11 June 2010
Cher familie et amis,
A quick KUWAU update because in a few hours we will be in transit to Bordeaux and away from internet for a week!
Our experience in Panzano in Chianti in Tuscany was just so amazing that I have not yet fully mentally and emotionally absorbed its impact on our consciousness (plural) yet. (A full KUWAU coming soon...) Tuscany and Italy are now deeply entrenched in us... I had tears in my eyes as we said goodbye to Dario Cecchini, the butcher, and his soon to be wife Kim. (The night before we had a going away party in the patio area of our farmhouse with all the other apprentices and Dario and Kim came, supplying all the wine - we were very touched by their presence! Umar presented Dario with the Kyrgyz kalpak (traditional hat) to honor him and to thank him for all he had taught him.
For the food, I cooked Vietnamese for all with a reportedly good level of success!) During our month+ in Panzano and Florence (with a great side trip to Pescara on the Adriatic coast to visit Pamina and family, and the very fun visit of Jolene and her two sons), we met incredible people, those living truly in the moment and doing their best to live passionately... especially about food, wine, bio-organics, and of course, meat. Food in Tuscany is a lifestyle, it is (big) business, though most importantly, it is their living history. They live in honor of those that cooked before them, cook with naturally good ingredients (that force you to pause in appreciation after the first bite), and are constantly finding ways to return to the old ways of preparation. For their livestock, they do all they can to respect the life and death of their livestock. In this spirit, we took a few food related missions, driving to Pistoiawhere the book Slow - Life in an Tuscan Town was photographed/written, and further afield north to Porretta Terme to a restaurant called La Capannina where Mario Batali lived and learned to cook pasta for three years (ref again: Bill Bufford's Heat). The personalized pasta experience, as friends of Dario, served from the hands of the owner Gianni Valdiserri, was a bit overwhelming – an experience that could be called an Italian omakase(“chef's choice” in Japanese) - I had to yell stop after the third round of fresh, hand-rolled pasta... we ended the meal with an incredible parma, reggiano and rucola pizza (Umar's favorite during our whole time in Italy!)
For the food, I cooked Vietnamese for all with a reportedly good level of success!) During our month+ in Panzano and Florence (with a great side trip to Pescara on the Adriatic coast to visit Pamina and family, and the very fun visit of Jolene and her two sons), we met incredible people, those living truly in the moment and doing their best to live passionately... especially about food, wine, bio-organics, and of course, meat. Food in Tuscany is a lifestyle, it is (big) business, though most importantly, it is their living history. They live in honor of those that cooked before them, cook with naturally good ingredients (that force you to pause in appreciation after the first bite), and are constantly finding ways to return to the old ways of preparation. For their livestock, they do all they can to respect the life and death of their livestock. In this spirit, we took a few food related missions, driving to Pistoiawhere the book Slow - Life in an Tuscan Town was photographed/written, and further afield north to Porretta Terme to a restaurant called La Capannina where Mario Batali lived and learned to cook pasta for three years (ref again: Bill Bufford's Heat). The personalized pasta experience, as friends of Dario, served from the hands of the owner Gianni Valdiserri, was a bit overwhelming – an experience that could be called an Italian omakase(“chef's choice” in Japanese) - I had to yell stop after the third round of fresh, hand-rolled pasta... we ended the meal with an incredible parma, reggiano and rucola pizza (Umar's favorite during our whole time in Italy!)
We already plan to return next year if the stars align, asking the owners of a restaurant that we frequented often called the Osteria La Panzanelle in a nearby town called Lucarelle if Umar could return to help in their kitchen – convinced by their very solid menu that changes bi-monthly (ex. lasagna made with nettles; raviolis filled with pecorino and pears) and the best panna cotta with strawberries! They said of course Si!
We are now in Aix-en-Provence and have been with my French aunt and Vietnamese-French uncle (my dad's cousin who he grew up with in Hanoi) for the last week and have been treated every day and every meal to a king's feast accompanied by great laughter and a mix of French, English, Vietnamese, Italian, Spanish and a few words of Arabic thrown in for good measure. (We have learned how to eat in a very Provencal way with many typical dishes prepared by my aunts Claude and Jacqueline... even the order is important - case in point: when the final cheese and dessert course was being served during one of our first meals after arrival, I had water in my glass and my uncle very quickly grabbed it, tossed it unexpectedly into the garden and said "You must have wine with the cheese!”) I, of course, quickly abided. I have been a very grateful guest to their home, being lucky enough to have visited over a half a dozen times and have greatly appreciated the love I have always received (and that received by all the others I have brought with me), and now it has been extended so warmly to Umar, who also was doing his job in charming them over in Italian (lingua franca with my aunt) and even cooking the famous delicacies we brought from the butcher shop (tonno de chianti, arista, porchetta, perfumo de chianti, mostarda) including fresh cuts of chianina, the world's biggest cow - the macho is the size of a small dinosaur - raised only in Tuscany, a stone's throw from our farmhouse.
For Aix's final tally for our trip - we relaxed, slept, shopped for table linens and bowl-like coffee cups, ate lots of bread and croissants (our consumption of 3 baguettes a day kept my uncle running to the local boulangerie!), salads, succulent grilled meats and delicious homemade casseroles, drankRicard de Marseille Pastis (Apero!), and Rosé de Provence, and visited the nearby towns of St. Tropez and Marseilles. Our last lunch was with two of their Marseilles contractor friends, both with amazing faces and hands characterized by men who work with their hands and out in the sun, who regaled us with laughter about their philosophies on life, la Amerique, and women! A wonderful time!
For Aix's final tally for our trip - we relaxed, slept, shopped for table linens and bowl-like coffee cups, ate lots of bread and croissants (our consumption of 3 baguettes a day kept my uncle running to the local boulangerie!), salads, succulent grilled meats and delicious homemade casseroles, drankRicard de Marseille Pastis (Apero!), and Rosé de Provence, and visited the nearby towns of St. Tropez and Marseilles. Our last lunch was with two of their Marseilles contractor friends, both with amazing faces and hands characterized by men who work with their hands and out in the sun, who regaled us with laughter about their philosophies on life, la Amerique, and women! A wonderful time!
We are now headed off to Plum Village in Bordeaux (www.plumvillage.org) at 5am Friday morning, covering over 780km in hopefully about 6-7 hours. Plum Village is the Buddhist retreat of Master “Thay” Thich Nhat Hanh, who will unfortunately be in Germany at the time we're there but I am confident this different and unique experience, where we will be possibly the only non-monastics there, will be equally enriching as when I was there previously during their popular summer session (that is during the month of July). We will not have internet (nor meat, cheese, milk or any other animal products...) The internet will be more difficult to live without - the vegan food served there is excellent! If you need to reach us, the numbers are on the website!
Until June 18, when we are again digitally connected to the world outside this small hamlet in southwestern France, we hope you are all well! More soon...
Love, and in peace,
Ann-Marie & Umar
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