chawen

A Certain Amount of Frustration

Buon giorno,

This morning I found that the hot water was off again. Sigh. Now I did not have any big plans for today apart from shopping, but as much as I enjoy just Being in Italy it's kind of a waste just sitting around my apartment waiting for things to be fixed. My gracious hosts are upset on my behalf and embarrassed. I don't want to be cranky to such lovely people, but to be frank this has not been fun.

The photo is of an intriguing looking passage. When I first arrived my cab driver sent me up there, but I soon became skeptical, and a young Perugian woman who spoke excellent Englsih noticed my bewilderment and offered help. I got my grocery shopping done. For one thing, I'd miscalculated and ran out of tea bags. Now I can still have morning tea.

Perhaps you noticed a glaring omission in the Italian food I have been eagerly devouring.

Yeah, Pil, what about formaggio, huh? It's rude to come to Italy and not eat their cheese.

You have that right, and I am remedying that issue with today's apero. I actually don't know what kind of cheese it is. It's semi soft, no rind, but it tastes a lot like taleggio. It's not sharp at all, but it has a distinct and very pleasant taste that goes well with my red wine from Assisi. This is delightful!

Let's fast forward to dinner. It's a chilly afternoon so a hot meal will be welcome. At the grocery I found some DOP pesto Genovese. It's not even close to being Umbrian, but I really enjoyed it when I was in Genoa, so I mixed it with tuna and had it with linguine. Here we go.

I knew when I wrestled the container open, that we had found the real deal from the sharp smell of basil. A lot of people have had pesto, and it's been very tasty, but the real thing made with Ligurian basil and olive oil is a revelation. With tuna and pasta--in this case linguine--it's superb. But let's have a sip of some vin bianco from Orvieto. Mmm. I'm not sure Italians would approve of such cross regional contamination, but it sure does work for me.

Ciao for now