I learned two new words yesterday, indicesa and fosso. Indicesa (slope) because I was driving down a slope, and fosso (ditch) because I ended up in a ditch. You never know when you might be presented with the oppportunity to improve your vocabulary or to test your coping skills. Me, who is afraid of the woods in light or dark, got out of the car, and marched to the bottom of the hill in my new purple suede Prada boots down a rocky dirt road without even the light of the moon to protect me from wild boar, hunter’s dogs forgotten and left to roam, and God knows what else hiding beind the trees.

You can fake courage.

My life saving soul protector of a friend Caroline, talked me through the whole thing and though my car rests where I left it (in a fosso), my feet made it safely down the indicesa (slope), to the bottom of the road. I hung up the phone, and swept off to the Villa La Macchia to translate for the oil tasting and dine on savory and sweet roasted chicken with prunes, orange peel, onion and green olives and a lovely sformata made from semolina and poached apples for dessert.