Culinary Divinity

October has been pastry month.

when I walk out my door and head to work, the very next door down from mine belongs to a cafe. this cafe happens to sell butter and sugar and chocolate combined in magnificent ways to produce the most delightful sort of deserts and snacks. I realized that it was a shame not to partake of this beautiful opportunity to embrace local culinary ventures... and then i realized it was also a shame not to partake of the opportunity by my work... or the one i pass going to the Piazza by the university.... in any case, i've been trying deserts from different places and found more than a few that are simply wonderful. and here they are:

The shop by Porta Romana does a fancy wrapping job for their 'take away' customers.

I also found a pomegranate that was so beautiful. It's taste was more vibrant than any pomegranate i've ever eaten before.

Incidentally, November is looking like celery, arugula, and more dedication to my running routine month... ha.

San Gimignano and the Chestnut Festival

This past weekend I got a chance to visit the medieval town of San Gimignano. I went with my friend Francesco, we drove through the beautiful Tuscan hills in the late afternoon and saw castles from the 1100's-1400's. It was surreal. the hills were covered with vineyards and olive groves. the beauty was breathtaking.

Francesco showed me around the town, we got gelato at a little shop that won the Gelato World Championship 3 years in a row. I've never tasted anything like this gelato in my whole life. I tried pistachio, tiramisu, and hazelnut, it was kind of like heaven in a cup. Pistachio was my favorite, the taste was so rich and it finished with an amazing warm, toasted, nutty flavor on the exhale. It was so good. After we wandered around the town we ate at his friends restaurant where we tried the local Vernaccia white wine, only produced from the grapes grown around San Gimignano, it was wonderful. We also had a type of bread soup, I think it was called Ribollita. they use stale bread and cooked vegetables and make a stew like pottage that's delicious. then we had fire grilled steak sliced and put on a bed of arugula. it was amazing. once again, surrendering my long time vegetarian ways for this trip is truly helping me appreciate this culture. The steak was wonderful and the arugula added a nice contrast to the meat and a peppery hint to the meal. simply amazing.

And then there were the Castles.... you know... only built around the 1300's. they were amazing! The history here is so rich. It's interesting realizing that I'm in a place that is so interwoven with it's past, yet so distant from it because of the global economy and tourism. Francesco was telling me that the only thing produced in the rural areas around here now are grapes and olives. He said there's no more goat or pig farmers and they have to ship in most everything besides wine and olive oil. They've gone from being a sustainable community to one that is dependent on import and export of resources... sadly my Italian is still non existent and his English isn't quite up to par to be able to discuss sustainable culture and the effects of globalization. In any case, this town was quite charming, very touristy, but it was a wonderful visit.

to get to this town you have to take winding little country roads that climb up and down the Tuscan hills, the only downside of this trip was that despite the fact that I NEVER get carsick I found myself feeling slightly ill as we zipped around corners and covered the hills. this sensation would only grow worse as we traveled on the ever so winding road to the Chestnut Festival in the mountains outside of Florence the next afternoon.

The mountains in this part of Italy are much smaller than the Wasatch or Rocky mountains, they reminded me more of the Tennessee Smokey Mountains. The festival was in a tiny town, we stopped and asked directions from an ancient Italian woman who was just sitting in the sun by the side of the road, she pointed us the right way and we found ourselves lost in this little village who's streets were lined with booths selling raw and roasted chestnuts, locally made cheeses, deserts and pastries that use the beloved Chestnut, candies, anise chips, cheap wallets and handbags, etc... there was a one man band like Burt from Mary Poppins, he wandered through town playing songs. There was also a 'mid life crisis' band for 40-something year old Italian men playing Pink Floyd cover songs... each song would end with "GRAZIE!!!!!" even when no one was clapping... it was kind of out of place, but that made the whole thing all the more entertaining.

we got an AMAZING lunch. Polenta with wild mushrooms, potato tortillini, and divine sausages that are specifically made in the region outside of florence we were visiting. not to mention the deserts made out of candied chestnuts... we also got a bag of roasted chestnuts, which were amazing too. I never realized they were so sweet, they were right off the fire too, so they were all warm, charred and smokey. we got soot all over our fingers, but it was worth it.

First week of school

School started on Monday.

I really love the studio I'm working at. Porta Romana has beautiful lighting and it's wonderful to be working with artist that are so passionate and dedicated to their work. the only downside is it's about a 30-40 min walk from my house... I think I'm going to purchase a bike this week.

The first 3 days of class we did short poses (one 6 hour pose for Monday and Tuesday and a 3 hour pose on Wednesday), and Thursday we set our long pose. For the next 5 weeks the students will work on painting this pose, it's a beautiful contrapposto, simple, but beautiful.

what was also encouraging was that before our first session was finished I'd had two students approach me about working with them on projects outside of class, i was even more elated when i found out that neither of these students were doing standing poses (one is a seated sculpture and the other is a reclining pose), i wasn't sure my body could handle 6 hours of standing a day... at least not to jump start back into long poses. I've also lined up a few open sessions at Angel Academy, but they didn't schedule me until November, which made me a bit sad, but I'll be glad to work with them.

Tomorrow we start our second week and I'm excited to get back into a routine and to get started on some new projects. I'll post soon about my recent adventures at the Accademia, La Specola, the Florence Wine Event, San Gimignano, and the Chestnut festival in the mountains outside of Florence.

said festival helped me truly begin to appreciate freshly roasted sweet chestnuts... and locally made sausage. mmmmm......

Cinque Terre

My trip to Cinque Terre was phenomenal.

Cinque Terre is a part of the Italian coast bordering the Ligurian Sea, which is basically an extension of the Mediterranean Sea. There are 5 (cinque) villages perched along the coastline that are all connected by a hiking trail and a train line. our plan was to get in some good hiking and explore this little gem of a place.

We left Tuesday morning and took a 2 hour train ride through Pisa and on to La Spezia where we switched trains and rode a short way to Riomaggiore the first town of Cinque Terre. After grabbing a panini we found the trailhead and were greeted with this view:

It was so beautiful.

The first part of the hike is known as Via dell'Amore or the Pathway of Love. it was named this because the youth of these first two villages used this path as a meeting place to have romantic moments and declare their love through graffiti along the pathway. this is still the case and you can see lovers names spray painted along the rocks, inside the tunnel walkway and even carved into plant leaves along the way.

This first part of the hike was quite simple and it only took us about 15 minutes to reach Manarola. Here we wandered through the grape vineyards, found an old waterwheel, and ate some apples in front of a church built in the 1300's which happened to be right next to an old bell tower that used to double as a lookout for pirate invasions.

We continued our hike to the third town, Corniglia where we had reservations at a Youth Hostel. This hike was a little longer but fairly easy. It was the hottest part of the afternoon and I was carrying my pack so I was quite ready to get in the water once we reached the town. Corniglia is the only town not directly on the water though... you have to climb up almost 400 stairs to get up to the town, and just about as many back down to the marina. let's just say my legs are a lot stronger after this trip. We got checked into our hostel just fine, it was a wonderful place to stay, it was called Ostello Corniglia if you're ever looking for a place to stay. it was really clean and safe, quite easy to find, and there's plenty of restaurants within a minute or two of walking. and it was only 22 euro a night... which comparatively is pretty good.

We met a bunch of Australians who were also staying at the hostel and we all went to be marina together for a swim. the shore here is really rocky, there was a cement walkway out into the water people were sunning on but the rest was a rocky shore, which was less inviting to lounge on. The water was AMAZING! I've never seen water so clear and such a brilliant turquoise. The temperature was perfect, cool enough to be refreshing, but not so cold as to be uncomfortable. Later than night we went out to eat with Shannon and Felicity, some of our new Australian friends. We had dinner out on a deck overlooking the sea... it was so nice.

Next morning we got up and after I got a wonderful pastry from a local shop, we started our hike through the last two villages. this part of the trail is MUCH more intense than what we experienced the first day, but the view was that much better. the trail had lots of stairs, lots of ups and downs and narrow pathways with olive groves or steep drop offs or walls or the hillside. there were also more people on this part of the trail and so we spent a lot of time letting those going opposite us pass by so no one got knocked down the hillside. This hike was quite a workout, the last two towns are farther apart than the first 3, so it took us about an hour to get to Vernazza where we wandered for a little bit, but then pressed on for another hour or so to Monterosso.

Once we got to Monterosso we were exhausted. we grabbed lunch at a little place called 'DJ pizza' which was actually really wonderful. After we ate we wandered around the town and ended up overlooking the city at a beautiful little graveyard. the walkway up here was so pretty, ivy covered the walls, lizards scampered out of our path, lemon trees were growing in back yards and we could hear chickens squawking behind a few of the fences.

We were completely exhausted by this time so we took the train back to Corniglia. I decided to go for another swim and spent a good hour exploring our little harbor. I watched the sunset from an overlook point that evening. it was so peaceful and beautiful.

That night we went to dinner with Shannon, Felicity, and Tom. This was a dinner to be remembered: local white wine, pesto lasagna, stuffed mussels, salad, and chocolate mousse for desert. It was amazing... so delicious! I'd never had mussels before and these were phenomenal. in any case, dinner was a big hit with everyone and we had a grand time chatting about travels and Australian politics and the crime rates in Melbourne.

Next morning, our final day, I got another pastry before we hit the trail again. this time we has a specific destination just 20 min up the trail. on our way through town we spotted these crates of grapes, they were so beautiful! We headed up the trail following the signs to Guvano beach, the 'naturalist' beach along this part of the coast.

I headed up the trail following the signs to Guvano beach, the 'naturalist' beach along this part of the coast. This was the highlight of the whole trip for me, the beach was made of little black pebbles that were worn smooth by ages of tidal motion and rushing waves. the water was perfect, clear and brilliant. the pathway down to the beach was fairly treacherous, but I made it in one piece. It was so peaceful and beautiful there, I really loved it!

this is the path down to the beach (looking back up at it). terribly steep.

After the beach it was time to head home. The whole trip was wonderful, I'd highly recommend visiting this place, It's pretty touristy, so I would say it's probably best to go late or early in the season though, it was pretty hot and crowded even in mid September. Hopefully i'll get to go back again before things cool down too much, and I'll report back on how the crowds are then.

The villages were so interesting. there's such a history there and i couldn't help but wonder about life there before the train line was built there. how many lives began and played out in these beautiful pastel buildings teetering on the edge of the hillsides. watching the locals interact with each other brought out such a strong sense of community, it was beautiful.

This trip was perfect right before school started, it's such a mesmerizing place and being able to hike and swim and get lost in the beauty of the sea were wonderfully refreshing. It's what you'd call ideal.