Day 1
Got to Italy with a minimum of hassle or fuss. Met up with B just fine and headed out to our first place. Once we were out of Milan, we stopped at an AutoGrill. The best analogy would be a “truck stop”. However, this was no greasy spoon with pasta. There was a panini bar and a cafeteria-style restaurant. I chose bresola (air cured beef) with arugula and parmesan cheese. The arugula was fresh, crisp and peppery; the parm was slightly salty and well, parmesan-y. Picked up a bottle of water and a package of Droste extra dark pastilles (one of my fav chocolates) for the road.
We made it to Cavazzone by mid-afternoon and had a “snack” of proscuitto, salami, coppa, grapes, a wonderful spinach pie, 2 wines then coffee and crème brulee. If this is how we’re eating on the trip, it’s a good thing my Traveler’s have a lot of “give”. After this greeting, we had about an hour to explore before—DINNER! It’s gray and a little rainy, so we both had a nap before dinner.
Dinner. Oh, my goodness. More of that incredible spinach pie, a fonduta with sautéed fresh porcini mushrooms (kinda like a cheese soup), veal tenderloin with an almond and pink peppercorn sauce and more sautéed porcini on the side. I would have been thrilled with just the spinach pie and the sautéed mushrooms, but I did my part to eat some of everything. B picked out wines and they were, of course, incredible. We had panna cotta topped with a few drops of balsamic vinegar for dessert. Before you say “yuck”, this is NOT your ordinary vinegar. It’s nowhere near it. Probably shouldn’t be called “vinegar”. It’s thick, sweet with just a bit of acidity. Incredible stuff.
Slept OK, but woke up a few times. Between the jet lag and the huge dinner, I’m not shocked.
Day 2
Can’t believe I actually ate breakfast. Croissants, jam, proscuitto, coppa, parmesan, emmenthaler, and fontina cheese, fruit and yogurt. I had a croissant, proscuitto, and fontina with a cappuccino.
We went to a small town outside of Verona today. It’s in the Valpolicella region and we went to the estate that Dante bought when he was exiled from Florence. It’s still in his family, all these years later. The estate is beautiful. Our guide, Flavia, showed us around the grounds and winery. They age their wines in cherry wood barrels. Not cheap, I’d imagine. We had a tasting of their wines on the patio of one of the buildings. We were right by two huge barrels and the garden. Great experience.
We had a lunch nearby that pretty well rivaled dinner last night. Whew. More bresola (YUM!) with garlic, red pepper and a light olive oil dressing. Mushroom risotto was next, then beef braised in Valpolicella with polenta. On the side, we had carrots, cauliflower and an interesting cooked green that none of us had had before. When you added a little olive oil to them, they were fantastic. I barely squeezed in a chocolate semifreddo for dessert. B picked out the wines and told the owner (who is the wine guy) “let the wine flow free for my friends, but water for me”. Wow. It certainly did. I almost felt sorry for B and J that they had to drive and couldn’t enjoy this incredible wine.
Wine and food did me in on the way home. I tried to snooze, but was lightly queasy. No incidents in the van or when we got back, but I was a little green around the gills. We stopped in Alpinea and I hoped to get a Sprite. The store we went to had Diet Sprite. I tried a Fanta Limone Gusto. Should have stuck with water. Cavazzone is up on a hill with a lot of zig zag turns on the way up. That didn’t help much.
We read and rested before dinner. It was a little chilly as the sun went down. Dinner was VERY much lighter than lunch. I really just wanted some tea, but ended up having a bowl of onion soup as well with B and J. The Boy was too tired to have anything to eat, but did have a glass of wine with us. I turned in around 10.
Day 3
Parma day! Parma has recently been voted the “Food Capital of the EU” and I can see why. Proscuitto de Parma, PARMesan cheese, etc. Parma is quite lovely as well. We saw a wonderful theatre (Theatre Farnese) that is made completely of wood. The columns outside, the seating, the paneling on the walls, carved statues, decorations around the stage. It was nearly destroyed in WWII by Allied bombers. There were pictures of the damage in an exhibit describing the restoration. Such stupidity, war.
We wandered around town for a bit and I found a knife store. Dad had asked for a good pocketknife made in Italy and I found him a nice one. We found some interesting stores—bakeries, pasta stores, one store that sold only items from Parma. I’m sure the Italians aren’t impressed, but for a foodie like me, it was incredible.
Had lunch at an outdoor café on a small piazza. We each had a caprese salad (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil), The Boy had a calzone and I had mushroom pizza. We split a half bottle of Lambrusco and one of water. The Lambrusco we had is very typical of the area and not what we think of here when we hear that name. Riunite makes a sweet fizzy red called “lambrusco”, but traditionally, Lambrusco isn’t sweet. The “real” version is very good. Don’t know why you’d mess with it.
We walked around the ducal gardens, which are now a beautiful city park. It was recently restored and is a beautiful place to walk, sit, ponder, play.
( To be continued.....)
# posted by EY @ 7:43 AM
: 8:33 AM 