Arrivederci Fossacesia

Tonight is my last night in Fossacesia. Tomorrow morning we are going back to Naples, and then on Tuesday I fly out to Hamburg. I don’t know whether to be excited about starting my exchange and seeing my long lost boyfriend again, or to be horribly upset that I have to once again be torn away from my Italian family. Instead I am choosing to enjoy the time I have left with them and trying hard not to wish away the hours.

The last couple of weeks here have been as perfect as ever: sunshine every single day, not a droplet of rain, lots of fresh delicious food, and lots and lots of sunbathing. However, believe it or not, our lives do extend beyond tanning and eating. Well, kind of. Most nights we go out to visit some town nearby, and eat…though we haven’t been to any more sagre or anything since the last time I posted a blog.

We have been to Lanciano, a big town nearby, several times to visit churches, drink aperitivi, and eat gelato. In fact, we went back to Lanciano tonight and managed to arrive in time for the annual medieval tug of war championships between the four quarters of the old town. The city of Lanciano turns three thousand and something years old this year if that helps you to understand just how medieval the town really is. I will write a separate blog for Lanciano. We have also been to a town called Vasto two times, though I will also post separately about these trips because it is too amazing to cram into this entry.

Meanwhile, back in Fossacesia, Afrodite went home on Friday, the same day that Vincenzo (her older brother) arrived. While Afro was still here we went to a locally famous restaurant along the coast to wait in line for an hour for la frittura di pesce and other assorted seafood delicacies.

Here you purchase your food. The line was much longer when we arrived

Here you eat

La frittura

Stuffed cuttlefish: yes, it is edible, but I wouldn't go crazy over it

That day was also Salvatore’s 22^nd birthday, and his girlfriend (of 7 years!!!) had made him a ginormous cheesecake and another cake in the shape of a plait that was filled with amarena crema, so we stopped by their place afterwards to join the party, eat some cake, and drink spumante.

Noi, le ragazze

The amarena plait cake the Federica made (the girl on the left above) 

We continued on downstairs to the lungomare to have a look at all the food stalls and waste enough time before the Fossacesia fireworks display at 1am. The fireworks, although not as grand as the Ortona ones, were still incredible. The thunderous booms ricocheted off the hills and echoed across the sea, as fireworks were fired from the shore into the sky. I was extremely impressed by the water-activated fireworks that were fired consecutively into the sea, and then begin to spin and fizz before exploding one by one in the same order they were fired. The finale was the best part (as always) with two sets of fireworks above and fireworks exploding non-stop out of the sea. I think Wellington should look into using this type of firework, if they aren’t too environmentally damaging.

In terms of long Italian lunches, I thought I was safe after Ferragosto, but then Lina’s friends upstairs, Raffaele and Carmela (Lina), invited us and many others to lunch on Thursday. Little did I know they had organised so much food. Whilst waiting for everyone to arrive, we sat at the table outside on the balcony to admire the view and nibble on some aperitivi. Once everyone had finally arrived copious amounts of pasta started coming out of the kitchen: penne with a tomato and mince sugo, sprinkled with fresh parmigiano. My gluten intolerance saved me from this plate as I have never been a fan of mince and tomato.

The view from Raffaele and Carmela's terrazza

Raffaele and Carmela, nonno and nonna, when we went to eat la frittura

Next we had peperoni gratinati which are slices of grilled capsicums, stuffed with a mixture of prosciutto, mozzarella and egg and then sprinkled with bread crumbs and baked. Lina made me a nice salad with lettuce, carrots and pinenuts and then brought me some of this delicious zucchini frittata she had made before passing it on to the rest of the table. I always feel so guilty, but Lina likes to worry for me and make a big fuss about getting me something to eat that I will like. It’s really cute, and I will miss having my own personal chef when I leave tomorrow, though I have watched closer this time to try and replicate these culinary creations of hers.

Peperoni gratinati

Almost most of the table, after the second course

For the secondo piatto there was more salad and lots of weird meats, including skinny pink sausages, unrecognisable pancetta, arrosticini and pork fillets. I reluctantly accepted a bit of the pork (due to my full stomach), and considered becoming a vegetarian.

After a bit of frutta, a giant straciatella mousse cake was handed out, followed by cups of gelato from the Dolce Vita: Bounty, Wild Berry Yoghurt and Hazlenut flavours. I also tried a bit of an amaro (bitter digestive) called Genziana, which is made from a special herb and typical to Abruzzo. It is now my favourite amaro because it’s really light and really aromatic, so when I found a tiny bottle of it in Ortona, I purchased some for Campbell to try too. I couldn’t last for the rest of the afternoon and had to go to bed because I wasn’t feeling well, but it was a very enjoyable afternoon filled with the usual Neapolitan antics.

Apart from this lunch, I have spent most of my time learning German on the beach morning and afternoon, perfecting the art of sunbathing, swimming hundreds of metres out into the sea with Gino to float on the clear, calm water, picking and eating fresh figs from the trees in the driveway, and watching the sun set on a quiet part of the beach late in the evening.

Fresh fico

In Fossacesia, the sun sets behind the hills and the sky turns into
a rainbow of colours

I have also walked up to San Giovanni in Venere, the abbey on the hill, during the daytime to get a better picture of the view and to see the inside of it. These photos give a much better idea of what the area is like:

The view of Fossacesia Marina from the lookout

The main entrance to the abbey

Speaking of returning to places, on Friday evening we went back to Ortona to have a look around the shops and the main church, though I wasn’t allowed to enter because my shoulders were showing. Nevertheless, I now have a few photos of Ortona by day – it is the place where we went for the amazing fireworks display.

The church that I couldn't visit

Gino, Lina, Vincenzo and Buccia walking towards the castle 

Yes, this is me beside the castle: my skin colour has changed significantly

Sadly, however, yesterday was our last day to enjoy the beautiful beach. Unfortunately it was a bit windy so I didn’t go swimming, but it did entice all the windsurfers and parasailers out onto the sea.

A windsurfer coming into the beach to girare

Since it was our last day I decided to buy some earrings from one of the African men who constantly pester you with endless amounts of things. I bought two pairs: one turquoise stone, and one made of coral. In the final week of August, the men also start carrying around umbrellas for sale because we all know that the end of August means the beginning of autumn and then winter and lots of rain. So after discovering that is currently a maximum of 16 degrees in Hamburg and raining I also decided to purchase an umbrella. I managed to get a seriously cute cream one dotted with tiny black hearts, which has frills around the edges for only €6. Now I can’t wait for it to rain!

I should probably start to get ready now, though I am extremely sad to be leaving. I have had an incredible time here, and feel so lucky to have spent almost a month on the coast of Italy. It’s been like a dream, and I will most definitely miss the continual sun and endless blue sea and sky.

La mia famiglia italiana sulla spiaggia

Thank you so much Lina and Gino for taking me on holiday with you! You have given me memories of an incredible summer that will last a lifetime. I will miss you both when I go to Hamburg, but it is now time to say goodbye, and to say goodbye to Fossacesia. I hope this won’t be the last time that I am here!

Ciaooooooooooo!

Ferragosto

In Italy, August 15 is a national day of festa called Ferragosto. Perhaps it is better to wikipedia, but from what I gather, this is the day Mary died and was reborn in heaven. For those not so religiously inclined, it means another day of eating. And for Southern Italian families, even more so.

For us here in Fossacesia, Tonino, a family friend had organised for several families to go to a restaurant in a seaside area nearby called Lido La Foce (lido meaning beach area). Around 1:30pm after a morning at the beach in the sun, we drove around the Adriatic coast and through more vineyards and olive groves to find this restaurant sitting below the road, about 100m from the sea. The menu consisted of 10 courses, the consumption of which took approximately 5 hours.

The restaurant in an area surrounded by olive groves

Our table: there were in a group of 30

Menu

Drinks

Local white wine – still and sparkling

Lina and Gino: we were hungry and bored, hence the photo

Antipasti

1. Antipasti freddi:

Octopus and black olive salad

Prawn cocktail with rocket

Smoked salmon on bread

Marinated anchovies

Salad of fresh mussels, squid, cuttlefish, carrot and lettuce

Antipasti freddi

2. Cozze ripiene

Cozze ripiene

3. Antipasti caldi:

Grilled aubergine and zucchini

Crêpes with prawn crema

Cockle gratin

King prawn

Seafood and potato sauté

Antipasti Caldi

Primi piatti

1. Rintrocilo ai granchi e gamberi

Homemade pasta with a tomato, crab and giant prawn sugo

Afrodite eating her rintrocilo with king prawns

Lina got a whole crab in her pasta

2. Risotto alla pescatore

Risotto with mussels, cockles, prawns and coriander

Risotto alla pescatore

Secondi piatti

1. Pesce al forno

Whole-baked fish

Fish with two contorni: salad and potatoes

2. Frittura mista

Fried baby octopus, calamari and cuttlefish

La frittura mista

Contorni

Lettuce and tomato salad

Roasted potatoes

Frutta

Slices of watermelon

Cocomero!

Dolci

Tiramisù

Tiramisù: they almost went the whole day without using plastic plates

Digestivi

Liquori

Caffè

Caffè italiano

It took us about 2 hours just to get through the antipasti, and by the time the first primo piatto came out I needed a break from the table. To help with the digestive process I took intermittent strolls around the restaurant to see the beach, the gardens, the campsite next door, and watch the live music. By the time the secondo piatto finally came I really couldn’t stand being at the table any longer. Nevertheless, I was made to come back to the table and try the fish that had been placed at my seat in my absence. I’m glad I did because it ended up being deliciously tender and moist. I guess there is a reason this fish is called the “Queen of the Sea”.

The beach just down the driveway

Thankful that I didn’t receive my own plate of fried seafood, I congratulated myself with a sigh of relief that I had made it through the entire menu…until I realised there were still the contorni to go. Afrodite was quick to tell me that they had come on the plate with the fish, so I could relax again knowing that no more giant plates of food would be passed my way. That is until the huge platters of watermelon came out. I devoured three pieces in lieu of my tiramisù, which I gave to Afrodite. Finally we were ready for caffè and could get going. After 5 hours of lunch, we were more than ready.

That evening Lina, Afro and I spent the night at home playing cazzimma with a bit of nocino, and Gino went out to visit friends (who had invited us to eat more dessert). Around midnight Gino returned home with three cornetti: two chocolate ones for Afro and Lina, and a crema one for himself. I instead had a pistachio Magnum, which was too good to be true. Apparently they are knew in Italy this year, the icecream inside is green, though it’s difficult to see from the photo.

Afrodite and her chocolate cornetto

My pistachio flavoured Magnum

After a nice calorie-dense cornetto or gelato there is nothing better than going straight to bed and letting it pile right on. All I can say is I hope the food in Germany is nowhere near as good as it is in Italy, because I could sure do with a break, and I am positive that my jeans would agree!

Gnocchi (pron: nyoh-kee)

On Sunday I was hit with a brutal reminder that gluten intolerances and Italian food do not go well together, especially in large quantities. But I think everyone would agree that homemade gnocchi is too hard to resist. Even if it did follow a night of pizza.

By now, I’m sure you have got the gist that every Sunday is a festa, and therefore every Sunday we have a big lunch. But this Sunday Afrodite arrived with her auntie, uncle and young cousin, Francesco, and we also invited Carmine and his friend Vincenzo over. So we were 9 in total.

Rather than write about our lunch, which was full of family dramas, I thought I would write about the gnocchi-making process. A while ago I asked Lina if we could make gnocchi together because it’s something I’d never made before. It turns out it is surprisingly easy. Mind you, all I had to do in the end was lay out the gnocchi for drying and cut some tomatoes. So maybe it’s not as easy as it looks.

To begin with, you must first peel and boil the potatoes, and mash them until smooth. Lina says you need approximately one potato per person, and 100g of flour per person (but it depends on the potato), some salt and one egg. It is also necessary to kneed the dough on either a wooden or marble bench top/board.

Gnocchi

Step 1: place the potato on the board in a ball, surround with a ring of flour, sprinkle potato with salt, and crack one egg on the top.

Step 2: squeeze the egg through the potato, and gently mix through, folding the potato as necessary until all flour is used. Continue to add more flour until the right consistency is reached. Try and maintain the pasta in a ball.

Step 3: one at a time, cut a small piece off the ball of dough, roll into a skinny snake, and cut the snake into 1cm pieces.

Step 4: (the painful stage) with one finger, press quite firmly whilst rolling each 1cm piece on the doughy and floury board (this part is necessary). You must put enough pressure when rolling the dough such that the gnocchi become kind of like shells; on the inside it should be a bit empty.

Rolling gnocchi

I’m useless at the rolling part, so luckily by this stage Carmine, who goes to a hospitality school (a type of college) and has made gnocchi for us before, had arrived and could help out with rolling the thousand little pieces of pasta.

Carmine rolling gnocchi; me placing them on the table

Step 5: place the gnocchi on a tablecloth to dry out a bit, sprinkle with extra flour if necessary.

A whole table full of gnocchi

Sugo

Step 6: cut the pomordori into 1cm cubes.

Me dicing the tomatoes - I needed to actually help

Step 7: pour about 1cm deep of oil into a pot, add one clove of finely diced garlic and heat. When oil is hot place the diced tomatoes into the hot oil and leave to cook until softened.

Home-made sugo

Putting all together

Step 8: dice the fior di latte into little cubes. This cheese is like mozzarella but much less salty, and much drier (though it still comes swimming in liquid).

Carmine dicing the fior di latte

Step 9: bring a large pot of salty water to a rolling boil, place the gnocchi into the water, ensuring that you stir the water so they don’t stick together. Cook until the gnocchi float – only a few minutes – and then drain.

Stress levels were high

Step 10: stir the gnocchi through the tomato sugo, spoon onto plates, and sprinkle with the fior di latte and fresh basil. Devour.

The disaster plate of gnocchi

Although our gnocchi were delicious, because it was so hot, and we had to wait so long for the others down at the beach while we drank aperitives and snacked on pretzel sticks to stave off hunger, the pasta had started to melt a bit, and they didn’t turn out as expected. In fact, Lina ended up mashing a whole lot of the gnocchi together and then throwing it on the table in fury, so we were a few short. Instead of going “short”, however, she cooked a whole other packet of fusili pasta that were the colours of the Italian flag. But unlike the boys, I couldn’t even manage my first plate of pasta let alone a second.

Fusili

After our pasta we had a dish of pork fillets slowly cooked on top of peas and finely diced carrots with a delicious smelling herb called “pepper herb” or something of the sort. Our contorno (side dish) was a mixture of cubes of aubergine, red, yellow and green capsicums, and potatoes cooked in lots of (read “too much”) oil, but was tasty nonetheless. All of which was followed with fruit and caffè as normal.

Our delicious contorno of aubergine, capsicums and potato

To get a break from the craziness back at home, I went down to the beach with Carmine and Vincenzo for a few hours to lie in the sun and chat. We walked home around 7pm and discovered that Lina had just finished making a fresh batch of ciambelle (Neapolitan donuts) with the leftover gnocchi pasta. All she did was add a bit of lievitor to make the dough rise and some water before deep-frying spoonfulls of the mixture, and then rolling in white sugar. Real ciambelle are the size of your hand with a whole in the middle. Even though I have never tried them, these seemed to be much better because they were fresh and warm. Besides, homemade food wins [almost] every time. 

Le ciambelle

That night we (Gino, Lina, Afro and I) went with some family friends to the Sagra della Marrocha, which is Abruzzese for corn cobs. The sagra was in a beautiful little town nearby, and was much bigger than the previous one, with far more tables and a bigger stage complete with several singers and orchestra. Given how much we had already eaten that day, we shared a plate that came with bruschette, a selection of salami and formaggi from the region, a bit of bread made from corn (gluten free!), the most delicious prosciutto crudo I have ever eaten, slices of fresh rockmelon, and a roasted cob of corn. Then we all got our own corncobs (a disaster in itself because they were all over-boiled and had turned to plastic).

We stayed here chatting and watching the synchronized group dances, waiting for the raffle numbers to be read out at 11:30. Around 11 the polenta (more corn-related food) was ready, and everyone went to buy bowls of creamed polenta covered in some sort of lamb and tomato sauce. It smelt quite nice, but not really my thing so I didn’t try it, despite several people on several occasions insisting (quite severely) that I try the dish. They are very pushy here when it comes to food.

When we discovered we hadn’t won the box of famous bocconotti nor the giant leg of prosciutto crudo, we went back to the car and drove home around midnight. It was a good night, but New Zealand’s sweet corn is ten thousand times better. This is not the end of the eating, however…next blog: ferragosto. If I thought I had seen lots of food before, this was a whole other story!