Manzo night and Gubbio

Clara -- tongue and heart

Manzo at Stella

waiting for stinco

neighbour's tree

view north from Gubbio

Can you spot the paraglider?

some Italian-looking guy

We went to another academic feast at Stella -- beef night! The farmer and butcher gave lectures on raising and slaughtering and cooking. Apparently 22 months is optimum slaughter age and of course it was a green cow (no growth hormones, etc.) We decided to name her Clara and enjoyed its tongue, liver, heart and the main course was stinco (plural of which of course is stincki -- not such an appetizing term for English speakers). There was a lot in the lectures about castrati, stincki, and fat content but I must admit I couldn't follow much. But the wines were extraordinary. There were 2 visiting researchers from U. Sidney with us as well as Beppe and his family. Earlier my nephew Michael visited. It's been nice having company to eat out with in the evenings.

Grappa practice is going well.

Saturday we made a trip to Gubbio, which is about an hour away by bus through some very beautiful countryside. Had a great lunch and then since the weather was > 25 C we decided to hike the mountain behind Gubbio instead of hitting the museums and ducal palazzo. About an hour to get to the top along a well-travelled trail. There were paragliders hanging around above us and the view was great. Feels more like summer here now than spring. And we hear there is a snowstorm in Lethbridge which saddens us greatly.