Renaissance time in Italy, for women who want it!

Cook, eat, speak (and pray to stay)!!

A fellow blogger is offering what sounds like an awesome opportunity to spend 10 days hanging out with fellow women, learning the language, and reconnecting with yourself.  The price is right too, so check it out! 

projects in progress

A few things in progress today:

• finished up stage 2 of the limoncino project. Stage 2 involves straining out the lemon peel and adding sugar syrup.
• planting out the milkweed plant and cosmos flowers bought yesterday
• installing the trellises that I bought yesterday for my pole beans
• researching the next "big" trip - the Trans-Siberian Railway... ordered a book, read online for a couple hours...
• booked the car (Nova Car Hire is highly recommended) for DH's trip to Italy in May
• made waffles for breakfast!
• finished up the taxes. Will re-do to see if I can eliminate the $2,000 we have to pay.

All in all, a busy productive day.

a really old church

firenze - doorway to basilica di san lorenzo, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

This is the doorway to the Basilica di San Lorenzo. Amazing to contemplate that the church (according to Wikipedia) was consecrated in 393 AD!!! The building that we see is more Renaissance than anything. This facade looks unfinished to me - I really must read up on it and find out why.

I've been remembering our November 2007 trip to Italy. So many wonderful moments. One of the many unfinished projects is to create a memento of that month. My tenative title is "A Drive Around Italy". I'll use Blurb and their wonderful software called BookSmart. Two previous creations were successful for their purpose, as family gifts.

Limoncino - the first day

Tonight I began my next batch of limoncino. The first batch, made 2 or 3 years ago, has finally been consumed. The recipe that I use is from my husband's mother's cousin Roberto, an engaging, enthusiastic octogenarian who is the self-appointed welcoming committee for his village. Visiting his home is a culinary adventure - we always leave with recipes and full stomachs.

Among many wonderful things, he creates limoncino, and another version with orange peels instead of lemon peels. Also an interesting rose-petal liqueur. The ingredients (except for the alcohol) come from his lovely garden.

Here is Roberto's Limoncino di Casa Magnani (with modifications by me)

Day 1, Phase 1:

1 liter Everclear (grain alcohol 190 proof)

1 liter vodka (good but not necessarily premium)

15 lemons - quantity negotiable and dependant on how thick the skin is. The thicker the skin, the fewer lemons required. If possible use organic lemons with very thick skins.

Pour the alcohol into a clean, dry gallon jar. Carefully peel the lemons so that all you have is the yellow part of the skin. Stop frequently to smell the wonderful perfume of lemon oil on your hands. (My husband takes the now naked lemons and macerates them with sugar, to make a puckery and delightful dessert.) Put the lemon peels in the alcohol, swirl a little and admire how pretty they are in the light, and then put into a dark, cool cupboard for 8 days.

Day 8, 22, and 36:

Gently stir the lemon peels and put back in the cupboard.

Day 43:

Stir the lemon peels, and test flexibility. If the peel breaks like a potato chip, move on to the next step. If not and the peel just bends, put the jar back in the cupboard for another week.

The beauty of this recipe is that there is very little work to do for the first 6 weeks or so. Buy, pour, peel, and swirl.

Once your peels are brittle, you proceed to the next stage.

Day 1, Phase 2:

Dissolve 4 cups of white sugar in 3 cups of tap or distilled water (not mineral water). If you want a thicker syrup, use a little more sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Use a clean slotted spoon to remove the lemon peels from the infusion and discard. Using a large funnel and paper coffee filters, slowly (this may take quite a while) strain the infusion through the filters into a large pitcher. You will use lots of filters and probably make a mess. Rinse and dry the same gallon jar that you used in Phase 1. Repeat the straining process, this time back into the gallon jar. Add the cooled syrup. Return to a cool dry cupboard for 40 days to mellow.

Day 40, Phase 2:

Begin filtering the limoncino again, this time into a measuring cup. Then filter one more time into the bottles you will store the liquor in. You have now filtered the liqueur a total of four times, and it should be a lovely lemon yellow color, with a slightly thick feel to it. Seal the bottles very tightly. If you use cork be sure to dip the neck into melted wax. You don't want the alcohol to evaporate out through the cork!!!

The limoncino is now ready to use. But it gets smoother and more mellow the longer you let it sit. The batch that is now 2 or 3 years old is really excellent.

We keep ours in the freezer. It won't freeze, and the icy cold liqueur is wonderful on a hot summer day, or after a heavy meal. Also lovely on vanilla ice cream (Blue Bell, or Blue Bunny if you are in the US).

Being towed in Alessandria

Alessandria is a lovely city, with a very long history (founded on a "pre-existing urban nucleus" in 1168 according to Wikipedia). I have found it to be friendly and low-key, a quiet place without many tourists. The photo was taken from my sister-in-law's balcony, and it shows a bit of the natural beauty to be found there as well.

In 2003 I was visiting Alessandria (and Italy) for the very first time. We parked in the piazza across from my mother-in-law's apartment, just as we had done a few times before that week. But little did we know, it was Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning was Market Day. Of course we parked about 3 spaces inside the forbidden zone but we weren't paying attention. In the morning, there is NO CAR. NO CAR at all. Just masses of people and trailers and booths. My husband was speechless. We trundled off to where the police station USED to be when he was a child - then were directed back across town to the other police station. Since I was the official renter and driver, I had to be the one to deal with the car. And he said I had a better chance with them as an American tourist than he did as a pissed off former citizen. As we walked he tried to teach me some of what I needed to say, but it was useless. My traumatized brain remembered niente.

I walked into the police station alone (he said he would be arrested if he tried, he was so angry) and found the right place to ask. All I could do was hold up my rental car keys and say "machina, GONE!" with mournful emphasis. The guy behind the desk realized he needed help. Two women from somewhere else in the station began to try and explain things. Then another customer came and helped. Finally, an off-duty policeman who spoke some limited English chimed in. We managed between us to establish that the car was indeed towed. Also that there was a fine - 100 euros I think. After some discussion among my team of helpers, they apparently agreed to waive the fine. They called and asked the towing place to waive the fee but that could not be arranged. I think it was 65 euros. To me this was totally fair and I agreed and thanked them.

Now of course I have the problem that I need to get to the car, and have NO IDEA how to follow directions. My husband is still wisely staying out of sight and I get the feeling that I'm better off without him at this point. The off-duty policeman volunteers to take me to the towing place and unbelievable as it sounds, I hopped right in the car with him. Something I probably wouldn't do in the US! I asked him if there was an ATM since I didn't have the cash, and of course the first ATM we stopped at wasn't working. So in his police car we drive the wrong way up a one-way street, blocking the doorway to the bank - and he waits for me while I go in and get incredibly hosed on the exchange rate but come out with enough cash. Then we are off to the towing yard where there is much smiling and cheerful buongiorno-ing as I pay my towing fee (reduced to 50 euros!). And we have to have a few espressos together with the staff while the lowest guy on the totem pole goes to extract the car. Then my policeman kindly leads me out of the mess, offers to buy me lunch (which I politely decline) and in only three hours that adventure is complete. My poor husband is very happy to see me when I pull up in the piazza.

Ever since, we have been very careful about parking in an open space, and we always read the signs!