We have always found it very easy to get sucked into excess and it seemed like a good idea to supplement the vegetable garden with free range eggs. As I have written before we bought 11 young chickens that we wrestled with every evening for a few months putting them to bed. We have now been well and truly rewarded but with a bit of foresight we should have considered what we we would do with nearly a dozen eggs a day!
The super 6
One of the ringleaders
We don’t really want to eat scrambled, fried eggs or omelettes for breakfast daily even if they are delicious. On the other hand we are able to keep our friends well supplied. Hopefully they will slow down as autumn and winter set in. A quietness and stillness is beginning to settle in as the harvest reaches its conclusion and the mist is becoming more prevalent. Time for a bit of culture:
To Autumn (John Keats, 1820)
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Which is all very well if it weren’t chucking it down with rain on a day we had planned to play golf.
It has been a busy time with visitors and the many Fairs and tastings taking place during the month. We have managed only 2 of the Barolo tastings in La Morra so far but that has provided us with a short list of Cantinas to visit that provide decent value or exceptional Barolo (or Barbera) e.g. Andrea Oberto, Stroppiana, Marrone, Ciabot Berton, Marcarini. Some other so called top names we tasted were not worth twice the price.
The Truffle Fair in Alba is still running and we particularly liked the Brut made by the Scuola Enologica di Alba which at €7 is an easy excuse to drink bubbles.
Alba Truffle Fair
Cheese stall at the Neive Fair
Pork magician - Primo Montaldo
Manera also have an excellent offer of 3 bottles of their easy drinking 2007 Barbaresco for just €40. You should also take the opportunity to taste Primo Montaldo’s ( Via Trezzo Tinella 10, Neviglie +39 338 2061490) exceptional cured pork fillets. Cured with care over a month or so and then rolled in a variety of herbs or left to soak in Barolo!