Today was a day for reading, recovering and discovering the nuances of Barbaresco wines. Steve and I went tasting as the ladies enjoyed their puzzles and books. Barbaresco, in the center of the old town, has a tasting room which was previously a church. The pizza place won top pie in 2009..and it's still great...
Federica brought us a Dolcetto d' Alba from Alessandro's own grapes as we feasted on prosciutto, cheese and apricot sandwiches. What a relaxing lunch for the infirmed...
Probably from car air conditioning, I seem to have picked up a face cold...sneezing, dizzy, burning eyes..it slowed me down a bit but didn't stop our relentless hikers from getting a nice climb and panorama in this morning after breakfast.
Arriving just around 6, we enjoyed a bottle of Alessandro's Nebbiolo, and then went to dinner watching the sunset from the hilltop village of Barbaresco...Piemonte's #2 town behind Barolo. Folks can't believe what I've come to be able to eat, especially my folks...raw veal and a chorus of watching prawns: ))) I guess I'm wearing my big boy culinary undies finally...
To be married in 2 weeks to a lovely Federica, Alessandro is smiling more broadly than ever. We gifted him with an apron from Rehnquist because the R logo could stand for Ressia..the B and B Alessandro had been managing for the last 8 or so years...this is our 4th visit in as many...
With much rueing, we departed from Castellina and one of our lovely hostesses, Angela, and made our way to Zibello, home of Culatello, on our way to Alessandro and Casa Ressia. Our lunch at the Trattoria de la Buca, and reuniting with Lucca, was a treat for us and the Burls. Culatello, sparkling red wine and home made pasta made Steve and Elva smile. Holding baby made Peggy smile, and enjoying nocino and bagnalino made me smile. Jim, I know you remember the beverage: )))
Walking up the road to the Fornacci de la Dottore, we had an excellent dinner of white pizza, tagliettele, pinci, shrimp risotto, veal chops and the local Chianti classico. Nick, the pizza oven had to be 3 million degrees, as smoke filled the upper chamber and pizzas were fully cooked in under 30 seconds. We also got to watch Brazil defeat Chile by penalty kicks. Tiziano was now the chef where in the past years he handled the front of the room. He holds a dear place in our heart as he was the one who first turned the Gubitz and Jordan teams on to Culatello...the world's greatest prosciutto. (We happen to be going to Zibello, the home of Culatello on our way to Piemonte tomorrow). Finishing our meal with a gelato made for a filling but delicious repast. When we returned to our palace, Erica greeted us, and had to tell Peggy how beautiful both her Italian and French accents sounded...Dan, mom wanted me to especially include that detail for you: ))).
After lunch, even Steve decided to have a boom (an intense cup of strong Italian espresso mixed with brown cane sugar) to kick start his afternoon. We then found Peggy's favorite visual, "gotchas" (under panties) hanging right on the main street...we also enjoyed gelato and some more narrow street meandering.
The town is actually called San Giminagno (pronounced san Jim in yano) which is why it's best to simply say Sam Jimmy G. A beautiful picnic lunch overlooking the remaining 14 towers (from the original 72) was followed by local wine tasting of white Vernaccio. Known throughout Italy this grape should only be enjoyed by locals, as it reminds me of a blend between a very old soggy toothpick and some standing water you find on the top of a glass in the dishwasher. The view on the other hand was lovely!
Let me pause for a moment to respond to excellent feedback I've been getting to help improve this blog. A dear friend, to be unnamed, with initials JJ, would love more detail...specific food names, wine vintages, pillow manufacture brands, scientific names for flora etc...and he is right in that this blog would be more complete. However, the additional work throughout the day, given my propensity to minimalism, exceeds the potential value offered to a few of my most ardent readers. As a result, I will try to add scrumptious details when appropriate, and otherwise continue with pithy and vibrant. Please comment if you'd like to suggest other strategies.
After another delicious buffet breakfast of 2.1 ounces of granola mixed with 6.5 oz of low fat yogurt (peach) , combined then with a cappuccino and 1 sugar (brown cane) followed by 2 slices of prosciutto squeezed into the end of a whole wheat loaf crust..but I digress...we made our way to the farmer's market just 84 yards down the road and picked up a roasted chicken, 2 slices of 16 inch diameter mortadella, 3 Ciabatta rolls, 1 heirloom tomato and 21 perfectly ripe Bing cherries. We then drove to Volterra, famous only for the Twilight movies. (I guess ).
After a fun day visiting Siena, Montalcino and Sant Antimo, we chose to have dinner at our very own hotel/palace...lovely views, great company, excellent food...slow service. But they've only been open 2 months..so they gave us a 10% discount, which pleased Steve to no end: ))))
