Lucca, Italy in the Tuscany region. Having some vino rosso and a mele tort.

I took the slow train to lucca. Its a long trip. First a 25 minute bus ride from my small village(Trevignano Romano) to a neighboring town called Bracciano. I then take a 56 minute train ride going south (the opposite way from my destination) to Ostienze station in Rome. My next train is a two hour ride from Rome to Pisa(we all know the leaning tower). My final train ride takes about 25 minutes Pisa to Lucca(tuscany region).
Enjoy some of these pictures!!!!!

Some wine off a scenic terrace restaurant called "Caffe Capretz".

A famous poet "Pascoli" wrote about this place.

This was one of the most medievil church I had seen!!!!!

 

View from the bridge

500-600 year old stone bridge!!!!!!!!

This is some of the beautiful scenery around the Lucca region!!!!

Till the next thought...............Ciao Ciao

Italian organic lemon marmalade!!!!!!

This was the plan B. First plan was to make Lemon-cello but we never got around to it so we decided on marmalade for these beautiful lemons from my hosts friends tree!!!!!!! Here we go, its simple.

Note: Do all this while the lemons are hot to help with the canning/jarring

 Boil the lemons in a pot with water, duh!!!!!!!!!  Changing the water as you see some scum bubbles rise to the top(if there is no scum, don't change the water). Once the scum subsides stop changing the water. When the lemons get soft/spongy, you can stop the boil.  Remove the lemons from the water(keep the water for later) and blend them to the consistency you prefer. Chop up the rinds if needed. Add sugar to taste and stir.  Then add some of the lemon water and stir to get the consistency you like . While the lemons marmalade is hot, place in jars and tighten the tops. Then place them up side down on the counter so they could cool and create a vacuum. It helps if the jar are warmed up too.    

Boil organic lemons

Marco Leopardi the Documentary film maker hard at work!!! Do you see his concentration!
 Check it out his work, films that is!!!!
www.terra.tv.it

Blending the lemons

Chop up the rinds if needed

Add sugar to taste,add water

Stir baby stir!!!!!!!! (what a quick stir)


Try it out and let me know how you like it. They use it on bread, also used on something like Melba toast.