I had a packed weekend so I decide to stay home with Stella today. She is thrilled.
Her sister-in-law, Paola, arrived from Florence on Saturday. She spends every weekend here, thank goodness. We caught up with each other basking in the afternoon sun, in the garden, drinking camomile tea with a squeeze of lemon freshly picked from a few feet away. It was so aromatic that as I sliced it, we all noticed the scent immediately. Incredible.
That night, Stella and I were invited to dinner by Claudia at a restaurant somewhere in Marginone, (don’t ask me where that is) called Il Fornello. Had the BEST home made tagliatelle (pasta) with Ovoli mushrooms. OMG, SO GOOD! I had never had Ovoli mushrooms (scientific name: Amanita Caesarea) According to the locals, they are equal to Porcini or truffles but to me they were better than both. For dessert, I had freshly made ricotta with fresh figs and fig marmalade. The BEST! Anna (Claudia’s sister) who loves ricotta as much as I do, tells me that there is a dessert to die for in Catania called “Raviola” a pastry filled with the best ricotta. Must go to Catania.
Yesterday, I went to the Festa dell’Uva in Impruneta (very close to Florence) with Emanuela & Giovanni. Their son, Leonardo, lives there with his wife in a house with a million dollar panoramicherete view of the Chianti Valley. Must move in with them. Just kidding. Sort of. Leonardo, who years ago stayed with us in Atlanta, prepared what he called Brunch, an interesting array of scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, American bacon(!), salmon, guacamole(!) hash browns(!) and focaccia. All delicious. And, of course, Emanuela made dessert. We ate on the patio with that incredibile view, sigh.
The Festa dell’Uva was wonderful, but it’s hard to describe accurately. A celebration of the history of grapes, a kind of small town meets any Olympic opening ceremony meets Star Wars meets Hollywood with parades, flag throwers, elaborate floats pulled by tractors, a sound track that included What a Wonderful World (so I lost it for moment), narration, you get the idea. Every citizen of Impruneta (including Leonardo’s wife Elisa), mothers with their children, fathers and sons, children of all ages, dancers, gay and straight, actors, singers, musicians took part. They all made their own costumes, so shiny and colorful in the afternoon sun. After each “Act” representing the 4 rioni (neighborhoods) of Impruneta, the partecipants enthusiastically hugged each other, gave each other high fives, to celebrate what had to be the end of months and months of preparation and hard work. Really very sweet. So grateful to have been invited and so glad I went.