To bidet or not to bidet?

Sometimes social media is very helpful.

I recently posted a question on a site which focuses on expats living in Italy: Should we consider a bidet in our bathroom renovation?

Responses were not as varied as I had expected. Instead it was an overwhelming "yes!"

Most of the respondees actually use bidets but some of them dont use them at all but still said that they were great for watering plants, cleaning feet and washing floors!

So this week we invested in a bidet for the first time.

We're actually quite looking forward to having one in our lives!

 

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Views, vines, wines

On Friday a wine tasting event gave us a welcome break from renovation activities.

Our group of 16 people from Albisola, Verrazza, Acqui Terme and Canelli met at Santo Stefano Belbo for a morning coffee before driving to the enoteca at Mango. The drive was spectacular. It climbs and twists around hills draped in vines with views in every direction. In the tasting room at the castle in Mango we sampled several glasses of Moscato and Passito as well as salamis, cheeses, grissini and hazelnuts. After a leisurely hour we set off again, driving back down the hills to Il Falchetto where we had a tour of the cantine and a tasting of whites and reds with yet more salami, cheeses and grissini.

After a long lunch in Santo Stefano Belbo we set off again, this time to Beppe Marino where we sampled several more exquisite wines as well as salami and focaccia.

Stu and I purchased our first magnums (1.5 litres each) and even a double magnum (3 litres) which will be opened for a certain "big" birthday which looms for yours truly next year...

 

 

 

 

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De-clutter and de-stress

While Stu has been chipping plaster and cement off the fienile and reinforcing the window openings, I have been tending tomatoes, cleaning bricks and de-cluttering.

I am cleaning bricks for two reasons: to move one of the piles of old building materials from behind the fienile and to prepare them to be laid as two wheel-tracks on the driveway. Regular readers will remember that I spent every day in November and December last year chiselling and scraping old bricks for re-use in our lounge room voltini. Well, the chisel and hammer are once again out and in use.

I am de-cluttering for two reasons: to clear out the rustico and fienile and to give to charity. A few hours buzzing around the house resulted in 8 book-boxes of donations. There is a lot written about the value of de-cluttering to our mental health. It apparently removes the distraction and worry of materialism and has a strangely freeing effect on the mind.

It does feel good to remove excess from my life and help others at the same time...

 

 

 

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First improvement job for a while

This week Stu finished the firewood moving exercise so he took the opportunity to do an improvement job.

He loves improving and this time he set his sights on fixing the window openings in the fienile. The wooden beams above the windows had disappeared after years of insect and weather abuse. A previous owner had also changed the openings from doors to windows by building half-walls out of bricks. Since the rest of the building is stone these bricks simply had to go. They were also in an advanced stated of disintegration after years of humidity and weather and needed only a slight touch to collapse.

Stu spent many happy but very tiring hours on this job which is the first we have done on the fienile. It feels good to finally be paying this beautiful old building some attention.

Above: Chipping out the rotten beams

Above: Fitting the new beams

Above: Jackhammering out the old bricks

Above: Removing the brick rubble

Above: Setting the stones for the new wall

Above: The new wall

 

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The new firewood stack

Here is the new firewood stack.

It's safe and sound and tucked up under a blanket (read tarp) and should be nice and dry when we need to start using it in a couple of months.

 

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More preparations for the fienile renovation

There are some jobs that we need to do before we can engage a contractor for the major renovation work on the fienile.

The most pressing jobs are associated with moving things. Our main stack of firewood is on one outside wall of the fienile, our overflow stack of firewood and heating pellets are inside the fienile and several piles of cleared vegetation, rubbish, bricks and stones are behind the fienile.

So Stu has been spending his days moving things. It's heavy and boring work. It's also deeply frustrating because we have created these piles in the last 5 years so moving them is double-handling. Now is not the time to talk about the triple-handling which will need to occur once the renovation is finished!

This week Stu moved all of the firewood to a new firewood stack which he erected on the potato patch. Hence why we dug up our potatoes recently!

Sadly, he also had to cut down a plum tree to provide access to the rear of the fienile. I abhor cutting down trees and experience all sorts of guilt about it. The only way I'm coping with the removal of this one is knowing that we have been nurturing several young plum groves on the property which are now fruiting...

 

Above: The old firewood stack half emptied

Above: Going...

Above: Going...

Above: Gone!

 

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More tatties!

Since we need the potato patch area for firewood storage, we have been forced to dig up our crop.

We have dried and stored 2 batches in cane baskets with newspaper separating each layer.

Hopefully they will store well and we will be able to enjoy our potatoes throughout winter.

 

 

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A house garden overhaul

The plants around the house have been looking straggly and woody. I have been trimming, pruning and nursing them for months but they are still...well, ugly.

So after 5 years I decided it was time for an overhaul. This week, I dug out the ugly plants. Then Stu prepared deeper holes for new plants. In the holes I placed richer earth and mulch and will now wait for this earth to enrich before planting in Autumn.

I'm thinking "roses and lavender" which do well on that corner of the house and compliment each other. I am now in the throes of researching types of roses (do you realise just how many there are!?) to ensure that I get the right height, bloom and hardiness for the location.

I have fallen in love with a rose called Joseph's Coat which is a climbing floribunda with a multi-coloured bloom. Unfortunately it is susceptible to leaf rust but I simply must give it a chance in my garden!

 

 

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Sugo pomodoro!

Today I ventured out to the tomato patch and again found the crop out of control. So i returned to the house, collected my little picking basket and returned to attack it. Half an hour and several trips later, 8 kilograms of tomatoes were waiting for some action in the kitchen.

I decided the time was right for "sugo pomodoro", the pure tomato sauce that can be used in almost all Italian meals.

An hour later, 12 large jars full of a rich red sauce were cooling on the bench.

I will have a break tomorrow but will have to repeat the exercise the next day because today's 8 kilograms of tomatoes came off a third of the plants only...so the other plants are still waiting!

 

 

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Fienile renovation

I have been talking about our plans and preparations for the renovation of our fienile so I thought it was about time I shared our "before" (now) and "after" (dream) with you.

We are waiting for a few quotes for two main projects:

1. The shoring up of the walls, reconstruction of the roof and laying of a smooth concrete floor.

2. The excavation of earth behind the building, erection of a retaining wall and laying of a concrete slab.

If prices are extreme, then our dream may have to stay a dream...but we have our fingers crossed...tightly...

 

Source: unknown (apologies to the publisher)

 

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Two little walnut trees

These two little walnut trees seeded themselves amongst my roses in early spring. Ever since then I have been nurturing them with a view to eventually planting them in our walnut tree paddock.

Yesterday I decided they were strong enough to survive an initial replant into pots. Once they get a bit bigger I'll plant them in their permanent location.

 

 

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Production update

It is with mixed feelings that I announce my temporary retirement from plum jam production. We have more than enough but the real reason is that the plum season is almost over, with many of the remaining fruit now splitting and falling. I picked the last of the best fruit off the trees today and made several batches of stewed fruit which I will freeze so that we can enjoy a taste of summer when our cold winter is upon us.

My relish production is also over. We have more than enough of 3 types of relish in our stock. However the tomatoes are still hanging thick and heavy on the tomato plants so I will make tomato sauce out of the remaining crops, which is useful for almost everything I cook!

Stu dug up a quarter of the potato patch today and was very pleased with his bounty. The healthy red tatties are now drying in the cantine before he stacks them in a cane basket for longterm keeping.

 

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Another idea!

In my continuing quest to bottle all of our ripening fruit, I have made red plum coulis, which will be used at some later date as a tangy sauce over a creamy cheesecake.

Today I will stew as much as I can to freeze for winter.

 

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A load of precious wood

This week some very kind and incredibly generous friends gave us a load of aged hardwood for our fienile renovation. They needed to move it off their property so that their builder could commence work on a retaining wall.

We met at their house at 7am. The plan had been to have a slow breakfast of spritz (spumante and orange juice) and quiche but the builder was too efficient for us and arrived before the quiche was cooked! We did manage to down a glass of spritz though while he loaded his truck.

As we drove off to guide the truck driver to our place, our friends told us they would bring the quiche (which was sending off stomach-awakening aromas) to our place when it was cooked and have breakfast there.

The truck followed our car home. It was an eventful trip, with the truck driver having to stop at a major crossroads to tighten the straps on the load. While he was doing this, several vehicles of the law drove past: 2 polizia motorbikes and 2 carabinieri cars! They took a slight interest in the truck, just enough to have me mentally scrambling for dialogue to explain where the wood came from and why we didn't have a receipt (in Italy you must be able to show a receipt for all new purchases to prove payment of VAT)! However the law continued on so we did too.

Stu helped the driver to offload the wood at our place, then put it to bed under protective tarps.

Within half an hour our friends had arrived with a steaming quiche and a happy breakfast was enjoyed under our pergola, our very inadequate contribution being 2 bottles of spumante.

We are still trying to work out how to repay our friends for the wood!

 

 

 

 

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Septic update

Here's my very tired man late this afternoon. Today he directed all the various pipes through separate inspection boxes. At this corner of the house we have black water, grey water, storm-water from the roof and storm-water from the retaining wall and paved area behind the house. It's a very busy corner...

 

 

 

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