half hours of bliss. Now, for the rest of the last few days!
After Jen and I arrived in Bologna on Monday and got settled, we
walked around the city a bit, had lunch, and then met up with an
Italian friend of one of Jen's friends in Seattle. His name is
Valerio, he lives here in Bologna, and he speaks wonderful English
(yay!). He provided us with a great insider's tour of the city -
government buildings with beautiful free art to view, fantastic market
areas with butchers/fruit/veggie/pastry purveyors, history on churches
and other ancient buildings....We then hopped on a bus and went to his
neighborhood and picked up his Dad and then drove to a local trattoria
popular with Bolognesi called Da Gigina. We had a wonderful meal with
wine, and truly enjoyed our visit with both of them.
On Tuesday, we got up in the morning and met Carlo downstairs - our
cooking instructor for the day! The three of us walked to the market
together to buy ingredients - prosciutto, pancetta, pork loin, ground
flank steak, olives, vegetables...Once at his home, we met Luciana,
his friend and fellow cooking instructor, and his sister Gabriela.
After donning aprons (which we got to keep!), we were quickly put to
work.
The wonderful menu was as follows:
- Antipasti platter with cheeses, prosciutto, mortadella, olives,
omelet with onion and herbs
- Homemade (by us!) tagliatelle and ragu sauce
- Homemade (again, by us!) tortellini filled with ground
prosciutto, mortadella, and parmiagana-reggiano in brodo (broth)
- Fresh sliced peaches in prosecco
Yum!! So much fun to make pasta by hand (and easy, too!), and such a
treat to have it just be Jen and I. After the long walk home, we
rested at the hotel a bit, showered, and then went out for a late
dinner. We sought out a new restaurant owned by a modern, hip chef
doing twists on traditional Bolognese dishes. We shared foie gras
with toasted brioche, then Jen had fresh shrimp and mushrooms in a
light broth and boiled beef wrapped in bread then fried, with a
dipping sauce of honey and wasabi with a chaser of broth. I had
Roquefort risotto, then roasted guinea fowl with mushrooms. There
were some hits and misses, but overall it was a fun experience in a
beautiful restaurant.
Today we slept in late, and then took a long walk to the covered
walkway leading 4 steep kilometers uphill to the sanctuary of San
Luca. There are lovely grounds with fantastic views of the city. It
was worth the sweating, huffing, and puffing it took to get there :).
And, it was a great roundtrip walk for exercise - about 14 kilometers
total.
After lunch, we strolled back to the hotel where, sadly, Jen is
packing :(. One more fun night together before she makes her way back
to Seattle and here adorable baby girl and generous husband, and I
make my way to Venice.
Ciao for now!
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