During the week

Risotto with saffron and zucchini flowers

Cooking class at Ristorante Il Caminetto.  Denis and Joan making tortelloni.

Monte Generoso

At the park watching the boats

Start of the regatta

A rainy day in Mezzegra

Today is Wednesday August 11, 2010.  We woke up this morning  to thunderstorms and rain but now at noon it is cloudy and probably around 80 degrees. We have had some cloudiness recently as finally the “monsoon” has arrived.  This is similar to Phoenix but, of course, not nearly as hot.  Quite livable and a nice change from the oppressive heat and humidity we had right after we arrived in middle June.  Our friend, Denis Ducey is visiting us now and will be here until this coming Sunday when he ventures out on his own for about five days.  He plans to visit Lucca, Pisa, the Cinque Terra and the Portofino area.  Should be a lot of fun for him.  We have had a few excursions to talk about for the last few days. I had noticed a sign in town about the annual regatta taking place this last Saturday.  The sign was fairly large and looked like it was expensive to produce so I naturally thought this must be a very big deal and that we should check it out.  I told Joan it was a race but she thought it might just be a showing of boats.  Anyway we decided that we would walk down to the “starting line” and check it out. As most  of you know we’re up on a high hill overlooking the lake so what goes down must come up!!  “Hey, it’s going to be worth it to see a boat race” The weather was nice, a little warm but the walk down was pleasant.  We don’t “power walk” so by the time we got to the lake we were just a little sweaty.  But wait a minute.  Where is everybody and where are the boats?  The large sign was right behind us so we knew we had the right day.  After one false start because of bad directions from an Italian woman we started walking up the lake road which consists of some sidewalks but mostly just the main road, with cars flying by.  We finally got up to a beautiful park setting and spotted the boats lined up for the start.  (See picture)  As you will notice they are all identical and are powered by a standing two man crew. They headed off and the best we figured is that the finish line was somewhere in the far distance.  Boring!!!!  I believe we were the only ones in the park that had the least amount of interest in the event.  Pretty much a big joke on us, the Americans.  Of course now it was later, hotter and stickier than earlier and we had the trek back up in front of us. The good news is that we did make it back and no one died, literally, although all three of us died figuratively.

On Monday we took Denis to one of our favorite destinations, Monte Generoso, a mountain in Switzerland about 40 miles from our home.  Even though we have been to the top at least four times in the past the ride over is beautiful on a one lane road through a forest. We drive about half way up, catch a cog wheel train to the top, eat lunch, enjoy the spectacular views and then walk back down to the car. This walk is about an hour and a half and, of course, is all down hill. Really not difficult at all as long as you really watch your step because of extremely uneven terrain and many large roots running along the ground.  It can be difficult on your calves but I found out the hard way that because of the steepness of the trail my toes kept mashing into the front of my shoes.  My feet were barking big time when we arrived at the car.  I suffered a toe nail injury that most people would be hospitalized for but I just ignored it. I can still feel a little pain today but I think I will live.  Joan thinks I’m a big baby!  She could be right!!   

Yesterday we headed over to Perledo, a small town on the far east side of the lake. A ten minute ferry ride from Menaggio to the lake side town of Varenna and then up the mountainside about eight kilometers. Our destination was a small restaurant that offers a cooking class a couple of times a week. Our host, Moreno, who owns the restaurant with his family showed us how to prepare two delicious pasta dishes and a rice dish called risotto. There were 11 of us in attendance and he did a masterful job in explaining the procedure, the ingredients, the measurements and the cooking times. We were asked to assist him at various times and almost everyone (not me) did some of the work.  After everything was prepared we took a little break while he cooked it all and then, of course, we all sat down to a delicious lunch.  The family made it very pleasant for us with plenty of wine, bread, bottled water, coffee, cappuccinos, etc.  The price for this experience was 35 Euro each.  We all thought this was a good value. We finally left around 3PM, caught the ferry back, stopped for a  gelato at our favorite spot in Menaggio and came home and skipped dinner!   Another great day in Italy!!