Meanwhile, Back in Pisa...

 We've been (yet again) flooded...

This time, worse than ever...

And, since it's now happened so often, we knew exactly what to do...(which bits of furniture to go upstairs; shoes to be removed from the Lavanderia floor; anything not in plastic containers to be taken from low shelves in the pantry; books to be safely rescued from rising water level; curtains hauled up onto window ledges)..

Except, this time, rather than spend hours (and hours) trying to combat the onslaught, and to mop and swab, back-breakingly, until dry land was once more sighted...we just said 'bugger it', and grabbed the makings of a picnic from the kitchen, and retreated upstairs, to watch a rather good documentary on the fall of the Berlin Wall, while the house downstairs just filled with water (in a way that we couldn't have done anything to prevent, anyway). 

Moving house can't come soon enough!

Tonight's dinner (still without hot water, two days later):

Tomato tarts (from a recipe loosely based on something by Alain Ducaisse)

Bavese (pasta) with smothered onions

Fresh pineapple, with generous servings of mascarpone

As Building-sites go...

 I'd say it's on the glamorous side...

Looking into the Office

Upper Staircase

Looking down, from the Lower Staircase
 (awaiting bookcases)

Master Bedroom (woodstove still in pieces)

Looking into Ingresso

Looking outwards from the Salone

Lower Staircase

Glimpse of an unfinished Bathroom

Looking into the Kitchen-to-be

Tonight's Dinner:

Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Courgette Risotto

Lemon and Amaretto Semifreddo

Peas with Feta

 

I find Tamasin Day-Lewis excruciating. I'm unclear whether it's the gushy, cringe-worthy name-dropping which peppers her text, or the hearty jolly-hockey-sticks aggression with which she 'throws' ingredients around (clearly, she can't just 'add', or 'place', or 'sprinkle' anything, but it has to be the subject of the sort of physical violence which leaves me feeling exhausted, and with a sense that her kitchen must generally resemble the aftermath of the Somme...)

However...

When it comes to recipes, she's actually pretty good. If you can get past the writing style. I adopted a version of her Vanilla Apple Tart recipe some years ago, and it has  by now long been part of my 'list' (although definitely using calvados, rather than cognac); when I was researching recipes for Bakewell Tart (Leiths; various editions of Good housekeeping and Readers Digest compendia; Katie Stewart...all the usual suspects) it was TDL's version that I used in the end, and it was good. She does know her stuff. And this recipe I also found recently in her 'Supper for a Song' collection. (I've since found that it's a dish quite widely known, although completely new to me, and so probably not her own invention). During this period where we're halfway through moving, and sharing days between both places, this is a very useful 'quick and easy' recipe for a first course, having made the return journey from Pieve to Pisa rather later in the evening than intended.

For two:

Ingredients: frozen peas, sufficient for two generous servings; 100g feta, diced ; 100g greek yoghurt; half an onion (either spring or normal), finely diced; 1 garlic clove, finely diced; a squeeze of lemon juice; 1 large handful of fresh herbs, either basil or mint is best; 2 tbs olive oil; seasoning.

Method:

1. Cook the peas, briefly, in boiling water; drain them, then return to the empty pan, and crush them lightly (the point is to release the delicious juice from inside, not to reduce them to a mush; I use a battutacarne for this, just enough to break the flesh up a bit).Add the olive oil.

2. Combine the feta and yoghurt in a bowl; stir in the chopped herb, and mix in the lemon juice.

3. Add the peas and their juices, and stir to mix. Check, and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Best served still warm, but it's pretty good served cold.