From Rocca Malatina:
Despite today’s rain and my hobbling gait (I have a cane,
made of bamboo, a picturesque prop from this house), we went to the flea market
at Savigno. We’re looking for just the
right kitchen clock, as ours gave up. At
the other house, we have an official “Campari” clock, but here, we’re looking
for something more suitable to this character, more “paintable”.
Why am I hobbling? Because
after a shoeless month of August, I put on a new pair of shoes and got extensor
tendonitis, an inflammation of the instep.
They weren’t even great shoes. Meanwhile,
I try to keep my foot above my heart (just picture it).
I found a couple of nice outdoor chairs in the attic of this
house, that I painted pictures of. It’s
mostly old stuff that makes for good painting – an integrity of materials, I
think, and maybe not too smoothed out.
Driving to Savigno, I saw a very picturesque black woman
carrying a baby on her hip. She had gold
jewelry and a lovely dress, and that baby sitting baby-style on her hip, chubby
legs splayed around Mom’s middle. They
were good for a painting, but alas, a fleeting image. Most
people don’t look that good. The day
before, in Vignola, there were lots of people attending a back-to-school
extravaganza, but somehow everyone looked like they were wearing plastic.
I came home and made lunch for us and a friend. We talked about starting a restaurant. The other night, when I whipped up a frittata
I was thinking it might be an interesting concept, a frittata-restaurant. Honestly, you can do a lot with a frittata and
a little other ingredients: potatoes,
artichoke hearts, ham; or butternut squash, red pepper flakes and gorgonzola;
tuna, fennel and lemon. I like to
carmelize the ingredients at the bottom of the frittata – better than an omelet
in that respect. One of our favorite
restaurants in Paris, Sancerre, served pretty much only omelets – and oysters,
in season, and Sancerre wine. Our friend
has a chef who’s looking for a job. We’d
set up the concept and continue the development. She’d find the spot and make the
arrangements. He’d run the day-to-day. Not
too much standing on this foot.
Frittata, we’ll call it. Watch out,
Taco Bell.
