Monday, October 29, 2007

WELCOMING THE WINTER - 1














































My dear friends Roberto and Roberta, who will be away from Sicily at Christmas, decided to invite all their friends to a "welcoming the winter" get-together at the agriturismo La Tenuta Carbonara in nearby San Giacomo yesterday lunchtime. An agriturismo is a converted farmhouse that serves meals and sometimes provides bed and breakfast accommodation. Sometimes parts of the farm are still producing. First of all, I want to show you some of the interesting objects displayed in the lovely dining room:
1. Traditional bread or grain basket.
2. Wall of the converted room, showing where the animals would have been tethered.
3. Traditional olive jar. These now fetch quite a price at antiques markets!
4. Sicilian dresser - note the marble surface, so it has to be Italian. Note also the traditional lace decoration on the shelf edges. [Sorry about the glare here.]
5. These pretty objects were crocheted, then stiffened.
6. Hay forks found in the loft during the conversion.
7. Scales of a kind which dates back to Roman times.
8. Scales of a type which is still seen on the little trucks which sell fruit and vegetables by the roadside.
9. Kitchen implements, many of which would have been used during the making of ricotta cheese. The containers on the far right are called cavagne and they were used so that mice couldn't get at the cheese.
The food pictures will follow!









12 comments:

Gledwood said...

Welcoming the winter?
What bloody winter!!

I'm glad you tacked on a glossary of those items: I wouldn't have had a clue what half of them were otherwise!

jmb said...

I see Gleds doesn't believe you get winter in Sicily! A common myth I'm sure.

Thanks for the tour Welshcakes, I think I prefer the more modern kitchen implements myself. Putting three meals on the table was a full time job in those days.

Ellee Seymour said...

What a lovely idea. Not sure where Gledwood lives, but I have already had some coal fires, though it has warmed up again in the last couple of days.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

How lovely of your friends...we need to take a lesson from the Sicilians!!!!

Gledwood said...

Ellee it's bloody... not THAT warm here in LONDRA... where did you think I lived?

Welshcakes you know you said something about getting Radio 4 through your computer but it was too much hassle?

Well I've explained in detail chez moi how you can have the radio running on the PC without getting in the way of whatever browsing you might want to do afterwards...

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Gleds. Well, admittedly it was 24 C today but we are all in winter garb now! When it gets cold , it is really cold - such as at night - and of course the tiled floors make it colder at home. Some of my Sicilian friends didn't know what all the utensils were for! Hi, jmb. Yes, it still is for some Italian women1 I like these old kitchen utensils just to look at. Hi, Ellee. We're still not allowed to put our heating on! Hi, Anne. Yes, it was a lovely idea. Thanks, Gleds - coming right over! Auguri a tutti.

Crushed said...

I'm just glad the clocks have changed- means I'm not leaving home in the dark anymore.

Dark when I set off home, though.

Liz Hinds said...

What a lovely idea welcoming winter. And what beautiful things they have around.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Crushed. Here it now gets dark around 7pm. But it doesn't last for long. It starts getting light again even in December. I know what you mean - it's miserable when you go home in the dark. Hi, Liz. I wouldn't mind a few of those things decorating my walls.

Colin Campbell said...

I love the simple themes and natural colours. The flying forks are great. Better than flying ducks.

jams o donnell said...

What wonderful items. I love the grain basdket.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Cc. Like your new pic! "Flying forks" - I suppose they are that! Ciao, Jams. Yes, I want the grain basket and the olive jar most!

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