snowy friday

in just one day, started at lunchtime, and still hasn't stopped, it's up to foot and going...

MEAT IS MURDER. Tasty, tasty murder.

And so i made pate, a terrine, a wild game terrine, with juniper, wild duck, guinea fowl, and sausage. Cooked ina bains marie for an hour and a half, left for three hours to cool with books on top, then fridgerated overnight with dumbels on top.
Tuscan bread baked this morning. Check.
Freshly made pate with jelly all around it.Check.
Hot pear chutney. Check.
Saliva? Check.
It is christmas fare at its best, and if you haven't ever made one, i suggets you take some time this festive season to make one, you can make vegetarian ones too.. They're easy, and look a bloody mazing.
Christmas tree is up, lights are on, christmas carols a la king's college choir are being blasted out all hours of the day. Christmas is here. Its also dropped below freezing, which is lovely for making things feel even christmassier.. I heard a joke the other day..
I came home today to find all my windows and doors wide open, and the buggers even ate all my chocolates too.. :)
We had a visit to Panzano on the weekend, the best butcher in all the land, and ate a dario burger, which is not really a burger, and chips, which are not really chips... and we all shared a acollienza, four different types of pork, one is pork sushi... you have to try it to believe it could be this nice...
This week i have been mostly eating vegetables at home, as i've eaten so much meat elsewhere.. roasted courgettes, peppers, aubergines, leeks, with a crispy jacket potato with olive oil and salt in it.. and roasted artichokes are beautiful and a lot more buttery than boiled artichokes (globe not jerusalem)..
I tried panettone yesterday, i tried it from the bakery, i had an eighth, it was incredible, and cost 16 euros, and somehow, esselungha (the berlusconi owned supermarket) do it for 3 euros. i hope its not as nice, but on some accounts it is. My jury is out on that one..
We also trekked across town to Hemingways on the weekend, the chocolatier cafe, i had white chocolate asnd orange cake which is TOO TASTY FOR WORDS, and i tried some 70% hot chocolate...
oh and some carrot cake too... hopefully i'll add a photo of the christmas tree by the duomo, its almost too bright to look at...

just a food blog

ha ha, so i finally went to the fabled damario's which is just near centaral market, you have to get there before 12:30 because it gets so booked up, and with good reason, it is a traditional style trattoria, and serves really simple, but incredible food, meat mainly.. there are some signs up on the walls, such as, don't dare ask for ketchup, and its is prohibited to drink coca cola! and one of my favourites, you are more than welcome to eat the bones with your fingers..
we had ribollita to start, a wintry soup, basic but lovely, then for main i had roast rabbit, and G had peposa, beef in a red wine and pepper sauce, both were amazing, the peposa was probably nicer as it had such a lot of sauce.. and i had chips too (obviously)
The next day i cooked for us a vongole (clam) pasta, very simple, but ever so lovely and so much fun to eat!
And then, on saturday, (having put it in marinade on friday) we had a rick stein recipe, which was wild boar, chorizo, and porcini mushroom stew....
It was probably the nicest thing i've ever cooked with my fair hand.. it had red wine, gin and vermouth in it! as well as 8 garlic cloves, whole pepper corns, bay and cloves... it was fanny tantastic.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/wildboarstewwithwild_86762) in case you want to try it...
we had it again on tuesday, and it was even betterm we ate it with roast mediterranean vegetables, and salty jacket potatoes... mmmmmmmmmm
since then, all food has been eclipsed and i can't really remember eating much!
i did go to an italian friend's for dinner last night, and i met a woman who is a clown for children in hospital. What a job! and she doesn't even get paid... My italian is coming along, but i still got lost when she was telling stories about her clowning around...

cake cake cake

so i now work for a doctor, graham had his defense of his thesis on monday, it was semi interesting, i followed most of it, and then the head of the committee turned around to see if we had any questions, so up went my hand like a little schoolboy, and i promptly found out what "pointyness" of a resource is... due to the fact it was grahams defense, a few of his friends were over and his mum, we all went for dinner on monday night, had lots of antipasto, lots, sun dried tomatoes, pickled garlics, every type of cured meat, bread, olives.. and then for main i had Stinco, a shin of pork, it came on a wooden platter with roast potatoes, and was bootiful, i then had strawberries, which were out of season and a bit weird... everyone grappered themselves up, and then every conversation i had, all i could smell was grappa, it was time for me to leave...
the next day we went to riffaioli, and i had a nice but nothing special veal, with lots of veg, but pudding came, and i was once again left speechless by what i ate, i describe it as a apple souffle cake, it was crispy caramelised and toffee like on the outside, like a burnt sponge, and then inside it was bits of sponge apple and custard, never in my life had i tasted such a beautiful cake, i have dreams about it, and although it was only yesterday, i'm thinking of going back today...
i opened my advent calendar! S sent me a lovely lindt one from snowy wales, and as i leave on the 23rd i started a day early, but i ate the 24th on the 30/11, and it was a huge santa! but it was delicious, i haven't eaten much cholcolate since i've been here, so its quite a treat..
christmas decorations are well and truly up in florence, there are trees, lights everywhere, and soon to be starting christmas markets, very happy about that...
i'm hankering for a tree already... maybe be next week i'll be able to convince graham...

truffles and the moon

I finally made it to my first italian food festival, yesterday i went with graham to the mountains to a truffle festival, it was lovely, and for the first time, i should have a photoup. The mealwe had there was as graham put it, easily the best meal ever off plastic plates! We started with white truffle pasta, white truffles are the expensive ones, but they were delicious, i've never really understood the italian obsession about truffles, but yesterday it started for me too... then we had alpine steak, (the photo) with whole porcini mushrooms, chips (obviously) ~you can take the boy out of the wirral, but you cant take the wirral out of the boy, and more mushrooms on the side, it was incredible, the porcini literally melt in your mouth, and the steak was yummo, achingly so.. i am still salivating today, the next morning! the other incredible thing about truffles, is that although theyhave a slight smell of diesel, you soon get used to this, and start to love it, and its the meal that keeps on giving... so to be crude, but for the whole of the day afterwards, you burp the most aromatic truffle burps, that are simply delightful!
that has definitely been my high light, although coming a close second is my new hobby i have taken up, swing dancing! oh i love it! i go to two classes a week! i have to say, it is a lot of fun, and remarkably easy..
maybe i'll post a video of it one day...
oh, i nearly forgot, on the way home from the festival, grahamwanted me to drive the scenic route home, so off we went into the cloud forest, there was nothing scenic about it, we could see 4 metres infront of the car, and altough we saw some really spooky enchanting pine forests with the mist drifting through like a ninja, we somehow ended up on the moon. driving around ona dirt path, we tried a tunnel, it was still under construction, and had a sand floor, after a mile we decided to turn around, we didn't want to get stuck, but i'm pretty sure it went to narnia...
two hours later we found the tarmac again, we still dont know where we were..
all is going well here, i am quite excited about christmas already, i've made a list, i'm checking it twice...
is it still too early for decorations...?

carwriaeth in firenze

so i have had a lovely couple of weeks, especially my last week, when my beautiful friend sharon came over, we had lots of fun, eating all we could, and seeing all the sights, i got most of the week off work, so we had plenty of time to do lots of wonderous things... we went to fiesole, a beautiful hill top a few miles north of florence, spent the day walking around, and enjoying the fresh air.. we ate pizza, twice, had tiramisu, which was pretty moving... we went swing dancing, which was ace fun, but hot hot hot, we ate the best chocolate cake i have ever known, drank tea, and slipped into day dreams in comfy leather armchairs in a place called hemingways, with the good man watching down over us...
the sun shone all week long which was lovely, i was in a t shirt on friday, as we went to piazza michelangelo, which is just a big car park, but with lovely views over the city the arno and the mountains beyond.. we ate numerous cakes, rolls, croissants and the like. on friday we cooked for graham and his mum, we had soprasatta on bread for starters, the like of which we dont have in england, its like slices of pate, really thick, but like a ham, it was lovely, then we had pan fried duck - i forgot the name and had to quack, but we got it.. on a bed of goats cheese risotto, lovingly stirred by S, with rocket and a red wine sauce. It was pretty fantastic...
oooh i had my first bifstecca fiorentina the other day, this is a speciality of florence, a two inch thick, t bone steak, apologies to the veggies out there, but this was something special, i have never in my life eaten something so delicious, from a plavce called perseus, it was outstanding, along with tempura veg and roast potatoes, it wasalso tooo much!
i think its time for some lentils, and lots of fruit and veg..

oh my gourd

so the sunday after we arrived home from london, g and i set out on a adventure to a gourd festival that the guardian had pointed us to...
we drove for about 2 hours, about 30 miles into the mountains north of lucca, and after a few wrong turns we found the village, and went in search, after a while i ran off to see where it was and the accessibility, i found two old people gardening, so i asked them where was the gourd festival? their reply, la domenica scorza, last sunday....
but it wasn't all bad, it was beautiful, and although we only had a fairly dry sandwich of prosciutto and pecorino, we had a lovely drive around the mountains, and the air was so fresh and clean that it washes out all of those fumes from the city, so it was well worth it in the end...

went out for lunch last tuesday to this little italian (obviously!) bistro, with two old women, and two what seemed to be trucker men, and had a proper first and second course, i had tomato risotto, and then pork and chips.. it was cheap cheerful and tasty, and authentically italian...
we also snook in a pizza, a buffalo mozzarella for me, which was beautiful.. but i have mostly been cooking, lots of lentil curries, some tomato, some coconut, and i bought some more pulses too, black beans, chickpeas, mung beans..
g's mum arrived on monday, and the nurse zophie left to go to morocco for a holiday, we went out for din dins on monday, and i had a shin of pork, with roast potatoes, served, on a wooden plate! it was beautiful, but a whole lot of meat, and then had tiramisu to wash it down, i am on a hunt to find the most delectable tiramisu in the town, its quite a fun hunt...
I also got myself a new coat recently, and monday was cold, so it gave me the oppurtunity to take my new coat on its first outing, it, like my hat, is beautiful, and deserves a picture, which i will attempt soon, possibly incorporating the hat..
This week i have mostly been reading, the diceman, down and out in london and paris (orwell), i am currently reading ghandi, and i must recommend to everyone a book by tom robbins, called jitterbug perfume, it was one of the loveliest books i've ever read...

Oh my hat

So i've had an amazing couple of weeks, last weekend a few of graham's friends were over for their graduation, so we all to panzano on saturday, and had a thorouhly scrumptious lunch of burger and chips and the collienza, it was no less special than the last time, although the olive oil cake wasn't in her prime...
on the way back we went again to Volpaia the hill top village, and i met the honey lady and her husband, who were both lovely, and bought some delicious honey from them, they also make vin santo with honey, although i didn't try it...
on the friday, we went to rifaioli's, just north of the centre, with only space for about 20 people, went for lunch, but i didn't eat again that day, we had several types of pasta, focaccia and bread, chicken, beef and a massive slice of chocolate and pear cake to finish, the others finished it off with a glass of grappa with grapes soaked in them, even the smell gave me a headache...
and then on monday we toddled off to london for 4 days.. on tuesday we went to a traditional pie and mash shop, which was amazing, it is at 150 hoxton street, and it was beautiful, a lovely steak pie, mash and parsley liquor. If you live in london, or are ever in london, go there.. i finished off with a cheery cherry pie and ice cream, and then we had to stay sitting for an hour before we could move.. the best cherry pie i have ever had i might add... we went to tayabs in east london for dinner, and i ate a little too much, too much meat, too much rice, too much naan, but it was lovely, really spicy, really tasty, really scrumptious...
i went shopping the next day, to get some bits and bobs, and i bought myself the most beautiful hat you have ever seen, its a red fedora, and its got a feather in it...
i spent time looking for cowboy boots, but i found none that i liked, i think all cowboys have little feet....
apart from shopping and eating, i had a lovely time pottering, seeing a few friends and family, enjoying the change of scenery, reminding me how i wouldn't live in london again.. seeing all the sheep in their suits walking to work.. i wont ramble..
i had a lovely time, and although i had to fly, i managed to enjoy even that! i sat next to an italian couple on the way back, and chewed their ears off with my still rather basic italian, and of course i showed them my hat...

Pizze!

this week was a particularly good week, why? 2 pizzas...
we went a scamperin for pizza on saturday and went to one place where the lady there won the 2008 best pizza in the world competition, pretty good accolade, but alas the wait was an hour and a half, so that one'll have to wait... we ended up at one i've been to before, still lovely, but this time i was a little sacreligious, as i had chips, not on it as the guy asked with a smirk, no, on the side i said, my italian flowing like a fountain, to drink, water, says i, he said something else, without gas i says, all smug with how good my italian is, then graham leans over and says, he asked me what size i wanted...
but it is improving..
then on tuesday we went to cafe italiano, which is reportedly the best pizza in florence, its a tiny pizzeria, with space for about 10 people, with a fairly sombre looking italian pizzaiolo, well he's sombre until he talks to a female, then he becomes as light as moonshine.. anyway, he made amazing pizza, theres only 3 choices, i had neapolitan, with anchovies and capers, which were a little too salty for me, so i ate them all first then ate the pizza, which was beautiful... then we had the most amazing tiramisu, it was like rice pudding tiramisu, it was the daddy..
we're all off to london next week, which will be fun, this does mean i have to fly..
i had been planning onputting some pics up, but i bust my digital camera the other day, so for now, words it is...

tuscan proper like

Yet again the last week has blurred by in a week of food and books, i've read dorian gray, the life and times of the thunderbolt kid, and half of superfreakenomics... and i've eaten quite a bit too...
I went out on saturday with graham and had my first proper italian pizza, its not the best in town but it sure beats dominoes... i had a lovely one with a bit of spicy sausage on top. I was sat to two italians, one had a pizza, t'othwer had a pasta, that funnily enough came in a foil bag alight... then for dessert one had an almond cake, and the other guy? another pizza... only in italy...
So my not using supermarkets is going well, its pretty easy here really, there are three bars/bakeries/patisseries closer than the supermarket anyway... Three flavours of ice cream to report, biscotti and forest fruits, nice but way too sweet, i'll try it in another one to be sure though.. strawberry and lemon, that was classically lovely... and today was blackcurrant and bitter chocolate, which was special, but then again today was a particularly special day... it had been decided today that i was ready to go to the best butcher in italy. his name is dario, one of his friends is henry winkler. this place was special. an hour from florence into the tuscan hills, we wound our way up, when we arrived in panzano in chianti, it was as lovely hill top town as any around, but the town wasn't why we had come, we sat outside the restaurant, which did have an american party there, in the sun and we ordered, or rather it was ordered for me, a burger and chips, and a collienza. The burger and chips, rosemary sizzled potatoes wedges and a very pink/red mass of minced meat, which was pretty hoopnanny tasty... The collienza, was a collection of things, first, bread, and a salad of crudely chopped crudites, carrot, fennel, celery and red onion. they brought a little bowl, and made you a little dressing of red wine vinegar, olive oil and their special own recipe salt (i bought some). Then they brought four dishes, one was basically steak tartar, which was amazing, another was chianti tuna, i have no idea how they did it, but it looked a little darker than canned tuna, but to coin a phrase, it literally melted in your mouth.. next was meatloaf with a red pepper and chilli jam, never had meatloafbefore, it was a good first go! and lastly was porchetta, they take half a pig,minus its legs and head, remove the ribs, season it, stuff it with herbs, roll it up, and you have porchetta... words dont really do this justice, it was piggle tastic.
it was a meat feast feat to say the least!
we waddled up the hill for a looksie over the hills and mountains, its phenomenally beautiful countryside, i wanted to see old italian men driving their ferraris (which on the way down i did!).
I then just squeezed in the aforementioned ice cream and we toddled on. We arrived at a tiny hill top village called volpaia, and saw the same american tourists (!), the church there is where rahams brother got married, the restaurant with italy's best butcher was the wedding feast, and the cafe there was their aperitivo...
we had a drink and a little biscotti (!) - somehow! and the owners came out and treated graham like a long lost son- i got a nod! :)
we were about to leave, and they came out with panneforte cake and vin santo,the cake was almond and candied peel cake, first bite was a bit odd, but all in all a good experience, i didn't try the vin santo.. (i dont drink - anymore!)
it was a day to be remembered, and funnily enough, my digital camera broke last night, so its all only in my head...

short but sweet

so it seems my time on the internet is permanently cut short, until i get myself a computer, so in short, i am a week into my sojourn in florence, and it remains rather food orientated...
savoury wise i had one of the best meals i've every had yesterday, fresh green tagliatelle, fresh rainbow trout, cooked in a bag with onions and tomatoes, its was melt in your mouth, curl up your toes, arch ya back fantastic...
apart from that the fruit here is immense, the peaches are the size of watermelons, and the bananas, well this is a family blog..
the biggest differentiation between each day is what dolci i get in a morning, pastries, danish, croissants, brioches etc etc, i've had a few blackcurrants filled croissants, and a raisin pastry, and an apple danish, all delicious...
but my favourite treat is ice cream... first day i had just strawberry, 'just strawberry' she asked, just strawberry i said, i know what i like, since then, i've gone mixing mad, i had fig and buontalenti (condensed milk i think) zabalione and forest fruits, both ok, but a bit odd, then i have bitter chocolate fondant and raspberry, now we're talking, and today, i went for a straccianoci (coffee chocolate nut combo) and summer fruits, wowsers...
i'll keep tryin them each day, and find the perfect flavour....
so today was my first full day off, so i went for a little potter about town, although i didn't potter, i marched, straight through town, past the duomo, with a queue the size of which even early morning argos would be proud of, past the fake david (not all that) past all the bloody tourists, to the other side of the city, then back again, although i did find an antiques market, and another food market, an english cemetary, and a hotel the size of the liverpool one..
I have made a pledge, it includes me and disscludes supermarkets, while in my time in Florence, i am not going to go to a supermarket, gotta dash
ciao xxxxxxxxx

A few firsts...

So I arrived at my new home, its on the ground floor, really spacious, ceilings about 12 foot high, and a bed i can almost lie widthways in, i'm in heaven...
There's also a little courtyard, surrounded by the balconies of other flats, so there is constantly the noise of crockery being washed, food being eaten, kids playing with a game that sings baa baa black sheep in english.. and a constant background singing of italian, wafting over me, mostly lulling me to sleep... i've been sleeping about 10 hours a night, with a good two hour nap in the day time. My room, when the shutters go down, is like a cell. Its very conducive to sleep...
So Day 1 i went to a little fruit market over the way, i realise pretty sharpish how bad my italian is, but manage to buy myself an apple and a plant.. (i was pretty tired)
Later on we took a walk to central makret, about 15 minutes walk away, every possible fruit, vegetable, meat, cheese, fish on offer. It was too much, i was literally overwhelmed, and i couldn't even buy anything, there was too much choice, i was like a kid in a candy store, but too much. I realised that my decisive powers are the first to go when i am tired, so i trudged home, and took a nap for three hours :)
Day 2, early trip to market, the second biggest after central market, and i am determined to try some florentine stuff, being a local and all that..
On the way to the market we pass a florentine delicacy, panino di lambredotto, cow stomach sandwich... i was tempted, but i wasn't sure i wanted it to be the first thing in my stomach... So we wandered the market, i bought honey, bee pollen, porcini mushrooms, fresh pasta, biscotti, loads of fruit and some little sweet things. So with a slightly full stomach we amble past the stomach sandwich man, and i jump in and grab one, crusty batch, with boiled cow's stomach, loads of salt pepper and a chilli sauce, and the top of the bread dipped in the water.... You know? surprisingly nice, a little hard to stomach (!) the whole thing, but i would definitely have it again. Home for another nap (obviously) and then wake up to make some dinner, fresh pasta, fried porcini mushrooms, and pecorino on top. Fresh porcini literally melt when cooked, even though the stalks took longer to cook, it was still amazing, i felt proud...
Day 3 lazy day reading lots of asterix in italian, trying to learn enough to have an intelligent conversation at a bbq next saturday, Graham, the guy i work with, keeps laughing at my notorious napping ability. I went for a ride around Florence and had my first ice cream, i had fragola (strawberry) pretty phenomenal.
I also pottered down to see my first view of the river, and its little grassy knoll, with lots of leathery italians sunbathing in speedos. Only in Italy...
Graham doesn't go to bed till about 11:30 so i have usually fallen asleep when i have to help him to bed with the nurse/carer szofie from hungary. So every time they call me i am usually fairly bleary eyed...but at least he gets to chuckle at me before bed..
So i am yet to have my first pizza, and i have been told of a florentine steak that is the best thing i will ever eat apparently, i had been thinking when i was in france, that i might go veggie, i still might, but not jsut yet....

Not really a blog, for not a real blogger.

Well, here's my address,

Via Pippo Spano, 19
Firenze, 50129
Italia

the house phone, 0039055587182
and mymobile 00393929043817

I got here safe and sound, after an interesting train journey, with 2 pilgrims going to Roma, and a black guy who read porn all the way...i lost my ticket after 10 mins, found in my jumper after 10 mins frantic searching....slept in the middlebunk because one of the pilgrims claimed claustrophobia, i'm still unsure whether i believe him, it was horrible with 1 foot of space above you..
On arriving at the station, i asked in mybest italian for a taxi,
"round the cornermate" was the reply...
i wasn't happy, this wasn't how it wasmeant to be...
lo and behold, i found a taxi, she called me over..
"Ciao bello"
i was so happy! my heart literally filled with glee!
so i arrived at the house....