Parties Parties Parties

With summer being as gorgeous as it is over here, it has been perfect weather to host a plethora of get-togethers at the farm. It seems like every night we have people over, which is awesome as I get to try all sort of foods and meet many different people. I will focus on two main family parties in this post.

Gala and de Caria Families

Two weekends ago, we had a sampling of both Mario and Isa's families over for a big lunch. Isa's brother and sister-in-law, her French cousin (and his wife and a couple of their French friends), and Mario's sister's family and his mother were in attendance. It was a lot of fun to meet the fam and practice my French and Italian. Isa's cousin ended up taking me on a thrill ride on the back of his very nice "moto" through the countryside. So much fun!

A picture of me getting ready for the moto ride

Hanging in la cucina L -> R: Errmana (the elderly lady staying with us for the summer), Me (a very bad picture of me, might I add), and Isa)
Isa's Side of the Family (minus her brother): Two French friends, Michel's wife, Michel, and Isa's sister in law.

Gala Family Gala

Yesterday, for the Italian National Holiday of Madonna's ascension into heaven (not that we are religious here at all), Mario's entire family came over for a lunch extravaganza. Very fun. I especially enjoyed talking with "nonna," Mario's head-strong mother. After dessert, she taught me how to make Orechiette pasta from scratch! It's a lot quicker and easier to make than I thought it was, but still requires practice to get right.
The Orechiette that Nonna made for our meal

Mario's sister-in-law helping make Mario's speciality appetizer: Grilled eggplant rolled with fresh ricotta and topped with chopped tomatoes and basil

The antipasti: Eggplant doodads, raw beef with olive oil and grated sheep cheese, zucchini sauteed with mint and olive oil, sauteed eggplant, and young pecorino cheese
Nonna's pasta plate: Orechiette with tomato/capretto sauce (baby goat from our farm)

I dont' have a picture of the meat plate, but it was a preperation of turkey with pesto and fagiolini (green beans). Dolce was gelato from Murazzano, apricot tart, and pesche ripieni. Yum!
Nonna demonstrating the art of pasta making
Nonna is a star
My Orechiette! And my thumb.
There was a huge thunderstorm going on during dinner. Thunder, lightning, hail, rain, etc. Made for an extremely muddy and slippery pasture experience afterward
Bellisimo!

I'm back!

So to briefly condense the happenings in the past few days: Silvio's farm did not work out for me. So, I'm back in Piedmonte at Finocchio Verde! :) And very happy about my decision to leave.

Today we have 23 people coming over for dinner (como ristorante) and four French agritourism guests arrriving for dinner and staying for a few days. Busy, busy, busy! Right now Isa is busy preparing a crostata con ricotta (i'll try to copy down the recipe) for dolce and Mario is dry grilling thinly sliced eggplant with salt to make antipasti of rolled eggplant filled with fresh ricotta and topped with a salsa of tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Got to go!