Back to blogging…

Thanks to everyone who entered our scavenger hunt contest and
congratulations to the winners!

We last left you with my husband’s tale of his 2001 sabbatical. Below is
part two of three. [By the way, in case you are wondering why I chose to
illustrate this post with a rooster, keep reading! I ate rooster at one of
the most amazing dinners we’ve ever had: Osteria di Rendola]

Five Weeks in Italy: Part Two

Week Two was mellower than Week One. We took only a few day trips and just
relaxed at the villa for a stretch. I did some biking (next post: the
Italian Biking Update). Kathy’s parents took a side trip to one of their
favorite countries, Slovenia, and returned with good friends Mojca and
Alesh, as well as Slovenian cheese, proscuitto and wine. Our friend,
Rachel, also stayed for a few days.

The end of Week Two was accompanied by change. We said goodbye to Mojca,
Alesh, Rachel, Patti, Paul, Rita, Woody, Florence, and our villa in
Malmantile. We said hello to the hills of Lucca, Villa Al Carli, owner
Monica Ferrucci, as well as our friends Robin, Ruth, Nicholas, Schuyler
and Erna van den Nieuwenhuizen and Brett, Larisa, and Aiden Sheckler. We
were happy to have Kathy’s parents to help us move from villa to villa.
Our kids and clothes filled one car and supplies filled the other! We took
a scenic route to the town of Valgiano, passing through Vinci (where
‘Leonardo da’ called home) and Pescia (where 2/3 of Italy’s flowers are
grown).

Al Carli

Perched on a hill overlooking vineyards, olive groves, rolling hills and
the valley surrounding Lucca, Al Carli is a villa that was once owned by
director David Lean. He died before beginning any restoration work and
Monica purchased it a few years ago. Along with her parents, she remodeled
it with loving care and a keen eye for interior design. It has three
separate sleeping areas united by a central courtyard that is adorned with
clay pots overflowing with geraniums, jasmine, petunias, roses and
pansies. Each room is uniquely appointed and painted, complete with
tasteful antique furniture and hand-stenciled borders. Monica loves
animals and tends to two friendly dogs, two cats, three horses, and
perhaps 10-20 birds. This beautiful villa is so peaceful and serene, at
least for the normal clientele. To those who arrive with five kids under 4
years of age, normal has a broader interpretation. Good days became those
days when the kids slept past 7am, did not arrive in “time-out” prior
to 9 am, and willingly shared their toys 20% of the time! Great days were
those when the kids were in bed by 8pm so the exhausted adults could enjoy
the sunset, some adult conversation, Monica’s fabulous cooking and many,
many bottles of wine.

While a river gravel pathway from the parking area to the villa entrance
is aesthetically pleasing to most people, any male under the age of five
views it as an infinite source of stones to be thrown! We originally
prohibited the throwing of stones, then progressed to outlawing the
dropping and kicking of them. Finally, the movement of any stone with any
body part resulted in an immediate “time-out!” Fortunately, there were
plenty of toys at the boys’ disposal to distract and diffuse their
addiction to and affection for the rocks. We converted the exterior patio
overlooking Lucca into a large Gymboree where they could play. This
functioned well, but our wayward cherubs did not as easily accomplish
sharing their toys. The hot toys were the unique ones, as Murphy’s Law
would have it. Fortunately, we had two each of the most popular trucks and
fire fighter backpacks. Over the course of two weeks, though, our little
ones became quite attached to each another and to baby Schuyler, Robin and
Ruthie’s six month old Madonna-with-the-Billy-Idol hair. Dane was
particularly interested in entertaining her with a wide but repeating
selection of sounds and facial expressions. Aiden and Tate were more
interested in each other than the baby, and Nicholas marched to his own
drum, able to play independently for hours and shriek like a motion sensor
alarm if another child came within three feet of his toys!

Getting Along

Nine adults and five children can provide an interesting dynamic. When we
planned two weeks for three families at Al Carli, we knew sharing a house
would work but had no idea how. Who would want which room? What about the
separate apartments? Would the kids fight? Would anyone sleep from jet
lag? What would we do for food and meals?

Fortunately, everyone was amazingly accommodating and we had an awesome
time! Perhaps it was the bottle of 16-year old single malt scotch that we
found for $20 and Robin poured like red wine the first night we arrived.
Or perhaps it was the serenity that came over us as we admired the view
from our villa day and night. We don’t know, but the two weeks flew by
quickly. The major decisions we had to make involved whether to cook
ourselves or have Monica cook, which wine to have before and during
dinner, and what dessert to enjoy. As luck would have it, we worked our
way through most of Monica’s amazing menu selections, more than one
bottle of wine was needed at each meal so everyone’s desires were easily
accommodated and we opened both the vanilla wafers and the
chocolate-covered cookies since there were nine adults to finish them off.
The only real strife we experienced was the post-dinner music selection.
The women were stuck on the hits of the 80s, the men wanted to hear
B-sides, and Robin only wanted Jimmy Buffett. And we wonder why our kids
have trouble sharing? They come by it honestly!

Getting Out

Since the Besser clan had done way too much travelling during the first
two weeks, we decided to stay close to home for a couple of days. We hung
out by the villa’s pool and managed short trips to Lucca, Collodi, Bagni
di Lucca, Carrara, and Abetone. Lucca is a cute little city enclosed by a
huge wall that was largely built under the aegis of Napoleon’s sister.
Collodi was also only minutes from our villa and contained some beautiful
formal gardens and Pinocchio Park (too scary for our kids, go figure).
Bagni di Lucca is north of Lucca in the mountains and contains natural
mineral springs as well as a very large grotto (cave) that we toured. Dane
and Tate both loved the grotto. Tate, perhaps inspired by the quietness,
whispered the whole time and Dane, our brave little spelunker, walked the
length of the cave on his own. Carrara, northwest of Lucca, is where
marble is mined and made into tiles, slabs, and miscellaneous tourist
tchotckes such as corkscrews and wine stoppers. It is very much a working
tourist town, as evidenced by the multitude of trucks driving through with
12x12x6 blocks of marble on their beds. Paul went to Abetone by bike to
see and ride the first major climb of the Giro d’Italia. Abetone is 80
km north of Lucca.. The area was gorgeous, resembling the scenery along
the Sierras – mountainous terrain, clear water creeks, and clean, clean
air.

As a group of 14 people (in three cars), we visited Colle Val d’Elsa,
the playscape in downtown Lucca (multiple times), and Castellina in
Chianti. Colle Val d’Elsa is a quiet little town of mostly glass
factories located between Siena and San Gimignano. Since it is so small,
it does not appear on the radar of most tour groups, which is a good
thing. We all succumbed to the effects of the beautiful glasswork and the
strong dollar and bought crystal wine decanters, olive oil dispensers,
pasta bowls, or liquor bottles. Castellina in Chianti is a small town in
the Chianti region. We were attracted by its beautiful countryside, a
restaurant written up in Wine Spectator, and the prospect of some mildly
serious wine tasting. The restaurant, Albergaccio di Castellina, was
outstanding, but cranky children cancelled the wine tasting for us.

The women also got away for a day at a local spa. The brochure looked
great but the reality was quite different. Ruthie appropriately renamed it
“The Communist Spa” and compared the ambiance to that of a 1950’s
psychiatric ward in a geriatric hospital. Kathy noted that they used
actual toothbrushes on her face and played loud Eurotrash disco music
during her (unrelaxing) facial. Ruthie laughed at the meager selection
(three) of nail polish colors available for her manicure, and all of them
had a vastly mediocre experience. The men had a good time with the kids,
though.

Separately, the van den Nieuwenhuizens and the Shecklers visited San
Gimignano, Siena, Pisa, Pistoia, and Firenze. Tracy broke away to Rome and
returned with her friend, Amanda. Kathy and Paul busted away ‘senza
bambini’ for two nourishing, romantic days. One was spent touring the
Chianti region and tasting wines in Greve, Rada, and Castellina. Actually,
wine tasting is a misnomer. Most places only taste a single wine, their
youngest Chianti. Yum, yum. But we did see the villa where “Much Ado
About Nothing” was filmed and (reportedly) Mona Lisa was born. Needless
to say, it was a very romantic day. We didn’t realize how much so until
dinner, when Kathy ordered three highly suggestive courses (asparagus,
mussels and rooster – think about that) for dinner. That day we managed to
eat at two highly rated restaurants in Wine Spectator’s Tuscany edition.
The first, Albergaccio di Castellina, afforded us the opportunity to share
part of our meal with a lovely couple, Mathew and Francesca, who were
conviently from the Bay Area. The four of us hit it off immediately and we
obtained Mathew’s European cell phone number as a means to get together
again during our vacation.

At the second gourmet restaurant of the day, Osteria di Rendola, Francesco
Bernardinelli, the chef who graces the cover of the May 2000 Wine
Spectator Tuscany issue, personally prepared a 3.5 hour, 7-course meal
that was one of the best of our lives and then visited our table and
autographed our copy of the magazine! For more detail, see Kathy’s
eating section below because my descriptions will pale in
comparison to hers.

On our second adults-only day out, we started the day at the spa in
Montecatini Terme. The Terme means “thermal waters, baby” and when
translated literally means “shagadellic”. The healing waters here are
famous and the town is postcard perfect. Being a more modern town, this
charmer has wider streets, lots of trees, and cute, (very) expensive
little shops. Initially, I gave the place two thumbs up. The spa had a
nice atmosphere and the masseuse had the friendliest hands ever! But later
I changed my review after my first and only pedicure went sour.

That night we tried another Francesco Bernardinelli restaurant in downtown
Florence – Beccofino. It was fantastic as well, featuring Italian-fusion
cuisine such as tempura-battered vegetables over basil and asparagus
risotto. Unfortunately for me, we arrived a little early for dinner giving
Kathy ample time to find and purchase some expensive glassware at the shop
next door.

Getting Our Booty

Erna found an Etruscan necklace, bracelet, ring and earring set; Larisa
found a watch and crystal; Ruthie, Tracy and Kathy bought tons of jewelry,
glassware and shoes; Paul and Brett both bought custom Daccordi Aluminum
frames with carbon-fiber suspensions; Robin got an alabaster chess set,
and we all continually searched for Brunellos, olive oil and parmagiano
regiano to take home. Everyone bought keepsakes in Italy. It was hard not
to. The dollar got stronger every day, daring us to catch our customs
limit. It was a great time to visit Europe, in the middle of rate cuts by
the EU and merger talks between Alcatel and Lucent.

Kathy’s Journal [finally writing on my own blog!!!]

Everyone laughed at me when I started recording the meals we
enjoyed in Italy. But they were so fantastic (and our memories rapidly
grew hazy) that I wanted to keep track of them. A few of the meals
prepared by Monica at Al Carli are as follows:

May 19th: Bruschetta with garden-fresh tomatoes and garlic, zuppa di farro
(an old fashion wheat grain similar to barley), grilled filet of beef with
a Roquefort cheese sauce.

May 22nd: Panzanella, risotto verdure (w/vegetables), conoglio all Etrusca
(Rabbit, Etruscan style).

May 25th: Ravoli w/butter and sage, Tuscan chicken (we called these
wonderful lemon-rosemary medallions of olive-oil fried chicken, “Tuscan
McNuggets”!).

June 2nd: Bruschetta with garden-fresh tomatoes and garlic, ravoli
w/butter and sage plus tagliatelli with zucchini pesto and fried zucchini
flowers, Tuscan fried chicken (again!).

Some of the other terrific restaurants we visited included Trattoria
Cammilo (2 times) and Pandemonio (2 times) in Florence, Tenuta San Vito (3
times!) and Poggio Antico where we purchased a magnum of a particularly
nice Brunello di Montalcino (we’ll save it for a great big wine party
someday!).

Dinner at Osteria di Rendola: The meal started wonderfully with
complimentary glasses of champagne and a small palate teaser of roasted
guinea fowl laid on matchstick-size apple slices drizzled with a balsamic
vinaigrette and garnished with fresh thyme. This set the tone for the
entire evening as balsamic vinegar found its way into most dishes in
surprising and delightful ways. Paul chose to go with the evening’s
tasting menu and his courses were as follows: first] asparagus tips
wrapped in a delicate white fish on a bed of pesto garnished with a
beautifully drawn ring of balsamic vinegar and scattered fresh mint and
baby greens; second] a warm porcini mushroom salad garnished with thinly
sliced cheese (possibly asiago) and a creamy balsamic vinaigrette drizzled
artfully around the plate; third] a potato and ricotta soup with shrimp –
this soup had a slightly lemony flavor and was decorated with a single
dill sprig; fourth] eggplant tortelli with a four-cheese sauce garnished
with paper-thin slices of tomato and zucchini; fifth] thinly sliced rare
roast beef atop a pile of roasted potatoes that was finished with a
balsamic reduction; sixth] a square slice of mixed raspberry and vanilla
gelato – we were almost too full to even eat dessert at this point! I
ordered off the regular menu and had the following courses: first]
asparagus tips with shaved pecorino cheese and white truffles; second]
potato and leek tortelli in a warm broth filled with steamed mussels and
garnished with delicious homemade potato chips; third] roasted breast of
rooster (yes, rooster!) with cippoline (tiny spring onions) and a black
olive paste. Whew! I forgot to mention that we ordered a 1997 Fontodi Case
Via Syrah to accompany the meal. In short, we were completely blown away
by the food, wine and impeccable service and, of course, the evening was
made when the chef came out and autographed our copy of Wine Spectator
that had his picture on the cover (it is now framed and graces one of our
kitchen walls).

Getting Fat

In case you have not guessed from the previous sections and from Kathy’s
journal, the food in Italy was fantastic! We only had one medium meal the
entire trip (aside from London) and that was in Venice at a place we knew
in advance would be bad. But our kids needed to eat pronto and the
restaurant we had traversed the canals of Venice to eat at (Al Covo) was
unfortunately closed that day. All other meals were awesome!

Since 0-4 year-old children do not have the patience for a long sit-down
meal, we chose to eat out sometimes but cook ourselves more often.
Breakfast was the most entertaining meal of the day for some reason. We
sat outside, trying to wake up and keep our kids out of “time out”. Erna
would prepare a plate of cheese and salami. Sometimes I would whip up an
omelet with Italian ham and cheese but I chose Muselix with yogurt far
more often. The kids initially turned to cereal. However, once we all
discovered the wonders of Nutella, a different breakfast ritual evolved.
Notoriously a picky eater, Nicolas would CHOW DOWN on bread smeared with
Nutella! Ruthie quickly adapted and layered peanut butter below the
Nutella so that Nicolas would get NUTRITION in addition to lots of
calories!

Hot dogs, burgers, pasta al’Olio, pasta with peas, ham and cream, and
pretzels sticks were popular with the boys. We would feed them early and
then prepare our own dinner while they watched the sole “Thomas the Tank
Engine” DVD on Brett’s computer. While the rest of us sampled Pinot
Grigios, Barbarescos and Sangiovese wines, the women would prepare some
absolutely fantastic pastas, including one made from ground beef, sweet
onions and olive oil, and one made with a sweet sausage and roma tomatos.
Ruthie found a shop in Lucca that sold huge penne pasta shells which she
filled with sausage, olives, vegetables and tomato sauce. Of course, we
enjoyed the side dishes as well: insalata caprese, cannelini beans with
olive oil and fresh pepper, and proscuitto and melone.

If we were particularly lazy, we would call on Monica to prepare our
feast. We loved her cooking and it was so convenient. Her Tuscan fried
chicken was particulary flavorful as was the homemade pasta with zucchini
and fried zucchini flowers.

An Italian food update would not be complete without some mention of
dessert. While Monica specialized in Tiramisu, the Gelato is what we
craved. All of us found a favorite flavor. I loved the dark chocolate and
mint chocolate (and most other flavors). Tate and Kathy both loved
chocolate – dark chocolate that is. Tate got it all over his face, shirt,
hands, and any other extremity. He would eat his cone, then point to
Mommy’s and say. “I hold yours, Mommy!”- and proceed to eat hers as
well. Dane preferred Limone. Always. PopPop (Kathy’s dad) accepted the
challenge of more adventurous flavors, like strawberry cheesecake and
passionfruit, and Mimi (Kathy’s mom) loved Melon. Tracy discovered a
deadly addictive mixture of mint and chocolate at a gelateria on the
Piazza de la Signoria! While most gelato was good gellato and better than
normal ice cream in the USA, certain gelaterias were better than others.
We soon learned which shops made their own and slowly became Gelato
Connoisseurs.

[Photo credit: Lee Snider & Xu Lei/Veer]