After returning from San Miniato on Sunday we slept in this morning, getting up with enough time to head out to the market and pick up some things for lunch and dinner before it closed for the day. Lunch today will be bruschetta and for dinner this evening we’ll have fresh spinach and ricotta ravioli with walnut sauce. We just finished lunch so I thought I’d sit down and write a quick blog – not focusing on any one topic.
When we’re both in the apartment one of us is usually on the computer and the other is sitting on the couch reading a book. Because of this, we’ve amassed quite a little reading library. I suspect we’ll just leave most of the books here. I think we’ve been the first renters, so we’ll not only leave behind books, but some items in the pantry (salt, red pepper flake, olive oil, napkins, etc.) along with about half a dozen empty wine bottles for the next renters to have filled at DiVino. Anyway, after finishing The Pillars of the Earth I decided to get my euro’s worth again and bought his sequel, World Without End. For only €8,30 I’ve got another 1,100 pages. I’m half way through it. It takes place about 200 years later, in the mid 1300’s, and is basically the same outline. Instead of building a cathedral the same town is building a bridge. You can almost replace each character from the first book with identical characters in the second book – evil earls and lords, monks and bishops jockeying for political power, knights and men-at-arms doing what they please, and young peasants in love only to be continually torn apart. Okay, so much for the book department.
I’ve got to have something to munch on when I’m reading. When we first arrived in Florence the local grocery store had some raisin bread which turned out to really be panettone in a loaf form. It was delicious and we bought all 4-5 they had in stock. That was the first week we were here. Since then that spot on the shelf has remained empty. A couple weeks ago we went to one of the larger grocery stores across town. They had a huge isle display of panettone – placed in cardboard display trays and stacked 4 feet high. Unlike the panettone you find in the States in colorful boxes with ribbon handles, these were in plain plastic bags that just said Panettone in plain letters. They were also only €2,99 each. We purchased four. They were much heavier than those in the States. We found out later that was because, being fresh, they were much moister. These panettone were 800 grams each (28 ounces). All four were gone in no time. We got three more a few days ago. Those dry, expensive panettone we traditionally buy in the States around the holidays will never taste the same.
Speaking of the holidays, as soon as October rolled in the chestnut vendors began popping up on the streets. They sell small paper sacks of chestnuts roasted over coals for €3 each. The bags are so tiny I’d estimate you’re getting 7-10 chestnuts per bag. Not very many, and because they seem to be cooking them all day long many are blackened. During our trip to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens we walked through an open green that was surrounded by chestnut trees. Several nuts were on the ground, many still in their pods. Cinzia grabbed up a few so we could take a photo. We’d never seen chestnuts in their pods before. The pods had thorns and contained 3 chestnuts. These were big with shiny brown skins – larger than those sold by the street vendors. I put a few into my bag and decide to roast them at home that evening. I’ve roasted chestnuts before, but always on the grill. I scored each with an X and put them on the grate in the oven while we were cooking a roast. We only had 7-8 nuts. They looked fine but when we each bit into them they tasted nasty. Something must have gone wrong. A couple days later Cinzia looked on-line and found that they were horse chestnuts, which are only slightly poisonous. The pods of edible chestnuts had many more thorns, almost like sea urchins.
Chestnuts in the stores are sold under two names: marrone and castagno. What's the difference? The Internet said that the marrone were cultivated while the castagno were wild. We saw both for sale at the grocery store. The marrone were €8/kg while the castagno were €5/kg. They are also graded like shrimp with the number of nuts per kilo. The castagno were 45-50 count and the marrone were 50-55 count. We bought the cheaper, and larger, castagno. They were loose, so I picked 20 of the largest nuts which came to just under half a kilo. We again consulted the Internet on the best way to cook them in an oven. We found a single score across the rounded end was best and 20-25 minutes at 220°C should do the trick. They came out perfect. They peeled easily and the inner skin came away effortlessly. They were big, warm, and tasty.
Chestnuts in the stores are sold under two names: marrone and castagno. What's the difference? The Internet said that the marrone were cultivated while the castagno were wild. We saw both for sale at the grocery store. The marrone were €8/kg while the castagno were €5/kg. They are also graded like shrimp with the number of nuts per kilo. The castagno were 45-50 count and the marrone were 50-55 count. We bought the cheaper, and larger, castagno. They were loose, so I picked 20 of the largest nuts which came to just under half a kilo. We again consulted the Internet on the best way to cook them in an oven. We found a single score across the rounded end was best and 20-25 minutes at 220°C should do the trick. They came out perfect. They peeled easily and the inner skin came away effortlessly. They were big, warm, and tasty.
I mentioned that we had bruschetta for lunch today. We’ve had that several times. The Pugliese bread is perfect as it can take plenty of juice and olive oil and still maintain its crunch. Cinzia also wanted some mozzarella, so we got the small bag of mozzarella da bufala which contains five small balls for €3. To make them even more inviting the Italians obviously put the freshly pulled balls of mozzarella into small molds to drain. There’s just something familiar about seeing a pair of them on the cutting board. Maybe it’s those paintings of St. Bernard and St. Agatha that ring a bell.
With all of this food you might think I’m getting fat, and you’d be correct. Even with the 53 stairs it takes to climb up to your apartment there are just too many good things to eat here in Italy. The gelato is just part of it. With only 8 days left in Florence that means there are only 8 dinners left too. We’ve had to write down a list of what we’d like to eat as to not miss anything. The list has the following dinner suggestions: filled pasta with walnut sauce (that’s tonight), twirly pasta with fresh white truffles (we’ll buy the pasta and a truffle at the central market), dinner out at Trattoria San Lorenzo with crepe Suzette for dessert, a dinner of cheese, bread, fruit, and balsamico, our last remaing GroupOn at a nice seafood restaurant overlooking the Arno River, and we’ll have dinner when we go to San Gimignano later this week. That leaves 2 dinners unplanned. Got any suggestions?