On Holy Saturday afternoon this year, Peppa and all our rural friends can’t take their baskets of Easter goodness to be blessed at our small mountain church.
I saw that church way off in the distance as I climbed the hill towards our woods to forage for wild asparagus (to top our hard-boiled eggs on Easter Sunday morning).
I knew a couple hours hunting asparagus in our woods would ward off even a hint of a CPA (Coroavirus Panic Attack)
Passing our two donkeys and a few of our goats on my way to our woods, I stopped to shove a few handfuls of fresh grass through their fence.
A small goat crouched below them: deciding that “the grass is greener on the other side,” she’d poked her head though the fence to nuzzle grass and her horns impeded her from pulling back in:
She’d munched the attractive ” greener” grass, leaving a bare patch beneath her head. I tried, unsucessfully, to maneuver her head so as to shove those horns back inside the fence.
I cut a few handfuls of grass for the woebegone goat (to be liberated shortly by Pino); our two donkeys were also pleased with an unexpected nibble of the fresh grass:
I passed another goat, Arturo, as I continued up towards our woods….
…and then passed through our vineyard and the young olive trees Pino had planted:
From the top of this hill, , I could look out at the splendor of Mount Subasio in one direction….
…and down at our farmhouse in the other direction
And then I entered our woods to hunt the wild asparagus:
I scrambled those woods for over two hours but my yield was meagre and nothing like past asparagus forays: someone had been there before me, probably a rural neighbor, also well- knowing that foraging for this woodland goodness on a warm sunny day wards off a CPA (Coroavirus Panic Attack).
Cleaning and steaming the wild asparagus for Easter Sunday breakfast was another Covid-19 diversion. The asparagus tips will top our hard-boiled eggs, drizzled with our olive oil and freshly-squeeze lemon juice.
A couple dried sausages from Peppa and her cheese bread will round off our traditional Umbria Easter breakfast. Oh, yes, there will be vino rosso, too: il vino di Pino.
Read about – and see!- an Umbria Easter breakfast
Read about the traditional Umbria Easter cheese bread
Read about – and see! – a memorable wild asparagus hunt
Read about a tasty Pino recipe as a coronavirus distraction
Click here for the recipe for a tasty pasta dish – ours on Good Friday
Cook away a possible CPA (Coronavirus Panic Attack) with this simple recipe for a buonissima pasta dish
Click here to read about – and see! – our rental apartments in Assisi and in the countryside
Read here about culling the wool of our cashmere goats – a perfect coronavirus distraction
Read here about Pino’s goat cheese
Read here about newborn kids as a coronavirus distraction for us
Read about Assisi acquaintances now producing protective masks, rather than high-end cashmere.
Read here about a snowy day in Umbria during our coronavirus lockdown
Click here for an easy, tasty recipe
Click here for another easy recipe to ward off CPA
Click here for a recipe of Pino’s mamma, Signora Vincenza (also helps ward off CPA)
Click here for another “coronavirus lockdown” recipe
Read here about an outdoor market visit to ward off a CPA (Coronavirus Panic Attack)
Click here to read about Novella’s vegetable stand during the coronavirus lockdown
Read about how reflecting on Van Gogh helped me see the beauty all around – in simple, insignificant objects
Click here to read about – and see! – a favorite Orvieto eating spot (to ward off CPA)
Read about – and see! – Assisi during coronavirus lockdown
Read about a Pino feast on March 8th as coronavirus distraction
Click here to read about March 8th – as a coronavirus antidote
Peppa is always perfect distraction from a CPA
I can taste that cheese bread now!
Wish we could have shared it together!