What We Served and Didn’t Serve to Alberto
February 26th, 2012
When our great friend Alberto breaks off from an intense work schedule and flies up to NC from Tampa for only one night, he must enjoy a sustaining dinner, one that reminds him of Tuscany! Alberto owns the house above Bramasole. We share Italy on many levels, and back in the USA, our interests also intersect and blossom. If you read Every Day in Tuscany, you’ve already heard of our friendship. He, Ed, and I, when we get together, talk non-stop of creative plans–from creating a whole town to painting a five-inch watercolor to solving the humidity problem on the back wall of his house. A day can be long and short when there’s so much to say.
First we sat by the fire and opened a prosecco–Rustico, what we often drink in Cortona. With some crackers and olives, we devoured–and practically shouted over–a three-milk, grassy, chalky cheese from Piemonte: La Tur. Such a creamy, pillowy delight!
At the table, we began with When in Rome Artichokes. We talked about a poetry / art project for Ed and Alberto based on architectural fragments around Italy–the Etruscan stairs at Tarquinia, the Jovis ruins at Capri, the disappeared villa of Pliny near Città di Castello. The talk paired easily with the ancient thistle stuffed with black olives, croutons, basil, parsley, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice. I’m only half-kidding–shouldn’t the music and talk complement the food as much as the wine?
We decided to skip the crab and lemon pasta we’d planned. Too much cheese before dinner, which quickly satiates you. I normally serve cheese only at the end of dinner. I was just in love with La Tur–that melting goodness–and wanted to share it immediately.
So, we moved on to Tuscan Short Ribs with Rich Polenta–from The Tuscan Sun Cookbook–and grilled asparagus. This is such a hearty, wintery recipe that to feast on it, you feel you should have been out in the woods chopping logs or hiking snow-covered Roman roads. The ribs are browned, then slow-roasted with soffrito, sautéed carrots, garlic, onions, and celery, and some chopped tomatoes. Low and slow–that’s the secret. Like ossobuco, the ribs’ meat just slips off –it’s that tender–leaving the primitive bones clanking on your plate. Talk was heady: the Danteum of Terragni, a Fascist-era architect’s memorial to Dante, the only building we know of that was based on a book–other than Tara, as one of the comments below insisted! The Danteum was never built but the plans linger with power. (Terragni’s Danteum by Thomas L. Schumacher). Perhaps a bit too ethereal a conversation for such an earthy dish. With such a savory sauce, and this is one of the best things you can put in your chops, we pass the bruschette smeared with roasted garlic.
Oh, my. This tastes so deeply of Tuscany. (That’s Ed, pressing out the pulp from the roasted garlic.)
So, we skipped the salad, too. The chopped, crisp romaine with roasted beets and walnuts and crumbled gorgonzola. Maybe, by then, it was the Brunello talking. We were onto plans for designing tableware for a restaurant, and the ideal seasonal menu, and the name of this restaurant.
By this time, the camera was forgotten. Please imagine the intense, roasty ribs on a bed of golden polenta! We moved on to Wallace Stevens, Cortona news, Caravaggio, and a sweet panna cotta with raspberries and blueberries. Why is this dessert so popular in Tuscany? Because it is the easiest dessert imaginable. You make it in ten minutes and can embellish it with a purée of strawberries, a slather of chocolate sauce, a spoon of lemon marmalade, or simply seasonal berries. We lingered long at the table, though we did not, as we would have in Tuscany, haul out the grappa. Just espresso. After midnight, we said buona notte, already a bit sad that the trip to the airport would start shortly after breakfast, and that we would be texting and calling and e-mailing until we can meet again this spring on our beloved hillside overlooking the valley where Hannibal defeated the Romans in 217 B.C.
What luck to buy a house near you… if I were your neighbour, you could definitely borrow a cup of sugar from me, as long as I was invited to your sumptuous dinner parties! Had Alberto read your books and subsequently made up his mind to buy in Cortona, or was it pure chance he bought the house and you became friends? Just out of curiousity, are there any of your friends or acquaintances who have you to thank for living in Cortona – ie. didn’t know Tuscany, read your books, fell in love with the area and bought a house?
Katherine, yes, he’d read the books and fortunately came there because of them. Lucky for us. Eons ago, when I bought Bramasole, I didn’t know a soul there. It was such fun to land in the middle of a foreign language, cuisine, culture!
thanks, Frances
what more can you ask of life? When I travel for fun, that is how I like it to be, no srtict plans, time for happy accidents and even little miracles. If you can, when you travel it is good to be vulnerable and open and without a lot of preconceptions about the places you visit like Francis![]
Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird….. We have a Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens society nearby ….. The route he walked to his insurance job is marked….. A good poet to contemplate at the edge of winter, at night, with good friends….
This is also one of my favorite mvoeis, but I highly recommend the book. It is very different than the movie but still has that adventurous spirit that draws us into the movie. It took me forever to get into reading the book because it is so different but it is a book I cherish now. I had the good fortune of also finding my husband in Italy and the place truly is some place you go to that just feels like home. We are living in the states at the moment but I am always trying to convince him to move back. (although we have a good reason to stay put at the moment, our first child is due any week!)Great post though, the lessons from that movie and the book, are definitely worth keeping. Anything is possible if you just go for it []
My dear Frances,
such a dinner!!! After this suculent feast, I wonder what did you have for breakfast? Did you still have room for it?
Lovely, as always…
Marisa
Dear Frances,
Well, I I just read “the Danteum of Terragni, a Fascist-era architect’s memorial to Dante, the only building we know of that was based on a book”. My immediate reaction was to wish I’d been a guest at your dinner party, and “What buildings do you know of that were based on books?” had been a parlor-game played for cash-stakes. Apparently, I would have walked away from your table richer than I’d arrived at it.
It’s a very intriguing question (for me, at least, but then I’m sort of an architectural-history freak/nut/OCD-case). Presumably, copies of actual houses that have figured in books or were associated with writers wouldn’t “count”…so out would go Jane Austen’s house, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, & The House of The Seven Gables (all of which have inspired many slavishly-exact copies in some of the unlikeliest locations, such as New Zealand and Nebraska).
Similarly, I’d have insisted on the exclusion of houses with false ascriptions. Two examples would be: (1)the patently false (or so it’s turned-out) Josiah Henson house, which is the centerpiece of a remarkably unedifying complex in Ontaria which is popularly billed as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site” (Clues: the house is not a cabin, and it never belonged to Josiah Henson, and Josiah Henson wasn’t “Uncle Tom”) and (2) the SEVERAL standing buildings, all between Hattiesburg, MS and St. Joseph, MO, which claim to be the “original” Aunt Sally’s house from “Huckleberry Finn”. That list of tourist-luring frauds and the Merely-Ignernt goes on and on, of course.
so, we have to come up with a house/houses “based” on/inspired by a book, but which never actually existed as a building?
Well, I win (ching-ching!!!), Frances and Ed. Both of you and your friend would have to cough up my earnings (and this is particularly surprising, Frances, since you’re FROM danged old Georgia).
You forgot about Tara. How could you possibly do that??
There have got to be at least a hundred full-fledged, enormous, creepily (in some cases) detailed architectural renderings of “Gone With The Wind”’s “Tara” spread across America (generally in places such as Beverly Hills, Dallas’s Highland Park, and the more pretentious suburbs of Atlanta, Birmingham and Charlotte…basically, any place that was loaded with too many folks with too much new-money in the post-war decades).
I visited a couple of times at one such house in Texas. The owner was an oil-tycoon’s widow who had commissioned the house in the early Fifties. “Gone With the Wind” was her FAVO-RITE book, and house was “an exact replica of Tara!”. I was in my 20’s and thought it would have been high-toned of me to have pointed out that there’d never actually been a “real” Tara. The owner, knowing of my interest in architecture, told at great length of how she and her architect had painstakingly gone through the entire novel several times (do I need to emphasize that this was not a lady who had a day-job?), identifying passages which gave an indication of the interior layout of Tara (i.e., if there was a passage describing how Scarlett left the dining room in a passion, went through the pickling-pantry to reach the rear servant’s staircase….well, that’s the way this house was built, and the owner could “document” its strict, textually-validated authenticity). The front facade was, of course, modeled exactly on the plywood stage-set built for the movie.
Most amusingly? The owner, who wanted everything to be “Old South” thought garbage cans were an unbearable anachronism ( fortunately, electric lamps and indoor toilets seem to have been granted absolution), so she had, at one point, had trash-compactors placed in Every Single Room of that enormous house. She proudly showed several of them to me. They were usually cannily concealed in an end table or built into the wallpanelling. All I could figure was that, given the presence of a trash compactor in every room, she probably owned more personal garbage-disposal units than anyone on earth and that no guest would ever know where to put a used kleenex (or worse) in the middle of the night unless they woke-up their hostess to ask directions.
In any case, I would have won the game at your house, since this is just one of hundreds of such “replicas”. One building between you, Ed, and Alberto….hundreds on my count. I would have gotten rich from this parlor-game-gambling.
Not entirely by the way?…I wrote most of this at 7 am this morning, before Clever Young Herve (for those who don’t know, he’s French, not American) got up. I mentioned over coffee what I was writing to your blog, and he immediately said “That’s easy….Tara.”
Amusedly,
David Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
Hi Frances! I am looking forward to the release of your cookbook and the arrival of the new olive oil. The recipes I have tried from your books have all been delicious, and I’m sure they must be even more exquisite when fresh Italian grown ingredients are used! On another topic, there is information traveling around the US House-Blog world (as I call it) regarding the possibility to rent Bramasole for vacations. I believe there is a great deal of confusion as to the house because of the properties used in the movie. I know for a certainty that much of the information is incorrect, such as renovation dates, but I am also thinking that this rental property is not your home but in fact the movie set house, even though it is also in Cortona. The rental house is indeed magnificent and the views breathtaking. Can you comment on this confusion, or am I the only one confused? Linda
Linda, yes, I saw that post on the house used in the movie. It’s owned now by Cline Cellars in Napa and they rent it. It’s called Villa Laura. We don’t rent Bramasole. They did a major renovation on Villa Laura AFTER the movie was made. It’s lovely, although I think some soul was lost in the process. It’s quite designed–very well done. Bramasole is full of quirks, books, collections, and peculiar moments. Different! Check Borgo di Vagli for a look at a soulful restoration. ciao, Frances
Passed by Alfonso Architects on our way to Bernini’s Restaurant in Ybor friday night. Must say the back staircase is quite intriguing. Makes you want to climb it. Where does Alberto like to dine in Tampa?
Passed by Alfonso Architects on friday night on the way to Bernini’s in Ybor. Must say the back staircase is quite intriguing. Makes you want to climb it. Where does Alberto like to dine in Tampa?
Linda, I don’t know, other than Carmel Café. We usually cook! We do lunch at Bernini’s when I’m there. Where is you favorite? ciao, Frances
Hi Frances,
Having just finished reading Everyday In Tucany for a second time I found your entry regarding your friend Alberto interesting. I am glad to hear you are still talking about your town Montelauro!
On page 288 of my hardcover edition you state “This study, this house and garden, this town and landscape have given me books to write. I wish I could do justice to the place.” I feel you have done justice to all you mention! The fact that many of your readers reread your books is evidence of this. The first time I read E in T I hurried through it as I was anxious to see what you had written, this time I savored it and it has many notations for easy reference. I enjoyed the food sections and the things your grandson is learning in your Italian kitchen.
I have ordered the cookbook and got to wondering if anyone would be inclined to write a blog about making all the recipes in a year. Shades of Julie and Julia!
I look forward to reading all your books again and hope you read one about your move back to the south. Enjoy your book tour. Many thanks, Gayle
David Terry’s post reminded me of a long-time client who, when her parents died, built an EXACT replica of her childhood home, at great expense. I’m talking EXACT, to the inch. She took photos of the placement of every, single item in the house, took exact measurements, etc. She had it copied, painstakingly, near Annapolis (the original house was in Ohio), and even wanted me to copy the landscape (a little tougher to translate, due to climate differences, but we did a pretty good job…let’s just say she was wildly satisfied). She even had the woman who had cleaned her parents’ house for years fly East to help her unpack–so she could be sure each knick-knack was in the exact spot (together, in the original house, they had packed and labeled each and every item).
She used this house as her “country” home (she has a city home close to D.C., as well)…sadly, she had to sell it when the real estate bust hit a few years ago. This was a “labor of love” like none I have ever witnessed (not that working on my own house/land hasn’t been a labor of love, but this is in a class by itself).
I guess, by building it, she filled whatever was missing inside her because she’s never mentioned that house to me again (or, on the other hand, it’s just too painful). We’ve worked on various properties together for over thirty years.
Talk about the power of place…it was eery and touching at the same time.
I wonder, Frances, how it will be when you sell your mountain house? Not easy, I’m sure. You’ve poured into it so much love and energy.
Best,
Jeff
Under the Tuscan Sun draws me in because Frances reaehcs a point of total vulnerability, having lost’ so much at the start of the movie. She surrenders, is eventually persuaded to go on the trip with what happens to be a lively, empathetic crowd. She doesn’t have any agenda and just reaehcs a point of openness to what might come. I like that! It’s all happenstance, a series of simple coincidences and some sweet signs that she’s meant to take over the shell of a house. The shell is a great metaphor for how she feels about life. She’s around kind people and[]
So it is 12:18am in Scotland and I only had a tuna fish wrap because my Celiac’s was on a rampage again today. Your meal for Alberto makes me want to run off to Italy this weekend to dine with the Gods. I have a long weekend too. I hope all goes well with the pending release of your cookbook. Don’t let Bramasole ever be available to be rented out. Bramasole, to me as to many of your readers, is our own view into all things you and Italy.
We have been cooking alot lately also. Ever since our youngest son and his wife moved back to Tampa and he started attending Culinary School. I did enjoy the Pistachio Nut Crushed Grouper with Marsala Brown Butter Sauce at Bernini’s the other night. We like to go to the Columbia Restaurant but prefer the one in Sarasota (St Armands Circle). There we can walk the beach, shop, and dine. After lunch we enjoy driving Long Boat Key and stopping at the Hilton for Pina Colada’s by the gulf. It makes for a wonderful day trip.
Jackson’s Bistro has a great brunch with a nice water view and there is a fairly new restaurant “The Refinery” (though we haven’t been there yet) whose owner and chef has just been nominated for the James Beard Award for best chef (south). Want to try that one. Understand it is VERY casual.
Looking forward to exploring your new cookbook with the family.
Thanks, Linda. Will look forward to my next Tampa trip! Frances
Hi Frances!
I met a man while checking into a hotel in Kansas City yesterday named Maurizio Orlando who did some Italian tutoring with you several years ago in (from?) San Rafael California … anyway we had a nice conversation and he said to say hi. He had many kind things to say about you and a longing to return to Italy himself.
Marty Lang
Madison Wisconsin 7 months of the year
Castello delle Forme, Umbria (near Deruta) 5 months of the year (my wife and I are hopeless romantics inspired by your Under the Tuscan Sun book who have been living Italian village life for 5 years now)
Marty, thanks. Not sure who that could be. Near Deruta! Is your kitchen well-stocked with plates? Frances
What a lovely thought, that the conversation should complement the meal like the wine. That’s a particularly wonderful part of the European culture that we love: leisurely meals, long discussions over wine and cheese and espresso. Hopefully in the garden. It’s a sweet life.
I’ve just found your site, and I hope those When in Rome Artichokes will be in your new cookbook, because I’ve got to make them right away!