07-15-2010

I have run out of things to blog about apparently... Somewhere I lost my urge to write about life here and the daily happenings around which this blog is based. Granted I did not write very often anyway, I hope to receive some sort of inspiration soon.

Lia and I just got back from a trip with my cousins, Lyle and William, to Siena for the Palio, Vienna, Munich and Berlin. We got to see Germany play Spain in the World Cup, in Munich at the Lowenbrau Biergarten, which was amazing. We went to the first concentration camp of the Nazi regime (that every other concentration, extermination or detention camp in Eastern Europe was modeled after) called Dachau, south of Munich. It was a great experience to see such a horrible and historical place. Lyle, Lia and I got to visit the castle near Munich which inspired the Disney story of Snow White and the castle in the movie. After that, we went to the largest biergarten in all of Munich, which sat over 8,000 people!

The trip was a blast and it was great seeing my cousins. Life here in town is still good but hot (especially because we have no AC and share a curtain with the attic), so i think we are going to stay now until September! If my grammar is getting bad and my sentences are not making as much sense anymore, it is because I am almost passing out while I type in the heat. I will post again soon I hope... If there is anyone still reading.

Yes it is THE ALL weekend!

Question: How long is the holiday Manuel?
Answer: (Insert blog post title)

After the interestingly slow public holiday here in Italy, Lia and I hopped on a plane bound for Madrid, Espana. I considered this to be a coming of home of sorts because of my love for late nights and eating while standing (also while drinking). I was excited because many food people consider Spain the most exciting place to eat in the world, outside of Asia and I was anticipating our trip to San Sebastian, the home of more Michelin stars than any other city in the world.

You have to look at Spain as completely different from Italy. There is almost as much history (especially in cities such as Barcelona), but they are much closer to the New World and therefore way more modern in almost all aspects of life. Madrid reminded me of home, Texas I mean. Its lush vegetation mixed in with dry arid hillsides and dusty plains, started to look a lot like the hill country and I sometimes lost myself with images of cowboys riding across the Texas landscape.

We met up with Lia's friend who lives outside of Madrid and toured the city, sampling some of the best tapas and pinxtos (peen-chos) in Spain. We went to the Reina Sofia art gallery and saw Miro, Dali and Picasso, just to name a few. On Friday we decided to go by bus to a small village outside of Madrid called Chinchon. It was a pleasant afternoon and a good meal with the best blood sausage I have ever had. Don't knock it before you try it. On Saturday, I dragged the girls to a bullfight and we saw the unpleasant sacrifice of six relentless toros to their colorful opponents, the matadors. After four nights of eating and drinking it was time to go to San Sebastian...

The lights went out.

Lorenza hosted a classical music concert in her home tonight with a special four course meal created by our now head chef, Manuel, and cooked by both of us. Our dishwasher, Simona, and my girlfriend, Lia, helped plate and send out one hundred excessively garnished but seemingly tasty dishes in about an hour. We naively thought it was all over. D-Day had ended and it was time to clean up the cluster fuck and messy, greasy floor we had slid around on all evening. Out of nowhere, twenty customers appeared at 10:00pm for dinner and we were not ready. In a quick rebound with two tickets on the pass, we cleared down our workspace and got into a sweaty, heated frenzy. Pans flying, porcelain banging on the metallic counters and then... the lights went out. I stood over the fierce grill flames, turning meat by fire light and dodging sizzling juices spraying in my eyes. We pushed through, delivering every order in record time, but the twisted truth is that I loved every minute of the madness. It was a great accomplishment by everyone in the kitchen and I really enjoyed the work.

Lia and I leave for Spain on Wednesday. I feel like I am going to my homeland. Viva Ethpana.

Night Out

So the other cook, Manuel, turned 26 on Wednesday a week ago and he wanted Lia and me to go out with him and his female friend to a club in Montepulciano. It was great to finally get out and be social after almost none of that for two months. To Manuel's disappointment, there was neither prostitutes or cocaine involved... We had a great time and took some pictures. Here are my favorites.

Canadian Tuxedo

Many Italian men and Europeans in general did not get the memo that these are out of style. They all wear them and have these hoodies under them or attached in some way. For full effect, just imagine Keifer with a nice leather man purse.

P.S.- I will be posting more frequently, probably ever other day or so. I apologize for not posting more often.

Anticipation

I am anticipating many things as of late. At this exact moment it is the fact that nobody is here to eat and it is 8:30pm. Where are all the customers? The Mille Miglia came through town today, so i spent the majority of my time this morning and afternoon looking at antique cars speeding passed me. There were some new cars also and every famous European car maker was represented from the 30s to today (BMW, Mercedes Benz, Ferrari and Audi just to name a few).

My mom, brother and Jim came to visit, conveniently using me as an excuse to make it over here. I was very happy to see them and we had a great time in Rome and then in San Quirico, visiting Pienza, Montepulciano and Florence. After, my brother and I packed up our bags and trekked to Bologna and finally Venice. We had a great time, ate great food and saw a lot of art!

Now for a little ranting... If God was ever literally present here on earth in human form, he must have been Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Looking up at the Rape of Proserpina and David was realizing that something bigger was at work in the universe. I came to truly understand that some skills are not just learned but also given to a person at birth. This was an ah, ha moment to say the least. We also saw the Sistine chapel on our tour of the Vatican (which was ironically hellish in both number of tourists and temperature... A scary realization of what i honestly picture Hell to be like). I was really looking forward to, not only seeing and taking in these great works of art, but also using my other senses to get a full albeit naive effect of what Michelangelo might have experienced while painting. At first I was disappointed and surprised at the stench of body odor pouring through the halls but I decided that this is what he must have smelled way back then. He was lying on his back for hours in a chapel without air-conditioning, painting with relentless intensity and intricacy over every detail in that chapel. No wall left untouched and no color, imperfect. This was his masterpiece and I am glad that I could smell what he had to have smelled in that room.

And to end... I am also anticipating the arrival of my girlfriend, Lia, here to Italy on next Tuesday. Somehow I convinced her to come visit and stay a little while to help out Lorenza. We are excited to see what life here has in store and I am happy to experience it with her. Life can not get much better right now (I immediately realize how annoying and cliche that is but I am not sure I am in the mindset to care).

El exito (And yes; I am aware that this is Spanish)

My bed smells like cigarette smoke and stale beer. This is the result of the end of my evening on Wednesday night... Scratch that, Thursday morning. It all began Wednesday with the coming of our Tex-Mex party at cafe il Poggo. I burned two cds with all the Robert Earl Keen and Jerry Jeff I could find to achieve the correct ambiance, and I went to work on the final prep for the feast. I was serving four courses including dessert plus margaritas, buckets of corona (they had never heard of this concept before) and tequila shooters. One little fact about working here is that Lorenza never knows how many people will actually be coming to events because apparently Italians do not care to make reservations or arrive in a timely manner. So what I am getting at is, that I have to be ready for anywhere from 20-40 people arriving whenever they feel like it and oh, they will probably eat for 60 people.

Menu

1st course- Selection of salsa, guacamole three ways and chile con queso in the style of Felix Restaurant in Houston.
2nd course- Quesadilla of beans and queso fresco
3rd course- Tacos de carnitas with traditional condiments
Dessert- Cheese cake (I know this is not Mexican but my host really wanted me to do it)

I ended up having everything ready with my avacados ripening just enough at the very last minute. We even made fresh tortillas right up until we served our second course. Everything went fairly smoothly and they sure did eat for more bodies than were present. We sold out of Corona (around 60 bottles), one bottle of tequila to a really rowdy group, countless glasses of prosecco, champagne, brunello, margaritas and shooters. And that is where things began to get a little fuzzy.

I met many of the large groups thanking them for coming and they bought me tequilla shots at the bar all night. Now, I like a cocktail but five shots of tequilla in a matter of thirty minutes is ridiculous. Somehow I managed to keep up with these Mexican/Italians and they had been drinking all night! To make matters worse (or better), I could not refuse a drink because most of these people were good friends of Lorenza and regulars of the cafe or restaurant. I like to think I was also helping out the business by selling alcohol. I was trapped in a precarious yet satisfying situation to say the least.

After drinking with the locals until about 12:30, or maybe it was 1:00am, they all convinced me to go to their house for spaghetti (these people just finished eating a four course meal only two hours earlier). I walked with them to one of the couple's homes, playing awful music on a severely out of tune guitar a man brought along with his sombrero. We arrived and all sat around a large kitchen table with two bottles of wine. They talked and I attempted to. We sat up for what must have been hours laughing, them smoking cigarettes (which by the way is an Italian birthright) and drinking wine. We ate a meal of course, fatty home made salami and wheat bread, followed by spaghetti boiled and then cooked with garlic and oil. This was perhaps one of the best meals of my life. It was so simple yet sublime. I have literally never experienced anything like that in my life and it was a perfect ending to the night.

I woke up the next morning with a headache and my sheets smelling to high heavens. All I can say is good thing the housekeeper was washing my sheets on Thursday.

The lights are fading

Everyone is going to bed and I am sitting in the bar/lounge, once again going over the events of tonight. Everything went fine; I came up with a new special using ribs that were going to be fed to the dogs?! We sold out. I have a Moretti next to me, the condensation dribbling down the glass like the sweat down my forehead in the kitchen earlier. I am thinking about what to do now... I have the day off tomorrow, so I could hike again down to the thermal baths, strap on my condom-like swim cap and let the healing begin, or I could just sleep in. The choices are limitless but I just realized my damn knee is swollen up like Hindenburg about to explode and I guess I will just prep tomorrow.

I am overly dramatic; my knee is actually much better and I expect tomorrow it will be almost as good as new. Wednesday we are hosting a "Tex-Mex" dinner/party for the locals and whoever else feels like giving new cuisine a try. Let me begin this actually by saying that my first love is interior Mexican food (disregarding French food of course and now regional Italian) and since I have been over here, I have actually noticed a similarity in culture and cuisine. Anyway, the party is set for Wednesday and I just got twenty avacados as green as my experience overseas before i came to Italy.

I am freaking out. The attitude is so chill and I thought I was a laid back person... I guess when it comes to my profession and things I take seriously, I am kind of a prick. I want to see this go perfectly and picking out Italian ingredients that represent and respect the Mexican ingredients is hard enough but getting twenty bright green avacados is basically a "come on pussy, prove it!" This is not meant toward my hosts in any way, because me in my bright wisdom did not think that fresh, ripe avacados would be difficult to find in a country not really famous for their avacado production and therefor did not request them early enough (Avacados are some of the slowest ripening fruits around, fyi). Beside that, everything is kosher and I am mostly ready for this Wednesday night. I made about sixty flour tortillas by hand (because it is impossible to find masa here) and I have about a million other things going right now, so if it all falls into place we should be successful

Just wanted to give a quick update until something more interesting happens. I will have visitors soon which is good and I will definitely write more about that. Happy 80th birthday B! I hope you are having fun in NOLA... Don't go to Rick's.

Out.

Cinque Terre

So I went to Cinque Terre last weekend, not really knowing anything about it. My original plans were messed up so I decided to go to Siena by myself before the mad Easter rush started on Saturday. I left Thursday afternoon on the bus to Siena, and when i arrived, a couple friends of mine from Texas A&M called me and told me to come to Cinque Terre. Me being the spontaneous human that I am, walked right back to the ticket counter and bought the first ticket to La Spezia (the connecting terminal) I could find.

I did not arrive to Cinque Terre until late Thursday night after getting lost twice and walking over three miles to figure it all out. The thing about Cinque Terre is, that it is not actually a town but five towns sandwiched between the Ligurian Sea and the Swiss Alps. I climbed a lot of stairs and walked up a lot of hills during my wandering around and I had only had a Snickers candy bar and Italy's version of Pringles for lunch as I was "on the go". Once I arrived in Riomaggiore, I met my friends at the top of more stairs but at a hostel surrounded by lemon trees and the most beautiful views imaginable.

We woke up the next morning and decided to hike the trail that runs through all five cities and take pictures. Because it was getting late and I was supposed to be back that evening, we decided to take a train to Montorosso where the nice sandy beaches are. After wine on the beach and walking around a little bit, we had lunch overlooking the ocean at what seemed to be a local joint and then I missed my train back to San Quirico. I had to improvise, so I decided to stay an extra night instead of risking getting stranded in Buonconvento (the closest train station) because the bus stopped running at 6:00pm. We drank wine with all of the dorm residents, went to Bar Centrale (Every town in Italy has a Bar Centrale, by the way) and when that closed down, we wandered off with some local Rastafarian gentleman. That was interesting, sitting there in his cramped one room apartment as he smoked hash and played bad reggae on his recorder only to be followed by excellent bongo drumming. We listened to Bob Marley and drank a few beers before walking back to the hostel later that night.

Overall, it was a great trip in a one of a kind place. Stealing lemons, eating anchovies and walking on the beach are all things that I have come to love and would do it all again in a heart beat.

Raw Meat... Not an Inuendo, just a shout-out.

As I stand here typing this entry on a raw meat cutting board, greasy from the fatty rib-eye quarter I was butchering earlier, I ponder why I am here in the first place. Definitely came about through diligent hard work and commitment to furthering my culinary education but the main reason is Mrs. Lissa Tyndall. She hooked me up fat. A year ago I was wondering what the hell I would do for my so-called "Internship" and I wish I could remember how it even came up in the first place, but Mrs. Tyndall did the leg work and introduced me to her friends in Tuscany. I am forever in her debt and will always be grateful for the kind things she has done for me in the process. Thank you Mrs. Tyndall!

I'm Tired

This title is as creative as I can be 30 minutes after my "shift". Today was Easter Sunday and surprisingly in a Catholic country it was busy for some reason (I literally worked from about 11am-11pm in a country not too famous for its long work day). That was ok; great even, because I got to run the whole service by myself. It was me and a dishwasher serving 24 in the main dining room and about 10 in the cafe/enoteca. In Italian dining that usually contains about 3 courses per person, so in general, a decent amount of work for a novice such as myself.

Normally i am not one to brag but I showed some serious chops tonight especially with a 4 course, 10 top in the formal restaurant. I'm pretty damn good. Tonight was a big test to see if I have what it takes to really work on a line... Saute, Grillardin, Garde-manger, Chef, Sous chef... I did everything and our dishwasher, Simone (God bless her), filled some of the Garde-manger duties while Lorenza was busy entertaining guests but helping when she could. Overall, it was a great experience. We served the most beautiful leg of lamb with roasted potatoes, and spring onions (gorgeous fucking onions) on our special Easter (Pasque) menu. This was a very nice plate of food and I was very proud to have a part in its production.

I'll write about my past two trips to Montepulciano and Cinque Terre later, when I have more energy.

I'm going to bed.

San Quirico d' Orcia: Where I Live

So I finally fixed my computer problem with much help from my host and decided I would begin blogging and sharing my pictures. My trip over here sucked without a doubt... I guess I must be a fragile person. When I came to, a day later, sober and curious to explore my new surroundings, I discovered a quaint Italian village and knew that my sucky voyage to the unknown was completely worth it.

San Quirico d' Orcia is a village of about 3,000 inhabitants, with one grade school, a few bars, restaurants, shops and many farms in the neighboring area. Pretty much everyone here speaks little or no English which has been an interesting avenue to navigate but on a good note, it has proven to be great practice for one who doesn't actually speak Italian. To be pithy; I've had to learn quickly. San Quirico is beautiful and simple with all the charm of the movies and everything I thought of when the name Italy comes to mind. Lush green hills rolling over one another, grove after grove of olive trees and bountiful vines of grapes seem to be everywhere I look.

I had very little information on exactly what I was to do here but promises of travel, eating, drinking and adventure were definitely on the table. My hosts, Lorenza and Vittorio Cipolla, own many properties in and around Tuscany. They have an Agriturismo called Il Rigo, about two kilometers from the village; named after the small river that runs across their land (there seem to be tons of these Agriturismo everywhere in Tuscany. People take their old farm houses in the countryside, renovate them and then charge foreigners and lost Italians buckets of cash to "live like an Italian" or something. I really admire the business model.). Their home in San Quirico has been in Vittorio's family since the 1600s and was at one time part of a wealthy estate in the middle of the downtown historic area inside castle walls (everyone has to park outside the walls). Underneath the home is a courtyard with a cafe/wine bar called Il Pozzo and a restaurant named Deghli Archi opposite of it. They also have a home in Florence.

Below are some selected pictures to give you an idea of what it is like in San Quirico and their businesses in the Village. In the section titled "All Photos", you can see all of my pictures and yes some are artsy fartsy.