Tripp Does Cheese
Here’s a highlight of Theo’s chef Nicci Tripp demonstrating one of his delightful house cheeses for Wine Country magazine.
Going for Baroque
There are still a few things that justify enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous airport security checks, sitting for 10 and a half hours in a tiny, cramped seat, being rudely herded through the Frankfurt airport – and then getting into a smaller plane and sitting for two more hours.
Italy is one of them.
I spent last week in the perfect Mediterranean climate of Florence, where the Renaissance and its passionate architecture are still alive and well. Dining is effortless here, even though the dollar went on its all-time plunge while we were in Euro-land. But the artwork was our real destination — and this visit was wrapped around an eccentric Mannerist painter named Pontormo, and a visit to his frescoes in cloister outside of town, up in the extreme Tuscan landscape dotted with vineyards.
Like many visitors who’ve already seen the obligatory sights, we let the days stretch out into more wandering, lingering and relaxing than in previous trips. Aiming toward a particular restaurant each day, we focused on a destination each morning and another in the afternoon, and tended to seek out cool corners of a cathedral, to draw in sketchbooks or take notes and let the 500-year-old ambience transport us to a time before the internet or expiration dates.
The first afternoon, for example, we let the cool opulence of San Lorenzo wash over us and our jet-lag, and then had a simple dinner of caprese and niçoise salads at the splendid Caffe Gilli on Piazza della Repubblica, where our hotel is located. (more…)
Changes
Severino’s Community Butcher is heading back east! The talented couple, Hilary Prescott and Justin “Blade Runner†Severino will be leaving the area at the end of the year. Headed for Pennsylvania. “We’ve got family there, we can afford to buy a home and raise kids there.†That’s what Hilary told me last week. It is not good to watch an exodus of talent away from our pricey but idyllic coast. . . . But the word is that Severino’s partner Chris LeVeque will be taking over the business – and that’s good news for those of us who are now spoiled by the presence of naturally-grown and hand-butchered charcuterie.
Florentine Highs
The carpaccio topped with fresh raw porcinis at Cammillo, in the Borgo san Jacopo.
Florentine Days
Don’t even think about visiting a major world museum like the Uffizi without making advance reservations. The tickets I procured on-line (we have done this before, here and at the Louvre) saved us at least an hour, maybe more, in line. Even so there was a short wait — Italians adore mystery and often make no attempt to provide directions or signage – but once in, we were on task.
To the Mannerist room! which is down Vasari’s splendid loggia corridor and one sala down from the Bronzino chamber. There we had several rooms all to ourselves and feasted on Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Andrea del Sarto (who started up the entire eccentric colorwork and elongated bodies of Mannerism) past a few heart-stopping Michelangelos and on to the famous Parmagianino “Madonna of the long neck” that every art history student will recall. Revisiting favorite artworks is heady stuff — deeply rewarding and this time we noticed new details on Pontormo’s haunting “Supper at Emmaus.” Two cats peering out from under the tablecloth. More sketching in notebooks – too bad the Uffizi doesn’t believe in providing benches. Well, except for in the Botticelli room.
I highly recommend stopping for coffee or a bit of pastry in the midst of all this visual dazzle. The Uffizi has a splendid cafe that opens out onto a rooftop garden. From here you can swill a bracing caffé macciatto with a slice of fragola torta and look out over the dome of the Duomo and the famous clocktower of the Palazzo Vecchio. 
In the background are the purple hills (see my masthead image) that you’ll recognize from Leonardo’s paintings. Looks a whole lot like the Santa Cruz Mountains, only with better architecture. Thus refreshed, we headed down the other corridor of this utterly unique building, and paid our respects to the Portinari alterpiece, arguably among the most accomplished virtual worlds every created.
Then to Beccofino, across the river in the Oltrarno district, for lunch.
Beccofino was brand-new when we discovered it on a rainy afternoon five years ago. It was a sleek, contemporary wine bar with exciting food then – and it still is today. Our lunch began with fresh cured anchovies on crostini, with a vinegary caper tapenade, incredible tomatoes and milky buffalo mozzarella. Jack continued with an entree of baked rabbit and I 
had house pasta with rabbit and wild celery ragu. Yes! Dessert was our first of many visitations to the Florentine classic finish – cantuccini (little songs) and vin santo. Sweet, rough wine and small, crunchy biscotti — a fine ending to robust flavors.
Details of a Wednesday Afternoon
One of the best parts of travel is the walking — not only does it help to digest even the most generous meals, but on foot the details of a city seem to emerge from the shadows. The street furniture, ledges to sit on that the princes of Florence thought to include in their palazzi five centuries ago, or the countless sidewalk shrines and frescoes. Alleys that lead up into zigzag archways — Dante might have passed through them. Michelangelo and Leonardo almost certainly did.
One place we wanted to visit was the city’s Museum of History and Science — our destination was Galileo’s telescope. We arrived only 40 minutes before closing time, but went in anyway and found ourselves dazzled by telescopes, microscopes and measuring devices of the Renaissance, and even earlier. Up on the second floor, looking for all the world like a long cardboard tube with pretty gold embossing, was Galileo’s telescope. This simple device, containing a few strategically-placed lenses, allowed the courageous astronomer to discover the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, solar flares and evidence that the earth was not (gulp!) the center of the universe. You’ll recall he got into trouble over that last bit.
Here was the best part. In the glass case right next to his telescope, was Galileo’s finger! Well, the finger bone of his middle finger, right hand, in a very ornate glass and gold reliquery. This was more than worth the $10 price of admission (which had probably grown to $12 by the time we left the building).
This portable toilet with Botticelli’s Primavera on it cracked me up. Proof that marketing knows no bounds. (more…)
Inside the Flame
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.