Pic of the Day

Crapolla Cove, Italy

First Cooking Class in Italy

Cooking is a part of the "art" theme of this sabbatical.  What is more beautiful, after all, than a colorful, well-put-together meal?  Leroy and I descended the mountain once more yesterday and found the charming mini-estate named "Villa Ida" in Sorrento to take our first Italian cooking class.  Villa Ida is a family compound with an impressive, sprawling mansion now converted into separate apartments for three generations of the Cuomo family (no known relation to Mario and Andrew!)  The manicured grounds are a work of art in themselves, and I have never seen such beautiful hydrangeas anywhere.  We were introduced to the "staff" (Angela and Angela's niece Roberta and Roberta's father, Charlie) and shown around a bit.  Roberta led us to a poolside table with fresh-squeezed orange juice and homemade lemon cake and introduced us to our two classmates.  Ilena and Ainsley are a young professional couple from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  We hit it off immediately and had a blast together as we cooked and ate.

The class was held in a separate building with a prep area indoors and a commercial six-burner stove outside.  After snipping fresh herbs in the garden, we were given tall white chef hats and aprons to enhance our cooking efforts.  We followed Angela and Roberta's instructions carefully as we chopped, poured, sliced, and mixed ingredients for a gourmet Italian meal.  I thought my arm was going to break as I used a hand beater to mix the meringue for desert.  The full menu we prepared was: Fried Zucchini Flowers, Tagliollini Timbale, Meat Skewers, Neopolitan Style Potatoes, and Lemon Tiramisu.

Once initial preparation was done, we were invited by Charlie to visit his wine cellar beneath the manor house.  We were shown the barrels and bottles and other equipement used to make wine.  It is typical for Italian families to make their own wine for consumption by family and friends.  It is not sold commercially and only has a shelf-life of one year (lots of pressure to finish it before it's no good, I guess!)  We were given samples of several white and red wines produced from local (Napoli region) grapes.

We returned to the kitchen for the final phases of meal preparation.  We assembled the pasta dish, made little shish-kabobs out of chicken, sausage, beef, and bay leaves we picked from the garden, deep-fried the zucchini flowers, and created lemon tiramasu by layering ingredients and coating it all with the local liquer limoncello (rhymes with "lemon jello".  Even though Leroy really shines in the clean-up department, he was not allowed to go near the sink.  He was the star pupil, though, in my opinion, and finished his work with a skillful flourish.  

Back in the garden by the pool, the cooking staff became wait staff and served up the meal we had created.  Italian meals tend to be long, drawn-out social events, and we enjoy great conversation with our new friends as well as the amazing flavors as each course was served.  Wine jugs were brought up from the cellar and Charlie made sure each course was paired with an appropriate wine.  When dessert was finished, we were presented with a certificate for completing the class.  A hand-painted oil jar with spout was wrapped up, along with our aprons, to accompany us as we said our good-byes and went on our way.  All in all, it was a fantastic Italian culinary experience!

I have become quite fluent in my use of several Italian words.  "Ciao" means hello or good-bye.  "Buongiorno" means good morning.  "Grazie" is thank you.  From what I can tell, "prego" can mean almost anything.  That's one word for each day we've been in Italy.  At this rate, I'll have a couple dozen words under my vocabulary belt by the time we return to the U.S.!

This morning we are attending to the uninspiring but necessary task of laundry.  Then we're off on a hike to a place called "Crapolla."  I'm not making this up; Google it!

Pic of the Day

Sorrento, Italy

Pic of the Day

Annunziato, Italy

Pompeii and the Sorrentine Penninsula

Yesterday we headed back down the hill to Sorrento and then up the coast past Naples to Pompeii.  Like most folks, I knew that Pompeii was a Roman city destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.  I also had seen photos of the creepy white plaster casts of people who died in Pompeii (created by pouring plaster into the voids in the hardened ash left by disintigrated bodies.)  What I didn't know is that Pompeii is a truly massive archeaological site and that it feels like an actual town with well-preserved streets and houses.  Although the upper stories of most buildings were swept away by the flow of ash and mud, what remains is amazing.  Colorful frescoes and statues and cobblestone streets provide a fascinating glimpse of a community that flourished during the Pax Romana.  Leroy and I spent three hours walking the streets and exploring houses and public buildings.  Unlike the many archaeological sites we've visited in Middle East and Greece during the past few months, Pompeii is shaded by tall trees and surrounded by lush meadows and orchards.

                                                                                 On the way back to our home in the hills, we stopped in the city of Sorrento.  It was Sunday afternoon, and the stores were shuttered.  In the center of town, we saw a cluster of people standing in the square in front of the Catholic Church.  They were all looking at what seemed to be a large, colorful work of art that spread across the square.  We got out of the car to investigate, of course, and were amazed to see that the entire piece of art was created out of flower petals.  A group of people carefully sprayed water on the delicate artwork while others continued to embellish it with new petals.  We learned that this is an Italian tradition known as Inflorata that is combined with a procession on the ninth Sunday after Easter.

We drove back to Sant' Agata, and Leroy was glad to park the car and forget about it for awhile.  We had been warned about the "crazy Italian drivers," but nothing could have prepared us for the challenge of maneuvering the roads here.  For one thing, most of the roads are ridiculously narrow for the amount of traffic on them.  In the mountain areas, which is where we are mostly driving, the roads are a series of steep hairpin turns with virtually no visibility around curves.  In addition to cars, there are many motorcycles and bicycles to deal with, as well as dogs who like to sleep in the middle of busy roads.  Locals admit that roads are poorly marked and that the "rules" of the road are not considered more than suggestions.  Drivers routinely ignore signs for stopping and yielding, as well as the line in the middle of the road.  Leroy has been pretty frantic behind the wheel, but has perfected his ability to beep at drivers who cross the center line and beep back at those who don't like his cautious driving.  This morning he used an international hand gesture to communicate with a driver who tried to force him off the road.  We're both looking forward to taking the train for the next three legs of our journey in Italy.

Today has brought more sun and rain and cold and warmth.  We headed out to explore the Sorrentine Pennisula with high hopes for a balmy day, but by the time we reached the beach at Marina del Cantano our windshield was covered with rain drops.  We put on our jackets to explore the cove and were glad when the sun came out later in the morning as we made our way across the pennisula to the tiny, historic villages of Termini, Annunziata, and Sant' Anna.   In each place, we parked, explored the twisting streets and alleys, peeked through the doors of the local Catholic Church (always the dominant landmark in the center of town) and enjoyed the breathtaking views of the Mediterranean.  The Isle of Capri is a short distance away and is a truly beautiful sight.

Tonight we are walking into the village, as usual, for our dinner.  Last evening we made the embarrasing mistake of showing up at 6:00 p.m. at a restaurant.  The staff looked confused and informed us that they didn't open for dinner for another half an hour.  We walked around for exactly thiry minutes and came back.  We were seated at a table, but were given odd looks.  The first wave of diners didn't start to arrive until we were paying the check around 8:00 p.m.  We've learned our lesson and will save our appetite for a more respectable time.

Tomorrow: our first Italian cooking class!

Arrival in Italy

Leroy likes to fly on big jets.  He feels safer.  I think he believes they wouldn't let a plane go down with so many people on board.  I like the smaller planes and was happy our jet to Italy fit less than a busload of people.  It was a bumpy ride, but we made it safely to Naples.  We had some issues picking up the rental car (I couldn't print out a voucher in advance, so had to show it on my iPad, but there was no working wireless at the airport...)  We finally got everything straightened out and headed toward Sorrento in a Smart Car with a GPS (and a female voice named "Jane" that speaks English.) As we wove through the narrow, crowded streets of Naples, Jane suddenly said "Please turn around!"  After doing so with great difficulty and almost getting squashed like a bug (easy in a Smart Car), Jane repeated more urgently, "Please turn around!!!  We followed our instincts instead, and eventually found our way.  Naples is called "Napoli" locally.  One of the first churches I served as a new pastor was in Napoli, New York (oddly pronounced with a long "o" and a long "i".)  I never realized back then that it was Italian for "Naples."

The plane ride was turbulent because of bad weather that has plagued Italy and much of Europe this spring.  It would normally be sunny and very warm here by early June.  Instead, we had to put on our jackets and dodge rain drops for much of yesterday.  We drove along the Sorrentine Pennisula to the beautiful seaside city of Sorrento and then turned south into the mountains.  The roads are steep and very narrow, and in many places it is necessary for one car to back up a considerable distance when two cars meet along the road.  Our apartment for the next week is on an estate called La Campanelle perched high above the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno.  There is a beautiful pool with a spectacular view of both gulfs, though it doesn't look likely we will be able to use it unless the weather improves.  We were totally in awe of the scenery on our way here yesterday.  We drove between the mountains and the sea, with tall cliffs dropping off dramatically beside the road.  I was glad Leroy was driving!  We look forward to exploring the coast in the next several day.

After we got settled, we walked down a narrow lane into the village of San' Agato.  For our first dinner in Italy, we ordered pasta and pizza and red wine.  Afterward, we found a gelateria and indulged in a few scoops each of homemade gelato.  The pounds I lost through very careful eating and much exercise prior to this trip have all been re-gained by now, and trying to reverse that is probably a hopeless cause now that we are in Italy...  This morning we are walking into the village again to find Leroy his wake-up coffee and to shop for breakfast food for the remainder of our stay here.  We plan to spend most of the day visiting the ruins of Pompeii below Mt. Vesuvius.

Pic of the Day

In the center of our village in Italy.  So many choices!