Pasta, Piselli e Pancetta

Back in October last year, our 'Twitter daughter', Amy, 

posted this blog:

 http://sunshineandtomatoes.blogspot.it/2013/10/pasta-and-peas-perfect.html

Hubby, being the domesticated one in this marriage, decided

to give it a try, but decided it was lacking that

'extra little something', so added pancetta

to the mix....

And it was delish!

As Amy says, the key to this dish is to use

small pasta; this evening we used conchigliette piccole

And a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano, plus

pepe nero brings this dish to perfection.

January Dawn

Breaking dawn

It seems a while since we had a breathtaking dawn, but 

this morning we did. About an hour after after I got up,

I spotted that Castellabate was bathing in a rosy glow - which
meant the skies above Leila's Mountain must be looking good -
so I grabbed my camera & ran outside.....

Shepherds' warning

Clouds on fire

The results were pretty spectacular, even if I do say so myself
(although hubby took this final shot on his camera)

Safe Harbour

Porte delle Gatte

The storms raged from Saturday evening until yesterday

morning. Today is the first day there has

been almost no wind to speak of, so we 

went into Santa Maria this afternoon. 

Dry dock

Normally there are a couple of fishing boats bobbing about

in Porte delle Gatte, but today there were none. Nor

were there any at the water's edge....

they've all been pulled well away from 

the rough seas that will have battered the coast

for the past few days.

Safe harbour

Kite Pirates

Sky, sea, sails

On Friday & Saturday the winds foretelling today's rain

began, and slowly increased in strength 

to gale force by Saturday evening.

Perfect conditions for windsurfing & kitesurfing.

So the 'Kite Pirates' were down at

Case del Conte beach 'en masse' (should I be 

using French in a blog about Italian life?).

Kite strewn sand

Saturday afternoon saw us down there, armed with our

cameras. For me, it was about the kites & the sails - 

their colours and forms against a backdrop of

sea & sky.  Hubby's eye was on the action - 

much easier with a telephoto lens.

I'll let you guess which shots are whose....

Making it look easy

Sail away

Almost flying

Maurizio - Captain of the Kite Pirates

Free as a bird

You can see more of hubby's photos by clicking here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjitalia/sets/

La Luna Più Piccola

Full moon rising

So last night was the first Full Moon of 2014

& also the smallest of the year.

The day had been mostly cloudy & wet,

but it broke to give an unexpected sunset

before twilight turned to night and

we waited for the moon to rise above

Leila's Mountain.

Evening moon

And when it did, it truly shone.  Even at midnight, it

was bright as day outside - that's the joy of no light 

pollution.

Midnight

Then when I got up at 6 am, it was hanging above

Monte Licosa, still glowing & being totally stunning

to look at.

Oh So Simple, But Oh So Tasty

 We haven't had this dish for a while.

We were going to have it last night, but we

had lunch with the la famiglia Russo yesterday &

were too 'pigged out' to have more than a

ham & mozzarella toastie.

So this evening we did....

Pancetta e pomodorini

It's such a simple dish - garlic fried in a little olive oil,

then cubetti di pancetta added & cooked for a few minutes

before adding those delicious Cilentan pomodorini.

A pan of pasta is happily bubbling away whilst this is

going on.

If we were Italian, those simple ingredients would be

sufficient. But we're not, so we also cook batons of 

carote e zucchine.

Dished up & 'ready to go'

A beautifully simple dish, but those flavours just burst on your tongue.

Chiusa Al Transito - An Update

The SR ex SS 267 has now been (sort of) closed for

almost 8 weeks. I say 'sort of' because they

keep re-opening it on Sundays.

I found the notice of closure on the Comune's website & there is

no indication of when the road will re-open permanently.

It's closed for safety reasons, as the heavy rains in November

have caused a major 'frana' - luckily no-one was hurt.

And as I mentioned in my original 'Chiusa Al Transito' blog http://cilentofairytales.blogspot.it/2013/11/chiusa-al-transito.html

we have had some black looks from drivers

coming up the mountain as we are driving down.

All has now become clear as to why....

They've put up a 'No Entry' sign at the top of our road,

but the Comune didn't bother to let us know - we discovered

it when we resumed our daily walks up the mountain.

And, this being Italy, they dig it up every Sunday & then

re-concrete it in first thing Monday morning.

An Unexpected Lunch Invite

Maria, Raffaella, Luigi, Hubby & Angelo

We were on our way to La Torretta for lunch,

as is our wont on a Saturday, and we stopped off

at the Russo's to hand back the carboy

that had held the olive oil they'd given us

at Christmas back in 2012 (yes, we've only just emptied it, 

our own oil from 2011's harvest having lasted

until mid November).

As usual, we were greeted in true Italian

style - big hugs, kissing of both cheeks

& "come stai?"

We tried to just hand back the carboy & quickly leave.

But no, we were invited to stay for lunch.

Being the reserved Brits that we are (she says,

tongue in cheek), we politely refused.

Maria got quite upset at our refusal & wanted to

know why we didn't want to eat with them.

It's not that we didn't want to - the smells coming from

the kitchen were somewhat mouthwatering -

but neither of us were brought up that you 

drop in unexpectedly & end up sharing a meal.

But all the family insisted, so we stayed...

and it was good.

Pasta 'semplice'

And, finally, after knowing them for 3 years, I managed to 

get a couple of photos of them together.

The Russos have 'adopted' us

Quasi Italiani

It's 11th January 2011 & we're off to the Comune

in Montecorice to apply for residency.

Armed with Birth & Marriage Certificates,

Passports and Bank statements, we

meet Silvia & Angelo outside the

Anagrafe so that Silvia can translate for

us if needs be.

It's all very laid back this far south - no appointment

necessary - just turn up & if someone's free they'll

welcome you with a smile (which grows bigger

when they realise you are 'stranieri'),

invite you to sit down & then carry on

chatting with their colleagues before 'getting down

to business'.

The form Annibale needed to fill out was huge -

the same size as the open pages of one

of the daily broadsheets. He filled it all

in with hubby's details, took photocopies of

all of our documents & then proceeded to input

all the info onto his computer.

It was explained that we could now expect a

'home visit' from the Polizia Municipale

within the next few weeks. And that was that.

We were 'quasi Italiani' simply by virtue

of having gone through the first fairly painless 

stage of applying for residency.

Dieci Quintali

Diminishing log pile

The log pile has been running low for a few days now,

but what with Natale, Capodanno & La Befana,

our local wood yard hadn't been open very often,

nor had they had much legno.

But yesterday they did, so we called in on our way 

back from Santa Maria. Hubby explained exactly

what we were after - 'piccoli' - and asked for

'dieci quintali' to be delivered. We were assured

it would be with us yesterday afternoon....

needless to say, it wasn't. Nor first thing this morning.

It arrived just as we'd finished lunch.

Dieci quintali

Which meant we spent a fair bit of the afternoon piling it up 

at the back of the carport & stacking the smaller logs in the log 

store at the back of the house.

Backbreaking work, but quite rewarding from a

photography point of view....

Replenished once more

Oh, and not forgetting those romantic evenings 

snuggled together in front of a roaring log fire.

My Resolution for 2014

The tree is back in the loft......the cards have been 

taken off the mantelpiece......all the fizz has been drunk......

there's no panettone left......

the Christmas season is well & truly over.

I'm not normally one for making New Year's Resolutions

but this year I've made an exception.

I think it's one I'll be able to keep.

I Have A New Toy

After breakfast this morning hubby asked if I'd like

to go shopping at Campania Marcianise - what

girl is ever going to say 'no'?

It's 'saldi' time, & I knew that the dress hubby bought me

from Motivi for Christmas also came in purple AND

it had 20% off. 

They had just 2 left in my size, so I was one happy bunny as

I grabbed one & took it to the till.

After lunch at McDonalds (I know, awful aren't we?)

we headed for Guess where hubby picked up a pair of 

jeans & a t-shirt. We grabbed a quick Illy coffee & then made our 

way back to the car.....I expected we'd be heading home

but hubby said we needed to look in Euronics and

Media World at cameras...........for me!

So this is my new toy - still in it's box,

but boy am I going to have fun playing with it

Buon Anno Tutti!

2014 has arrived!

And as we stood on our terrace drinking fizz,

watching fireworks going off in San Marco, Castellabate

& along the Amalfi coast, I suddenly realised that this

was the first New Year's Eve we'd actually spent at Il Sogno.

Yes, I know we've lived here since 2010, 

but the first two New Year's Eves were spent

down at Sulle Onde della Collina, drinking

Danilo's fizz & watching fireworks.

Then last New Year's Eve was spent at

the Russos.

So this New Year's Eve has been another

'first' for hubby & me - just the 2 of us welcoming in

the New Year.

Buon Anno tutti.