photograph and copyright by manfredi bellati
Friuli:
Lifestyle – A Couscous Lunch. At the palazzo L’Agricola, a former agricultural
building, in a charming hamlet in a little town of the Fiuli region of northern
Italy, a couscous lunch was elegantly prepared.
A
Couscous lunch. Our host, the gentleman, designer and aesthetic Carlo
Piccolomini with his Cavalier King Charles, Titania are photographed by the
upstairs fireplace over which hangs a portrait by Manfredi Bellati of the
adorable Spaniel.
The
elegance and simplicity of the table settings in the dinning room welcomes
guests with two tables in front of the fireplace.
The
cheese soufflés.
On
the kitchen table the meal is ready to be served
Cheese
Soufles
Couscous
Vegetables
cooked in broth
Ratatouille
Harissa
Cooked
Fennel and poppy seed salad
Pumpkin
and Spinach Quiches
Assortment
of cheeses from the Natisone Valley and Gorgonzola
Mostarda
Veneta
Cousous
with ratatouille and vegetables cooked in broth.
The
cheeseboard. On the cheeseboard two local cheeses, from the Matayur region in
the Valley of Natisone, they are made with unpasteurized milk, together with a classic
Gorgonzola dolce, are all delicious eaten with Mostarda Veneta, boiled fruit
in a spicy syrup.
The desserts: A chestnut semifreddo together with traditional deep fried carnival
pastries were a delicious ending to the
meal.
Carlo
Piccolomini and his sister Benedetta Piccolomini who is a garden designer and
who together with landscape architect, Paolo
Sgaravatti and neurologist, Francesca Meneghello are the driving force behind The Healing Garden, Un Giardino Per Rivivere, at the San Camillo Hospital on the Lido in
Venice.
It’s a healing
garden for the senses, a natural place, where sound, touch, color and
smell contribute a therapeutic relief to suffering for the patients. Please contact the website if you
would like to donate time or money for this worthwhile project, which hopefully
will be ready this summer.
The guests are happy.
And... Titania hopes
there are leftovers.