A little bit more about food. We’re pretty sick of the “white stuff” ---that is, the breads, pastas, pastries –I tried it all in the first two months as did the boys (they also included heaps of chocolate!) But…the fresh produce here is something we will miss! Non-GMO, local, no pesticides (at least they say that, but who knows, often times they’ll answer whatever you want to hear!). Since I try to eat completely wheat-free, it’s pretty easy here…you can always have fagioli soups or vegetable soups and fish or chicken plus all kinds of vegetable dishes. There is abundant riso and also a wheat-free grain called hulled millet which is really good.
Yesterday, Kelcie and I went out with the cooking class to Grassina to visit some local stores…a Pescheria (=fish) called Pescheria Marisa, a fruit and wine store called Primizie Massimo, and Veronica’s favorite bakery “Fiori di Pane.” Then we drove through the Chianti countryside to Montevertine Winery in Radda in Chianti....a little tour of their winery (the original storage tanks are “cement” before they place the wine to age in the oak barrels…although this winery was founded in 1971, they say they are doing it the “old way”...no steel storage barrels like we saw in the modern wineries in Montalcino) and a wine tasting. I have just never acquired a taste for wine….and I guess after getting to try some of the “good stuff” here, if that hasn’t converted me, nothing will. But I loved the handmade wine labels and getting to visit the dug-out cellars. No worries though, we bought red pears and also came home and shelled a kilo of sweet peas! I have seen several people sitting outside vegetable stands here in town recently shelling peas...it's very therapeutic I might add.
We also visited a wonderful place in Radda in Chianti called “Neltempo” which has incredible hand-painted terra cotta ceramics, but a little different from the traditional Tuscan ceramics which have the bright yellows, blues, and greens (and are also beautiful). You can order up your place settings from their patterns. Just recently, someone mentioned that terra cotta means "cooked earth" in Italian (so interesting that we've heard those words for years and know what they mean by association but I never thought about the meaning of the words). They also had hand-painted dresses. And of course, there was the requisite fortress of stone in the center of town. These towns are up on hills, often with railings and walkways where you look out over valleys with vineyards planted as far as meets the eye. Good place to rest your eyes!
