What we thought would take 2 hours, ended up as a 4 1/2 hour long car ride along the south coast of the Italian Riviera...passing Portofino and Genova (famed birthplace of Christopher Columbus AND Columbus Salami!)
The beginning of the ride was beautiful as we had amazing views of the Coast, especially of Monterosso..the beach resort of the Cinque Terre
The winding, Big Sur-like drive was really beautiful, but what got us was the accident, or as you'll read later in this blog...likely a fatality.. on the main road...stopped for nearly an hour outside of Genova.
Lunch ended up as a dead chicken sandwich and a salami roll at the gas station. No need for photos of that culinary delight...
Arriving in Alba, one of the lovely Roman and then medieval towns dating back before the Roman Empire, and known for its 100 towers...of which only a few remain...we made it to Casa Ressia, our B and B. (Yes to Jim and Christine's delight, our clown car is still getting us around)
Alessandro is our host and has a wonderful personality....he is all over Trip Advisor as a great advice giving young man.
Our room is large, with a sitting room and small kitchen area...and we had a fan and tv to watch the Tour in comfort..it's on late in the afternoon in Italy. The really funny element to today's Tour de France broadcast, was that all of the Italian commentators were on strike, so the only audio for 5 plus hours was the microphone at the front and back of the peleton...picking up crowd noise and rider comments. would that ever happen in the US?
Alessandro was an encyclopedia of great ideas...and for dinner, just 2km from our place was a classic, traditional, outdoor, family style restaurant.
Alessandro just said to order the house menu, and have them bring whatever they felt like...and it was excellent. So excellent in fact that after The Big Night, and in between shooting Julie and Julia, and Julie and Mario...who shows up but none other than
Stanley Tucci...amazing...but he knows good food.
Appetizers started coming and almost didn't stop: First, the prosciutto with gorgonzola spritz
Then grilled red peppers covered with tuna, olives and mushrooms...
After was the roast beef with anchovie-ish mayonnaise...
the mayo was to die for:
not to worry, there was none left after Peggy's perfect bite of the nite...
Then the blend of cheese, onions, ham, chicken and tomatoes...just to name a few
Still appetizers :)))
Then the final one composed of grilled eggplant smothered in pesto, mozzarella cheese sliced with anchovies and olives...wow....
Appetizers finally ended around sunset...90 minutes after we started the meal
Which reminds me of the joke..A diner gets up in the middle of the meal and tells the waiter he'll be right back. The waiter asks where he's going and the diner says, "to get a haircut"... The waiter asks.."Why didn't you get one before you came to dinner?", and the diner replied..."I didn't need one before dinner!" That's some relaxed eating....
Finally completing the 5 appetizers, we then arrived at the Primi Piatti first or pasta plate). We were served the local classic pasta...teeny tiny raviolis with cheese and pesto;
Followed by the segundi piatti (second plate)..of roasted veal and tiny carrots and potatoes:
Not interesting to look at, but perfectly cooked and tender, juicy and excellent...
We had 2 different desserts...mine was a home made vanilla ice cream with fruits from the forest
And Peg had her favorite Limone (lemon) sorbet also with a few interesting fruits:
Dinner was made even more exciting with the 2 very young Swiss girls next to us. Peggy played grandma to the delight of this couple....and the little girls had a ball with her....this family has been coming for 10 years in a row, and agreed that this was the best food and value in the area...
Total price, including a locally produced Nebbiolo
...was less than what you'd pay at the Macaroni Grill ..we plan to go back in two nights...since they aren't opened after that. Factoid: legal driving in California is under .08%, in middle of Italy under .2%, and here in Barolo, Barbaresco, Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto Land..... anything under .5%...and they're upset that it's so low. Peggy and I moderate to stay well under .08, but it did give us pause to watch out for others....the adage that there are no accidents on Italian roads...only fatalities...is sobering...on that exciting note...we just found out LeBron went to Miami.wow... Tomorrow Alessandro has us going to Barolo, Alba, a few other tower/castle towns, and then an ancient village for a festival...we'll see how that plays out. Until then
Ciao Bella!!!
2 comments:
Great blog today. Love all the details.
It is crazy to be back home. It all comes back at you fast. I leave for Gettysburg in a few hours. It's 2:47 a.m. and can't sleep. On to the east coast. Who knows when my body clock will be back in order!
Love you both,
Jim
Did you get to Il Vigneto in Roddi? I cannot believe there is a dish in Italy with beer marinated pork. That magical animal... the pig! Wow! I miss Italy and looking at your pictures makes me want to get right on a plane. Have fun! Sonya Hemmen
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