The top picture and the one on the left are of the village where we stayed - Vallo di Nera. The other, below right, is nearby at Castel San Felice.
What a fantastic time was had. On the foody subject, the most exciting news, for part of a day anyway, was that I bought a truffle! Later, in a restaurant, I thought maybe I should taste this highly-praised fungus, so I ordered pasta in saffron and truffle sauce. Hmmmm.... What is all the fuss about? Somebody maybe vaguely famous said something like "no meal can be called gastronomic if it doesn't include truffle". I don't entirely agree. It was pleasant enough but I have had much, much tastier things in everyday life which have cost me a lot less than my 14.50 euros.
Then there was the day we spent 15 euros on two cakes. I had at the back of my mind that "ette" didn't mean "each" but I couldn't think what it did mean, so asked for 2 of those 2.50 euro cakes and, thinking I heard "cinque", I handed over a 20 euro note. Grumpy shop woman wouldn't give me my money back when I said I had thought they were 2.50 each. "Etto" means "100g" so they were two hefty cakes which we didn't even feel like eating after that. Cut up into normal portion sizes, however, they lasted the 2 of us 4 days, so it wasn't such a bad mistake after all.
I will miss the food. There were so many things I didn't get an opportunity to try and so many things I wanted to eat for a second time. In restaurants, there are menus I remember when I would have chosen about 8 things if I could so wish I could go there again and again until I could exhaust all the possibilities. Loved seeing peaches, pomegranates, grapes and olives growing. There were lots of crops I couldn't identify and hope to find them on the internet. There were no bilberries where were were but plenty blackberries and plums. There were lots of little red plum-like things but thye didn't look enough like plums so I thought I had better not just try them.
Alright, it was Umbria. Since there were some other Brits there I don't think I can be easily identified. Saying that, there were far fewer than I would have expected, thankfully. I don't really like seeing other Brits abroad and keep a well-tuned ear and talk in muted tones if I see or hear any in the vicinity.
There'll be more about the hols and there was an item on R4 today about cows and dog walkers which I want to talk about and hope to find some discussion about somehwere on the BBC website but that'll be the subject of another post.
Then there was the day we spent 15 euros on two cakes. I had at the back of my mind that "ette" didn't mean "each" but I couldn't think what it did mean, so asked for 2 of those 2.50 euro cakes and, thinking I heard "cinque", I handed over a 20 euro note. Grumpy shop woman wouldn't give me my money back when I said I had thought they were 2.50 each. "Etto" means "100g" so they were two hefty cakes which we didn't even feel like eating after that. Cut up into normal portion sizes, however, they lasted the 2 of us 4 days, so it wasn't such a bad mistake after all.
I will miss the food. There were so many things I didn't get an opportunity to try and so many things I wanted to eat for a second time. In restaurants, there are menus I remember when I would have chosen about 8 things if I could so wish I could go there again and again until I could exhaust all the possibilities. Loved seeing peaches, pomegranates, grapes and olives growing. There were lots of crops I couldn't identify and hope to find them on the internet. There were no bilberries where were were but plenty blackberries and plums. There were lots of little red plum-like things but thye didn't look enough like plums so I thought I had better not just try them.
Alright, it was Umbria. Since there were some other Brits there I don't think I can be easily identified. Saying that, there were far fewer than I would have expected, thankfully. I don't really like seeing other Brits abroad and keep a well-tuned ear and talk in muted tones if I see or hear any in the vicinity.
There'll be more about the hols and there was an item on R4 today about cows and dog walkers which I want to talk about and hope to find some discussion about somehwere on the BBC website but that'll be the subject of another post.
Just found out you're back! I hope we're going to see a few of your holiday snaps?
ReplyDeleteYou were very brave to try out all these Italian restaurants. Did you understand what you were ordering or was it in English? I couldn't...it was "pasta alla this" or "pasta alla that". I can remember once asking for "doue panini" and got twenty bread rolls! Not only can I not speak Italian, I cannot spell it either! What is Italian for two?
It sounds as if you had a great time.
The "little red plum-like things" were probably tomatoes.....they use them a lot in Italian cooking so I believe.
Cheers........Bernard
Hiya! Thanks for calling.
ReplyDeleteWill get round to putting photos on in time.
A very few restaurants provided English translations of the menus but as I know lots of Italian food words I didn't really look at the English. The Italian menus were better because sometimes the way they translate things is just plain wrong.
I don't speak Italian but I know some numbers, some food, days of the week and a few bits and I check words in a dictionary first if I know I'm going to have to use them. Sign language is useful too.
I get a bit annoyed when I start to order food in a foreign restaurant, admittedly falteringly, and they reply in English, especially when their English is no better than my Italian. I like doing the forign bit and being seen to be making an effort.
"due" is "two". I thought "venti" was "twenty". It works for me anyway.
I know about plum tomatoes and have sene them a lot before when abroad but these plum thungs grew on three the height of plum trees and tomatoes grow on short plants. The stones looked like plum stones. I found an Italian tree book in the cottage so I wrote down the Latin names of all trees I was interested in identifying and now I must start looking them all up.