Springtime in Umbria

This weekend the weather has turned for the better with lots of sunshine. This has in turn encouraged people to get out in to the countryside and in the olive groves and pick some wild asparagus. One of these precious spears is shown above. They grow at the base of olives trees and in embankments.

They are eaten in a wide variety of ways but in a sugo with pasta is one or in an omelette another.

Other olive grove news is that we have finished pruning here at Casa Margherita and so it is off to a new grove I have rented this week to knock that into shape.

Olive oil is healthy

Eating a Mediterranean diet rich in either extra-virgin olive oil or nuts cuts by 30% the chances of those at risk of heart attacks or strokes suffering either event or dying of a heart condition, research rpublished by the New England Journal of Medicine reveals.

What better way to start eating more olive oil than by buying some good quality Italian olive oil direct from the producer and here at Casa Margherita and you can also by our cookery book which is full of Umbrian recipes to inspire your Mediterranean cooking. Go to www.casa-margherita.com

Olive grove fashion

This season we are mainly taking our stylistic cues from Ron Moody's Fagin albeit with the use of contemporary fabrics with splashes of colour on the wrist trim.

Prune and rant

As I slowly prune the trees here at Casa Margherita into shape you are afforded a lot of time to mull and muse on stuff.

Today was politics.

The USA fail to put a stop to the long signaled budget cuts despite the knowledge that failure to do so will be a brake on US and world economic growth and so exit from recession.

1 in 4 Italians vote for a the new M5S party who want to draw a line under the old moribund political system and make some radical (not really) changes. Having won this powerful position they are not now willing to engage with any of the other parties thereby wasting a vital opportunity and consigning Italy to another period of flux it can well do without. Things could change on this....

France elects a socialist government whose almost first act is to alienate the drivers of economic growth by raising the highest tax rate to 75%. How old school is that. A one term President, Mr Hollande.

More olives tomorrow. What will I muse on....

Olive branch

This is a useful photo to explain how olives bear their fruit. This tree was not picked last November and so the branch from the last olive to the tip is all last years growth and it is on this that the tree will bear fruit this year.

On the subject of branches I saw an advert for a tree surgeon company and they were called Special Branch!

I love olive (s)

                          Summer olives, Umbria by Karyn White   http://www.karynwhite.co.uk


I think I may have lost my senses but I have agreed to rent another two olives groves this year which total another 500 trees. Yes I think I have. Anyway, the pruning has started here at Casa Margherita and at Le Corone and with the weather seemingly set fair and the l'artista going back to New Zealand for a couple of weeks I am looking to get really stuck in.

Le Corone

Le Corone (the Crowns) is a small hamlet at the other end of the valley from our local village of Manciano and it is here that I have rented another olive grove. A lovely parcel of land containing around 200 olives big and lovely but untended for a couple of years now as the owner is too ill to maintain them.

Today was our first day starting to clean the land and prune them back into shape. It is a great feeling being able to bring a piece of land back into production.

This may lead to a new label of olive oil from Casa Margherita. Exciting.

Foligno

It is said that in the centre of the world there is a sea, in the centre of the sea lies a peninsular, in the centre of the peninsular there is a region, in the centre of the region there is a town, in the centre of the town there is a bar, in the centre of the bar there is a billiard table, in the centre of the billiard table there are four markers, and in the centre of these lies the centre of all creation.

Now, if you were to come to Foligno on this basis, as it is Foligno of which this story speaks, then I think you would probably be reasonably to very disappointed. Nice town but....

The other reason sprang into my hear today is in the the feast of San Felician(o) the patron saint of Foligno.

Hunters Chicken - A Review

I have cooked the ‘Hunter’s Chicken’ twice now for my wife. She says it is in her “Top 5” meals of all time. I made it last week for our 27^th Wedding Anniversary and everything worked out that night. 

Thank you for the recipes. I will be trying more in the near future.

Warren Jones

Aurora, Canada

Just one of the recipes in the Casa Margherita Cookbook. Available from www.casa-margherita.com

Adopt an olive tree this Christmas

Looking for a Christmas gift that is a little different then why not adopt an olive tree from
Casa Margherita.

With a beautiful initial gift box filled with an adoption certificate complete with your personal message, a sample tin of olive oil and an olive oil handbook, then in summer a copy of the
Casa Margherita recipe book and then in winter a guaranteed two litres of extra virgin olive oil.

Choose from a 'young & virile', a 'full flush' or an 'elder statesman' tree. All this for only €71.50 plus shipping. Find out more at http://www.casa-margherita.com

Pea souper

We have been engulfed in a good old fashioned pea souper whilst waiting for a courier to pick up the olive oil for our UK olive tree adopters. Naturally enough he has just arrived - 6.00pm.

The weather meant we were unable see this.

Flocking sheep it's cold

We had the first snow of the winter today. The thermostat in the car went from 4° to -1° quicker than you could have a gin and tonic and a kebab.

Autumnal vines

We have been wanting to go over to Montefalco on the other side of the valley to see first hand the vines in their autumnal glory and today was the day. We are a bit late but they still provide a great dash of colour in the landscape.

Trevi in the mist

This was Trevi earlier today sitting in a sea of mist. The valley has been completely covered for days now whilst here at Casa Margherita we have been basking in the winter sun.

It's milling time

Back down the mill again today for a shift to get another pressing under my belt. Once you have pressed olives a few times the child like awe of the first time has long since dissipated but the stylistic elements of the various parts of the mill can be distracting. Italian made Italian style.

More praise for Cuoco the recipe book

“About thirty recipes from antipasti to dolci are included in this volume, and the photographs are simply gorgeous; anyone interested in regional Italian cuisine, Umbrian cuisine, Umbrian culture, or even food photography would likely enjoy it." Bleeding Espresso blog

Available from www.casa-margherita.com for a snip at €10.00.

Adopt a gargoyle

The gargoyles on the facade of the Milan cathedral are available to be adopted for a mere €80,000.

With the government cuts to spending the restoration budgets for Italy's litany of historical buildings is under massive pressure. The Milan council has chosen this method to try and raise €25 million for essential restoration.

For rather less, in fact only €71.50, you can adopt an olive tree from Casa Margherita. which makes for a great Christmas gift. Find out more at www.casa-margherita.com

Have a good weekend

An ascendancy of ladders?

Porca miseria madonna mia

Whilst I am a fluent swearer in English I have thankfully not learn't any Italian swear words.

This was our car this morning after a night of torrential rain which has caused flooding in various parts of Umbria. The jeep was beached as the gullies caused by the rain were so deep.

I had unwisely left it there overnight having got stuck coming back from a social event - had you been drinking Sir - yes of course I had. Alcohol had no bearing on the matter as the L'Artista will vouch.

Anyway, a kind neighbour came down and dragged the jeep out with his tractor.