Food Seduction

These are some notes from the last week... Unfortunately, the internet is being moody here, so no more pictures yet, but I'll try to post some as soon as possible!

Last week, I thought I had a crush on one the chefs here at Poggio ai Santi. Katerina is a 25 year old greek food genuis. She has been working with the 'World Famous' Denny for 6 years. They met in Greece and she followed him here. She charmed us one night by letting us stay and watch the dinner rush at Poggio. It was beautiful. The way she chopped, minced, pounded, shredded, and arranged all the food on the plate was like watching an artist at work. She let us try everything too. First we tried the amuse-bouche of the evening: strawberries, cheese, pepper and a Balsamic glaze. I can't pronounce the rest of the food we ate, but with every bite, we all fell a little bit in love with her. Remember the movie Chocolat? It felt like that. At the end of the night, she pulled out a gargantuan piece of cake for us all to share, and that sealed the deal. I went to bed that night dreaming of how I would ask for her hand in marriage. The next morning, I woke up with a clear head and realized it was the FOOD. Unfortunately, I am in love with an inanimate object. But I'm planning on proposing to my next plate of pasta anyway... Who knows, maybe we could make it work. We ended up making Katerina a love note with a highly detailed illustration of the cake and hearts everywhere. She loved it.

The work over the last week has been difficult physically, but it feels good. We've been clearing the area around the bottoms of these abandoned olive trees. We do it all with a hoe, a rake, and some forbici (clippers). It takes about 45 minutes and 3 girls to clear the bottom of one tree. It is so tough, my arms are covered in scratches and I've had to dislodge more than one giant thorn from my hindquarters. We've also peeled, cored and quartered about a thousand apples. The end product was well worth the labor though, Denny makes an amazing apple-rosemary marmalade. During the day, the girls and I try to amuse ourselves by singing every song we can remember. So far, we've covered everything from Hanson to Ludakris. Our favorites thus far have been Queen and Michael Jackson.

Every day, we walk to work as the sun is rising. I'm convinced it's the best way to wake up. That and the espresso. We all get to make as many cafès, macchiatos, cappucinos as we want. Last week, we went into town to San Vincenzo to lay on the beach and eat gelato. It's convenient getting off work at noon. We had been singing Queen's 'Don't stop me now' ALL DAY. Over and over. It had become our theme song. As we walked into town, the first thing we notice on a bulletin board is QUEEN: the cover band. Coming to San Vincenzo for FREE next Saturday. Have our dreams come true? I got so excited I coerced my fellow WWOOFers into a Queen photo shoot back at the apartment later that day. Pictures to come soon.

One night we were walking home from Poggio after dinner and spotted our little village of San Carlo across the valley. We saw a bright street light with a building under it and decided that we must find out what this building was. Until now, we thought San Carlo was a purely residential one-horse town. We walked past our home, up to the top of the highest hill speculating all the way... Is it apartments? Is it a library? Maybe a war memorial? A museum for olive oil? After a long day in the Olive Grove, we always talk about how nice it would be to get a beer and relax somewhere other than our little apartmente... But San Vincenzo is about a 45 minute walk from San Carlo. This mysterious building couldn't possibly be a bar, San Carlo is too small for that. If it's a bar, we know we have actually died and gone to heaven. Well, as it turns out, the top of that hill is 'downtown San Carlo' with a mini-piazza and everything. Bar included. The ristorante attached to the bar is covered in taxidermied animals which makes it even more interesting. Our bartender is named Vincenzo, of course, and he loves us. He has a euromullet and a John Waters mustache, and wears all tight black clothes. He is hilarious. Again, pictures to come. The little tables outside are red and pink with little white hearts on them. Perfetto.

I am in love with Tuscany, but I can't wait to see the rest of Italy. My roomies and I are planning on taking some trips in the next few weeks to Florence, Bologna, and Pisa. I will update as much as I can!

With love
Rosa

ps- my favorite italian phrase so far is 'In Bocca Lupo'. In a roundabout way it means good luck. Ciao!