21st May Assisi
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2000
1
25
81
Trip End
Aug 09, 2000
Assisi,
Italy
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Ches had a chat with Rebecca when returning from hanging out the washing. Among other things, Rebecca asked if we had been kept awake by the bellowing of cattle last night. She explained that they are weaning the calves, and the mother's were calling constantly. We hadn't been troubled, but she said that she had become so irritated she was tempted to "go out and have a steak" and she's a vegetarian. Ches also complimented her on the four liqueurs we had sampled last evening, in particular, the "Bay Berry", which is actually made from the spring berries from the Bay Tree. Never knew. Also mentioned that I had liked the bitter liqueur made from Walnuts. Rebecca said she was surprised, as it is normally only the Italians who like bitter liqueurs, and that I must have a hairy chest.
We spent the day catching up on our diaries and reading, and lazing on the deck chairs on the lawn in front of our building.
Late in the aftrnoon, we notice Rebecca coming back from the garden with a great tub of peas. They were ripening faster than they could use them, so she decided to shell them and freeze for use in winter. We joined her on their porch and had a lengthy chat while shelling.
They have two dogs. Rebeccas dog is Indy-she brought from the states. Fido was a stray. Discovered he was a pure bred truffle dog. Sent to Truffle hunting school. They called after three days and said he was going to fail so he might as well withdraw. Flunked out of truffle school. That's probably why he was a stray in the first place.
Cooked our first risotto for dinner. Just a vegetable stock (used Knorr brand, Brodo Granulare Classico) risssoto, and stirred through a pan of fried sausage mince, peas and parsley a minute from the end. The best thing about it was that, following Cheryl's risotto at Terracina, where she commented that it was drier than I normaly make them, and a show I had seen on TV where the Italian woman chef maintained that a Risotto should cook for an exact 21 minutes (including the initial period where it is toasted in the olive oil and butter), I used only twice the amount of liquid to rice (to stop it getting too sloppy) and cooked it for just the 21 minutes (which left it creamy but still some "bite" to the rice. The toasting (it is the frying for two or three minutes with constant stiring in the olive oil/butter, onion and garlic at the beginning), is designed to seal the outside layer of the rice, to stop it becoming mushy as you cook it with the stock. It was a tad salty, and we don't yet know what to blame; the sausages or perhaps too much stock powder. Next time, I should probably make my own stock! Accompanied the meal with the "Brigolante" red. Very thin and light, a little rough. Rustic even! They are on the wrong side of the mountain for decent grapes aand olives. They have a plot on the right side of the mountain where they produce their own olives.
