Umbria is famous for many things, among them olive oil. And with the arrival last week of Vicky from Washington, DC and Johnny Madge from Sabina, we were going to see just why. Continue reading Oils Well that Ends Well
How we fell in love with Umbria's Olive Oil Read more
Umbria is famous for many things, among them olive oil. And with the arrival last week of Vicky from Washington, DC and ...
After five days of preliminaries, the big day had arrived. Up until today we had butchered pigs, made sausage, tried our hands at pizza dough and pasta, shopped for fresh vegetables and foraged in fields for their wild brethren, we had baked, broiled and boiled, kneaded, preheated and weeded. We had broken bread and baked it too with Danilo, Moreno, Gabriella, Jennifer, Simone, Salvatore, Ernesto and Mauro. Tonight, however, we were on our own. Dinner was ours to imagine, conceive, develop, design and execute. Tonight we were cooking – cooking with gas. And with wood and carbone. Preparing a dinner for the ages. Dinner for 30. Continue reading Cucinapalooza
[Note - this post was started back in April to record our special Cucinapalooza Throwdown dinner at the villa. The draft was ...
After nearly two weeks in Italy mostly in just each other’s company, Suzy and I began welcoming the guests back into our life. On Thursday Collin and Yoko arrived from Dubai. The following day Vicky jetted in from Washington, DC. And today we welcomed Bobby and Meryl from central Florida, also welcoming back to Umbria our friend Valerie from New York. The arrivals continue this week. We’ve got our innkeeping on. Continue reading Roach Motel
After nearly two weeks in Italy mostly in just each other’s company, Suzy and I began welcoming the guests back into ...
Until we started spending our Julys in Italy several years ago, the Fourth of July was always a big deal in our family. For years we would spend our summers together with the rest of my family on a mountaintop in western North Carolina and the Fourth always seemed to be important. There were pig pickings, local fireworks shows, picnics by the pond. And my brothers were always into doing their own fireworks display for the family, the two of them stopping independently in South Carolina on the drive up from Florida, stocking up on entire trunksful of explosives which they would choreograph for the family and a small group of friends and neighbors on a spot lower down on our property where the chance of setting the woods ablaze with an errant spark was smaller. Continue reading Go Fourth
Italin-style Fourth of July Read more
Until we started spending our Julys in Italy several years ago, the Fourth of July was always a big deal in our ...
Just a short post today. No, really. Brevity is not my forte, but we have been laboring over the past days getting our monthly news magazine, Dolce Vita ready to publish and after writing articles about Ischia and past beach vacations I have kind of run out of words. So no long, boring posts today. If you want long and boring, go visit Dolce Vita. And check out our back issues for even more. Continue reading On the Road Again
Giorgio from Via di Mezzo is back Read more
Just a short post today. No, really. Brevity is not my forte, but we have been laboring over the past days getting ...
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I could write a book about beaches. I grew up on one – Daytona Beach – a place most Americans associate with NASCAR, but which the town fathers had a different plan for, somewhat immodestly and perhaps a bit even more hyperbolically bestowing upon it the name “the World’s Most Famous Beach.” So seriously they took this absurdity that one of the radio stations my father worked at before my birth had the call letters WMFJ, which the owner settled on because WMFB was not available. Continue reading Life’s a Beach
[This post was originally published in our monthly news magazine Dolce Vita, which you can find on this site under the menu heading ...
Perhaps it means we’re just getting old. But this year, at Bevagna’s Mercato del Gaite, there were not chants of “Bee-lee.” Continue reading Homeward Bound
Goodbyes to Ischia, hellos to Umbria Read more
Perhaps it means we’re just getting old. But this year, at Bevagna’s Mercato del Gaite, there were not chants of “Bee-lee.” Yesterday was ...
On the day after our Poseidon adventure, a day of relaxing and taking the waters at the Poseidon thermal spa, our life had anything but been turned upside down. To the contrary, our party cruise seemed to be on cruise control with smooth seas fore and aft. The only ominous cloud the horizon? Our Ischia idyll was coming to an end. Continue reading There’s Got to be a Morning After
Our final day in Ischia Read more
On the day after our Poseidon adventure, a day of relaxing and taking the waters at the Poseidon thermal spa, our life ...
Those of you who know Suzy and me know that we agree on just about everything.
OK, it’s fine to stop laughing. Continue reading Bill and Suzy’s Adventure
The Excellent Poseidon Trip Read more
Those of you who know Suzy and me know that we agree on just about everything. OK, it’s fine to stop laughing. For those ...
On a balmy New Years Day a couple of decades ago, a lifetime ago, really, when I was still a lawyer at a large DC firm, I made a snap decision that changed the trajectory of my life. Taking a rare day off I realized how much I really enjoyed time away from the office and discovered a world outside the cubicle where people meander, relax and enjoy one another’s company. On that day I vowed to myself that if my situation had not changed dramatically by the following New Years Day I would have failed miserably. And a year later I found myself setting sail on a new course for my life, a course into uncharted waters but one on which Suzy and I have had the opportunity to experience many excellent adventures. Continue reading Il Buon Viaggio
That day, everything changed. Read more
On a balmy New Years Day a couple of decades ago, a lifetime ago, really, when I was still a lawyer at ...
We decided to start our month long trip to Italy with a few days on the island of Ischia for one reason. To relax. And our day at the Negombo spa was just what the doctor ordered. Now if we could only get the bill to picked up by Obamacare. . . Continue reading Negombo Matata – Perfect Relax
A relaxing weekend getaway in Negombo Read more
We decided to start our month long trip to Italy with a few days on the island of Ischia for one reason. ...
We travel to Italy three or four times a year and do quite a bit of other travelling in between. It’s safe to say that we are pretty seasoned when it comes to the travel department. Especially on our transatlantic trips we’ve tried a number of different approaches to avoiding or reducing jetlag.