Kayaking on the Tyrrhenian Sea

Steve

A view of the coast that we explored while kayaking.  This was shot from the bus up on the highway.  The stone tower and little beach we discovered are straight down from here, hidden from view. 

We have enjoyed some unreasonably good weather since we arrived, but last week weather man finally announced the first winter storm.  Well, rather than cancel school due to bad weather, we decided to get a jump on things and cancel school due to the last of some really good weather.  I had been eyeing some kayaks that rent by the hour down on the beach, and figured that what better way to end our summer than with a day out on the water.  The place we rented from only had one double kayak, a bright yellow plastic affair.  With little choice, we rented it and put the girls together in the front and I took up the paddler's position in the back.  Jo Anne grabbed the red single version, and we were off.  The sea was deep blue and calm and there was almost no wind, so we glided along fairly effortlessly.  Now at this point, I must thank my wife.  Having grown up around the ocean, on a calm day like this I saw no reason for life jackets.  I find they just make the experience uncomfortable and thought them unnecessary as both our girls can swim.  However once we were drifting along with the open ocean to one side and the cliffs of the Amalfi coast on the other, I was glad Jo Anne had insisted that we get jackets for the girls.  Kudos to her and her motherly instincts.

We had been paddling along for thirty minutes or so, spying sea caves in the cliff wall and enjoying the view, when we came to a rather jagged slab of rock that rose sixty feet or more from the surface of the water.  On top there was some vegetation, but nothing more.  As we got closer, we could see that although it was near the cliff, it was not actually connected, and the sea water ran through the little channel this tower created with the cliff wall.  Well, we had to go through that!  It looked like something one might expect to see in the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, though it was much more inviting without all the human skeletons sloshing about.  Jo Anne went first (hey, I had the kids) to be sure there were no rocks just under the surface, and I followed.  It was a short passage, and on the other side we found ourselves in a small turquoise bay ringed by steep cliffs.  On the far side of the bay we could see the remnants of an old turkish watch tower standing guard over the point, and directly in front of us lay a small inconspicuous little beach.  We immediately made for the beach, but as we got closer we could see that the beach was already inhabited.  A single individual was walking along the beach, and my aging eyes told me the he was not wearing a swim suit (or anything else for that matter).  My bubble burst, as I began to fear that we had uncovered some sort of Italian nudist colony.  Not the experience I was hoping for, especially given the age of my companions.  The individual disappeared behind some rocks, and while Jo Anne and I were discussing what to do, he reappeared clad in a black swim suit, clamored over the rocks toward the tower, and was gone.  Whew!  Our little landing party was back on, and a few minutes later the nose of both kayaks dug into the shoreline.  This place was truly amazing.  The beach and water sparkled, and there was no trace of people (or the garbage they often leave behind).  The first thing I did was cool off from the paddle with a swim.  The water was clearer than a lot of swimming pools I've been in, with hues of blue and green that would make you think you're somewhere in the the south Pacific.  The girls dropped their jackets and headed off to explore the beach, which was bounded by a shallow little cave on one end and a wall of flat, table like stones on the other.  For the time being the place was deserted, and we spent the later part of the afternoon swimming and lying in the sun.   

Now the meter was running on the kayaks, and we hadn't brought any food or water as we did not expect to be gone for so long. Although we were all really enjoying ourselves, it was after 3:30 so we figured we had better get paddling.  Then just as we were getting ready to launch the kayaks, the former nude sunbather came scrambling back over the rocks and came up to say hello.  His name was Jacquino, and he said he lived in a house higher up on the cliff.  We mentioned how impressed we were with the beauty of the place, and he told us it was his favorite beach and he always came down for a swim after he got off work.  Then he noticed we did not have any food with us, and promptly stocked us up with tangerines and water that he had stashed away up near the cliff.  (Have I mentioned how nice people are around here?)  We thanked him profusely and were on our way.  We paddled back through the little rock channel (we could have gone around through the open bay, but not nearly as fun) and with the wind at our backs pulled up on Il Fornillo beach around 4:30 pm with smiles on our faces.  After some snacks from the beach bar, we headed back to our apartment, picking up two pizzas on the way.  We closed the day with pizza and beer on our balcony, sending off the summer in grand fashion.  This day goes down as one of my favorites of the time we've spent here in Italy.  When I had first imagined moving to Italy for the fall, I had hoped it would be a chance to ditch the rat race and enjoy life and the family for a little while.  This was a day where I felt we did just that.

Sadly, we were not able to bring any sort of camera with us on the kayaking adventure, so no photos exist of our day on the water.  Fortunately for you the reader, our girls were kind enough to provide illustrations of the excursion.

A Home Cooked Meal

Making the layers of eggplant parmesan.

A storm blew in a couple of days ago.  We watched it coming up the valley.  It was dry where we stood but you could see sheets of rain falling into the sea.  In a few minutes it moved onto shore and was such a wall of water you couldn't see anything behind it.  The sea disappeared, next the town, and soon the rain was slapping against the tiles of our balcony.  Since this was supposed to keep up for a couple of days we thought it might be a good time to stay indoors and start making some home cooked meals.  With the rain, also came our first credit card bill with all those fine dinners accounted for.  We added up the monthly cost of our restaurant frenzy and it was a bad figure.   Another reason to find our way around the kitchen.

Steve and I had taken a cooking class together at one of the local restaurants when his sister was out visiting.  The restaurant was Max and the instructor's name was Pasquale.  I loved listening to him describe how to make the dishes.  That is how the class went.  He talked about what needed to be done, while one of the chefs did the cooking, and we watched and took notes.  It was something about the way he spoke English and the melody of it that I think could make anything sound good.  He could be describing boiling brussel sprouts and I would have thought "Mmm..those brussel sprouts are going to be delicious!".   The fact is though, the food tasted as good as he made it sound.  It did not include brussel sprouts.

We learned a few dishes, one being eggplant parmesan.  We tried that on our first rainy night.  It only required five ingredients; eggplant, mozzarella, parmigiana, tomato sauce, and basil.  A key was first coating the eggplant in salt and sugar to remove the bitter juices from it.  Ella and Samantha had a good time putting the layers together.  Amazingly, it turned out really well, maybe not to the Max standard but not bad.  The second rainy night was gnocchi.  Steve made the dough with potatoes, flour, salt, and an egg.  He made long rolls of it and chopped them up into bite size pieces.  The final part involved using your thumb to press down on the bite size piece and roll it across a fork, to make the notches in the pasta.  It got another thumbs up from the girls.  With a little bit of confidence we are on to fried zucchini blossoms next! 

Rolling out the dough for the gnocchi.

Our big helper

Our little helper

My gnocchi was relegated to a second bowl until I
got the fork rolling technique down.  

Gnocchi and zucchini

Stuffed zucchini blossoms

Frying the blossoms

The finished dish.  Yum!

Unrelated to our cooking, a picture of what I think is the town
cemetery up on the hill before the storm hit.

I think I've found "my house" here.  It's a little bit out of town, built into the cliffs,
looks a bit like a castle, and is covered in bougainvillea.  It has a wide open view
of the Mediterranean.

Wild Cyclamen

I usually buy a cyclamen plant around Christmas.  I love the delicate, lavender flowers and they last far past the season.  I've never seen them growing in the wild before.  In the mountains around town they are everywhere.

An Adventure

 by Jo Anne

Watching the sunset over Capri from Praiano.
You can see  the "Sirens" to the left of  the island.  This was taken by our friend Rio.

Steve caught me the other morning giving my "adventure" talk to the girls.  Whenever we head out on a trip that's going to involve a long drive on windy roads or a tiring walk, I try to pump them up a little with the idea that it's a big adventure.  Steve had smiled, and not quite out of earshot said, "And when Mommy says "big adventure" what she means is a long trip you are not going to want to go on."  He had me there.  The whole reason for the "big adventure" talk was because I thought there might be some complaints. The important part though was that although I knew they might not be thrilled with the journey, that once we got there they would be glad they came.

Lately, we've put a hold on the "big adventures" and taken some time to settle in here.  I'd say we definitely know the restaurants well at this point.  Everyone has their favorite dish.  It amazes me that Ella's is mussels.  She can turn a plate of them into empty shells in mere minutes.  Her little sister has recently decided she likes them too.  My new discovery is fried zucchini blossoms.  They take the blossom of the zucchini plant, stuff it with ricotta cheese among other things, coat it in a light tempura batter and fry it.  Our promise to each other is that we will start eating at the apartment more or we may soon be destitute.  So far, my home cooked meals have included only bruschetta, but I do have that down.  Ella and Samantha are trying their hardest to make some new friends here.  Lately they have been playing a bit with some of the kids down at the center of town along the water.  There is stretch of flat pavement and there are bikes and scooters to share.  They have let Ella and Samantha in on their fun.  I signed them up for a ceramics class recently.  Our neighbor below, Fernando, had told me his wife had a ceramics shop in town and sometimes gives classes to kids.  They are counting the days.  For me, I've found a running loop that winds up into the cliff and then back down through the town's main road.  It ends with a long set of stairs.  It is by far the prettiest running path I've ever taken.  I just need to be careful not to get so caught up in the scenery that I'm taken out by a SITA bus.  Samantha has started speaking Italian complete with hand gestures.  It is not real Italian, but to someone who does not speak the language it might sound like it.  She can really make us laugh…and occasionally make us pull our hair out.  The girls have befriended the town dog, Willy.  He is like the Benji of Positano and looking at him I'd say he is the best fed stray dog I've even seen.  It's fitting that in Positano even the stray dogs eat well.

I recently realized that Steve had given me the "big adventure" talk in order to get me to agree to this trip.  While in theory, I had been all for a family sabbatical at some point, I always expected it would be in the summer months with a new job lined up neatly on the other side of it.  It was a huge hurdle for me to consider taking the girls out of school and trying to "home school" them over here.  Asking to take such a large leave from my part-time job was a big hurdle as well.  Like the girls, I was brought along on this journey, and now I'm so glad I came.

Fried Zucchini Blossom

Ella and one more plate of mussels!

Samantha giving them a try.

Meeting some of the kids in town.

View from the "running loop".

Ella listening to one of the Sal Khan math videos on the web.  Steve thinks I'm obsessed with Sal Khan.  Maybe I am!

The town dog "Willy"

Hanging at the Wine Bar at Lago d'Orta 

We found a cozy wine bar just off the Piazza in Orta San Giulio

Steve 

We took a trip up to the Italian lake region up in the north to attend a friend's wedding and to get a taste of northern Italy.  We stayed in the beautiful little village of San Giulio, on the shore of Lago d'Orta.  While exploring the town, we discovered a cozy little wine bar that boasted a huge inventory of Italian wines, many from local producers.  We paid our first visit to this quaint little establishment after a long afternoon of hiking through the hills surrounding the village.  Our server laid out a generous portion of salami, cheeses, olives, and other snacks on a large wooden board, along with some red wine that was among the best we've had during our stay in Italy.  While we were enjoying this perfect ending to our long day, a couple came into the bar and sat down across from us.  There was nothing that really stood out about this couple, but I did notice that the woman's hair had been clipped very short - to the point where it was only slightly longer than the butch hair style you see so many young boys don in the summer months.  I was well into enjoying the wine and food at the time, and I remember little else about the pair.  

The next day, I heard Samantha make some remark to Ella regarding how funny she thought this woman looked.  Ella chastised her for laughing, and told her that the woman had "hair disease", that she had a friend in school who suffered from this ailment and that it was not nice to laugh at people with hair disease.  I chuckled to myself, because I remembered the woman from the bar and clearly her appearance was not the result of a medical condition but rather a hair style she had opted for.  Later that day, after a rainy tour of the island of San Giulio, we found ourselves at the same wine bar.  A small fire was going in the fireplace, and before long we were set up with a feast similar to the day before.  As our wine glasses neared empty, another couple ducked into the bar to grab a drink and take shelter from the weather.  They were an older couple, and the woman wore her gray hair in a short, well kept style.  Samantha spotted her, and before the woman had even taken her seat Samantha pointed and yelled, "Mommy, she has hair disease!"  We reigned her in a fast as we could, and the woman barely reacted other than to glance our way.  Once the situation was under control, Jo Anne and I could barely control our snickering - which would only make matters worse if Samantha caught us.  In the end, our laughter went largely undetected, and we ended up chatting with the couple before we departed.  (They spoke English quite well.)  Fortunately for us, it appears that hair disease doesn't affect one's sense of humor.  (I should know - I'm pretty sure I have it.)

   

Attempting to cure a case of "hair disease" at the wine bar in Orta San Giulio

A sample of the bar's selection.  We didn't try all of these, but wanted to.  

(Hey, they don't call us Gustavino for nothing.)

The "Limoncello Lifestyle" with Rico