Month: October 2010

  • La Toscana

    On our drive back to Podenzano from Napoli, Elena and Enzo decided to take me to two towns in Tuscany; Montalcino and Siena. Montalcino is famous for their wine, particularly for their Brunello. Being a teetotaler myself, I had never heard of Brunello, but I looked forward to Elena and Enzo trying the degustazione (or…

  • Caterina

    As a result of my gift of a portrait I did of my recently deceased cousin to his widow, I suddenly have a few more commissions. The reactions of my Italian cousins to the gifted portrait was “Oh, will you paint a picture of my (daughter, son, parents)?” And so I must introduce you to…

  • Le Castagne – Chestnuts

    In Calabria, once upon a time before there were tomatoes (there was a time like this!) and before there was inexpensive pasta, people subsisted on Chestnuts – there was little else so readily available to stave off starvation in the wintertime. They boiled them with other vegetables, they dried them and ground them up for…

  • A day in Milan

    I started my Italian Adventure in Milan where Elena works. We left Podenzano at 6:30 in the morning and were on a train heading to Milan shortly after 7. Next we had to take two subway trains the last of which deposited us close to her office. Her coworker drew me a quick map and…