oh man, despite doing a ton of walking while lugging around all my camera gear in a backpack, i'm sure i gained some weight from my trip. here are some highlights:
coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew, w/ tomatoes and celery). delicious, once you got all the bones and cartilige out.
various pizzas (the best was the one w/ anchovies and fried zucchini flowers)
sauteed greens (mostly chicory, broccolini and spinach, in garlic and oil). i can never tire of this.
risotta al pescatore. great stuff, but my 4 y/o ended up eating most of the octopus.
calamari alla griglia - again, my son ignored his carbonara and ate a bunch of the grilled squid
various gelati. i recall this being way better from when i was italy in '99. strange. best flavors were peach, fondente (dark chocolate), coffee, pistachio, nutella, and tiramisu. can you tell i enjoyed it?
a night out in a local spot for my wife's 40th b-day. her sister provided baby sitting duties, so we had a night out. she got the antipasto, from a great buffet w/ loads of fresh, homemade stuff like roasted eggplant, caprese, various gnocchis, etc. i went w/ the fettucine a funghi (porcini), absolutely delicious. great homemade egg pasta, and fresh porcinis rule. for mains the wife got a filet in a pepper sauce, and i got the veal chop. we sank a bottle of '01 tignanello along w/ it. dolci was gonna be cheesecake (i was figuring it would be made from marscapone and/or ricotta) but they were out, so the waiter brought us some tiramisu and some sort of pastry/chocolate chip/ricotta thing, both of which were fantastic. the tiramisu was more like a custard.
and for the last night we were there, we took advantage of having the local market right outside Alison's apartment, so i bought a bunch of stuff and made dinner. it consisted of:
marinated green olives and peppers
fresh (like that needs to be said) bread
picante salumeri (spicy hard sausage)
sauteed fennel and onions
sauteed asparagus
sauteed porcini mushrooms
pork chops, seasoned w/ fennel seeds, sauteed, finished w/ a garlic and sage white wine and lemon reduction sauce
dolci included fresh fragole (strawberries), cherries, and these tiny supersweet strawberries called fragolini di bosco, which were amazing.
had a bottle of some piedmont wine i'd never seen before (not a straight varietal like a barbera or barolo). it was really fantastic, and i wish i'd brought some home (i did get a barolo for the trip back). here is some info i found on it:
coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew, w/ tomatoes and celery). delicious, once you got all the bones and cartilige out.
various pizzas (the best was the one w/ anchovies and fried zucchini flowers)
sauteed greens (mostly chicory, broccolini and spinach, in garlic and oil). i can never tire of this.
risotta al pescatore. great stuff, but my 4 y/o ended up eating most of the octopus.
calamari alla griglia - again, my son ignored his carbonara and ate a bunch of the grilled squid
various gelati. i recall this being way better from when i was italy in '99. strange. best flavors were peach, fondente (dark chocolate), coffee, pistachio, nutella, and tiramisu. can you tell i enjoyed it?
a night out in a local spot for my wife's 40th b-day. her sister provided baby sitting duties, so we had a night out. she got the antipasto, from a great buffet w/ loads of fresh, homemade stuff like roasted eggplant, caprese, various gnocchis, etc. i went w/ the fettucine a funghi (porcini), absolutely delicious. great homemade egg pasta, and fresh porcinis rule. for mains the wife got a filet in a pepper sauce, and i got the veal chop. we sank a bottle of '01 tignanello along w/ it. dolci was gonna be cheesecake (i was figuring it would be made from marscapone and/or ricotta) but they were out, so the waiter brought us some tiramisu and some sort of pastry/chocolate chip/ricotta thing, both of which were fantastic. the tiramisu was more like a custard.
and for the last night we were there, we took advantage of having the local market right outside Alison's apartment, so i bought a bunch of stuff and made dinner. it consisted of:
marinated green olives and peppers
fresh (like that needs to be said) bread
picante salumeri (spicy hard sausage)
sauteed fennel and onions
sauteed asparagus
sauteed porcini mushrooms
pork chops, seasoned w/ fennel seeds, sauteed, finished w/ a garlic and sage white wine and lemon reduction sauce
dolci included fresh fragole (strawberries), cherries, and these tiny supersweet strawberries called fragolini di bosco, which were amazing.
had a bottle of some piedmont wine i'd never seen before (not a straight varietal like a barbera or barolo). it was really fantastic, and i wish i'd brought some home (i did get a barolo for the trip back). here is some info i found on it:
i wanna go back!
oh, and the absence of balsamico was real, too.
