Adventures With Patti

One of the primary reasons for this trip was to pick up some paintings done by Luisa's father, the late Donato Frisia (senior.) Gauss’s cousin, Donato (junior) is the curator of the family collection, so while we were in Milan, we took the train to Luisa's hometown of Merate for an afternoon visit. Lago di Sartirana, where Gauss fished as a little kid  Donato and his wife, Anna, live in his parents’ former home, and Donato has a studio on the lower level. We had a short visit, and then Anna had to leave for a computer class. While she was gone, Donato drove Gauss and me to Lago di Sartirana where Gauss used to fish when he was kid. I asked if he ever caught anything, and this was his answer: "I just bent a pin and tied it to a string. I didn't catch anything, but it was fun to be out there." The area has been turned into a little nature preserve—and has benefited from the resulting cleanup, according to Gauss. Sambuca Ducks. I loved the baby ducks...

Sardinia was a tough act to follow, and Gauss developed a cold while we were there. When we arrived in Milan it had turned into an ear infection. We have seen most of the Milan's sights on past trips, so much of our time was spent visiting family and resting. Costanza took us to a couple of stores to look for some souvenirs, indulged my request to walk through the public market, where you can see fruits and vegetables, freshly-caught fish, and a dizzying array of cheeses and meats. Little purple artichokes in the foreground. Wish I had a place to cook here in Milan! Reddish-purple beans in the foreground, long green squash blossom pods behind, and cherry tomatoes  There aren't enough days in the year to sample all of these cheeses When they're displayed like this, who can resist vegetables? Fresh fish! Heirloom tomatoes. These look so pudgy they remind me of baby cheeks. Then we moved onto the neighborhood near the Garibaldi train station...

Our flight to Milano didn't leave until dinnertime, so we crammed in one last outing near Stazzo Chivoni before heading back to the airport in Olbia. Leo drove us on a twisting, one-track road to see a grove of Sardinia's ancient olive trees about 15 km away, where we met Marzia and some of their friends. The 4,000 year old tree is now roped off. When this was private property people would climb the tree and carve their initials in it. A nearby tree, about 2,000 years old, is accessible. The ranger told us that the branches grow downward toward the ground, forming a natural shelter. 250 sheep could take refuge in this outdoor "room." These are the original heirloom olives, from which cultivated olives are derived. The fruits on these trees were tiny, about 3/8" long, and mostly pit. The trees are on a hillside overlooking Lake Liscia. Whether we were under the boughs or out in the meadow, the entire place had a fresh, earthy aroma that was somehow fa...

Gauss was feeling under the weather—we needed a lazy day. Right after breakfast we ran a load of laundry and hung it in the sun to dry. Then we puttered around until lunchtime. Leo made a simple pasta topped with bottarga , a kind of paste made of tuna eggs. Gauss eyed it with suspicion so we proceeded with caution—but we liked it. Like anchovies, bottarga is better as a supporting member of the cast than as the star of the show. Leo's well-worn roadmap. Many of the roads we took were too small to show up on it. Stazzo Chivoni is a little gray dot a bit north of Luogosanto.    Then Gauss and I set off on back roads with a map and Leo’s directions for a beach on the northwest coast of the island. Most of the roads are wide enough for only one car. When you meet another vehicle, you pass slowly by driving with one set of tires on the grass or, if there is a sharp dropoff—often the case in Sardinia’s rocky, hilly terrain—someone must back up until you find a spo...