Today I'll tell you a short tale of two ladies and of... dried figs!
We have this place in the Cilento part of Campania, my husband and I. It's OUR Heaven, our piece of happiness and of incredible beauty: steep roads, mountains, buffalos, prickly pears, islands, wild rosemary and... figs! We love it!
When we arrive at our place, an army of old ladies suddenly appear: they kiss, hug me, shake my husband's hand and make me feel welcome and very emotional, as they all are very nice and sweet... though... I really don't know who most of them are!
Two ladies I have come to know very well: Antonietta (Tittella) who lives in Boston half the year. Her house is big, beautiful and quite the Italian American kitch house, with imitation antique furniture and beautiful big kitchen, with big fireplace, where we share limoncello made by her late husband and lots of laughs.
Tatella is a very beautiful lady, at 74, blond, looks lovely in shorts and, if I didn't already have a mother, she would be a mother candidate and I know, as she very tearfully said so, that if she had a daughter she would like her to be like me. It IS a compliment, coming from my very beautiful gin and tonic, heads among the swallows, slightly eccentric, on a windy terrace joking, laughing friend!
Across the road lives Teresa, old Italian Mamma. She speaks perfect Italian (no dialect) and is very nice! She keeps chickens and grows her own organic vegetables (and she's not a "trendy".) Tittella and Teresa kind of fight over my affection, which is very nice for me, because, as a consequence of that, I get gifts of peach shaped cakes and home made limoncello from Tittella (Antonietta) and her lovely maternal hugs, and... delicious gifts of figs, baked and then sandwiched together, filled with nuts and fennel seeds, and lots of lovely smiles from Teresa, as I let her pick my figs until well into November. My tree is truly beautiful! And I'm glad it provides Teresa with deliciously sweet Christmas time goodies.
Antonietta (Tittella) dries figs in the sun, too. I took photos of her figs and of Teresa's beautiful "Fichi impaccati" (dried, nut and fennel seed filled figs) which I would like to share. A little, big ray of sunshine packed inside figs! Look at my pictures!
Figs freshly picked from our big tree (usually my breakfast)
Tittella's figs, drying in the sun
Those are my favorite! Fresh green figs, yum... and I love them dried as well.
ReplyDeleteYes, Valery! Delicious, especially and only when just picked.
ReplyDeleteTeresa's dried figs are the BEST!
ANNA