The Scrabbled: Making Fun of Each Other since '99

• I really can’t say enough about how much fun it is to drive here. I’ve yet to see a traffic cop of any sort. The roads are narrow and of full winding hairpin turns on the edges of cliffs with amazing views. I’ve been taking them as fast as possible and Gosia, surprisingly, is totally OK with this.

• We had our first real italian cappucinos for breakfast. I never want to drink anything else. Except, maybe, wine.

• Our villa is outstanding. It’s basically a town home on these rebuilt castle grounds. We were a bit dismayed to find we were completely on our own when it comes to our supplies (no complimentary toiletries or garbage bags or what have you), but once we found how close the nearest grocery store is (PAM! about 20 minutes down the highway), we felt considerably better. Especially after we got the grocery store and saw all the amazing stuff they have (like lardo and whole, unsliced pancetta loaves). But yeah, the place really couldnt’ be any more private, which is sweet. We’ve mostly been hanging out in our garden sipping wine and eating stuff all day.

• We found Dario Cecchini’s butcher shop and were quite surprised to find him there, despite his newfound celebrity status, up to his elbows in meat. We bought a kilogram of salami (and when I say it’s the best I’ve ever had, you’ll trust that I’m not being superfluous), a few bisteca alla panzanos which I have just taken out of the fridge to let sit for 12 hours before grilling in our garden, some spreadable herbed and seasoned lard, and some seasonings. We’re most pumped about the steak because, like the bisteca alla fiorentina, it’s a huge hunk of steak from that cattle breed Even mentioned on Day 1 that you throw on the grill for 5 minutes on each side, and then you let it sit. No salt. No pepper. At most, you mix your bites with a little extra virgin olive oil. And it’s rare. Very rare. And like I wish all good American restaurants would have the balls to do, they won’t serve it to you any other way. I love this country.

• So far, with only one exception, every wine we’ve had has been outstanding. Though outstanding isnt’ quite the word for it. They’ve all been unique, mellow, not too tart, and molto bene in every sense of the phrase.

• We had tuscan pizza last night. Tuscan pizza is, in taste, the closest to maybe Lorenzo and Sons in terms of American pizza. The sauce is sweet ad not overspiced, the cheese was likely more than mozzarella (probably provolone). But the crust! It’s cracker thin and amazingly good. Everyone orders there own pizza and, despite being the size of large pizza at any American pizza place, everyone eats the whole goddam thing. And while it comes out unsliced and everyone eats it with a fork and knife, I still found myself folding and eating with my hands. Cause c’mon. It’s just so much friggin’ easier, especially with a crust so thin in breaks when you stab it. But yeah, it was easily one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had and we may go back for more. The wine, however, which was a house wine, was the first disappointing wine we’ve had so far. What I’m really curious to know is, would I have liked that wine a week ago? Am I getting spoiled?

Anyway, because of the holiday, there was a random parade where a bunch of dudes in sunglasses and orange jumpsuits playing brass instruments lead a New Orleans funeral style parade around the entire town (which wasn’t more than three streets and a square, which I’ll get to in a sec). Everyone was following along, the village kids right behind them hopping along in step. Every now and then, they’d form a circle and stop, and people from the band and from the audience would yell things in italian. While this was happening, a table would be placed down with a bottle of wine and glasses on it. They’d fill the glasses, yell some more italian stuff, drink the wine, and start back up again. It was really absurdly cool.

• The way the roads and towns are laid out up in these mountains is so cool. Basically, you’ve got a good 10-20km of winding mountain road, and signs (soooo many signs!) letting you know what towns you’re heading towards. There are no real road names to speak of, just the towns you’re heading towards. Once you get to the town, it takes no more than 15 seconds to drive through. They all have a half dozen to a dozen roads in them total. Driving directions are usually just “drive towards Firenza, then get off at Poggibonsi, follows signs to poggibonsi nord, and you’ll see it on the right.” After day 2, we’ve all but abandoned the map because we don’t even need it. We just find a sign to tell us where to go.

• The only down note so far has been my allergies. The air here… it smells like sticking your face in a flower pot because you might as well be. Everything is flowering and beautiful and the bees are twice the size of any bee I’ve ever seen, fat off the land on pollen. But I’ve been going through tissues like never before and have been feeling rather drained because of it. I’m hoping it’s not a cold or something I picked up on the plane. So far, over the counter allergy medication has done little to stop it.

• So today is the Italian holiday which means we won’t be going out much. We may try to hit Pam, the grocery store, to get Gosia a bathing suit (apparently the downstairs is a grocery store and the upstairs is a clothing store “for men, women, babies, and… big… large people…” -Claudia, the lady who runs our villa) but for the most part we’re just going to lay around, drink wine, eat all the Cecchini meats we bought, and maybe talk a walk and take some pictures of the surrounding area and of our Villa. It looks like some of our pictures are going through, so I’ll post a link in the comments when they’re done.