2005 Italian Culinary Experience

Here’s the latest development since returning to South Africa:

I’ve pursued my passion for all-things Italian and gone into business with my family promoting our local food and wine import company, Melgab International. As a way of easing into the job, I’ve designed a web site for us:

» www.melgabinternational.com
=OR=
» www.melgab.co.za
=OR=
» www.melgab.it

Web design was my previous vocation, so this was a great way of utilising my old skills to introduce myself into the wine and food industry. We launched the website on Monday and have already started receiving correspondence through it.

It’s highly exciting!

Today we went to Quercianella, an unassuming little corner of Tuscan-sun by the sea, about 15km outside Livorno. Our objective was simple: do nothing. In that respect, coming from Cape Town gave us the edge.

We sat down in a small restaurant by the sea and asked for some antipasti and a plate of pasta. What came was nothing short of a miracle. I refuse to describe what we ate because the only worthy way of experiencing it was to be there eating it. End of story.

Well, it’s only two days before we return home. I’m feeling sooo sad to leave Italy behind, especially a place like Tuscany at the start of summer.

Looking back over the last two months, it seems much longer. There have been good times and bad times, but in the end they’ve all served to add to the positive experience of the trip and I’m so glad we did it.

This site will stay up and I intend to pick up where I left off the next time I return to Italy. Thanks to all who have supported my brother and I, especially our parents…

YOU RULE!

I’ve finally updated the sorely neglected photos section…

Check ‘em out: http://lorenzo.za.net/photos12/

Enjoy!

Today, the giant hand of destiny must have been hard at work, because it was one of those days that was filled with too many coincidences to just be coincidental.

One of which was happening upon the contact details of some fellow Kapenaars that have visited the same restaurant as we did right here in Montenero. Who? Namely a young couple by the name of Dean and Bronwen that wrote their details in a book entitled “La Vera Cucina Livornese” by Aldo Santini. Apparently Dean is a tour operator that runs eco tours to Namibia. If you’re into that sort of thing, check out their site: www.ruff-it.co.za. Not much content-wise, but at least it has their contact details…

The restaurant itself is run by three locals who are just about the most outgoing and accommodating that you’ll find in these parts. We highly recommend their food, so when you’re in Montenero visit La Trattoria da Maria and treat yourself well.

Today we four went to non-other than Chianti. It’s a fairytale land that, once you pass through it, makes it hard to imagine that conflict and poverty can exist at all. Little wonder why there are so many devout Catholics ’round here; I’d also be grateful to a higher power for the chance to visit and even live in such a place.

The region is best known, of course, for its wine. However, we were invited for lunch by an olive oil producer/friend of my parents called Mauro and his son, Matteo. Simply put, both people are saints sent here by The Almighty to confirm that life in Tuscany is indeed unparalleled in quality and abundance. The man’s philosophy is that once you have enough to survive, the most important thing in the world is happiness through kinship and generosity of heart. He’s a humanoid typhoon of kindness and honesty that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

They also gave us a personal tour of their bottling factory and oil extraction plant. This experience was easily on a par with the Grana Padano trip.

After parting ways with four complementary bottles of Mauro’s finest extra-virgin goodness, we went to meet another extraordinarily kind and straight-forward individual by the name of Stefano. This guy manages one of the best wine producing labels (and my personal favourite) in the region, namely Castello della Paneretta. *queue hallelujah chorus*

He too gave us a free sample of wine (six bottles to be exact) and, not to be out-done, two of his own bottles of extra-excellent-virgin olive oil. The actual wine estate is amazing. It’s not, strictly-speaking, a castle, but rather a large house with turreted walls that were built around a tower. The tower itself was originally raised in the 1100s and was used as a look-out point during the Siena/Firenze conflict. It’s quite a place, we took plenty of photos for your viewing pleasure.

All-in-all an awesome day.

Btw. after discussing our various options with the parents, we’ve decided to leave with them back to Sunny SA on the 9th of June. Sad, I know, but if it means we’ll be able to come back again soon on many occasions, so be it.

Well, after more than 200 hours of kitchen time we were released early on good behaviour. Actually, we had had enough of our stage at Grotta Giusti and took advantage of our folks’ presence in Italy to leave with them to greener pastures. With very few exceptions, we had observed pretty much all there was to see and had tried our hand at almost everything we cared to do in the hotel’s kitchen. We announced our departure on Thursday and our final goodbyes were made the night before. Much handshaking and keep-in-touching all ’round.

We spent Monday morning sleeping (joy) and packed at a leisurely pace during the day. It was <sarcasm>really</sarcasm> heartbreaking saying goodbye to our digs mates (but our lungs were never happier). Little after 4pm our faces lit up with the arrival of mother and father dearest. You won’t believe how almost two months of absence can make the heart grow fonder.

What did we take away with us from our stay (apart from the towels… just kidding )? Well, firstly we’re both pretty adept at peeling potatoes. Actually, vegetable preparation on the whole has become much less harrowing for both of us. Don’t get me wrong - we did more than the menial tasks that we mentioned previously - but the real wealth of our experience came from observation and asking questions. Too many to mention here, suffice to say that we’ve come away much wiser when food’s concerned.

It was also quite a thing to step into our colleague’s shoes for three weeks and see what life looks like from their point of view. Every day, they wake up at 08h00 and are working at 08h30 on nothing more than espresso. At 11h30 a hearty lunch takes care of morning pangs and everyone leaves for siesta at 14h30. Then it’s back to work at 17h30 with dinner at 18h30. 19h00 to 22h30 sees the end of the working day and then it’s back home to God-knows-what kind of nocturnal social life. Not for us, thank you. We need our beauty sleep and sunshine. Hellooo - Capetoniaaans.

Crazy.

Where are we now? Paradise. We’re recuperating with the folks at La Vedetta Hotel in Montenero (up the mountain from Livorno). The place is owned by the local nuns and is about as peaceful as it gets. The view is spectacular. We can even see the Tower of Pisa on a clear day.

The next step is yet to be finalised: will this be the end of our heros’ adventure in the holy land of food? Tune-in next blog entry to find out…

Up at 09h15. Dressed/shaved/out the door at 10h00. Coffee-bar at 10h05. x2 caffe ristretti and raisin danishes at 10h06 and 13 seconds. It was Monday, so we forgave the shopowners for their latent service. But just this once.

At 10h24 the usually punctual bus was nowhere to be seen. Had we missed it? If so, another wouldn’t be along for at least an hour-and-a-half. Not good.

Fortunately, it was only ten minutes late and we started the trip to central Montecatinni, delayed only by a passing train that held up the traffic for a few more minutes. We arrived just in time and managed to grab the 11h06 pulma to the beautiful and ancient town of Lucca. We decided to give the train a skip, because the drive to Lucca is such a beautiful one. We wanted to take in as much of the Tuscan countryside as possible. Well, it was worth every cent.

Lucca turned out to be quite the place - we took plenty of photos.

Lucca is famous for it’s narrow cobbled streets and quaint secluded alleyways. It’s an altogether pleasant town to walk around in, but it must be a real pain to have to drive there. The fact that it’s surrounded by fortified castle walls prevents the town from growing outwards. I imagine many of the buildings started as single story and were built up to double and triple stories over time.

Despite being a working day, I’m proud to report that the German tourists were out in full-force. “Bless their little border-crossing hearts…” For lunch, we stopped at Pizzeria Da Felice, a 160 year old trattoria boasting some modest, although extremely high-quality fare. I recommend it to any of you prospective visitors out there (Germans too!).

After some more walking, we decided to head back to the bus area and grab the next one to Viareggio on Pasquale’s recommendation. That turned out to be a fan-tastic idea. First of all, the trip there included an epic mountain-pass voyage, where the driver pulled some impressive moves to guide our blue sardine can around some impossibly devious corners. The guy was an artist and the greenery around the mountain-pass was literally a jungle of joy to behold.

Once there, we dismounted and immediately bought the latest return ticket we could find without missing a stop-off back home: 18h00 sharp. It was 16h00. We had two hours to play with. Fine. We hit the strip.

It was more Miami than Miami. Palm trees, rollerbladers, hot chickas, you name it. Beautiful people and beach. Awesome. We even happened upon a familiar and welcome sign:

This was going to be a place to return to again sometime soon… But right now, we were on a mission to locate the Napoletano trattoria, La Rusticanella (another Pasquale-tip). Once we did, we settled in with a couple of slices of serious and a bottle of Becks™. Suffice to say that they made the best pan-pizza I’ve ever tasted. Naturally, we had to find a Gelateria that would do it justice. Not a difficult task on Viareggio’s toasty-coastline (or anywhere in Italy, really). Satisfied and sworn to next-day dietry, we headed out again.

Just before our time was up, we walked into a vintage music shop and picked up a couple of rarities (or at least they are back home). Namely, Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast and Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth both for €28. *schweet*

Our ride back was perfectly timed. We caught the last bus home and were the only ones on board - nice and spacious! In the immortal words of Hannibal Smith: “I love it when a plan comes together…”

I’m not much of a cycling fan, but I can still appreciate a great sporting event when it happens right under my nose. If you’ve been following the event, you’ll know that today’s leg finished here in Pistoia. With Grotta Giusti being the local place of renowned fame that it is, a couple of the cyclists checked-in for the night.

You might recognise some of the names: Simioni, Cunego, Petrov, Tonti, Stanceli, Guardascione, Bontempi and Cortinovis. Not that we actually saw any of them or their entourage. It’s a little tricky when access to the restaurant while in kitchen uniform is a capital crime, punishable on sight. That’s okay though, it’s not as if Dave Mustang was sitting there ordering a fiorentina (al sangue, of course). Now THAT would be worth dying for…

Speaking of which, it’s less than five weeks until the -= Gods of Metal =- festival in Bologna (yoice! yoice!). To say it’s gonna be rockin’ is an understatement. Bologna’s a university town, so there’s bound to be plenty of students attending. Holy-mother-of-God, I’m going to see Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Hammerfall, Anthrax, Obituary and Dragonforce LIVE in the space of two days with my most-excellent and like-minded brother who is currently frothing in similar anticipation.

In other brilliant news: Mom and Dad are boarding a plane to Italia in a couple of days. First they’re going to attend to some business in Verona and then will hopefully come down to spring us from “Gulag Guisti”. And now Chappies Bubble Gum Presents: Did you know? Did you know that Grotta Giusti used to be a Nazi hospital during WWII? S’true. Anyway, from what I understand, they’ll joining us just in time to celebrate Mom’s 50th together - epic.

On the same day they depart (Monday) we’re off and are toying with the idea of visiting Lucca in the morning and then taking a late seaside lunch in Viareggio. Doubtful, since we’ll probably take advantage to sleep-in again. Whatever, we’ll see…

As of tomorrow, I’ve been in this kitchen for two weeks.

I feel like a slave or prisoner. Everything is a monotonous routine. I feel like we’re doing someone else’s job and we are not qualified for the position, so they make us do menial stuff instead.

If one more person asks me to peel this or chop that, I’ll be very cross indeed.

Aside from the kitchen, the digs is beginning to drag too. Living with another three guys in an apartment is a serious hazard. All I can say is that our sink is so rank that flys dive through the glass of the window just to escape the horror.

Let’s hope things look up soon.

Gabs out.

PS from Lorenzo: Ditto. Send help.

Hi all. As some of you know, I am one of the many millions of people worldwide who suffers from Mother Nature’s sadistic springtime gift, aka hayfever. Basically, it’s like having a Khoisan bushman attempting to start a fire in your nasal passage, but never quite getting there. The result is violent sneezing, a relentless nose-drip and watery eyes. Not cool.

It’s even less cool when combined with the need to concentrate enough to help prepare a three-course meal for 130 people, 50 of which were additional guests that the kitchen was only informed of after 17h30 today.

We spent the morning preparing the mis en plas for the Hotel’s hotspring bar commemorative anniversary supper (or something). In the evening, my brother and I were transferred to the pool’s kitchen to assist in plating up the various servings.

To sum up: I spent 12 hours working on my feet, while breathing floral-mace. I’d love to share more of the “magical Italian kitchen experience” with you, but right now I’m going to bed with the aim of kicking back x2 newly prescribed antihistamine/cortizone tablets first-thing tomorrow morning.

Good night.