Back to the basics

It's Thursday morning and I think I am finally over my jet lag.  This was the worst I have ever experienced, probably because of all the stress before we left.  Gene has gone to Lugano with Dennis Bava, our friend who has an apartment in Menaggio.  They are going to get new tires for Dennis's car and visit some banks.  I stayed home and continued  the adventure of making focaccia.  The adventure began with the search for yeast.  I bought ammoniaca, agente lievitante, which turned out to be baking powder.  Then we bought lievito per dolci which is baking soda and finally we bought lievito di birra which turned out to be yeast.  I assembled the dough, kneaded for 10 minutes and it is now rising for an hour.  I will post a photo of the finished product even if it doesn't turn out the way it is supposed to.  We had listened to Frances Mayes book "Everyday in Tuscany" on our last car trip to the Bay Area.  Included was a CD of recipes she made in Italy.  This is my first attempt at a very easy recipe.  We'll see if I do any more.  I am determined do more cooking this year even if it contributes to more weight gain.  Tomorrow we will head to the consorzio in Menaggio to purchase some tomato and basil plants and get our garden started.

We had dinner with Dennis and Anna at Pizzeria Lugano the other night.  They had just arrived in Menaggio and will  be here a few days before returning to Milano.  They will be back and forth all summer.  It was great to see them.  Dennis is recently diagnosed with cancer and is proceeding with the necessary treatments, so he is not feeling too great.

It is wonderful to be back at Villa degli Angeli.  The owners, Helmut and Gundel Heppner, stayed at our home in Phoenix this winter, and made us very welcome here on our return.  They provided us with an Italian cell phone for which we buy minutes.  This is very helpful as we then don't have to use our American cell phones at .99 per minute and people here can call us without incurring an expensive charge.  There is a new flat screen TV (not large enough for Gene of course).  We have been watching some of the World Cup games with the sound turned off as the commentary is in German.

Time to check my focaccia.  Stay tuned for the results.

Joan