Salento, et su Contento - Salento, and I'm Happy

Salentino runs from Lecce down to the tip of the heel of Italy- it's only about 70km square, but every turn holds a new and beautiful treasure. Mari and Abtonion's friend Giuseppe is visiting from London and he, his sister Sylvia and her boyfriend Vincento have been taking me all over Salentino to see the sites. Even though Giuseppe grew up here, when he visits he's like a tourist hitting all the secret, breathtaking hotspots in a whirlwind. I lucked out meeting him because he and Sylvia are the best tour guides and have loved showing me everything there is to see.

Porto Setvagio is Eden. The name  translates to 'savage port' and gets at the untouched haven that it is, but doesnt come close to describing how what its like to be there. It is a wildlife refuge and protected park which you have to hike into to access. The main area is an inlet with calm,  crystal clear, Torquise water. Standing on the edge of the rocks you can peer down into the water and see the bottom, as well as fish and sea urchins. In roman times the area was a type of spa due to the aquifer that empties ice cold water into the bay from an underground spring year round.  But the gem of the area are the sandstone rocks that erode and create swim-in grottos filled with aquamarine light.

During the 1500s and 1600s the towers served as lookouts for invaders. Mari's comment on this was that they were never very good at defending themselves so the towers served more as town information as to who would be invading when. This watchtower has had many names and uses. One name was Tower of the Leap of the Goat, which I loved and was so imaginitive. 

At every turn in this preserve there was a delightful surprise and all of them were beautiful. There was even a truli that you could walk inside. We watched the sunset over Gallipoli with a Rustico (puff pastry disk filled with beschamel, mozzarella and tomato sauce) and a Peroni. Perfect end to a perfect day.

The next day we took a trip to the Vecchia Dolma and Otranto where I had been on Monday during the day. This is me and Giuseppe sitting on one of the largest rocks. There's a legend that accompanies the rocks about an old witch and each rock represents a different part of her house. 

In Otranto we went to some of the untouched beaches north of the center of town. Later we went to Otranto at sunset. 

Buongiorno Peccora!!

The sheep each morning pass right by the front porch on their way to the pasture. It's the best way to start  the day.

Festa di San Guiseppe

Like so many holidays in Italy, Festa di San Guiseppe celebrates Jesus' father Joseph, known here as San Guiseppe, and is something like Father's Day in the US. Unlike Father's Day, Festa di San Guiseppe has a dedicated food- the zeppole. And it's not just any zeppole, it's a delicious deep-fried zeppole topped with custard-like pastry cream. Don't be fooled by the picture- these are about 4" in diameter and are absolutely delicious. 

These were the best ones we tried. Over the past 2 weeks I had them on multiple occasions and Mari always offered her insight as to how authentic they were. 

These were baked (apparently but they tasted very, very fried) and they were good, but perhaps out of season? We had these the first week I was here which was a little before the actual festa. 

They're gorgeous and I will venture to say that no one has really had a zeppole before they have one in Italy. The center is full of giant air bubbles, with an almost gummy dough. The outside is crispy golden but surprisingly, deceivingly, light. It's not completely clear to me why this particular food is linked with Father's Day but one explanation is that St. Joseph is also the patron saint of pastry chefs. He just became my new favorite saint. 

Free Time

One lesson I'll take away from my time here is that no one is going to stand up for your free time but you. I get every Monday off but it's something I definitely have to make known that I plan to take, but Mari is more than happy to plan my time off and help me get around. Working with animals means that you work everyday, the sheep don't produce milk just 5 or 6 days of the week, and they dont stop producing milk in the morning just so you can sleep in an extra hour. Being a farmer is a career that is not for the faint of heart, and it makes me feel extremely lucky that we have so many people willing to take on the long, hard and extremely dirty job at produces the delicacies we so easily buy. 

Enough ranting, on my day off I went back to Otranto where I had previously posted some photos of. This time I went to the more populated side and walked around he beautiful waterfront parks, promenades and the castle. During the Turkish invasion the castle was a strong hold but in the end the Turks took the town and slaughtered all men over 15 and enslaved the women and children. It was beautiful inside and has been turns into a maze of tiny streets  and restaurants. I wish I could post all the beautiful views, but because of the issues I'm having with my camera connector, I will have to leave you with just this for now. 

Technology Issues

Sad day, I'd been having trouble with the cord that connects my camera's sad card reader to my iPad for a day or two, but today it's completely stopped working. So I won't be posting any new photos until I can get another one and since it's kind of a specific thing, and I'm kind of in a rural area, I have no idea how long it will take :( I'll keep you posted. 

What do you like?

I've been asked this a lot since I've been to Italy and it's always referring to food. I'm what you would call una buona forketa, literally meaning I'm a good fork. It means I'm a good eater, and this isn't the first time I've been told I'm a pleasure to eat with because I'll eat almost anything. I think I draw the line with things like blood, but as Jeffery Steingarten points out- there are precious few things that all cultures avoid putting in their mouths. Paper and hair are largely avoided but other than that almost everything is fair game. Steingarten also notes that even babies don't winge ar the site of maggots crawling on rotting meat, so most food avoidances are learned. I've taken his words to heart and eaten most everything that's been presented to me since I've been here. The best thing so far has been the fat surrounding the kidney of a grass fed lamb whichever as like a crispy, sweet, carmel coating over fresh spring water. It was the lightest fat you could imagine and melted in my mouth before it even touched my tongue. 

This begin said, I've found there are some flavors which don't delight my palate, but the difficult thing is they are found everywhere and it's impossible to iliminate an entire food group to avoid them. One is bitterness. I've found this in shell fish, broccoli vegetables, etc, and I'm one of those people to which everything tastes bitter after eating pine nuts for a day or two. It's not that bitterness is bad, it's just that bitterness where it doesn't belong (like a pasta dish, or fish course) is an unwelcome surprise. And more so than other flavors, is impossible to ignore.

Some flavors, textures and temperatures of different foods are ok to cross off your list of edibles. The challenge is how to tell your host or chef why one day you'll eat it and another you won't. I think it's especially difficult when you know the chef's (or family/friend's) 'style' off cooking because it's so easy to be deceived into thinking that it's possible to predict the way it will taste. I am still working on coming to terms with the fact that I don't have taste prediction abilities and still need to keep an open mind. But I  think the best approach to precise targeting of dislikes and likes is done by eliminating tastes, not flavors.  If done this way, you'll never be denying yourself an entire food just because it's unfamiliar, or have had a bad experience in the past. Everyone's food 'road' is different, and it took me a whole 27 years to get where I am today and be able to be open to trying almost anything. It's a joy and a surprise and it makes times with people you don't know so much more exciting because it's a food adventure. 

You took an have your own food adventure today in your own supermarket. Everyone has heir trusty 20 or so ingredients that usually make up their cart, but next time, add just one unfamiliar thing. No, not a flavor of Ben and Jerry's you've never tried, but something unusual like tarot root or anchovies. I hope you discover something wonderful. 

Gallipoli and the Frutti di Mare

On Wednesday, Mari and I found a little free time to make it to the other coast of Puglia- Gallipoli! Gallipoli was gorgeous but befor we go any further, this is not the same Gallipoli where the battle in World War One was fought. That's a totally different Gallipoli- it's by the Dardanelles and I won't be going there any time soon. This is the Gallipoli of seaside resorts, the freshest seafood,a me clear, torquise water. 

Thanks to my underwater camera (which is also drop-proof- praise be! Otherwise I would have ruined it 100x over by now) I was able to sneak to the waters edge and take this photo. The water is stunning, so clear. Even in the deep parts off the docks you can see straight to the bottom. Mari treated me to an apertivo of prawns, raw muscles (called hairy muscles in Italy because the outsides  are covered in hair), nuts of the sea(they look like clams), and oysters. Everything served crudo- raw. And of course the obligatory white wine. 

 

The fish monger loved us because the day before Antonio's wildly energetic and unforgettable sister Ester had been to see him and buy loads of fish to bring back to Rome with her. Mari mentioned the relation when we were buying our fish and we got a bunch of special tastes and extra goodies. It seems this is pretty common in Italy, so if you know someone who knows someone- make that known! 

Gallipoli was a welcome break from the days on the farm which are wonderful and rewarding but also can be long and tiring. Yesterday I was laid out all day with a 24hr flu which was frustrating and made me wish I'd brought more sleeping clothes. It also made me wish I'd brought more vitamins and ibuprofen. But today was another sunny gorgeous day with milking to be done and cheese to make, and as my days here are ticking by, I don't want to spend even one laying in bed.