Friday, February 20, 2009

TUSCAN TRAMPS

My article on our walk to Rome is in the March issue of FEMINA magazine. They gave it 5 pages and used 8 photographs - a really nice feature.
I took a copy of the mag to dinner with us last night and everyone laughed when they read the opening paragraphs!

"Oh - my - God! Oh - that was really good! Mmm….mm!”

We watch fascinated as Val slumps in her chair, eyes closed, bosom heaving, giving the best imitation of a female orgasm since Harry met Sally. And what brought on this public display of orgasmic pleasure? Cinghiale al pepe verde - wild boar cooked in a creamy peppercorn sauce.

“That’s the best pork I’ve ever tasted,” she sighs, sipping her Chianti Riserva. We are in the Hotel Ill Postiglione, a 400 year-old inn on the Via Cassia Antica outside the medieval village of Campagnano di Roma, 50 kilometers north of Rome. Wild boar is vermin in Italy. With rampant reproduction and no natural predators they are widely hunted and appear on menus from the Valle d’Aosta to Rome. We know this because for the past four weeks we have been chomping our way through regional delicacies from Switzerland to Rome along the ancient Via Francigena pilgrimage trail."

The other girls have all rushed out to buy a few copies and have told all their friends and families to buy one.
I sent them an email and said, "When I read the story I felt really envious of those women! I felt like packing my backpack and going to Switzerland to start walking!"
Kathy emailed back: "Yup - weren't they just amazing! Walking 700km and they still had smile on their faces at 500km. Were they crazy or what!"
Val emailed too: Her company wants to put a shortened version into the company newsletter, with a picture.