Casa Mafalda

Casa
Italia
Dormelletto
Casa Mafalda

Casa Mafalda Country chic house with private pool in Dormelletto, on the hill overlooking Lake Maggiore. CIR (Co

26/07/2024

| TAKE IT SLOW |

Rare moments when we stop being hosts and we’re guests in our own house.

08/05/2024

| CARE |

Man’s talk.

03/04/2024

| CRAFT |

Is it just me or when you see driftwood your imagination runs wild thinking about what you can create?

❤️

24/03/2024

| TRAVEL |

Just above the village of Pella, or just below our beloved Arola, you can enjoy one of the most stunning panoramic views over Lake Orta and the island of San Giulio from Alzo, a real balcony overlooking the lake.

❤️

15/03/2024

| TASTE |

I think there’s a magic in Castagnaccio. It’s a traditional Italian chestnut flour cake that is so easy to make, wholesome, nutritious, and naturally vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free and sweet without sugar!

🇬🇧Recipe card in the stories > TASTE
🇮🇹 Scheda ricetta in italiano nelle storie > TASTE

CHESTNUT CAKE
sugar free | naturally gluten free

250 g chestnut flour
50 g raisins
500 g water
Extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch salt
1 spring rosemary
1 handful bread crumbs (optional)
30 g pine nuts

1. I soak the raisins in warm water and preheat the oven to 175°C.
2. I sift the chestnut flour and salt to a bowl. I pour in the water a little at a time, stirring gently to prevent lumps.
3. I add the squeezed raisins and half of the pine nuts.
4. I grease a baking dish with plenty of extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with some bread crumbs.
5. I pour in the batter and sprinkle the remaining pine nuts, then add the rosemary needles.
6. I drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and bake for about 30 minutes, until the chestnut cake is dry on the top and covered with fine lines.
7. I let it cool completely before serving.

11/03/2024

| CARE |

Nice surprise today! This springlike day inspired Rita to restart her egg production and little Sol to lay her first tiny egg… so cute!

04/03/2024

| TASTE |

I’ve been making my own yogurt for many years now and after a few trials, the method I’ve adopted is very basic — no special yogurt cultures or fancy equipment required.

All I need is good quality milk, a spoonful of my favorite plain yogurt to use as a starter culture (or a spoon of my previous batch of homemade yogurt), a digital thermometer and an oven.

🇬🇧Recipe card in the stories > TASTE
🇮🇹 Scheda ricetta in italiano nelle storie > TASTE

HOMEMADE YOGURT
1 liter | sugar free | easy

1 liter fresh whole milk*
1 to 2 tablespoons plain whole milk yogurt**

* The fresher the better. I prefer organic or local/mountain milk.
** Good quality yogurt with live and active cultures. For the best results I use local or mountain dairy farm yogurt or greek yogurt.

1. I pour milk into a heavy pot and I cook over low heat until it simmers and a digital thermometer reads 85°C.
2. I let cool to 42°C in an ice water bath stirring occasionally.
3. I mix 1 glass of cooled milk and yogurt together in a bowl until incorporated and then pour the rest of the milk and stir to combine.
4. I ladle the mixture into glass jars and screw on the lids.
5. I place the filled jars into the oven set at 35°C. (If you can’t set your oven at a temperature from 30° to 40°C, turn it on beforehand at the lowest temperature for 10 minutes, then turn it off and keep door closed until it reaches 42°C. Place the yogurt jars into the oven with the light on).
6. I leave the jars inside the closed oven for 10 hours.
7. I remove the jars without shaking and place in the refrigerator until thickened, about 2 hours.

06/02/2024

| RENOVATE |

Like with every project, it all began with an idea, a vision.

An idea is all it takes to begin the journey.
Reality without dreams leads to nowhere. But dreams without reality are just dreams, though.
Sometimes we just need a sparkle to see the reality of our dreams and to transform what we envision into reality.

Our sparkle was my beloved friend Gaetano

A perfect summer night, Planta Cottage, two old friends, white wine, lots of catching up, citronella, chit chats, laughters, candle light, shared memories, new dreams...

I talk about how I am envisioning our cottage. Gaetano takes his tape measure out and starts measuring and taking notes.

A week after he came up with this project.

Who better than an artist like could light this spark?
That’s what my friend does: he’s able to transform dreams into tangible art.

That’s when Matteo and I realized that our ideas were feasible. Not only they were feasible, they were just amazing! That’s when our Planta Cottage renovation journey started.

— Elena

05/02/2024

| CARE |

Last November we found a lot of seeds in our persimmons, so we decided to try to grow persimmons from seeds. We tried with 4 of them.

Here’s what we did:

1. We rinsed well the seeds under running water.
2. We took a kitchen paper towel and placed the seeds on it. Folded the paper to enclose the seeds and sprayed some water.
3. We enclosed in a container (we used a low, wide glass container with a lid). This creates high humidity needed for seed germination.
4. We placed the container with the seeds on the kitchen counter without disturbing them too much.
5. After two weeks they sprouted: the rootlets had emerged!
6. We prepared a tall pot with holes for excess water drainage and filled it with organic universal soil mix.
7. We made four small holes with our fingers and planted the seeds into the holes with the root downwards, covered them with soil halfway, leaving the top on the outside.
8. We sprayed quite some water until all the soil was perfectly humid and placed the pot near a window, so that it received a lot of light but never direct light.
9. We ensured to keep them moist all the time.

Little by little the shoots appeared, still closed in their seed.

As they grow, the tiny leaves will push through until the seed completely falls off.

One of the four seeds didn’t seem to be able to make it, but then, in an instant, it sprinted and joined the others.

The first two pictures are from today, so two months after sowing in pot.

Nature never ceases to amaze us 🌱🪴

26/01/2024

| TRAVEL |

Looking at the white Monte Rosa and wishing for a snow day here.

23/01/2024

| CARE |

A beautiful memory of our lovely Buia with a sweet expression.

Buia was Elena’s favorite hen.

She was the most bullied, the last in hierarchical order among our first three hens, and she could handle anything with a unique grace. She was always very clean, surprisingly routinary, polite and very affectionate.

So easy to love and impossible to forget ♥

22/01/2024

| CRAFT |

is one of TERRABUCCI’s nine pillars, it’s our creative space.

Do you remember how it felt the last time you made something with your hands? Maybe a cake, a scarf or a painting?
The act of creating something from nothing and watching it come into life, even if your creation was far from perfect, probably made you feel very, very good.

When we make things with our hands, we can find our flow, we get happier without having to chase happiness.

Our modern world makes it very hard to create a space to exist free of distraction, to notice, to find a rhythm where we can just focus on the task at hand, where we can turn off our minds – and phones – and be present in the moment.

When we create things with our hands, time slows, the process becomes meditatative and we feel like we could stay in that moment forever.
By connecting to the materials, to the process, we reconnect to ourselves.

Matteo is a cook and his job already involves creating and working with his hands. But outside of work, he also enjoys gardening, building things with wood and almost any DIY project.

As for me, making things with my hands has become a big part of my work-life balance. I’m a translator and subtitler, and creating with my hands provides a major relief from the immateriality of my knowledge work, and it fulfills my need to create and share things that I have put my love and time in.

From cooking to gardening, home crafts, DIY body-care, macrame, crochet… the more I make, the more I crave making.

— Elena

✧ What do you make with your hands? Let us know in the comments below ✧

Indirizzo

Dormelletto
28040

Sito Web

http://www.terrabucci.com/

Notifiche

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