I thought I would take advantage of the delicious Sicilian blood oranges which are abundant in the supermarkets here in Italy. They are citrus fruits born of contrasts grown in a dry climate with strong temperature fluctuations which creates the red pigmentation of these oranges. This cake contains no flour, just ground almonds and 9 eggs! Once baked, you gently heat some honey with the orange juice and dribble it over the surface letting it sink in. An absolute treat which reminds you of the warmer days to come.
Walking from one side of the valley, sometimes a matter of steps, to the other feels like moving from spring, with alpine flowers in bud and bloom to winter with snow and ice.
Walking through swathes of snowdrops in flower and budding daffodils to
the wintery scenes on the other side of the stream.
Walking up the Sabbia valley in the sunlight and after sitting in the sun eating our lunch and setting off to go down the valley on the other side..
we decided after looking at the path covered in snow it was prudent to return the way we came.
I came across this memorial site on my first visit to Italy and it’s poignancy was heightened by my grief at the time. On each tree is a plaque with flowers, dedicated to a young soldier from the village who lost his life in the Great Wars. They are young men with their lives ahead of them, many of them no older than my own son.
Hazelnuts, walnuts and chestnuts ready to crack or roast. The hazelnuts on the left still need extracting from their husks. If the don’t ‘roll’ out easily or they have some of the husk still attached, or they have a tiny hole then they will be no good and need discarding.
The black walnuts are really good. When they are ripe and come off the tree the husks become a soggy black staining mess which needs to be cleaned off – not an easy task. I’ve always read that you have to wait to this stage to harvest them but we found that if you got to them just before this stage then the green husk could be easily and cleanly peeled off. Once they have been aired and dried the nuts inside taste just as good and it’s a lot less mess and work. Beware if you are handling the walnuts once the husks have gone black they really stain!
It’s one of those glorious days (most days are) when you really appreciate the mountain climate; the middle of winter with the doors open and warm sunshine streaming in. Sitting in shirtsleeves on the balcony, mind you the locals are dressed as if they were in the middle of Scotland!
It’s a fact that unless you have lived in the mountains probably escapes you, and we only discovered it when we moved here, the mountains break up the clouds giving a largely dry and clear climate. The valleys are sheltered so little, if any wind, and dry air because the air has warmed and dried as it drifts down from the peaks a phenomenon known as the foehn effect.
We appreciate it even more when we get reports from the UK that is the usual grey and damp story from there!
Although we strive to make everyday special, and to some extent different; however there are some seasonal tasks which ‘frame’ the day. It’s not exactly a daily task but chopping kindling and bringing in firewood for the next few days is one of those and is always a satisfying task. With frozen ground underfoot and the warm winter morning sunshine raising a sweat; it’s a great way to start the day preparing the fuel, and then end the day (well at least start the evening, as it gets dark about 6.00 pm here at the moment) indoors with the hot glow of a roaring fire lighting up the room.
At the house enjoying the Italian sunshine. The forecast was for heavy cloud all day; but as is often the case, the mountains break through the cloud and we have clear blue skies.
The house in full sunshine
Getting ready to chop the kindling
Firewood done
I’ve been busy getting firewood ready so we can use less gas. We try to keep the use of fossil fuels to a minimum by using firewood when we can. The house has very thick walls, useful in the summer as it stays cool, but needs some heat in the sub-zero winter temperatures. While we’ve been away we have just kept some electric heating set to keep the frost off, but they were set so low I don’t think they came on. When we got here the temperature in the house ranged from 1.5℃ to 2.8℃, but fortunately the pipes were all OK.
Wood burning is not perfect because of the particulate pollution, and we need to invest in a new wood burner at some point. That will improve the efficiency of the fire but only marginally reduce the particulates.
Using less gas, and electricity to some extent, obviously reduces our carbon footprint; but also importantly reduces the need to import fossil fuels from dubious states, particularly Russia and is a small way we can help Ukraine in these difficult times. This and driving slowly which uses less fuel; reducing CO2, saving us money and reducing imports from dubious regimes; win, win, win.
We also want to think about whether we are in a position to provide help to Ukrainian refugees by providing accommodation to a family either here in Italy or in the UK. I am always conscious of effectively being a guest in our Italian home località so I will find out what the neighbours think of having a Ukrainian family living here. It will make coming here different so is not a straightforward decision.
We travelled today into Italy from Switzerland using the Simplon Tunnel; a great piece of engineering from the early 20th century (the first tunnel was finished in 1906 and the second in 1921).
It’s a great way to get across the alps using an environmentally friendly electric powered rail service in open sided carriages; hugely atmospheric with a cacophony of sound (especially if you leave your windows open, rather like riding on a full sized ‘ghost train’) . The engineering was pioneering at the time with two 20km parallel tunnels (the second to provide air to the workers which was later upgraded to a full working tunnel) and was dug from each side and met in the middle only inches out of alignment. But as you travel give a thought to the appalling condition for the Italian workers (working in temperatures up to 42℃), many who died during the construction and later from disease, and when they went on strike were forced back to work by Italian vigilantes and the Swiss army!
On leaving the tunnel you arrive at Iselle station which has an amazing time warp feel to it, as if you are in war time Europe. A setting I hope to use in fictional work based in that era pulling in other aspects of Northern Italy at the time.
Our Vegetable seeds arrived today which will hopefully maker us self-sufficient in vegetables and tomatoes (technically a the fruit) for the year.
We will also be looking to buy some fruit trees to plant (which of course won’t produce any fruit for 2-3 years). However we have quite an established orchard which did vey well last year. In particular Victoria plums and some other old varieties of plum as well, and Discovery, Cox’s and Russet apples. We also had a good crop of walnuts and hazelnuts in Italy; we have hazelnuts in the hedgerows here but the squirrels always beat us to them so we don’t get any of those. We have both English and Black walnut trees planted here in the UK but it will be a few years before they crop. Together with the fruit and vegetables we grow ourselves, and some responsible and sustainable foraging, we should not need to buy very much from the shops this year. Saving journeys to the shops, food miles and chemicals (we don’t spray our fruit or vegetables). We will try different environmentally friendly methods of control so look out for details of our success or otherwise in later posts throughout the year. It’s all good for us and for the environment!
If you look closely you will see a pack of wild flowers (pollinators mix). That’s for our bees!
