Puglia

Un brindisi al cibo vegetariano!

We visited Brindisi not too long ago, hoping to stroll through the antique market. Normally it takes place the first Sunday of the month. Unfortunately, there was another Saint to be celebrated, so no market, no shopping…

Daughter wanted to go again, she had spotted a high end vegetarian restaurant. She and her boyfriend are both eating vegan, for health, ecological and ethical reasons. I totally agree, only the rest of the (male ;-)) family won’t follow.

So! We headed off to Brindisi again. Worthwhile, that is for sure. We strolled along the riverside and harbor, a beautiful scene. Drinking cocktails in the evening light, scanning people walking by.

Dinner: it was high end vegan food! The restaurant is called Piovono Zucchine, and the owners surprised us with their delicious and unique food. Ever tasted fried cactus fruit?

Let me show you a few dishes.

To taste, you’ll have to head over there yourself. No regrets, I can guarantee.

The best piece of art (all the dishes were!) was the dessert. The taste as well as the design were inspired by the movie Pulp fiction. You had to make the final touch yourself before eating it: inject your heart (the one on your plate). Buon appetito!

The holy Andreas! Well, we chose the right name for our youngest 😉

How are you?

I am still at Casa Vita. It is just me and Hubbie at the moment. And we are working inside and outside the house to keep it up to date and to make it more beautiful.

More on the interior in a later post!

Last week we visited Sant’Andrea. It is an Instagram-worthy place. But don’t forget to use your own eyes too. These cliffs and rocks along the Adriatic coast in Puglia (between Lecce and Otranto) are breathtaking. Sant’Andrea is a bit over an hour drive from Ostuni, where Casa Vita is.

We walked aside the cliffs and Hubbie, Daughter and Boyfriend went down to a lower platform. There were steps for the first part, but then it was all climbing– too scary for me. Let me just show you the photos.


Recognize Hubbie and me;-)?

Too scared to go all the way down…

The other ones weren’t

Poor Giovanni

Unfortunately Giovanni didn’t make it, diving from the cliffs. But there are worse places to rest in peace, don’t you think?

Have a great day and don’t risk your life!

Ciao, Sophia

Buonasera Tutti,

I am writing outside now, under the back porch in Casa Vita.

This morning we visited Brindisi, the old Port town – there is an airport too now.

We came back to the house and I made a quick lunch, with all the ingredients we still had:

• small zucchini
• zucchini flowers
• yellow pepper
• arugula
• small tomatoes
• green and red pesto
• parmesan cheese

I cooked some whole wheat pasta, divided it in two bowls, one with the green and the other with the red pesto. I grilled the pepper, zucchini and zucchini flowers. With the arugula, tomatoes and cheese I made a salad.

It was an easy but delicious lunch. Buon appetito!

And oh yes, last week we tried our pizza again. I wrote down this recipe already. This time I added a slightly different salad, with fresh picked figs from the yard!

Ingredients:

• figs
• lettuce
• tomatoes
• cucumber/melon, this is a kind of fruit you can find here, it is a mixture between cucumber and melon.
• some ricotta cubes – but actually I would prefer just some salty blue cheese
• a vinaigrette from olive oil from our yard (what else?), balsamic vinegar, a small spoon of marmelade (preferable one from figs) and some pepper and seasalt

Delicioso anche!

And let me show you all the fruit that is ready to be picked right now, all in our yard:

Buon appetito!

Ciao, Sophia

Hi Everyone,

How are you? Enjoying summer?

Due to a ton of different reasons we drove down – 2000 km’s yes – unexpectedly to Puglia, the car loaded with some small furniture. This week was the only one still available and I was eager to redecorate Casa Vita.

Just some small things I added, but for me interior design is about details and colors. Want to see what we brought?

This étalagère and two old antique plates (with garland with roses) I bought at the garage sale at the Yvestownshop. And it matches perfectly with the kitchen tiles and cactus bowl and jug.

Then this cute little ‘cloud table’ from Sissy Boy and two raspberry colored stools from Westwing.

Two light weight white tables for the white patio.

The wooden side tables I made last Spring turned yellow because of the varnish, so I painted new ones, didn’t varnish them anymore, just painted the grinded tops with white oil.

Since it was a rush of coming and going of guests, we did a lot of washing and other chores in and around the house.

Yesterday was a lovely day.  We had family over to visit and for the first time we baked homemade pizza! Oldest had tried it in June with his friends and they found it to be the best pizza ever 😉

Did you ever make pizza yourselves? What’s your receipe?
Here’s how we did it:

• Use small dry wood (there’s plenty from the olive trees here) together with some paper to get the fire going
• Certainly take enough wood (the fire went out a little bit too soon for five pizzas)
• Let it burn till the wood has turned into red coal
• Move the coal to the sides, so you get an empty space in the middle
• Take fresh dough from the bakery here in Ostuni (you get five pizzas out of one kilo of dough). Take the dough out of the fridge one hour before. Cut in pieces and roll into balls. Roll it out on plenty of flour.
• Put enough flour on the plate so the pizza doesn’t stick to the plate. Put the dough on the plate before you start “decorating.”
• The toppings: some tomato sauce and any other toppings you prefer (I used peppers, olives, tomatoes, anchovies, capers) and of course mozzarella (ask for mozzarella specifically for pizzas–it must be dryer than the regular one).
• Don’t over do it with toppings; the pizza might get too heavy, and the crust will fall apart
• Put the pizza in the middle of the oven and close the door
• Check regularly, and turn the pizza a little bit, so it won’t stick to the stone
• It takes about fifteen minutes for a pizza to get ready

Buon appetito!

Ciao tutti,

I am in Puglia right now. Preparing Casa Vita for the summer season. There are still two weeks available in the summer. Let me know if you would like to spend your vacation here!  We are returning to Belgium tomorrow, and I still have a long list of to do’s …

So I am just going to treat you to some pictures. Continue Reading