No more queues at the Post Office

Unbelievable but true. One of the measures that the technocrat government of Mario Monti has introduced is that state pensions over €1,000 a month need to be paid into a bank account and can no longer be collected in cash from the Post Office. Previously every Post Office was heaving with pensioners queuing up to collect their pension. No more.

A little something from the Casa Margherita cookbook

Zuppa di lenticchie (spicy lentil soup)

Umbrian cuisine uses the legume family a lot. Chickpeas, lentils, cannellini, borlotti, butter beans and local varieties such as roveja and cicerchia all feature widely.

Castelluccio lentils are king in Umbria. Castellucio itself is another impressive hill top town in the Monti Sibillini hills but the Piano Grande, the flat plateau below Castelluccio, is breathtaking. Completely undeveloped it is a magnificent sight which I recommend to anyone coming to Umbria.

Serves 2

2 tins 800g (28 oz) of un-drained red lentils

1 small onion finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon curry powder

Add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and the onion and garlic to a pan and soften gently over a low heat for 10 minutes without browning. Add the lentils with their juices and turn the heat up so they reach a simmer.

Separately in a small frying pan add the other tablespoon of olive oil and add a teaspoon of curry powder, Brown this lightly and add to the soup. Mix well. I like to whizz the soup in a food processor until it is smooth. However you can opt not to whizz it at all or have it half and half.

Lager, lager, lager

Earlier in the year Rachel designed a set of labels for a start-up brewery based in Spoleto. The beer is now on the shelves and hopefully will sell well.

You can see the labels Rachel designed here at http://artedellabirra.weebly.com/

Very lucky indeed

On Sunday our Westie, Winnie, suffered a snakebite from a viper. We did not see the event itself but saw her lying down and shaking. This was familiar from when she was bitten three years previously. We tried to find the two distinctive puncture marks but couldn't and so called the vet and met her at the surgery.

The vet prepared to inject the serum into Winnie and you could tell that she worried that Winnie would not be able to withstand the anaphylactic shock should one occur. As it turned out there was no shock and so Winnie spent the rest of the day on a drip and returned home on the Monday. She is exhausted from the event and is recovering slowly. She is one very lucky dog however.

Pickling and preserving

As well as making jars and jars of passata, this is the time of the year for some serious pickling here at Casa Margherita HQ. We are pickling onions, chillies and garlic.

Can't wait for the taste of the pickled onions with some porchetta. Wow. Luckily our friends brought us some mature cheddar which will be very nice as well.

Riprendiamo il ritmo

We recently celebrated the birthday of L'Artista with some lovely peach blinis.

This week has seen Italy return to work after the traditional two week summer break. We too are getting back to work after taking time off whilst we had some friends to stay. Rachel is back in the studio and I am working to publicise the cookbook - Cuoco.

The rural life

Leaving the house last night to see a choir in Trevi in the trusty Panda and got beached on our very rutted track about 20 metros from the house.

Few choice words and then back to the house to change, and get the other car and tow/prise free the Panda free.

Job done. As you were. It was never like this in London.