Before I become involved in anything else I just want to let you all know that by this time next week we should have really, really big news to send your way. I just wanted to say that and get it out of the way now. In case you decided this whole thing is just way too long and you really do need to find something better to do with your spare time than read about two people who are adrift on the sea of life, in the boat of insecurity, wearing the lifejackets of uncertainty and looking for the . . . .OK OK enough with the metaphors, let’s get on to the update.(photo Boboli sort-of-gardens.)
Another beautiful morning greeted us here in Florence on Friday.
After our first morning coffee – finished over reading emails and chatting about our future – I walked across the street to the OK bar for a treat of some of their dolci: sfoglia with crème and another with apple, strudel with apple and a puff pastry with chantilly crème (half pastry crème half whipped crème) and of course I had to make another pot of Lavazza coffee. So even though we got up early – which has been pretty much the rule lately -- our morning sort of got away from us.
I then made a quick run to the Internet Train to do a software update on the computer. I also wanted to check my “podcasts” – online downloadable audio programs, many of which are radio programs – particularly since I have now put three shows of my own online. I’m waiting to hear from a couple of testers whether they are functioning properly since for some reason I have been unable lately to update any of podcast subscriptions.
While this sounds uncomfortably too technical believe me if you haven’t yet used your computer’s software to check these podcasts out, try it. It’s addictive. You can listen to any number of NPR programs online, The Onion humor radio program, Rick Steves’ travel and scores of music shows.
I stopped at our rental agent’s office – which as you may recall is just around the corner – and picked up our newspaper, the International Herald Tribune. We started a subscription last March and haven’t regretted a minute of it. We still read the local papers but when it comes to truly great reportage and reliable information the IHT is our primary source. Most newspapers here are either dry as a bone and go on and on to seemingly no end or they are primarily tabloid in nature. And you cannot rely on TV here since apparently the same people who used to work for public access channel stations in the US produce the news shows here in Italy. Very sloppy, sophomoric, lacking in any depth of substance, this is surprising for Italy, devoid of any real attempt at a sophisticated appearance. Which is odd, given that this is a culture that eats and breathes form, a society that coined the very idea of the “bella figura”. Even Italians will admit they have some of the worst TV programming anywhere in the western world.
So I picked up the paper, stopped off at the Snack Bar just down the street from our apartment and picked up a large slab of schiacciate, a delicious flatbread similar to foccacia but a bit thinner that has become one of our staples, one of our vital daily foodstuffs here in Florence. And with a local pecorino cheese it makes for a delicious lunch. (Pecorino is sheep’s milk cheese, and we like a particular fresca (fresh) pecorino from San Casciano just outside of Florence in the Chianti.)
I returned to the apartment where Susan had finished up the weekly cleaning chores and shortly after I returned she headed out for her morning walk around the city.
The week has been pretty nice, notwithstanding some rain early on and a thunderstorm or two, and it closed out in a most interesting and, for us, fascinating way.
Susan finished her practical finals Thursday, and officially the beginning baking and pastry program at Apicius was over. But Thursday’s test and class work proved to be an odd ending for her, or so she related to me after she returned home.
Why odd? Well you’ll have to wait for the next update for our closing thoughts about Apicius – as well as a few words of warning for anyone thinking about going there. (photo Boboli sort-of-gardens.)
So late in the afternoon Thursday we headed off to the Paperback Exchange so Sue could use some of our used book credit there to pick out another book – she apparently eats these things like candy.
Anyway we left the Exchange and strolled over to Paszkowski’s for an aperitivo of prosecco and were shocked to discover that the price had gone up, almost overnight. Well, OK, not quite. It had been maybe a week or so since we had last stopped by our favorite prosecco hangout on the Piazza della Repubblica. But still. . . . When I asked the cashier about the cost increase she told me that it was now high season and so the prices were upticked accordingly. Hmmmm. Maybe we’ll look elsewhere. The antipasti isn’t THAT good frankly.
But hey it was a beautiful early evening so after finishing our wine we headed off across the piazza to one of the photo booths on a small side street around the corner from the piazza so Susan could get several passport photos taken. Now you might be thinking, “Why does she need passport-size pictures?” Good question. And one which will be answered, we hope, in due time.
After the photo session we walked across Piazza Signoria, through the dwindling tourist crowds, past the Palazzo Vecchio and down Via dei Neri to McRae Books, the other English language bookstore in Florence. A few days back we had stopped by there and caught sight of a notice that Isabella Dusi, the author of Vanilla Beans and Brodo and Bel Vino, would be in the shop talking about her books and that there would also be a tasting of Brunello di Montalcino as further incentive, since one of her books, Bel Vino, is really about that spectacular Italian red wine and the people who produce it. Originally from Australia, Isabella and her husband Luigi, moved to Montalcino some 12 years ago and she started collecting stories about the people who live in that wonderful Tuscan hill town (some 2000 people inside the walls we were told) and eventually produced a set of stories about the people, a book called Vanilla Beans and Brodo.
Isabella came to realize that since she arrive din Montalcino, in the last decade or so, this sleepy, out-of-the-way corner of Tuscany had become one of the world’s most important vinicultural areas in the world, one today produces one of the Italy’s greatest red wines. Naturally she had to tell that story, which was really the story of the people who grow the grapes and make the wine, and the result is Bel Vino.
Susan and I sat in a small, cozy, upstairs room at McRae Books, with about a half dozen other people, sipping Brunello as Isabella walked us through the wine, and then through her story and coming fully circle to the story of Montalcino and it’s “wine people”. Montalcino being a sworn enemy of the Florentines and a close ally of Siena over the centuries almost made me ashamed to say that we packed up and moved ourselves here to Sin City. But we had a grand time and the evening flew by – as did the number of glasses of wine, which was poured liberally to all who could hold out an empty glass. It was great fun.
At the end of her talk Isabella got up to sign some books for a few folks, and the young woman next to us, looked over at Susan and said she was sure she’d seen her somewhere before. Neither Susan nor I recognized her. But she said, hmm, I know I’ve seen you somewhere. Susan mentioned that she had just finished the pastry program at Apicius and it turns out that this lovely young woman, who introduced herself as Melinda, and her husband were renting an apartment from Simone, one of Susan’s favorite instructors at Apicius! They regularly visit his restaurant (in the “Oltrarno”, the south side of the Arno) and we said yeah we have been meaning to get there for dinner soon. So we chatted, swapping a variety of stories and ended up swapping email addresses. We caught up with Melinda this morning online and arranged to meet her and her husband at Simone’s restaurant next week! I’ve only met Simone once but look forward to not just the food but getting a more detailed image of just who this fascinating person is, exactly. Should be a blast.
A snappy ending to an odd beginning. Rather like life right now.
Wish you were here,
Steve
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