perceptions

Recently, I was given an offer I couldn’t refuse. 

A good friend was teaching at a cooking school in Italy.  I was invited to spend 2-weeks at a 400 year old Tuscan estate owned by a Barron & Baronessa.  The lands itself encompassed over 200 hectares of olive groves in addition to the school.  In exchange, I assisted with setup, dishes and running of classes for Europeans & Americans learning how to recreate traditional local Italian cuisine.  Prep started at 7.00am, lasted till after dinner.  Evenings and weekends we visited small towns of the region, and experienced life with local friends who lived nearby.  Day trips included the walled city of Lucca, the ancient town of San Gimignano with its dozens of tall stone towers, and the gorgeous beaches of Viareggio on the Italian Riviera.

Skies were vibrant, trees stood in firm rows on the rolling hills, streets and buildings were ancient.  It was clear that motivated by this incredible environment, these Italians had made an art form out of the cuisine.   Traditionally, Tuscany was a less wealthy region, hence the usage of beans, breads, and pastas more heavily.  My favorite new find was a meat like prosciutto called speck. Drink of the trip was affectionately “caffe correcto” ~ espresso with a shot of Sambucca.  Happy times.  

Italy, I’ll be back that’s a promise.  Friends, Enjoy!  

I found myself walking down the streets of a town that took me back in time 25 years.  A general store, a closed furniture warehouse, a diner from the 1940’s,  a set of old dogwood/crabapple trees in full bloom. It was a slightly overcast weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised by the simple honesty of it all.  

Store sign-age drawn on brick walls and made of a reflective metal, no fluorescent neon hung in the windows, no high resolution graphics drawing you in.   Walking down the sidewalk, textures and the weathered, slightly faded, rusty nature of everything caught my eye - hence the manhole cover.  

Finally, the layers of this sandwich are unforgettable, bigger than your head & impressive in its own right.  They boil and then fry the potatoes giving them a thicker texture, the coleslaw is thrown directly in and heavily peppered, the corned beef and pastrami made using traditional Eastern European techniques, shaved just right.   I’m hungry ~ Enjoy.