few other expats (as how they refer to us) and visited a private vineyard and winery in Guardia Sanframondi which was located in the middle of all of their lush 20 hectares (just under 50 acres).

The Perfect Glass Of Wine in the Perfect Setting. Photo by Kelly Putney

We were given a thorough and informative tour of the entire operation.  Huge stainless steel vats were installed in the lower level where the grapes were processed.  The amount of equipment was overwhelming!  I can’t imagine the investment in machinery and this is not a big vineyard and we are in just one of Italy’s many wine producing regions.  What I learned however was that the fallinghina grape is grown here almost exclusively.  In fact Corte Normanna’s wine has received official certifications from the government which attest to its quality and authenticity of origin.  We spent a leisurely hour enjoying a light lunch of house made dishes and delicious cured meats and cheeses and of course wine.

Peter and I DID NOT KNOW a photo was being taken. We were listening intently to Alfredo

Alfredo, one of the two brothers who now run this family-owned generational vineyard, joined us and answered many questions and told us much about grape growing and how dependent they are on the weather fora good harvest.

Everyone is Smiling We Drank a Lot Of Wine

So far, we’ve closed at least two restaurants; one night at La Meridiana we left about 2am and it was after midnight when we finally let the staff of Alchime go home.  We’ve been eating out a lot (Peter’s definite preference) but I did manage to cook a few dinners in my great kitchen here.  Joel arrives tonight and I will be happy to cook more.  Went to the open air Sunday market and bought several items for this week. I HAVE to share:  3 blood oranges, 4 bananas, a small melon, a small bunch of Vesuvio tomatoes, 2 zucchini’s, a huge head of fennel, 2lbs of fava beans  = 5.50 Euros!!  So then I went to the olive, cheese and salted fish dealer.  It cost more than I expected but there were no prices on things per pound and even if I asked I’m not sure I would have gotten  the translation ( their dialect) quickly enough.  But that’s on me because all the dealers are patient with their new foreign customers of which we are many.  I bought a bag of green olives – this is where he puts them in and I say basta.  A quarter of a caciocavallo cheese, a good size piece of fresh ricotta (which I’m not sure what to do with yet), a small ball of mozzarella that his mama insisted I take, and about 1+ lb of pistachio nuts and finally 1 of these crazy big tarrella they make filled nuts – to eat along the way!  All that cost $14.50 Euros!  I’m sure I came out pretty good and we will eat well this week.

Caciocavallo Cheese

To Be Continued…