My book club did an exchange, and I was lucky enough to receive “A Thousand Days in Tuscany” and “A Thousand Days In Venice” by Marlena de Blasi. She paints a beautiful picture of the countryside, a vivid example of life there and exquisite recipes such as chicken cooked in a roasting pan with turnips, potatoes, onions, leeks, and carrots. Life is simpler than we know it with “the state of effortlessness,” which defines itself, writes de Blasi.
In “A Thousand Days in Tuscany,” de Blasi, an American chef, marries Fernando, a Venetian banker, on short acquaintance. She tells of the Tuscan sky, the church bells, the jubilant festivals they attend, the country bread drizzled with olive oil, and how each season has its own special appearance. She describes how to braise pork to taste like wild boar and how to make castagnaccio, which combines chestnut flour, olive oil, pine nuts, and rosemary leaves. What an imaginative blend. Another show-stopper is the one and only true bruschetta served best with a glass of red wine.
A “Thousand Days in Venice” gives more enticing details of the new match. Her husband speaks little English, and she believes her heart has lost its capacity for romantic love. However, they are soon enraptured with the romance provided each day by their new destination. It’s a love story as well as a description of the wonderful foods they partake of, including Mississippi caviar, borlotti beans, soft-shelled crabs, pepper-crusted beef in Kentucky bourbon sauce and hot fudge pudding for dessert.
The newlyweds had traded roles to move from exquisite Venice to live in a stable. They gathered nuts, harvested grapes, hunted truffles and caressed each pleasant day. They embraced a hardworking Tuscan life, and de Blasi and her husband now conduct gastronomic tours, culinary adventures with a focus on local foods through Tuscany and Umbria.