October 20lost first post, so will start over…

We took a taxi to the Villa Decugnano do Barbi for our cooking lesson. Decugnano is an ancient word that might mean villa, or farm or vineyard, but no one is sure. Dei Barbi means of the Barbi family who have owned the Villa since 1973. There are several buildings on the property, the villa where the family lives, a smaller structure available to rent, a swimming pool, the wine production and storage buildings and a former chapel with kitchen attached. We were given a walking tour of the vineyards, olive grove and the caves where wine is stored at a constant 51 degrees year round. We could see Orvieto 15 mines in the distance.  

We started our cooking class with Anna Rita and Rosanna by donning our aprons (which we got to keep) and chopping and slicing and making pizza and pasta douh. After kneading, we set the pizza dough in the sun to rise and started kneading and rolling out the pasta dough, made with flour, water and eggs. When it was ready, we sliced it about 3/4 inch wide and set it on a board to dry. I stuffed zucchini flowers with. Slice of mozzarella and would have added the traditional anchovy if it had been available. Dipped them in a batter, put them in an oiled pan and baked. Meanwhile, we sliced potatoes, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, chard and leeks, and carrots. Sausage meat, hamburger, egg, garlic, salt & pepper were mashed together and wrapped into a slice of thinly sliced veal, rolled up and secured with a toothpick. Put into a frying pan, two cups of white wine and cooked over a low heat for 15-20 minutes. This was our entree. Meanwhile, we spread the rolled out pizza dough into greased pans. One one we put zucchini slices, salt & pepper and Rosemary. Another potato slices, salt, pepper and Rosemary. One had tomatoes and garlic and the last one had tomatoes, basil and mozzarella added after the crust was done, just to melt the cheese. That was the only pizza with cheese. They were delicious. One pan was foccacia bread with salt and Rosemary. The pasta sauce was crumbled sausage, garlic, tomatoes, onion and carrots. The food was wonderful and simple to make. I will be making pasta at home…without a pasta machine. My pasta making machines are at the end of my arms! We also made cookies for our dessert. They were made with ground almonds, sugar, baking powder and egg whites and put into balls and baked 15-20 minutes. Each course was paired with a wine from the winery. We ate in the former chapel at a table for 10. There are three of those tables in the chapel with plenty of space. There is a huge window at one end where the altar once stood and it is framed with parts of the wooden altar. Pictures around the walls of religious cardinals and such and probably ancestors of the villa. The room looks huge in part to the high restored wooden roof. There are two bell pulls by the front doors. Now the front doors are all glass, which allows the diners to see Orvieto framed in them and the spectacular sunset! Just a beautiful vista! We returned to the convent, full of delicious food and having had a fabulous cooking experience. Would certainly recommend it to anyone going to Orvieto.  

sorry!

I have just had the best four days. There is a big Crafts Fair here called Abilmente and our Quilt Italia group had a booth for four days. I helped each day, and it has been so much fun. Wasn’t sure how much help I would be not really being able to explain or teach quilting in Italian. As it turned out, I was quite helpful. There were three tables set up for people to learn to quilt that had cutting mats, rulers, cutters and sewing machines. I sat at a table and handed out our magazines and information cards, and as I was sewing my bunnies and as I had started making Grandmother’s Flower Garden flowers, people were asking me about hand sewing. I could show a picture of what my finished bunny quilt would look like and what a Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt looks like. I also showed them how to cover the paper hexagons with fabric and how the 7 hexies make a ‘flower’. I gave everyone a Hexie as a starter and told them I wanted to see their finished quilt in a year! If they got too technical with their questions, I would get one of the Italian ladies to answer. They were pleased to be able to offer machine quilting and hand sewing as well. This once a year Crafts Fair is held all over Italy on different weeks. It features every type of craft you can imagine: knitting, quilting, crochet, papier-mâché, ornament making, doll making, cake decorating, marzipan, scrap booking, miniatures, weaving, felting, beading, candy making, toy making and on and on. Sort of like a giant Michael’s with classes. It is held in a huge complex near the airport and out of 12 huge rooms, the Abilmente took up only two. There were three quilt exhibits at this show. Quilt Italia had an exhibit of about 20 quilts that were all based on a food theme. Then there was an exhibit of quilts from the U.S. The most amazing, however, was from France. About 20 quilts, all large, and almost all completely hand done. And some with literally over one thousand little pieces. Absolutely amazing work. My friend, Francesca went over to talk to the two ladies who were there representing the French quilters. She was speaking to one lady and I glanced at the second lady and she said, ‘I know you!’ She remembered me stopping by their booth at the Houston Quilt Show last year. I remembered stopping by, but didn’t remember the lady…but will certainly see her in Houston next year. Her name is Aline Joulin and her specialty is making copies of antique quilts from the 1800’s. All with tiny pieces and all by hand.  

I have had a nice time the last two days, just wandering and relaxing.  Yesterday, I went along Via Corso that I’ve traveled many times by bus, but decided to do it on foot yesterday.  I stopped by to see Wanda…pronounced Vanda…the French bulldog I love…but was told she is on vacation.  From what???  Earlier in the week her dad said she was staying home because it was rainy and too dangerous on his motorcycle, but she was going to the gym.  I am sure that is what he said.  Maybe she is.  I do have a picture of her in a bikini from her summer vacation.  Well, I went to an art show first on Via Corso.  It was by Kokocinski.  Google him…he had a very interesting life and I presume he still does as he is not dead.  He worked in a circus I think in Argentina and that is probably where he got a lot of his ideas about clowns and the Italian clown Pucinella.  His art is three dimensional done in paint, papier-mâché, fabric, metal etc.  I really enjoyed the exhibit and his art.  Glad I went as the show closed today.  The. I went to the Doria Pamphilli Palace.  The original family still inhabits the palace and one can tour their apartments, altho they were closed yesterday.  I did tour the palace.  An old Pope gave the palace to his nephew, a Cardinal.  The Italian word for nephew is nepoti and from that word and the family connection we get our word…nepotism.  The Cardinal liked to collect art and the. He left the church and married a very wealthy woman who also liked art and she had a huge collection.  They combined the collections and the family kept collecting.  There are several Carravaggio’s here.  I had just had the Courtesans tour last week and learned that Carravaggio used town folk and prostitutes as his models.  Well one picture in this palace is of a red haired prostitute and in the picture next to it is one of the Holy Family on a rest going to Egypt…and the Virgin Mary is the exact same woman.  Not much wonder that Carravaggio had a rough time of it.  He just wasn’t as reverent as people thought he should be.  This palace is huge and beautiful and has a lovely central garden with a fountain.  You would just never guess what is behind walls as you go down the streets of Rome.  Had lunch and wandered toward the Pantheon and saw several children in Haloween costumes.  They seem to favor witches over here.

Today, I needed to check out a train station that Imwill be using on Thirsday morning.  The bus took me to the Pyramid I have spoken of before, so after finishing the correct station, I went to spend the afternoon at the Protestant Cemetery right by the Pyramid of Cestus (I think that is his name).  The cemetery is where Shelly and Keats are buried.  To me it is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world …at least that I’ve seen.  It is small and with rather dense forestation with beautiful old tombstones.  Today, being All Saints Day, the graves had lovely flowers and there was a huge arrangement at the front with wonderful smelling lilies.  Many of the graves had royal purple cyclamen planted around them and they were quite stunning. Several graves are planted with small pomegranate trees and the blooms have mostly developed small pomegranates.  Many graves also had crysanthemums (learned to spell that in Mr. Stewart’s class) as they are considered the ‘death flower’ in Italy.  Don’t take crysanthemums to living people.  Not proper flower etiquette.  There was one large tomb, with a young man carved on top, open book and a little dog.  The man’s name was Devereaux Plantagenet Cockburn…late of the Royal Scots Greys…2nd Dragoons, of deep and unpretending piety, of rare mental and corporeal endowments, and was beloved by all who knew him.  He died in May of 1850 at the age of 21.    I enjoyed sitting on benches in the sunshine today, reading and sewing and listening to the birds and just contemplating how great it is to be alive and living in Rome for this year.  

Storytellinginrome.com

The above website is for a tour of The Courtesans of Rome by the gifted storyteller, Massimo.  I took the tour the other day with my friend, Shelecia who was visiting.  This was a three + hour walking tour to see the artwork, architecture, churches associated with Renaissance Courtesans and prostitutes…do you know the difference?   Courtesans were women who were high class ladies of the night who lived in a palace and were under the protection of the high class official, be it Prince or Cardinal of the church…or Pope!  They became very wealthy, often making as much as today’s equivalent of $20,000 a day.  Jewels, silks, property and gifts were bestowed on them by their protectors.  They were highly educated, often very beautiful…altho not always, and were very classy women with independence and riches.  Wives didn’t fare so well!  As protected as Courtesans were, the street Prostitures were not…there were two sets of laws.  Street prostitutes had a night time curfew and they were tormented and tortured if caught at their profession…often with public whippings.  Their life expectancy was about 25 years.  We learned why Carravaggio was often reviled as a painter…he used known prostitutes as the subject for his Religious paintings…of Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary.  We saw the beautiful homes of the Courtesans on this tour with balconies where these women could advertise as pilgrims traveled to the Vatican.  We learned about where the prostitutes could best advertise their services and where the men could best ‘shop’ for services…in one specific church, no less.  And contraception was pretty grim, drinking lead water, eating Mercury or using a lemon!  Why contraception was encouraged by the Church.  This was such an educational and interesting tour…I can’t wait to get home to read all about the Borgias and other high class courtesans, their lives and patrons.  If you are coming to Rome, I highly  recommend this tour with Massimo…and it is only 20€ per person…a huge bargain for three hours that fly by.  I promise you will be entertained!

Please ignore the two weird ‘posts’ on these dates….this operator is having technical difficulties posting. My son is the computer whiz…not The Mom!  

Will try my 4th attempt to send the cooking class post later.  

i was getting emails that people were not hearing from me anymore or the blogs were strange and cut off in mid-sentence.  I have sent the ones in question again.  They all are titled. ” Resending ” with the dates.  One is about our cooking tour….this may have come to you several times as this was when the problems seemed to have started.  Then Thanksgiving.  A post for the Ghost/Torture tour.  Dec post for,Mass at St. Peter’s and Jubilee Door and another one sentence post of the two popes.  Two posts follow….100 Nativity Sets and the Toulouse Lautrec exhibit.  

In the future…what’s left of the year in Rome…I will end a post with ‘That’s all for today’ so you will know you,got…or didn’t get…the entire post.

That’s  it for today!

After the excitement of returning Nancy’s passport, I took a three hour nap…and even slept well last night.  What an ordeal!

Today, Andy’s friends, Cecile and Sandy and I left for Orvieto.  Nice easy train ride and we got to the convent with no problem.  Checked in, dropped off,our bags and went next door to our favorite place to have lunch.  It was delicious, as usual.  Then we walked thru the town and looked at all the shops.  Sandy and I went for a cappuccino in a little garden upstairs at a restaurant.  The weather has turned very cool, and I was glad to have my coat on.  Right after lunch, I went a few doors down to make reservations for dinner at the Zepplin Restaurant.  The owner and chef, Lorenzo said they were fully booked for tonight.  I told him we had tried to get in in June, but they were closed and my friend, Connor said we had to eat there.  Connor is a waiter in Dallas and when he heard that I was moving to Italy, he told me he had studied with Lorenzo for three months here in Orvieto.  So the name dropping did the trick!  He told us to come at 6 and it would be a set menu.  The restaurant was full when we got there, but there was a table for us right up front.  Everyone there had been for a cooking class from about 2-6pm.  We,were eating what they had prepared.  First course was a mixed appetizer plate.  A mozzarella ball, tomato, two toast points with cheese and sausage, a creamy, herbed cheese spread and a candied fruit slice.  The. Came a pasta dish…fresh pasta with a tomato sauce with a bit of sausage in it and chopped parsley.  Then 4 toast squares with a different topping on each.  Then the entree which was a pickled cabbage, pot roast and tomato…then dessert which was a sponge cake with cream filling and sour cherries.  And cappuccino.  What a delicious dinner.  We also had red and white Umbrian wines and water.  Now we are back at the convent and ready for bed.  Tomorrow, we have our cooking class in the countryside.  Will report on that tomorrow evening.  Good night!

Had a bit of excitement today.  Our friend, Nancy was picked up for her trip to the airport to fly home.  I went to the copy place to make a copy of my signature for e-Filing my taxes and sent it in, got back to the apartment and Andy was hanging out the window waiting for my return.  She shouted down that Nancy and I had each other’s passports!  I grabbed a cab and we headed to the airport.  Of course, in town the traffic was terrible, but once we got on the freeway, he floored it.  Got to Terminal 3 and Nancy and the Airline Lady were waiting…airline lady grabbed her passport and ran in to finish checking her in…she had 15 minutes til the desk closed and 45 minutes til flight time…so she made it!  We were both nervous wrecks…trying to look and act cool.  One nice thing, the cab driver and I conversed in Italian the whole way and it seemed to flow for me.  He spoke slowly, so I understood what he was saying.  He said one time he picked up a couple and delivered them to their hotel where the man realized he had left his jacket on the plane, so back to airport to get the jacket and then back to the hotel.  Came back to apartment, had lunch and going to collapse now!  Excitement over.  We leave for Orvieto tomorrow.

Friday we were planning a tour to Sicily for the day to Taormina, one of my favorite towns.  There is an old  Roman amphitheater there that has remaining upright columns that one can get a wonderful photo of Mt. Etna framed between them.  The seas are very rough and our boat trip was cancelled.  Probably saved me a bit of money as one of my favorite artists is there and I buy a piece of art from him every time I go.  Since our tour was cancelled, we went into town to have our money reimbursed.  The girls went back to the hotel to vegetate and I wandered the town.  Found a wonderful art store with handmade art – very quality work.  Found a wonderful ‘lamp’.  About two feet tall and rounded, a village scene of houses, windows, doors and all kinds of people inhabiting this town that has interior lighting.  A baker, women doing laundry and hangingit out the windows, ladies of the night in doorways, curtains blowing out, neighbors gossiping, even a Nativity scene with a cow and donkey looking out the windows.  I am sure it was a fortune, didn’t even ask as had no way to get it home.   I had lunch at a favorite spot and had delicious mussels and toast to soak in the juice.  Hope I can find good mussels in Dallas to fix when I get home.  They sure are good.  

Saturday morning, we left Tropea on the Little Engine that Could and went to another town to change trains for Naples.  There were two young women on the train with 4 dogs – each about four months old – that they had rescued and we’re taking to a shelter in Naples.   Hope these little critters can get adopted into a good forever home.  I held one for awhile and killed fleas on it.  Poor thing was scared and cried most of the time.  When we got to Naples, we took the little train to Pompeii.  When we got to Pompeii, it was pouring rain so we took a cab to our Bed & Breakfast that I had booked on line. It was very close to the ruins. When we pulled up in front of it, I was pretty nervous…it looked pretty sketchy.  Turned down a driveway and our fellow, Massimo, was right there to greet us.  Quiet a character.  Took us into a little cabin type apartment and it was wonderful!  Large, clean and comfortable.  The living room has a kitchenette with breakfast bar and stools, a breakfast table and chairs and a large leater sofa that made into a big comfortable bed.  TV on the wall.  Large bath, with a big wonderful shower.  A bedroom with another TV, a double bed and a twin bed.  Another hidden jewel.  We skipped the ruins because of the rain and went to dinner at a local place in town.  I had a delicious grilled sea bass and the girls had pasta.  Very pleased with out dinner.  Our driver picked us up and took us back and we were in bed very early!  Slept well until the storm of storms hit.  Haven’t heard that much rain coming down since I don’t know when…it was actually scary.  After awhile it stopped, but showers continued thru the night.  I do not feel well, might be a cold or allergies or just exhaustion, so I am staying at the hotel while the girls tour the Ruins of Pompeii.  We had thought about taking a tour to walk up Mt. Vesuvius, but think it will be a mass of mud after all the rain…so when they get back, we will probably grab a bite to eat and head back to Naples and Rome.  Our week in Tropea was just wonderful and so relaxing and I really appreciate Nancy for sharing it with us.