moving forward

Back in May, to mend a battered heart, I fled to Italy with a mission to explore the University of Gastronomic Science in the tiny town of Pollenzo. I have this intensely vivid memory of walking by myself between the school’s old walls on that hot spring afternoon and pebbles crunching under my feet. The smell of spring, where everything is absurdly fragrant, gave me the same sense of euphoria I get everywhere. I simultaneously realized two things; I could do this and that “this” had already begun. It just took my brain a little longer to catch up.

When I got home I spent a month filling out my application, writing 26 essays questions and working my way around a maddening Italian government. I submitted my portfolio like I had hit the red button in the oval office. All I could do was wait….I HATE waiting…

Move forward 7 months… The morning of knowing finally came…early. I sat in my kitchen with Kudra flopped over my keyboard when the email arrived…Twenty-five people were accepted into this program. I was given the random number 198.  I opened the list. 23, 455, 199, … I scanned the list and my heart pounded in my chest….then I saw it, 198. I had to blink twice and look again. Was I really in? Holy Shit. Here we go.. Deep breath.. I am moving to Italy. I am quitting my job, leaving people I love, paying for this how? I will figure it out! I AM MOVING TO ITALY!

Now it is December 22. Winter Solstice. Each day I try to complete some small step forward. I occupy myself with other things but there is no doubt, I am moving away. For one year. People move to other countries or across their own country all the time. I wasn’t doing something extraordinary, but to me, it is everything. An old soul recently told me that my life is a movie waiting to be made. I think life is an ever-changing, slightly maddening, always moving picture show. I am going to have a kick-ass sound track.

Birds and Bees…In Motion

This last weekend, my friend Sami and I decided to head to the coast and dedicate ourselves to fall craft. We arrived at the beach house with mountains of supplies.

On Saturday morning I woke up to the insane flapping of hundreds of pelicans out on the river.  The sun was shining and the burlap was calling. After moving the dining room table onto the deck, we sorted a pile of coffee bean bags and went to work. The pelicans continued flapping and the bush next to the table was swarming with honey bees, getting in their last hurrah. It was a perfect day to be outside creating.

lunch break: roasted tomato soup and smoked cheddar and peppercorn grilled cheese sandwiches.

bees!

and more sewing

I think the burlap rugs turned out great! i am hoping to add a few big pillows into the mix.

After a long walk in the sunshine,  we met up with Brian and Stacey for dinner at the Pelican Brewery and headed to bed early. Crafting is exhausting!!

Sunday morning, I woke up to more crazy flapping pelicans but not so much sunshine. Perfect day for canning. While Sami spent more time with the burlap, I started canning my veggies. I made spicy pickled carrots, spiced Indian pickled green beans and cauliflower. They are so beautiful!

Sami canned mountains of apples and pears.

We had another night to relax and another morning to wake up with crazy birds, had the BEST prawn tacos in manzanita and headed home with our goodies.

Perfect weekend!! We decided this must be done every year. We even had time to get a little surfing in! We pretty much rocked the weekend!

Here Piggy Piggy

Several weeks ago, at a Willie Nelson concert, my friend  Joel proclaimed that he wanted to roast a pig for my Annual Green Bean Birthday BBQ. With the help of a couple glasses of wine, i didnt hesitate before saying SURE! that sounds fantastic!  i even appliqued a pig on my skirt to celebrate!

Move ahead 2 months on a Thursday evening and picture me, invitations sent, RSVP’s returned, large BBQ built in my back yard, another year older and a large, slightly bloody, dead pig in my back seat. Disturbingly it looked like a human being wrapped in plastic. i almost wished i had been pulled over, just to see the expression on the cop’s face.

Sami, bless her heart, let me vent by apprehensions and kept me laughing while we picked up the piggy and made sure she got into her bathtub of briney goodness. Lucky for us, my neighbor Loree also popped over so we had a third person to take pictures! After unwrapping the pig I salted her cavity and gently prodded the kidneys and head. It was all rather fascinating to me.

 

Friday…piggy in her salty ice bath

Saturday morning, Joel arrived the night before and we woke up bright and early to start roasting! Joel started the fire (no matches for this kid) and i made a nice glaze from apple cider, spices and maple syrup.

 

Oh yeah, and Joel butterflied the entire pig! crazy!!!!

We then carried her over to the BBQ and made a cover from foil and an old screen door.

There were a couple hours of mystery temperature fluxuations but we figured it out.

By 2 the piggy was off the grill and covered with foil and burlap.

By 6 we were digging in!

 

By 730 all the plumbing in my house freaked out and we had to bring in the big guns! Nothing like a minor crisis and really fantastic friends to make a party official. Thanks again guys!

 

 

Here is the quick and dirty lowdown

BBQ

1 – bbq made from 3 layers of cinderblock, 4 long and 3 across with 1 grate that is NOT coated in weird chemicals, galvanized or painted.

1 – 50 lb bag of charcoal

1- pile of cured apple wood chunks

PIG

1 – fresh 75lb pig

1 – large tub

15 cups of salt

2 cups of oregano and thyme

2 bags of oranges

several bags of ice and a water

Fill the tub with water, salt, herbs, squeezed oranges and juice. Put in the pig and several bags of ice, depending on how hot it is outside.

cover with a screen door to keep out the raccoons and curious pets

TIME TO ROAST

keep the heat around 225-250 degrees. it is easy to put in too many coals so be gentle with the pile!

75 lbs of pig should take about 60 lbs of charcoal or charcoal/wood combo and take about 5 hours to cook

we let her rest for a good 2 hours before we cut into it but i doubt you have to wait that long.

This is where I found our how-tos! this site is really fantastic!

http://cuban-christmas.com/pigroast.html

The Pig was moist, smokey and perfect! Friends brought over fantastic sides to share and i think that beside the rain, we had a fantastic time!! Joel says that the most important thing he learned from this was that he wants to do it again!! now that i have done it, i would do it too! it was fun!

ENJOY!

Hey Joel! is that a pig tongue in your mouth?

 

 

 

Rocky Mountain High

I am two days home from another beautiful visit to Montana. I always look forward to my trips out, even the 10 hour drive through beautiful country-side. This time, I didnt drive out alone but  had 2 friends, Molly and Steve join me, neither having been up to Glacier. Molly was a little nervous about the free-spirit adventure but I was so excited to show them all my favorite places and hoped my excitement would rub off.  Perhaps Molly had foresight for the 8 foot grizzly that decided to greet her on the trail! Lucky it was just saying hello! and not YUMMY!

For me, there were 3 highlights to this trip.

1) Hiking up to the Hidden Lake Outlook. I have been up there several times but i have never ventured all the way to the look-out (read pansy-ass). This year i decided i HAD to do it! after a short rest with a couple visiting from Florida, i was rewarded with the most stunning views. After i came down, i read that the trail only climbs 450 feet?! WTF?!

(yes there is a bear in there!)

( you cant get insanely $$ gas if the temperature is over 80 degrees. God i love Polebridge!)

2) Spending a night in Polebridge with my dear friend Greg and renting a kayak to float Lake McDonald Creek. After a couple beers at the Northern Lights in Polebridge, Greg and i ventured back to his family property for a fat bonfire and good tunes. We also saw a bear, keeping my record at 100% for bear sitings!

The next day we packed up slowly and headed down to Apgar. I know that this little adventure was very nostalgic for Greg, having lived up there the majority of his life. Everywhere we turned, he had a story from his youth. It was awesome wandering down memory lane. I cant imagine a greater place to grow up! We rented a kayak and tooled around the lake for a bit, had a light lunch and a quick dip in the crystal clear lake. Then we ventured down McDonald Creek. I last floated this creek in 1998 and had such fantastic memories of it. It was just as perfect this time! the flowers still bloom out of the weeds under water, the creek is still the most intoxicating turquoise and the fish can still be seen in depths of 10 feet. We jumped off some rocks, me on the lower level, and after we pulled out, hid the kayak in the bushes and trekked back to the car about 2 miles down a beautiful tree-lined bike path.

That evening, we enjoyed a farm to table meal at the Belton Chalet. We were RAVENOUS and started with a glass of wine that almost put me under the table. We quickly consumed duck and wild mushroom crepes and fresh hot bread. I had Veal with Farinata(!) and fig compote. Greg had scallop and prawn raviolis with chipolte cream sauce YUM!!! we rolled out of there and stopped by the Hungry Horse Dam. As the sun set, we were the only people around and Guitar Man played softly on the stereo.

3) I got to celebrate my birthday!! After a very chill day on the lake, Greg and I made Lobster Tail Ettouffe. My friends Molly and Steve joined us as well as Greg’s mom Donna and Donna’s brother Neil and his lonnnnnnnggggg-time girl, Lisa. Donna, had taken a trip over to her friend Shirley’s house that morning and brought home the heaviest densest most fantastic home-made chocolate peanut butter pie i have ever tasted!!!

Home with fantastic memories again! Thank you for such a wonderful visit. Greg you are my old soul/ partner in crime. Until next time…

Hot and Humid, Time to Sew in the Garden!

Every year I get this urge to drag my sewing machine outside when the weather is at its hottest. What the hell? who knows but it is one of my things…That being said, i did have a project to work on and NPR on the radio.

Last winter I took an applique class and made a pillow. I have a few other projects that i want to applique but in the meantime, I have two birthday gifts to create and the crafting spirit was in high gear.

Here are skirts i made this week. I LOVE THEM!

Oh and I made a couple of cute shirts too for my god-daughter and my niece.

FUN!! i’m hot!

Feel free to grab your sewing machine and joining me. I need to make a skirt with a pig on it for my birthday bbq/pig roast!

It’s All In the Details

Last weekend I was invited to a Dinner Party in the Garden by my friend Kris. i had been following her garden progress through spring and summer and it was lovely! I was slightly confused because she referred to the garden as the Sister Wives Garden, and not having seen her in a several months, wondered if she had become a polygamist. Of course I accepted the invitation and asked if I could bring my visiting cousins. Kris said Sure!, just bring a couple extra bottles of wine.

It was the hottest day of the year.  As we melted our way through the day, my friend Joel drove down from Olympia to join us, without AC, poor guy. He is planning to create a similar dinner party at home and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get some ideas. I know i did!

We arrived in Camas at the Sister Wives Garden. Two young gentlemen greeted us at the top of the road guiding us down a VERY STEEP HILL. As we made our way down the hill the valley opened up before us with a beautiful field, the garden and a table, with seating for 60. I audibly gasped. It looked like something from a magazine.

We parked the car and made our way over to the festivities. The first thing to catch my eye was the John Deere full of ice and wine bottles. I decided at that exact moment that if i own a farm, i will do exactly the same thing, every chance i get.

The appetizer table was piled with fresh fruit, cheeses, puffed pastries, blue cheese crackers with fig tapanade and of course gorgeous crudite from the garden.

Joel and I grabbed a glass of wine and made our way up the adjacent hill to take in the view, and find a patch of shade. The feeling of happiness was palpable. Everyone was enjoying themselves and so pleased to be there. After meeting some fantastic people, dinner was announced and we took our seats. Our meal was served family style and prepared by Kris! I cant imagine how early she had begun cooking!!!

We had a beautiful salad full of garden veggies, a caprese salad, roasted vegetables and chicken mushroom pasta. For dessert we had beautiful fruit tarts and smores around the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could have stayed all night! the bon fire was keeping the mosquitos at bay and a slight chill in the air. A few hay bails had been arranged around the pit and covered with warm old quilts. Alas the time had come to say good-night as we drove bck up the VERY STEEP HILL.

Thank you Kris, Susie and Steve for inviting us to this really fantastic evening. I feel so lucky to have shared in it. And no, Kris is not a polygamist, she just has really awesome neighbors who love to garden, host beautiful dinner parties and celebrate the magic of a vegetable garden. My kind of people.

For more beautiful photos, you can view Marcie, the professional photographer’s photo album HERE

Ode to a Fig

 

3 of my favorite things are truffles, figs and chickens, as my blog expresses. Lucky for me, I have 2 of these 3 things thriving in my back yard. I will work on the truffles. Early this morning, i was chatting with the chickens and watering the garden.  As I wander around the garden, checking things out, i also like to give my figs a gentle squeeze. I have been fawning over this fig tree all spring and summer, waiting, waiting, waiting for the squeeze to respond with that perfectly soft yield.

Today was the day! My first fig had grown enormous! It is about the size of a french pear. I plucked it from the vine, turned off the garden hose, tripped over a dog, and a chicken, without taking my eyes off this precious treat. I could already taste the sweet pink  flesh and slight crunch of the tiny seeds. Thoughts of goat cheese and honey, proscuitto and greek yogurt all buzzed around in my head but this baby was going to be enjoyed in it’s perfect natural form.

The variety i grow is called Conadria and has light green skin with a deep magenta flesh. They are super soft and sweet. My fig tree is 3 years old and is producing figs for the first time this summer. I have hundreds of figs growing slowly.

I think they are rediculously sexy too.

The Vision

I have a vision for myself. It is still a little fuzzy around the edges but none the less it is my vision.

I want a smallish farm. I want a lovely little farm house that is always full of light and treasures and people i love. I imagine myself making beautiful meals for friends and family while we sit out under a big old tree around an old beat up table that we have dragged outside from the kitchen. I see a  garden full of vegetables and fruit and herbs and honey bees and around the property i see sheep and dogs and cats and chickens and maybe a pig and a cow. I see a shed full of curing meats and cheeses and a cellar full of wine, onions and preserves. i imagine getting up at sunrise to feed and milk the animals and watch the sun rise while i tend to the details of the property.

I see a mr smallish farm who loves to laugh and wears big black boots. He is an enigma.  I will manage the farm and preserve the harvest for those cozy winter months of rain and muck. I see a big old fireplace with a comfy chair and a cat. The house wont be perfect but it will be perfectly quirky in just the way i like it.

So now that i have shared my vision, one which makes me swoon a bit, i also have to share my reality. I lost a chicken this morning and it sucked!  I see myself raising my own meat and being part of the butchering process…but that damn chicken nearly broke my heart. Perhaps it was because her name was Penelope and she was big and blond and lovely and she ran to me when i called her name. Unlike a “normal” farmer, i spent the last 10 days feeding her through a syringe full of buttermilk and tomatoes. i held her in my lap and washed her face. She cooed and purred and looked up at me with big trusting eyes. We were in love a little bit.

I woke up this morning at sunrise  to check on Penelope, tend to the other animals and water the garden. I tenderly laid Penelope to rest under the rosemary bush and somehow i felt at peace. I knew I could handle the farm life. Next time it will be a little easier. I feel like I had to pop the farm-girl cherry and was terrified. My vision stands firm. The fuzzy edges will clarify in time and i will forever be grateful to the animals who share their milk, eggs and lives with me.

RIP sweet Penelope. Thanks for being so gentle.

The Good, The Sad and The Blond

This summer has been really busy and lovely. I find myself in that tailspin, not quite believing it is already August, but getting just a little excited for fall…So to break down the last 2 months, I am on a waiting list for the graduate program I applied for and hoping I make it in by March. To keep myself occupied I have enjoyed  massive quantities of wine, er, i mean,  live music, the garden and long weekends, visiting my friends far and near.

 I am thoroughly enjoying my garden this year. I have a hard time collecting anything to create something else because i love to wander around just eating. My peas this year were prolific, which isnt a huge surprise after the cool spring and early summer.  I planted a cover crop of buckwheat and fava but the chickens took care of the seeds for me so i still have a bare patch of earth. I have HUGE figs ripening up, thousands of raspberries and big bunches of kale. I just replanted my beets and carrots in hopes of a fall crop. I also planted two elderflower trees and am hoping to make some cordials next year! (if i am not living in Italy of course)

I dont even recall if i HAD red tomatoes last year so this first red baby  is a huge treat. i finally found my sweet spot in the yard for these heat lovers. i am hoping for a great August harvest.

I also covered the back 40 with burlap to kill the weeds and prepare for a dump truck of wood chips and fall apple trees. This is also where the chickens will move, if  i ever get the coop rebuilt.

Beside the garden, I am in the process of painting The Green Bean, really really green! i started with the patio area to see what i thought of it. i LOVE the color and am hoping to start on the front of the house this next week. There is nothing shy about this color. I call this color Carl Green because I began painting the day after my friend Carl’s funeral. In tribute to him, I paint in bold color that makes me smile.

And lastly I am in the midst of a chicken crisis. My sweet sweet Penelope is quite ill. Over the past 2 weeks her comb has grown pale and her sparkle has disapeared. She always came to me for a pat and a treat, now she curls up in a corner and sleeps or stays in bed. This morning, i wrangled my friend Molly to help me minister Penny with some buttermilk. We are hoping that the probiotics and slick texture will clean her out and break down any blockage. Her comb went from green to bright cherry red after a good solid dose.  I had to take this shot of as she resigned herself to her milk coma. Fingers and toes are crossed.

I leave you with my new favorite summer love. Out local market, New Seasons, makes a great kale salad but i discovered a very similar recipe after a couple of trial and error batches.

the BEST KALE SALAD

1 bunch of kale
2 carrots
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/4 cup of Annie’s Goddess Dressing

Wash the kale and stack the leaves out flat one on top of the next. Roll the leaves and using a sharp knife, cut the kale roll into thin strips.
Grate the carrots, peel and all and add too the kale
Toss in the sunflower seeds and dressing.

i know it sounds a bit  simplistic but the flavors of the sweet carrots, the toasted nuts and crisp kale are a perfect combination with the dressing.  it is the greatest salad I have had in ages. i eat it almost daily.

The future of food, with a taste of the past

At last we were heading to the heart of the matter. I didnt really think about it this way until we were 10 minutes from the campus and Sami asked if i was prepared.  But it all boiled down to the fact that i was in Italy to see if i wanted to participate in a 12 month masters program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in the tiny town of Pollenzo, Italy.

I have always had a special place for Italy in my heart because it was the first country i visited outside of North America. The fact that i might call it home for a year is rather overwhelming! Stacey and Sami had to come along to make sure i was making the right decision.

We left Vernazza on the 6am train to make it to Pollenzo by 10:00. Our rather incompetent navigator, Emily, made me nervous. We arrived at 9:53, front door service! Nice driving Sami!

The open house was incredible! Being only one of two Americans in a group of over 50 potential students, I met with current students and professors, got a tour of the library, with subscriptions to every food-related magazine produced in the world, the Italian Wine Bank and dined on exquisitely produced foods right around the valley by local farmers. Sigh…any apprehension i had about this decision evaporated into a glass of fresh strawberry nectar.

While i was being consumed by my future, Stacey and Sami settled into our “room” in the castle. Did i mention that the school is located in a castle, which was built on first century roman ruins? um yeah…. Anyway Stacey luxuriated in the tub, Sami took a nap and i arrived with my head spinning and in need of a shower and a drink, which came complimentary with slippers and a robe.

That evening, we enjoyed an Italian wedding outside our bedroom window and a tour of the Banco Del Vino before dinner.

After being offered a  glass of nebiolo wine, we were set free in the undercroft. Slow Food believes it is possible to drink a wine into extinction so they are storing over 100,000 bottles of Italian wines, organized by region and type. My thoughts were three-fold; my friend Nicole’s penchant for wine and how much she would have LOVED THIS, the masters program includes 18 credits of wine tasting, and that it was always a permanently chilled in the cellars and in the hot summer months, i needed to get a job down here.

Around 8 we meandered above ground for dinner at Guidos, the school’s pre-fixe Slow Food restaurant. Stacey ordered the seasonal pre-fixe and i ordered the classic so we could swap. Sami ordered off the regular seasonal menu so that we could try a few additional items.We asked our waiter to pair our wines for us, as the wine list arrived on the table in three hardbound volumes; one for Italy, one for Piedmonte region of Italy and one for the rest of the world…. Nic, where were you?!

Sadly, my stomach sacked out around the third course but each dish was so beautifully presented and tasted, well it tasted like we thought it would, divine.

That evening, we slept between 1000 thread-count sheets like drug induced food-coma babies and awoke late to sunshine and a massive breakfast. I pocketed 3 jars of honey and a bottle of apricot nectar. Shhhh

About a week before we arrived in Italy, I found a private guide online. We wanted to explore the cheeses and wines of the region. We got really lucky. Corrine was fantastic! She had been born in the champagne region of France and moved to Italy 35 years before when she married a local wine producer. She was also an italian and french teacher and spent half the day, trying to set me up with her ex-husband. I didnt bite on that one… although after 3 glasses of wine, anything was possible…

First stop was Tre Donne, a 100 year old vineyard run by three sisters. We sat outside on the patio as Rosanna prepared our glasses for the Borolo. We enjoyed our wine with a pairing of local goat cheeses. She also gave us a quick breakdown of the wine regions, using her daughter’s puzzle map.
Corrine taught us to smell the wine with each nostril to experience it with the left and right sides of our brain separately. I was the only one who found the wine to be stronger on the left side but no one really knew what that meant.

Next we tasted a sparkling Moscato D’Asti paired with a local chocolatier’s Moscato truffles.

i fell in love with the glasses, Stacey fell in love with Rosanna’s daughter, who also tried to sell us a large rock for 100e.

With a great wine buzz, a bag of truffles and 4 bottles of wine, we headed out through small villages, vineyards and farmland, passed a sign for the Las Vegas Sexy Shop (which we never found) up a steep hill and into the drive of Francesca’s 300 year old farm and my Eden.

Swiss-born Francesca moved to Italy to raise sheep, goats, cows, pigs, horses, poultry, dogs and 6 babies. She makes her own cheeses, cured meats, olives, wine, preserves and i am pretty sure she has also discovered the cure for cancer. She is amazing! i was speechless but had the sense to ask if i could be her sponge when i moved to Italy. She didnt speak any English but after realizing i was dead-serious, nodded her head in quiet approval.We dined outside on onion fennel omelets along with her salami, olives, smoked bresola, at least 10 cheeses and her own wine, as a massive thunder storm roll over us. I much preferred the rapture i felt that day, thank you very much Harold Camping.

Completely blissed out, we slowly made our way back to TorinoWe walked into the small town of Cassello where ferrell cats are loved and Saras need H’s. We ate Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza and italian beers before dropping our little Fiat off. We think she grew to love us.

The following morning, Federico picked us up at 430am and we headed to the airport for home.

During the week,  I laughed so hard i cried more times than i can count. I had several of those moments where the combination of my friends, a perfect spring breeze and good food made me take pause and realize how truly lucky i am. I could not have asked for a better time and my heart is full and happy.

Now i need to get busy on that application!

CIAO!