Italy Journal
Friday, October 19,
2012
Street Market with
Nina
Nina and I took in Bra’s street market this morning and
ended up in Pollenzo for lunch with Sarah…and Francesco…and Theo…and Rick, as
our pizza group continued to grow. We laughed at Theo because she kept
accepting our offer of pizza but then insisting that she had not come over to
join us for the purpose of eating our food. I finally suggested that she go
away and come back and announce to us that she was here to eat our pizza with
us, and she did it! Then, she felt much better about eating our pizza, and we
were glad not to hear her apologizing the whole time!!!
Nina and I ended our fun day with affogato at Caffe
Vittorio! Stupendous!!!
Emanuele’s
Traditional Swiss Pasta Dinner
Oh, my! What a delightful time we had at Emanuele’s house
tonight. He invited about 7 people over to his house to treat us to a
traditional Swiss pasta dinner. It seemed like our macaroni with yummy meat
sauce (no tomato in the sauce), cheese, and topped with… homemade applesauce!
We were all duly impressed with the combination of flavors. It was great fun to
share that with other Swiss people as well as others from around the globe.
Thanks, Emanuele, for a very special invitation to an
exceptional event. You’re the best!
Colleen
Italy Journal
Saturday, October 20,
2012
The Perfect Outing!
We will remember this combination of events as the perfect
Saturday outing!
Sarah, Theo and Nina went with us to Dogliani to pick up the
cingali salumi (wild boar salami) that we ordered last week. Sarah and Nina got
all excited about the sweets and the natural cotton shirts that were on sale. I
got a mock turtleneck tan shirt with a pull-over jacket to wear with it. Then, we walked all over Dogliani and
wondered at their beautiful architecture.
From there, we went by Monforte di Alba, where Peter showed
us around yet another quaint hill town. We visited a hotel there, Hotel Villa
Beccaris, where Peter still insists I stayed with him some years ago. I have no
recollection of this lovely spot with the huge tree in the back, but he did say
I was jetlagged at the time. Anything can be forgotten in the midst of jetlag.
We ended up in the town square at Bar Grappollo d’Oro to
have lunch. It was exceptional, and the mother/cook there gave us some cogna
(vegetable mixture to put on bread during aperitivo) as a welcoming gift.
We gave Theo the option of getting gelato back in Bra or
dropping by Cherasco for chocolates. She never even took a breath…chocolates!
Fortunately for us, the great candy shop that Nina and I found this week was
closed, and the greater chocolate shop Riccardi’s was open. Mauro had fun
helping us pile up bags of chocolate on anything imaginable –all fruits, all
nuts, many veggies like peppers, etc. We’re already looking forward to adding
his shop to the places we take our tours later. We will be back, Mauro!
We thought our day was complete as we enjoyed our chocolates
on the way back to Bra, but we met that evening to have dinner at the wonderful
restaurant on Piazza Roma Bottoglino. Theo bailed to go to the Speakeasy that
some of the students were putting on, but the rest of us ate well. Our
reservation was at 8:30PM, which was normal for Italy but very late for us. We
were ready for bed by the time we got home about 11:45!
What an extra special day! Thanks, all of you!
Colleen
Italy Journal
Sunday, October 21,
2012
Sunday Supper with
only Enzo and Lisa
This morning, Sarah and Nina dropped by to print Nina’s
train ticket and say goodbye to us. It’s been lovely getting to know Nina, and
we look forward to her and Derek joining us for one of our gastronomic tours!
In the afternoon, Kendall came by with an empty plastic
container from some Sunday Supper and wanted information from Peter about
places to take her parents when they came to visit next week. He’s great with
that information. We gave her all the info and phone numbers from yesterday, La
Torre in Cherasco and about a restaurant in Torino, and she was very pleased.
We didn’t have a school-wide Sunday Supper this week because
of all the events we have sponsored during the week, but we did invite
ourselves to Enzo and Lisa’s to make up for an invitation earlier in the week
from them that we had to decline so Peter could do his homework. They were
gracious to take us in, and Enzo outdid himself with Waldorf Salad made from
walnuts, apples and some other something that just made it that much more
wonderful. I didn’t recognize that other ingredient. He also made some salmon,
just for me, and it was divine. Then, we had risotto made with chunks of
pumpkin, covered in a salsa of caramelized onions with yum, yummier, and
yummiest other ingredients. To end it all, he had poached pears, and we ate the
pears and poured the sweet sauce over the panna cotta that we brought. Enzo
added some chocolate/hazelnut balls with a whole grape inside each one to
surprise our tastebuds. All that combined with wines that Peter and Enzo had
chosen, and we were well fed and terrifically happy with our visit with good
friends on our walk home afterwards. We were especially excited that Enzo
decided to go with us to Salone di Gusto on Thursday to meet some of the
producers for the tours later. Enzo is very enthusiastic about working with
Peter on this dream…if you call introducing people to travel, land, food and producers
in Italy “work!?”
What a lovely weekend!
Colleen
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