Week one

We’ve ended our first full week back in Siena and it seems as of we have been here for months. So much has happened or rather seems to have happened as we grapple with what we want to do with the rest of our lives.

I gave my first digital workshop on Sunday afternoon and then all day Monday and we spent most of the day traveling to a couple of my favorite photo locations: the “crete” (clay hills) southwest of Siena and then to the abandoned abbey at San Galgano southeast of the city. Although the weather cooperated both days we lost the sun on Monday. Still it was a good day of shooting all around. Meanwhile Sue spent much of her time walking, working on her two bear orders and continuing her herbal DVD course. So it was a pretty busy first part of the week for sure.

On Tuesday morning we got in the car – I had moved it to a parking space near the fortezza – and drove to Florence Vespucci airport to drop it off a day earlier than we planned since we no longer needed it and in fact it had become a liability with parking at such a premium in Siena.

We took the shuttle into downtown Florence since we wanted to check out the facilities of Apicius, the Culinary School in Florence. Before we left the US Susan had mentioned to me she was interested in finding a school in Italy that had a pastry program. I went online and discovered Apicius, which in fact has a year-long program just in pastry and baking.

After we had a good (surprise) lunch near the Duomo we headed over to the school’s main office (it’s in two separate locations) and got a tour of the administrative and wine expertise program facilities. We then walked to the pastry and cooking facilities about ten minutes away. It was a gorgeous day and we had a very nice stroll through the backstreets of Florence. The school is impressive and the facilities certainly appeared up-to-date and serious indeed. The woman who we needed to speak with however was not available so we decided to return next week and meet with her. After we left the school and then took a late afternoon bus back to Siena, a trip of just about 75 minutes or about half the time the train would have taken.

During the week we also renewed our relationship with Aimone, owner of the Cantina in Piazza, a wine bar and enoteca just a few steps off the Piazza del Campo but a world away in many respects. The Cantina is one of the best places in the city to buy wine and to taste wine– the selection may be the largest outside of the official state-run enoteca in the fortezza, Aimone, who is in his 50s, along with his wife, son, daughter and staff Valentina and Alessandra are not only serious about wine but they are kind and generous as well.

We have become fast friends with Aimone and Alessandra and so we have spent pretty much every evening having our aperitivi at the Cantina, talking and learning about Italian wine and food. This coming week Aimone has promised to show me how to prepare fresh porcini mushrooms – which are available right now – and Susan is angling for help on developing her baking skills in preparing Italian breads, cakes, etc. It should prove to be an interesting week indeed.

Speaking of food we have pretty much gotten back into our routine of fixing dinner at home – although we do have our antipasti at the Cantina. And we did ea dinner at Nello Saturday evening (22 October). 

Anyway, with the fresh vegetables available, vegetables such as green beans and fennel and eggplant, it is simply too tempting to eat at home. And Sunday evening Sue fixed her very first dessert: poached pears in chocolate sauce, a Jacques Pepin recipe. And man oh man was that a delicious end to the meal! Bit by bit Sue is adding to her baking larder so that before long she will be ready to start baking big time.

Monday afternoon we will take the train out to Asciano (about a 24 minute trip) to meet with Patti Bechi, ostensibly to discuss our video interview project Roberto Bechi and I began last winter/spring but also so that I can go to her dentist and have a temporary crown re-cemented. Anyway Roberto is busy every day right now with tour groups so Patti and I will hammer out the details of how we want this project to evolve. I had called her Sunday morning to tell her I needed to see a dentist and she said wow her daughter had a dentist appointment the very next afternoon and could we take the train out to meet her and we could also talk about the project’s development? So things are working out well so far.

We have heard nothing on the pending home sale, which is good news, I suppose. And speaking of homes we are scheduled to meet with a real estate agent here in Siena Tuesday at noon to look at property. We need all the information we can get right now in order to help make any kind of intelligent decision about our future.

Right now our future is about as unclear as it has ever been. Each day we talk about where we want to go and what we want to do but no answers seem forthcoming. Wednesday we go back to Florence so that Sue can meet with one of the counselors at Apicius.

Who knows what will happen?