Sweet Potato Soup

Tony was out tonight, one benefit of which is that I can eat whatever I want! Usually I eat things like beets or fancy salads, you know, things that make him gag or that he only indulges in once in a blue moon, but tonight I felt like making soup. Plus, I had a bunch of vegetables that needed to be cooked. I managed to make a really delicious soup and I'm going to blog about it right away in case I decide to try to recreate it later, since I didn't follow a recipe.

First, I peeled a big sweet potato and cut it into big chunks, which I threw onto a plate with a tablespoon of water and popped in the microwave for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, I diced half a yellow onion and started softening it in some butter. When the microwave beeped, I gave the potatoes a quick stir and put back in for another 4 minutes.

I had four small-ish carrots, which I peeled, chopped, and tossed in with the onions. Then I added a head of garlic, which I probably should have just started with the onions but honestly the garlic was an afterthought. I also had about a half a can of pumpkin puree (frozen) so I tossed that in there as well along with another half a can of evaporated milk (also frozen). When the potatoes finished cooking, I gave them a rough smash and tossed them into the pot with about a cup and a half of whole milk, and let the whole shebang simmer. I seasoned with about a tablespoon of salt, and a bunch of spices which I just used to taste: cumin, chili powder, white pepper, red pepper, thyme, ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric. I would have added paprika as well, but I forgot I used it all up this weekend when I mixed a batch of cajun seasoning. Whoopsie.

After simmering for about 10 minutes, I removed the pot from the heat and used my immersion blender to smooth it out. It was a bit thick, so I added a bit more milk, and tasted for seasoning. I amped up the red pepper, salt, and turmeric at this point, but was super happy with how quickly it all came together. When I served it, I topped with Slovenian pumpkin seed oil and roasted pistachios.

After eating, I split what was left. One half I'll freeze to eat as is another time, and to the other half I plan to add coconut milk and curry powder, and probably more ginger. That was my original plan for tonight, until I saw the evaporated milk in the freezer and tasted the batch halfway through. It didn't really need anything else, but it made a pretty large batch so I figured I'd change the flavor profile a little for the leftovers. Using the microwave for the potatoes while I got everything else chopped really saved some time, and I sense more simple soups in my future!

Brendola, part 2: L'incompiuta, town, and La Pergola Trattoria

After we left Volcar Spa, we headed toward the old part of Brendola. Before we quite got to the old town center, however, we made a very brief pit stop at L'imcompiuta, or the Incomplete Church. Construction of this building started during Mussolini's reign, during the 1920s and was halted for budgetary reasons. I think it is in a glorious state of decay and would have loved to poke around inside it, but unfortunately it is fenced off so you can only really appreciate it from the outside. However, the church is enormous and juts out more or less by itself halfway up a hillside, so if you are headed into the Berici Hills toward Brendola, you can't miss it. There's a place next door called Monkey's Cafe, which looked really cute; although I didn't get a chance to try it out during our class field trip, I would patronize it just for the fun name.

L'incompiuta: The Incomplete Church

Here you can see L'incompiuta from above

After poking around at the unfinished church for a few minutes, our caravan continued onward to the main (only) parking area in Brendola, which is a tiny town of only about six thousand residents. The first picture below is looking up toward the Madonna dei Prati church. Madonna dei Prati means Madonna of the Meadows, and I can only imagine it's called that because of the views. A quick wikipedia search reveals there's been a worship site on that particular hill for hundreds of years. Though the church building itself was reportedly built in the 1600s, its entry portals date to the 15th century and the building was built atop a probable pagan worship site. [Edited: After doing some reading about the Brendola area, I'm not convinced I got the name of this church correct. I'm going to leave it for now but I will update once I confirm the true name.]

Madonna dei Prati, as viwed from below

Madonna dei Prati Roman Catholic Church

View of the surrounding area from Brendola, in the Berici Hills; on a clear day you can see Romeo's castle

Originally our class instructor was going to take us to lunch at a restaurant called Novecento (nine hundred) which is situated right next to the church and is part of a B&B. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation, but it's also on my list of places to visit on a future trip to the area. In this context, the name Novecento actually refers to the year 1900 (mille novecento) and the origins of the restaurant, which is probably still run by the same family.

Since Novecento was closed, we walked back down through the tiny town to the parking area, practicing giving directions in Italian. "Sempre dritto, giri sulla destra..." Luckily the town was so small there was no way we could get lost! Once again, we loaded up our caravan and headed a few kilometers beyond the town to La Pergola Trattoria, which is a locally famous place with absolutely stunning views. The parking area is adjacent to a vineyard, and I would love to go back later in the year when the vines have leaves on them. And as promised, we had a better view of the castle ruins from the restaurant. Rocca dei Vescovi, or Rock of Bishops. It's also sometimes called the Castello dei Vescovi, or Castle of Bishops, and dates back at least to the 1000s, though it was at least partially destroyed and rebuilt in the early 1500s. The ruins were originally designed as a watchtower because they are so high up. You are allowed to hike up there, and I bet the views from the very top of the hill are stunning! Have I mentioned yet that I would like to go back to this area and do some more exploring?

Looking out into the valley from La Pergola

Looking up at the Rocca dei Vescovi

We sat down at several long tables put together, and a waitress opened up bottles of red, white, and sparkling wine. Oh, Italy, how I adore you. And your lunches. And your alcohol. We got to try a 2013 and a 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, which were both pretty good. The white wine was called a Gambellara, which was very very boring, and the sparkling was a Brut Spumante. All were local!

Our first course was a purple potato soup with little pancetta crisps and bread on top. It almost had the consistency of refried beans, but it was quite good. Next we had one of my favorites: risotto! This was zuca e trufoli, aka pumpkin and truffles, and it was really delicious, perhaps the best risotto I've had since I moved to Italy. The Berici Hills are known for their black truffles, which are plentiful and cheaper than the white variety. One of my classmates piped up that there's a local training course where you can drop your dog off for three weeks and when you pick it up, it's a trained truffle hunter! Doesn't that sound like fun? I would love to go truffle hunting one day. Dessert consisted of an apple tart thing which I don't know how to describe. Our instructor called it an apple pie, but it didn't resemble any apple pie I've ever seen. They came in little round pats as if they were made in ramekins, and had a texture somewhere between a pineapple upside down cake and a creme brulee. Regardless of what it was called, accompanied by fresh custard it was a perfect finish to the meal.

Inside La Pergola, which was decorated for Easter

Here's one last picture from earlier in the day, which might just be my favorite. The sun was shining, the air was clear, the company was nice, the food was delicious, and now I want to go back and share it with more people!

Brendola, part 1: Volcar Spa, which is not really a spa

One perk of taking an Italian class offered on post is that toward the end of the series you get to go on two different field trips, locations voted on by the class. Our class voted on going to a goat farm to taste and buy cheese, and to a knitwear factory for a tour and some outlet shopping, followed by lunch. Yesterday was the first field trip, to the Volcar Spa knitwear factory in Brendola, about 20 minutes outside of Vicenza. I had exceptionally low expectations for this one, and I wound up having a really fantastic day!

We agreed to meet on post in the Commissary parking lot at 0900, and in order to do that I caught the 0815 bus from my house. One of my classmates saw me walking and gave me a lift, which was a nice way to start the day. After counting heads, organizing carpools, and determining the route, our caravan departed for the town of Brendola. For the most part it was an easy trip, but Italian traffic gave us some nerve-wracking moments and I was very glad to be a passenger. I realized the knitwear factory is fairly close to Le Pignole Winery, which is one of my favorites not only for the wine but for its great views of the hillside. Volcar is tucked into a residential area, near the end of a street that backs up onto a hill. Once we parked all the cars and gathered in the lot, our Italian instructor pointed out some castle ruins on the hill behind us and said we'd get a better view of it from our lunch spot.(This later proved to be true, and I'll have some scenic pictures in part 2 of this post.)

In Italy, a true outlet is not what we think of in the States, a block of maybe-discount fine goods and luxury stores in a remote location. While you can find these malls, they may not really have any good deals and often cater to tourists. Traditionally, an outlet is a room attached to a factory where you can buy the goods they produce at a discounted price. These might be prototypes, flawed items, or goods from a previous year. ANYWAY, Volcar subscribes to this way of thinking and we first walked into the shop. There was a ten Euro bin, a 20 Euro shelf, a 40 Euro shelf, three 30% discount racks, and some other racks with dresses and sweaters. We had a good time digging through the bins and poking through the clothing. Volcar produces clothing for such designers as Pucci, Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Chloe, and more. The outlet isn't allowed to sell clothing with those labels on it, but when you purchase an item you can ask who designed it and they'll tell you. So really you can get designer items at steep discounts because they don't have the label. I tried on a cute dress that still had a Valentino label on it (oops) but even at the reduced price I decided I didn't want to splurge for it. I did, however, find a fantastic purple cashmere scarf. Score!

Once we'd had our fill of rummaging through the outlet clothes, we started our tour of the factory. Our guide spoke very good English and explained we were free to take pictures of the workers and supplies, but not of the clothing or designs. The reason for this is that some of the clothing currently in production are prototypes, or are part of 2015 and 2016 fall and spring lines, and haven't been released to the public yet. Our first glimpse was of some automated machines that I can only assume were doing the actual knitting. Behind that were some more machines with people manning them; these ladies were working on more complicated patterns. There were also spools and spools and spools and spools of thread everywhere, in just about every color imaginable. The factory wasn't as loud as I thought it might be, but it was still difficult to hear my tour guide for the first few minutes, as I got stuck in the back of the group because I stopped every couple of feet to take pictures.

Knitting

We got to go into one of the design shops and look at some of the designs in use, and I saw some cool sketches on the worktable. There were also dozens and dozens of patterns hanging from a rack, and a few sketchbooks, and another rack full of garments. Our guide pulled out a black and white knit Dior (I think) sweater that went down the runway, and showed us some of the special work done to fit it to the model. For example, the elbows were puckered and there were basically invisible darts around the bust. He showed us how the blacks and whites matched up to ensure continuity of the striping, and explained that was done by hand in a very time-consuming and painstaking manner. We also saw some impossible thin strands of shimmery, glimmery thread that don't really show up in normal lighting but are used to call attention to garment highlights under the runway lights. Later, we saw more thread samples, some of them experimental, with plasticky or wax paper feeling to it. (Apparently there's a young up-and-coming Japanese designer who is using those.) We saw thread with sequins already sewn in, too. As we continued our tour through the factory, our guide showed us a few more couture pieces, and the detail work was amazing. He was quite pleased to show us a few pictures of models going down the runway wearing their clothing, as well.

Runway clothing produced at Volcar.

The next stop on our tour was a workroom where they were apparently making a ballgown. I couldn't see much, but everybody else said it was beautiful. Moving on.

Attaching sleeve and collar to a sweater

Manual pressing for details

1 of 3 presses, all different

Our next stop was in the workroom where laborers (knitters? seamstresses?) were stitching together various components of garments. We got a close look of a lady attaching a sleeve and collar to a sweater. It was a round kind of machine with spokes on it, onto which the lady had to slide each individual stitch for the two pieces, and then stitch them together. There are two short videos on my Facebook page, if you want to check them out. I gained a new appreciation for handmade clothing here. From this stop we could also see a table full of people (three women and one man) sewing details onto pieces, and three more ladies ironing clothing. We turned a corner and had a brief stop to look at the industrial presses. Needless to say, it was quite warm in this corner of the factory! There were three big presses, and after each garment is ironed it goes to ladies who do the finishing detail presses before the clothes are bagged for shipping. Each piece goes in its own giant Ziploc-style bag. I know this is a little out of order, but I'm writing about it in the order we took the tour, not necessarily the order in which the clothes are made. After we looked at the presses, we saw a lady pulling sweaters onto these two cones that looked like upside-down mannequin legs. Well heck, for all I know that's what they were, but importantly, these mannequin legs lit up, like conical light boards, for someone to examine clothing for flaws. Each stitch is clearly illuminated, and every single garment is individually inspected for quality control purposes.

Mannequin legs! Just kidding, this is quality control at its finest

Here we took another stop to look at some clothing, including a GORGEOUS Oscar de la Renta dress that looks like it was embroidered on directly. We also saw a really neat sweater that looked like an old-school sweatshirt made of denim. It had a pocket-shape on the front, but no actual pocket, and had an ombre fade look to it. We learned this affect was achieved via an enzyme bath. Our guide also showed us a red sweater that was cableknit on the front and very plain on the back. It was designed by some young British dude who is experimenting with new styles in knitting - the bottom sections of the cableknit were sort of distressed - gaps with only horizontal threads, for example, to make it look hole-y. It's hard to describe and I couldn't take a picture, but it was a neat combination of what you might see on a traditional Irish wool sweater and urban underground streetwear. He also explained the packaging process to us, and showed us bins full of clothing ready to be sent out to distributors. The owner of the shop came out to say hello, our guide answered a few questions, and then we were off to the next part of the day's adventure...

Valentine's Day in Florence

Our four-day weekend plans got blown apart by work, but we still managed to salvage the situation and spend some good quality time together over Valentine's weekend. Neither of us cares too much about the holiday and didn't intend it to be a Valentine date or anything, but it was still quite lovely. With our ongoing car troubles, we haven't ventured too far from home the last several months, but we bit the bullet and had a rental car that weekend. Rather than taking the train, we decided to take a road trip!

The drive from our house to Florence was just about three hours south of where we are in Italy. Even though I've been there before, I was still somehow surprised to find myself driving through mountains on the way there. There was snow! And fog, lots of fog. Rather than getting an early start, we decided to be lazy, and arrived just a few minutes before lunch. We parked at the Fortezza di Basso and walked into the city center from there. Since we were in Florence, and hungry, of course we had to have a Florentine steak. Well, I take that back. Tony had a Florentine steak, which I ogled, and I had duck pasta. So much foooood! We each had the house red wine, which is usually a good call in Italy. Right again!

The Ponte Vecchio

Um, what?

We had no plan and no agenda, so after partaking of some delicious sustenance, we just wandered around. We attempted to buy tickets to the Uffizi ahead of time, but Tony got confused by the website and we decided we'd just do that once we got there. Big mistake. We elected NOT to stand in that line and instead just continued our meanderings. We took in the Ponte Vecchio and of course found the Duomo. (We elected not to stand in that line, either.) I also did a double-take and popped down a side street when I noticed some crazy sculptures. These things were all white, human bodies with animal heads. Some of them were on the street level and the rest were perched as if climbing the building walls or hanging from a tightrope. 

Duomo

Unaware that there was a chocolate festival going on, we were pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of vendors set up in one of the plazas. There were truffles, chocolate-covered fruits, cakes, ice creams, and all sorts of treats. We also stepped into an antique store and spent a few minutes browsing and talking with the owners. There were some demijohns and bottles from the 1800s, banister spokes, carvings, and beautiful paintings. If I ever win the lottery, I'm going back to that store! Fortunately, I don't have to win the lottery to head back to Florence, since it's so close and easy to get to. We debated stopping in Bologna for dinner on the way home, but we were just enjoying the road trip and decided to push on home. It was almost like "the olden days" when we used to make the 2.5 hour drive between Astoria and Lacey before we got married. I think it's true what they say; you should only marry someone if you travel well together! It was a small adventure, but a happy one.