More sketches

Sketches from Castelvetere. In places like this everything turns out beautiful. 1-Piaza municipio 2-Doorway in Montemarano 3-olives outside casa primo sole 4-Castelvetere from the kitchen table 5-CAsa Primo sole 6-A small street just past piazza municipio Hope you enjoy! Lindsey

Sketches

My travel knife, Dustin sleeping on the train and sketches from Vernazza, Cinque terre.

Making Maccaronara with Maria

Last week, I was very fortunate to get a one on one lesson in the art of making one of my favorite Italian dishes; Maccaronara! Castelvetere Sul Calore is well known for its Maccaronara and even has a festival dedicated to the art of rolling out dough made simply of flour and water that is topped off with the perfect tomato sauce. My instructor was one of my favorite people; Maria. She has made this dish a countless number of times and was going to make it for the family on this day. I jumped at the opportunity to document her process in hopes of learning some secrets. We made (well mostly Maria) the pasta in her basement kitchen which is used for the hard-core cooking. If you are Italian or have Italian friends you will understand this! The 'cooking’ kitchen is where all the magic happens. The upstairs kitchen is for warming sauce, making salads and espresso. Although the ingredients are basic making maccaronara is hard work. Maria said that you can't let it sit very long. As soon as it’s rolled out and cut into strips it needs to be boiled and eaten! My mother was telling me that women would make this fresh pasta daily. It was my nonno's favorite. Tony Canadese also bbq’d over the fire for this delicious lunch. Here are some photos. I also took some video which might be why some of the early stages of the process are missing. Many thanks to Maria for letting us into her kitchen!

Cinque Terre before Castelvetere

Ash, Mike, Dustin and i flew into Rome and then travelled to cinque terre for a few days before heading south the Castelvetere. We stayed in Vernazza in cinque terre which was great! Close to the ocean and our own roof top terrace. If anyone wants to visit this part of Italy contact me for the info, i highly recommend it. We found Rosa Camere online and after a few emails back and forth decided to book the apartment. I was a bit nervous about 4 floors up and no air condition but i figured we would manage (and we did!). Rosa was such a sweet heart, i wish i would have awkwardly insisted on a photo with her. All of the people in Vernazza were great. It is the nicest little one street village that gets pounded by tourists daily yet everyone seemed to be very accomodating and freiendly and not in a 'thank you for your money' kind of way. Cinque terre is now a Unesco world heritage site. All 5 towns are connected by a train that travels through the mountains. After a 2 train transfers from Rome we finally made it to Vernazza. My instructions from Rosa were simple. "Exit the station, walk down the street past the gelateria and your apartment is number 9." Rosa does not live there however; she lives further down the street on the opposite side where there was a blue sign that said her name. She told me she would be there at any time to give us the key. All of this seemed a little bit lackadaisical but most great travel experiences start out this way. We found her without problem and were delighted at our apartment. Over the next few days we explored the coast under Michael’s guidance and trekked to three of the five villages. A lot of the coastal paths were closed due to landslides which meant we had to take the mountain paths….up up up up…and then more up……It was beautiful . My calves hated me for three or four days later although my achy muscles slowed me down to a good ‘Italiano’ pace.

Update

It has been a long time since my last blog post. I will defend my truancy in saying that I STARTED this blog hoping that my parents would also help in its upkeep! Since that is not happening I will continue my pursuit to document the happenings in and around casa primo sole although it is certain to be sporadic. I am back writing because i have more photos after just returning from another food filled visit to Casa Primo Sole. I will be updating over the next couple of days... Much has happened in the past year. Including the passing of very close family and friends who were closely related to our experience at Casa Primo Sole, including Ida Mastromarino (my nonna), Gelardo(nonno’s best friend who I have written about in past posts) and just a few weeks ago the infamous Nonno Vittorio passed on. We were all very greatful that we had the chance to see nonno in Italy two years ago along with his friend Gelardo. These were very special people that have been greatly missed. Our family will continue to honour their memories in celebration at Casa Primo Sole and in the years to come in Castelvetere Sul Calore. Nonno Vittorio eating Pasta vongole in Rome 2011. Gerardo and Nonno Vittorio ready for festa San Antonio 2011. Nonna and Nonno on Nonna's birthday in 2009 Nonna and Jen on Nonna's birthday in 2009

TEmpo di NEVE!

I'm sure you have all heard of the insane amounts of snow that Europe is dealing with. Ofcourse it has made it to little Castelvetere. All i can say is that i am happy we have a roof roof!
Thanks soooo much to Tony Canadese for providing us with these awesome pictures. I wish i was there to play in all of the snow. It looks amazing.

talk soon
Linds