The photo's a little tough to see, but here's what I made: a seared
veal chop with a sauce of porcini mushrooms, garlic, red wine, and
balsamic; polenta with truffle oil and grana padano (the best
parmigiana cheese around); fresh green beans. And it was YUM! Paired
with "When Harry Met Sally" on DVD in Italian, it was a lovely night.
Today I had my morning cappucino out in the piazza, and planned out my
week, researching the sites and towns I want to see while here in
Tuscany. Tomorrow is Firenze (Florence), I think Wednesday will be
Volterra and maybe San Gimignano, Thursday I'm hoping to tour and
taste at the Veranazza winery and then dinner that night is at Dario
the Butcher's restaurant in Panzano, Friday will either be Siena or
the towns of Montalcino and Montelpuciano, and then Saturday is market
day here at the Piazza, so I'll check that out and then walk up the
hill a couple of miles to the village of Montefioralle, where there
are a couple of quaint restaurants. And then it's off to the Cinque
Terre on Sunday!
Besides hitting the laundromat, having lunch, and planning my week, I
also tasted some great wine today! There is the coolest place a few
blocks away, called 'Le Cantine'. You load up a credit-type card with
as many euros as you wish, and then around the store are different
wine "stations", where bottles are tapped and ready to dispense tastes
of wine for varying fees. Some tastes, for inexpensive bottles of
wine, are only .80 euro while others, for bottles costing over 100
euro (about $150US!) cost 5 or 6 euro for a taste. You put your card
into the reader, press a button, and the wine dispenses into your
glass and your card is debited. I tasted some delicious varietals -
and overall, I thought the bottles in the 20-30 euro price range were
better than the 80 - 130 ones!
Okay, time for bed...hope everyone is well! Keep the comments and
notes (about anything) coming - I enjoy hearing from all of you!
Love,
Lisa
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