Aloha Linda! It sounds like you two are having a wonderful time and I love getting your posts so keep it up. Eat some raw fish for me!!!
No raw fish here in Tuscany… in fact very little fish at all since it is not a coastal community. You can get it, but it is better on the coast, which we will be in a few days. Today we move to the Maremma, to the vineyards of Podere Ciona. Last night’s dinner with winemakers Antonio Sanguineti, and Alessandro & Rita Bocci, was fabulous of course! Giacomo and Roberto made a wonderful meal and the wines flowed nicely. First, we all learned to make the pasta pici, in a great cooking demonstration by Roberto and his very pregnant (any day now) daughter Claudia. Then we had a couple of hours to rest and I think Mark finally got some pics on the computer so maybe we will get them posted for you soon… we are trying!
The antipasti was a half of a small zucchini stuffed with a ragu of vegetables, topped with parmesan, bread crumbs and olive oil, then baked to a crispy brown on top. Antonio poured his ‘Vincero!’, a white wine that went nicely with the food and would be equally good as a quaffer on the porch. Both the food and wine very yummy! We then enjoyed the pici, dressed simply with olive oil and bread crumbs (which I watched Giacomo make earlier) and I must say we did a great job of forming the pasta! We had the Perazetta ‘Sara’ with that course and everyone loves that wine so much! Medium bodied and The secondi was a lamb dish, with an orange sauce, and it was so tender! They poured a Barbera D’Alba by Podere Elia and this big bodied wine was the perfect compliment to the wonderfully flavored lamb.
Dessert was zabaglione, a custard like dish, and there was a cantucco (small cookie) and a chunk of excellent chocolate tucked in as well. The wine was Podere Elia’s Moscato D’Asti, which we sell at the cafe so we already knew we loved it. This moscato is florally sweet, as opposed to sugary sweet, with honey, pear and pineapple coming through on the palate. It is so light and lovely! The perfect ending.
I do not know how my connection will be at our next place; I may not be able to get online again for some time. I will do my best to keep in touch with everyone and I will post the blog as soon as I can. We will get a few pictures up and share with you the views that we have here.
The adventure continues and as we experience each step I an finessing the details for next year’s trip, so it will be even better! If it could be!!! If I can get online I will check back in later tonight. It’s Sunday! Eat something locally produced today!
