April 12, 2017. Life at the villa

LOCATION:  Housesitting at a villa near Casoli, in the Abruzzo region of Italy

WEATHER:  Partly cloudy.  Highs in 60s

 

We spent most of the day doing little chores around the villa.  George cut down a dead tree, and we broke it into pieces, then stacked the wood next to the BBQ.    

The cats stay mostly down at the owners' house.  One is still a kitten so needs to sleep indoors.  The other is skittish around me.  She and I have an arrangement....I find her hiding under the owners' car, then leave a dish of food for her.  I had to go searching for both of them several times today.

 

We ate a late lunch, since dinner tonight will be late.  The owners had left us some nice zucchini, which I stuffed with leftover risotto and baked.  

 

The fox is getting more and more bold around us.  She/he came up to our patio door at about feeding time, and just lounged by the door waiting for the food.  It drove Gino the dog crazy!  Then, the fox left, but must have still been nearby.  Gino went flying by, slithering through the gate, to chase it.  I had to chase both the fox and the dog down the lane.  Luckily, Gino obeyed and stopped when I yelled.  Then, when I went down to feed the shy cat, the fox followed me around, looking for another handout.  I had to shoo it away. 

 

After feeding time of all the animals, George and I went to the rooftop terrace for a glass of wine.  To answer my brother's question.....No, we didn't buy a case of the $.79/bottle wine.  We did, however, buy some bottles of the local $1.49 ones, and it is quite good.   :-)  

This is the view from the rooftop...

George finally found a beer that isn't too bad.  The one he is holding is a can from Austria.

This is looking from our apartment down to the owners' house (from where I fetch the animals.  It is a very steep climb.  I am building up my leg muscles!  

And this is the view from the terrace down to our pool.

The British neighbors picked us up at about 7:45 to take us out for pizza.  They have some favorite restaurants and wanted to show us around a bit.  

 

One of the things they describeid to us is "agriturismo".  Several farms in the area do this.....They serve dinner, family style, to guests. To be called agriturismo, all of the food and wine has to be produced at the farm.  Their favorite one serves 13 different platters of food for $25 which includes all the wine you want, too.  We have seen some of them in the area.  The British people said that you can eat as much as you want.  The one thing you cannot do is NOT eat the food.  If you don't eat one of the platters, the farmer will think you don't like it and will serve you something else.  

Food is pretty inepensive here, except meat.  Tonight's pizza was $7.  We split one with spicy sausage and truffles.  Yum!  We will be going grocery shopping soon, and I'm looking for recipes to use some of the produce that is now seasonally popular and cheap - baby artichokes, fava beans,  and asparagus.