Farmer gal certified

I couldn't believe my 12 glorious days at the lovely Casa Lanzarotti farm were over. Despite the cuts, scratches, bruises, body aches, and constantly feeling dirty and cold, I never felt so good and alive! What more can a tropical city gal asked for? The fabulous homecooked food (spelt, pasta, organic salads, jams, horse meat stew, lentils, fresh porcini mushrooms, stuffed zuccini flowers, wood-oven DIY pizzas, coppa ham, cheese, vino and expresso!) was a reward waiting for us after our early mornings of work.

I truly learnt so much from living on a farm working closely with nature and gained a new level of respect for all the flora, animals and other resources in our tightly knitted existence. If only everyone could have a taste of this soulful experience! I'd never forget my time here; the friendships forged and adventures paved for a lifetime of memories. Even as I closed my eyes, I could still hear Katie and I giggling as we rolled the gnocchi from scratch. I could see Ben contemplating jumping into the freezing stream from the rock and then taking the plunge in one sleek dive. I could feel the dying rays of the sun creeping away as we climbed up the steep verdant hills for dinner...

Besides gnocchi, Iris also taught us to whip up a wicked melanzane dip from the plump organic eggplant by steaming and mixing them with fresh garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and chilli flakes. Buonissimo! We decided in order for it to be a fair exchange, we'd prepare a meal for them too. Somehow by popular demand, I was tasked to come up with a homecooked Chinese dinner, not an easy job considering we couldn't find a lot of ingredients at the local supermarket (no coconut milk, no curry spices, no tofu - niente!).

Ben and Katie rolled up their sleeves and chipped in, and we produced a divine spread Singaporean-style comprising fragrant chicken rice, with accompanying bowls of steaming soup and the meat laid out nicely on a bed of organic tomato and cucumber dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce. Then there was the chilli sauce made from scratch (which set everyone's ears on fire), steamed egg with meat and fried spinach with garlic and sesame oil.

Iris and Gianluca were clearly impressed and probably secretly glad that we didn't bomb their kitchen! When we brought out the dessert, they all exclaimed 'ooh' and 'wow' in response to the mixed fruits agar agar jelly served in their pretty orange shells. Needless to say, they loved it, especially sweet Maria whom I taught how to prepare it the following day (but we added vodka this time).