Fw: August 8th morning

Last nights' children's party was a success with a lot of food left over. So today we are all going to Sapri

where Robby's parents stay in their house on the beach for the whole Summer.

  We'll bring food there.  I will get dropped off in Villemmare, the beach town just a short walk from

 Carla's and Luigi's (Robby's parents) home and when I want will walk on the beach from Villemmare 

to their house to get a ride back here.  Villemmare is supposed to be quite beautiful and in order for me 

to get there on my own, I'd have to take the bus for an hour to Sapri and then another to Villemmare.

The biggest hit for the food I made for last night was a 3 ingredient Nutella brownie done in cupcake cups.

Just flour, Nutella and eggs.  Wonderful and perfect for kids.  I wanted to stay in the kitchen during most

of the party but the moms all said to come out.  They wanted to see me but no one could speak English

so Miriam was nice enough to translate for me.

On to Villemmare!

Ciao

Fw: August 7th

                                                            Sophia's 3rd birthday kid party

During the Summer here in Battaglia and Casaletto, there not only is live music at the courtyard

in the center of Casaletto but there seems to be a birthday party for someone (mostly children) almost 

every night.  Well tonight is Sophia's turn to have her birthday party.  Everyone from her school and

their mom is invited.  No men.  Sophia started kindergarden last year.  She had just turned 2.  They

don't call it pre-school like we do.  It's just kindergarden.  And it's ok if you're still in diapers.  This

will be Miriam's first party that she is giving for one of her own children.  She seems calm.  I don't

know how.  She has no idea how many are coming.  As many as 50 could show up.  So she made 2 pans

of lasagna and prosciutto and cheese panini.  I made, at her request, sausage and cheese muffins,

nutella cupcakes and chocolate zucchini hazelnut brownies.  Plus she made a tiramisu and one of

the moms made an elaborately decorated cake.   And I'll make a tomato, cucumber, zucchini and

pesto salad.  Still trying to find ways to use zucchini.  And I made my most successful recipe for plum

cake.  I made one yesterday for today but everyone ate it so I had to make another.

I think we'll have a good turnout because everyone seems very curious about this place where I live

and the people who own it.  It is the most elaborate and largest structure between the two towns.

Battaglia and Casaletto are almost considered one town even though they are separated by a valley.

They share the same schools and the same Mayor and I think other things like police and fire dept.

Casaletto has approx. 300 residents where Battaglia has only 80.  The last and only pizza house in

Casaletto just closed a few weeks ago.  I don't know how any business sustains itself.  I went into a

store with Miriam today that was very, very small and sold everything from paint to cupcake paper

liners.  Which is why we went in to begin with.  But we were the only ones in there and it's located on

a street above the town square that is so narrow, unless you know exactly what is up there, you'd never

even know it's a street.

Starting tomorrow night and going for 4 nights is a festival on the side of the road between here and

Casaletto right across the street from the water fountain where the water pours out of the hillside and

anyone can fill their water bottles.  It is supposed to be excellent quality water and it never stops running.

Fw: August 6th 11:30 pm

Haven't stopped all day till now.  We've had guests at the B+B so it is my job to get up at 6am

and get the coffee going.  I have to use a single cup espresso maker on the stovetop so it takes 

a while to fill a carafe with enough coffee for everyone.  The bride and groom from last weeks'

wedding has been here now for 4 days and a German couple has been here for the past 9 days.

Since they are all leaving tomorrow, we all went out to Tortorella, the mountaintop village,

to Crazy Pizza the only restaurant in the village.  The pizza was excellent and each of us had our

very own to eat without sharing.  Not usually seen in U.S..  And they don't cut the pizza here.  So

you have to take your knife and saw away.  It was very busy for a Monday night.  We sat outside

in the courtyard which was good for the kids.  They could run around until the pizza came.  But 

here we go again-eating very late.  And pizza to boot!  But it was fun.  Everyone I meet here at the

Palazzo all give me their email and phone numbers with an open invitation to call or visit if I come

to their town.  The wedding couple are from the heart of Vienna.  Ceng (Cheng) really liked my plum

cake and asked if I would make him some to take home with him.  Nice compliment.  He and Elizabeth

drove here in their Alpha Romero from Vienna-11 hr. trip.  Rode in his car tonight.  It was nice

but as Elizabeth said: it's a Monday car.  Always needs fixing so you can only drive it on Monday.

I picked so many plums today.  I made 2 plum cakes and plum marmalade.

Tomorrow we are hosting another party.  This is for Sophia's 3rd birthday.  But not for family like 

the last one.  This is for her school buddies.  We're expecting around 50.  There's always so much

prep to do for these parties.  And the dishes!!

It's almost midnight and I can hear the music from Casaletto.  As I said before, every night in August

 there is live music in the palazzo in Casaletto and I can hear it very well from across the valley.

Nice to fall asleep to.  Oh, we have gecko's.  Lots of them.  And an outdoor cat who never comes

in but is always hanging around.  I feed her.  Her name is MiMi.  Miriam named her.  She's gray.

 And she only lets me pet her whole she's eating.

Fw: August 4th

                                                                     LATE NIGHT DINING

It's almost 9pm.  Everyone has been gone all day so I had the place to myself to do what I wanted.

This is probably the third time I've had the run of the place and it's nice.  I know I can cook something 

or bake or go up to the garden and pick something or take a nap.  Today I made some breakfast

muffins for our guests from Germany who have been here all week.  I made some peach muffins too.

Then I made some choc. zucchini brownies with hazelnuts for tonight.  The bride and groom from the

wedding are coming and they want to start a wood fire in the old kitchen and grill sausages.  Everyone

just showed up with nothing made so now they are going to start to cook.  I definitely don't want to

get involved.  It's late.  I'm done in the kitchen and I have to get up at 6 to serve the B+B guests.

It was very hot today and I spent time in the garden picking the first of the roma beans.  Some I think

grew overnight.  I was just up there checking on them 2 days ago and today they were huge.  Some so

huge I had to pull the strings off them after cooking.  But they tasted really good.  I made them into a

salad with red onion and the tiniest of cherry tomatoes called pomodoroinos (Sicily).

I also hung out 3 loads of laundry and took it all in.  So I've been busy and now I really don't want

to make a huge dinner for these people and clean up the kitchen.  I'm ok with doing all this stuff  14 hrs.

a day, 7 days/week but by 8pm I want to get off my feet, not eat and just read and relax.  Sophia and

Sara usually stay up until about midnight.  The music in Casaletto should be starting soon and from

my room I can hear it very well from across the valley.  Last night they played some Led Zeplin and

other American rock.  Every night in August there is a different group who play different types of

music.  Very nice.

I cooked the chick peas I shucked and they taste like almonds.  Good snack food

I've tries to talk to the German guests but I feel they are uncomfortable because they speak only a 

little English so they get frustrated.  I wish I could go visit the Baroness but she speaks and understands

NO English.  So forget that.

Fw: August 3rd Trip to Maratea

This was officially my very 1st WHOLE day off in 18 days so I decided to go down to the

ocean.  I'd heard Maratea was very beautiful.  The only way out of here is to take the one hour

hairpin bus ride to Sapri and from there take either a bus or train somewhere else or just stay

in beautiful Sapri.  I took the 6minute train ride to Maratea.  I got out of the train to find myself

at a lonely train station with no indication of where to go to get anywhere.  So I started walking

and walking up and up and up following signs to Maratea and hen before I knew it I was seeing

signs for the next town.  Then I realized I'd walked right through the center of Maratea which was

a grocery store/sell everything else for the home store.  I'd gone in and bought a liter and 1/2 of

mineral water for .40euro.  About 55 cents.  On my way out of the store I met 3 young guys all

sweaty and standing next to their bicycles.  I asked if they spoke English.  It is so nice to find

someone who speaks English.  They were all from Denmark riding their bicycles from Rome

to Sicily.  From there 2 were flying home and the other taking a boat to Sardinia and then to

Corsica and then to Nice.  It is always a pleasure to meet someone you can talk to.  The language

barrier is probably the most difficult thing about being here.  That and not being able to talk to Hannah

on the phone.

So then off I went down the hill I'd just came up, trying to find my way to the beach.  Well there is

no beach in Maratea.  The whole coast is rocky cliffs.  Quite beautiful but nowhere to just sit and

enjoy the water.  So back up I go.  Up the mountain on a road that can barely fit two very small cars

much less someone walking.  There is NO room for a person on these roads.  At times I felt I had to

tuck my arms in close to my body or feel the car brush up against me.  That's how close they came to

hitting me.  But the funniest thing I saw was a young guy on a motorbike on these hairpin roads-

TEXTING while driving!  These people are crazy!  I had to laugh.  It was really funny.

I decided after having lunch (fresh linguini with porcini and white anchovies) to go back to Sapri

for the rest of my day off and go to the beach there.  I did that and enjoyed my first full day off!

Fw: August 1st more

                                                                        CECI

I have a new respect for the chick pea.  We grow them here and they're ready to harvest.  If you've

ever shucked peas then you'll understand the tedium in opening each pod and getting tat ONE chick pea

out.  Sometimes you'll find 2 in a pod.  One time and only one time did I find 3 in one pod!  Such

happiness in such a little thing.  Well I shucked a lot of chick peas today and didn't mind a bit.

I have to make sure that whatever I make with them will be well suited to the work  (work is a strong word)

it took to get these.  I will never open another can of chick peas that I bought for $.75 and NOT

remember today's task. And I do know that a machine mass shucks the ones in a can.  But you get the idea

behind all this.

                                                                          POTATO

After the shucking of the chick pea, I sunk a pitch fork into the ground and pulled up for the first

time ever-potatoes!  I eyes got big and I actually said "WOW".  They wee golden in color and oh

so beautiful.  I couldn't stop.  I had to keep going and going until the second garden of potatoes

was all pulled up.  Miriam and Robby did the first garden this morning.  I think there are 2 more

gardens to go for the potatoes.  As I'm digging one side of the garden, pears were falling on my

out of the tree and while I was digging the other part of the garden, figs were falling on my.  We

have so much stuff coming ripe and ready to either cook or just eat.  We still have lots of zucchini

coming every day.  A million green tomatoes will be ripening probably all at once.  Maybe by then

I'll be gone on to my next farm.  Oh the work it'll take to make all that cause and can it!

But for now we let the potatoes rest for at least 3 days before cooking any of them.  I'm sure Robby

will store them in a very suitable, safe place for use in the following several months.

Fw: August 1st

Oh those Italians!!  They NEVER stop talking!  NEVER!!  I just got off the bus from Sapri.  It was an hour of constant hairpin

turns throughout the mountains.  And as much as I hate bus rides especially on a road as curvy as this was, I could not wait to

get off and get away from that bus driver who NEVER shut up the whole hour.  At first he talked to a couple of women but when

they got off he continued with a man. All in all it was a very nice day in Sapri.  It's a town on the coast with a very large beach.  

No sand-just rock.  Small rocks.  But the water looked beautiful.  Coming down from the top of the mountain where you can

see the whole town and the beach and the sea was absolutely beautiful.

First plan was to find a bank to get some Euros.  I tried to get in to one bank but the teller shouted something to me.  I said

I didn't speak Italian so she shouted it again and again still in Italian.  But wouldn't let me in.  By the time I found out I could

use the ATM machine outside the bank, I realized they were closed for the afternoon like every business does.  I just forgot.   That was what she was shouting about.  We're closed until 5pm.  Next thing I wanted to do was find a place to get a book.  A translation book from English to Italian.  But I needed the book to look up the word for book store.  Being all the stores were closed I decided to go to the beach, find a place to sit, have a beer and lunch being it was now 1:30.  I had a nice lunch at a restaurant right on the beach and then found these big comfortable cushioned chairs up off the beach but still on the water and I sat down and took a nap in the sun.

As many days I have spent in the hot sun with no sunscreen, I have not burned at all.  I think the ozone must be thicker here

and it's doing its' job at protecting people from the suns burning rays.  That's the only thing that makes any sense.  I have a

little tan but definitely no burn.

I then went to the train station to ask how I could get to Matera, a city of stone that looks amazing.  Finding someone who

could help me who spoke a little English was a little challenging but what I understood was Matera does not have a train

station.  I would have to take a bus to Sapri, a train to Salerno and another bus to Ferrandina-Pomarico-Migli.  And then

I don't know how I'd get to Matera from there.  Looks like another 15 miles.  I think I'll wait until I get to the farm I'm

scheduled to work at in October in Brindisi and go to Matera from there.  A lot closer.

Almost gave up looking for a store to buy the book when I just happened to walk in to one that had magazines outside.

The guy was very nice, spoke a little English and gave the book I wanted to me.  It was $4.90.  Then I had a gelato for $1.00

and  later an espresso (thick as mud) and something called cream that came out of a machine, light tan in color-absolutely

delicious.  Both for $.60!  All these prices are in Euro so you have to add another 1/3.  But still a good price.  Then I walked

and walked and walked.  Got a slice of pizza for the trip home and got there at 8pm.  Wonderful day in a lovely city.