IL CIBO ITALIANO

Those closest to me are probably a little worried.  “What’s going on with her?”......they might be asking.  “Why hasn’t she written anything about food yet?  The woman writing this blog may be some imposter posing as our foodie friend Colleen.”

No, I haven’t suddenly switched to the “eat to live” camp.  It’s just that since I’m going to be here for so long, my budget can’t handle eating out all the time.  So I eat out two or three times a week.  Okay, some of you might be thinking, why aren’t you raving about the wonderful food you’ve eaten those two or three times?  Well, I might be if I could keep an internet connection long enough to really check out which are the best restaurants in Sorrento.  The best meal I’ve had so far was a dinner at a lovely beachside restaurant in Positano, with my New Zealand and Swiss pals.  It was sea bass, prepared to perfection, in a simple olive oil and lemon sauce.  I lingered over every bite.  (There, doesn’t that sound more like me?)  Their caprese salad, fresh tomatoes with fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese and basil was also wonderful.

My landlady, Signora Cacace, owns a trattoria called Da Emilia.  Emilia, her mother, opened the trattoria in the late 1940’s, and now daughter Irena runs it.  Rick Steves has recommended it, so it gets a lot of business.  Her Sorrento style gnocchi are really good—in tomato sauce with fresh basil—and there’s a platter of lightly fried local fish that I also like, including fresh anchovies, a new experience for me.  Here are some pictures I took at Da Emilia:

The restaurant has two seating areas, one right by the water…..

Plus a covered patio and seating in the trattoria proper.

Signora Cacace (and me)……

Signora Cacace below a pictures her mother Emilia and her father…..

Here are some of the items on her menu:

Insalata mista, which is on every restaurant’s menu and is different at every one of them…..

Insalata with tuna and tomato…..

One of my favorites, gnocchi Sorrento style (with tomato sauce and basil)……

 Ravioli (with ricotta cheese inside)…..

Lightly fried sardines, yum……this technique of lightly battering fish and frying them is typical in the Napoli region…….

Lightly fried squid…..

A delivery of fish that were caught that day……

 I’ve also been to a couple of other restaurants in the marina and had some very good seafood risotto at this one…….

This restaurant is owned by five sisters, but only two of them were there when I took these pictures…..

Both these sisters are quite aggressive….they call to people as they walk by, asking them to eat at their restaurant, and sometimes they walk up to people and hand them a menu.  They have a bad rep in the marina for their aggressive behavior, as well as pretty mediocre food.  Their restaurant is attached to my apartment building.

 Yes, I’ve had pizza, too, but I’m probably not the one to judge whether the pizza here is better than the U.S. or not, because I rarely ate pizza at home.  The options for toppings are more limited here, as with everything else.  The best pizza I’ve had so far is one I ate in Cassino when I visited my friend Antonio.  I had the classic Margharita style, and the buffalo mozzarella and the crust were both divine.  (Yes, it really is me.)  The Napoli region is known for its buffalo mozzarella and, fresh or aged, it is absolutely delicious.

Sorrento is a pure tourist town.  The menus here tend to be very similar, and everything is a la carte.  Frankly, I haven’t been wowed by the food here, which was a disappointment, because I had such a wonderful culinary experience when my niece Shelley and I were in Italy several years ago.  Maybe that’s because I had done a lot of research and selected great little trattorie for our meals.  She and I would usually order an antipasto, a primi (usually pasta) and secundi (meat or fish) and share each plate.  And, of course, we had our daily gelato fix.  I don’t have gelato every day—maybe three times a week, and my favorite place has about 80 flavors.  I won’t be here long enough to try all of them.

As I mentioned in my last post, I ate Chinese food in Cassino, and it was quite different than what we get in the U.S.  The spring rolls I had were very crispy, but I couldn’t identify anything but cabbage inside.  I ordered rice spaghetti with seafood and got a lot of spaghetti and a smidgen of seafood.  The sauce was very bland.  I finally saw a little bar in Sorrento that has hamburgers, and I went there this week to have my “cheeseburger fix”.  It was at the quality level of McDonald’s….a bit disappointing….and yet, it was enough to remind me of what a burger tastes like. 

There are typically no sides that come with your entrée, so you have to order a side salad or vegetable to go with your pasta, fish, or meat.  Even if you order just one course with a side salad, your bill will usually be 20 euro or more, because you pay for water and there is a table cover charge included in your bill. (I’m told it’s for the use of the cutlery and table linens).  But, you don't have to tip here, unless you want--according to my Italian friends, it isn't expected.

 I haven’t been able to cook here like I did at home, because:

         a.   I don’t have all the kitchen equipment I need—e.g., no food chopper, no food processer, no blender, not even a vegetable peeler or a whisk.  I tried to find the latter two in a kitchen store here and they don’t seem to have heard of either.

        b.  I can’t find many of the ingredients I need for my favorite recipes in the supermarket, e.g., chicken broth!  I really don’t like broth made with bouillon cubes, so I guess if I want to make soup, I’ll have to buy a whole chicken and make my own.

    When I do cook, I get my fresh fruit and veggies from Signora Carolina....

     

More on food when I get to Sicily.

CELEBRATING THE FISH

What could be more fitting for a fishing village than to have a festival celebrating what brings sustenance to the tables of its inhabitants?  Today, Marina Grande is having a Sardines and Anchovies Festival.  I googled it to see if I could find out anything about this tradition, but to no avail.  They started yesterday to decorate the marina by stringing white lights from the building balconies across to the lamp posts in a zigzag pattern.  A few tents went up.  All day, there has been more preparation, in the rain—more tents went up, and they hung fishnets in a canoe shape between the lamp posts.  I have no idea why, unless it’s just a declaration of identity. 

Things started to liven up around 7 p.m.  It was pouring rain, but I went out to see what was happening.  i didn’t take my camera because it’s hard to hold the umbrella and take pictures at the same time.  But, there were several food tents selling different kinds of fish and other foods.  I went to Da Emilia, the trattoria owned by my landlady, to get some fish—a mixture of sardines, shrimp, squid, and octopus—and also sampled some grilled salmon from another tent.  There was also a tent displaying giant size desserts, many of which had the names of local hotels in icing on the top.  For 5 euro, you could get a plate of fish with some bread and a glass of wine.  

Later, around 8 p.m., there was a live band, which sounded like it was in my living room, because they sheltered themselves in a room on the first floor of my building.  Fortunately, they were pretty good, and I enjoyed listening to the music until about 11 p.m.  There was a great fireworks display, too, and, of course, the church bells rang like crazy off and on during the evening.  It’s really too bad it was raining during most of the evening hours, because I’m sure that discouraged many people from coming to enjoy the wonderful fresh local fish.

THE TOOTH FAIRY

Life has been very good here.   Even without the luxuries of the U.S., I’ve been having a great time and meeting some great people.  But, for those of you who have told me how green with envy you are, there’s a down side to being away from home.  I’ve already written about the problem with my knees and how you need to be part mountain goat to navigate your way around Italy.  Now I’ve had a health issue that can’t be fixed with a compression bandage.  Believe it or not, I broke a tooth on the crust of some of this wonderful Italian bread.  I mean, the whole tooth just broke off! 

I had a similar wrangle with a bagel a few years ago, and I thought I'd learned not to bite into hard, crusty things.  But the piece of bread I had torn off was too big a bite, and I had already dipped it in olive oil.  I didn’t want to get my fingers oily, so I just bit it in half.  At the time, I was lunching and talking with my friend Grace, and there was a 5 piece band that had just started playing.  So all this happened without conscious thinking.  (Does this remind you of the washing machine in any way?!)

I called the school to ask if they could find me a dentist who could speak English, and they made an appointment for me.  The dentist was in Piano di Sorrento, a 20 minute bus ride from Sorrento, and off I went on Tuesday.  I discovered, upon arrival, that the dentist spoke no English.  Now this makes me a bit uncomfortable.  His assistant spoke a little English, but not enough to explain what he was going to do to me.  The solution:  they called the school, and a woman named Christiana interpreted for me.  She told me the dentist was going to do a root canal.  Okay, that’s what was done on the other tooth, so I was okay with proceeding.  Unfortunately, the dentist couldn’t remove the nerve.  Apparently, it’s another one of those irksome aging issues—your root canals can close up, so the nerve can’t be easily accessed.  The dentist put some kind of medicine into the opening he made that would supposedly facilitate a second attempt.

Back I go three days later.  My appointment is at 6 p.m. on a Friday evening—these Italians work crazy hours.  This time, in addition to the dentist, there’s a tall, scruffy bearded man who is introduced to me as the technician.  It took me a while to figure out that he was the “tooth fairy”.  After what seemed like an eternity, the nerve was successfully removed, and then came a rather lengthy process of getting a tooth fitted properly, which was quite a collaborative effort between the dentist and the “tooth fairy”.  

I have to say that these two did a wonderful job.  And it turns out that the Christiana who did all the interpreting for me via phone is the director of the language school.  I was pretty impressed with this personal attention. 

Since I’ll be leaving here next week, I’ll probably wait until I get to Thailand to get the permanent tooth, because I'm pretty sure it will be much less expensive there.  (Did I mention that I’m going to Thailand next?)

Anyway, I would rather have been at home when this happened than have two Italian men talking over my mouth and not being able to understand anything they said.  My Italian lessons have not covered dental terms.

No pictures in this post, because I’m pretty sure you wouldn't be that interested in seeing my new tooth.  

A side note:  I got to Piano di Sorrento early, so I went into a library to pass the time reading.  And guess what?  All their books were locked up!

GOAT ISLAND?

I’m not sure who would win the debate about which island is more beautiful-- Ischia or Capri.  From all the accounts I’d heard about Capri from the many people I’d met who have gone there, I was predisposed to think that Ischia would win.  But after Grace and I spent a few hours there, I’m torn.  I think the fact that we were there on a Monday three weeks after the end of “high season”, and the place wasn’t jammed with tourists, had a lot to do with the impression this island left with me. 

The Romans called this island "goat island", and its name may be derived from Latin for goats "capreae".  After putting our bodies through the torture of navigating Pompei and Positano (again), we decided to be kind to our knees and take the 20 euro tour with Guisseppe, the tour guide who “sold us” on the ferry to Capri.  We left the harbor on a small tour bus with about a dozen other people and went first to Anacapri, which is perched in the cliffs above Capritown.  

All the way, Guiseppe is educating us about the island and pointing out sights in two, or possibly three, languages—Italian, Spanish, and English.  It was difficult to understand him, because he would do parts of the sentences in each language, so you’d have to wait for the “rest of the story” until he said the phrase in the other two languages.  Very confusing.  

After he lead us to the famous villa of a Swedish physician/author (Munthe), we had some time to have lunch and explore the area a bit.  There were lots of high end shops with beautiful (and expensive) merchandise.  I guess if all there is to do is window shop, you might as well be looking at some high quality goods!

Pictures of/from Anacapri:

Then we went down to Capritown, also on a cliff—just a lower one.  Guisseppe led us to this house, which is was the Mussolini family house on Capri....

It's really big and beautiful...couldn't get it all in one frame.  Guisseppe made numerous references to Mussolini during our tour, but we couldn't understand what he was saying.  

Guisseppe left us on our own to explore Capritown.  We walked down (again!) to these beautiful gardens on the slopes of the town where we took pictures of each other by the famous faraglioni rocks which you see so often in pictures of Capri……………Guisseppe told us that this would be the proof that we were here!

The surrounding gardens were beautiful and tranquil, and we just relaxed on this beautiful bench for a while enjoying the beauty of the garden and the day………….

Then we walked back uphill (there’s no end to uphill in Italia) and caught the funiculare back down to the harbor to wait for a ferry back to Sorrento.  In a garden above the harbor back in Sorrento, I saw this beautiful tree--Grace called it a tulip tree--which I thought was especially unique and beautiful.

POSITANO AGAIN?! BASTA!

Okay, you already know I love Positano already, but Grace wanted to see it, too, so back I went to give her the tour.  But first we went further south to visit Amalfi, the town that gave this coast its name.  Amalfi is a much more humble than Positano….there really wasn’t much there to see, except this beautiful church……….

 We had a wonderful lunch there—spaghetti carbonara and grilled sea bass, which is about half the price here as in the U.S.  Yes, some things are less expensive here.....and for an optional donation, you get entertainment…..

Then we caught a bus and headed for Positano, which Grace enjoyed very much.  We walked down to the beach and then up that steep slope, once again.  By this time, my knees are objecting again to the mountain goat existence I seem to be leading.  I’ll add only a couple more pictures here, because I've gone on about Positano just about enough (basta)…….but I do  love this picture......

This looked like a lilac tree.....

When we got back to Sorrento, we had a light dinner at Maria Marrone’s Trattoria.  (That’s my Italian name.)

WHAT VESUVIUS DID TO POMPEI

I came to Italy with big hopes—first, that I would be able to get a residence permit, which hope was quickly smashed.  The second was that I would share parts of this retirement adventure with good friends.  This hope has begun to be realized with a visit from one of my oldest (span of friendship years, not chronological) friends from my days on the west side of Michigan. 

My friend Grace and I worked together at a hospital in Grand Rapids during the last century, three decades ago.  Grace had just enjoyed a cruise through the Mediterranean, starting in Barcelona and ending in Venice, before she winged her way to Naples and taxied into Sorrento to visit me.  I’m always delighted to spend time with Grace, because she’s so much fun and really easy to get along with.  We had traveled together to Cancun a few years ago, and I knew we would have a great time together here.

Of the many options for sightseeing here, Grace wanted to see Pompei, tour the Amalfi Coast, and go to Capri.  Grace arrived early afternoon last Friday, and we spent the rest of that day walking around Sorrento, enjoying a relaxed dinner, reviewing her cruise stops, and making plans for the next three days.  We chose to visit Pompei on Saturday, and this post will be devoted to our tour of this amazing city that was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.  This is the same Mt. Vesuvius that you see resting benignly across the Bay of Naples in pictures I posted earlier of the view from my apartment balcony. 

These pictures give you an idea of what it’s like to walk the streets of this excavated marvel.  In some places, you can see the ruts made by the chariots:

There are very few frescoes left here…most have been removed to the archeological museum in Naples.  Here’s one of the few that shows up decently in a photograph.

Here's the remains of the forum:

Here’s Grace, resting in the small theater: 

And here’s the large theater which seats about 5,000:

And the most amazing sight are the remains of people who lived here at the time of the disaster.  This one is the most expressive, I think, if you interpret this position as fetal:

And here's another….can you believe it? 

Following the volcanic eruption, first pumice and then ash fell on the city.   Then it rained, turning the ash into a mud which encased the suffocated bodies of the victims.  Although their flesh decayed, the skeletons of these victims remained trapped in the preserving layer of volcanic debris.  The director of the excavation of Pompei discovered a method for keeping the ash cases intact—pouring plaster into the hollow to create a cast of the body at the moment of death.   Pretty ingenious, but kinda creepy, too.

This place is huge, and there’s not much that’s colorful here.  These green trees looked refreshing against the monotonous greys and browns of all the stonework.

And, of course, Grace and I added a little color to the place!

We were tapped out after about 4 hours of exploring this place.  Walking on the uneven stones of the streets of Pompei  is hard on the joints.  Mine felt like someone had poured plaster in them!

On the way back to Marina Grande, we stopped at an al fresco restaurant in the main piazza to enjoy a glass of wine (served with olives and peanuts) and people watch.  Grace recognized a couple of women with whom she had shared a taxi to Sorrento, Blanche and Donna, and they joined us for a sip and a chat.  You’ll hear more about them in a subsequent blog.

AH. POSITANO

Several years ago, my niece Shelley and I spent the last two days of our Italy vacation at a lovely hotel in Positano, south of Sorrento, on the Amalfi Coast. I have fond memories of reclining on a lounge chair on the hotel’s seaside deck and being served drinks by cute Italian cabana boys. (Or am I just dreaming that, Shelley?) 

Positano is a charming seaside town, built in tiers on high cliffs. (If you have seen Under the Tuscan Sun, it is where Diane Lane went to find that hot Italian guy she had met.) 

Back in the day when Amalfi was a kingdom, Positano was a bustling trade port, even though it has no harbor. Over the years, trading migrated to other Italian ports with harbors, and Positano was demoted to a fishing village. In more recent years, it’s developed into one of Italy’s most popular tourist towns. 

I had stopped at Positano on the boat cruise I took with the Australian couple, but we were only checking to see if we could get gas for the boat. So when my New Zealand and Swiss classmates asked if I wanted to go with them to Positano, I said “You bet.”   These women are savvy travelers, and like me, they don’t go on tours. We rushed to the bus station to catch the 1:00 p.m. bus, which didn’t arrive until 1:45 p.m. There was a passel of teenagers waiting for the same bus, and a few of the boys were kicking around a soccer ball. I was watching carefully to avoid being hit in the eye by a wayward ball, and I even changed my position to get out of harm’s way. But guess what, I got hit in the head with the ball anyway. A bit later, one of the boys kicked the ball over the train station—really quite impressive. I wanted to hug him. 

When the bus came, the teenagers (who were admittedly there before we were) crowded the door, and every seat was taken by the time we were able to push our way onto the bus. In Italy, they will allow as many passengers as can be crammed into the bus, standing or sitting. So we stood in the aisle until we got to Positano, which was about 45 minutes of trying to keep our balance as the bus maneuvered around the hairpin curves of the coastal highway. Not one of these young kids was courteous enough to offer their seat to a senior citizen! Then, we took a local bus to the little town of Montepertuso at the very top of the highest cliff overlooking Positano, where one of the women from New Zealand, her son, and the woman from Switzerland intended to take the steps from the top of the cliff down to Positano. The other New Zealander and I (with my injured knee) walked the road back to a little town in between.  Along the way, we passed one of the world's fewest "pierced mountains", a shoulder of rock with hole punched through (said to be a miracle performed by the Virgin Mary).....




A shot of the coast line--not really clear because it was a hazy day....

After our walk midway back to Positano, my kneee was aching, so we caught the bus back to Positano to do some window shopping while we awaited the arrival of the "steppers". This is the most colorful of all the shops we saw, and there are many!

We ended our day with a lovely beachside dinner.....

On left, Isabelle from Switzerland, then Kathy and Michele from New Zealand. On my right is Luke, Michele's son.

Ah, Positano!