There ain't nothing better in life...

Even without the benefit of a calendar, it would be possible to know that we are into the latter part of July, given that the temperature has taken another slight upward shift. This means that afternoons are hovering around the low 30C level, even managing a lofty 35C on Friday afternoon. And it isn’t just daytime that has upped the ante; temperatures overnight remain in the low 20s, prompting the removal of the summer duvet in favour of a sheet with a light blanket folded at the bottom of the bed, just in case it should drop into the teens.

While the steady advance towards the main holiday season may have seen more of my students drop by the wayside – the three children in Montegranaro having finished on Friday until September – in contrast this last week saw the start of my bi-weekly speaking sessions with Giulia, the daughter of Giordano the ferramenta. We have agreed to Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons. Her father was particularly keen on the morning session as a way to make sure she was up and out of bed at a respectable hour. From my brief acquaintance with her, however, I find it hard to believe she is the sort of person to fritter her time away and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours chatting about various things, even if she did have to help me out on more than a couple of occasions when I talked myself into oral cul-de-sac, hemmed in by my lack of either vocabulary or grammatical adroitness – or both.

Wednesday marked a first for me when, after over three years of living in MSP, I eventually ate dinner at Oasi Belvedere. Besides being an agriturismo, situated on top of the hill directly across from the back if LCDDB and only some five minutes by car in San Rustico, it has the added attraction of affording a fine panoramic view across the valley with our house nestled cosily in the middle of said vista. The minor downside to this is that, during high days and holidays when the sun is out and people are frolicking round Belvedere’s pool, there is nothing to stop their shouts, accompanied by a thumping disco soundtrack rolling across to your side of the valley. Still, it’s not so obtrusive, and it’s a small price to pay for sunny summer afternoons.

There was no such fear of boisterous frivolity on Wednesday night, however, as when we arrived with Max and Fabio, whom we had invited to come with us, we were the only party dining outside. I thought at first that we were the only ones, full stop, but there were some others eating inside. Why you would want to do this, rather than eat al fresco amidst the rustic charm of the balmy terrazzo, is anyone’s guess. I’d been told beforehand by a couple of people that the food was traditional but of good quality (I’m not sure why one should pre-empt the other) and indeed it was. The absence of a written menu might throw your inexperienced tourist to Italy, but it was another sign that we were somewhere that had no truck with modern fangled ideas. Instead a nice lady told us what there was: antipasto misto, a choice of pasta to go with a choice of sauces (we passed on a primo) and various meat dishes – all the usual suspects, including the finest insalata di faro that it has been our pleasure to meet.

Before heading to Belvedere, we had an aperitivo at LCDDB, and Stephen took the opportunity to pick Max’s brains as to why the lemon tree was feeling a little sorry for itself. “It needs full sun,” he said, “as much sun as it can get.” Stephen had thought he had positioned it advantageously, just under the edge of the terrazzo above, where it would get sun during the morning and some shade when the heat was at its fiercest. Not so. Moreover, two other tubs that were positioned similarly needed moving, this time into complete shade. I suppose none out of three ain’t bad. This is why Stephen was to be seen on Thursday morning, having returned betimes from the factory, manhandling the various pots into their new positions in the hope that they would start to thrive.

On the subject plants that are thriving, our tomatoes continue to be the gift that keeps on giving as Stephen has gathered another few kilos this week. We did, however, find two new ways to use them up, one being quite trouble-free and the other, while not exactly troublesome, was a tad protracted. The first was when Computer Luca called by on Thursday afternoon on his way home from a day at the beach and he left with a load to take to his mum, as their tomatoes for some reason are proving a little reluctant to mature. The second way was thanks to an Internet search turning up a recipe for Tomato Confit, which I made yesterday with moral support from Stephen, and which involved not only roasting halved tomatoes in the oven but then packing them in jars and immersing the sealed jars in a pan of water and leaving them to simmer.

We did find time, though, while the tomatoes were cooling ready to jar to meet up with Giordano the ferramenta, who took us in his van over the valley to see a house he has for sale in San Rustico (funnily enough, just at the entrance to Oasi Belvedere). Like everyone else around here, he has an old family country house to sell, this one having been occupied by his father but which has been empty for more than several years now. When he first mentioned it, about a year ago, he was trying to get us interested, but as it came some time after we had moved into LCDDB he missed the boat on that one. It is, though, in a most amazing spot for, situated as it is on the top of the hill, it has the most stunning view that sweeps almost full circle across the surrounding valleys and all the nearby towns.

The downside, if you consider it such, is that the interior of the house has not been touched since Giordano’s father lived there and it is somewhat basic – if not primitive – by modern standards. But with two well-sized rooms upstairs and space to convert downstairs, it could with vision and a reasonable supply of the readies become an utterly charming bijou summer residence. And that was the purpose of our visit yesterday afternoon, for us to view the property first hand so that we can spread the word to our friends and acquaintances who may be, or know someone else who is, on on the lookout for somewhere they can gather their own olive crop and bottle tomatoes to their heart’s content.