Say Cheese!

I hope that you are having a wonderful day in the sunshine. Shall we hope for an even better day tomorrow? Yes, lets! If only the good weather continues for an entire weekend, it would be truly grand.

Would you like to hear some poetry? Yes, I imagine you would. Even if you wouldn't it is in my heart so I shall express it just before jumping in the shower.

I just got back from my ride. Today it is so sunny and warm that I rode the entire trip senza without t-shirt. It felt .... how to describe it .... good! to get sun on my body after months of nothing. We all know how wonderful the sun feels after months of deprivation.

Yoshida and I had a date to meet today at 12.50 in the afternoon. We were to leave our houses at noon, and each ride over our mountains, to meet half-way at a rest area marked by a rabbit on a sign post, with a bunch of ZZZZZ's coming from his head. Perhaps they are to indicate a place to sleep? Perhaps yes.

I packed my snack of stravecchio and headed out slightly early, thinking that I would prefer to relax in the sun, in nature, in the pollenated cedar trees (ah.... choo!) rather than a concrete jungle. So I did just that. And I rode. I stopped for a few times to pee, but continued on my merry way. The sun felt good, the breeze refreshing. The thought of the stravecchio teased my taste buds.

We met at the bottom of the hill, as usual. I rode over my mountain (highway and three tunnels - the last long one being vey very cold bare-backed) and he over his. I had arrived slightly earlier so I took off my pack, my helmet and gloves and lay down in the sun for a quick, refreshing nap. Bliss! The snack of stravecchio added to the "flavour" of the wait.

During our ride, because it is spring and I am not yet accustomed to the endurance necessary (weights and riding are very different) for the ride or the hard saddle of the bike (ouch!) I requested numerous breaks. And numerous bites of stravecchio. Just a moment or two to let the lactate burn off from the muscles in my legs. And a moment or two to enjoy the stravecchio.

At one point, when I looked up, there was a glorious Japanese deer about 5m away from us! We stared at it, it at us. Then something registered in its mind and it bolted into the underbrush, to stop again about 15m away and eye us warily. We smiled. we ate stravecchio. Life is good when one can encounter life. And eat stravecchio.

After splitting up with Yoshida at the top of the mountain (and eating more stravecchio), I went down my side, he down his. I rode about half-way down, found a nice grassy spot and lay out flat under the sun to feel the warm spring rays tickle the cells in my skin, excite them and bring a healthy glow back to their nature (one of the things that Radiant Health does is it makes your skin LOVE the sun as it should - not be damaged by it - more on that in a tete-a-tete if you so wish). And, yes you guessed it, eat stravecchio! The breeze was still cool so as it whisked its way merrily across the winter-dried trees, I could almost hear the music of the Pann Flutes played by that fickle little fellow himself, just for me. As was the stravecchio. Just for me.

The grass was dry and crispy, the straveccho fresh. The ground had dried completely so I could enjoy the warmth of the soil as it pervaded my bare skin, bringing a heat to my soul. Ah, spring. Ahhh straveccho! Finally the ants in my cycling shorts told me to be on my way, or they would continue with their picnic in earnest. So I took their well-spoken advice and cleared out. After finishing up the stravecchio of course.

Part way down I bumped into (only poetically of course, otherwise my bike would have much more than just mud on it now) the friend of Zokes, our stuffed golden marten. He raised his paw in greeting as he dashed off to some unfinished chore (a forgotten burbling mokka pot, perhaps?). I smiled. I sneezed. Pollen. Still here.

The remainder of the ride down the mountain was rough. Rough = Fun in our language. Your eyes jiggle in and out, your teeth rattle, your brain bounces around inside your cranial cavity. Your fingers go numb from the vibration of the handle bars. And the dirt that flies from the tires like an arrow to your mouth tastes... just like.... dirt! Yummy! Absolutely (especially the after-beer to wash it down...)

Slow ride through civilization again with many Japanese people (who else could they be?) staring at this very crazy canuck wearing practically nothing (did I mention I rolled my cycling shorts up on the legs and down on the torso - Yoshida said I look like a triathlete with my clothes and my body lines...) in the beginning of APRIL! And there are probably even people still skiing for god's sake!! I smiled. I waved. I generally showed them how crazy I really am, that Yes, their assumptions of me were all true. But I know one thing that they don't: Piave stravecchio della Botega del Formai - the best kept secret in the world.

So now as I finish my Kirin Lager I think of a quick shower. The sun has moved so all of the shoes that are out should come in soon before they pick up the late-afternoon moisture. Sun-dried shoes. Nothing better! Well, maybe sun-dried tomatoes... As the sun has also moved away from direct light, the windows will now need closing. The first time to open all the windows in how many months? Ah.... fresh dust and dirt flowing in the house from the rice fields. Nothing could be better than that, and a quick taste of stravecchio! (thought I had forgotten, didn't you!)

Before the breeze changes to its early spring cold evening temperature I should have that shower, put on my clothes and settle into an ordinary life.

As if life for the Cambino monster could ever be normal!

Ciao and we will "romance" you again soon when the images pervade the essence like a well-placed perfume warms up to the body's heat.

Cam

PS. By now you are likely completey entranced by the notion of stravecchio cheese. Perhaps wondering what it really is, yes? Think of it as a member of the parmegiano family. With MUCH more flavor. so much more in fact that the first time back from Italy I brought 10kg. The second time I shipped back 20kg. The third time I asked my customer to bring 5kg. And the 4th time (in less than a month) ... well, since Mayu will be there as well, I will ask HER to bring some home as well as ship some more. This trip as I will be away for another two weeks after that, I don't think it would be such a good idea to travel to Brasil with 5kg of cheese in my suitcase.

Cheese!

Cam Switzer
April 08, 2001