Final thoughts on the experience

As most of you know who have been following this blog, I set out to write about our experience housesitting in Italy. What motivated us? We wanted to live somewhere for a while, not just pass through -- something we do all too often in life. This was more adventure than vacation. Someone asked me if I'd learned anything, was the experience life altering. I learned that my husband is a good partner and that's a critical component in the experience. And it was a pleasant diversion from our normal life in Seattle. We also met some truly wonderful people. Having dogs to take care of was a bonus. (We miss you Jack.)

What led us to this adventure? Four years ago I signed up on a newish website that matches people who want a house and pet sitter with people who want the opportunity. Our busy lives prevented us from seriously signing up for an assignment until my husband semi-retired and suddenly we had time on our hands. More time than money actually. We thought this would be a good way to get out into the world.

We had a wonderful experience which was helped by the home owners who made sure we had everything we needed (a MAC, Internet access, Sky television with English translation, wood for the stove, neighbors and friends in the wings, and showed us the important places, such as the grocery store in Grosseto). It was well worth the cold we endured (we brought long underwear and wore it the entire time) to be able to live for a brief time in the most beautiful piece of countryside anywhere. We'll do it again to be sure.

Meandering closer to home now

The wild boar sloppy joe at Quinn's topped with crispy onions and sage did not disappoint.

We're home now and so this part of the journey and the blog is ending. Given the state of the economy, I expect we'll be meandering a little closer to home for the foreseeable future. Just as I was feeling a bit down about it I leafed through the January 2009 issue of Seattle magazine (Cheap Eats: 75 Bargains From Trendy Restaurant Deals To The Best Gourmet Takeout). Now I'm looking forward to interesting eats closer to home, including Braised Wild Boar Sloppy Joe's at Quinn's (Capitol Hill), Pan Con Chocolate (spicy chocolate toast) at Ocho (Ballard), Wood-Fired Fresh Mushroom Pizza at Veraci (Fremont), Whole Fried Smelt at Pike Street Fish Fry (Capitol Hill), Banh Xeo Cay Me at Tamarind Tree (International District) and much more. I just ordered a mixed case of wines representing small wineries from Italy's Marche and Sicily (from my favorite purveyor, Catherine Reynolds, see web URL under Favorite Blogs or email her at quesoyvino@gmail.com to receive her newsletter). There are numerous wine and food events in this city at any given time. And though the weather is snowy and cold you can still have a warm Guiness at Kell's in Pike Place Market steps from our door. Check back if you like or post your own comments on favorite foods, wines and restaurants.

Dopo.

Bella Roma

Rome is magical -- period. It's a place of constant discovery. It's a place to eat. One late night we decided to find a restaurant, (Ristorante Matricianella, www.matricianella.it) as close to the hotel as we could. We wandered down a small street and found a place that only had room outside. There we sat, the sole customers seated at an outside table. It wasn't long before every seat in the place inside and out was filled and there was a long line of people waiting to get in. We had accidentally discovered a happening place, full of young professionals all looking their stylish best. As we soon discovered the food was the draw. We actually went back again (two nights out of our four in Rome) it was that good. My favorite dish was an appetizer, Carciofi alla Giudia -- Roman Jewish Artichokes. I tracked down the recipe on the Internet and it says that this is an old recipe, maybe dating back to Imperial Rome when the Jewish community there numbered about 50,000. They look like golden sunflowers and their leaves have a delicoius nutty crunchiness (www.italianfood.about.com/od/artichokes). The sharp pointy leaves are cut off, the stem is trimmed off, the fuzz is removed, they are soaked in lemon juice in water, patted dry, then smashed on the work surface so the petals open like a bloom. They are salted, peppered, and fried in hot oil sufficient for them to float. When the outsides are golden, wet your hand and flick a few drops of cold water over them; the oil will crackle and the leaves will become crunchy. After a few minutes remove, drain and serve very hot. It's like eating potato chips but better.

We visited Elisa's school and then Monica showed us sites we never would have gotten to: The Temple of the Vestial Virgins, the gate keyhole with a clear view of Saint Peter's Cathedral, the Roman theater in the Jewish district, a great food market and a really great local restaurant.








Above are Mike and Monica dining with us at their local neighborhood restaurant. Mike is a professor at the Seattle University on a year of research and writing in Rome. Monica is a social worker on leave. Their daughter Elisa is a pal of grandson Andy.

The large piece of meat is a giant Mortadella (as long as a person), pastry shop and grocery in the old Jewish quarter where we ate a terrific lunch (best antipasto ever- picture above).





Our deck accessed from the bathroom on the top floor of our hotel. We were in a great location on a teeny tiny winding street less than a block off the Tiber. The room was very small, with a small window, and of course, the nice balcony off the bathroom. The hotel is the Hotel Due Torri (www.hotelduetorriroma.com) which is recommended by Karen Brown and in another guide book. Despite its too small room, it was very quiet -- no street noise whatsoever. That's worth giving up a bit of space.

Umbria, the food

Adjacent to Tuscany, on the other side of the hills from the Maremma, is Umbria. We could have easily driven over to Perugia and surroundings from the Maremma but didn't saving it until our final two weeks. In the number of olive groves and vineyards, it is similar to Tuscany. We drank wine from Montefalco, Umbria's version of Montelcino, and it was excellent. Our agriturismo had information on the traditional products of Umbria and the amount of different, unique foods was amazing. The hotel's information explained the designation DOP, which refers to a unique productive process and IGP, which refers to the origin in terms of a distinct geographical location. These products in Umbria include such unusual things as "shooting-jacket italian salami", coglioni of mule, pate of entrails of chicken, sheep's milk cheese of Norcia seasoned in hole/cave, eel of Trasimeno, broccoletti of lake, onion of Cannara, and saffron of Cascia. Varietals of wine typical of the area include Grechetto, which makes a white wine "already celebrated in ancient times," Trebbiano, Malvasia, Sagrantino and the popular Sangiovese.

We were in Umbria only four days, too little time to really discover this area's unique tastes, but what meals we had were all enjoyable. Is it possible to have a bad meal in Italy?

Umbria, the place

Assisi, the church of Saint Francis of Assisi and his birthplace, a former stable
We did what Rick Steves recommends, we went to Assisi at night and visited the the church of Saint Francis of Assisi at night when not a single person was there. It was peaceful (PAX is written in big letters on the lawn in front) as is fitting the saint.





Assisi, views plus Tom reading Rick Steves in front of a cafe that Steves recommends





Assisi, the sweet shop where I had a Soffreiona al pistaccho and Tom had a Pane di San Francesco in the Gran Cafe on Corso Mazzini.





Perugia





Torgiano





Gubbio





Deruta


From our perch we headed to towns of interest all around: Deruta, the famous ceramic town, Gubbio, a weird little town way up in the mountains that once was the place Romans sent people who were "mad," Torgiano, home of a fabulous little wine museum, Perugia, an odd Medieval city sitting hodgepodge over several different hills, connected by a walkway above the city that once was a narrow viaduct carrying water and whose main street you enter from below on an escalator that takes you through a 12th century dungeon/fortress and spits you out of an old Etruscan portal. Finally, Assisi, which is pretty in pink -- pink marble that's striped and checkered -- with the cleanest streets and the best sweet shop complete with cherubs and reproductions of Botticellis.

We stayed in an agriturismo, Il Poggio degli Olivi, on a hillside overlooking a valley with Perugia visible to our left and Assisi shining pink on the hillside directly ahead. We passed turqouise-colored Lake Trasimeno on our way, famous for its eels (purportedly which, eaten in large numbers, killed a pope living in Perugia many centuries ago). The agriturismo sat in an olive grove and the proprietors made their own olive oil and salami. We ate at their elegant restaurant, Relais Panoramico, which was literally perched over the valley and were the only ones dining that night. We met our waiter the next morning pruning olive trees.

The first night we were there the restaurant wasn't opened but we managed to make our way to the Etruscan town of Bettona, the hilltop next door. Arriving at 6:30 p.m. we were out of luck with no restaurant opening until at least 7:30 p.m. Discouraged we were ready to eat a panini in the bar, when a restaurant proprietor saw us and opened the door. We told him we were really hungry not having eaten since breakfast. He told us that though no entrees would be ready for at least an hour he could give us something. He sat us down and brought us a huge platter of antipasto and opened a bottle of wine. After finishing that, he brought us pasta and gnocchi, then two main dishes, one of pistacio encrusted lamb and the other duck in a citrus and olive sauce. Seeing that we had finished the bottle of excellent, by-the-way, Umbrian wine from Montefalco, he offered us pours from another opened bottle.
We finished off the meal with glasses of Vin Santo and brought a variety of biscotti and tortes. When all of that too had been polished off, he wanted to pour us some grappa but we groaned a single "basta" (enough). The owner was such a gracious man, never indicating we were inconveniencing him by making him open up his restaurant two hours before any other patrons joined us. But I could tell that he was visibly pained that we were hungry and so accommodated us. That's Italian hospitality.





Cortona was on our way from Florence to Perugia and so we made the obligatory stop to see if we could take a peek at the Francis Maye's estate of "Under the Tuscan Sun" fame. We knew it was a hokey but we were so near after all. We didn't see it but we did look out over the valley in its general direction. After getting home (just a brief week ago) I went on Maye's website and several other sites and am now sure we were nowhere near.