Nashvile and Reading for Pleasure

 

We’re departing for Nashville and Bouchercon 2024 tomorrow and I already have a couple dinners scheduled with old friends. Well, they’re young in spirit, but old in that they’ve been friends for a very long time. They provide amusement and lively conversations and it’s always great to see them at Bouchercon. In addition to the crime fiction world we talk about family, travels, and anything else that’s happened since the last time we talked. This will be a highlight of the trip.

Last time I listed the books I’d read over the past year that are award-nominated. I have, however, read quite a number of crime fiction novels that didn’t quite make it onto the award nominee list, but to me were of high quality. I discovered a couple of them at last year’s Bouchercon, either at a panel or a timely recommendation from a friend (thank you, George).

RESURRECTON WALK by Michael Connelly I certainly didn’t have to discover. I devour every Connelly novel as soon as it’s released. They are consistently high-quality stories with original plots that make reading them a joy. RESURRECTION WALK, a Mickey Haller story, with plenty of assistance from Harry Bosch, was no exception.

I discovered D.V. Bishop, a New Zealand author, on a panel at Bouchercon 2023. RITUAL OF FIRE is his third novel in the Cesare Aldo series set in Renaissance Florence. It was a barnburner of a novel that would be of interest to anyone who appreciates historical crime fiction.

I don’t know that I’ve read a crime fiction book set in Bern, or anywhere in Switzerland for that matter. If you haven’t. but would like to, you could do worse than starting with PESTICIDE by Kim Hays. This is a police procedural revolving around the investigation of two separate murders that leads the investigations by detectives Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatelli to a nexus of a single basis for the crimes. A “will they or won’t they” tension arises between the couple as they try to stay focused on their cases. Tense and compelling storytelling makes me hungry for more from Kim Hayes.

I really jumped into my post-Bouchercon reading with both feet and read quite a few quality mysteries, one after the other. CALIFORNIA BEAR by Duane Swierczynski, BEWARE THE WOMAN by Megan Abbott, AN AEGEAN APRIL by Jeffrey Siger, INVISIBLE COUNTRY by Annamarie Alfieri, and SLEEPLESS CITY by Reed Farrel Coleman were hot reads as the evenings began to cool in suburban Maryland.

A little nonfiction is always a pleasant palate cleanser after numerous novels of crime and murder. I selected Donna Leon’s wonderful WANDERING THROUGH LIFE: A MEMOIR as she relates stories of her youth, her adventures in China and Saudi Arabia teaching, and her years in her beloved Venice, looking back from her 80-year-old self.

One of my more expansive crime fiction experiences this past year was watching a course through The Great Courses Plus (formerly Wondrium) called MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE FICTION. Dr. David Schmid of the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, in 36 lectures, presents the origins of crime fiction using three giants of the genre: Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. He examines the development and growth of the genre from the gothic novel to the dime novel to the many subgenres representing a rich rainbow of choices for the reader today. While I was frustrated a bit by Schmid sticking to a few representative authors, sometimes relating the same information from one lecture to the next, the overall value of this course in generating interest to research more myself was inestimable. Highly recommended.

The rest of the year offered some quality crime fiction reading too. These reads of mine indicate how broad and deep our crime fiction community is with fantastic storytellers: HUNTED by Abir Mukherjee, THE LONG CALL by Ann Cleeves, AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST by Iain Pears, THE FLANDERS PANEL by Arturo Reverte-Perez, THE PUZZLE OF BLACKSTONE LODGE by Martin Edwards, FOGGED OFF by Wendall Thomas, AT ANY COST by Jeffrey Siger, and CRADLE OF THE DEEP by Dietrich Kalteis.

Till next time.

Reenergizing my Musing Engine

     Here we are, eight months into 2024 and over a year removed since I wrote any entry for this blog, or, considering the name, done any musings. I've had a bunch; I just haven't written them down, Well, I'm feeling inspired, so let's get the ball rolling again.

     In a few weeks we'll be at Bouchercon 2024 in Nashville, TN. I've been to Nashville before and visited many of the highlight sites, Opry, Ryman, etc., so this trip it's all about seeing my mystery friends, old and new and celebrating mystery fiction and nonfiction. 

At Bouchercon, The Anthony Awards, Barry Awards, and Macavity Awards will be presented and 2023 offered many fine works to be considered for recognition. I've read a number of them (and will probably add a few more in the next two weeks) so I'm looking forward to seeing if my favorites take home some trophies.

So far I've read two Best First nominees. THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW by I.S. Berry won the 2024 Edgar Award for Best First. It's a suspenseful tale of Arab Spring CIA intrigue in Bahrain. The second was AGE OF VICE by Deepti Kapoor, a story of the Wadia crime family in India told through the lives of three young people trying to find their own way through a hostile environment.

In the Best Novel or Thriller Category nominations, I and readers had a rich and diverse selection of books to choose from. S.A. Cosby with another great story in ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, Eli Cranor with a great sophomore effort in OZARK DOGS, Jordan Harper's EVERYBODY KNOWS, and Mick Herron with THE SECRET HOURS provided hard-boiled, gritty excitement. TIME'S UNDOING by Cheryl Head presented a historical story asking the question of whether things have really changed that much since 1929. Richard Osman's latest entry in the Thursday Murder Club series, THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE, was both exciting and poignant in equal measures. William Kent Krueger continues to issue excellent standalone stories as in his recent novel THE RIVER WE REMEMBER. 

In the Best Paperback (or e-book) Category, NO HOME FOR KILLERS by E.A. Aymar and MAGIC CITY BLUES by Bobby Matthews were excellent reads.

That's my award reading so far this past year. I think the field is wide open and there may be a few surprises in the results. However, from all the entries I've read, there won't be one undeserving winner. 

If you're going to be in Nashville, I hope to see you there. I'll be on a panel Thursday, 8/29 at 8:00 AM (Yawn!), Bayou CD called "Don't Fear the Reaper". Also paneling with me are Moderator: Raquel V Reyes, Oline Cogdill, Dru Ann Love, and Steve Steinbock. Hope to see you there. 

Last Call at Cougan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar by Jon Michaud

     I grew up in a small coal-mining town in southwestern Pennsylvania. I learned as the years went by the importance of our local bars to the communities they served. The larger ones housed a restaurant serving comfort food and providing a forum for entire families to socialize or burn off some of the stress of a day’s work.

     These businesses provided jobs. They sponsored sports teams. They often housed banquet rooms where celebrations were held. They acted as information highways where the latest news was shared with a pre-internet, news-hungry populace.

     In Last Call at Cougan’s: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar, Jon Michaud provides a rich history of one such social hub: Cougan’s. Located in Washington Heights, at the upper reaches of Broadway at 169th St., Cougan’s became much more than an Irish bar and restaurant. Michaud shows how during its almost four decades of existence, “…it became a beloved community hub so essential that it was sometimes called Uptown City Hall”. 

     Cougan’s provided a place where people from varied walks of life and different ethnicities and races were able to have a drink or a meal in harmony. It provided a haven for doctors and nurses working at the nearby hospital, for police from the nearby precincts, for downtown workers blowing off some steam at the end of a tough workday, and many others. Well-known personalities walked through its doors from New York City and beyond: Lin Manuel Miranda (“In the Heights” means in Washington Heights), Mayor David Dinkins, and Gerry Adams of the IRA are just three. 

     Michaud provides a historical review of Cougan’s existence overlaid with most of the important local and national issues of the time: the AIDS epidemic, the crack epidemic, stop and frisk, race riots, the various financial meltdowns, 9/11, and finally the COVID crisis. 

     He demonstrates how Cougan’s management was versatile and open-minded in its out-of-the-box thinking. Cougan’s held book launches, mounted plays, staged poetry readings and karaoke, facilitated community outreach and arbitrated conflicts when they arose outside its doors. It helped resurrect the use of an armory building and began an annual 5K run fundraiser. 

     Any business that exists for almost forty years will have challenges and changes. Cougan’s was no different. Bars and restaurants tend to have more than their share. Michaud illustrates how Cougan’s navigated those challenges and changes, and mostly accomplished them in a moral way. 

     Through his extensive research and straightforward writing style, Michaud brings Cougan’s, and everyone who walked through its doors, alive. I could imagine sitting at this neighborhood gem, drinking a cold beer, and hearing about all the interesting people who graced its history. Last Call at Cougan’s provides a slice of Americana that you should discover for yourself.

Real Bad Things

Real Bad Things by Kelly J. Ford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First, I’d like to thank Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Kelly J. Ford for a DRC of Real Bad Things.

After twenty-five years, a body is found near the dam on the Arkansas River near Maud, AR., a divided town of the well-to-do – Maud Proper, and Maud Bottom, for the struggling unfortunates like Jane, who have always found life a struggle. For Jane Mooney, the probability that the body is Warren Ingram, her stepfather whose murder she confessed to at the age of seventeen, it brings back a terrible period in her life. When she hears the news, she leaves her unsettled life in Boston, MA and returns to face whatever awaits her in Maud.
In Real Bad Things, Jane confronts her past that is littered with strained relationships: her mother, Diane, who insists on making every second of Jane’s return a deep regret, her former girlfriend, Georgia Lee, who is now married and has two boys, her half-brother, Jason, who resists Jane’s efforts to rekindle their sibling closeness from decades earlier, and good friend, Angie, whose anger after all these years later puzzles Jane.
Ford deftly leads her readers through the story using the alternative viewpoints of Jane and Georgia Lee. She shows that memory can be an unreliable tool, especially when you draw conclusions based on incomplete information. It seems all these characters have a secret to tell and it’s only when each of them raises their curtain of deception that Jane has any chance at freedom and peace.


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The Truth about Lies: The Illusion and the Evolution of Deceit by Aja Raden

The Truth about Lies: The Illusion of Honesty and the Evolution of Deceit by Aja Raden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Imagine you’re sitting in a bar nursing an afternoon cocktail and a person takes the stool next to you. It’s a lady with raven-colored hair and an enigmatic smile. She begins telling you in colorful, bar-type language about many of the ways people have been deceived, lied to, and otherwise led to believe in a variety of dodges and gimmicks that never end in their favor.

In The Truth about Lies: The Illusion of Honesty and the Evolution of Deceit by Aja Raden I felt exactly like that. I was entertained, educated and often amused by Raden’s story of lies and the myriad ways that unethical people have taken advantage of the unsuspecting, the greedy, or merely foolish victims. Raden describes the various ploys, including the simple shell game, Ponzi schemes, forgeries, and the “long con” that people fall prey to and have for centuries. What was most illuminating was that the reason many of the deceptions were so successful was that they took advantage of the human brain and its receptors operating just as they should.

Raden has assembled an impressive source list and then presented it in an off-hand, fun, but comprehensive way. The sad thing is that after reading it, like Diogenes, you’ll be left looking for an honest man.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review.


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Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Olive Kitteridge is a woman who can't get out of her own way. The former teacher not only has trouble understanding the motivations and feelings of others, she often has no insight into her own. Her rigidity in dealing with strangers, friends and family very often undermines any attempt she makes at negotiating a pleasant detente with society. Told through a series of mostly connected stories, most featuring Olive, but some only including her tangentially, we watch Olive's struggles with the world at large.
Strout's stories are insightful, rich in feeling and full of wonderful characters who will leave you hoping for more. I anticipate Strout's "Olive, Again" will be a current read of mine very soon.
I enjoyed Kimberly Farr's narration. She captured Olive in all of her emotional struggles and provided a nice balance with the other characters as they sometimes saw in Olive aspects of herself that she missed.

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Amity and Prosperity

Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold is an excellent, balanced exposition of the history of the fossil fuel industries in southwestern Pennsylvania and the recent effects that one of those industries , the natural gas fracking industry, had on a couple of families in the area.

Stacey Haney and her two children, Harley and Paige, live on a small farm in Amity, PA, next door to Beth and John Voyle, and their daughter, Ashley. Both families enjoy hard work, the outdoors, and working with animals. Stacey also works as a nurse at the regional hospital. When the natural gas boom arrives in their area, Stacey and the Voyles decide to get involved to make some money off of their land, and also do the right “Patriotic thing” for the country.

It doesn’t take too long before they have to consider whether they’d made a deal with the devil. A nasty odor permeates the air, animals and the children become sick, and their water becomes foul and unpotable. When they complain to the gas company, Range Resources, the company denies any responsibility, even claiming there isn’t even a problem.

Griswold covers the struggles of the Haney’s and Voyles, a few other neighbors, and a heroic husband and wife legal team as they battle for their health, their homes, their land, and their reputations in the community. Their foes are a company with deep pockets and government bureaucracies, local, state, and federal, seemingly aligned against them. Griswold unfolds the narrative in a straight-forward way, providing an in-depth examination of the legal and emotional aspects that guide industry practices in the United States, often at the expense of the people they’re intended to help.

Griswold does a wonderful job showing the spirit and industriousness of the people of southwestern Pennsylvania. I grew up in SW PA. The people there are a proud people who enjoy working. They’re a communal people who support each other. My dad and most of my friends’ dads worked in either the coal and the steel industries as they faded and left thousands of families wondering where their next job or meal was coming from. After decades of work, some employees found they didn’t even retain the pensions they were relying on. Griswold shows that pain.

Highly recommended.


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An Extravagant Death by Charles Finch

An Extravagant Death by Charles Finch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An Extravagant Death by Charles Finch
In his 14th Charles Lenox mystery, Charles Finch has written an entertaining, if uneven, entry in this long-term Victorian series.

Charles Lenox has just spent two months investigating a series of robberies that led him to trouble within Scotland Yard, identifying three of four Detective Chief Inspectors involved in corruption, shocking Parliament and the people of London. To minimize damage to the ministers who recommended these detectives initially, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli believes it would be better if Lenox provided his testimony in writing and was out of the country during the actual trial. Disraeli proposes that Lenox “should meet with the police in the major American cities to establish international investigative cooperation and exchange the latest methods.”

As Lenox rides by train from NYC to Boston for the second leg of his visit, at an interim stop, he receives a telegram requesting he help with the investigation of the murder of a young woman in Newport, RI, where the wealthiest citizens of NY have “cottages”. One of those residents, a Wm Schermerhorn IV has requested the urgent assistance in investigating the murder. When a follow up telegram remarks on the unfitness of the local police, Lenox decides to put aside his future appointments and head to Newport to assist in the investigation.

Lenox’s investigation takes him to the cliffside mansions of Newport, where in addition to dealing with the murder of Lily Allingham, he finds preparations ongoing for Lady Caroline Astor’s annual ball opening the spring season in Newport. There, Lenox is treated to the wealth, glitter and glamour of 1880s Newport, surely something that would rival scenes to be found in aristocratic London.

Lenox’s charm is ever present, and he moves through the Newport society with his normal steadfastness. However, the pace of his investigation is restrained and the path to the resolution is exciting, but somewhat strained. Still, fans of Charles Finch should find much to like in his latest Charles Lenox mystery.

I thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an Advanced Reading Copy of this book.

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The Splendid and the Vile

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Histories take various forms. Some concentrate on broad ranges of people and events. Others focus on singular events and a small number of historical figures. Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile captures a middle position, and does it very well. Larson examined the World War II period of May 10, 1940 to May 09, 1941 and focused the narrative on Winston Churchill and the German bombing of England during that period.

Larson deeply researched his work, using personal diaries and official histories from both sides of the conflict, to paint an intimate picture of the Churchill family and the circle of friends and government officials with a significant impact on the year he’s expansively covered. Unlike many histories, Larson avoids the pitfalls of densely cloaking his narrative just with facts, figures and events and ignoring the personal sides of history. This is a history that will enthrall history buffs, but also interest the casual reader as well. It is graced with humor, drama, and tragedy that unfolds as excitedly as a best-selling thriller.

Highly Recommended


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Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan

Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Chronicles provides a look at the inside Dylan, but you have to work for it. Dylan moves around without being very specific on dates through most of the book. He does refer to historical moments to provide some context, but few. He loved Woody Guthrie. He liked staying with folks who would give him a free place to stay. His descriptions of the people he knew were esoteric and often confounding. Here he talks about Bono of U2

"One night, Bono, the singer from U2, was over for dinner with some other friends. Spending time with Bono was like eating dinner on a train - feels like you're moving, going somewhere. Bono's got the soul of an ancient poet and you have to be careful around him. He can roar 'til the earth shakes. He's also a closet philosopher. He brought a case of Guinness with him. We were talking about things you talk about when you're spending the winter with somebody - talked about Jack Kerouac."

The overriding sentiment I took away from the book was how Dylan abhors the fame that his success brought him. He didn't want to be a symbol or prophet or any of the labels that people tried to assign to him. He just wanted to write and play music and be around others that did the same. He wanted to be a family man and enjoyed being at home, eschewing the glitter and raucous adulation that many seek. He is a more complex man than some give him credit for, but doesn't want to be defined by any component of his complexity. He mainly just wants to be left alone.


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The World We Knew by Alice Hoffman

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not usually a reader of books with magic, sorcery, or religious mysticism so the fact that I chose this book and enjoyed it so completely is a real departure for me. Alice Hoffman is a consummate writer, blending character, plot, setting, and emotion into a deeply moving reading experience.

A Jewish mother's love for her daughter at the onset of World War II in Germany impels Hanni Kohn to seek out a Rabbi's help to protect her young daughter, Lea. When she's turned away by the Rabbi's wife, the Rabbi's daughter, Ettie, performs the ancient, biblical ritual to create a golem (Ava) that will protect Lea from the ravages of German persecution. The story follows Lea, Ava, and Ettie as they seek escape into Paris, France, find strength, love, and heartbreak, and deal with the sometimes cruel, sometimes joyful, paths that they each must follow.

Highly recommended. The audio narration by Judith Light is excellent.


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PLAYING THROUGH THE WHISTLE: Steel, Football, and an American Town

Playing Through the Whistle: Steel, Football, and an American Town by S.L. Price
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I grew up in western Pennsylvania during a time when the coal mines and steel mills of Jones & Laughlin Corporation provided employment for my dad and most of my friends’ dads too. In fact, other than a stint with Uncle Sam, my dad spent his entire working career with J&L.

We lived in “The Patch”, a community of duplex houses in alternating green and red shingles built by the company for its laborers. We shopped at the company store where my mother worked for a time until meeting my dad and allowing him to take her away from all that. There were patches all around the area supporting the particular mines and mills where their residents worked. It was the natural state of things.

S. L. Price, a writer for Sports Illustrated and other magazines, writes in “PLAYING THROUGH THE WHISTLE: Steel, Football, and an American Town” about one of those J&L patches: Aliquippa, a large steel town of ethnic neighborhoods with more than its share of high school football mastery throughout the decades. Price exhibits his own mastery by blending the elements of those ethnic identities, steel, and football into a rich history of American life.

Over the decades, western PA has provided more than its share of top NFL Players, and Aliquippa has been a rich resource of those players ranging from Mike Ditka to Darelle Revis. Price explains why the rich work ethic of the steel workers manifested itself into successful football programs. In many cases, racial tensions, unemployment, drugs and violence, made this success seem more than improbable, and Price examines the families, coaches, players, and their changing environments that made that success more difficult and unlikely.

Price’s history is an honest look at the people who have lived for their community, and their community, in many ways, lived for football. It is a an American story, and Price tells it well.


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Living to Eat in Italia

I’ve often heard it said that many people eat to live, but, ah, the Italians, they live to eat. I’m convinced that is true. 

In 1861, when Italy was unified into a republic, a founding father wondered how they would create Italians from all of the disparate regions and dialects that existed throughout the country. Guiseppe Garibaldi, the great general said, "It will be spaghetti, I swear to you, that will unite Italy." And so it seems that pasta was the great unifying ingredient that made Italy and Italians what they are today. *

This is a long post and it will probably only cover the first ten days of my vacation. Food was a big part of my recent Italian vacation and if you were thinking of going there, I hope this will help you decide in the positive. I'm not going to talk about EVERY meal I had, so don't worry. I could, however, go on for quite awhile writing about all of the delicious meals I enjoyed in Italy. . 

Just to summarize my trip briefly: On my own, I spent five days in Siena in the Tuscany Region and five days in Perugia in the Umbria Region, doing day trips here and there. Then I spent nine days with family hopping from Rome to Florence to Venice, and then back to Rome before our trip home.

When I think of Italy, one of the first things I think about is its food. There are antipasti, pasta, pizza, gelato, and many regional specialties developed from what is fresh and seasonally available. One of the greatest of Italian specialties is salumi. Yes, salumi, not salami.

A salumi shop in San Gimignano.

Salumi is a catchall for cured meats, including those you may have heard about like prosciutto, salami, and peperoni. Ones that may not roll off your tongue so easily are speck, culatello, pancetta, porchetta, capicollo, and guanciale, just to name a few more. One of the most notable salumi is Parma ham. I think I had a dozen different kinds of salumi in Italy. Worth every salt-infused calorie. 

Seasoning the guanciale.

Here is a Salumi Guide site on what specialties come from the various regions of Italy. On one of my tours, the Salumi, Candle, and Cheese tour by LifeItaliantStyle, we sampled the butcher’s wares as we watched him prepare guanciale, or pig jowls. It’s like bacon.

Most countries have their own culinary customs and Italy is no different. It is rare to find eggs as a feature of the standard Italian breakfast. Typically, breakfast will consist of a pastry of some type and coffee or tea. A fuller breakfast might add a selection of breads, cheeses and salumi, accompanied by fresh fruit. Your experience could differ based on where you stay.

My first evening in Italy I checked into my hotel and went to a nearby restaurant for a bite. I started off with a pecorino cheese appetizer and then had a pizza. The pizza was a little water-logged (I was told by a chef this was because they didn’t press the moisture out of the fresh mozzarella and let it sit for 15 minutes or so). The appetizer, however, was out of this world. Pecorino cheese with figs and slathered in honey. This was my top food find…I think. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of it. It was built up like a small Jenga tower..

As I was planning my trip and considering Italian foods I would encounter, the message that came through loud and clear was to look beyond pasta in red sauce and pizza. I also wanted to improve my kitchen skills in advance of a cooking lesson I would be taking. I was directed by a friend to see Mary Giolitti at Giolitti Deli in Annapolis, MD. 

Mary guided me to a book by Ada Boni: Italian Regional Cooking. It was last published in 1994, but I managed to find a used 1982 copy and obtained it at a reasonable price. It contains nearly 300 pages of Italian deliciousness. It covers 14 regions of Italy and the specialties attributed to each region. It helped me find some incredible meals once I finally landed in Bella Italia.

A satisfying meal.

Pasta, beans and diced potatoes in pesto.

My first tour was a small group tour with seven others to Pienza and Montepulciano. Guillermo, our guide, took us to Podere il Casale, an agritourism farm, for a great lunch. 




We started with a charcuterie board that held an array of cheeses and salumi, accompanied with crispy chunks of bread. That was followed by a plate of lentils, an eggplant dish, and greens, and then a bowl of beans, pasta and small bits of potatoes. Everything was fresh, flavorful, and delicious. Of course all of this was accompanied by l'aqua minerale (mineral water) - frizzante or naturale, and great wine. Vacation was starting off well. 

Marjorie (who was on my Siena walking tour) and
me after our dinner at La Taverna

That evening I went to the Siena Opera, arriving early but starving. They sent me to Fonte Guista Trattoria where I had another traditional Tuscan dish: Pici pasta with Cinghiale Ragu (wild boar sauce). 

Pici is a hand-rolled pasta, typically made with just flour and water, although sometimes with egg and olive oil added. With the hearty wild boar sauce, it was to die for. I ate every bit, wiping up the sauce with bread. I was a little late for the opera, so had to sit in the back. At intermission I found out the people I was seated beside were from Arlington, VA. Small world.

One of the recipes from the Boni book, credited to Tuscan origins, is Ribolitta Soup. It was born of a combination of day-old vegetable soup with crusty two-day old bread to produce a hearty meal in a bowl. It is a peasant meal, but served in many fine restaurants now, so I guess it is shrugging off its peasantry. Here Pasta Grannies - Ribolitta , you can see how to make it yourself. I had some in Siena at La Taverna del Capitano and it was delicious and filling.

Another dish that I had from Boni's book, and also at La Taverna, was Coniglio in Porchetta, which is rabbit stuffed with a shredded Parma ham mixture and prepared with fennel. It was delicious, tender, juicy, and flavorful. It was another of my favorite meals. This meal, as with several others, was finished off with limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur (I've made my own at home before). 

I had the company at La Taverna of Marjorie, a young lady from Florida, who was studying Italian in Venice and had come into Siena for the weekend. We had a great meal and great conversation. A meal with company is much better than one alone.

In fact, I came across this in my reading: 'Italian proverbs testify to the national antipathy to a table for one: "Chi mangia solo crepa solo" (Who eats alone dies alone). "Chi non mangia in compagnia è un ladro o una spia" ("Who doesn't eat with a companion is a thief or a spy"). "Chi mangia solo si strozza a ogni mollica" ("Who eats alone chokes on every bite").' * Although, playful jests, messages to take to heart. I was fortunate to find some very good company for most of my meals after that.

Viviana, me, and Simone

One of my activities was a cooking class at a Tuscan farm outside Quercegrosso, just north of Siena. The chef and I each prepared tagliatelle al ragu and tiramisù. We found it necessary to polish off a bottle of Chianti Classico while we were doing that because, well, cooking is hard work. 

It was rewarding to mix everything together for the pasta without a bowl and not get anything on the floor except a little flour. Eating what we made was even better. It was delicious. 

I had a great time spending the afternoon with Simone and his wife, Viviana, who are expecting twins in October. Uncle Dave will be waiting patiently for the news.

A truffle from our hunt

One of the highlights of my trip (there were so many) was a truffle hunt at Black Truffle Lodge outside of a little village called Pettino. My GPS signal dropped five kilometers from the meeting place, so luckily, I fell back on the map in my head and made it there OK. 

To give you an idea how remote the place is. Mack, a New Zealand emigrant who together with Francesca, his wife, run Black Truffle Lodge, has to drive their kids 3o minutes down the mountain to catch the school bus everyday, and then again go pick them up in the afternoon. It is a treacherous, winding, and steep drive. But I digress.

On a truffle hunt, the guests don't really do any truffle hunting. That is all done by dogs. The dogs are small hound size, maybe twenty five pounds. They smell out the truffles, usually in the vicinity of oak or beech trees, then dig them out and carry them to their handler. The

handler then exchanges a dog treat for the truffle, and the dog is off again. The dogs are quite active and the guest part of the hunt is to trail after them and watch where they find the truffles and try not to slide down some fairly steep points or trip over tree roots. For the most part, our group was successful.






At some signal the hunt part of the excursion was over. A scale was brought out and they measured the haul of truffles. The results of our hunt were relatively modest. We then hopped back into the vehicles and drove further up to the top of the mountain. 

While Marco, one the of the dog handlers, scrubbed up a truffle, Mack opened a couple bottles of prosecco and handed out glasses of the bubbly to everyone. Then Mack prepared an open fire and made scrambled eggs with melted pecorino cheese and sliced truffles. 
Damn, it seemed so decadent, and was it good? 

Mack, surrounded by Maremma Sheepdogs,
prepares our scrambled eggs.

It was a pretty simple thing, but I had a hard time imagining life being any better at that point. Great food and drink, wonderful company, and gorgeous scenery any way you turned. The fields were full of wildflowers. The views from there must have been up to fifty miles distant.

We still had half a day to go. 

We collected all the tableware and glasses, piled back into the vehicles, and headed back down the mountain. 

Pecorino Cheese being aged.

Black Truffle Lodge

We were to learn about salumi and cheese making, and drink some wine. Then we could watch a full meal being prepared, and help if we wanted. 

Another specialty from the Boni book prepared at this meal was guinea fowl. It's a small bird with delicate and delectable meat. 

Francesca made two long rolls of pasta, cut it into 1/2" slices, then poked her knife through a hole at one end and flicked her wrist. Voilà! The pasta fell in a pile on the table ready for the pot. It was amazing watching that, since it took me long minutes to unroll mine during my cooking lesson. 

Happy smiles because I helped
clear the table after lunch

Francesca making a lot of tagliatelle

Black Truffle Lodge bids us Ciao!

At my Perugia hotel, I met two ladies, Ann and Karen, from Minneapolis, MN and we went out for pizza my next to last night in Perugia. We walked a long way to one, only to find it had been closed, replaced by a parking garage. So we walked another good distance and found a hole-in-the-wall place called La Romantica in a residential part of town. It was fantastic. Other than us, it was all locals. 

It was the best pizza I ate in Italy. The crust was thin and crispy, the sauce sublimely seasoned, and the cheese perfectly melted. You couldn't have told what language we spoke because we were totally  quiet as we chomped on our pizzas +. We'd been famished after all the walking we did and it showed. 

Gnocchi in pesto sauce
with gorgonzola.

+ Just a note: unless you're in a tourist-trap part of town, each person typically orders their own 12-14" pizza. It doesn't come sliced. You won't get small plates to share it.

My last night in Perugia I ate at an outside table at Caffè di Perugia. It was a perfect spring evening, mild and clear, with the low, pleasant buzz of people in conversation and enjoying their Friday evening.

I had a glass of prosecco, then ordered this remarkable gnocchi dish accompanied by grilled vegetables. I had never had gnocchi before that seemed to melt in your mouth. This was amazing.

I also had the pleasure of meeting two young ladies from Arizona, sisters who were studying at Università per Stranieri di Perugia (University for Foreigners). We talked about our experiences in Italy and we practiced our Italian a bit.

My last day in Perugia still held some surprises. On the Salumi, Candle, and Cheese tour I mentioned

It's the candlestick maker.
A poem comes to mind.

above, we watched a candle maker ply his skills.

I made Wildflower cheese.

We learned about cheese-making and made some wildflower cheese.









Then met some of the barnyard animals that just needed to get a scratch behind the ears.

Our barnyard friends

We had a wonderful lunch (yes, another one).


One of the dishes we had was Fiori di zucca fritti, which is the flowers of zucchini, lightly battered and fried, and they are the most delicate, but tasty treats. They are sometimes stuffed with ricotta or a piece of cheese.


As the meal wound down and we drank our wine and sighed with satisfaction, our hosts brought out an exquisite cheese plate for each of us. Wow!

Italy is such a wonderful place to visit. The people are warm, friendly, and helpful. With its beautiful scenery, its culture, its art and architecture, its reverence for its religious history, it is interesting at every turn.

And then there's the food! Buon Appetito!

* La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, The World's Most Enchanting Language, by Dianne Hales

Che io fatto in mi vacanza estate

I’m not sure if I wrote that correctly, but it should say “What I did on my summer vacation”. I know, technically it's still spring, but I don't care.

What DID I do? I’m glad you asked.

Well, I went to Italy, in case you missed that news. And what a trip I had. Twenty days of pretty near bliss. This is my 3,000 meter overview, with more details to come in follow-on entries.

The green fields of Tuscany with Siena in the background.

I went from home to BWI Airport to Philadelphia (there, had a four-hour flight delay - one of the low points) to Rome. I emailed my travel agent and when I landed in Rome had an email with a rescheduled train ticket and the name of my new driver in Florence. Hooray, Monica of CulturalItaly!

The Campo in Siena

I took the train to Florence and a limo van from there to Siena.

I stayed in Siena, Tuscany, for five days and did day trips to Chiusure, Asciano, Pienza, Montepulchiano, Castellina di Chianti, Azienda, San Gimignano, Montalcino, and Quercegrossa. I visited an agriturismo farm, four wineries, attended a private cooking class, and had a walking tour of Siena. It was a packed five days.

Dacia Stepway Sandero

I rented a car in Siena and drove to Pergugia, Umbria, where, again, I stayed for five days. 

Cars drive on the right side of the road. While there were some excitable and aggressive drivers, I didn't think any more so than in the US. I noted far less of a patrol presence on the roadways than in the US. I did have to accustom myself to clutching and shifting again. It had been awhile. Merge ramps are relatively short, so you have to be ready to launch or hit the brakes.



It was rainy and cloudy around Perugia most of my time there. However, the sites I was visiting were south a ways, so I had pleasant and sunny drives most of the time.


I did day trips to Orvieto, Città di Bagnoreggio, the mountain top village of Pettino (no GPS signal) above Campello sul Clitunno, near Spoleto, for a truffle hunt experience, Assisi, and Bevagna. 

Very busy five days again. I had almost no time for gelato...but I managed.

Cittâ di Bagnoreggio

Mountain top near Pettino

I dropped off my rental car and took the train from Perugia to Rome to meet family there. 

Pantheon

Italian Air Force displays Italian flag colors
Credit: www.fanpage.it

We had AirBnB's near the Pantheon, a very good coffee shop, a bunch of gelato places too numerous to count, and a restaurant we kind of adopted: Clemente alla Maddalena. 


We made our way around  Rome for a couple days, taking in some sites, but unable to see some because of closures for Festa di Republicca. 

A photo of the parade taken from the Capitoline Museum

That's OK. Rick Steves says vacation or site see as if you're coming back. 

A Florence sunset

After a couple days we headed to Florence by train. We found our AirBnB and discovered a delightful place with a rooftop terrace. 

Again, we had a convenient cafe nearby, an essential ingredient for beginning the tourist's day. We closed out our first evening in Florence witnessing a beautiful sunset from our terrace with a bottle of vino rosso. What could be better? 

We tooled around Florence for a couple days, seeing its sites and succumbing to the beauty of its art, architecture, and gardens. 

We then grabbed a train to Venice. 

Canal Living

Venice! It really is as beautiful as advertised. We arrived in the evening, and fears about navigating the water taxi system quickly dissipated. They have set it up as fool proof as possible. That doesn't mean you won't have to ask a question or two to make sure you're heading in the right direction on the right number boat, but, still, fairly easy to use. 

"Building Bridges" by Lorenzo Quinn

In the two days we were in Venice, we managed to see a good deal of the highlights, do some ambling around, and easily convince ourselves that, yes, Venice, we would be back.

A view on Palatine Hill

Then we were headed back to Rome for the final leg of our journey. Same rooms as before, so we felt comfortable in our surroundings as if we were seasoned Romans. 

We climbed around Palatine Hill. We navigated the Metro system (yay, us) to get us to Vatican City and back. We ate at our favorite places. And then we were heading to the airport for our trip home.

The Dome of St. Peter's Basilica

I felt a little guilty last week after returning home. I enjoyed this vacation so much, I felt like I had gotten away with something. I guess I did. I came home with wonderful memories, new friends, and a greater appreciation for a culture that I've always admired. I brought home over 130 Euros, so I guess I better plan on returning real soon.