Villa Ferraia

A little south of Siena and off the beaten path, you will find Villa Ferraia.  Near the village of Tocchi, Ferraia was once a tiny hamlet surrounded by a dense forest.  Wild boar and deer thrive in the area.

Owners Vittorio and Patrizia Cambria bought the abandoned structure and used the surviving brick walls for the foundation for their beautiful new lodge . 

Villa Ferraia is a peaceful retreat with many pleasing features such as an infinity edge pool and spa.

An organic garden provides fresh vegetables

and luscious fruit with every meal.

Dining alfresco on the patio is always a special event.

Led by Vittoria himself, you can ride through quaint surrounding villages

and enjoy a picnic along the way.

Villa Ferraia is this photographer’s dream!

More on Ferraia to come…

On assignment in Tuscany

Rolling hills near Montalcino

One of the many historic piazzas in Siena

 

The Gallo Nero (black rooster) seal of approval at Colle Bereto in the Chianti Classico region

 

Alley in the picturesque hill town of San Gimignano 

 

Hauntingly beautiful San Galgano, below, is an abandoned Cistercian Abbey.   Impressive in its day, the abbey’s roof collapsed because the leading was removed and sold by a local lord.   A beautiful meadow now thrives in the nave.  The walls, true to Gothic design, soar upward to the sky. 

Legend has it that a wayward knight named Galgano Guidotti renounced worldly goods and became a hermit on Monte Siepi.  Spurred on by a vision and determined to prove that renouncing violence and worldly goods would be as difficult as splitting rocks, Galgano impulsively pointed his sword at a stone and miraculously drove it in to it’s hilt!  He never left the hill again and was canonized in 1185.  And there you have the Italian version of the ‘Sword in the Stone’!

 

Corner of a stairwell in Florence

 

Wine bottles in a display case shot during a wine tasting at the Enoteca la Fortezza di Montalcino.  Located inside the main tower of the medieval fortress, the enoteca specializes in wines from the Brunello di Montalcino appellation.

Salute!

Tenacity at the studio

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new tenacity date…
“pop up” dinner (just to make it that much more difficult)
monday october 5, 2009
7ish

- so read the brief announcement by Tenacity creator chef Randy Rucker. With only a couple of days’ notice, 32 diners gathered at the studio on Monday evening for over three and a half leisurely hours. Randy amazed us with a gallery of nine small but beautifully plated courses that visually and deliciously perked up our senses.


Serving local, seasonal ingredients that are minimally treated, it was a thing of beauty to watch Randy and his rocking assistants, Aggie engineer Marcus and sous chef Ben work effortlessly in the studio kitchen. Surrounded by a large variety of ingredients and several courses to go, Marcus and Ben remained cool and relaxed, occasionally cracking jokes, which led us to believe that this was old hat to them. Come to find out they are relatively new in the food industry - but according to Randy "both are the future of dining in Houston." Professionals, indeed!


Asymmetric white plates are the vessels for Randy’s culinary creations. Artistic at an early age, according to his supportive and proud mother Bootsie, he occasionally retreated to regain his thoughts and then prepared each component with perfection. Every tasty morsel - be it a duck heart (your read it right!), a thin slice of radish or a tiny sprig of herb - found its place on the elaborate menu.


Here's a brief outline of the creative menu:

• Scorpion fish treated like ceviche in a dashi marinade with poached quail egg, shaved fennel, thin slice of spicy red Fresno pepper and fennel sprigs
• Lane snapper, purslane, English cucumber and Easter egg radish
• Lean almaco jack fish, lime juice, smoked salt that evokes the flavor of bacon and Asian pear
• True to Randy’s practice of not letting any part of the animal go to waste, we ate duck hearts, sauteed then chilled, with sweet fish roe and a small red potato. Often referred to as the ‘nasty bits’ in the US, offal is making a comeback.
• A brilliant golden yellow kabocha squash soup with hazelnut oil, green beans, fennel and radish - velvety and luscious
• Cream of broccoli, cauliflower and siphoned egg
• A hearty barley porridge with blue crabmeat, shimeji mushrooms, a hint of peanut butter, sauteed baby bok choy and sprig of basil
• Pork tenderloin on spicy kim chee
• Deconstructed pb&j for dessert: strawberry jelly, granulated peanut butter and a drizzle of chocolate miso served on a spoon

"pop-up" dinner a success!
diners scramble for more pb&j and linger on into the night
it's tuesday tomorrow, anyone working?


wednesday october 7, 2009
in the easy chair with my boots on...
chef randy rucker