So very grateful for big comfy pajamas. They truly are the best cure for having eaten too much food.
We might just forget about the food for a few minutes, because there have been other things going on, and a few little excursions. On Wednesday we went to the town of Pistoia to go to the market and buy the ingredients for dinner that night. The stores in the main square were all highly specialised, there was one that sold nothing but ham, another that sold nothing but Parmesan cheese. Once we had gone to the market we headed for the hills for lunch in Montecatini. The view was pretty amazing.
What I had for lunch wasn't all that bad either...
On Thursday we went to visit some oil presses to see how olive oil is made. The town of Lucca (where we are) is actually where Bortolli started his olive oil business all those years ago. The family have long sold the business, but they still live in town. We also headed out of Lucca into the hills to the vineyards to buy the wine for that evenings wine and cheese tasting.
We had the tasting in the villa's drawing room...
In the evening we headed into Lucca and spent the evening in a church at a Puccini concert. All concerts should be had in churches, the acoustics are sensational. A drink with the conductor after the show reinforced to me that militant opera fans are right up there with the worst of extremists for their single mindedness.
Today's little excursion was down to Cinque Terre. We got off the train at Riomaggiore (along with about 4 trillion German tourists from a cruise ship!). It was a stunningly beautiful and warm day. One of the best views was from the loo, which this is!
We walked along the "lovers walk" to Manarola. Along the walk you see lots of padlocks. The story goes that couples should come up there, seal their love with a lock and throw the key into the sea to seal it forever.
Many that hadn't remembered their padlocks simply scratched their names into any surface they could find.
Amusingly, there were lots of padlocks that still had the key in them. I am guessing that is in case they change their mind...
We then hopped on the train again for the very short ride to Vernazza for lunch. Vernazza was one of the worst hit areas where the floods and landslides tore through here last October. Many places that were on low ground are still closed and you could easily see the level of damage all the mud and water had caused. Some places we're however back on their feet.
We found a really lovely little spot for lunch on the side of the cliff. Not a bad view for lunch...
The meal was also pretty great...
Then there has been all the food we have made ourselves. On Tuesday for dinner we had deep fried zucchini flowers , the greatest lasagna ever eaten, saltimbocca, and souffle.
Yeah, those are green beans wrapped in bacon. You got a problem with that?
On Wednesday there was panzanella, eggplant parmigiana, chicken and tiramisu (gonna call it say that mine is better...).
On Thursday at lunch we had pizza day. The staff at the villa clearly love pizza day! They came from everywhere and started yelling orders at us for what they wanted on theirs. Italian music was turned on, and up, and at one point the owner and his other half were even waltzing through the dining room whilst we made our pizza. It was a little like a party.
Tonight we have our "graduation dinner". We are having octopus and potatoes salad, seafood risotto, sea bass and lemon sorbet (made from our home made limoncello that we made the other day).
In the morning, I will be saying farewell to my new friends and heading to Florence. I think I'll also be cutting back to just one course per meal for a few days (at least!).
We might just forget about the food for a few minutes, because there have been other things going on, and a few little excursions. On Wednesday we went to the town of Pistoia to go to the market and buy the ingredients for dinner that night. The stores in the main square were all highly specialised, there was one that sold nothing but ham, another that sold nothing but Parmesan cheese. Once we had gone to the market we headed for the hills for lunch in Montecatini. The view was pretty amazing.
What I had for lunch wasn't all that bad either...
On Thursday we went to visit some oil presses to see how olive oil is made. The town of Lucca (where we are) is actually where Bortolli started his olive oil business all those years ago. The family have long sold the business, but they still live in town. We also headed out of Lucca into the hills to the vineyards to buy the wine for that evenings wine and cheese tasting.
We had the tasting in the villa's drawing room...
In the evening we headed into Lucca and spent the evening in a church at a Puccini concert. All concerts should be had in churches, the acoustics are sensational. A drink with the conductor after the show reinforced to me that militant opera fans are right up there with the worst of extremists for their single mindedness.
Today's little excursion was down to Cinque Terre. We got off the train at Riomaggiore (along with about 4 trillion German tourists from a cruise ship!). It was a stunningly beautiful and warm day. One of the best views was from the loo, which this is!
We walked along the "lovers walk" to Manarola. Along the walk you see lots of padlocks. The story goes that couples should come up there, seal their love with a lock and throw the key into the sea to seal it forever.
Many that hadn't remembered their padlocks simply scratched their names into any surface they could find.
Amusingly, there were lots of padlocks that still had the key in them. I am guessing that is in case they change their mind...
We then hopped on the train again for the very short ride to Vernazza for lunch. Vernazza was one of the worst hit areas where the floods and landslides tore through here last October. Many places that were on low ground are still closed and you could easily see the level of damage all the mud and water had caused. Some places we're however back on their feet.
We found a really lovely little spot for lunch on the side of the cliff. Not a bad view for lunch...
The meal was also pretty great...
Then there has been all the food we have made ourselves. On Tuesday for dinner we had deep fried zucchini flowers , the greatest lasagna ever eaten, saltimbocca, and souffle.
Yeah, those are green beans wrapped in bacon. You got a problem with that?
On Wednesday there was panzanella, eggplant parmigiana, chicken and tiramisu (gonna call it say that mine is better...).
On Thursday at lunch we had pizza day. The staff at the villa clearly love pizza day! They came from everywhere and started yelling orders at us for what they wanted on theirs. Italian music was turned on, and up, and at one point the owner and his other half were even waltzing through the dining room whilst we made our pizza. It was a little like a party.
Tonight we have our "graduation dinner". We are having octopus and potatoes salad, seafood risotto, sea bass and lemon sorbet (made from our home made limoncello that we made the other day).
In the morning, I will be saying farewell to my new friends and heading to Florence. I think I'll also be cutting back to just one course per meal for a few days (at least!).
No comments:
Post a Comment