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Buon Anno Nuovo from Assisi!
I'll launch the New Year by taking the spirit and flavors of Umbria to the U.S. as I cook and lecture coast-to-coast.
My February/March U.S. cooking lessons/lectures tour itinerary is now all set out (please see below) - and I hope to connect with many of you along my U.S. tour route. Mille grazie for sharing the news with all Italophiles who might want to join in the fun. They'll enjoy seeing my website, too - rich in "Italy insights" as well as news on my hilltown tours and cooking classes here in Umbria. When I return from the U.S., I'll launch the Umbria spring tour season with a unique Assisi tour celebrating haunting ancient traditions.
Here in Umbria, the New Year opens with re-evocations of the first Christmas season in tiny mountain villages near Assisi. All the village inhabitants recreate daily life in Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth. The tradition is rooted in the early 13th-century when St. Francis created the first "living" manger scene. About an hour away, 2010 was trumpeted in (literally!) in Orvieto, when the 17th annual Umbria Jazz Winter festival rocked this Umbrian hilltown for five days with music performed by world-renowned musicians. (See my CALENDAR page and read more about Umbria Jazz Winter below.) |
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Feb 4th - March 21st, 2010 U.S. Tour Itinerary - a few spots left!
A few U.S. cooking events have openings for others and I am also available for a few additional cooking classes, Umbrian banquets (let me cook for you!) and lectures in each of these cities: Los Angeles area, San Francisco Bay area, Seattle, Denver, Milwaukee WI., Philadelphia, New York City and area, Charlotte, NC - and Washington, D.C. For specific dates in each locale, please do contact me. My full itinerary is on the U.S. Events page. I am looking forward to again sharing the flavors of my Umbria as I connect with many old friends (including many former tour guests) and with new acquaintances wherever I head.
FLASH! I have time for "Haiti benefit" cooking classes and/or lectures in California, NYC and D. C. Please contact me for details.
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Umbria Jazz Winter - new FESTAtour!
For over ten years now, Pino and I have spent nearly every anniversary (end of December) in Orvieto - in boisterous jubilation. Umbria Jazz Winter inspires nothing less. This year, both American and Italian friends joined us for three days of astounding jazz which blasted out of the medieval palaces of the Umbrian hilltown gem of Orvieto. The rich five-day program included afternoon and evening concerts all over the town and jazz lunches and jazz dinners in a vaulted restaurant, once a 14th-century Franciscan monastery. During a generous buffet lunch accompanied by excellent Orvieto wines, Gary Brown, New Orleans sax player, and his band quickly warmed up an enthusiastic audience of all ages (all Italians except for four of us Americans), until many in the crowd pushed back their chairs to dance to the music.
Why not join us next year for my first Umbria Jazz Winter FESTAtour? I'm now fine-tuning this new tour; in the meantime, read about my July Umbria Jazz FESTAtour.
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The Ancient Mysteries of Umbrian Spring - Preview!
In early spring - April 2nd this year - one of the most evocative of the Umbrian festivals takes place in Assisi. On Good Friday night the Processione del Cristo Morto ("Procession of the Dead Christ") winds its way through the dark medieval streets. In white cloaks and hoods - some crowned with thorns - barefoot members of the medieval confraternities drag heavy wooden crosses through the streets, as drums pound out a funeral dirge. In procession, religious orders mingle with the Assisians, all chanting medieval lauds as they follow the 18th-century statue of the Sorrowful Mother, borne on the shoulders of the confraternity members. La Madre Dolorosa - as the statue is called - is going in search of her Son, the Crucified Christ. The statue of Christ awaits on a funeral bier under black netting in the Basilica di San Francesco. Whatever your religion (or not), participation in this festival will highlight any April trip to Umbria.
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Winter Flavors of Umbria
Umbrian rural cuisine follows the seasons. In the years we farmed, salads, spinach, cauliflowers, cabbages and broccoli were in the garden most of the winter.
Potatoes were in the storeroom and had been brought up long before the first frost. Onions and garlic, too. Many an Umbrian winter dish features one of the winter vegetables, often combined with garlic - and perhaps potatoes. Here are a couple delicious Umbrian broccoli dishes to enjoy in the New Year:
*Serve as a side dish with potataoes. Simply steam the broccoli in a bit of salted water. Boil a few potatoes (1 for every 2 persons will do) in salted water. Peel the potatoes and mash with a fork. Put extra-virgin olive oil in a frying pan and heat slightly, dropping in a garlic clove when oil is hot, though not smoking (add a bit of chili pepper, too, if you like!). Stir in steamed broccoli and the potatoes, mixing the 2 vegetables together. Serve. (Our Umbrian sausages make a perfect accompaniment!)
*Serve steamed broccoli, sautéed in olive oil (with a finely-chopped garlic clove) on toasted bread. This is one of our favorite types of bruschetta. (Pino likes to add an anchovy to the olive oil when sautéeing). Buon Appetito!
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BUON ANNO NUOVO to you and thanks for sharing this newsletter generously.
Do feel free to contact me for additional information and keep your eye on the frequently-updated www.annesitaly.com
Anne Robichaud
Pian della Pieve
Assisi 06081 (PG) Italy
Tel: +39 075 802334
Cell: +39 333 9238448
Fax: +39 075 816462
E-mail: anne@annesitaly.com
Website: www.annesitaly.com |
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