Just a quicky!

This really isn't much of a post I just wanted to say if the lovely gentleman who phoned me weeks ago, just before we left for our Italy trip, reads this please give me a call. I've lost your name and phone number.
For everyone else a very nice gentleman who just moved to Sergy with his family phoned me saying he'd seen my blog and he and his wife were looking for other English speakers in the area to make their move here a bit easier. He works for Proctor and Gamble and sounded very nice. We were going to make a play date for our dogs but, alas, between vacationing, having guests, and weekend trips I've lost the scrap of paper I wrote his info on.

So, if you're out there I'm not ignoring you I just don't know how to contact you and life has been particularly busy lately. Sorry! Drop me a line sometime.

Flashback::Day 3 Italy Trip -Cheese making

We were up before the sun in order to pile into a car with our fellow guests - in fact one of the guests got roped into driving one of the cars (our car) to our destination- by 5 0'clock am. I'm glad I wasn't the one who got stuck driving up those windy roads in the pitch darkness. Where were we headed at such an early hour, you might? To visit the shepherd who was going to show us how he makes Pecorino cheese, of course.
We drove quite a ways up the mountain then parked. We looked about we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. To our left was a path rising steeply up the mountain. We were informed we had to hike the rest of the way to the shepherd's hut. Now, the shepherd doesn't live in this hut, although there was a small bed in the chaotic one room shelter at the top of the mountain. the Shepherd, in fact, was late arriving as there had been a festival in his town the night before and he had been out late indulging in wine and celebration. Needless to say we were not the happiest of campers to have been woken up before the sun came up to hike up a mountain only to sit outside in the cold dawn waiting for the shepherd, then waiting while he milked every sheep and goat in his heard. And all this without even a drop of coffee or a morsel of food. I did my best not to be crabby and my DH is the champ at remaining calm and going with the flow. Hippos do not find it easy to keep their tempers and a positive frame of mind in the wee hours of the early morning with an empty belly and not even a hint of coffee in site. can you make out the pen full of sheep and goats in the light that gradually illuminated our surroundings?
To be fair it was kinda cool to watch the shepherd grabbing the sheep and goats and going to town milking by hand. He seemed to just know which ones he'd already milked and which ones still needing to be milked. But I didn't need to sit in the cold dawn for 45 minutes watching him milk. I would have been quite happy to see him milk a couple of sheep and a goat and then get on with it. Oh well, that was not to be and I really shouldn't complain...I mean how many people ever get such an experience? Not many and I never thought I'd be trekking up a mountainside to watch an actual shepherd milking his flock and making cheese from the mornings takings.
Here's the shepherd breaking up rennet (sheep's stomach-actually I think it's from the lambs stomach) which is used in the heated milk to make curd. It makes the milk curdle or coagulate and form the cheese curds. Pretty cool. He used a stick with branches sticking out at all angles to str the milk as it coagulated. Then he pulled out the clumps of curd to form into cheese. He asked if anyone wanted to help. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to help. At the very least I'd get warm up my hands playing with the hot cheese curd! I was told I needed strong arms and after pushing that mass of warm curd into small circular containers and squeezing out the liquid I knew why. My forearms were aching by the time we were finished even though he let me do the easy part. I was complemented for my performance and told I could apprentice to become a shepherd and cheesemaker! hmmm....if I run out of career options I guess I can always fall back on becoming a shepherdess, eh?
While the jovial shepherd and I were hard at work pressing the liquid out of the cheese curd that would become Pecorino cheese with some aging my fellow observers were busy helping themselves to the fresh cheese curd and bread with some delicious olive oil pressed on the farm by the shepherd and his wife. Luckily my husband took pity on me and shoved some of these delicous treats in my mouth as I busily pushed the cheese curds into their forms. I don't know if it was because I was starving or what, but I thought it was heavenly. Once all the curd was squeezed into their required forms the shepherd released me from my task as helper and proceded to cover each wheel in salt. this salt rind would encase the cheese while it aged to perfection.


After this the milk was placed back over the fire till it was boiling. They were now going to make ricotta cheese. Looks yummy doesn't it? blah. there was this sort of milky smell mixed with that of the woodfire the permeated the air. they scooped out the globs that formed and this was the ricotta. What was left was whey. we were informed that drinking whey was very healthy for you. IT balanced your stomach along with a list of other benefits. Our host stated he thought that whey would become a phenomenal hit across the world...or at least it should . He even had a slogan, "It's whey good!" ha, ha, ha what a card. The adventurous amongst us excepted a hot glass of whey and tentatively brought the little plastic cups to our lips.
Check out my hubbster partaking in his steaming hot whey! Looks like he loves it doesn't it? Actually, it was more that it was just scalding hot. Not that the heat wasn't appreciated that cold dewy morning, but it was still quite shockingly hot when your hands are stiff with cold. I don't know how the shepherd and his life could wear short sleeves! They must be crazy.

the whey wasn't too bad. To me it basically just tasted like really hot watered down milk. Not bad, but not something I'd take up drinking everyday or ever again really. But I"m glad that I tried it. On our trek back down the mountain we could finally see the beautiful scenery surrounding us at last. Despite the early hours and the cold wait I was really glad we had made the effort to visit the shepherd and participated in making some fresh cheese. We stopped by the shepherds home and bought some Pecorino cheese. Iit was only 2 weeks old so was soft and tasted very much like the fresh stuff we had tasted that morning. Many of our fellow guests were disappointed because they wanted aged Pecorino. I've never had it but as it ages it gets much harder and eventually it is so hard it's like a Parmesian cheese and is supposedly quite good grated over pasta. Oh well, maybe next time we'll get some aged Pecorino. We also bought a bottle of olive oil which is absolutely delicious. That afternoon DH and I took our cheese, olive oil, some bread and Prosciutto we'd bought at the store and took a little hike to the other farm owned by our host for a private little picnic. It was great.

We spread out our blannket in the shade of a tree over looking our hosts olive orchards (he presses his own olive oil as well) with the mountains looming behind us. It was a perfectly romantic picnic. It was the perfect afternoon for lazing about eating grapes we picked from our hosts vineyards, indulging in fresh cheese and olive oil and just basking in the warmth and each others company. A good book and a round of UNO set things off perfectly. Beautiful surroundings, good company, and fabulous food, what more can you ask for?








I'll leave you with a video my husband took of me hard at work with the shepherd! The tall, thin man with the glasses who shows everyone the proper way to eat cheese curds, bread and olive oil is our host, Antonello. I thought he was really funny, but I think it takes a particular kind of temperment and humor to appreciate him! *well I attempted to put up the video but it doesn't seem to want to work. I tried until about midnight last nigth and again this morning. If I can figure it out I'll try again later*

Till the cows come home

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to Saint-Cergue, Switzerland to the Desalpe, the festival where the cows come down from their summer pastures in the mountains to their winter quarters in the barns. It was a blast. How Swiss to dress up your cows and parade them through town once a year to mark the changing of the seasons. We took tons of pictures, but I'll try to limit myself.
It's just so fabulous to see these herds of cows tromping through the streets of this little village with gigantic cow bells around their necks and some with elaborate floral headresses. Where else would you find such a spectacle?
My grandpa was a dairy farmer and I couldn't help wondering what he would think of such a display. Then I thought, dang, he could have made a fortune dressing his cows up once a year and making a grand fete out of moving them to another pasture!

Just to see how up close and personal you could get with these cows I took a little video so you too can experience the cows coming home. The clang of those bells as they trooped past was almost deafening sometimes. I loved the herders with their long sticks and traditional Swiss costumes. Can you tell that I am in love with the Desalpe festival? I'm so glad that we went.
Not only were there cows, but there was a band of alpenhorn players, fondue, wine, caramel de creme, soup de courge (pumpkin soup), and much much more. The parade was joined by a group of Bernese Mountains, some of the cutest dogs I've ever seen. Most of them were pulling little wagons of flowers and stuffed animals. Oh my god, I want one! OK, that is totally impractical since they grow to be over 100 pounds and have quite a short life span (about 7 years, I don't think I could handle that) but man oh man are they cute, well-behaved dogs. And look how incredibly adorable they are pulling those wagons...granted they are the size of a small horse...
There were also some awfully cute donkeys carrying random baskets and packs around. I thought at first they were giving rides to little kids, but it seemed that they were just standing around eating grass letting people pet them. Go figure.

Now on to what you have all been waiting for....the FOOD! It was tough trying to decide what to eat. We indulged our sweet-tooth with a little cone of caramel de creme. The picture to the left is the boiling pot of sickly sweet yummy goodness. Man, those people know what they are doing if the smell doesn't get you the free taste test will. I admit it I'm weak and I caved and shelled out the money for a coneful of confections that melt on your tongue and give you a buttery sugar rush. Yep, there I am indulging in my yummy purchase as I clutch my wheel of vacherin cheese - my other yummy purchase, which we melted in the oven and poured over potatoes for dinner later that night. Not as good as fondue or raclette, but a nice local favorite to try out. And now for more food! For lunch we hummed and hawed, ok I did the humming and hawing, DH knew what he wanted. Finally, we settled on a bottle of white wine and the cheese fondue. Because I knew we were having cheese for dinner I was hesitant about more cheese for lunch, but in the end the cool weather and my love of fondue overcame any doubts I had and we paid our way into the fondue tent. And boy, oh boy was it the right choice.
gosh, I look like such a piggy stuffing my face in all these photos, but I didn't get the nickname hippo for nothing!
Last, but not least just before we were about to leave we saw all the alpenhorn players marching about so we followed them and were treated to a lovely performance. The alpenhorns are so cool. I am amazed at how they make so many different notes come out of that huge wooden horn without any holes, valves, buttons or anything. It's awesome! I also fell in love with the little old man who was doing a colorgaurd routine with the Swiss flag to the alpenhorn musis. You just can't beat that!I do have a funny story, I had a moment of panci while DH and I were looking at the stalls of craft items for sale. Another round of cows came by just as we were browsing through the stalls at what seemed to be the narrowest part of the whole path. Here go the cows streaming by, I have my back pressed up against a table full of handmade merchandise thinking, "Oh lord, these cows are close! What happens if they decide to stampede in my direction?" Just then one of the cows decided to get a little randy. It mounted the cow in front of it! I thought mass chaos was going to ensue. Mooing, clanging bells, and me pushing against my husband trying to get out of the path of the horny beast! I didn't care if I was about to knock two children into the path of the oncoming cows I wanted out of there! OK, OK, in all seriousness no one was in danger and no, I wouldn't have really knocked any kids into the oncoming herd...but, it was a bit frightening nonetheless. My Darling Husband kept harassing me about how I pushed him into the kids standing next to him in my eagerness to move away from the cows. THOSE THINGS ARE MASSIVE! You would have pushed your husband too.

Flashback: Day 2 Italy trip

On our second day in Italy we awoke to find a nice simple meal of bread, fig jam, cookies (known as biscuits to every English speaking country but America) and coffee. After eating our fill we headed into the town of Sora, about a 40 minute walk, to check out the local market held every Thursday and hike up to a church atop a hill we had spotted on our way in.

Wow, I have SO many pictures. it's terribly difficult to choose which ones to post.

Here's one of Boroni, one of the dogs that followed us all the way into town from the FarmStay and was our shadow all day. We attempted many times to send him home, but he just did not listen to foreigners. At one point we thought we had lost him in the crowd and were relieved that we no longer had to worry about his safety when crossing the street, but then we looked back and he looked so pitiful wandering around the street corner searching for us that we relented and called him to come with us. We have SUCKERS written all over our foreheads. the market wasn't exactly what we thought it would be. Instead of stands of fresh produce and local fare there was stall after stall after stall of shoes, purses, and tacky cheap clothing. did I mention shoes? Man, those Italians must love shoes. I can't figure out how a market that is held every Thursday can support so many shoe stalls! It was incredible. We did stumble upon one woman with a cart and a basket full of beans to sell. That was neat, but we had no need for beans...
So, eventually we decided to find some food and take a picnic lunch up to the church at the top of the hill, assuming we could find the way to the church. We got some roasted chicken with potatoes and cannelloni with foccacia mmm....just thinking about it again makes my mouth water. We stumbled about the town walking in the general direction of the church and find ourselves in some back alleys. It was dirty and smelled a bit like urine, but it was cool.
Every time we found some steps we went up. The church was up so it seemed to make sense, and thankful, it did. We came to a sign the confirmed we were on the right path and up more and more steps we went. Boroni following along as best he could.

We took pity on the poor pup and DH carried him part of the way up to the church (remember what I said about being suckers!?!) Once up to the top it was time to indulge ourselves and eat a bit of lunch, which we shared with the dog (suckers). The view from the top was amazing. We had heard that there was also some castle ruins up in the mountains here but after taking a survey of the area from on high we decided to take a pass on trying to find that. Besides, poor Boroni wouldn't have been able to make it! Nice out, huh?

Yep, so after that we walked back down into the town, grabbed a bottle of wine from the supermarket, I just couldn't stomache another meal with the homemade turpentine...er sorry I mean I just don't have a seasoned enough palate to appreciate such fine, homemade wine. We were exhausted from our trek and ready to sit back relax, enjoy a good homecooked Italian meal and make some new friends - which is exactly what we did.



Tune in tomorrow when we visit a shephard and learn how to make Percorino cheese!

flashback: Day 1 Italy trip

Our first day we flew into Naples, grabbed a bus from the airport to the central bus/train station and had a few hours to kill before our bus arrived. We decided to explore the area a bit. yes, we'd heard to watch out for pickpockets and other assortments of mischief makers in Naples. And looking around the city it wasn't surprising it had such a reputation. The city seemed overcrowded and run down. Trash was everywhere, the buildings all looked in sad need of repair and there was just this pervasive feeling of being overcrowded. Everything stuffed into too small of a place. I guess that's what happens when an area has been settled for thousands of years.
We got off the main road and found a nice little pizzeria where we could relax and enjoy the famous Napoli pizza - Naples is the birthplace of pizza for those of you who didn't know. Supposedly there is one restaurant which makes the best pizza in the WORLD located in Naples (we did not find that restaurant, but ours was pretty dang good). We were a bit early for lunch apparently (even though it was noon) and shared the restaurant with one other customer. A lovely older gentleman who recommended a particular pizza took our photo for us after, of course he finished his starter of pasta, and main course of pizza first. He also insisted we pucker up and kiss for our photo op.
After our pizza we strolled about, was offered and refused an iphone for 100 Euros off the street, then caught our bus to Sora. We stopped in a grocery store to get some drinks and made our best find of the trip...That's right, baby, a happy hippo snack. You gotta love it. Here's a hippo with her happy hippo snack.
After a 2 1/2 hour bus ride we were there. we realized we needed to buy a phone card in order to call Italy Farmstay to let them know we were there. We whipped out our handy-dandy Rick Steve's phrase book and pieced together what we wanted to say. DH was the brave soul to attempt Italian with the sales clerk. I thought he did fabulous, she apparently didn't share that opinion. Instead she said, "SPEAK ENGLISH." So, apparently our Italian was not so good. But at least we attempted it. I kept thinking in French saying, "oui " and "merci" ridiculous. My brain thinks that if someone is not speaking English they must of course be speaking French!

So, anyways, we got our phone card, called the Farm Stay and plunked ourselves down to wait for our host to arrive. What a shock when he turned up about 10 minutes later. A run down car with a shattered windshield pulled up in front of the cafe where we were waiting, the Italian man jumped out grabbed our bags and started loading them into the car. No introductions, nothing. I settle into the back amongst the straw, the smell of goats lingering in the air. I search in vain for a working seatbelt, in jumps our Italian host and off we speed. cClinging to the back seat as we nearly loose our lives to crazy Italian drivers I silently scream in my head, "what have I gotten us into?"
Needless to say, my first impression was not so great. I was tired from traveling, I had planned the trip so I wanted it go perfect, I had a picture in my head of what it was all going to be like and things just weren't turning out exactly as I had planned.
Upon arrival at the Famr Stay our host provided us with some bread and olive oil and wine (all made right there on the farm). The wine left a bit to be desired, ok a LOT to be desired - a disapointment considering that was the wine offered for dinner. then we were shown around the farm introduced to Conchetta, the donkey, whom we could kiss "but no tongue, she do not like the tongue". Our host also taught us how to eat the figs that grew in plenty on the trees there - just pop them straight into your mouth. He had a peculiar sense of humor, but I really appreciated it. I found him quite amusing. Guess you just had to be there.
After we were shown to our room - another slight disappointment. I can't really say what it was, the lumpy pillows, the crack in the wall, the furniture not centered on the wall....I don't know. It's not like I expected anything extravagant, but I just expected a little bit more. Oh well, it all turned out well in the end.
So, we ditched our stuff in our room and explored the farm on our own till dinner time. It had rained that afternoon so the ground was a gian mud pit. Clumps of mud stuck to the bottom of our shoes as we trudged around the farm exploring what was ripe in the gardens. Here's a nice photo of me feeling quite irritated on our walk around the farm. We decided to pick some tomatoes for a little snack before dinner.
Late that night we settled down for a nice homecooked meal under the stars. We were joined by most of the other guests at the Farm Stay fro our delicious meal. IT was a lovely way to end a day that didn't quite start off as well as I had hoped for. I knew the next morning would be the beginning of a brighter day. Bouna Note

no time lately

I know I haven't posted any pictures from Italy and I haven't blogged in a while but I have been SO busy. The day after we got back from Italy both DH and I went back to work. Then the following day our friend flew into town. We've been having a great time catching up with him, going to wine festivals, playing UNO (while drinking wine, of course), eating fondue, and general sightseeing. So, between attempting to be a good hostess and working a few days I haven't had any time for all of you. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

tomorrow we're going to Paris for the weekend, we'll get back Monday night, then it's back to work for the week. Next week is the first week of theatre classes so I'll be busy. Then next Thursday night (after work) we're going to Ljubljana, Slovenia for the weekend - DH has a meeting there and I'm tagging along because it's supposed to be an extremely beautiful city and hey, why not?

so, once I finally have a moment to sit down and breath and go through all my photos I will have tons to post. I'll have like 3 weeks worth of posts by then and non of them will be current. All about stuff done in the past. Oh well. I'll try my best to catch up soon.

Later gators!