In Assisi, the Glory of Nando’s Persimmons

In past years while driving through the late fall/early winter Umbrian countryside, you’d spot now and then a tree with orange balls dangling on the scrawny branches, bare of leaves. No, not oranges but the last of the kaki (persimmons), orbs of brightness in the winter dusk, beacons of cheer in winter fog. For me,…

An Umbria Thanksgiving: More Than a Pino Turkey

As always, we celebrate our Thanksgiving the Sunday after the holiday and fourteen of us celebrated the Festa di Ringraziamento together this year. ….and today for lunch, I nibbled bits of our leftovers.. There was still a bit of our “re-invented” Waldorf  salad  (with yogurt and local grapes, our olive oil…and more), creamed onions (with Trinidad rum…

Near Assisi, an “Integrated Fight” for Fruit and Vegetable Goodness

What zucca magnifica we’ll have for our Thanksgiving: a splendid squash of brilliant orange pulp.  My favorite: la Marina di Chioggia variety. ….and from our favorite fruit and vegetable stand, that of the Migliosi family not far from Assisi. The Migliosi family cultivates all they sell with the lotta integrata method. “Biologico?” I once asked owner Roberto.  “No….ma che…

Roveja, the Mythical “Lost” Beans of Umbria

We’d first savored la roveja legume a few winters back in Cascia during the Umbrian mountain town’s winter festival starring this “lost bean.”            Cascia in January  Roveja beans and ground roveja flour for polenta That night in Cascia as we had sipped the tasty steaming soup cooked up by the…

The Green Gold of Umbria: Our Olive Oil’s In!

They called us into the olive mill yesterday: it was our turn.   Pressing time for our 300 k+ of olives which we’d hauled in the day prior.    Delivery of our olives to the mill, the day before the  pressing.. We headed there immediately: anyone consigning olives to the mills must absolutely  be there…

Wild Mushrooms…and Not Only

“Ho trovato funghi ieri. Venite a mangiarli!”  (“I found mushrooms yesterday.  Come eat them!”) Peppa chortled over the phone.  How to refuse? As I savored those mushrooms, what memories of my own mushroom-hunting days in our woods, in our fields Those alzaterra (“raise the earth”) mushrooms – sorry, have no idea of their botanical name –  used…