We interrupt our Italy trip at the three fourths point (with Sorrento to come) to say that we got home on May 11, after a 24 hour day, so I’ll be interspersing the trip with normal posts beginning with this one – can you believe it’s pasta – to use some of our asparagus. The recipe for One Pot Spring Pasta Primavera is courtesy of the “Flavor Of The Moment” blog and I doubled it (as shown below) to use the full pound of pasta and asparagus and to have leftovers.
After a good nights sleep, on Saturday, mid-morning, our very nice hostess, and owner, Sabrina retrieved our car from the parking garage, helped us load up and sent us on our way. This is a shot of the owner, Sabrina, on the right and her right hand girl, Rita.
When we decided to visit Orvieto, I didn’t plan on my being
in recovery from a cold and Bev still having one plus a strained ankle so I
believed we would be able to walk around some.
However, with those problems and the cramped accommodations, we decided
to leave on Sat. afternoon rather than early Sun. morning and spend the night
near the Rome airport so it would be more convenient to pick up Wende by 9am
Sunday morning. So, we ate the light
Italian breakfast on Friday morning then just hung around the apartment on
Friday as there was nothing to see or do within a short walk. I already knew this from our friends but
don’t visit the old walled hill towns unless you are willing and able to walk
the hilly streets.
Day 18 was packing day for us and while I was pretty much well, Bev was still feeling a little rough – the silver lining was that we watched the complete Taylor Sheridan series “Landman” starring Billy Bob Thorton and much of “Tulsa King” starring Sylvester Stallone - so, we flew a few thousand miles and spent more than a few thousand dollars to watch shows we were unlikely to watch at home – duh.
Bev took a few pics around the farmhouse before we left.
Since Rhett & Beth joined us after cruising across the Atlantic and spending time in France and England they were ready for an easy day before flying home so they just kicked around in Castellina for the day – they had been gone for 24 Days. We made reservations for them at the Squarcialupi Taverne (Castellina’s best restaurant) while Beverly continued to convalesce and I stayed with her. Unfortunately, our dream trip has turned into the trip from hell for her with a chest cold and a sprained ankle and she’s talking about wanting to just go home.
They ate on the taverne veranda overlooking the countryside - the black rooster on the bottle indicates good wine.
The plan for this day was to go to Agriturismo Biologico Diacceroni near Volterra (75 minute drive) for a pasta and pizza cooking class but since Bev needed to stay off her sprained ankle, I stayed home with her and Rhett and Beth went to the class. They both took the pasta class. Here is a shot of the place that I borrowed from the web.
After spending most of the day in Siena and having lunch, Kathy and Keith hopped a bus for the Rome airport and Beverly, Rhett, and Beth came to the farmhouse. With Bev and I still ailing, Beth and Rhett went into Castellina for supper at the I Grani di Squarchialupi (The Grains Of Squarchialupi) – a fresh pasta restaurant. Their menu has the usual courses: Appetizers, pasta, main course with side dishes, and dessert and unless you are really hungry it's best to just share each course.
The morning of Apr. 22. Kathy, Bev, and Keith made a return trip to Rocca so Keith could meet them and try their wines since he missed our cooking class . Then Kathy and Keith packed for home and along with Bev, they headed off to Siena to meet up with son Rhett and DIL Beth who were coming in from England. Kathy and Keith would head for Rome and home after a couple days in Siena and Rhett and Beth would come back to the farmhouse in Castellina. I was still too sick to go but they ended up with a really nice three BR apartment that overlooked Siena’s Piazza Del Campo ( main public square). Overhead pic borrowed from the web.
This was one of our usual days with a light breakfast in the apartment then a wine tasting with lunch in yet another Tuscan Wine Region - San Gimignano – where white wines reign made from the Vernaccia grape vs. the Sangiovese grapes used in most Tuscan red wines. The winery we chose was Il Colombaio Santa Chiara which is located about 3 miles south of the small town of San Gimignano. The buildings of the winery were originally the San Donato Parish with its parsonage. The winery was started by one man in the 1950's and now it is run by his three sons.
A week or so before our trip to Italy, I got the Norovirus
then Bev got it and just recovered a couple of days before we left for Italy and now I
have a bad cold that has cost me the opportunity to participate in today’s wine
tasting and the ability to go to the one city that I wanted to visit – Siena.
As mentioned in the previous post we went back to Il Cantuccio Restaurant and Wine Bar in Castellina for Beverly’s birthday and our Easter Dinner. Il Cantuccio means "the nook."
Here are some shots of the restaurant which is small like
the others we’ve been in. They have
seating inside the restaurant, outside, and across the street in their wine bar.
On Saturday we all slept in and then prepared for the trip to Tuscany's capital, Florence for a guided tour on what was finally a pretty day. Since I can’t do long distance walking and we were having trouble figuring out how to get to Florence, we just decided that I would drive them to a place to meet the guide, come back to Castellina then go back and pick them up – about a 50 minute trip each way. I had mentioned before that the terrain reminded me of WV and here are a couple of shots showing that from the road to Florence and the road to the farmhouse where we are staying.
When we flew to Italy on Sun, Kathy’s fiancée, Keith couldn’t make the trip due to an unknown visa issue so he drove to Minneapolis for an 8am Monday appt. with the immigration folks to get his new passport at 3pm. He then drove back to Nebraska and caught a Wednesday flight that got him into Rome around 8am on Thu. which was followed by a bus ride for us to pick him up in Siena around 2pm to begin his vacation with us.
That morning, Kathy went to the store and made a stop at
the café next door (Bar Italia) for a cappuccino.
We’ve had to make a few changes to our plan as Keith did not make the original flight with us due to a passport issue so he had to wait until Monday (we left on Sat), go to Minneapolis to get a valid passport then fly to Italy on Wed, getting here on Thursday. As a result, we moved forward a day to Wed for our trip to the Montalcino wine area to try one of Italy’s great wines – Brunello. Before leaving home, we had a typical breakfast.
After a good nights sleep, we were ready for our first full
day in Castellina and to do a little recovering from out trip. While researching our trip with wine tasting
as a big part, my research found several listings for Tuscan Wine Regions but
the consensus seems to be Chianti, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino,
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Bolgheri, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and
Carmignano and one of my thoughts was to visit them all but I reduced it to
five or six. The Chianti, Chianti Classico,
Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano regions use Sangiovese
grapes, Bolgheri wines known as the Super Tuscans use international grapes more
typical for French Bordeaux’s, Vernaccia di San Gimignano is known for its dry
white wine made from the Vernaccia grape, and Carmignano wines are typically a
blend of Sangiovese and international grapes such as cabernet.
So, to begin this day, we went to the Squarcialupi Taverne
(located
in the hotel) for their buffet breakfast which seemed typical of Italian
breakfast and very different than American.
The restaurant is located on the main street of the old city which is
closed to vehicles and it lined with touristy businesses.
For many years, we have been talking about a trip to Tuscany and we finally realized that at our ages, it was now or never so we began planning the trip. Since we recently sold our small apartment complex, we had the funds that we could also take our kids so we planned a one month visit for us and invited each of the four kids to join us for a week. Unfortunately, son Eric had just changed jobs and was unable to make the trip but we went for a month anyway. Our plan included 19 days in Tuscany, 3 days just south in Umbria and the final week on the Sorrentine Peninsula (location of the Amalfi Coast) just south of Naples.
Now that Cindy is back from a Florida visit, I have someone to share fish meals with as she is also a big lover of all things seafood. Since she is a big fan of tuna and I have plenty of Albacore, it seemed like the logical meal choice and an opportunity to try a different recipe from the previous meal. The recipe for Grilled Albacore Tuna WithCitrus Herb Marinade came from Wild Tides Seafoods and I followed the marinade recipe as written even though I had two loins vs. steaks.
After a three-day battle with Norovirus and 14 lb. weight loss, on the fifth day, I decided I was ready to try something to eat other than boiled potatoes and my choice was a nice piece of flounder from the freezer along with some fresh asparagus. To make it a one pot meal and cook one of our favorite fish dishes, I decided to cook everything in lemon butter garlic sauce.
I’ve mentioned earlier that Bev and Pat are in St. Marten and oddly most of the pics she sends me look like these.
Let’s do another post about seafood and veggies. When Pam recently posted a bunch of broccoli recipes on her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog, one in particular caught my attention - Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp And Broccoli since I had both that needed to be cooked. Since I couldn't open her recipe for some reason and I’m not a fan of roasted vegetables (except potatoes), I went in search of a dish that was cooked on the stove top. The recipe I liked was for Skillet Garlic Butter Shrimp And Broccoli from the “Gimme Delicious” blog but I adapted it quite a bit. I like my broccoli to be cooked moist and I didn’t want to pan fry it anymore than bake it so my adapted recipe does the cooking differently and I doubled the ingredients to ensure leftovers.
My plan for the this meal was to be seared tuna and leftover peas and carrots until I discovered that my asparagus was off and running so I opted for it instead. I've never cooked fresh Albacore Tuna (was surprised at how it was cut) so I went on line in search of recipes and the one I chose for pan seared Albacore Tuna loin came from "Sea Forager." While the recipe was for a pound of tuna, I still made all of the spice ingredients.
So my girls are off for their annual visit to Sint Maarten/Saint Marten in the Caribbean for two weeks and it’s the (now four) dogs and I holding down the fort. One of the things I like to do when they are gone is eat the things that Bev isn’t a fan of and this meal fits in that category. Except for fried crappie in lemon butter caper sauce they want their white fish battered and deep fried so I’ll be having it baked and pan cooked. Seafood loving Cindy will be back home for the second week that Bev and Pat are gone so the fish-a-thon will continue.
I wasn’t inspired to cook a typical Irish meal on Monday, so we ate the two dishes below instead (one was green and the other was potatoes though) for St. Patrick’s Day but I did drink a couple of Guinness Stout’s to celebrate.
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We had six pieces of cubed steak in the fridge and I considering using the recipe for Smothered Cube Steak on the “Ask Chef Dennis” blog but I didn’t want to use two skillets to cook it on the cook top so I reverted to our usual Baked Steak and Gravy (Bev prefers this anyway). However, I still used Dennis’ recipe for everything but the final cooking except I increased the meat seasoning by 50% and the gravy ingredients by 25% to get the recipe below. You can check out the Chef’s site for his great how-to pics by clicking on the above link.
This dish should not be confused with Chicken Fried Steak which is pan or deep fried then plated and topped with gravy but Country Style Steak can often refer to both of these dishes.
Visit from Riley
We had a recent long-weekend visit from granddaughter, Riley, who is a student at the College of Charleston in South Carolina where she is majoring in Psychology and Religious Studies. It’s been about a year since we saw her and it was really nice catching up with her life. Here she is with her Meme and Aunt Pat engaged in girl talk.
Riley brought her cat and kept it in her bedroom and this is Romeo trying to look under the door the check it out.
We enjoy salmon and grilled and it is Bev’s preferred way to cook it using our normal method on seasoning with salt and lemon pepper then brushing on a coat to mayo for grilling. I enjoy it cooked this way as well but I also like a topping and we have used dill sauce, mango salsa, etc. in the past but I went looking for something different this time. What I found was a recipe for Salmon with Roasted Tomatoes and Shallots on the “Proud Italian Cook” blog. I used the ingredients list but made extra topping for leftovers and I used the cooking method shown below. The original can be found by clicking on the above link.
Bev wanted to go out for a hamburger for Sunday early supper and we decided to give the newly opened Victory Bar And Grill a try. It is supposedly owned by the same folks as our favorite Cielto Lindo Mexican Restaurant (next door) so we were expecting it to be good.
I made this back in 2020 with just cauliflower but since I could only get a smaller head of cauliflower, I added a 4” round of broccoli that we had in the fridge and I used a different cheese than the baby Swiss the first time. This is previous time.
We have enjoyed great success from our water well for the past 30+ years however, the water is hard, and recently it had an off-taste (vs. the usual no taste) and we’re getting a build up on the coffee maker. So, it was obvious that the old EcoWater System softener had ceased to function properly. After researching it, I opted to go with a locally owned business in Lenoir City called Aqua Clear. We knew we needed a particulate filter and softener and since we were a little concerned about bacteria in the future, we also got a UV system to kill any potential. And while we were at it, we decided to go whole-hog and add a reverse osmosis filter (RO) under the sink for our drinking water. This is the main system that was beautifully installed.
We had some mushrooms and deli turkey in the fridge that needed to be used so Bev suggested an omelet, which I’m always up for. Rather than make two omelets, we just made one large one then shared it. Bev did the prep and didn't measure the ingredients which is why it says "more or less."
During a recent freezer dive, I discovered a pkg of oxtails in gravy and decided it would be perfect comfort food for a cold Friday get-together meal. I nuked the meat and gravy then served it over mashed potatoes and sided with green beans.
Cindy Salmon
Cindy made a very good Salmon dish recently and I didn’t do a post about it as it required typing in the entire recipe. The recipe for Salmon With Creamed Spinach & Parmesan Sauce came from Tieghan Gerard in an unknown magazine and it was very good.
Unlike many bloggers who have thousands of readers and scads on commenters, a really big day for me is 200 reads and seven comments and I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my ramblings and I love getting your comments.
Our cattle raising neighbor recently had one processed for them and I requested some of the bones that normally get tossed so I could make some beef broth. As it turned out we had a little miscommunication and I ended up with at least a cows worth of bones already frozen in six 14”x14”x12” boxes weighing at least 40 lbs. each. Another neighbor agreed to take two boxes but I still had four to deal with. Normally I make a batch of broth using our 16 qt. pan and that makes all we want for a year. So I could put one box in the freezer and I removed the thawed bones from the top of three boxes for broth and put the bags in the freezer.
Once again this year, I gave our friend, Kathy, some free lunches as her Christmas present and this was our first chance to do one. We opted to go to the Patio Italian Restaurant in Madisonville, Tn and we always try to go when it won’t be crowded. The last time in Feb 2024, we went around 11:30am and discovered that many others had the same crowd-beating idea so we had to wait for a table but this time we got there about 1:15pm and had our choice of many empty tables.
We’ve had a box of jumbo pasta shells for I don’t know how long and I’ve looked at many recipes to use them. Then along came the recipe for Easy Lemon Ricotta Stuffed Shells With Marinara Sauce from Velva on her “Evening With A Sandwich” blog and I decided it would be perfect for Friday now that buddy Joe has found he can eat gluten. I followed her recipe except for the hot honey and I made a couple of minor changes.
I posted about this dish four years ago and had it not been for a different cooking method, I wouldn’t have posted this time. We remodeled our kitchen close to 20 years ago and we put in a new technology microwave called a GE Monogram with Advantium Technology and I’ve always liked it even though we didn’t maximize it’s potential. So, when it came time for a new one, we again went with the GE Monogram except now it’s called a 5 in 1 oven and our goal is to make more use of the oven and not use it only as a microwave.
