On to Assisi, the City of St. Francis....

Cooking classes over, it is time to seek out the food for the soul the life of St. Francis inspires us to know.   Driving to Assisi from Cortona, we passed over a high mountain separating Tuscany from Umbria.  The views are dramatic, but the road a bit treacherous.  The drive through the Umbrian country side is beautiful.   On the way to Assisi we stop in Gubbio for a cappuccino and to look for St. Francis’ wolf. 



Chiesa San Francesca Cortona



It was Sunday and so we quietly walked through the abbey church of San Francesco, kneeling to say a prayer along with other worshippers.  Every church has its important art—each a little museum in its own right.  Chiesa San Francesco in Cortona actually was built a few decades after Francis died by his successor in the Franciscan order, and it contains a tunic St. Francis wore, as well as one of his breviaries (prayer book), and a pillow he used early in his life before he gave up the comfort of soft lines and beds for rock floors with straw!    We were not disappointed in the church in Gubbio.  But we were disappointed that there was nothing much said about the Wolf of Gubbio.  We looked for souvenirs, but alas, there were none featuring this story from Francis’ life.  I had heard that the Franciscans and the Roman Church want to downplay this particular mythic story of St. Francis, but nonetheless, its charm speaks to Francis’ ability to promote reconciliation in difficult circumstances.  A large bronze statue of St. Francis and Gubbio’s wolf was in the middle of the piazza before the church, and was too large for the Franciscans to hide.  A picture of the wolf and me is one of Tippy’s favorite shots. 



Andy and the Wolf



On to Assisi and the city of Francis and Clare.  Arriving in this historic and almost perfect hill town, you get the sense of the city the way it was when Francis lived.  Our hotel was an ancient residence of a religious order that was first occupied in the late 13^th century.  Our room had a private garden looking out over the Umbrian hillsides, with Chiesa Santa Chiara’s campanile right in view.  The old cathedral was in the other direction, about 50 feet away.  Wandering around the streets of Assisi, there are droves of tourists, and churches everywhere in this small picturesque hill town.   We visited the church built over the sight of Francis’ family home, as well as the prayer oratory and small chapel in the exact location of his birth.  We visited San Ruffino, the cathedral where Francis and Clare were both baptized, as well as the bishop’s palazzo where he discarded his clothing as an act of defiance to his father’s persistence that he give up his radical new commitment to the Gospel.  Francis was raised in the lap of luxury, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi.  The rivalry among the various city states in the early 13^th century had become factious and warring.  So Francis, as a somewhat of a bon vivant, enlisted, but was not a very good combatant and captured more than once.  It seems that Francis was possibly questioning the meaning and purpose of his life.  He was educated and exposed to much of life because of his wealthy station.  But this was not enough.  He was hungry and thirsty for something he was not getting. 



By the time Francis was a young man, and for decades before, the Gospel’s message of peace and reconciliation was diluted in its capacity to be available and transformative of life and relationships.  God’s love was distant and inaccessible except through the church’s centers of power.  One day, Francis discovered Christ in a poor beggar he met.   Francis gave the man his cloak and, powerfully, he felt for the first time that he had participated in God’s love in Christ.  After this encounter, he stopped in the little Church of San Damiano in the valley just below Assisi.  Praying before the crucifix of Christ there in the desolated church, he heard Christ speaking to him, “Francis, build my church which you see is falling into ruins.”   Francis immediately used family funds to rebuild this little church, which infuriated his father.  At 26, he renounced all earthly wealth and privilege and began living a way of life that he felt would draw him into God’s love as it had been offered undiluted to the world in Christ Jesus. 



Approaching Assisi



The idea of God’s incarnation in Jesus’ humanity had almost been lost to Christianity.  Jesus’ divinity was promoted but not his humility and suffering and emptying.  Francis saw this great act of God as the central message of the Gospel and the reason peace and reconciliation among all people, even the creation itself, and the duty of all Christians.  Francis was so transformed by this love of God’s in Christ, that he immediately had throngs of people grasping the truth of the Gospel, and along with Francis, embracing a new way of life and peace.  Although his gentleness was charismatic, his bold clarity and articulation of the Gospel were powerful.  For the next 22 years, Francis would exponentially grow in Christ’s spirit of love.  Two years before he died  he received the ultimate sign of his sharing in Christ’s love, the stigmata, the wounds in his hands and feet and side that Christ bore in his passion. 

That first evening in Assisi, Tippy and I shared Communion for Trinity Sunday in the Basilica of St. Francis where Francis is buried.  The upper church’s walls are covered with Giotto’s famous frescos of Francis’ life, surrounding pilgrims entering the church. This massive church is on three levels, the upper that includes Giotto’s frescos as built last, perhaps 20 years after the first church.  The lower church was built first over the lowest level of the church, a chapel for Francis’ tomb.  Communion was celebrated in the lower church at the alter located exactly over the spot of Francis’ tomb.  One of the hymns sung at the service was a hymn to the Trinity with the exact same tune in our hymnal.  When we reached the Sanctus, I realized our voices at that moment were joined with all the company of heaven, Francis’ voice one with ours, too.  God intends a never ending succession of the faithful to live and preach the Gospel, using words if necessary.  After sharing the Eucharist with other pilgrims, we prayed at Francis tomb deep below the church.   Just four years after his early death at the age of 46, this church was built to honor his faith and powerful witness to God’s love.  Almost 800 years later, people still come to this holy place to honor a faith and witness to the Gospel the world still needs and longs to know.  

14 c. fresco in shrine over entrance to our hotel in Assisi

Beans, Beans everywhere, but no Tuscan Bean Pot!

We are still on the search for a Tuscan Bean Pot for our friend.  We've had verdi fagioli, bianco fagioli and just fagioli, but when we ask what they cooked them in, a very blank stare is returned.  One problem with the first part of the search (you remember our first pass at what might be a Tuscan Bean Pot) was that we were in Umbria.  Of course, no TUSCAN bean pots in Umbria!  So now that we are in Tuscany, we feel that our search will be fruitful, or for our good friend who wants the pot, flowerful!  We were at Il Falconeri, where fagioli could probably be their best in Tuscany and when we asked about the pot, we think they started cursing in Italian something like only true Tuscans could use a Tuscan Bean Pot to make true Tuscan Beans and we American imposters were doomed for failure. But our good friend has a Tuscan heart.  We press on the search!  This large pot was on the terrace with several others at Il Falconeri---cold this possibly be the Tuscan Bean Pot we've been searching for?  We thought we had hit paydirt for this particular search because of the geraniums blooming from the pot.  But alas, this is a mere "flower pot," not a Tuscan Bean Pot.  We do have lots of recipes for Tuscan Beans--fagioli, so our good friend will be able to treat her family with variations on a musical theme for dinner.  But we are still on the search for that pesky pot!  We've just got to get a grip on this search.  Ciao for now!



Tuscan Beans can only be cooked from
Tuscan water drawn from well at town center...this one at Monteriggioni.   Good beans, no pot!

Goes well with Tuscan Beans....       

Cooking with Gabriella



Gabriella, Iron Chef from Tuscany!



I never knew cooking could be so much fun and that Tuscan cuisine is so accessible and do-able!  Gabriella invited us into her kitchen on Monday at Villa Piazzano.  Her big smile and words of welcome to us were encouraging:  “I love food and I love to cook!  But more importantly, I love people and I love to cook with people!”  We felt right at home.   Gabriella is a veteran chef who has been at Piazzano for three years.  From Tuscany, her Mama and Grandmama were her inspirations in the kitchen. Cooking with her you feel like you are enjoying the company of an old friend.  Gabriella is an amazing cook.  She does not use recipes, but knows the combinations that work.  She encouraged us to follow her recipes, but to change them, using herbs and other ingredients that we might love or want to substitute.  “Whatever makes you happy,” she would exclaim.  We were very happy cooking with her for four days! 

We donned aprons and headed out to the garden first thing before cooking, where we cut fresh basil, oregano, sage (blue, pineapple, white and regular), rosemary, thyme, zucchini squash and then to our surprise, the yellow zucchini flowers that make a wonderful addition to salads or herbed cheeses.  Cucumbers would grow 5 inches a day in the warm Tuscan sun.  Eggplant and artichokes, tomatoes and lettuces and onions, all made their way back to the kitchen. 

Zuchini Flowers to eat

The vegetable and herb garden contained lovely raised beds defined by twisted tree saplings cut from the woods around and was surrounded by a bay leaf hedge—no wonder bay leaf wreaths are popular at Christmas in some places—never realized bay leaves formed a tall hedge allowing for plentiful use!  Gabriella particularly likes bay leaf and sage for pork and beef. 

It was back to the kitchen where we began the lesson, which was actually the preparation of a four-course meal that we would share a couple of hours later.  Gabriella told us we could easily prepare a meal for 6-8 people in two, to two and a half hours.  Of course, some things could be started the night before, like marinade for the meats and the tiramisu.  We usually started our lesson preparing dessert.  After dessert was prepared, we’d begin the antipasta, the appetizer.  But after about 30 minutes, we’d enjoy bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, olive oil, basil and garlic simply scraped on the toasted bread,---topped off with a wonderful Tuscan pecorino cheese and a glass of wine (at 11 a.m.. it is 5 p.m. somewhere in the world!).

We learned how to make homemade pasta, and Gabriella taught us how to use a pasta machine.  The only way to make pasta now Gabriella exclaimed---no rolling pins for pasta.  Amazingly, she didn’t use a bowl but simply made a ring of semolina and all-purpose flour on the cooking board and cracked her eggs right into it.  She would use herbs in the pasta mix that were going into whatever filling or ragout tossed with the pasta.  One day we made risotto and it was so easy.  I had thought risotto had to simmer for hours, but Gabriella’s took 15 minutes and was delicious.  With risotto and other rice dishes, she loves saffron (especially good with fish, too).

The food was fabulous when we sat down to lunch every day about 1 p.m.  But even more satisfying was enjoying our new friends we cooked with.  The first day we cooked with Marissa and Steve from Manhattan.  They were on their honeymoon from their marriage celebration the week before.  They were so full of love and eager for their unfolding life together.  They were barely older than Case and asked many questions of us 30 year veterans about what they had just gotten themselves into.  “Keep on cooking together and enjoying life---be committed to the commitment,” we shared with them. 

The second cooking lesson was with Rookie and Stan, just retired from New York and New Jersey and living now in West Palm, near where Tippy and I honeymooned.  We shared instant rapport about spiritual matters and health, and although we use different languages we realized we were headed in the same direction.  We will keep in touch with these lovely folks.  It is amazing how you can connect over food.  But that is the point Gabriella kept telling us.   The third lesson was with a sweet family from Raleigh.  David, Cheryl, Camie and Ellie loved to cook at home and were delighted to acquire new insight from Gabriella.  Again, it is wonderful what you discover you have in common with people as you share God’s presence and a meal.  It is no wonder Jesus shared his most intimate moments over food and wine.   The Gospel stories of Jesus cooking for the disciples on the beach after his resurrection let us know that we, too, share new life and love and healing when we cook for others. 

On Saturday, we had our fourth lesson with a young Australian couple whose families had migrated to Australia from southern Italy.  It was great to learn they were from Adelaide where our friends Alice and Milton’s son Bert is completing his PhD.  Small world.  Francesca and Anthony were on a three month holiday touring all over Europe.   I told them I was on Sabbatical for the first time after 17 years of ministry and here they were after 4 years or marriage and work “doing the continent!”  Their parents were joining them in a couple of weeks and this would be the first time they had returned to Italy.  Anthony fluently spoke an Italian dialect but to his surprise, it is no longer spoken where his family is from.  This young couple and their families kept many Italian customs that had been diluted by a changing and modernized world in Italy.  They were proud of their heritage and that they had kept the traditions.  They had embraced a new world while holding on to things important to their identity.  Something we all need to remember.    We also cooked Saturday with Kevin, a surgeon from Boston, and his son Andrew, a rising senior in high school.  Andrew was a wrestler and once wrestling season was over, cooked everything he wanted that he couldn’t have while training. He especially liked the mascarpone cheese with pears. 

Knowing this was our last experience of sharing the cooking and a fabulous meal, we just didn’t want to leave the table. Toasting Gabriella with limoncello and grappa, we finally had to pull ourselves up from the table. We have certificates to prove our attendance if the pictures aren’t enough! The menus for our four lessons are listed below, to encourage you all to get your hands on a Tuscan cook book and start cooking with someone you love. I’m signed up to do a cooking demonstration at the Greene Street Market at Nativity in September, so I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned with people I love in Huntsville. 

Sally Stockton and I will do a Wednesday Night at Nativity in October featuring homemade pasta. I’ll have to especially practice that skill. As you can see from the video, my tagliatelline pasta ended more like tagliatelleroni because I was cutting the pasta like bread instead of with one swift firm chop of a sharp knife.But not to worry, Gabriella said, it will taste just as wonderful.  "Istts a alll righta!" 

Tippy and I will never forget Gabriella and this incredible experience.  Cooking is more about sharing life and love and blessings than simply food.  We are inspired to do just that, not only with friends, but with those who have no food, and those whose hearts are heavy.  We do not eat by bread alone, but by the “word of God” –God’s active presence unfolding in the world in justice, and peace, and love.  Salute`! 

First Lesson
Strudel salato con prugne e pancetta
Ravioli con gorgonzola e pere
Filetto di maiale allo zenzero e miele di acacia
Tiramisu di fragoli  

Second Lesson

Tagliatelline pasta with mixed vegetable ragout

Ossobuco

Biscottini al vinsanto

Melanzane (Eggplant Rolls) with aromatic ricotta cheese

Third Lesson

Bresaola, Rucola e Parmigiano

Risotto con zafferano e fiori di zucchini
Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Tiramisu

Fourth Lesson                                                      

Aromatic ricotta cheese Mousse

Zuppa di zucca (pumpkin!)

Filetto di maiale agli agrumi e miele di Acacia

Pere al mascarpone

Arriving where you hope to be!

LATE SUNDAY, 12 JUNE.         Driving from Orvieto to Villa di Piazzano, we realized that technology should be tempered with common sense.  Our literature about Villa di Piazzano located it about 5 minutes from Cortona.  However, the GPS was sending us toward a town that would place us about 30 minutes from Cortona.  I checked what I thought was the villa’s address and it had us headed toward the town of Tuoro.  The GPS definitely picked up Villa Piazzano outside of Tuoro and so that is where we let it guide us.   The GPS announced “arriving at destination,” and there in front of us was a lovely villa. The problem was its name was nothing like Piazzano.  We drove in and were greeted by folks from England who told us they had rented the place for the entire week for a destination wedding and they had never heard of Piazzano!  Good thing for global cell phones because we reached our villa and they let us know that their business address was in Tuoro but they were indeed located in the countryside outside of  Cortona!  The map they provided us had clear driving instructions had we bothered to look at it.  I was reminded of a news report about 5 or 6 years ago when people were using their GPS to navigate through Stratford-on-Avon in England and the GPS did not know that the bridge was out over the Avon River.  More than a few motorists ended up in the Avon, crashing through warning barriers! 

We need to know the context.   We need to navigate life with the help of our experience and common sense.  I knew that Villa Piazzano was close to Cortona, but I just kept on driving solely relying on the GPS.  Our Anglican and Episcopal approach to faith and life encompasses scripture, tradition and reason.  It is a wise balance seeking to understand truth within its context with the help of a whole lot of experience handed down through scripture, tradition and our ever-unfolding discovery of this amazing creation in which we reside and care for.   Without this balance, we could end up in the wrong place from where we hoped we would be—and where God wants us to be. God’s divine presence and purpose are much larger than our limited perceptions and so we need all the tools available.  Focusing on any one thing tends to make that one thing take the place of God.   Incredible places and people and purpose are calling to us and pointing us to God and God’s service along this journey of life.  Part of the wonder of what we discover is the journey itself.  In Christ, forgiveness and resurrection allow us always to begin again after dead ends and misguided directions. 

Villa di Piazzano, da Cortona!

We arrived at Villa di Piazzano about an hour later than we had hoped.  It was everything we had been told it would be…a beautiful 14^th century villa located in a tranquil valley surrounded by rich farm land, streams, sheep and lovely people.  We got settled in for a week’s stay and went down to the dining room for a late dinner.   We were not disappointed.  After a wonderful meal, Gabriella, the chef, came out to greet us and energetically let us know how happy she was that we were there and that we were in her cooking classes.  We complimented her on the evening’s cuisine and she said we’d be cooking like that before the week was out.    Her warmth and enthusiasm and confidence (not to mention the excellent meal she had prepared for us!) assured us that we were where we needed to be, at least for the next week!    

Ciao for now.

Buon Giorno da Orvieto!

Sunday, 12 June.  The Feast of Pentecost.   After almost 24 hours after leaving McClung Avenue, Tippy and I arrived at Villa di Ciconia last night about 9:30 Umbria time. We tried to take that classic advice after our first round of packing:  Take half as many clothes and twice as much money!  Unfortunately, the money is the money, but we did cut our packing down considerably to carry-on size bags!  We did check them, however, since we flew Huntsville-Atlanta-Paris-Rome.  And after Tippy’s thinking she might never see her bags again, they did indeed show up at Fumicino and we didn’t even have to go through customs since we conntected through Paris.  Got the car and headed up the A-1 towards Firenze with our first stop, Ciconia. 

Andy outside of Villa di Ciconia

The kind people at this 16^th century villa outside of Orvieto were waiting on us and kept the dining room open.  We enjoyed a wonderful meal with several items accented with “Rocket” on the “English” menu.  Looking at the Italian menu, Tippy, who speaks Italian, realized this was arugula.  Being from the Rocket City, we were charmed! 

  



Tippy at Villa di Ciconia pool

We made our way into the beautiful hill town of Orvieto about lunch time today after relaxing by the pool at Villa Ciconia. Orvieto is one of the "not to miss" hilltowns and worth going back there if you have ever been before (we were here in 2000 on a family trip).  

Orvieto Duomo

The 13^th century duomo is fabulous with its mosaics, stone carvings, bronze doors and frescos. Pentecost Red flowers included red gladiola and red antheria for the fire of the Holy Spirit…lots of children with balloons.  A festival on the duomo square made for lots of tourists.   We discovered a little enoteca where we grabbed a Panini 11 years ago when we were here with Case and Sally.  We also visited the Chiesa San Francesca, where St. Bonaventure built a church in 1266 dedicated over the spot Francis visited in the early part of that century. 



Could this be a Tuscan Bean Pot?



So we are chasing St. Francis!  We are also chasing a Tuscan Bean Pot for a good friend whose family has disappointed her over and over again by not bringing her one back from Italy (she thinks they are afraid she will only serve Tuscan Beans from now on at the family Thanksgiving gathering!).  Problem is, we don’t know what a Tuscan Bean Pot is.  Could this be one in the photo?  Probably not, but we are on the search.        

Spinning, 15th Century Style!

Another friend was excited to know that I was into spinning, yarn that is.  However, the only spinning I do is on a stationary bike!  Here is the closest thing to spinning I did today (outside our charming room at Hotel Villa di Ciconia).  My yarn spinning friend will be happy! 

Nice little pranzo of pizza, calzone and Orvieto Classico, topped off by pistachio gelato!  On to Cortona and the Villa di Piazzano for cooking classes for the next week. 

Arrivaderci!

Busy as Bees?

The view overlooking the bluff from the back terrace of St. Mary’s and a cup of coffee make for a satisfying morning combination.  Looking out into that spacious beauty, I realize that I am a part of something expansive and powerful.   But the larger picture encapsulates a more immediate and closer truth. I looked down and noticed the lawn was a complex combination of greens and textures of various ground covers—no pallet laid sodded lawn here!  It made me feel much better about the “grass” at my home, spread with dandelions and clover, lots of clover.  And this clover dappled lawn made the perfect invitation for a honey bee to accomplish its work this morning.  My eyes spied one of the little creatures dashing between heads of clover right at my feet—there must have been 50-60 clover heads in a three foot radius in front of me.  The little bee was beautiful—lighting from flower to flower, and so busy! It hit all of them, pausing on each stem, and then flew away home.   It is interesting that this little bee toils so hard and seemingly effortlessly, maybe joyously (at least for me to watch).  She works without thought of the outcome, and for the benefit of others, nourishing the queen and young bee larvae with the final product of her work….and perhaps a raccoon that is lucky enough to find the hive!  Our work is usually driven by our desire to see results.   And, in the Centering Prayer understanding of human nature, to let others see our good results.  This of course, helps inflate our egos, ever promoting what Thomas Keating calls the false self—the image of self that we build outside of God’s desires and purposes, resulting in what the contemplative movement towards wholeness and divine union calls “my self-glorification program!”   When we are interested in other peoples’ reactions to our work, we will usually compromise God’s ultimate purposes and divine love.   

This little bee reminds me that the work of God’s Kingdom is for others that I may never see or know.  If I am always results driven, then I will miss the joy and peace of participating in that channel of love and generative-ness that was begun long before I set out to do anything.  A love that has indeed nurtured me and caught me in its tide in Christ Jesus.  This flow of love goes on eternally and it is our deep joy to find ourselves lost in it without needing to know the final results of our efforts.   

And now here’s the real kicker for one more lesson to be learned today, “Goodness,  when have I slowed down enough and simply watched someone else work for 30 minutes and taken pleasure in what they are doing rather than always thinking about what I need to accomplish next?  When have I just sat still and enjoyed God and God’s creation without any expectations?”    

I think my soul is catching up with my body. 

 O God of peace, you have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be our strength.  Lift us we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  p. 832, The Book of Common Prayer

First Day of Sabbatical: The Great Thing is Prayer...

Wrote Thomas Merton.   Prayer itself.  If you want a life of prayer, the way to get it is by praying.  We were indoctrinated so much into means and ends that we don’t realize that there is a different dimension in the life of prayer. In technology you have this horizontal progress, where you must start at one point and move into another and then another.  But that is not the way to build a life of prayer.  In prayer we discover what we already have. And you realize that you are already there.  We already have everything, but we don’t know it…Everything has been given us in Christ.  All we need is to experience what we already possess…If we really want prayer, we’ll have to give it time...The best way to pray is:  stop.  Let prayer pray within you…

On the brow of a mountain considered holy by many who have visited, I have stopped to let prayer pray within me.  I have slowed down to a human tempo from the fast-paced life I lead as Rector of a vibrant and flourishing parish in downtown Huntsville.  What’s been done has been done. What’s not been done has not been done.  And with this time for prayer, I let it be.  

St. Mary’s Center is a place I have known for prayer since the early nineties when I first started praying here on seminary Quiet Days.  It is a flowing well through which I drink the refreshing waters of God’s life and grace, renewing and deepening the contemplative practice of Centering Prayer.  It is time to reclaim that everything I have is gift.   I am always and already where I need to be if I would just slow down and consent to the gift of Christ within. 

And so prayer prays within me.  I realize that after the past six weeks of life my body is way ahead of my soul (which I think is still in California where daughter Sally just graduated from college!).  I will sleep well tonight.  What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be.   As I rest in the deep peace of Christ’s enfolding love, my soul travels toward home.    (written on Monday evening, 30 May 2011) 

Sunset on the Brow at St. Mary's

A Prayer for In the Evening

O Lord, support of all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.  Then in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.  Amen. 

                       p. 833, The Book of Common Prayer