Buon Appetito!

Dinner, Italian Style!

A Trip to the Supermarket today to stock up where I seemed to spend hours as there is so much choice! Not such a range as French Supermarkets which are unbeatable for fresh produce but a close second. Setting myself a challenge to cook only Italian food for some authenticity on this visit. Surprised there is so much dried pasta on the shelves when you can buy fresh for under two Euros. Now the rub, John is a vegetarian but I occasionally manage to persuade him to include a small amount of meat in his diet in Italy because how can you resist all those hams and dried meats! So spaghetti carbonara today; a simple, delicious meal with eggs, cheese, fresh tagliatelle, that naughty pancetta and some sage from the garden. We have inherited a fantastic iron pan from the previous owner so it is my ‘go to’ for all my dishes. The previous owner, Flavio, was born here and his mother before him so it feels right to use a piece of equipment that has been handed down over the years and put to good use.

Buon Appetito!

First day back

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.

Simplon Tunnel

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.

New season seeds arrive

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!