Another quick catchup episode, talking about spring in Puglia, our new dogs, our spring projects, and other odds and ends of life in our villa in Puglia, Italy.

Topics we cover:

  How we lost our dog Orso recently

  And how we decided to get some new puppies

  Mina came to us from a farm in the Mugia

  Mina is a girl, which is what Paul wanted

  Mina is also a Maremmano, here’s a little about that breed:

– An Abruzzo sheepdog

– Used for centuries by Italian shepherds to guard sheep from wolves

They have a solid, muscular build, a thick white coat, a large head and a black nose

– The coat is thick and long and forms a thick collar (or mane) around the neck

  How Mina was terrorizing the casts, so we had to get Mina a playmate

  He is half Maremmano and half Dogo Argentino, though he looks all Dogo Argentino

  He has very distinct markings, and after a lot of suggestions from our Instagram friends (link), Logan came up with the name Duke

  A little about his breed:

– A large, white, muscular dog developed in Argentina

– Their primary purpose was for big game hunting, like wild boar

  Some say they look similar to American Pit Bull Terrier

  While breed as big game hunters, they are also trained for search and rescue, police assistance, service dogs, military work, and more

  Here are some pictures of them:

  Our off-season projects

  How we replaced our wooden raised beds with some beautiful stone raised beds

  The walls of the beds are drywall, meaning they don’t use any mortar

  The artistry of constructing these walls.  Here is a video:

 

  Then we constructed a beautiful shed in the back corner of our garden

  Here are some pictures of the shed as well

  All the materials we used to build the shed

  Paul’s other project, making olive wood cutting boards

  Here are some pictures of his work

  Here’s his holy cutting boards as well

 

• Here’s a link to the story about the Virgin Mary Apparition appearing in a window: http://www.tampabayskeptics.org/v9n4rpt.html

  Our winter weather here in Puglia

  We had a very good olive harvest this year, but it was a very late harvest

  Our new 3L tins

  We have a few new products:

– Some anchovy fillets

– Colatura di Alici, like an anchovy fish sauce

• The Colatura is sort of like Garum, which was a fermented fish sauce used as a condiment in the cuisines of ancient GreeceRome, and later Byzantium

  Paul helped come up with the name of company who makes the products in Amalfi, and the company’s name is Amalfin

  If anyone is interested in us carrying their line of tun products, let us know.

  It is high-quality tuna packed in oil

  Paul wants to know what it is called “Tuna fish”?  Why not just “Tuna”?  Is it a marketing thing?  Does anyone know?  Please let us know in the comments!

  Our new ceramic jugs to decant our 3L into a pouring jug

  How olives are drupes, making extra virgin olive oil essentially fruit juice

  Drupes include coffeejujubemangoolive, dates, coconutcashewalmondapricotcherrydamsonnectarinepeach, and plum.

  Anyone interested in our culinary tour, there is still room. Click here for more information.

• Michael’s podcast that we mention is here, so you can enjoy his playing on our out of tune piano.

  Our hashtag promotion. Just snap a dish you made with our products or you with our products, and hashtag #villacappelli on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  We will be choosing at random, one lucky winner each month to get a free bottle of our extra virgin olive oil.

  Sign up for our 3-Point Thursday emails below!

  How Saint Joseph’s Day is Father’s Day in Italy.

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You might think growing up in a small town in Texas wouldn't prepare you to live the Italian lifestyle. But in many ways — the family values, the small town culture, the love of food — is very similar to what you'll find in Italian culture. In fact, I expect it's pretty universal. Having been married to an Italian for 20 years, it's been fun to learn and explore the rich Italian culture and share it with you.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Guys

    Nice to hear you back on the air.

    Just so the Kiwis don’t take offence, I’m Australian 🙂

    My wife and I are so looking forward to seeing you and the new puppies in June. I’ll try and make sure she doesn’t steal one…….

    Cheers

    Michael

    • Eeek!! Sorry, I don’t know why I was thinking you were a Kiwi. My bad! See you guys soon! The pups are so much fun!

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