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soupapalooza!

the stories
the kitchen
the market
the proof (party pics!)
the food porn
the recipes
the about
the drop me a line part
the resources
the full list
jewelry alchemy
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italian bubbles: quit trying to make 'fetch' (I mean franciacorta) happen

Last summer I went to Italy for the month of August. That sounds super fancy, I know, but I do not have the funds to be considered fancy by any stretch of the imagination, so please withhold your judgement and snark for the time being. Though I do really love the snark. I was able to go because Bossy cashed in her airline miles to get me a gratis ticket (which was insanely generous) and we had a free house to stay in Panicale in Umbria. 

Panicale is ideally located right next to the Tuscan border, so driving around from cute little countryside village to walled gothic town was really easy (well, for the most part considering I did get car sick for the entirety of the month, which was less about Italian roads and more about the driver of the rented Cinquecento but whatever). 

The first day trip we took was to Montepulciano (where my beautiful copper stock pot was forged), and it was one of my favorite places in the whole of Tuscany because of the breezy, beautiful walled in spot on the top of a hill overlooking the region. It was a gorgeous day and we were lucky enough to have access to the best wines of the region in the numerous bars that dotted the peak of the city. 

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PostedAugust 17, 2011
Authormelissa mcclure
Categorieslibations
Tagsfetch, K&L Wines, pedantic wine lesson, soupapalooza!, Bossy, Mean Girls, fancypants, Steve Greer, panicale, franciacorta, montepulciano, my summer in umbria
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​photo courtesy of Bossy Blonde (her pictures are much better than mine)

I have a dream: that one day this kitchen will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed--that all copper pots are created equal.

I didn’t take my camera with me for our quick little day trip into Montepulciano, a trip in which the single most notable part was the absence of car sickness on my part. I am incredibly sad about this (the lack of a camera, not the nausea) because we stumbled across something meaningful to me on a multitude of levels-- a store full of hand forged copper pots called Rinomata Rameria Mazzetti. It made the metalsmith geek in me absolutely giddy and it made the soup maker in me literally squeal. 

“Oh my Gaaaaaaaawd. It can’t be!” I said in my best American Tourist accent to Bossy as we passed a window lined with copper bowls, vessels, fondue makers, baptismal fonts, you name it. There were repousséd copper sheets made to be used as house numbers in shapes of grapes and what I’m assuming is Bacchus (this is a wine region, after all), tiny butter and milk warmers and ladles. Basically, if I thought I could have gotten away with it, I would have hugged the nice Italian lady whose husband’s family have been coppersmiths for five generations, purchased 90% of her inventory and then bought a ramshackle Italian stone villa to house it all. I could momentarily imagine a whole new life created around this Tuscan kitchen... luckily for me, I don’t have the available balance (or the pot rack) to do such a thing. 

Anyway, Mom, Dad, Secret Admirer(s): if you’re reading this give the nice Italian lady a call; though she doesn’t speak much English, she’d love to meet your Visa card, and I’d love a giant rondelle to make soup for 25 when I get home (2 mm thickness of the copper, please).

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PostedAugust 15, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesgear and miscellany
Tagsumbrian adventure, august adventure, umbria, viva italia!, copper pot, gear, Tuscany, Bossy, hand forged, montepulciano, rinomata rameria mazzetti
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goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

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Why? Because soup is cheap, delicious and easy. Kind of like me.

a weekly attempt to eat well and to savor life. or to see how much food I can get on my clothes.

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