Bees

On Friday I went with Marco and Lindsay to get bees for Petraia. I love honey, which means I love bees. I was excited! Petraia had 7 families and in the last year 6 of them died...this is all part of the world-wide bee crisis. Petraia searched far and wide to find some new bees and finally a couple weeks ago they found some just 40 minutes away!

Here are the bee men:

Growing up we had bees on the farm, but because of my lack of memory the only thing I can recall about the bees was the feeling of sucking honey out of the combs. It was delcious. They let us try some of the honey here but it wasn't the same feeling as I remember from being a kid, although it was still yummy.

The two guys were really excited about having two Canadian's visiting and gave us a tour as well as many photo opportunities.

Here is the Queen:

She's kinda hard to see. But she's near the top corner and looks bigger than the rest of them.

These are natural combs that the bees made. This is a new family.

After we loaded up the six full hives we drove back to Petraia and placed the bees to their new home. It was another really fun experience. I have been able to experience such amazing things by coming to Petraia and can't wait for one more month of them! (Yes that's right, the countdown has begun!)

Brenda's last night...

Brenda is gone. She left at 3:30 am this morning to take the Autostrada back to Rome and then hopped a plane to Canada. But before that we spent one last night together in Tuscany. I'm pretty sure I'll never forget it.

I got home from work at 6:00 and we (Brenda, Tobey, Tobey's Mom, and I) started off on an adventure. Which of course, as all good adventures do, began at Zagara's. The main purpose being to order pizzas for supper. But we fueled up on coffees and sparkling water while we were there. We told Antonio that we'd be back at 8:30 to pick up the pizzas.

Then on our way to gelato (how could we not have gelato on her last day...doesn't that go against every rule?) we stopped at co-op where Tobey picked up peaches for peach cobbler (oh you thought the gelato was dessert? Oh no, no, no! That was a snack).

The gelato was amazing, like always. I had two. And technically Brenda had two too, one with us and one in Siena earlier in the day. Oh, and we also took some gelato with us, you know, to go with the cobbler.

We were all blissed out on gelato and didn't realize we had 15 minutes to do a 30 minute drive to get to our pizza's on time. We panicked. Well, Tobey and I did. So we took off. We made it to Zagara's just as the pizza's were coming out of the oven.

That's Antonio. I feel confident saying he is the World's best pizza maker. I can't even handle it. It's ridiculous. There were 5 pizzas and we were going to be 5 people. So, yes, that's one whole pizza each.

Over the course of 3 hours we ate 5 pizzas, peach cobbler, and gelato for the third time in a day. We were delirious with happiness. It was the perfect send-off.

I said goodbye to Brenda at 12:00 am as we stood together looking out at Massa and all the twinkling lights in the Arno valley. Never before have I ever felt so present in a moment. Brenda beside me, Antonio's pizza inside me, and beautiful Tuscany all around me...this is my life. Thank you Brenda for coming...for 2 weeks Italy was more sparkly and shiny than usual.

Greve in Chianti

Today after work Brenda and I took a little trip to visit Greve. Greve is about 30 minutes away on a gravel road through a national park. It is gorgeous...both the drive and the little town.

We stopped at the butcher shop called Falorni where Brenda took a picture with the stuffed boar just like I did:

We also bought a whole bunch of salumi!

Then we wandered around and had pizza and a little snack of gelato. We are slightly spoiled when it comes to gelato and have our two favorite spots, this place was no where near the quality we are used to, but it was okay 'cause we were in a gelato pinch.

Greve has my favorite street in all of Italy. It's hard to describe but it is one of the most beautiful I have ever been on and makes me feel so happy.

I made sure we parked on it.

This is what we drove through on the way home:

Even though it is just 30 minutes away from Massa, Greve has a totally different landscape. It's amazing. I love it. And I have loved having Brenda here, tomorrow is her last day and I will definately be sad to see her go.

Dinner at Petraia

Last night Brenda and I, along with my fellow intern/roomate, dined at Petraia. And it was amazing. This was Brenda's first time seeing Petraia and I think she really, really loved it...especially the irrigation system in the garden.

After a tour of the gardens we sat on the patio and were served Prosecco by this guy: His name starts with an "S" and kinda sounds like 'samurai', I'm not going to even try and spell it...in my head I call him "Sam-woo-hoo". Okay, so it's more like "Sam-welly". Really. It was delicious. I think Prosecco is my new favorite alcoholic beverage.
We sat and chatted with Susan, chef and owner of Petraia, for almost an hour. It was so wonderful. Does life get better than eating delicious food, with good people...

while staring at this...

Well, it could, if I had all my people with me. But this was pretty darn good!

Because of the way I am I have pictures of everything we were served....you may not really care...but I'm going to show you anyway!

We started with an Amuse, which is just a little bite, a treat for the tastebuds, a suprise. I love them. Last night it was asparagus cream served in an egg shell with blood sausage and crostini.

Then it was the Egg of the Day, which was pancetta confit, saffron potatoes, and a quail egg.Next up was one of my favorites of the evening, the Antipasto Toscano, with an assortment of Petraia's salumi and 3 different crostini's. My favorite was the melon wrapped with prosciutto...I had been craving melon and was so pleased to see it there. It was SO sweet, and ah, so good. Then a pasta course. Rainbow ravioli stuffed with ricotta and mint.You can't tell me you're mouth is not watering by now.

By then the sun was setting...
We had a sorbetto in between the pasta and meat course, which was a tasting of both wild and domestic pork...to taste them both on the same plate really brought out their differences.Next was the cheese course. 3 sheep and goat's milk cheeses served with Petraia's honey.

And lastly, dessert. Floating Islands filled with yougurt gelato in strawberry sauce. Wow.Technically that wasn't the last thing...we did have a digestivo and little petit fours after dessert! It was an amazing night. It was a wonderful being the guest and getting that special Petraia treatment. I won't be forgetting it anytime soon...

Look what I found...

I saw this photo of a woman in an ad today in Pisa and swear to God it looks just like my mother when she was in highschool. Brenda has never seen a picture of my Ma in highschool so I think she had a hard time agreeing with me.
Family, I need your help with this one. I'm I that crazy to say this looks like Mom?
Even just a little? Does anyone see it?

Zach

My brother sent me a picture of him making wine with Brenda and as I was having a wave of homesickness last Saturday I perched him on the dashboard of the car to make me smile. I love this picture of Zach. It could possibly be my favorite one. It is so hard to get him to smile for a camera and sometimes you need to be sneaky, but here he is looking right at the camera and giving a thumbs up...I don't think I've ever seen him give thumbs up before. It makes me very happy to see him happy. So, as you know from an earlier post he has become the driving mascot, always cheering us on, we've started talking to him and taking him places with us (think the gnome in the movie Amelie). He's really fun to have along.

This morning he had coffee with us at Zagara's:

He really liked it.

He even helped us figure out how to get to Pisa:

He had lots of fun doing that too.

(Maybe you're starting to see the trend here. He's a super positive person....or at least his photo is, and the voice we give it...heehee!)

This afternoon on our drive back from Pisa (Zach had to stay in the car for that one, we needed someone to guard it) we stopped in a tiny town to climb up a whole bunch of steps to a tower that had the most beautiful view of the valley. We thought Zach would really enjoy it so we brought him along!

He attempted the steps:

But we figured it would take days before we actually got to the top, so I carried him. Brenda suggested putting him in her purse so he didn't get blown away, but I knew he would like to see the walk up too, so I carried him infront of me.

He and I sat on the wall overlooking the valley:

Ma, this is definately one to hang over the fireplace.

Then he and Brenda enjoyed lying in the shade of the tower on the green, green grass together:

You could also climb up the tower itself to get an even better view but Brenda and I were far to hot. Zach really wanted to go.

But he was fine when we said no.

Right now Zach is sleeping in the car, once again guarding it, until tomorrow when we all go to Zagara's for pizza. He's really looking forward to it...the thumb up and the almost dimple say it all.

Pisa!

Today we went to Pisa.It's just a jump, hop, and skip down the autostrada from Massa to Pisa. Yes, that means that Brenda was at certain points driving 120 km/hr, passing semis on curving Italian roads, and was heard saying this: "I love driving on the Autostrada! It's fun!". I could not have asked for a better travel companion.

It was 10:00 am by the time we reached Pisa and headed straight for the tower. This may have taken us a little longer than most people because after walking less than 5 minutes in 30 degree sunny weather I needed to get in the shade before sweating through my dress and melting into the sidewalk. So, we stopped here...

...sat in the shade for 5 minutes and then we were good for another 5 minutes in the sun. We walked around the baptistry building and got the view of the tower. We found some shade in front of the tower and some steps and sat there recovering for a good 10 minutes.

Both Brenda and I were feeling slightly dehydrated so we BodyTalk-ed ourselves:

Then I had to floss my teeth:

All in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So classy.
I really enjoyed seeing the Tower. I wasn't really expecting it to be so white and I thought it would be a little taller too. But still amazing. It's wonderful to see such old, old things.

This next picture is for Larry, because we knew he'd be reading up on all the information boards around the piazza.

I just let Brenda read it and then she gave me a condensed version. I was too busy spotting the cutest babies.

After our sightseeing, which consisted of us hoping from shady spot to shady spot around the tower's piazza, we went for lunch.

The restaurant we ate at was a Tobey recommendation so I felt safe ordering anything off the menu. We started with something Brenda picked...fried bread with proscuitto, oh lordy. Then came the homemade pasta with rabbit and asparagus sauce...it was delicious.

We took a moment to close our eyes, because everything tastes better with your eyes closed. So says Duncan...and I have to agree.

Next was fresh fish with potatoes and tomatoes. It was the best fish I have had in a long time. Oh, so good.

We finished with a coffee before meandaring back towards the car (on the shady side of the street, of course) for the ride home. What a perfect way to spend a day.

,

Ciao from sunny and beautiful Italy

We're back!!

We just arrived back in Massa from our trip up from Rome. First, and most importantly I must say how well Brenda did driving on the 'crazy' Italian roads! People were nervous about it but even on the first day she was zooming around and passing people...I felt completley safe and very impressed! We stopped along the coast and visited the ocean. It was gorgeous. Every where you looked was something beautiful! We stuck our toes into the water and Brenda collected some rocks which made me burst into the "I Collect Rocks" song by Al Simons. Oh, Al. She didn't know it so I sang it alone. Other people know about this song right? Zach? Mom? Right? We had lunch at I Pescatori, which is a seafood restaurant right on a lagoon where they fish the fish. Very fresh and very delicious. We had smoked eel and pasta with botargo (cured fish roe). The eel was really yummy... crunchy, smokey, and salty. The botargo took me a little getting used to as it smelled alot like fish food, it didn't taste like it, but it did smell like it. Once my nose calmed down I quite enjoyed it! Brenda was such a good sport and even though she wasn't sure she would like the eel we still got it and she enjoyed it! We are perfect travel companions as food is very important for both of us! We visited the sea side towns and while they were gorgeous they were also filled with tourists, I have come to enjoy my little world filled with mostly Italians and zero tourists and it was a bit of a shock to see them all! I was happy to start heading towards Tuscany on Sunday!

Here are some other highlights:

The fact that on Saturday it was 29.5 degrees. I have proof:

Holy Hannah!

And the stove in one of the places we stayed in. I loved it. We even contemplated taking it with us.

We named her Edna.

The next picture is of Brenda driving on the autostrada a.k.a. the big highway with a speed limit of 130 km/hr. You might notice the picture of my brother in the bottom right corner. I don't now if you can see it but he's giving the thumb's up. He became our driving mascot, everytime we had to retrace or when we made a wrong turn he was always there giving us encouragment and saying "You guys are doing great, this is only the 3rd time you've had to turn around, it's all good." This was the fictional made up Zach because in reality he'd probably be really pissed off at us and demand to be the navigator, all the while teasing us about it.

But photograph Zach was happy as can be to turn around for not only the third but the fourth and fifth time.

On Sunday we visited an Abbey that had a sword in stone. We had high hopes of being the ones to remove the sword from the stone...alas they have protection against hooligans like us.
This was my attempt at looking calm and church-y.
I think I did pretty good. Hands in lap. Check. Straight back. Check. Angelic smile. Check.

While in Siena we stopped at a little pastry shop and got treats for the picnic. We were served by this ancient woman while the baker dozed off in the kitchen.

The treats were delicious.

The last stop we made before coming home was in Castellina for gelato. I couldn't introduce Brenda to Tobey without Brenda having had at least one gelato in the 48 hours she had been here!

It was thoroughly enjoyed.

Tomorrow begins another adventure...starting of course with coffee and pastries at Zagara.