Minnows for Lunch
5 SepI don’t miss having a car, but from time to time we succumb and rent one. For one thing, we need to keep up our skills, and we also find it handy for certain shopping trips. Plus it’s necessary to have a car to see some of the more rural sites not efficiently served by train or bus. So a few weeks ago we targeted the Labor Day weekend for some daytrips and shopping, planning to rent a car.
Because our little neighborhood Hertz franchise closes from 1:00PM Saturday until 8:30AM Monday, we need pick up the car on Saturday morning. So we planned a few adventures: a trip to Villa d’Este in Tivoli to see it at night, which is only possible a few nights each summer; a shopping trip to IKEA; a daytrip to the hill town of Cività di Bagnoreggio, which is hard to reach by bus. Then Ric got roped into working Saturday and Monday, so we curtailed the plan to go to Cività. Oh well.
Summer is waning so although Ric had worked a long day Saturday, in the evening we set off for Tivoli with a Google Map printout in hand, the name of a very good restaurant, and high expectations for Villa d’Este. But thanks to the genius of Italian street signs and the inefficiency of the GPS on my phone, we never found Villa d’Este nor the restaurant.
The street signs have two points of failure: street names do not correspond to what Google Maps says they should be, and the “way-finding” signs are impossible to follow. I would turn in the direction pointed to by a neat little Villa d’Este sign, then turn at another, and then see nothing. No further directional, no entrance signs, no parking lots, lots of dark streets. So I would come around and try again. Nothing. I asked locals and they pointed in what (to them) was an obvious direction. But nothing. Maybe we are idiots but with both of us searching high and low, we could not find this place. I resorted to the GPS on my phone which has gotten us out of jams in the past, but she insisted we drive down a limited access street into a Zona Traffico Limitato, which would carry a huge fine. By this time, we’d been in the car about 90 minutes, Ric was tired and cranky as a toddler, so finally we settled on a place to eat – I would rate it as OK – and once fortified tried again to find our star attraction. Still unable to find it, we headed back to Rome, where apparently we should have stayed for this evening. I seldom get lost walking.
On the bright side, we got to IKEA before the crowds on Sunday, then headed north to a lake I’d read about, Lago di Bracciano. Here we found a quiet freshwater beach scene with excellent lakeside dining. We did not get lost and had a fine lunch. I had a broiled freshwater fish called coregone, which is much like some of the types in lakes in the Midwest of the U.S., and Ric had a fritto misto that included a large number of what looked like whole fried minnows. We certainly used a lot of minnows as bait for fishing in Minnesota but can’t say I ever saw them in a Friday fish fry. These were very tasty, but we got the giggles to think of eating minnows.
Next summer our niece and nephew will visit with their two kids, followed by Ric’s son with wife and four children. Since they will be here during high heat, a trip out to Lago di Bracciano might be just the ticket for cooling off. But we’ll have to rent a car. <SIGH>
Fish balls and snow
15 MarThe food in Sicilia, and most especially our experience in Tràpani, is amazing. It is perhaps the best part of the trip: that and the people.
I am known by many of you to make a fine Köttbullar or Swedish Meatball. Beef, pork and veal meatballs flavored with nutmeg in an artery-clogging cream gravy. These are the taste of my childhood.
Normally I would not be one to order the unfortunately named item “fish balls in sauce.” Luckily it sounds better in Italian. We’ve had “fish balls” twice: once made of swordfish (polpette di pesce spade) in Palermo, but of particular note were the ones we ate last night in Tràpani – polpette di sarde in sugo – made with fresh sardines and pine nuts with mint in a rich tomato-based sauce. I wanted to lick the plate clean. I am going to learn how to make these Sicilian wonders. Anyone who is open to my trial-and-error experimentation please raise your hand, you are invited for dinner.
The polpette antipasto and accompanying fish dinner were the highlight of our day Thursday. The weather, in a word, sucks. Cold, rainy, violently windy, impossible to partake in the outdoor activities we came for. We have barely glimpsed the Egadi Islands we came here to hike. We finally drove to Erice despite the clouds and during a rare respite from the rain, but found it too cold to walk around. Bitingly cold. (We didn’t think to bring puffy jackets and gloves on our spring trip to the south.) So we passed the day reading, writing, napping. Not all that bad for vacation but not what we had in mind. Friday presented us with more of the same only worse. The winds are about 40 mph so we hopped in the car hoping to escape the brutal coastal conditions and headed inland a bit, planning on seeing Monreale and a bit of the countryside off the autostrada. Ha! We were greeted with terrible traffic and closed roads due to flooding, and a downpour that turned into sleet and snow. We turned around. More reading time today and maybe more “fish balls” for dinner.
More postcards from the Cinque Terre
11 OctMERCOLEDI
Monday was a city walk (Lerici/San Terenzo) and Tuesday was a trail hike high above Manarola and Corniglia (see previous post), but our walks are always followed by lunch: sometimes substantial, sometimes a quick panino, and if possible there is wine. (Surprise! That’s how we know we are on vacation.)
Wednesday we took a journey to the north of the Cinque Terre – off the map according to Ric – to Portofino. But instead of arriving via yacht, as the glitterati would, we walked. Well we took a train to Santa Margherita Ligure, then walked, about 1 ½ hours from the SML station, to lunch on the piazza in Portofino. Portofino is not far from Genoa, but it is a world away from the ruggedness of the Cinque Terre. It’s also crazily expensive. Here are a few shots from our path and of our lunch.
At last, 90 minutes later, we reached our objective and treated ourselves to a fine lunch in a fabulous location.
We took the easy way back: a ferry across the bay from Portifino to SML and a train back to Manarola.
Postcards from the Cinque Terre
9 OctTime for another vacation! As we like to say, you can only have a vacation if you have a job, and we have escaped to the Cinque Terre for hiking and seaside relaxation. Here are a few favorite shots from the past three days. We will be here until Friday, so more to come!
DOMENICA
LUNEDI
Apologies for the crap smudges on my lens. Ugh!
Thanks to the blog http://www.apathtolunch.com/ for the guidance!
Many of you know Ric and I usually took an autumn trip to Cannon Beach, OR. This is our replacement for that habitual break. A little different, though….
At dinner, we were delighted to meet Christine, an American woman living in Monterosso, working at Cantina di Miky, and authoress of the blog, http://lifeinliguria.blogspot.com/ which I have been reading for months. GREAT MEAL! Again, photo not taken because we were so busy consuming beautifully prepared seafood.
MARTEDI
We awoke to rain, by the time we had eaten breakfast, it had stopped and the sun was peeking out from broken clouds. Hopped a bio-diesel shuttle for transport to Il Sentiero Rosso, the red trail, high above the sea.
Alas, it is almost dinner time and we are eating with “The Pirates” in Vernazza! Dobbiamo andare via!