Mountains, pizza and hunting for mushrooms.

We're now back in the mountains! Although you wouldn't be able to tell this morning, since the fog is so thick...

Papa M returned Wednesday morning having been away with work (he left the day I arrived) - he's a bit strict and smokes a lot, but cracks jokes and is generally quite nice, so all's good. Friday morning we got up early and had left for the mountains by 8am - I slept for most of the journey, can't be doing with these early starts! (Luckily for the last two days I've been able to sleep in til 9am yay!)

In the afternoon on Friday we met up with some of their friends and went for a small hike up a large part of the mountain. In order to get up there we swapped their usual car for a 32-year-old British jeep that they keep in a garage up here (it lives in the garage, hence no photo). The engine makes alarming noises but it's a bit more fun than the Volvo, anyway. 

The road up the mountain was amazing. Having arrived here by windy roads, this road came as no surprise, however the going was slightly worse (it took us three or four attempts to get up one particular hill - I did not enjoy that). The higher we went, the more fog there was, it was quite amazing. 

We eventually arrived, parked up and went walking up the mountain, until we reached a sort of inn-bar-restaurant - at which point we had hot chocolates.

 You still couldn't really see anything due to the fog, but then all of a sudden it started to clear and the views were amazing!

I took this last photo with an app called '360' - you take a panorama and it does the rest of the work! Very clever and the girls were amazed by it. 

On the way back down it started to rain...

...but it was still beautiful!

My 'yay I'm walking in the rain face'. 

Then, yesterday, Mama B taught me her recipe for making pizza! 

Start with 250g farina (flour), and add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Add 2 to 3 dessert spoons of olive oil. 

Mix half of a block of Lievito fresco (which is essentially fresh yeast; she says you can use the powder version too) with tepid water, and pour onto the flour in batches and mix with your hands. 

Knead for about five minutes, sprinkle with flour, and leave to rise for about half an hour. After that, add  a tomato sauce and your toppings - I had tuna, gorgonzola and mozzarella on mine - it was amazing. 

In the afternoon we drove down the mountain and then headed off by foot to hunt for mushrooms. The forest was beautiful and, after crossing a bridge over the stream, we went off the beaten track and hiked further up the side of the mountain. 

We found fragola di bosco (wild strawberries - tiny ones!) and kept an eye out for caprioli (deer). 

There were lots of these gorgeous little stone houses, all abandoned years ago. 

And, of course, lots of wildflowers. 

When we returned home, we coated the large, flat mushrooms we'd found in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried them in butter and oil, as we did with the steaks last weekend. This was fantastic, and by far the best way to eat mushrooms!

So I'm officially in love with the mountains - hopefully this afternoon I'll see more of them as there is a walk planned, although only if we can actually see where we're going!