Seasonal Pictures - Fall

Things that are making me happy:

- mild temperatures that allow us to spend time outside without turning into popsicles

- blue skies

- the great big window next my desk at work that allows me to see the sunset over the hills every evening - I am still thrilled after being in our new office over 1 month

Thanks mother earth for being so lovely this fall!

**Excuse me for the not so fabulous quality of these pictures - I was trying to take them quickly and covertly. If someone would have seen me they would have thought I was nuts, for sure - just as they did the first day in our new office when at 5 o'clock I exclaimed, "we get sunsets now".**

Seasonal Pictures - Fall & La Sagra del Tartufo

Andrea and I spent the last two Sundays in the picturesque village of Savigno at their annual Sagra del Tartufo. Sagre are festivals that are typically held in small villages to celebrate a local product including those that are planted and harvested (squash and pumpkins for example), collected or foraged (like the tartufo) or prepared and cooked (like tortellini). Spending a Saturday or Sunday exploring a village and enjoying the goods at their Sagra has become one of my all time favorite things to do here in Italy and this (late fall and early winter) is the peak season for Sagre!

This is the second year in a row that we have gone to Savigno for the Sagra del Tartufo and it has become something for which I anxiously await. The great access to truffles here still absolutely astounds me. In the states truffles are such an exclusive product that they are reserved for only a very few. Here they are everywhere and so much more afforable in comparision! Truffles are offered in restaurants on everything from steaks, to pasta and even on pizza! The varieties of different truffle products is also outstanding! First, there are the whole truffles for sale

The truffles on the right are the black truffles which can be cooked and have a more subtle, less intese flavor. The truffles on the left are the prized white truffle which have a strong, intense flavor and smell. These truffles cannot be cooked but will be shaved on top of the already prepared food.

Now when I said affordable I meant in comparision to the states. As you can see, the truffles are a very desired and respected product and the larger ones demand quite a big price tag. I always find it interesting to watch the truffle sellers carefully weighing, measuring and examing their truffles much the same way a jeweler might exam a diamond. There is a true sense of respect and reverence towards the truffles.

Now if you are not in the market for a truffle in the raw, as I found out that I am not after Andrea bought me one last year and I was too intimidated to use it so it went bad in our cupboard, there are many other wonderful truffle products to buy...

Truffle sausage
(That is one long sausage and the woman selling it simply cuts off how much you want!)

Truffle Cheese
(which are actually the small rounds to the right - the huge round of cheese was just too impressive not to get a picture of. Also check out the huge piece of Coppa di Testa in the back. It is delicious but I am a little afraid to know what it is made of as the whole time I was eating it yesterday the boys err, I mean gentlemen I was with were teasing me about what I was eating. I told them better to just enjoy and remain in ignorant bliss.)
Truffle Eggs
(I find these to be truly amazing! The people that make these put the eggs and truffles into a big air tight, glass container and then seal it up. The truffles are so pungent that their smell/taste permeates the shell of the egg so that when the eggs are cooked they taste of truffles! I have yet to try a truffle egg but I am very curious.)

Then there are also many, many non-truffle delicacies to purchase as well...

More cheese (I think this Gorgonzola looks to die for) and more Coppa di Testa

Beautiful Tigelle
(think flat biscuit that are fantastic when they are hot and fresh with some sliced meat and cheese)
Exqusite fresh pasta

And candy pink Pesca
(These are a soft, cake like, cookies. The two halves are baked seperately and then soaked in liquor before being sandwhiched together with chocolate and then rolled in sugar - devine!)

This is my favorite part of Italy. I feel so grateful that there are small towns with real pride in what they make, forage and grow. It is in these towns that I feel a real, genuine sense of history, time, tradition and culture. None of this is done as a show or for tourists from faraway places. It is so very nice to be absorbed into the country and to intimately come to know the people and places that I feel make up the true Italy.

Seasonal Pictures - Fall

fall and especially November will forever and always make me think of Tartufi (Truffles)

Seasonal Pictures - Fall

Hooray for unseasonably warm days and still being able to enjoy lunch outside!

Hooray for cheery, orange tulips unexpectedly showing up during the first week of November! Hooray also for the cute boy that bought them for me!

Seasonal Pictures - Fall

I have often read about people expresing a desire to take part in a culture exchange with a person from a different country. This always made me think to myself, first of all, what would I exchange? I am American. What is our cluture? Hamburgers? Baseball? Then I thought even if I figured out what to share, how would I share it? Should I make a power presentation and bring visual aids? This idea of a cultural exchange was always intriguing, I want to learn about other people's cultures, but also daunting because I did not now what I would give in exchange. This weekend I found out.

I stayed on an olive farm in Tuscany this weekend where there lived a wonderful, little boy named Pietro. Pietro was very excited about Halloween. He talked about it all day Saturday and repeatedly chimed out, "scherzetto o dolcetto" (trick or treat in Italian), usually from the top of an olive tree. He also talked about carving a pumpkin. On the farm they grow many things but unfortunately not pumpkins. After we finished dinner that night, Christina, the farmer, brought in a butternut squash she had picked from the garden and offered it up to be carved. We, five adults, sat around the table thinking how to carve the squash. I must admit that at first I was skeptical. There are many differences between a proper carving pumpkin and a butternut squash. One of the adults suggested to cut the very hour glassly shaped squash into two pieces and at that suggestion the possibilities started to come to life quickly, followed by the jack-o-lanterns.

The squash was cut in two. The seeds taken out and the center cut away. Pietro drew the perfect face on each half with triangle eyes, a small triangle nose, and a sweet little smile. I carved out the pieces and then Pietro, who had the perfect sized hands to fit inside the small squash, removed the cut out pieces. We lit little tea lights and put the two squash faces on top of them and here are the results:

Notice how Pietro even drew nostrils on the two noses

Seasonal Pictures - Fall

I have been inspired by two Australian blogs I read (you can check them out here and here) to begin to post a weekly seasonal picture. I like the idea of slowing down and taking the time to appreciate each season and to find the unique beauty in the ever changing world around me. I think right now, fall, is the perfect time for me to start this; I am absolutely a summer/warm weather person (can you blame me? I grew up in California where, admittedly, it was not warm all the time but it was never COLD) so I have not been welcoming fall with open arms. I am looking forward to beginning to appreciate fall and in turn all the other seasons for exactly what they are instead of disliking them for what they are not. A lesson in acceptance.

the different stages of changing and falling leaves

fall vineyards

the last of the grapes

Each Monday I will feature a new series of seasonal photos. Come back and check out what I find.

P.S. The three pictures above are all from our trip this last weekend to the Piemonte region of Italy. If you like what you see, stayed tuned for the rest of the week. I will be posting, in three parts, about our weekend at the Salone del Gusto in Torino and our adventures in Barolo and the surrounding areas.