Posted on May 16, 2009 - by napavalleybath

My Familiar Chair

I’m sitting in my familiar chair….you know what that means….time to chat.

I have just made panzanella….I took everyone’s advice and then created it my own way.  I’d like to say that I am brave enough to do that on purpose but it usually is because I’m not exactly sure how to do it…so I wing it and hope for the best.  I had to improvise a bit as I didn’t have red wine vinegar…I used a bit of old chianti that was on the counter and balsamic vinegar…hope that doesn’t blow it.  I’m boiling asparagus now….going to make asparagus risotto…but as I type I am remembering that I don’t have vegetable stock….hmm…should I make it with the asparagus water or is that gross?  I don’t dare make it with water because Kaelin claims that makes it rice…not risotto.  Oh well…maybe I’ll have time to run to the store to grab some….it’s just a few blocks away.

Ah…to live in the City again.  I loved living in San Francisco….pre kids…..but was ready for the move back home to the country..the Napa Valley..to raise the girls.  It has been a great place for them to grow up and I’m thankful for all that we have.  We spend a lot of time in SF but it is always nice to come home to the peacefulness of the country.  It’s an internal struggle always though…how can you have both?

Little did I realize when we picked up and moved to Florence, Italy for a semester that I would find our how….it’s perfect here!!  It has all the energy and conveniences of a City…yet the history, beauty and a scooter jaunt away is total country!  I’m sitting in my familiar chair…windows wide open…it’s warm but a nice breeze flows in our windows to cool us down….I sit here…making dinner…and have live entertainment!  There is a festival in Santa Croce..what’s new?  Italians celebrate everything….and then some.  So, as I sit…I hear amazing music coming from the piazza….bundled with Italian voices..a language as sweet as the background music….and every now and then…..the bells of Santa Croce…and the clippety clop of horses hooves coming through our piazza…ah a bird just wanted to be heard….singing his own tune…I look out to see why he is so joyful and notice he is flying with friends…a celebration of some sort it seems.

When I look for the bird, I can’t help but see the beautiful stone bulding across from ours…buillt on a Roman Amphitheatre!  The owner of a restaurant across the way took me to the “basement” to show me the part that was truly part of the Roman Amphiteatre….you could see where it ends and the work of the Peruzzi Family begins…they were the first banking family in Florence…built up this piazza..only later to be beheaded….because, I’ve been told, they invested in the King of England during the 100 Year War…and never got a return.

I just put in the asparagus.  My favorite Florentine, Elisabetta, told me to cook the bottom of the asparagus in water and cover the top with another pot so the top gets steamed.  It’s not pretty but I’m doing it…..have no clue if it’s right or not.

No wonder I’m feeling regretful of the passage of time…only one month left in our adventure and then it is time to go home.  Five months have gone in the blink of an eye…probably because we have had so much to learn and discover….but really I think because we have fallen in love…and you know how things are magical in the “new love” phase…(wow..Kaelin just said the asparagus smells so good…..hopefully a good sign)….and how time passes quickly..I often wondered if we lived here if it would get old…familiar….if we would stop hearing the music, the birds, the language….if we would stop seeing the cobblestone, the horses, the dogs….would we stop craving gelato every day?!

This journey has brought us deeper….closer to the core of our beings.  It has forced us to be absorbed in the beauty of life…there is no choice here…not even for teenagers!  What a gift…and as my “noni” taught me, a gift is to be respected….to be appreciated….and reverence shown to the giver.  So when the kids begin to whine about the journey’s end, I remind them that this has been a gift…and we need to be thankful…and appreciative..and most of all, show reverence to the giver….by absorbing it all into our being…taking it with us wherever we go….and using it over and over and over again.    Yes this truly can be the gift that keeps on giving….