Saturday, September 30, 2006

Ginepro

The juniper berries (Juniperus communis) are maturing now, so I went for a hike in the hills behind the house to collect some for Grappa al Ginepro.

Grizzo di Montereale Valcellina, home to one of the best pizzas in Friuli Venezia Gulia


Mt. Fara. A nice hike to the summit. The back side is a gradual slope with forested trails and no scree approaches. It has a great updraft on the face for parasailing, although most people launch off mountains with road access.

Juniper is a conifer, and the "berries" are actually a tiny little cone with overlooking scales. It's used a lot in herb teas and to flavor game. There are over 50 different species of Juniper, and a few are even poisonous. Like most herbs used in liquors it is a calmative and helps indigestion. It has no other real medical value.


The plant grows either as a shrub or a tree.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Praying Mantis


Marie spotted this European Mantis, Mantis religiosa, outside our front door yesterday and took a few shots.


Monday, September 25, 2006

Painting, dropping a wire, and a baptism

Saturday I put the second coat of paint on the ceiling and walls of the nursery. Almost done!

I also installed a light in the entranceway. Why there wasn't one, I'll never figure out. Fortunately, the switch I was running to was not far. Unfortunately, installing a light in an Italian house is much more difficult than dropping a line through a hollow wall, like in the States. The walls here are made of terra-cotta cinder blocks, with 1/2 inch of cement on top, followed by plaster. Installing a line involves a mallet, chisel, and a big mess. Once you have a trench you put in the plastic tube with wires and cement it over, following with plaster. It was several hours for a couple of feet. Next I have to paint!



Sunday we went to Venice for the baptism of Elettra, the daughter of our good friends Pierre and Margherita. After eating for 5 hours, we got home 13 hours after we left. All in all a full day.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Wood & Plaster

The first load of firewood came yesterday. 31.5 quintale (100 kgs) according to the scale. 3,150 kg, or 6,945 pounds. I stacked it last night and this afternoon. Another load will come in a week or two. This should carry us through the winter. A quintale costs €11.5 right now, €10 is the best price you can get if you order your wood in the spring. Guillaume says that's about double the price of northern France. Wish I could get that price!



In other news, I've started redoing the last bedroom, which will be our baby's nursery. It was previously a disgusting orange-peach color (walls and ceiling). You can see the original color next to the way, way red radiator (it will be white when I'm done). I've floated it with fresh plaster and laid down the first coat of white paint.


Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Strange Marketing - continued...


Here's a MTV edition Renault Clio.

Why?

Friday, September 15, 2006

BAD, BAAD, BAAAD Blogger

I just noticed all of my pictures dropped off my peaches posting. I had deleted them, but I drug them out of the Recycle Bin and re-published them. All appologies.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Nocino

Monday I tasted the nocino. Unfortunatly, it is not ready. The taste is good, but too sharp and alcoholic. Also, it lacks a deep brown color, probably because the walnuts were a bit too old. Traditionally they should have been picked at night on the 24th of June. In northern France they're picked in the middle of July. Guillaume said I should pull the caps off the demijohns and cover the openings with cloth, then let them sit for 2 weeks. That should let some of the alcohol evaporate and develop the flavor.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Marostica Chess Game

Sunday we went to the human chess tournament, a recreation of real events from 1454, when two noblemen challenged each other to a duel over the hand of Lionora, daughter of the Lord of Marostica. The Lord had no desire to see either of the suitors die; therefore, he forbid the duel and had them instead play a game of chess. The whole story is available here.

The performance was incredible. The costumes were beautiful, the acting well rehearsed. The program consisted mainly of the pomp and fanfare of entrances and exits. First entrance was the Nobility. Next delegations from the major cities of the Serenissima Republic were introduced, such as Venice, Padova, Vincenza, Belluno, etc. Following them were delegations from the neighboring city-states of Trieste, Bolzano, and Florence. Next came the Borgi (boroughs or villages) of Marostica.Followed by the chess pieces. The match was rather quick, about 20 minutes. Next the Lord presented his daughters to the two noblemen, and the exit ceremonies began.



Particularly good was the court jester, especially after the chess match when he came out on stilts that must have been at least 2 meters!

The flag work of the Florentine delegation was truly amazing, especially a solo performance involving flag juggling and twirling with the feet!

All in all it was one of the most memorable performances I've ever been to.Definitely worth working into a trip if you're ever in the area. Be sure to research and see if you can acquire a translation of the performance in English, it will greatly improve your time. The banter is quite witty at times. As the performance is in Venetian dialect, you should be OK if you are fluent in Italian and have some knowledge of dialect. You will also be OK if you are fluent in both Italian and Spanish. If you speak the Catalan dialect of Spain you will understand much more than me! The two dialects are VERY similar. If you are only conversationally fluent or below in Italian, do not expect to understand much.

Marostica castle is set on a hillside, with a lower castle and the city at the bottom. A steep wooded hillside leads up to the upper castle, and the entire area is surrounded by a protective wall.


In the remnants of the upper castle is a restaurant, where we thought we were quite lucky to get seats. Unfortunately, neither the food nor the service reflected the beautiful surroundings and was mediocre at best, especially considering the price. I would advise avoiding it.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Millions of peaches...

My friend Fabbio gave me about 6 kilos of white peaches Friday, apparently his mom is sick of making jam, so it's my turn. Knowing that I'll never eat that much jam, I decided to also do whole peaches in syrup and liquor. It's best to do these 2 jobs at the same time, as you'll see.

Peach Jam

Peaches, skinned and pitted
Sugar, 800 grams for every kilo of peaches

Peaches in syrup with liquor

Peaches, skinned
Sugar and water, equal weights
Stick of cinnamon
Rum, brandy or cognac

To skin the preaches, boil them for 2 minutes.



Remove and place in cold water.


As soon as they are cool enough to handle, pull the skins off.


Take the best skinned peaches and place in 1 bowl. These are for your peaches in syrup. Place ones with holes, pieces missing, a little hard, etc... In another bowl. These are for the jam.

The peaches will "sweat" juice while in the bowls. Keep this, you'll use it for the jam.

Mix sugar and water, equal weights, and heat until dissolved. Use enough in a small saucepan to completely cover 1 layer of peaches. Boil peaches in syrup for 3 or 4 minutes, then remove and place in a large-mouth canning jar. I used 1 liter jars. Break the stick of cinnamon in half and place in the center of the peaches.



Once the jar is filled, let it sit for 5 minutes. Then check the level of the syrup, the jar should be half filled. Adjust as necessary, either removing or adding syrup, then pour in the liquor.

The peaches will be ready to eat in about a month.


Now for the jam.

Pit the peaches and mash. You can blend them now if you want, leave them as is so you have chunks in your jam, or blend them later when they're cooking with a handheld mixer. Weigh the peaches and juice.

Place in a large stockpot. The best to use are Le Creuset round ovens. Most steel pots will scorch the jam, while the acid from the fruit will eat the patina off uncoated cast iron.

Add 800 grams sugar for every kilo of fruit and juice. Boil gently until a skin begins to form between the bubbles. Pour into the cans and cap.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Grappa di Erba Luisa

Aloysia triphylla, or Lemon Verbena, is an extreemly versitile herb, although rare in gardens. The leaves have a very strong lemon like scent and taste. It is mostly used to make a refreshing herb tea. Just take several mature leaves, crumple into a mug, and pour in hot water. The essential oils have calming and digestive qualities, making it perfect for use in an after dinner drink! Another good use is to crumple a couple of leaves and suck them up when you first begin to vacuum the house. They will soon perfume the whole house.

Known in Italy as Erba Luisa, it was named after Maria Louisa the princess of Parma and wife of King Carlos IV King of Spain and was brought to Europe by Spanish explorers in the 17th century from Argentina and Chile.

Now for the good stuff. Grappa.

1 good sized branche of Lemon Verbena
500 mL of grappa

Wash the Lemon Verbena, pick 50 large mature leaves and place in a jar.
Add 500 mL of grappa (460 grams of 80-proof).



Cover and let sit out of the sun for 1 month, shaking occasionally.

Strain, filter and bottle.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Liquore di Bacche di Lauroceraso

I came home today and the electricity went out for about an hour - a great time to finally make the cherry laurel liquor.

Liquore di Bacche di Lauroceraso (cherry laurel liquor)
250 g of cherry laurel berries (Prunus laurocerasus)
350 g of sugar
1 cup water
460g (500mL) of 190 proof alcohol

Wash and place the berries in a jar.

Heat the sugar water mixture until the sugar disolves and it comes to a gentle boil.

Pour syrup onto the berries. HINT - make sure your container is large enough, unlike the one I started with!

Add the alcohol and cap. Let sit for 1 month before filtering and bottling. Here it is next to the noccino that will be ready next weekend.



If you're wondering why it's called cherry laurel, you only need to look at the fruit, especially the pit.

The genus Prunus includes plums, apricots, almonds, peaches, nectarines and cherries, totaling hundreds of species. Cherry laurel is considered inedible. Although some people do eat them, the fruits contains cynide coupounds, particularly the seeds.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Long, and busy, weekend

About to head to bed at the close of a very busy 4 day weekend. We just got home from IKEA, which is a daytrip considering it is 2 hours away (at least) and requires driving on the busiest motorway in Italy. Luckily traffic was light, comparatively, and we returned home safely.

We were able to make it to 2 local festivals this weekend. Policinigo had the 333rd annual basket festival. More of a crafts festival, although there were plenty of wicker baskets for sale.


I saw these wooden roses, and I think the picture came out great!


Sunday was Paesi Aperti, open villages, in Andreis, Poffabro and Frisanco. All are beautiful little mountain villages. Poffabro is actually considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy! All share a similar architecture of multistory stone houses with external wooden staircases between the floors.


There was a good deal of traditional food, music and crafts. Ever wonder how all that spindled furniture was made before electric lathes?


On the way down to the car we ran into a couple and their son picking some berries I didn't recognize. Turned out they're cherry laurel. Only very large, mature specimens make berries.


You can supposedly make a good liquor with them. We picked a bunch and now I have my next project sitting in the fridge!

Saturday, September 02, 2006

A Country Life

My brother-in-law, Guillaume, is one of the most interesting people I know. Kind of a jack of all trades that never stops working. Over the past 5 years he has worked after work, on weekends and during holidays to restore his great-grandmother's house to habitable condition. Although there is still a lot of work to do, he was able to move in last fall with his wife and son.

Very tied to the earth, Guillaume gardens, makes his own wines and liquors, raises rabbits and sheep, ect.... It's hard to imagine where he finds time to do it all. Just take a look at his immaculate garden!


Here he's just pulled some black radishes for our meal.


In keeping with being frugal and as free as possible from the energy market, he uses wood stoves to heat his house. Most European homes use water radiators for heating. Although they are very efficient, the heat is a completely different quality than that you get from wood. Radiators tend to heat the air while leaving the floors and walls cold. Wood fires, on the other hand, warm up the air along with all the surfaces and the heat seems more penetrating. It's hard to understand unless you've experienced it.

Last year Guillaume leased a section of forest from the Lorraine region and cut 75 square meters of firewood. At 3.6245 m2 per cord, that comes out to a little over 20 cords! Since the trees are selectively cut in a managed forest and burned in high efficiency double combustion stoves, the result is environmentally friendly with zero net carbon emissions.