I'm leaving on a jet plane...

We'll be back in 2 weeks.

Roadkill

The last few days have consisted of moving and stacking firewood. Tuesday morning my friend had a little over a cord dropped off. Unfortunately, he's out of the country on business. I hadn't thought it would be a problem, but the truck couldn't fit through the arch into his courtyard. They dumped the wood in the street. So I had to move it out of the street, go to work, and go back to his house to stack it. Yesterday and today I'm stacking my last delivery of firewood.

On to the roadkill. Fabbio, my best friend here, hit a hare with his car the other day. Yesterday he called and asked us if we wanted to eat dinner with him. Marie fixed a red lentil soup and maple cream dessert, and we all had a great meal.

Long Weekend

Friday night was aperitifs at Luciano's new bar in Montereale, Osteria Vittoria.

Followed by pizza at Pizzaria al Cervo, owned by Marino.

They make the best pizza I've ever had. Thick crust with lots of oregano and olive oil. Strangly enough, they actually use an electric oven instead of the traditional wood. Here's mine - De La Casa senza wurstle con alio e un po' di gorgonzola.

Saturday there was an organic food market in Grizzo, a few kilometers down the road. It was small, but it brought a lot of people out and we had a chance to speak to lots of our friends. There were lots of gourds and pumkins for sale.

This is our friend Luca, an organic farmer. He cultivates 30 hectacres by himself, plus odd construction jobs to make ends meet.

Sunday was working around the house. Monday morning I went to the Maniago market with Marie. It was a beautiful day to walk around and bump into people.

We stopped by a small breadmaker there for freshly made pasta.

Grappa al Ginepro

Finally got around to starting the grappa with the juniper berries I picked.

Pretty easy stuff. Select 10 of the berries. Mash a little in a mortar and pestle, or with the side of a knife.

Throw in a jar with 460 grams (500 mL) of grappa and 10 grams of sugar (2 teaspoons). Let sit for a month and filter.

I also started another batch of Grappa di Erba Luisa, as my neighbors drank a good portion of the last batch the other night.

Bike path

I had posted before about my commute home on the bike path. On the way to work I ride the roads. There's no traffic at 6 in the morning, but coming home is a different story and the new bike path combined with back-roads is more tranquil.

I had promised a friend a map of the bike path. Here it is, courtesy of Google Earth and GPS. This is from my work to the Piazza in Grizzo di Monterreale Valcellina. Click on it to expand.


The village to the north of Aviano is Marsure. While the bike path runs from Marsure through Aviano, it is only marked on the side of the road there. Between Marsure and Grizzo is where it splits from traffic and heads through the fields.

Another advantage of the path is a gradual climb. Staying on the road brings you to a nice climb, but it can get tiring every day. Lurking in the wooded area on Via Selva north of Marsure lurks a Cat 3 climb. The profile of the bike path, on the other hand, is much steadier.


Of course time is another tradeoff. This ride was 56 minutes, compared to 45 on the road with the same effort. The fact that I'm not roadkill more than makes up for 11 minutes of my life.

Block party

We live at the end of a row of six townhouses and fortunately have a good group of neighbors. Sunday we all went out to dinner to a Brazilian steakhouse, or churrascaria. The waiters circulate with large spits of meat cooked over wood coals, including bull, tenderloin, chicken, turkey, chicken hearts, lamb, pork ribs. Supposedly there were 10 kinds of meat - I can't remember the others

A good time was had by all, and almost everyone came over to my house afterward to continue talking and for after-dinner drinks.