Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston

The Osteria Casa Mina, which opened some months ago, is close to our house. Now that the summer is here they are eating outside in the garden and once a month they have dinner followed by live music. The music begins at 10.00pm and continues until 1.00 am. The garden is not very big and so a small jazz band, man with acoustic guitar would be ideal. However, so far the bands that play here are practicing for the time they play the “big stadiums” and so have amplification suitable for letting the whole village. This means sleeping is difficult as with the heat all windows need to be open. Last Saturday we decided to go to a late show at the cinema instead of having to listen to music we didn’t want to listen to. So we went to see the film “Transformers 3” which was 130 minutes long (130 minutes too long) it did mean we didn’t get home to after midnight and so only had to survive 1 hour of live music.  Next time they have an event i.e. 22nd July we need to decide if we go out, if we go to eat and listen to the band or do we stay at home, get annoyed and discuss denouncing them for noise pollution.

The band last week was “La Banda degli Zulu”. Click here if you want to listen to their music or to sympathize with us.
The next band to play will be the “Blues Quartet” on the 22nd July. Click here if you want a preview of our evening.

On Sunday we had the English class lunch. Pam and John were invited to join as for the last lesson of the year they had played the doctors in a medical role play exercise.

We decided to return to La Palomba in Mondavio where we had had an excellent meal before. Again they didn’t disappoint. The menu was:

Starter:

Antipasto fanatasia dello chef (cold meats, cheeses)

Pasta course:

Tortelloni di robioloa, rucola al pomodoro fresco (tortelloni with soft cheese, rocket, and fresh tomatoes)
Mezze lune ripiene con ricotta al limone (Ricotta stuffed half moon ravioli with lemon sauce)
Tagliatelle al ragu d’anatra (tagliatelle with duck sauce)
(We didn’t have to choose a pasta as  you are expected to try all three. In Italy this is called a Tris. If there are only 2 dishes being served then it is a Bis)

Main Course:

Faraona alle olive verdi in crosta di pane (Guinea Fowl and olive pie)
Tagliata con rucola e pendolini (Sliced sirloin with rocket and cherry tomatoes)
(this was served as a Bis)
(served with roast potatoes and mixed salad)

Dessert:

Tagliata di frutta con gelato (slices of fresh fruit – pineapple, apricot, peach etc. served with 2 flavours of ice cream).

After this marathon of a meal we staggered out of the hotel and some of us drove up to the sports bar in Orciano where we could watch the men’s final of wimbledon on a big screen.

A good result at the restaurant and a good result at Wimbledon

inside the hotel	painting by Albano Aniballi

Erika and Thomas told us about a hotel about 20 minutes drive away. They said it was a very interesting and that there was currently an exhibition of painitings by Albano Aniballi, an artist who was born in San Giorgio.

So, on a beautiful warm, sunny evening we went to the hotel for view of the art following by a drink on the terrace with great views over the Marche countryside. Along with us were Erika, Thomas and 5 of their German friends. A chance I thought to practice my faltering German but fortunately I was saved any embarrassment as all the Germans could speak English.

The Solea Hotel is near the town of Ripe and is owned and managed by a young couple from Milan. They have converted a large,old brick house into a hotel. The thing that is different is that they have made the inside a very modern space. The art exhibition covers the walls of the main public rooms. They have linked up with an art gallery in Senigallia and so have a new exhibition every few months. The problem is knowing which artist is on show. The hotel’s web site does have a section for news and under this it mentions an art exhibition but it is for the summer of 2009. Italians may like to have web sites but they are not very good at updating them. In fact the gallery who exhibits here is the Galleria Gherardi in Senigallia. On their web page they don’t mention the hotel under “links” and don’t even say that the Gallieria Gherardi is in Senigallia.

This year I reached the great 60 and decided to have a family party. We went back to the UK for a couple of days and on the Sunday we had lunch at the Nut Tree Restaurant/Pub at Murcott near Oxford. Not too far to travel for Bill’s family who come from Oxford but slightly further for my family who live in North London. Bill and I met just over 29 years ago and it is the first time the two families had met. There was no particular reason but it had just never happened. With a mix of English/Irish in Bill’s family and Northern Irish/Philippino on my side the day was bound to be a success.

On the day there were 20 adults plus 1 two year old and the day was great. The food and wine were good and everyone enjoyed themselves and each side seemed to like the other. Maybe I’ll repeat the event on my 65th.