Italia Lickety-Split

Well ... actually I'm, back in Mangakino. Just as exotic from some perspectives, not nearly as many Byzantine mosaic monuments.

I had a terrific time in Ravenna. I won't even try & describe the various churches and so forth - ask Aunty Google or any reliable guidebook, which will give you no idea whatsoever until or unless you go and see them yourself. Suffice it to say that I spent quite a lot of time walking round with a slack jaw and stunned expression. It was wonderful; it was a dream come true.

Of course, body and soul must be cared for and kept together amidst whatever kind of Stendahlian raptures. I was incredibly lucky with my choice of accommodation at http://www.albergoalgiaciglio.com/indexENG.htm - the dinners were spectacularly good, and the accommodations and facilities were excellent for the price. I'd go back.

There was a Christmas market starting the weekend I left, with various interesting things - mostly imported textiles (bags, gloves, scarves, etc) and jewellery. I enjoyed wandering round, and bought the next ten years' worth of shawls. There's a reasonable covered market with fruit and vege stalls and loads of deli, butchery, cheese and fish places. I didn't buy anything, but enjoyed the nativity scene, and check out the enormous sausage!

When I arrived in Italy I spoke almost no Italian. This might work okay in bigger places, but Ravenna is a fairly small city really - a hundred and thirty odd thousand people - and I encountered quite a few people who didn't speak English (I didn't try French or German, though the former certainly helped me understand stuff!) By the end of the week, I could fluently apologise for not understanding, not speaking Italian, and generally being foreign.

But by the time I was leaving, I was glad to go. I did get pretty homesick. I was apprehensive about the trip to Tonga, but it turned out beautifully, with lovely weather and reasonably serene internal weather. We got out just ahead of the cyclone, stayed a night in Auckland with my parents and then came down home.

I'm sure I'll think of more that I wanted to say about all this, along about the moment I hit 'publish post'...

Pisa and San Miniato

Pisa, though it does not smell very good, was interesting to wander round at night. I stayed about 2 blocks from the Piazza dei Miracoli, and saw the tower by dusk, by night and in the morning. Not in any sense tempted to climb it though.

I only had one night there, then took the train to San Miniato on Tuesday morning, to taste white truffles.

The train was straightforward, and the seats are both large and comfortable. I hopped off at San Miniato Basso, which is where the train station is. It's at the bottom of the hill; San Miniato is a medieval hill town, and it and its fort are at the top of the hill. The hill is, according to Aunty Google, 192m up. I felt every metre, as I walked up backpack and all. It was worth it though - I actually quite enjoyed the walk, though was both hungry and thirsty by the top. But I did see a feijoa tree on the way, fruit all over the ground. The views from the road were lovely, insert description here of Tuscany in autumn.

Then lunch, which was, after all, the point of this diversion. With eager anticipation I entered the little osteria, from which good smells were issuing. I ordered a starter of antipasto, the highlight of which was a stunning hot pate on hot hot hot toast. The pate was seasoned with anchovy and caper, and was really excellent. Then the main course, the piece de resistance, right?

Uh yeah, right. I had a risotto with saffron and white truffle, a classic presentation of white truffles. Should I have ordered a risotto in this region of Italy? Not sure. It was okay; I've made better. The truffles are pretty good - there was a generous grating of truffle over the risotto, which was what I expected - they taste a lot like puffball fried in butter, if that's a useful point of reference for anyone, and I realise it may not be. Actually the white truffle turned out to be somewhat haunting, that is to say repetitive, in a digestive sense. Altogether, choirs of angels did not sing ... but I would always have been sorry if I hadn't tried them.

Then I went and hung out on a balcony overlooking the valley, with an espresso and my journal.

Risotto with mushrooms:
butter
an onion
Some arborio rice - a cup or so
A generous three cups of good strong homemade unsalted stock, beef or chicken as you please, at a simmer on a back burner
dried mushrooms of various kinds, broken up fine
salt as needed
more butter
fresh mushrooms - oyster or phoenix tail are nice, but button are fine if that's what there is
herbs and seasoning for fresh mushrooms, e.g. thyme, origano, pepper
grated parmigiana to serve if liked

Boil a good 1.5 litres of water in the kettle and let it stand hot. Slice the onion as finely as possible and saute in the butter till cooked and starting to brown. Stir in the rice and let it take a little colour and start to smell nutty, then add a ladle of stock, the dried mushrooms, and stir. When most of the liquid is absorbed, add some more. When all the stock is gone, start using water instead, until the rice is creamy. You need to stir it most of the time, especially when it's at its drier points, but in between, slice the fresh mushrooms, saute in butter and season. When the risotto is almost done, check for salt - go easy if you are using cheese as well, parmigiana is salty. Stir in the mushrooms. Turn the heat off, cover and stand five minutes. Serve.

I took the bus down the hill to the station and caught the next train to Florence.

Why not edit a post four years later? Photo:

The Eye

Of London, or possibly Big Bro as one had a small encounter with security regarding one's pocketknife. Between slight residual nerves from said encounter (am basically a law-abiding type) and an empty tummy, felt a bit queasy but it was worth it for the view. (The family went into the city on Saturday while staying at the Palace.)

Afterwards had an excellent Irish stew at the Westminster Arms, Dad's old local when he was at his London office, then went for a walk along St James's Park and past Buckminster Palace to Sloane St, where a shop called L'Artisan du Chocolat http://www.artisanduchocolat.com/ArtisanduChocolatSite/pages/cm/cm.asp?sCCPage=OurStore&cookie%5Ftest=1was (most deservedly) on my list.

Next was the extremely cultural experience (basically a euphemism for rubbing up against the armpits of foreigners, I believe) of Christmas lights and Christmas shoppers on Oxford and Regent Sts. (In some ways my trip is like getting lost on a giant Monopoly board.) Then bus, walk and train back to the Palace and something simple with pasta for dinner. Mind you, entrée was pheasant terrine with foie gras, thank you Harrods.

It's been absolutely wonderful to be on holiday with my parents and sister, the first time for nearly twenty years that the four of us have done this. I realise I haven't spent much time with Deb (my sister) for years and years, and I have enjoyed catching up and in many respects getting to know her now that we're both pretty much grown up.

Hampton Court

If anyone doubted that I am a twue pwincess, here is the pwoof sorry proof ... although I was sleeping in the chambermaid's room.

Hampton Court Palace would be a pretty cool place to visit anyway, but when the nice guard asks you for a ticket and you whip out a card with the queen's coat of arms and he says 'Oh yes of course madam, thank you', well then you know you're not in Kansas any more.

From the moment I arrived at the gate on Friday night and the guard there, who I'd been told would be expecting me, said 'yes, we're always expecting young ladies like you' (it was dark, people) and I walked up the drive under a clear starry sky and a full moon ... it was magic. I got lost in the maze (for about five minutes. I seemed to have an intuitive sense of the thing, alas.) I oohed and aahed over the frescoed ceiling and splendid tapestries of William III's state apartments. I bought a postcard.

Our apartment was in Fish Court, over the old Office of the Pastry, part of Henry VIII's new kitchens built in the 1520s. It had a generous 3 bedrooms. It looks out over a courtyard on one side, and a lane on the other, both part of the service area for the palace itself. The Embroiderers' Guild is housed diagonally across the courtyard, visible from our kitchen window. I am tossing up whether to cancel my appointment there on my last morning in London (Tues 4th), might be logistically too stressful.

We had friends of Mum and Dad's come to stay on the Sunday night, and I cooked us a dinner of roast chicken with bacon, apricot and barberry stuffing, gravy, slow-cooked flat mushrooms with blue cheese and cream, jardinière vegetables and roast potatoes, followed by pears poached in spiced red wine syrup with Aztec-spiced chocolate sauce. As we say in my family, in our very politically correct way - I wonder what the poor people are doing?

I am now in Ravenna, and the early mist has burned off but all I've seen of the town is the railway station, my hotel room and this internet cafe, so more tomorrow.

Canal photos

Here are James's canal photos - got a mean hand with a camera, eh?!

http://www.nzgoldings.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=85

The Museum, The Boat

busy busy week. The museum blew my mind - spent 7 1/2 hours there my first day, 5 1/2 the next. saw ... oh, everything.

then five days on a canal boat in Wales and Shropshire for a complete change of pace, steered the boat across the Pontcysyllte Canal (pix coming, must email the rest of the team and find out where they've been posted.)

my sister was totally shocked and astonished. i pretended to be hitchhiking, which of course noone ever does on a canal! lots of good times. here's mum, dad and deb at pre-dinner drinks on Tues night in ellesmere, on the boat.

where the big jet engines roar

when i figure out how to get photos off my camera while i am away and without the cable, i will put up the pictures of planes from nearby and below. fairly good flights, now i am quite tired after 36 hours in transit. but here i am in london. british museum tomorrow, i'll be alert for signs of stendhalismo (google it)

my favourite short walk from LAX:

it is a brisk 20 - 25 minutes each way from LAX 2 (the Air NZ terminal) to the Westchester shops. Go out of the terminal and turn left. Walk past terminal 1, keep going all the way past the carpak. When you get to the big multi-lane road, turn left again and walk on towards and then past the medical clinic, under the highway and under all the planes (!! this is the best part, and worth the walk all by itself. it's probably the closest i'll ever get to a spaceport. did I mention that I love it?) If you get tired of the planes, keep going past the parking spot on your left (this is a good place to grab a free shuttle back) and through the lights. there are a bunch of shops including a starbucks, drugstore and grocery store on the left, and a little further on on the right is a great little cal-mex hole in the wall restaurant. have a margarita for me.

BA not humbug

Today I am handing in the last piece of coursework for my BA (in social anthropology. *very* career-oriented!) Tomorrow I finish up at libraries, Thursday the tenancy starts on our house at Mangakino and we're moving furniture in on the weekend. The Boy will finally be resigning from the hell job also on Wednesday. Big week.

But possibly the most exciting news of the day is that there are buses in Italy that go to the white truffle village from Florence! Yay! I am spared the ordeal of driving on the RH side!