Fettuccine al Limone -- (fettuccine with lemon)

We interrupt this series of vacation photos because, I promised to submit the photos of a dish that I had while romping through Tuscany. So, my first confession is: it wasn't really my dish; it was actually Arlenes dish in Bargo...but I digress.
I heard that Marcella Hazan passed away while I was on my trip and I had to get a cookbook of hers since it seems she was a quite famous chef.  I don't know how she managed to NOT show up on my radar, but that is indeed the case. I am now finding out about her and her fabulous cooking postmortem and that really stinks. I found in one of her cookbooks a recipe that is very close to a dish we were served in Bargo, Italy. I only had a taste of it, but that was enough for me to try this recipe and pass on the ravioli dish that I originally bargained for. 
So without further ado:

Fettuccini with Lemon
4 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of heavy cream
the grated peel, but none of the white pith of 4 lemons
Fettuccine (I confess I used Buttoni linguini --I was just too lazy to make my own)
1/2 cup of freshly grated parigiano-reggiano

 Grate the lemon zest and get all the other ingredients ready. Put the water on to boil for the pasta. The sauce takes only a few moments!
Put the butter and the cream into a saute pan large enough to hold the sauce and the pasta when cooked.  Bring to a boil. Then stir in the lemon juice.

 Then add the zested lemon and stir till smooth and the mixture reduces just a little.

 Keep an eye on the pasta, should take only a few minutes, at most.  I did not drain the pasta, I just used tongs and grabbed it and transferred the dripping pasta to the sauce...
You may notice in the background that I added 4 spears of cooked asparagus (this was an idea from another meal I had in Italy)

 Toss the pasta in the sauce and add the 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Toss thoroughly. And then...

 Enjoy!

It was pretty darn good!

Two Abbeys: Monte Oliveto Magiore and L'Abbazia de San Galgano

The second day of our hiking program brought us to two very different abbeys. The first, Monte Oliveto Maggiore was clearly isolated, well-maintained and had a portico that depicts the life of Saint Benedict in 36 frescoes; each indicating a notable time in the saints' life. They were all in very good condition and it was easy to understand the story as portrayed in art.

 We never just drove up to a spot and walked in to see it. Always, we hiked and here is a shot as we approached the first abbey; we still had a good half hour before we actually got close to it. You can see it in the background.

 This is a shot of one of the 36 frescoes. Here Benedict delivers a possessed monk by scourging him.

Lunch consisted of more riboletta, a vegetable platter, spinach souffle (somehow I missed those shots!) and Tira Missu

The Second abbey, L'Abbazia de San Galgano had only walls remaining. When one enters the body of the abbey and looks up -- only sky is visible. Perhaps that, more than anything expresses God visually. It was quite moving to experience this building too. The thing that brings most folks here though is the sword, sunk deep into a stone by San Galfano (similar to the King Arthur story) It is located in another building up on the nearby hill, and very much worth the walk up to view it.
Sadly, though I remember distinctly taking many pictures, none of them made it to my hard drive so that is a mystery that I am still trying to solve.

Voltera, Tuscany, Italy -- The Start of My Sierra Club Hiking Program

Life can REALLY be hard when you're on the road. But not here! Our first few nights were spent at Poderi Arcangelo Agriturismo Farmhouse located in the quaint village of San Gimignano; a few miles from the walled city, out in the rolling hills of the countryside. I suppose pictures would be a better way to show it...

After checking in to my room, I wandered around the property and drank in the gorgeous scenery. I did not have to work too hard to get a good photo. Almost anywhere I looked was a great view!

I moseyed down to the pool area and found that Barbara had already laid claim to the hanging chair next to the endless pool. I could have begged for it, but there was too much going on to even think about where to sit.

The sun started slipping away practically the moment I got there. See how the pool seems endless? that far side just seems to fall off the earth. It was truly fabulous.

All the hikers met at the pool for introductions and a little get to know you better meeting. Our leader, Mary brought a few bottles of wine and as you can see, we knew exactly what to do with them! The producer just happened to be the agriturismo that we were staying at. The wine was very good.

Before long we gathered in the restaurant area to discuss the next days plans and to partake in the first of many delicious dinners served family style. First the Ribolleta soup--a thick tomato, bean and bread concoction that was the best I had ever tasted.

Then the pasta. It looks like simple spaghetti with tomato sauce...it was so much better than that. The pasta is different in Italy. I think it is the flour.There were meat and vegetable dishes also, but I apparently was not thinking about photos at that time!

The next day we started the drive to our hiking place at 8AM. We drove a bit and then we got off the bus and hiked the countryside for four hours. Vineyards, farmhouses, back roads and fig trees to fill our visions as we hiked near to the village of Voltera.

We met the bus and rode to the entry of the city and had the afternoon to ourselves to wander the streets, museums, churches or whatever else caught our fancy.

Florence, Italy --- Tuscany at Last!

It started as a gentle longing and grew over time, my desire to see Italy. Originally it was simple. My mission was to eat my way through Italy. But time can affect many things and after dreaming about this trip for some years, it worked its magic on this as well. Yes, I still want to eat my way through Italy but I also want to drown my vision in the vinyards and countryside that can only be Tuscany. I want to hear the conversations in Italian and most of all I want to see the old, not quite elderly, couples walking down the street hand in hand proud to be sharing their life and love. 

This year I finally made that dream come true. I spent seventeen glorious days in and around Tuscany; some on my own and eleven with the Sierra Club hiking from village to village. While on my own I found an inexpensive room in Florence. It wasn't in the downtown tourist section, so I got lots of walking in, but it was where the Italians live and that was worth everything.

At first I felt a bit guilty, yes, I know, that is very unusual for me, but I had no desire to visit a museum nor art gallery nor churches. My senses were saturated by the streets, the shops, the doors, the balconies, the sky everything but those two indoor very touristy activities. Before long I settled in and began to enjoy whatever it was I wanted to do. And...I have to say, I was very happy with all my choices.

I did arrange a few tours before I left home through a website called Viator; it was a great way to fill my days and I highly recommend any of the four tours that I did while there. So, here you see I am all smiles and enjoying my first Gelato. It was the first tour I was to take and it was a 2.5 hour biking tour of Florence. I am quite experienced when it comes to biking and I thought this would be  a great way to see the 'sites' and generally get the lay of the land. It did all that but be warned, the foot traffic in Florence is dense along with the cars, taxies and buses. It took all of my biking skill not to hit anything or to be hit by something. If you want to do this, do so with caution.

In case you think I may be exaggerating, this is a shot of the Ponte Vecchio, the historical bridge over the Arno River, and yes it is this crowded and yes I actually did bike through the crowd.

In Tuscany the wild boar is held in high esteem; by that I mean folks really enjoy eating it.

After my adventurous bike tour, I went back to an area that we rode through to grab my first of many delicious Italian meals. It was an outside cafe in an area that pulsed with life and enjoyment. So I leisurely enjoyed my feast of prosciutto with tomatoes and string mozzarella, wine, bread and olives.

Then they brought grilled pork and oven roasted potatoes

I had the gelato before dinner, so I skipped dessert.
But for the eyes, I had to get a shot of a typical street in Florence...or anywhere in Tuscany actually.

Delta Rivers Nature Center, Pine Bluff, Arkansas

My three day camping trip to Cane Creek State Park was cut short by some severe thunderstorms. In my younger days that might have upset me, but I had learned to always have an alternate plan b or c in my back pocket for those times when the planned schedule doesn't work out quite the way I planned.

On this trip I knew I would be passing through Pine Bluff as well as Little Rock and so, I picked some interesting places to see just in case I found myself moseying  through either of these cities. My first stop was the Delta Rivers Nature Center .  While I thought this would be one of those 'usual' nature centers, I found it to be beyond very enjoyable.  It has a nice little nature trail that loops around the property and while strolling I came eyeball to eyeball with a very tame looking deer.  She paused just long enough for me to take her picture and then high-tailed it..literally and figuratively. Since we have all seen deer before, I opted not to post the shot.

After the trail I went inside to see what they had to offer and the first thing I found was this really neat film about the delta region taken from an airplane.  What made it really special was that the seating area was built to create the feeling that the audience was actually sitting in a prop-propeller airplane and viewing the film from above.  Pretty neat.  Not 3D, but still pretty cool!

Of course they had the expected snakes...this one I think is a timber rattlesnake, big enough to make me pay attention.

OK, here is the part that I thought was the absolute best.  Just outside the nature center building but still under a roof, was this aquarium.  Not your regular sea aquarium, but one of the native species of fish that can be found here in Arkansas.  Sadly, I did not write down all the names of the unusual fish but I will include the photos I got anyway.  This alone is worth the trip to see this nature center. There were fish here that I had never seen before and I was just mesmerised by some of them.

This catfish was posing for me I think...how could I pass up a shot like that?

After being rained out at Cane Creek, driving to Pine Bluff and enjoying the nature center by the time I got to Little Rock it was time for lunch.  So I also searched for a few places that I might get a meal before I made the trip and it just so happened that I got to The Pantry just as they were opening for the day. This is a cozy little place that would be great for either lunch or dinner.  Their food is all specially prepared...I saw that they had goulash and spaetzle and decided to give it a try.  It was BEYOND fabulous!  They also had some brats and sausages on the menu under an item called street fare...so I got a brat, and a sausage sandwich to go....knowing they too would be delicious (I wasn't wrong)  AND because I was on a roll..I also got an apple strudel to go with creme angliase.  Oh boy, I was eating pretty darn good for quite a while!

It is hard to make goulash look as good as it tastes...but I gave it a try anyway! If you are in the neighborhood, stop by, you will not be disappointed.

Cane Creek State Park...Finally

The original plan was to stop here and enjoy the 15 miles of single track biking trails back in 2010 when I was returning from my Habitat for Humanity trip to Lafayette, Louisiana, but since that episode ended in my fracturing a vertebra I had to opt for plan B and return home to recuperate. Well, now I am back and ready to take on the trails both single track and the kayak trail in the lake.

I picked a really good time to visit mid-spring when it wasn't buggy nor too hot. This is my first attempt at single track riding since both the accident resulting in back injury and my bout with lung cancer...but never one to give up, here I am giving it all I got.
Maybe I tried too soon. Maybe I should have waited until the day after I arrived. It did take 7 hours to get here, then there was the tent setting up etc.
Anyway, I thought I would try with the short trail first and then on another day to the 15 miler and enjoy the three suspended bridges. But that was not to be. I mixed up the trails and tried the 15 miler first...only doing about 4 when I absolutely had to turn back. It was too much for me, could've been the heat, or the humidity (or the humility!) but whatever, after several rests I made it back to the car and decided it is too soon for this sort of thing.
And...I never got to see the suspended bridges, so I guess I will have to make another trip once I am a little stronger.

The second day I tried the kayak trail through the swamps and all around the lake and that was a much better experience for me. What a lovely experience, I practically had the lake to myself...except of course for the beavers, turtles, osprey and multitudes of fish that I scared away! This was one kayak experience that I didn't want to end.

...And I can't let my followers down without a food picture! I brought along some pre-cooked and frozen meals to enjoy in the wilderness.  Here is a little chicken curry which was delightful on my second day here.

What would a camping trip be without a couple of hot dogs and beans? This was dinner the first night and it was incredibly enjoyable!

The third day surprised me with significant rain, so I had to leave sooner than I had planned.
I can't wait to get back here when I am a little stronger and try that 15 mile single track around the lake.  Those suspended bridges are calling me!

Jim Stafford--Hard Luck Diner and More!

Last month I hoodwinked my friend into joining me for a day trip to Branson to see the infamous Jim Stafford Show. I waited until the weather was perfect, since it is a pretty long drive and seized the moment! Along the way we watched as the countryside turned green. Really, I still believe it was MORE green on the way back than it was on the way there...but then that's just me.

Our first stop was the Hard Luck Diner and by judging the size of the meal one gets here, its no wonder they call it that.  I don't see how they make a profit on these burgers. See for yourself

I especially like the 'action shot'. notice the enthusiasm with which Judy is getting ready to squirt the mustard! In case the food is not enough to entice you, all the wait staff entertain the customers with song and show in-between the serving and all that.  It really was a fun lunch.

Here is Jim himself doing a fantastic banjo piece. There was so much to enjoy here I hardly know where to start. If you are looking for some good clean fun, this is the place. Hands down.

Then, after the show as I was walking to the car, I looked up and saw this.

Heavy Metal High Rise - - - Go Carts Extraordinaire!!! I begged Judy to join me in trying them out but she flatly refused. Gee, what kind of a friend would do that? I guess one that wants to live to be a ripe old age.

Ah well, I still enjoyed it from afar. Maybe next time! Ha!