Assissi in Umbria

Ahhhhh...Bach.

10 points to the first one of you that get's my "pop culture reference". Here's our little mischief maker aping for the camera. It goes without saying that the art in Italy is phenomenal!

Cooking Lesson In Tuscany

We had a fabulous week at Agriturismo Cretiole in Pienza over the holiday. This is us at cooking lesson followed by a feast of all the things we created. We made Tuscan Roast Pork, Green Beans, Eggplant and Tirimisu. Fresh baked bread from the wood fired pizza oven and salads from the winter greens picked straight from the garden. Later, Earl and Taryn went horseback riding (Taryn did not like her horse unfortunatly...doesn't she look thrilled?) and I took a walk in the countryside with a newly made friend to visit the sheep in their surreal setting. It was a great day!

My Precious Truffle

The local law enforcement / truffle guide arrived with his dogs to take us truffle hunting. I was actually expecting a pig to sniff out my prize but the dogs were quite efficient and had found a truffle within only a minute or two of the hunt.

Carlos gifted ME with the treasured white truffle that was found that afternoon with strict instuctions to shave the truffle and serve it with ONLY taglitelle pasta, butter, and Parmesano Reggiano....finito! I prepared a dish of the pasta and shared it with the other guests at the agriturismo who had been on the hunt with us. We all enjoyed the musty simplicity of this decandent and sought after delicacy.

Thanksgivng Dinner in Pienza

I don't recall ever having "gone out" for Thanksgiving dinner and it was a bit strange not to compete in the famous Imbiorski "I make the best cucumber and onions with sourcream and dill" contest but somehow we managed. We had one of out favorite meals in a little restuarant that our host from the agriturismo made us reservations at...one seating at 8:00 pm...sharp! We wandered the streets of the small village admiring the various shops, doorknobs, little doors, and narrow passageways. Waiting until that late to eat had us all pretty ravenous so we ordered Tagliatelle with White Truffles, Pienza's reknowned Pici with Ragu Sauce, Succulent Roast Pork, Duck with Wine, Filet of Beef, Vanilla Gelato with Chocolate Sauce and Homemade Hazelnut Ice Cream. A bottle of the House Red and a snippet of Grappa to toast our thankfullness for all of our friends and family made for a very warm and fuzzy Thanksgiving meal.

SIENNA

Making Olive Oil in Pienza

While in Tuscany for Thanksgiving we stayed at the charming rustic Agriturismo Cretiaole where we were allowed to help with the annual olive harvest.

The owners used modern methods and machinery but left us poor newcomers to the older tried and true method of pick by hand, climb a ladder, pick some more by hand, and gather in nets. It was really pretty fun and what a gorgeous day!

Taryn even got into the sprit of things but preferred to throw the olives at me and Earl!

Later in the evening we were taken to the community olive pressing factory where we got to watch as our olives were processed.

On our last day of the trip we were allowed to purchase our own olive oil. Five gallons cost us fifty euro, it's delicious and we love being able to enjoy cooking with oil that we have a "relationship" with.