With its many campanili towering above and its impressive bastions, San Gimignano is a real tourist destination and the day we turned up it was heaving even although there were showers in the morning and a cold wind blowing. It's still magical though and, if you lift the camera up above the people, very impressive. We enjoyed our day wandering the narrow streets off the beaten track and doing a little shopping on it. We have been here many times over the years but we still love it especially as it is the setting for that great film, Tea with Mussolini.
San Gimignano seems to specialise in Murano glass, leather and sheeps' cheese. Guess which I was most interested in. It's fabulous and we have a wee chunk for grating over pasta, salads and pretty much anything really; except the curry we had last night but that's another story!
I bought myself a very special apron from a wee shop selling such things which had an ancient sewing machine the like of which I have never seen for embroidering names on them. It was amazing to watch the couple who owned the shop working it. They were really skilled at it and made no mistakes.
San Gimignano seems to specialise in Murano glass, leather and sheeps' cheese. Guess which I was most interested in. It's fabulous and we have a wee chunk for grating over pasta, salads and pretty much anything really; except the curry we had last night but that's another story!
I bought myself a very special apron from a wee shop selling such things which had an ancient sewing machine the like of which I have never seen for embroidering names on them. It was amazing to watch the couple who owned the shop working it. They were really skilled at it and made no mistakes.
The weather has been decidedly changeable (I hate that word) and chilly for a week or so but now it's changed and we are basking in sunshine once more.
The ingredients we can buy never fail to amaze me and, we bought some fresh water fish in the market in Castellina on Saturday which we had with breadcrumbs mixed with capers, sun-dried tomatoes and basil. I just oiled an oven dish, put the fillets on skin side down,poured over the breadcrumbs and baked it for fifteen minutes. We had it with a salad of fresh tomatoes and courgette ribbons. For some reason, I have been a bit remiss at taking photographs of our meals but I'll take care to do so in future.
Franco gave us a load of courgette flowers which were duly stuffed with ricotta and parmesan among other delicious things and baked. Served with a mild tomato sauce, they were fabulous, you could taste the courgette which I've never experienced before. Our friend doesn't like cheese (?) so I stuffed some with the remains of some mushroom risotto we had had the night before; she wanted to learn how to make risotto so I made her do the actual cooking. And all that stirring!
Now, I'm just about to go up into the town and see what we might eat today. I really have no clue at the minute; I'll go and get some inspiration...
I'll leave you with a taste of San Gimignano and the views.
The ingredients we can buy never fail to amaze me and, we bought some fresh water fish in the market in Castellina on Saturday which we had with breadcrumbs mixed with capers, sun-dried tomatoes and basil. I just oiled an oven dish, put the fillets on skin side down,poured over the breadcrumbs and baked it for fifteen minutes. We had it with a salad of fresh tomatoes and courgette ribbons. For some reason, I have been a bit remiss at taking photographs of our meals but I'll take care to do so in future.
Franco gave us a load of courgette flowers which were duly stuffed with ricotta and parmesan among other delicious things and baked. Served with a mild tomato sauce, they were fabulous, you could taste the courgette which I've never experienced before. Our friend doesn't like cheese (?) so I stuffed some with the remains of some mushroom risotto we had had the night before; she wanted to learn how to make risotto so I made her do the actual cooking. And all that stirring!
Now, I'm just about to go up into the town and see what we might eat today. I really have no clue at the minute; I'll go and get some inspiration...
I'll leave you with a taste of San Gimignano and the views.