Tiramisu...dinner

So today is my day off, and I didnt do much work wise...well I still worked because there was nothing to do besides sit around and do nothign watching TV or help out ... so I cooked, i made lunch (chilli) and a nice dinner with braised chicken in a Ricotta sage sauce, with green cabbage and carrots...we served teh cabbage at teh bistro...very french appearently. Anyways the cabbage wasnt ripe enough, so it was slightly bitter and I tried my best to fix the problem and was able to only to a certain degree, but I knew it was perfect so I said something ebfore they ate it, but everyone still liked the food. So its all good.
After dinner though Claudia asked me if I knew what Tiramisu was. I said yes but didnt like ti since the ones Ive had in Toronto werent very good. So she said she was going to teach mehow she does it and gave me the recipe. So we all made tiramisu, their whole family and me everyone helping out, it was really a lot of fun...Anyways back to this afternoon, since here in Italy you work 6 days a week but only half days, so I have the mornigns off and work 4 hours or so in the afternoon give or take an hour. While Claudia was planting some new trees, she said I should have my day off, but I already had dinner gong and I was bored of watching so many re-runs of the simpsons, so she said if i really wanted to I can put up the basketball net for her son. So I went about about to install the basketball net on the wall.

And that was my day. I should have taken pictures of Tiramisu night, but its ok. I really hope tomorrow we go to the food fair...it would make my week. Well, I guess im off to bed...good night!
Ciao
Yehuda

weekend!!

Well its been a fun week, adn tonight I wen tfood shopping with Claudia while Michele went for a job interview...it was fun. Nothign great but fun..ooo did I mention that Michele is a butcher? I showed them my knives and they were impressed...lol...I am cooking a lot over here making both lunches and dinners for everyone which is good becuase I miss cooking so much...not as much as I miss jessica of course though...So tonight when we were at teh store we saw a bottle of wine for 99 cents, so Claudia bought it...and guess what it was so watered down, if was liek drinking an expensive bottle of coloured water...It didnt even taste like grape juice or any resemblance of grapes...just water...ewww and expensive since a 2 lt bottle of water here costs 14 cents..so it was expensive in comparison. Anyways I told them id cook with it so at least we get our monies worth. Then we had fresh pasta (from the store) and it didnt taste good at all, and we all knew it. So I brought some olive oil pepperencino and garlic to the table and voila the pasta was edible...lol it was funny though because I know in Italy they love their hot peppers, but claudia only put a little on her pasta nad her mouth was on fire...so we made her drink adn get drunk...it was kinda funny. Her mouth still burned but she drank too much anyways...lol

So last night I forgot to mention that after the risotto I served a classic French dish called Cassoulet, but i made it withthe chicken sausages that michele made at work. and since there is left overs, I will turn it into CHILLI for lunch tomorrow...funny how every culture has variations of some of the same dishes...

Tomorrow is off day, what will I do?? not really sure...but sunday we are going to a fair for food from this region of italy called Umbria...woohoo!! im actually pretty excited.. and since Im here for only one more week, next weekend Im cooking a dinner for My hosts and their friends..french cuisine, so I told claudia, everyone they invite has to come to dinner with one old recipe, I dont care where it comes from, just one recipe from each person,a dn she said fine...so next weekend, its cooking a nice dinner time...ok enjoy friday night dinner everyone..

Risotto

I accomplished my task of what I wanted from Italy. I wanted to learn pasta (which I did at my last place and a little bit here as well). I wanted to learn risotto, I did that tonight, and pizza was yesterday night. Awesome story actually. So michele and claudia took me to micheles parents last night for dinner, and I helped cook..sort of at least. Micheles mother taught me how to make pizza dough and also a old Umbrian dish. Its called Torte Al Testo. Basically its a pizza dough without anythign on it and you cook it ona blue steel pan on top of the stove...used to be inside the oven then they woudl cover the dough adnon the cover put the hot ashes from teh oven. Now they turn the dough over so it cooks evenly....and then when you eat it you rip teh "bread" in half and fill it with this very creamy cheese and aruguala...mmmmm delish...then we had this dish called Spezzatino...its basically chicken cooked with rosemary and tomato sauce...very good as well...the chicken was one that was getting old..(their own) so they killed it and we had it for dinner...
tonight I made dinner, so I made risotto, since here they have a pasta or rice dish to start dinner, then the main course and then a salad and then dessert...So I made risotto the way I like it, and then asked for critism and the italian way...so thats what they did...It was like good old days at the mittleman house...everyone held up paddles with their score...hehe...just kidding..they told meit tasted spot only that in Italy they prefer the rice a bit more cooked like 2-3 minutes maximum. Just to clarify the rice wasnt raw or hard...they just prefer it fully soft through and through without being over cooked...its a fine line just like pasta as they told me..so yey I learned risotto which was good..now I just haveto make it good for the rest of my life and then im good to go...lol...but practise makes perfect, and since what of the biggest things Ive learned here is that its very difficult to clasify one thing to be french or italian cuisine since every region is different so here in Umbria they like their pasta and risotto one way, and in Tuscana a different way...Thats why I think when I chef says he knows everything, hes so full of it, because a person cant knwo everything about cooking or in life for that matter..anyways im gettign side tracked over here, but you get the point i think...

I kind of dont want to leave this place bu t I have to go to germany...I really like it here because its like being part of a family again..I cook, and after dinner we all watch tv together...they all sit on one couch cuddled up and i sit with the dog nestled on my side on the other couch...its kind of funny...Turns out NCIS is actually a somewhat of a not that bad show...although two eposiodes in and im so sick of watching LOST!!!...I do watch a lot of eposiodes of the simpsons and family guy though most of it in italian...which sounds horrible by the way. I get to watch reruns of Boston Legal one of my favourite shows of all time though...anyways...I am learning some very valuble knowledge here, most of which is how to start a business, what goes into it, social skills of course, but most of all finish what you start...go from project to project be organised and such...its interesting to see what they have planned..what they have done here and its not just hteory but action as well...they work hard to get their dream a reality...anyways
happy purim everyone
yehuda

Risotto

I dont have a clever name for this blog

I woke up early to catch a ride into town with claudia, so that I can try to take my webkey back to the store in hopes of at least exchanging it for one that works.. Well I logged online inthe city adn it works extreamly quickly, so I didnt take it back in the end. I did however want to go to the mall to buy some socks since most of mine have holes in them resulting inthe socks going to the garbage. So Claudia told me the name of a place to go, which I took the bus to, way too far to walk, and my muscles are still sore from yesterdays work. So I hopped on the bus and went to this shopping cneter, but the bus doesnt stop in front of the center, but a few blocks away. So I did my shopping, and wanted to head back to town to meet claudia. Which I eventually did. Why eventually? I took the right bus, but in the wrong direction..HAHAHA so the bus keeps going onto a bunch of other towns, (in commune di Perugia), and eventually the guy stops so I ask him if hes still going to the station, and he says now he is but I was on the wrong side of the street. Now in all fairness to me, and I knwo someo f you are laughing at me right now..but there is no other side of teh street and the sign says that this bus goes to teh main train station..so I took it. Whatever.

I came home with claudia, and it wasnt so bad. We had Pasta a la pesto. I had a chef who told me (he was born in canada but has italian parents), that the real pesto recipe was used with sheeps cheese. So I asked Michele (meekele- my hosts husband host as well i guess) if its true about pesto...since hes italian and he actually knows a lot about italian food - hes been teaching me about italian foods and traditions and giving me recipes and stuff- and he says to me that no pesto is made with parmegiano, sure some people make it with sheeps cheese, because certain regions have sheep and no cows, but the original pesto is with parmegiano...interesting..well at least to me it is.

So we did some work, and then surprise for me. We went for dinner at micheles parents house...WHY YOU MIGHT ASK?? because he wanted his mother to teach me an old Umbrian dish (the region of italy i am in) ITs call torte al testo and another dish called spezzatino...torte alla testo is a kind of flat bread that usually they fill with differeant meats and cheeses and make intoa sandwich, and spezzatino is a chicken dish made with tomato sauce and rosemarry..It tasted really good, and the chicken was also their own that got too old so we ate it for dinner...mmmmthe chicken died for a good cause.

Micheles mother taught me how to make a dough properly. it was a lot of fun and a great experience overall.

Anyways im really enjoying working in exchange for learning old italian cooking recipes.
im off to bed now i guess so ciao
yehuda

internet..finally..but slow

I am settled into my new place and since I have had a craving for cheerios, my hosts bought me a box of cheerios..nice. Well here in Italy the home phone is expensive and so is internet. So my hosts have a wireless key and no home phone, only cell phones...which means its pretty difficult to call anyone or keep in contact. However I do havea a wife and family in toronto..(yes I mean all of you) and I need to keep in contact, so I went into town and bought a USB internet key for myself, and all I have to do is which ever country I go to, I need to just get a new prepaid sim card. But I bought 100 extra hours of time and it hasnt shown up adn I cant call the company because I dont have a phone, and they dont speak enlglish!! so Im kinda screwed...

Also if anyone knows how to unlock a cell phone or knows how rogers wireless internet key works, if its on a sim card as well please tell me.

Thanks
yehuda

Perugia

Hi everyone
So yesterday my hosts Claudia and Michele took me to their friends house for dinner and the friends dont speak english, however they do speak french adn I was able to speak with them in the end. Then afterwards we went to a dance for the city. Basicaly in Italy there is something called Carnevale or Mardi Gras in the rest of the world. And here in this area the satruday night after Carnevalle everyone from around here gets together for a night of dancing and eating...its like a potluck, everyone brings food and there is a band and a big dance flor adn lots of dancing and being happy. To be honest ive never seen happier people in my life..here every ten days they all get together for dancing and music as well, everyones spirits are always up..This si also the region in Italy where they grow the black truffles adn teh most expensive white trufles as well, and Micheles dog is trained to find the truffles, so they will take me out to find some next sunday.

today though we collected big rocks to make a line for the parking. adn tomorrow they will put inthe gravel. and then we planted fruit trees which was fun. Thats aboutit...going to go make dinner now.
yehuda

Siena and the start of Perugia

Siena isnt that great of a city adn everything was either closed or expensive to get into to see. So I took lots of pictures from the outside. Then yesterday I went to San Gimignano to see a very old city that used to be famous for wine and saffron. They are bringing it all back but its a touristy place now and everything is hugely overpriced.

I then went to dinner wiht someone I met at the hostel last night and the dinner wasnt good at all. They brought s the more expensive bottle and we didnt realize it until we got the bill..oh well we learned our lesson.

Then today I took the bus over here to Perugi, and waited for my host to pick me up. The weather was terrible going from rain to snw and ice pellets. I also realized when I came here that my Ipod is missing. Oh well its just money...nothing I can do.

I also messed up the internet and claudia fixed it. Not a good day for me, but hopefully tomorrow will e better.

anyways off to a party tonight. Ill posy more tomorrow.
yehuda

siena

Ill write more later, when I have more time, but I was in Siena for two days and today heading on to my next host family. I hope it will be a lot of fun as well...Siena was nothing great in my mind but enjoyable none the less. Have a great weekend everyone...
yehuda

lots of fun stuff...sorta...lol..and goodbye

First of all Thanks jessica for the lovely blog.

SEcond of all a little update of what has been going on.

NOTE: DO NOT TRY TO MAKE PASTA FOR AN ITALIAN UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!!!

Why do I give that note? Well yesterday I realized the Nicla wasnt back yet with her mother and I knew they wanted pasta for unch...so I went back and made the dough..I started rolling otu and when I was done the first one. the car pulls up...they were so happy that i made the effort..and the nonna was happy but then she got upset and came over to me and smacked both my hands and said i made too many mistakes...She then made me start over again and showed me how to kneed the dough, and taught me how to properly work the pasta. In the end I was back on track and it was working out perfectly.

So since its rainy every day i dont see why I should stay here doing nothing getting lonely and bored, so I am eavign two days early and going to Siena for 2 days, probably the second day going to go visit another city just outside siena that jessica reccomended. Turns out they have really good Saffron that has been produced there for centuries. So Culinary wise I think it woudl be a fun place to go. I wont have my trusty tour guide with me, but ill have to make due..(that ine was for jessica ask her if you want explanations).

So the waether forecast was for lots of rain so I was expecting to stay in today adn watch more movies, but the sun was shining bright this morning and I am happy it was, cuz the day turned out to be a beautifull one. We went to Niclas friends property to do some pruning of the olive trees. They have goats, (who gave birth to three kids yesterday afternoon...so cute) and three hosrse as well as chickens and geese...It was kinda cool. I also met a couple who is doing ht esame thing as me..the husband is from california but moved toGlaskow Scotland 10 years ago adn the wife is Scotish. SO the husband is doing his masters and part of his research is volunteering on farms with people who came from the city to live in europe on farms and try to be self sufficient. The wife quit her job and they are traveling together. It really made me miss jessica even more, but they are a realy nice couple and it was cool to see others like me.

So on the farm one of the horses picked a fight with me and to be honest I started to get a bit scared havign this horse follwo me around adn nibbe on my leg...and no one cared until I was cornered and the horse went to bite me and I smacked it...I dont think I helped the situation but someone saw and they came over and hit the horse making it run away..but then the horse came bakc adn tried picking a fight a few times so I screamed at it and hit it again this time the darn thing listened to me, and went away...and stopped picking a fight.

We had lunch, prepared by the hosts doughter , age 12 by the way...and it was good. After lunch we were shown how to find wild herbs and plants that you can eat in salads or even cook..it was pretty nice...anywyas pictures are going to get posted on facebook tonight...(my time) and you can check them out.

Otherwise tomorrow I am going to go to Siena and then go on to Perugia for 2 weeks. Im not sure if I will go to rome for purim or not...we'll see...
otheriwse ciao
yehuda

Best Husband in the world

Hello All,

This is Jessica taking over...shhhh Hooda doesnt know!! But I just wanted to tell everyone what a GREAT husband Yehuda is. After much discussions about valentines day and being apart, we decided on nothing special. And, after working hard on report cards and not really talking as much as we would like to, we were both feeling a little down and lonely, well i was for sure. And, to prove that we are connected, knowing that I needed a pick me up, Yehuda sends me flowers and the softest teddy bear to my school. Such an amazing surprise!! He really knows how to make me smile and make my day brighter, even from across the ocean!

Ok, thats all, I just wanted to share the amazing husband that I have!
LOVE YOU HOODA!
Jessica

French toast, bouillabaisse and roman pizza

Nothign great here to work on so I m not working the afternoons really. But continuing with the house since there is still snow on the ground so we cant work the field.

But this mornign for breakfast I made French toast, which went over very well, and then for lunch I made Bouiabaisse, a very french fish soup and it was delicious everyone had seconds. and then for dinner nicla took me for pizza and it was pretty good.

Thats about it
yehuda

/When in Rome do as the Romans..well not anymore at least

...HEHEHE Just kidding, although the food wasnt good at all..So I ate lots of Gelato....now to start from the begining. Please keep in mind this will probably be a very loooong blog so bare with me here.

I arrived in Rome at 9 am and went straight to the hostel which was only 2 minutes from the train station. I dropped my knapsack off in the luggage room and headed out with my package in hand to mail stuff back home...Gary and Paula dont hold your breath..its take about a month to get to you, and yes its cloths...hahaha

Ok so I go whats supposed to be a market near Piazza Vittoria, but appreanetly it moved and hadent been there for about 15 years. (turns out I didnt understand Nicla, because she said it was around the corner from the Piazza which it was...lol So I finally found it and it didnt look that interesting to me. It looked liek way to much crap so I left. Then I looked at the map and saw that the closest attraction was The Coluseum. So I headed off in that direction. I walked and walked until I actually saw the coluseum in the horizon..But before I started my day touring i needed to mail my stuff back home. I found a post office and waited in line, and finally sent it off. I walked down the street, and found a small restuarant. On the menu was pizza Margharita.. I figured it had to be good its a italian specialty. Oh how wrong I was. The dough wasnt fully cooked and the water tasted bad...oh well I moved on down the street towards the coloseum. Its magnificant..from the outside...lol I didnt go on the inside because you can see the inside from the outside adn its so expensive to go in just to see some ryubble that you can see from teh outside anyways. So as I walked towards the entrance, they have these guys dressed as romans that you can take pictures with and i wanted to take a picture but then hes like 3 euro imlike no freaking way. He got all upset at me. So I walked away. But then this girl comes over to me and tries selling me a tour, I thought it was funny especially if anyone who knows me i dont do museums and stuff liek that..I go to the place take a picture and walk on..you should have seen me in the vatican..but more on that later. So I kindly declined, and moved up on my way to teh other side of rome...VATICAN CITY!!! and of course I walked!

Rome is basically an open aired museum so as you walk with a map you see so many ruins and things like that...Although appearently Mussalini or however you spell his name...dismanteled lots of roman ruins to build monuments for the nazis and italians in WW2...Anyways I walked and saw so many things, it was cool..Check out the pictures on faebook. I crossed the river and headed right into Vatican city. You have to go through a metal detector,a nd you see police but as well as the weird looking guards using spears in funny cloths...it was funny. Anyways i went into St Peters church (the main one in Vatican city, and im sad to say how beautifull it is. So extravagent i was sick just walkign around inside the place..it made me sick to my stomache. I then went odwnstairs to the tombs of the previous popes, and saw people praying, and I respect them and their beliefs ..but..oh well im not going to get started on my thoughts about catholocism so Ill stop while ahead...but then i walked around Vatican city a bit and went to the Vatican museum. I walked the halls of the secodn largest museum in the world. Covers in gold diamonds and classic paintings that are worth millions of dollars. I walked around looking at everything but i was getting sick in the stomache again so I went towards teh cisteen chappel to check out the place and see what was so great. It was packed and the security where pushing people on and confiscating cameras. Anyways I walked checked it out and continued on. I sent a postacrd to jessica from teh vatican post office...oh wait...THEY HAVE THEIR OWN POSTAL SERVICE!! So I had to send something from there.

I left Vatican city and started my treck home, mapping outa route so I can see certain things on the way back...on my list was the jewish ghetto. So I walked towards it lookign for certain monuments along the way.

I was walkign downa street and saw a store that looked like it had war time uniforms, so I was a bit curious and walked in and looked around. Not two seconds in I realized it was a nazi store...Everything in the store was authentic Nazi uniforms, memorabilia..I turned around and left...I couldnt believe I was sick to my stomache again.

I went and saw so many foutnains and stuff that I decided not to even label all my pictures.

I continued my walk and finally found the Jewish Ghetto, pretty much now its just a street with restuarants and some stores, and at the end of the street are teh ruins from the original gate to the ghetto. the name of the street is actually Via jerusalem.. Spelled in italian as Gerusalem i think...

I headed back towards the hostel sinc ei knew the sun was going to be setting soon. I passed a restaurant that had Penne Aribiata (jessicas Favourite) so I had to stop and try it. I was ok nothign to write home about, and therefore a bit disappointed.

On the way back to the hostel I bought a nw camera since mine is breakign and not all teh functions work anymore..like zooming in and out, which is why the first half of the pictures that i took look so far away. SO I bought a new one.

I got back to the hostel adn was going ot have dinner with everyone (Free pasta) but the pasta was the worst I have ever had. So I sat at teh table talkign with the people I had met. Remember all that beer I bought in france..so I brought 12 beers to the hostel adn gave them out and everyone was like this is awesome..thanks!!

After everyone ate, I went out with two other people from the hostel to see teh Fontana de Trevi at night and go to the spanish steps...It was beautifull and of course I raced up the steps to teh church ont eh top of the hill..we tied even though he got a head start...haha
The three of us then went in search of Gelato and found a place for three euros a really big cone with three flavours. While the other two watched a football match i went to call jessica who turned otu was busy. When I got back to the restaurant where they were watching the match. so we eventually left and came back to the hostel..


.....END OF DAY 1!!

Day 2.
There were some things I still wanted to see so I woke up early and checked out so I coudl continue my tour of rome. I invited some peopel to come with me, but everyone had been there for a few days already so they had seen the city.

So I set out wiht my map in hand. I walked and walked ..right by the president of italy;s palace..cool place adn if u stand on the side ur on a mountain side looking down on rome. I walked down the road and saw a wierd looking ruin. I went inside and turns out it was ceasers forum, rebult 4 times..lol by 4 different rulers. So I paid 6 euros and went in and checked it out, it was actually cool and nice...it was weird there were two cats randomly walking around and i just decided to follow them and i went in to some really cool nooks and crannies....in my mind they were reincarnations of the rulers who built them. In my mind they were at least.

I was startign to get hungry so I found ice cream of course and through otu the day I ate a lot fo ice cream. I saw some sites I saw wednesday but continued on to sights i had not seen yet.
Around 12ish I was getting really hungry for lunch, but didnt want to buy any more pizza or pasta because of my bad experiences, and I was craving kebab, so I found a small place ordered one. About 5 minutes after I ate, my stomache started to rumble and i knew I was not in a good place. Then suddenly my left leg started to really hurt. Now on my left food one of my bones sticks out of my foot..Ive had xrays done and my doctor said its nothign to worry about right now. But my foot hurt so much i had to sit down. But I had to choose between my stomach adn my foot. I knew I wasnt too far from the hostel, so I decided to go back to ..well you know.

I looked at the time and knew there was a train leaving soon back to montepulciano so I Went to the train stationad foudn out the ticket was cheaper at teh station then online, so I bought a ticket for the next train. I then went in search of a gelateria that nicla told me was the best with the best prices and they give you ice cream to go. So I foudn it and the take away ice cream was 50% off so I bought some and they wrap it with nitrogen and it freezes the ice cream for a long period of time. I brought it home.

Ill skip to the train station in Montepulciano. I called nicla when i got in and spoke to someone else who lives here and asked her to call nicla for her to pick me up. Well lets just say the farm is ten minutes from teh train station but nicla arrived an hour later...the person didnt call her...and now its snowing..yuppers its been snowing 24 hours straight here now...its cold so there isnt much work.

Also the work I did in the house has been undone and Nicla wants to change everything, I dont know why, but im just going to go along with it. Its really cold and my foot is in a lot of pain adn since there isnt anythign to do on the property nicla said i can spend the afternoon for myself. So I am blogging and writing up my business proposal if any family members are interested in helping me with it, its greatly appreciated...NO IM NOT ASKING FOR MONEY, I DONT WANT MONEY AT ALL....THAT MEANS AT ALL!!!!!

Oh and not sure if i mentioned this before...BUT IM GOING TO GERMANY FOR PESACH...FRANKFURT GERMANY!!!! So Im mapping my way there because i think im goign to stop in venice for a day, then go to warsaw poland and visit awschewitz as well then go to frankfurt germany. lucky for me frankfurt isnt that far from the french border so going back to france in april wont be that far for me...
now everyone is up to day...
ps there are over 200 pictures from rome on my facebook
ciao

ROMA

Yes Ladies and Gentleman I am headed to Roma Italy tomorrow mornign first thing in the am. I am taking a 7 oclock train from Montepulciano (nicla is taking me to the train station) and from tehre I will go to Rome. Now I have never been there so I dont know what to do. I will be going of course to the Vatican and the Jewish Ghetto as well as all teh majour sites i guess. But Nicla has given me some small cool places I should check out...like the best Gelatto ice cream store in Rome..hehehe

Otherwise things are well here, getting very lonely...im spending too much time with myself..I guess that should be some consolation for gary and paula because that means I will have to come home ... eventually...lol

So yesterday night nicla asked me if I wanted to come with her to see this persons house, one that used a certain material that she wanted to use...so I said fine. I didnt know though she was staying there because she was with a group of ladies that get together monday night to do crafts and talk...so there I was the only guy..Doesnt speak a word of Italian surrounded by a bunch of women giving me the strange look of who the ....are you? So I sat in the corner reading a book for a bit while everyone spoke and chatted and sewed adn then nicla had a problem so I helped her out and somehow I got dragged into sewing little birds..kinda cute but it was wierd..then some women came ov er to admire my work..I thought it was funny. then we went home had dinner and that was it ..but all in all it was funny. Especially since Nicla kept reffering to me as her angel...Basically before I came she said she was hoping that sometime soon she would get someone that knew carpentry and could cook and do other stuff around the property..and then I came and things are getting done..so she said her prayers were answered and god sent her an angel..lol

Anyways since I know my in laws and Grandma very well...I am staying at the Mosaic Hostel in Rome, I wont have my computer with me (travelling as light as possible in the city of pick pocketers), but I will check my emails at the hostel.

Otherwise
Ciao Ill blog again when I get back on Thursday

fetucchini and paperdelli

I woke up late today, on purpose, because I knew Nicla was going swimming so I woke up at 10. Well the roosters woke me up at 6 and 7, but I fell back asleep.

The weather was beautfiull i mean t-shirt weather, that how nice it was. So I went down to the valley and finished cutting the wood. I was finished by 12 so I came to the hosue to make pasta with nonna again. This time it was a egg dough and we made it fetucchini and paperdelli.

It was delicious..then in teh afternoon I went back to finishing up the wood burning stove at teh otehr house adn get it ready fro use...although IWont be able to finish it until friday because wednesday im going to roma, although im not sure if im going to go for one day or two but ill see...any suggestions? feel free to email them to me.

ciao

PASTA

YESSERY>>>IVE DONE IT!!!
I made fresh pasta together with nonna today for lunch.. and it was amazing. It did take an hour to role the Pichi..yes pronounced how its spelled. We rolled pasta for about an hour (pictures are online) adn then ate in a sauce which wasnt really a sauce bt made the pasta taste really good. IT was bread crumbs with garlic oil adn anchovy paste (homemade by the way). And mix all together and eat, it gave the pasta a really good crunchy flavour.

It also rained today so I went to the other barn with Nicla and I finished the door frame and covered the chimeny and got it ready for installing the wood burning stove.
tonight I am just relaxing I guess, I took a nap but not doing much.

That is about it though, as far as I can think of....
ciao

getting the vegetable garden ready...sorta and the best gnocchi in the world

The day started out normal, and I had my regular breakfast conssisting of toast and hot water with lemon. Now I never liked this so much but its nice and simple and I enjoy waking up making toast on the stove top, and havign a simple hot water with lemon while I chat with Nicla and watch Nonna at work making lunch.

So we were tlakign and nicla asked me if I liked gnocchi, adn you knwo me, I love gnocchi, but the recipes I've made arent very good, and therefore I dont make it but Jessica loves it. So I asked if I can watch or even help out making lunch GNOCCHI. So that is exactly what I did.

But first there was some things that needed tending to. Nicla wanted to make a vegetable garden right near the water system so she baught compost last night and today we had to spread it around and get the ground ready for planting the seeds. After that since the weather was bad today, rainy and all, so I went back to restoring the old house, which by the way, I wish I could live in, its that romantic. But I would want central heating, since it dose get cold here, not nearly as cold as canada i guess. But still cold none the less.

Anyways i finished some stuff upstairs so the upstairs is finished and almost the downstairs floor as well. I have to close up teh chimeny tomorrow making a vent for the wood burning oven. It wont be that difficult though I think. then its almost finished!! which will eb so exciting because then I can start decorating it and doing some interior design for it...thats fun.

However the highlite of my day was making Gnocchi. Yes I made gnocchi with niclas mother...Nonna... it was fun, She showed me how to know how much flour you need, (she uses very little and no eggs) and showed me how you have to be gentle with the dough. It was fun and yes I took pictures, they are on my facebook. We then ate them with a meat sauce and some chilli oil (olive oil and chillis from the farm that I work on...all home made) Anyways I really enjoyed myself and im looking forward to the next thing I will learn.

I will be staying here an extra week, then moving on to the next place. I will also be traveling to roma next week for two days, and I will stay at a hostel probably.

btw gary feels lonely to be the only person commenting on this blgo so if anyone wants to comment as well..feel free

Fresh Market and restoring a house

I woke up early to go with Nicla to the market today, and of course we took lucky her dog. So when we got into town, we parked the van and walked towards the market. Nicla took me to her favorite vendor because they grow everything they sell, and the vegetables are really good.

Nicla and I were talking at dinner the other night about fresh fennel, and Nicla explained that there are male and female fennel, and the female ones are good for eating raw, and the male ones because they are bitter get cooked..Usually gets sent to north america. Maybe thats why no one likes fennel in Canada. Anyways another thing nicla taught me today was something interesting about artichokes. When preparing artichokes the instructions are to cut away the outer leaves and then take out the inner fuzzy choke. So when Nicla explained to me that, that only makes a difference as to when you harvest the artichokes because when they are young there is no fuzzy inner choke. So we had raw artichoke along with fennel, radishes, carrot adn celery for starters for lunch, and then we had a pumpkin and rice dish I have to ask her what its called, but it was delicious.

So as we walked around the market Nicla explained the diferences in the cheeses, and we bought a bit of different ones for me to test.

When we came back the waether wasnt so good so I went down to other side of the property to look at a house that needs restoring, that I am going to work on. I fixed the windows in the whole house and put up a new door frame and doors as well. Tomorrow I will probably paint the door frames, and build a box around the vent system, as well as hook up the wood oven for use. The house is almost ready for use as it is but it need soe final steps and decorating which I will help with as well as my other stuff I do here.

Otherwise thats about it!!
Ciao Yehuda

forestry and french onion soup

Todays work was really a field trip.

We went to a friend of nicla (my host) about 40 minutes away from her farm. we took a nice drive and we stopped off at the butcher to get some chicken for dinner...We of course baught the whole chicken head and feet attached!! IT was so cool. I absolutely love it. Anyways we worked in the forrest cutting down some trees for firewood as well as to get the leaves from certain trees that they use for broom making. Col because its all natural stuff that literally grown in their back yard.

So we worked for about 4 hours or so and then went back for lunch and lunch was delicious. We had fresh Lasagna, then a tuscan fish dish (really good) adn polenta. Then we had for dessert some cakes, adn then afterwards fruits and nuts. \

Lunch took about 2 hours which was good lots of conversation...none of which I understood at all.

We came back and I started making dinner. French onion soup. By the way I took pictures of the chicken and all but my camera was kinda enough to delete all the pictures I took today..kinda pissed off about it since they were cool pictures. Anyways as the onions were browning Nicla took me on a tour of her property which is massive....she showed me some projects shes in middle of doing but cant do it all at once. So I will try to help out as best as I can, not just with food but with carpentry as well. Use whatever knowledge I have to help out.

Anyways I had my best day as chef today. And its not the food Im cooking. Its the fact that I got to pick herbs and stuff as fresh as possible. Right from the tree. For example, bay leaves are very expensive and nearly impossible to get in Canada, however they grow naturally and wildly here but the Italians dont use them! So I picked them right from the tree for my cooking! I dont think I have ever smiled so much as a chef as when I was picking bay leaves...YES IM A GEEK..I know.

It was awesome and now I got to go finish dinner as I will hopefully go to sleep early tonight since I am getting over a cold...which jessica thinks is my body really just clearing itself out from all teh smoke I inhaled in France..And I kinda agree with her..but one more day and I should be back to normal.

Tomorrow morning is fresh market time, so I have to be up early for that which will be fun...
ciao!!

part 3?? no its a new day

Ok so first day is done.

I get to eat with my host but not with the family, because her uncle is old and sick and needs time to get used to people living in the house. so they have to teach him how to warm up to me.

But today I learned how to make polenta a different way, and to be honest it actually tasted better than the way most people make it. Ok so most people make polenta by heating 1.5 times the amount of polenta in milk then stir in the polenta until its cooks about 7 - 8 minutes and then take it off the stove. But my hosts mother fills up a pot with water until the handles and fills it with polenta afterwards and cooks it for one hour. stirring it constantly and the polenta is smoother, and tastier not like the chunky kind when its cooked with milk. Now maybe I would cook it with chicken stock so it would have a little more flavour but otherwise it would be the same concept...and the reason why they use water instead of milk?? because they dont have animals in Tuscany until recently!! only in the norht of Italy did they have cows so they had milk, how interesting is that? So they used water. Anyways today I learned pruning! no thats not how to grow prunes, but trimming the fruit trees just right so they give off great delicious fruits the next season so this year my host is attacking the plum orchard...its big and its on the hillside. So since I dont know how to prune while her and her friend cut the trees I organized the wood into salvagable piles of wood and wood that got turned into fertalizer for the trees. And funny while they cut trees with electric saws I used a hatchet from the 50's it was actually kinda cool I felt like tarzan....hahaha. But it was a long day of work...sorta, not difficult but long labour about 7 hours i guess.

And tomorrow we are going to go to another farm to help out since they have like a community here of people helping eachother out trying to be self sufficient, and they help each other out. which is amazing.

My host also liked french onion soup but doesnt know how to. Luck y for me she doesnt like veal, just like Jessica and I can use the recipe I made for jessica...using real cheese not soy cheese. So that will be fun. And she also asked me what I am doing after two weeks and if id consider staying a bit longer. Not sure yet but I would consider it.

Thursday morning shes going to take me to the market in a near by town that she likes to go to, which will be really cool.

And thats about it for now!
ciao

part 2 of tuncasno italy

So I took the train through Bologna and to Fireneze where I was supposed to transfer trains to the regional tracks but the things is they dont put a time on your ticket because you can take whatever you want whenever you want. It was hell just trying to find someone that spoke english that can help me find my train. And since they dont post all the stops like they do in france you have to know the final stop that you are going to.

Lucky for me I remember my host saying that I can take a train to Chiusi and then transfer trains to go to montepulciano. So that is what I did. Lucky for me I was right and caught the trains at the right time. Going through the country side here is magnificant, with the hillsides lined with vine yards, olive groves etc. Absolutely beautiful!

So I pulled into Chiusi and waited to board the next train. The train left the station on time and arrived on time as well. I called my host but the girl who answered doesnt speak english very well, so she didnt get my host to pick me up so I waited about 45 minutes. I bought a calling card in the meantime, and went to the bank to take out some money.

When I got picked up we drove back, and pulled up to what I thought must be a dream. The house is perched on the hilltop overlooking the groves adn orchards going all down the side of the mountain into the valley where it meets the neighbors vineyards. I took some pictures and they are on my facebook page.

Im pretty much in like my own hotel, where I have my own room adn shower and kitchenette as well. REally nice and cool, temperature as well. Its funny though that when I arrived they must have thought I was some city boy who just wants an experience. But I spoke to my host some more and I think shes ok now.

So I was taken into town which is 3 km away and its a medeivel city with its own arched entrance, really cool. I went to the tourism office to get a map but they charge for it..ridiculous but hey, nothing you can do. I didnt buy one though. I walked around the city a bit and took some pictures and bought an english italian dictionary.

When we got back my host turned off the outside lights and looking up at the sky its a sight to see as the stars adn full moon shine in full beauty. We had dinner and had some wine and then I went upstairs to make phone calls and email.

This morning it was cold outside, but the chickens were fed already, so I just hung out until about 10ish adn then we started makign our way down to the grove to do pruning of the trees for the next season. and thats what we were doing until we had lunch so now I will probably head back out to continue for a few more hours, then continue to blog later

ciao

two looong days of travel

On the train yesterday leaving france for Milano Italy, I typed up a blog for yesterday that I was going to copy and paste when i got to the rodals but I didnt have internet and I couldnt find it this morning so I have to retype everything so this might be very long adn two days worth...but ill try to remember everything.

I woke up early and packed my tooth brush and tooth paste, packed my stuff up and wrote a thank you letter to my roommate. I grabeed my luggage and went to the pastry shop down the block to buy a baguette and a raising pastry that they make so well.. I was clinging onto france I guess. I walked to the metro and went to the train station. My luck and the escalator was broken and I had to shlep my luggage up two flights of stairs. Let me just remind everyone how heavy my luggage is, that when I flew out of pearson my luggage was 40 kg and I had to split it up into two in order to take it on the plane. Anyways I made it to the station and waited for my train. I got on and the train was actually two trains, one half going to seperate from teh other at a small town half way to Geneva. But all they said was whoever is goin got Geneva make sure to sit in the front two cars. Which I did! Yes Gary I am not that scatter brained!!..hahah. Anyways it was funny to see when I got to geneva that there were only two cars left of a much larger train that started out in Lyon.

The train ride was peacefull and nice as well to Geneva and when I got there I had my baguette for lunch and of course a beer. Why a beer? Because I had so much left over that I am too jewish to leave it for my roommate so I packed it with me.

I got on the train headed for Italy and it looked like you were sitting in a airplace since there were screens and little movies and it had google maps showing you exactly where you were in the country and a camera on the front of the train showing you what was in front of you. Really cool. There was even the secret police came on board and check out a small group of asians that I guess where acting suspicious.

For most of the trip I had the seat next to me empty which was good because that meant I had my bags right next to me, but the last stop in Switzerland before Italy the train really filled up, and the seat next to mine got snatched up. Anyways my new neighbor was a girl I guess in university in Milano or in switzerland, and she was rehearsing a speech of some sorts then she plugged in her phone and started singing to her music..which was kinda funny so I plugged in my computer and played freecell and listened to my music.

Anyways I got to milano and headed for the buses and found my way after going in circles for a few minutes trying to find someone who spoke english. I found it and got on the bus. The bus driver didnt speak english and I didnt understand what he was saying for me. Lucky for me there was a girl in the back of the bus that heard what I was asking for and understood what the driver said, and she translated and there were some old ladies who knew the stop so they said to come to the back of the bus and they would tell me when it was my stop..I said fine.. anyways half way through the girl says to me I shoul dturn my knapsack around since there are pickpocketers everywhere...I tol dher if someone was going ot break my lock to get into my knapsack they will find smarties adn my pjs and if they wanted it so badly they can have them..I wouldnt even put up a fight...hahah

Anywyas I go tto the rodals had left over chicken from shabbos and headed otu to my meeting with the caterer regarding pesach. It went well, and I dont want to talk about it now since I have lots to discuss with jessica before I divulge any more.

Anyways I got to the train station this morning and you can literally pick out of the crowd the pickpocketers...it really is funny. I bought my train tickets and headed to my final destination...I will write more tomorrow about this since I am tired.

yehuda

two days of loooong travel