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August 10-12, 2000
The house on the right is one of two houses
termed "Case Rotelli," or "Rotelli Houses."
The other Rotelli house is about 30 feet up the road
and the Rotellis still live in
it. (A future postcard will likely feature a photo
of Franco Rotelli, our neighbor and quite possibly the
laziest shepherd on Earth. When I arrived here on Tuesday,
Franco was predictably out in front of the house wondering
where his sheep had got to.)
Anyway, this is the house I live in when
I'm here.
See how nice and clear the sky is? A beautiful
day for a procession, and as luck would have it there's
one scheduled. Today is the feast day of San Lorenzo,
the patron saint of Cargalla. Although our house is
not situated in Cargalla proper, we are still considered
members of the parish. I'm psyched, because San
Lorenzo is my favorite martyr! Who's yours?
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Case Rotelli, my husband's
childhood home
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As you may already know (if you were diligent
and followed the link on the previous page), San
Lorenzo was slow-roasted to a crispy crunch. At
left is a representation of his martyrdom from
the door of the Cargalla church.
Of course, once he ascended into heaven his skin
was restored to its natural rosy beauty. To the
right is San Lorenzo in all his glory. Notice
how he clutches the spit, implement of his own
doom, in his left hand.
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Alas, the clouds have rolled in and as
we sat in mass it started to pour and the procession
was cancelled. Very disappointing, especially since
this was the only reason I attended mass to begin with.
Oh well, there nothing left to do but
go home and eat.
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The rest of this missive is dedicated
to Nancy and Georgia, both of whom swear they can't
cook. Well, ladies, it's easier than you think. We'll
start with something that requires only that you can
chop stuff up and boil water.
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Pesto! Delicious, fast and easy. Here's what you need:
basil, garlic, Parmigiano cheese (Romano is also good
if you have some), parsley and pignoli (you can substitute
walnuts). Oh yeah, you need olive oil, too.
Georgia gets pissed when I tell her I don't know how
much of anything to use. She's a baker and hence likes
to know exact weights and measures. I've tried to tell
her that cooking isn't like that -- you just use what
you like. You like garlic, you use more garlic; you
like cheese, you use more cheese.
Generally speaking, you want to use about
half as much parsley as basil. So if you use one cup
of basil leaves, use half a cup of parsley leaves. One
cup of basil will be sufficient for enough pasta to
feed 4 people -- maybe even 6. It's hard to know since
I never bother to measure.
Use 3 small cloves of garlic unless you
don't have any friends or lovers -- then it's okay to
use more.
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Pignoli is expensive. Use just what fits in your palm.
Cheese can be added last, and to your
taste.
What you do is this: chop it all up as
fine as you can. If you have a food processor, that's
best. I don't have one here, so I use a big knife.
Mix this with olive oil and cheese, add
a little salt, then toss it in with your cooked pasta.
Directions for cooking pasta can usually be found on
the back of the box.
Ciao, amici! Buon appetito!
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