Going back in time in Bevagna

Yesterday, Jeremy and I had the chance to go to Bevagna's medieval festival. The entire town is decked out, and there is a competition between the neighborhoods, or "gaite" for the best display. How that is judged remains unclear to me, however.

In any case, we were suitably impressed by all of the gaite. Apart from the costuming, which was lovely, they had courtyards with animals, blacksmiths, metalworkers (think casting bells), bookbinders, paper makers, and more.

At lunch, Jeremy got brave and tried land snails (rather than the sea snails he loves). They were not quite the thing in his book of gastronomic pleasures, but he was happy with the boar that he also ordered.

I was crushed: having seen the roads bedecked with what appeared to be hand-dyed wools, I was convinced that I would be arriving home with more than a skein. Sadly, they were not for sale. Sigh. On the other hand, I bought the most adorable silver dragon pendant (usually not my style, but I loved his face!), several "digestivi" (hard after-dinner drinks) (which of course required a tasting session to decide), local lentils, and a few more odds and ends.

We arrived home in time for gelato, then dinner, then...the dance recital at the theatre! But that's for another post.

Love,

Alexandra

Whetstone

Pulping mill

Paper making

Casting bells

Bacon-to-be

A foot-driven lathe

My dragon!

James's Meal

It is summer vacation, and that means that all of the kids get to take turns at preparing our meals.  Vacation for kids = vacation for Alexandra.

Today was James's turn, and I was very impressed.  James decided completely on his own that we would have fried polenta with a tomato sauce featuring Umbrian sausage.  He worked diligently at it much of the afternoon and it came off beautifully:

It really was the best polenta and sauce combination I have ever had, with the hearty texture and flavor of the sauce perfectly offsetting the simple polenta.

Bravo, James!

Spring (Roll) Has Sprung!

While our friends in the southeastern US have been sweltering, we have had a prolonged spring. This has meant cool mornings, nice sun and a bit of warmth in the afternoons, and cool evenings. Love it!

Today, we celebrated figuratively by making Thai spring rolls! Kung, a lovely Thai acquaintance of ours who also happens to be married into the Pianegiani dynasty, was nice enough to have us to her home to teach us how to make spring rolls from scratch. Yum!

We started with raw ingredients: ground pork, oyster sauce, parsley (in the absence of cilantro, I'd imagine), rice noodles, carrots, corn, cabbage, salt, soy sauce, and a smidgen of sugar. We used squares of rice pasta (not like the kind you soak for the summer rolls, but thicker and spongier, somehow), put some goo in, rolled around once and a bit, folded in one corner, rolled another half turn, folded in the other corner, and then wetted the remaining flap for the closure!

After making quite a few, it was time for a tasting break. Kung fried some up for us, and we declared them toothsome. Back to work! We made about 120 of them, and were sent home with a huge portion for our (at the moment) rather small family of 5. Kung also generously sent us home with some of her Thai dipping sauce, and told us that we could get a different one, less authentic but tasty nonetheless, at the eMi.

Guess what we had for dinner!

Love,

Alexandra

Music in the Air

Piazza del Popolo

Serenading us in the Piazza Garibaldi

Today was Todi's music festival, and it was an absolute delight! The morning theme was "Music from Heaven" and used different balconies and upper areas of town: musicians went on these elevated platforms throughout the city and sang or performed on their instruments. We had big band, chamber music, clarinet, contraltos, sopranos, and more. The way the city is laid out, you could turn a corner and lose the music from one location, only to pick up the music coming from another spot.

In Piazza Jacopone

The afternoon was themed "Street Music," and the performers accordingly took to the streets...and the courtyards of local palazzi...and the piazze...and wherever. This went on from about four until seven, when the main larger bands marched into the Piazza del Popolo one at a time to perform separately (a sort of "battle of the bands") and then together for two pieces (including the national anthem).

Gorgeous day

Music from the hairdresser's salon

The courtyard of another palazzo

This group played the Bach fugue

In the front of the theatre

Jazz trio in palazzo down the road

Pantalla band arriving

Greek dancer is the IT guy at the middle school

The French horn in the middle is our choir director

Pantalla's band!

First band!

Next band arriving!

The cops working the beat

A large part of the fun was the huge variety. We heard a brass jazz band group playing a Bach fugue. There was an unaccompanied choir, flamenco dancers, Greek dancers, several brass bands, classical guitar, and piano. Another aspect was that we knew people in pretty much every performing group, so it was great to see them performing.

Can't wait until next year's version!

Love,

Alexandra