Day 10 Friday June 13th 2008

It was a really late start today. Amber & Wendel left with the kids for Rome to go home; so they didn’t end up leaving until noon. Everyone lazed around the house kinda waiting but kinda loving the fact that it was a free day and you could do whatever you wanted. I decided I wanted to go to a restaurant supply place and called Susan to find out where to go.

The waitress at Pano & Vino had told me about Metro where all the restaurateurs go, and I really wanted to go there. When I called to ask her she said it was a wholesale place only and that I wouldn’t be able to get in. You had to have a special license from the Italian government. She said there were two other places in Deruta that had that kind of stuff and I should try them. I was happy because I had wanted to go look at ceramic history and kilns there, but never got to.

Everyone left and everyone left still couldn’t decide what to do. So I said I was leaving and going to the restaurant supply store. Josh sort of wanted to go to but is never really definitive if he wants to go for sure, because it might not be good, and then it would have been a waste of time.

When we got to Deruta, most shops were closed because we arrived at lunchtime. However as luck would have it again, we hit a ceramics festival. The artists were all coming to town today and you could paint your own pottery in the city center, on the piazza. We walked around and saw cool estrucan kilns you could walk into. They had these old Perugia chocolate box artwork that was used to make Perugia famous chocolate boxes in the kiln. They were really beautiful.

They call the type of ceramics here in Deruta majolica. There were lots of great pottery shops everywhere. They try to market ceramics to everyone, even to Wendel who plays guitars; too bad he had already left. The fountains and the decorations on the houses were all very interesting and made this town look very different from the rest we had seen. I love the fact they have plants hanging all around outside their houses. There were broken urns used to hold plants and beautiful ceramic statues.

Dad took Mavis to the playground since everything was so breakable. She wanted to swing herself and Dad let her. He didn’t know she couldn’t hold on very well and she went flying off and landed right on her face. Good thing Poppy was watching her.

I told Monica, whom I went to Italy with a few years ago, that I would find something cool for her and I thought I would find some great pottery here for her kitchen. The tiles ended up being really expensive and there weren’t any plates I fell in love with, so we will see what I end up finding to take back.

We found the first pizza equipment place. I had gone into a random store to ask directions because we couldn’t find it on our own. She said it was her brother that owned the store and he would come get us. After five minutes he showed up and we went and looked at his shop. He had huge machines and things for big operations not little equipment. I asked him in my broken Italian if he had the black cast iron pizza pans. I couldn’t understand why he said they don’t carry them anymore. It has something to do with the metal, but I am not sure. We bought two big pans for 9 euros each. I am excited to try them out when I get home.

We went to find the other place and couldn’t find that one either. But while we were there we saw a garden store. My mom wanted to get some seeds, after she tried my aggretti so we went to see what they had. They actually had a plant that just produces the blossoms for stuffing and frying so we bought those. They also had tons of cool bottles and bottling equipment for making your own wine or grape juice in my case. Too bad they are so big and breakable or I would take some stuff home.

Josh got tired of the scavenger hunt and decided to go do other things. I decided that I would try to go to Metro anyway because it was my free day and I hoped I might be able to get in anyway, although chances are it might be a fruitless effort. I decided to walk in through the “out” doors so I didn’t have to go by any check in desk. I did my normal body language that says “I know what I want and I’m on a mission, don’t bother me or ask me questions” look. Don’t make eye contact, keep walking, and fast. I knew I could always just speak English and play dumb if I had to. I made it in without anyone stopping me and once I was in I was stoked.

This place was like a Costco only stocked with primo food for the restaurant industry. They had everything. I started in the meat department and began to look at everything. Racks of meat and lots of different types of proscuitto and salami. They had the Caputo’s flour that I use for pizza so I know that is good. The salt that I pay 9.00 a bottle for was only 2,99 euros, so cheap! I’m not sure if I should buy some stuff. Do I want to take it home? Am I going to be so bold as to try to buy something here?

After I was in there for about 5 minutes, I turn around and my Dad was behind me. He walked in too, but through the front doors, he said the lady was busy and didn’t check. My mom was still sitting in the car, but my Dad didn’t come back to get her so she was afraid to bust in but didn’t want to miss anything by sitting in the car so she joined us too.

She started finding things she wanted so we decided we would try to buy stuff there. I got my clear vanilla extract booze and she got some bottles of mushrooms. We saw huge cans of tuna fish that Josh would have wanted but we didn’t know if he would want to take them back so we didn’t get them. I took pictures of lots of labels, just in case I ever open my own food store.

The produce there was incredible. I think the market people just come and get it here and then take it to the market. Maybe they are the only ones who have cars to do that. Or maybe they have the markets just for the tourists. The white button mushrooms were the size of lemons. The porcini one were almost as long as my hand. The oyster mushrooms were huge, and I have never seen them look as good as those ones, even in a Chinese market.

The artichokes were beautiful and still on long stems. There were so many types of tomatoes. I took pictures of all the varieties so I can grow them in Utah. The red cabbage almost looked black. I was surprised how much food was actually imported from other places. I guess in Italy they have to tell the country of origin. They had lots of seafood; Josh would have like that part. They had everything imaginable.

The cheese cave had so many varieties. I was surprised how heavy the wheels were. We took pictures of all the cheese for Josh. The one thing I couldn’t believe was that they had packs of pre-sliced cheese like we have in the US. I thought that was such a no no. The cheese we had been buying at the grocery store each morning was only 17 euro for 20 balls of buffalo instead of the 8 euros for 2 balls that we were paying. They had all types of tallegio cheese that is my brother’s favorite.

Another thing was they had was a huge isle of just gelato already made. So I wonder how many places just use this stuff. It was in the same metal containers and everything. So all they need to do is decorate with fruit. That really let the wind out of our gelato sails. Now we will have to look to see if it is truly artisianal before we eat it. They also had yummy toppings that we’ve had a couple of places.

After we got our goodies we went to pay for them and since we didn’t speak Italian they were really confused. The cashier was asking me for my card and I just kept giving her my Passport and my credit card. Frustrated she took me to the front desk to the other lady. I showed her the Pano &Vino card where they had written down where and what it was that I wanted. She must have looked up their account, wrote down the number and then sent me back to the cashier to pay. Thanks Pano & Vino!

Since we had an hour or two before we were going to meet Josh & Hiedi at Pano & Vino, I decided I wanted to try to find the farm that Salvator recommended to us, which was above Assissi. I wanted to see if it was any good and if it would be worth coming back to since we were very close. We just needed to go up the mountain to get to the place. We didn’t see the name for the place on the sign where the GPS was directing us but I decided to go up anyway. It was a bad decision.

I should have listened to Brit. It was raining really hard and Brit didn’t want to drive up the mountain. I really wanted to find the farm. We kept driving but it wasn’t anywhere to be found. So after 30 minutes we decided to come back down the mountain. It was raining so hard and we were so high up and the road was so narrow it was scary. The lesson learned is if you don’t see the sign, don’t go up the mountain because it wont be there. When we got back down the mountain I wanted to drive for a little bit further in the wrong direction, just to see if we could see the sign. Brit didn’t want to because I’m sure he thought if I found it we would have to drive up that mountain too and he really didn’t want to.

I didn’t push my luck. Brit is starting to get uncomfortable driving. We were joking saying in the car that I need to make a special air-cushioned ride out of bubble wrap for his privates. After two weeks of driving he is getting a little chaffed. But we found the sign for the agriturismo we were looking for. I stayed true to my word and once we found it we turned around. Brit was so happy. I was disappointed because I really wanted to see it. Another time, another reason to come back.

We met up with Josh & Hiedi at the restaurant. They were waiting for us by the beautiful view. Hiedi was feeding Jack and Mavis was playing around. This time we parked right in front of the restaurant; we are getting really bold now. Half on the street half off. The centerpiece was made of lemons and strawberries and wheat. Everything handmade.

I didn’t mind eating at the same restaurant, it was really good last time. I usually always want to try something new, but went with the majority who wanted to go back. They had a few different specials and we got a different lasagna which was good too. We had the half moon ravioli again fabulous. The Strangozzi with truffles, Josh got the beef carpaccio. Brit got the beef fillet grilled.

I got the pigeon with chicken liver sauce. Had I know it was chicken liver sauce I wouldn’t have gotten it, but the pigeon itself was really good. Mavis ate mst of it she wanted more chicken. Josh kept on trying to tell her that it was the birdies she was chasing in the park. She kept telling him no it’s chicken.

I got the pineapple again, Dad got the crème caramel and Mom had the polenta cake. Mom licked her plate clean and loved that dessert so much. I could tell she really liked it, so in Italian I wrote that I wanted the recipe. Then in my broken Italian and in their broken English we were able to communicate how to make most of it. They gave me the recipe for the cream part and then they gave me a book that had the cake in it so I took a picture of it. I’m sure that book has a lot of good recipes in it. It’s in Italian, but I bet I could figure it out. I will have to order the book when I get home.

Brit asked them the best gelato and they told us this place on the way out of town. It was really good and It was so pretty there. They had a big square outside with lights and it was beautiful and peaceful. The bridge as you leave the city was gorgeous. There was a cool store I saw on the way out that was closed but was a woodworker who made pictures out of inlaid wood. I’d like to go back there someday.