Survival Kit

Nutella, biscuit sticks for dipping, and an iced tea all in one convenient package. 

Good Bye Italy!

Off I go to England to visit Flora! Quickly I just want to say how lucky we might be in America for domestic flights. Here on Ryan Air get charged €70 if you don't check in online, €70 if your hand bag doesn't fit in the overhead bin, €45 for a checked bag at the airport, €15 additional if you don't print your boarding pass, and tons of extra little fees for using a credit card, being an American or anything else thhe feel like. Granted the flight was only €23 but still, next time I fly in America I'll be happy to know all my charges upfront. So take heart- air travel could be worse! 

Modena: A Food Paradise

'You don't go to Emilia-Romagna for the wine'. True, you go to eat. Emilia-Romagna is a food paradise and today I took full advantage of the fact that I've wandered into the land of milk and honey. I organized a picnic entirely of IGP/DOP products and I'm quite proud of the results-Proscuitto di Parma, Vignola cherries, 36 month Parmagiano Reggiano (quite literally the most intoxicating texture and flavor Parmasean I've ever experienced- grainy at first, then melting, and full of delicious lactic flavor and then the tang and salt). I also got some grapes (because I'm addicted) and some other cherries, similar to a fresh maraschino) that were tart, but delicious, and perfect in shape and color. I also felt I  had to have a little Porchetta because I know it would probably be the last time! It's roasted pork filled herbs, like fennel and garlic, fat, and spices. 

Afterwards, I had gelato at La Moretta which serves only seasonal and artisnal flavors- I opted for honey and Pecorino Romano, and a frozen panna montata (Italian whipped cream) with chocolate and sambuca.

To end the day, I sat in the lawn chairs with a glass of the Lambrusco from Ca Penelope. They cultivate the grapes on the property organically and harvest each year. If you look closely in the distance, you can see the first row of the vineyard. 

I wish someone had told me how wonderful this area was sooner. Please, if you ever go to Italy, be sure to head to Emilia-Romagna. The people are kind, the food is incredible and the scenery feels like you've stepped into a gorgeous coffee table book. 

#CowSelfie

This is Rosa, our resident cow who is treated more like a beloved family dog than a milk producing bovine animal. Every morning we take her out to pasture, tie her on a long lead to a tree and let her munch away. Then we bring her home at night. This is me walking her through the parking lot of the agrotourism on our way to some nice green grass. 

Modena Clouds

Crepes by Amandine

Amandine is the very picture of French sensibility, grace and wit. For her sabbatical year she chose to travel to Italy and learn the language, learn about the culture, and also be in the country side which she has missed after 6 years in Paris. Of course I couldn't pass up the chance to heckle her into cooking something, so when my Italian hosts begged for pancakes I gave my conditions- one day I make pancakes, and one day Amandine must make crepes! My pancake were a total disaster and tasted like something you'd scrub the sink with, in part because of the difficulty in finding an equivalent to baking soda. Italian Bicarbonate of Sodium seems like an exact equivalent but doesn't have the same make up I think of our American leavening agent. It's ok, Saturday morning I get a chance to redeem myself. 

So what follows is Amandine's crepe recipe, and it produces the most delicious, silky crepes I've tasted. 

250grams Flour

4 Eggs- we used gorgeous fresh eggs from the chickens here on the farm

500ml Milk

Rum or vanilla

1 extra large pat of Butter (1-2 tablespoons) Melted

Add the flour to the bowl and crack the eggs in the middle. Whisk until it resembles a dough. Once all the flour and the egg are combined, add the milk slowly at first while whisking to incorporate. The dough should now be a very, very thin batter and  very easy to pour. Add vanilla or Rum (or both! The rum adds only a tiny bit of flavor) and mix. Pour in slowly while whisking the melted butter. Heat a non stick pan on medium. CAUTION- mistakes are made after this point. Up to here, it's very difficult to make a mistake since the batter is fairly forgiving. After this point the most common mistake is that people put way too much batter into the pan, and I did too, until Amandine gave me a lesson in crepe batter pouring. Don't think you can get the batter to cover the pan if you're holding it in your non dominant hand, because you can't. You need to ladle with your opposite hand and while ladling a tiny bit of batter into the pan, swirl the pan with your other hand so the batter coats the bottom evenly. This is done very very quickly. If your batter starts to cook too quickly and you end up with thick streaks of cooked batter before it's thinned out and covered the rest of the pan- the batter is too thick. Add more milk. Once the crepe is dry on top, flip. Wait 30seconds to a minute and you have your wonderfully authentic French crepe. 

Ca Penelope

To round out my WWOOFing experience, I chose Ca Penelope because it was an agrotourism with a restaurant, garden, animals and a vineyard. The jobs are varied, but of course my favorites are in the kitchen. Every morning starts with feeding the animals, and taking them out to the surrounding land so they can graze on whatever is available. Then we harvest strawberries, and other things for the restaurant which happens every Saturday. The atmosphere is young, and energetic- everyone on the farm is in their 20s, except the owner, Fabra, who is 62 but her heart is in it's 20s like most Italian women I have met this age. It sits just outside Modena where the Alps start and I know I don't need to say it, but the landscape is the most serene and bucolic I've ever seen. It's like a postcard, or an advertisement for Italian handmade bread. I almost can't believe my eyes when I wake up in the morning. Silvia, who manages the tourism and booking at the place, was kind enough to take me on a whirlwind trip up into the mountains on her Vespa (I know, I know- it was a little too Italian), but the photos don't do it justice. The landscape here is a serious of steep hills with deep, green valleys. At this time of year they are harvesting hay and rolling it into big, beautiful rolls. It's wonderful.

This is the agrotourism entrance. It is in a renovated barn and farm house with big beautiful exposed beams and vaulted ceilings on the ground floor. There are about six guest rooms and the loft. 

The hammock grove near the animals.

This garden was planted by Fabra and all the trees beyond the fence are different rare varieties of fruit trees. Each one has a little placard and I'm happy to report that my Italian is ok-enough to understand a little bit about each tree! A very little bit though. 

I took this photo while Amandine, Daisy and I were scouting out areas for the animals to graze. Beyond you can see the vineyard for lamrbusco grapes which they cultivate here on the farm. 

This photo and the ones that follow need no explanation....