It's just a very long walk in Val Viola

Now this is a trail for all dispositions, and I'll get to that later. Val Viola offers a long but gentle ascent that leads toward the Swiss border. Situated in the upper reaches of the province of Sondrio, the half pavement/half dirt road running along the length of the valley is popular with people of all ages and fitness levels during holidays. We hiked here about a week and a half ago when it was still peak season, and there were mountain bikers pedaling up the path as well. An alpine rifugio/mountain hut (C) awaits hungry appetites at the very end (you can barely make it out in the image above), but we cut the 8km distance down to a little over 7 as soon as we reached the lake. Alternatively you can also avoid walking the whole 8km and hitch a jeep ride from the starting point for 2€ in one direction. It'll drop you off halfway (B) when the service is available, which might be a good idea for tenderfoots.

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Starting in Arnoga (A) at the sharp bend fronting Hotel Li Arnoga, follow the pavement into the woods. The trail is pretty obvious, cutting through patches of forest, green pastures and quiet habitation en route. Asphalt eventually gives way to a mule path and open blue skies everywhere. 7.2 kilometers/4.5 miles was already enough with the heat and glaring sun, so it was a good thing that we had packed our own lunch. Settling down in front of a grouping of large boulders, we could hear marmots calling out - "whistling" - amongst themselves. The valley is also supposed to be rich with mushrooms during funghi season, but you're allowed to look and not touch. Well we were more than content with not touching anything...especially a tiny vipera snake that we happened upon. Final note: parking spots are available a few hundred meters along into the path but you need to get there early to nab them for a small fee. When those are all taken, an ample parking area about 100 meters further up from Hotel Li Arnoga is open for free. And lastly, for those who don't want to/can't walk but would like to chow down at the rifugio, there is transport service upon request. 40€ (8 seats). Don't forget to bring a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen.

La Botte Piena

Photo credit: Andrea Terzini, La nebbia e le colline / CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

I would've probably never heard of Montefollonico (above) if not for an osteria listed in our Slow Food guide. After waving goodbye to our cousins and Lake Bracciano, a 600 kilometer drive lay ahead, full of lunch opportunities within the 4 regions that we would need to travel through until we reached Lombardy: Umbria, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto. I narrowed it down to finding someplace not far off from the autostrada at noon, and a tiny hamlet nearby to well-known Montepulciano showed up on the map.

Non si può avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca

You can't have the barrel full and the wife drunk. This is an italian proverb that equals to the english “you can't have your cake and eat it too.” The osteria may have coined its name from part of that proverb, but at La Botte Piena, you can have your handrolled pici pasta, your ample selection of bruschette, your tuscan red, your pecorino toscano...and you can eat it too. This location tucked away in an intimate little square served just what we were looking for - simple tuscan fare at reasonable prices.

Pici all'aglione (in garlic-tomato sauce). Looking a lot like Viterbo's lombrichelli pasta in the previous post and one more example of the many names that pasta and tomato sauce can go by. Toothy strands cloaked in rich pomodoro flavor with just the right amount of garlic.

Pici alle briciole (with bread crumbs, garlic). Question: when do crumbs become a substantial part of the meal? Answer: when they are combined with olive oil, garlic, perhaps a hint of hot pepper and tossed together with pasta. I liked the textural crunch which was also graced with a touch of rosemary.

Our server explained how this chianina beef carpaccio was prepared but I was too wrapped up in its flavor to listen to what went into the brine. I believe that mustard seeds (senape) was one ingredient which makes this entirely different from the usual beef carpaccio with arugula and parmigiano. Superb!

The first thing that you'll notice about the menu is the lengthy list of bruschetta toppings. This is why we must go back there again because I would like to taste them all! Clockwise, the 4 that we ordered: crema di lardo di cinta senese e tartufo (lardo-truffle spread with a luscious strip of lardo on top), pecorino e marmellata di pere piccanti (pecorino w/spicy pear jam), pecorino e acciughe (pecorino and anchovies), fegatini (livers). Everything washed down with a bottle of Rosso di Montepulciano. A lunch that we will long remember.

La Botte Piena
Piazza Cinughi 12
Borgo Montefollonico of Torrita di Siena
Tel: 0577 669481, credit cards accepted

Lombrichelli alla Viterbese

This is the unintended result of a cumulation of efforts to find out what umbrichelli could be when I saw it on a sagra menu. At first I thought it surely must have something to do with uhm.....umbilical cords (the shape, not the cord itself!) because of the similarities between the two words. MotH cleared up that "false friend" misunderstanding then I reasoned that it would be highly unlikely for a pasta to be named after funicolo ombelicale in any way, shape or form. I hope I'm right.

It was to be my Ricettario della cucina regionale italiana (Touring Club Italiano publication) to solve the mystery, where I thereby learned that lombrichelli owes its name to the friend of all gardeners - the lombrico, or earthworm. Now I get it! Strand pasta goes by a whole lot of names in and around Viterbo - lombrichelli, umbrichelli, strigoli, stratte to name a few - and of which pici drew instant recognition. Foodies will know pici, and who doesn't love eating that wonderfully toothy pasta in a rich, delicious sauce of wild boar in Tuscany?

The tricky thing with italian recipes is that they are written with a minimum of fuss so I'm adding some details to make things clearer. I'm going with the old-fashioned way - only flour, salt and water - and the strength and dexterity of nimble fingers. This is handrolled pasta that is a work of love; don't be attempting this if your middle name is impatient.

Lombrichelli for 2 people

1½ cups (200 grams) farina "00" or all-purpose flour
generous pinch of salt
about ½ cup water
Combine the 3 ingredients to form a smooth dough that is not too soft, neither too firm. Depending on the humidity level of the flour you may need to use less or more water. Knead for about 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic; let rest, covered for 10 minutes.

Pinch off cherry-sized pieces of dough and roll into short logs using the palm of your hand. Proceed to roll and elongate the dough into thick strands, using your palms and eventually fingers to shape the strands to a thickness of about 1/8-inch in diameter. As an example: a piece of dough rolled to the desired thickness yielded a strand that was 27 inches long.

Section into 8 to 12-inch lengths, generously dust with flour and set aside to dry for several hours before cooking. I gathered all of mine in a loose clump as the humidity level is low in my kitchen, but it would be better to keep the strands somewhat separated in humid areas. To cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt lightly and cook pasta for 2 minutes max. Initially I went with 3 minutes and they were slightly overdone. Drain and serve with sauce.

Sauce alla viterbese

This tomato-based sauce has many versions so it's up to you if you want to add pork sausage or onions to give it some oomph. I believe that to make it alla viterbese, you'll have to add a bit of hot pepper and have grated pecorino piccante to sprinkle over the finished dish. I went with the simple version: tomatoes, garlic, hot pepper, salt; simmer over a low flame until the flavors develop deep and fabulous. Our garden tomatoes went gangbusters while we were gone and I am up to my ears in heirlooms. If the lombrichelli-making burned you out real bad, there's always premade sauce from the supermarket. Don't sweat it, who's gonna tell?

Castroni: international/ethnic food shopping with a smile

And what a smile that spread over my face when my cousins (great backseat drivers that they are) pointed the way to Castroni's on via Cassia in Rome. This is the sort of place that I have yet to find in Milan, a source for desperate expats like myself who think pickle relish is a requisite condiment on hotdogs along with ketchup and mustard. Castroni has several locations throughout Rome, offering one-stop shopping convenience that extends to their online store at Mille Delizie.

I know that this hardly qualifies for "what foods to bring back from Rome", but when I think of the Eternal City I envision huge meals at a local trattoria. Coda alla vaccinara (a stew of braised oxtail), trippa alla romana (yummy tripe!) or a simple plate of gnocchi alla romana will do. Spaghetti cacio e pepe (pecorino & black pepper) and spaghetti all'amatriciana (pasta sauce with guanciale, tomatoes, hot peppers, onions), were the only regional dishes we ate, so watching Bourdain manhandling baby lamb and roman chicory in this video is just one more reminder of what I should be eating right now. It's time to start cooking up a storm again, but first, a recipe for Lombrichelli alla Viterbese is coming up next.

In the event of an error message, the video can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIsPH9n_-fs

Sagra delle Fettuccine al Tartufo at Civitella Cesi

Delicious, earthy snails or earthy and delicious truffles? If it had been totally up to you which would you have chosen? This 15th sagra of fettuccine noodles with truffles wasn't even on the itinerary, but when I caught a glimpse of the poster en route to my cousins near Rome, my Gemini brain spiralled into a torturous debate. Snails were first on the list! But truffles are so goood! Snails! Truffles! Lumache! Tartufi! Crap...why can't I have both?

The decisive factor of course was the distance, and noodles in earthy delights would take 30 minutes less to reach than the snails in Graffignano. When we arrived at Civitella Cesi it was just beginning to get busy so it was great timing on our part. The organizers of this event had everything running like clockwork. A list of the menu items/prices was up for inspection before you reached the entrance. You walk up, give your order, pay the total amount and then a detailed receipt is given where you then progress to the cafeteria-style food stand to receive your delectables. Aside from the star dish, you could also opt for ravioli or gnocchetti with truffles. They even had pasta all'amatriciana to keep every taste happy, and the menu included an antipasto mixed plate, mixed grilled meats (with or w/o truffles), tripe stew, beans, fries, wine! The lighting wasn't the best for photos but you can see the bits of tartufi mixed into the pasta, along with a blob of it on top with grated pecorino. It was divine!

Fettucine celebrations are certainly popular in Lazio because 2½ hrs and about 200km away in the town of Collepardo (Frosinone province), La Sagra delle Fettuccine was on for the 15th (Ferragosto). Served with a tomato-based meat ragu with herbs, this sagra sounds like a ton of fun. A fettuccine-eating contest has competitors trying to be the first one to eat an entire plate of noodles...with hands tied behind their backs. www.collepardo.it/storia/sagra.htm

Boogie down at Sutri

If Sutri hadn't been on the way home I may have never witnessed perfect country line-dancing to the tunes of Volare in an italian square. It was perfect for all the reasons that blissfully come to mind when you think of a warm summer evening in a little village in Italy. Is it the people? the camaraderie? the generous chunks of watermelon free for the taking? I think it's all that, and so much more.

Scherzi della natura

At first sight, just an ordinary park bench (panchina/pahn-kee-nah), right? I had never heard of the above titled phrase until recently, while taking in the scenic view of Anguillara Sabazia at Lake Bracciano. A passerby excitedly urged his friends on to see the scherzi della natura [skehr-tsee deh-lah nah-toohr-ah]. Freaks of nature, oddities, abnormalities, weird but cool stuff. If you stop scrolling right here you can take a stab at what he was talking about. See anything unusual about that lonely bench? Of all the towns sitting at water's edge, Anguillara is thought to be the prettiest, supposedly even besting neighboring Bracciano where celebrity couple TomKat tied the knot at Odescalchi Castle. I'm sure they're all special, but here is where you can find this particular scherzi della natura. Coming up next: a sagra of fettucine with truffles and country line-dancing to the tunes of an upbeat, all italian version of Volare.

Approximate location: Viale Reginaldo Belloni, 31. View full pixel size at flickr.

All roads do lead to Rome...

But a roman holiday was not what we had in mind from the start. A visit with family near Lake Bracciano was the highlight of the Ferragosto weekend (August 14th-15th), giving us just enough time to acquaint ourselves with the province of Viterbo and to see what my cousins regard as their favorite spots. Gelato and lunch (on one occasion in that order) seemed to have been the overriding thought of the day, yet we did manage to attend an evening sagra out of the many celebrations that take place in these parts. The viterbese know how to put on great feasts! [Note to LindyLouMac - you are so lucky to live there!] There was something for every taste, of that I'm sure, and there are two upcoming events that I wish we could attend. It was an altogether much too short weekend escape to explore this area that is just north of Rome, so I guess that can only mean one thing - we're just gonna have to go back again. Google maps out the visited locations but I'll be including separate posts for those that especially stood out for their unique charm.

Anguria e ricotta-pinoli...che buono!!!, originally uploaded by RSIN.

A. Anguillara Sabazia
B. Sutri
C. Viterbo
D. Narni
E. Calcata

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

Upcoming sagre

Blera, August 27th-30th at 6pm: IX Sagra of Stratto al Tartufo (a type of thick strand pasta with summer truffles) and Gnocco al Castrato (potato dumpling with what translates to meat from a castrated male animal). Sounds YUMMY. The town of Blera is less than 25km south of Viterbo.

Sutri, on weekends of August 28th/29th and September 4th/5th: 36th Sagra del Fagiolo. According to the information given on the town's website, this is one of the most important events on the calendar, created to promote the local product par excellence. Parades, dances and good music accompany the distribution of tons and tons of beans cooked outdoors and served in characteristic earthenware bowls. Now that's a lot of beans! Sutri is less than 30km southeast of Viterbo.

Parco dei Mostri, Bomarzo

Panca etrusca, originally uploaded by Rubber Slippers In Italy

The weather in Lazio this past weekend was everything that we had hoped for and as you can see, I took full advantage of that sunny spot on the etruscan bench at Parco dei Mostri in Bomarzo. This was one park visit that was well worth the 9€ entry fee and I suggest getting there early, in fact as soon as the doors open, so that you can enjoy running around and taking pics without a whole lot of other people blocking your view. Dogs are not allowed and I'm glad we went early while it was still very cool, nabbing a parking spot in the shade for our pooches. The park can be toured in less than 30 minutes and there's a snack bar/souvenir shop in the admission building. A terrific place to bring the kids if visiting this part of the Viterbo province. Website: www.parcodeimostri.com and more photos of the park on Flickr.

You did what???!

Parco dei Mostri di Bomarzo - photo credit: cincinnato

Currently we are experiencing a lot of rain and it looks like it'll be a wet Ferragosto holiday this weekend. Everybody does something fun to celebrate Ferragosto, so to carry on with tradition, our sagra-hunting trips will be taking us south into central Italy territory. This image taken in the Park of the Monsters is within the area of Viterbo that we'll be visiting. If the 9€ a pop entry fee allows little furry animals, I think we'll give it a go. Have a great weekend or buon fine settimana!

Voghiera garlic fair

If not for this cone of creamy and luscious garlic gelato, I'd say that the garlic fair in Voghiera was a total bust. We attended the Fiera dell'Aglio this past Saturday around noon and returned a few hours later, but came away unimpressed with what should've been Italy's answer to the garlic festival in Gilroy. Voghiera's garlic is DOP, a food crop with a protected designation of origin that merits more than the average clove, so why skimp on pungency galore? Sadly, I could count the number of actual food booths on one hand - much, much less than the number of product stalls selling everything from Amalfi liqueurs to moka coffee pots to baobab fruit pulp. Hardly anyone was there for lunch on Saturday even if there was a set traditional menu for 14-15€ which included everything from antipasto to dessert. Needless to say we left feeling rather deluded.

To be fair I did come away with a half kilo of garlic for 4.50€ and again, that gelato was divine, but if you're looking for total garlic mania - pungent foods, an enthusiastic crowd, garlic tshirts! - you won't find it here. Living in Italy has a more positive report on the event but Foodhoe's outing at Gilroy sets the gold standard for celebrating the stinking rose.

Tasi e Tira!

In September of last year I wrote about a wonderful fundraising event that was put on by veteran Alpini of Ronco Briantino. The Alpini, in case you don't know, are the alpine brigade of the Italian Army and while it shouldn't be any surprise that we attended their function to aide Abruzzo's earthquake victims (good food, good wine, great people and I am there!), it did come as a small shock to learn that they had stumbled across my post. Viva the internet! In that post I made it very clear how much I wanted one of their cool Tasi e Tira tshirts. [The phrase basically means to quit talking and pull, a verbal reinforcement to keep going when the going gets tough.] Well imagine my surprise when a recent email invited me to pick one up for myself.

MotH and I met with the Alpini a few nights ago and I cannot say enough on how nice those guys are. We were taken on a tour of their "baita" (home) where they meet, took a peek into their kitchen and dining hall, and both of us received Tasi e Tira tshirts. Today I was going to wear my new tshirt when my twin sister came over to help with making plum preserves, but changed my mind. The last thing I wanted was her asking for the tshirt off of my back.

Okay I was kidding about the twin sister; the image above was 'shopped. I'm just happy, over the tshirt, over the fact that summer vacation has officially begun and MotH can have some down time. Food festivals here we come - Mr B is giving a hint on what's in store next.

Ladurée in Milano

Well at last I've made the much-anticipated trip to Ladurée's newest shop on via Spadari. And I guess you could say that yesterday's visit was short and sweet because this dainty dozen, my dear macaron-adoring friends, was all that I came away with. At 16.80€ it is nothing more than frivolous female spending pure indulgence, a little be-good-to-yourself-treat that even Man-of-the-House “MotH” was eager to taste last night with a cup of hot tea. All together there were 15 flavors to choose from - just click on the image for what I got - and so far they are what you'd expect from a high end confectionaire. FYI: the store does NOT carry pastries so if you go there looking for Baisers, Religieuses, Ispahans and so on, you'll suffer a nervous breakdown like I did (just kidding). Actually, it's a good thing that they don't have them....because then surely MotH would be the one to collapse after viewing the credit card statement. Location: on via Spadari across the street from Peck.

Theatrical festival at the House of Arlecchino

Hunger and sex, right here under the stars. When is the last time you attended live theater? I know it all sounds rather salacious, but that was the foretold theme of a theatrical display that we checked out this past weekend in the village of Oneta (Valle Brembana). Oneta is where the character of Arlecchino was born, and upon learning that a saucy skit would involve other notable characters of the italian Commedia dell'Arte - Brighella, Colombina, Dottore and Capitano - it was a sure thing that we would attend. I haven't been to many outdoor theatrical performances but I have to admit that sitting in an old cobblestone square in a tiny nondescript mountain hamlet was such a cool thing to experience. The professional actors performed fantastically as well, but what made it even better was that it was for free!