5th June 2000 Vellano
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2000
1
40
81
Trip End
Aug 09, 2000
Vellano,
Italy
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Spent most of the day working on this journal. Stopped to cook a pack of gorgonzola and walnut pasta-cheating. Followed with a salad and leftover chicken. That reminds me, someone in Australia said that we hadn't tasted real chicken ever. In the early days, chickens were primarily raised for eggs, and as children up to the late sixties, chicken was only ever eaten at Christmas, and for a special event such as a birthday. When my antecedents (the Tegels of Tegal Turkeys and Steggles Chickens), became one of the first to produce battery chickens for the "table" market, we were introduced to the most bland poultry, that we know today. Our roast chicken gets its flavour from the herbs and stuffing. Here in Italy, they have dozens of different types of chickens. When you buy, they are ready to cook, but they still have their heads attached, so you can recognise what type of chicken it is. They also have wonderful colour-all shades of yellow. Oh! They also have a wonderful natural flavour.
For the first time, we ventured the rest of the way down the mountain (and noted that the road gets even narrower with more real hairpin bends.), on to the road down the bottom of the valley and in to Pescia. They were just finishing resurfacing the road, and we had to wait for five minutes for them to re-open the road. Pescia is strung out on both sides of the Pescia River, where the valley widens before opening up onto the plain. We parked in the Piazza, and went looking for the photographer, alamentari and gelataria. Success with the first and latter. Next we drove further down the road toward Lucca (which we now know is pronounced Looka, and Collodi is pronounced Colody), to the supermarketo "Esselunga". Here we experience a brilliant approach to selling fruit and vegetables. There were two sets of electronic scales. Each is programmed with the price of every item for sale. You must put on a plastic glove to handle the produce, place it in a plastic bag and then place it on the scales, press the product number (which is also identified with a picture of the item), and it generates a price sticker, which you attach to the bag. Done. We finished the rest of the shopping, and returned home for dinner on the lawn at 8.30. Our meals are getting later and later, often 9.00 or more. Don't know how we will adjust back home.
