tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57781952082027512322024-03-05T11:17:39.014-08:00What's for dinnerCooking, Traveling and eating 3 of my favourite thingsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger556125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-19771210956440321442014-10-24T09:06:00.001-07:002014-10-24T09:06:14.265-07:00A month in Tuscany Day 28 - The last day and a look back<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The last day again was sunny and warm and the remaining 7 of us decided to spend the day at the villa, enjoying the last day there and starting to pack up. It did not seem possible that 4 weeks had passed, the villa felt like home now and I had got used to all it's idiosyncrasies. I knew that I was going to miss the rhythms of Villa life.<br />
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Every morning Dave ran or drove to the bakery and returned with fresh bread and pastries for breakfast.<br />
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I sat and wrote my blog in the living room while the inhabitants gradually rose and made some espresso ate breakfast and decided what to do that day. Dave started ferrying those that needed to be driven to the station or bus stop and then inevitably drove a few people to Chianti country or somewhere in the surrounding country side. Many days found me walking in to Siena and having lunch in one of my favourite restaurants and maybe checking out some new area or doing a little shopping.<br />
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Almost every day found Dave and I at the Co Op grocery store picking up a few essentials.<br />
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Especially early in the month after a hot day exploring, a cool swim in the olive grove would freshen you up for the evening.<br />
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Everyone would meet back at the villa for happy hour around 5:00 on the deck, with a few nibbles and often a bottle or two of prosseco<br />
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Almost every evening we would cook dinner at the Villa sometimes me, sometimes someone would create their speciality, a few times we took advantage of the pizza oven.<br />
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While dinner was cooking I would try to get a picture of the stand of trees on the horizon, I have many pictures of this and somehow one of these has to end up a piece of art on my walls at home.<br />
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Dinner was mostly eaten on the deck, but as the evenings grew darker and cooler we had many great dinners in the large kitchen.<br />
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Evenings ended with good conversation and sometimes even dancing!<br />
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The rhythms of this last day were a little different as we all stayed at the villa, and I had the first lunch there of the whole month. I made some grilled sandwiches using up some cheese and <span style="background-color: yellow;">ham </span>that was in the fridge.<br />
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To go with this Dennis cooked up some fry up bound together with egg, which was very tasty.<br />
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We packed up all our clothes and tidied up the villa as we were leaving early the next morning. Our last dinner consisted of pasta with a sauce made up of all the leftovers left in the fridge.<br />
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I do not remember what was in this sauce, but I do remember that it was very tasty. This was served with a green salad and several bottles of good Italian red wine. Our host Jacopo came over after dinner and shared a couple of bottles with us and told us some of the history of the villa and his family. His passion is photography and he showed us some of his work.<br />
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We chatted and soaked up the last night in the kitchen and it was with a certain amount of sadness that I went to bed that night, I was not sure if I would ever be back here, but I certainly hope that I do.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-77735369771544149692014-10-23T11:38:00.001-07:002014-10-23T11:38:19.547-07:00A month In tuscany day 27 - Finally a little culture <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Day 27 dawned sunny and warm again and we all headed in to Siena, some walking some bussing and some in the car. I was on the walking crew and could not help taking yet more pictures of the scenery on the way.<br />
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We decided that since this was the last day of a full house we would do the things in Siena that we had not yet done and all meet for lunch. Unfortunately our first choice was closed but we went with plan b. This was the restaurant that we had gone to on the rainy market day. This time though since it was such a nice day we sat outside. To start we ordered zucchini flowers to share.<br />
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Not only beautiful but very delicate and tasty. Unfortunately it is now 3 weeks later and I can not remember who ordered what, but I had the wild boar which was again very tasty, though I was looking forward to vegetables at this point.<br />
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The mushroom risotto was a popular choice as this also had been extremely tasty last time we were there.<br />
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I think the favourite dish this was the beef steak cooked with a red wine sauce. This was so intense and flavourful.<br />
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It was a wonderful lunch all 11 of us together and Debbie had bought a load of scarves for gifts so at some point we were all (including the men) wearing scarves. We drank wine and laughed and talked like a large Italian family, which by this time we were. After lunch we split to go and see the different things that we had not seen yet. Nancy and I headed to the museum in the Campo. This was not a religious building as it was the city hall, but it certainly could have been mistaken for one. There was an informative, if confusing to use, audio guide. But what I actually enjoyed more was a display of an artist displayed in the vaulted basement. The pictures really went well with their surroundings and I thoroughly enjoyed looking around.<br />
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We decided that night to fire up the pizza oven for one more time and made pizza with what was left in the fridge.<br />
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This was a good way of using up some of the left over mushrooms, cheese and salami. We also roasted some tuscan sausages for old times sake.<br />
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We finished the evening with a fashion show of all the clothes and boots that we had bought. I did not see Gord's head there until I lightened the photograph!<br />
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A good day and evening, though I was really feeling the imminent end.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-23100827855446000652014-10-05T23:06:00.001-07:002014-10-05T23:06:13.737-07:00A month in Tuscany day 26 - Another rainy market day.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We walked in to the market in Siena and though rain was threatening it was still pretty good heading down the dirt road and as usual the light was just a little different and a picture had to be taken.<br />
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You can feel the change of the season in the air and it was quite overcast, though not what you would call cold. The market in Siena is every Wednesda, it is enourmous and attracts people from all the surrounding countryside. It is really more of a local market than a tourist one, though never the less we were not the only tourists. I finally bought a jacket not the one that I had been eyeing each week, but a new one. <br />
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After a couple of hours poking around the market it was time for lunch, rain was threatening, so went to the restaurant I had discovered 3 weeks before in a torrential downpour. I ordered the dish that Dave had previously ordered bonconcini of chicken with mushrooms, as did everyone else except Nancy.<br />
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This was delicious with and intense mushroom flavour, as good as I had remembered. Nancy ordered the osso bucco which also had and an intense flavour.<br />
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Another amazing lunch, I think I would put this restaurant as one of the top two that I expereinced in Siena. Whilst we were having lunch Dennis snuck a photograph of the Nona in the kitchen, she was the owners grandmother and at 91 was still working in the kitchen each day, and her desserts were amazing.<br />
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By this time it was pouring rain and so Nancy and I took Al and Gord to get an Italian haircut.</div>
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After they were all spruced up we then went to work on the Italian shoes for the men. This was accomplished for Gord anyway in not time flat, we had agreed to meet Debbie and Dennis at the coffee shop in the Campo.</div>
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We enjoyed a Aperol spritz while the rain passed over. Then headed back in overcast but not pouring skies. Again too cool and damp for dinner on the deck so another kitchen meal.</div>
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This was a fridge clearing meal, as it is only a few days before we have to leave. When trying to clear out a fridge my go to dishes are frittata, soup and fried rice, tonight as we were in Italy I chose frittata. We had this with a green salad and roasted tuscan sausage.</div>
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Every good meal contains tuscan sausage.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-12208519114003850782014-10-04T23:17:00.002-07:002014-10-04T23:17:37.791-07:00A month in Tuscany day 25 - Another day in Siena<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
With every new arrival I like to walk with them in to Siena to orient them to the city. I know the shops and restaurants very well but for the more cultural sights they will have to rely on others or a guide book I am afraid. As usual there were beautiful vistas and views down narrow streets that you can not help taking a photograph of.<br />
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It was a perfect day warm and sunny, but not too hot. We decided to eat on the street near the Campo at a restaurant that I had been to for lunch several times. Ken wanted lasagna, so that is what he ordered.<br />
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He said it was OK but not great. Pat was feeling like a salad, they had been away for over week and really wanted something light.<br />
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She was happy with her choice, just salad with grilled chicken. I ordered the lemon chicken, when it arrived I realised that was what I was cooking for dinner! Oh well I love lemon chicken and this was very good with roasted rosemary potatoes, another favourite of mine.<br />
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We walked through the city checked out the bank museum, but unfortunately they still did not have the paintings exhibit open, but as Pat works for a financial institution, she was interested in seeing an Italian bank and the ledgers going back to the 1400 hundreds.<br />
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We got back to the villa in time for happy hour. For dinner I wanted to make a Tuscan tomato and bread soup called pappa al pomodoro. The tomatoes are wonderful here and I had been collecting the ends of the bread each day.<br />
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This turned out exactly as I have had it a couple times on the trip and was a big hit. The weather was a little cooler so we ended up eating dinner in the kitchen.<br />
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We ate by candle light around the large marble table. After the soup there was lemon chicken.<br />
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The evening ended with dancing in the kitchen!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-77676975781234662272014-10-02T00:34:00.000-07:002014-10-02T00:34:04.182-07:00A month in Tuscany day 24 - Girls shopping day in Siena<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dave took Dennis off for a gruelling bike ride in Chianti country and Debbie joined me and Connie and Nancy for a day out in Siena. We walked in to the city and it was not long before Debbie had bought a pair of shoes. Much to Connie's frustration we wandered in and out of shops for the remainder of the morning, stopping briefly every once in a while to admire our beautiful surroundings. We decided to have lunch at the small restaurant just around the corner from the Campo. I was determined to make it past the pasta course this time, so we ordered two pasta dishes to share. Ravioli with funghi sauce.<br />
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This was, as always, delicious. Along with this we ordered pappardelli with wild boar sauce, also delicious.<br />
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For the second course we shared roast pork, roast duck with potatoes cooked in tomato sauce and zucchini.<br />
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This was amazing, Debbie declared it the best duck she had ever had, and the pork was moist and flavourful as well. After lunch a little more shopping, Connie finally gave up on us and headed to the bus home. After a very successful shopping day it was home to where the men were making hamburgers. <br />
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Nancy was worried that Gord's clothes were going to get all Smokey from the wood fired barbecue. But the next time we looked down we realized that this was not going to be a problem.<br />
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Our fearless grillers produced a pile of hamburgers and Tuscan sausage.<br />
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They had even bought French's mustard and Heinz ketchup to go on the burgers. I think this was the first non Italian meal since we had been here. Debbie made her roasted potato salad, which was delicious and almost healthy.<br />
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Another wonderful day full of great food, beautiful surroundings and good friends.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-60389571755042397332014-09-30T23:34:00.003-07:002014-09-30T23:34:26.604-07:00A month in Tuscany day 23 - A quick lunch in Chianti<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
3 of our crew went to Florence for the day, they were heading off early and I had not had a good night due to threatening cold so decided not to go. Connie Dave and I drove in the Chianti countryside as Connie had not been there yet, and there was a restaurant that Dave wanted to take me to. The countryside everywhere is beautiful, but especially spectacular in Chianti Classico region.<br />
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We drove through the countryside admiring the views. At one point we were able to see Sangimiano in the distance. The towers are very distinctive and set it apart from all the other hill towns.<br />
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We wended through the countryside until we came to the restaurant that they had lunch in the day before and indeed it was in a beautiful location with an expansive view over the valley.<br />
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The food was not bad either! I ordered scallopini with mixed funghi (mushrooms)<br />
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Wonderful very intense mushroom flavour. Dave ordered pasta with the funghi sauce.<br />
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Also a very intense mushroom flavour. Connie who was feeling a little under the weather ordered ravioli with sage and butter.<br />
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This was OK, but not the best ravioli of the trip. After our quick lunch we had to drive to the station to pick up the next arrivals.<br />
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We spent the afternoon on the deck in the sun enjoying the peace and quiet and sunshine. Connie made a vegetarian lasagna which we served with green beans and salad.<br />
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I am afraid this is a very bad picture of a half eaten lasagna and it does it no justice at all as it was very good.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-82210504423705719412014-09-28T23:42:00.002-07:002014-09-28T23:42:13.833-07:00A month in Tuscany Day 22 - A quiet day at the villa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dave, Gord, Nancy and Al were going to rent scooters and buzz around the Chianti region. Originally I planned to go, but remembered that I lost my drivers licence just before coming away. So I stayed back at the Villa with Connie who was not feeling confident enough to ride them. Connie and I decided to walk the other way along the road and see what we could find. The scenery was stunning and we walked and talked and constantly clicked away with our cameras.<br />
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Every directions the views were beautiful.<br />
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At the end of the road it turned from rural to more urban going in to a residential area adjoining the University. So we though we would look for a coffee shop. What we found was a small market.<br />
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Of course we had to check it out, Connie found the perfect black cardigan for 10.00 euros and I found porccetta<br />
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This was really the last thing to tick off the list of things to eat in Tuscany. Cold stuffed whole roasted pig, sliced to order and eaten in a bun with a little crackling on top.<br />
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It was as good as I imagined and we walked a little further in search of a coffee. We stumbled upon this strange little missen hut at the edge of a soccer field which had Bar emblazoned on the front.<br />
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So we wandered in and after some confusion ordered a cappuccino, but unfortunately they had no milk, as no self respecting Italian would drink anything other than espresso after breakfast. So an espresso it would be.<br />
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After our sustenance, we walked back to the villa for a swim and read (and perhaps a snooze).<br />
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I put a roast pork on a bed of carrots, onions, apple, garlic and rosemary and roasted long and slow for dinner.<br />
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I mashed up the vegetables and cooked down with some wine to pour over it, delicious but blurry in this picture.<br />
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We had this with roasted potatoes and kale cooked with a little garlic and vinegar.<br />
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The scooter riders had bought some good red wine from their travels, a good end to a peaceful day.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-9983350805510120352014-09-27T23:52:00.004-07:002014-09-27T23:52:50.995-07:00A month in Tuscany Day 21 - Another 3 hour lunch!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today was the day that my British childhood friends were leaving, so we decided to go up to Siena and have lunch before bidding them farewell. We were trying to find somewhere to eat when we walked past a restaurant that I had been eyeing for a while and was getting very good vibes on. There was room for only 8 on their very small terrace and 8 we were. We let the waiter decided what to bring for us, and he did not dissapoint.<br />
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First up was a antipasto platter. We sat 4 at each table and so they brought out 2 platters of everything.<br />
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This platter had bruschetta with tomatoes and liver pate, as well as deep fried croquettes. None of us could figure out exactly what these consisted of except there was definately meat of some kind and they were delicious.<br />
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Next came the obligatory meat platter.<br />
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In the centre is pecorino cheese with honey to drizzle on it which is a wonderful way to eat it. Next was the ribilliata bread soup.<br />
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This was the best version that I have had so far with a lovely crunchy toasted bread served with it.<br />
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Now for pasta, first the pici with cheese and pepper sauce. In our defence this bowl was to feed 4.<br />
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This was extremely creamy and full of flavour and a large pepper grinder arrived at the same time to add more pepper. Then came the ravioli with meat sauce.<br />
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Again delicious, but no main course for us this was an enormous amount of food and 3 hours had passed merrily sitting on the deck drinking house wine and reminiscing with old friends. It was time to say good bye to the Brits and the remainder of us walked down to the Campo for a coffee. It was a warm afternoon and a band was setting up play that evening. The acoustics were amazing and we enjoyed listening to each instrument as they warmed up. First a cello, then a saxophone. We toyed with staying to listen, but realized that we would get cold and were not prepared. Back to the villa we went.<br />
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After our enormous lunch nobody really felt like dinner, so I made salad with hard boiled egg, tuna and cannelloni beans with a little olive oil and red wine vinegar.<br />
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The roast pork planned for dinner would have to wait until tomorrow, and tomorrow there will be no 3 hour lunch!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-6008921048977001532014-09-27T00:52:00.001-07:002014-09-27T00:52:12.480-07:00A month in Tuscany Day 20 - 33 years of married bliss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today was Jacky and Howard's wedding anniversary. When they were married 33 years ago I had emigrated to Canada and was not able to be at their wedding, so I was happy that they invited me and Candi along to celebrate with them. Well maybe they did not invite us but they put up with us anyway. We drove to Castallina in Chianti and found this wonderful deck to have lunch on.<br />
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After the chill of yesterday it was warm and sunny again and it was the perfect temperature for lunching in the shade. We ordered to starters to share the first was the charcuterie platter.<br />
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As always this was beautiful with 3 different types of bruschetta and and some artichoke hearts. The bread basket included some wonderful topped foccacia bread.<br />
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We also got a burrata mozzarella sitting on a bed of arugula pesto which was not only beautiful, but very tasty.<br />
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For my main course I had lamb with the most amazing parsley mashed potatoes and red cabbage.<br />
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Howard had rabbit stuffed with Tuscan sausages, which he said was amazing.<br />
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Jacky ordered pasta with orange flavour and a duck sauce, also wonderful.<br />
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If this was not enough we ordered 3 desserts to share. Creme brulee, puff pastry with cream and one that we had no idea what it was but this was what arrived.<br />
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This was 5 blobs of gelatto on a stick coated in chocolate. This was so beautifully presented and who doesn't love a bite of gelatto covered in chocolate.<br />
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the puff pastry was also very beautiful and tasty. After lunch ( over 3 hours) we wandered around the town a little and bought some of the Chianti wine including the one that we had for lunch.<br />
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We waddled back to the car and drove home to the villa where there was a lot of napping. Due to the amount of lunch consumed we decided to have a light dinner. I had made some chicken stock from the chicken caccatori carcass, which I used to make a vegetable soup.<br />
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This was very popular and used up all the vegetables sitting in the fridge. We had left over cold chicken legs from the night before and I made some panzanella Tuscan bread salad.<br />
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After the previous nights riotous behaviour we were far more subdued and went for quality rather than quantity in the wine area.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-52829443111681591792014-09-26T00:08:00.001-07:002014-09-26T00:08:17.714-07:00A month in Tuscany day 19 - Fall comes to Tuscany<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Day 19 dawned much cooler, not cold but cool enough that you needed to wear a jacket, I think this was about the first time I have worn a jacket since June! It was cloudy and threatening rain, but we decided we would go to the market any way as it was market day. We wandered around the market for about an hour in small groups and then 8 of us met up for lunch. Dave bought himself a leather jacket and scarf, looking very Italian.<br />
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It was starting to rain quite hard so the obvious thing to do is find a restaurant for lunch! A rather large warm inviting restaurant called to us and we heeded the call. First thing 2 bottles of vino de cassa. I ordered potato and mushroom tart served on saffron fondue as I had no idea what that would be. This is what I got.<br />
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What this turned out to be was a crust of mashed potato filled with porcini mushrooms with a saffron cream sauce absolutely delicious.<br />
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Dave ordered mushroom risotto as it is porcini season.<br />
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Dov ordered lamb chops which were grilled and served kind of like lamb popsicles.<br />
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Several people ordered the wild boar which was amazing.<br />
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By the time we got out of the restaurant it had stopped raining, but was still cool and overcast so we decided to go in to the Duomo. <br />
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The inside is quite dramatic and in the month of September all the inlaid floors are exposed. The remainder of the year they are covered with carpets. They are quite stunning and we spent a while in there listening to an audio guide we bought. We emerged into sunshine once again and after coffee in the campo made our way back to the villa.<br />
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Howard immediately stoked up the barbecue to cook some chicken legs that we had bought and I made some puttanesca sauce for linguine. As the temperature had dropped some, we lit the fire in the kitchen.<br />
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W sat around the marble topped kitchen table by candle light and a roaring fire and started with beef bruschetta made from the left over steak from the previous night.<br />
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We also consumed lemon grilled chicken.<br />
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And the pasta<br />
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We also consumed copious amounts of red wine and limonchello. The night finished very late with people smoking cigars in the fireplace. A memorable evening and meal.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-80653860497105600322014-09-25T01:57:00.001-07:002014-09-25T01:57:57.727-07:00Month in Tuscany Gato update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our poor failing cat spent all night in the living room and her paw was getting larger, so we decided that we had to try to find the vet again and deal with her one way or another. She is such a sweet little thing and purrs every time you touch her though she was no longer eating. However she managed to get off the chair and limped outside we thought to do her business, but she disappeared. We assumed that as cats do, she had gone off to hide and die. So sadly we went about the day and mourned her loss. <br />
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That evening however, when I went down to get a cardigan there she was on our bed. We gave her some cream and she stayed in our room over night crawling in to the closet at 5:00 am. When we got up we did extensive research found the vet and went to get her. Lo and behold she had disappeared again! Obviously she understands English and did not want to go the the vet. A few minutes later Jakopo's mother appeared with the cat, it had gone to her house. She is also a cat lover and said that her two cats would not put up with this intruder, but she knew of a cat shelter where they had a vet and she would take her there. At least we think that is what she said as she spoke very little English and I only speak menu Italian.<br />
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We miss the gato, but I believe she is being well looked after, having used up several of her nine lives.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-53327241872129498902014-09-25T00:58:00.000-07:002014-09-25T00:58:06.059-07:00A month in Tuscany Day 18 - A night at the Opera<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I route marched the new arrivals in to Siena, I really have to get a lot of walking in each day or I will not be able to fasten the seat belt on the plane on the way home from this trip. Dave drove Gord down to the train station and they came up the escalators as Gord does not have the problem of eating too much! We arranged to meet in the Campo, which at the allotted time was packed.<br />
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By this time it was time for lunch a good friend of mine who sadly could not be here had given me the name of a restaurant which was reputedly the best restaurant in Siena. I suggested that we find this and go there for lunch, it turned out that the restaurant was about 1/2 a block from where we were standing! Al and I went and got the table while poor Nancy waited in the Campo for Gord and Dave. We ordered the house wine, the waiter said he would bring 2 litres and we would only pay what we drank. We paid for 2 litres!<br />
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There were no menus and when everyone arrived the chef told us the options for pasta. Nancy ordered ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach with mushroom sauce.<br />
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Which was delicious, I ordered the ribilliata which is the Tuscan bread soup.<br />
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This was also wonderful, Dave, Al and Gord had pici with wild boar sauce.<br />
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Also delicious. All the pasta was made on the premises and scooped off a large table in to the pot at the time of ordering. The chef then came back and asked what we wanted for our main course, we were all full and will have to come back another day for the meat course. Excellent restaurant, not sure if the best in Siena, but right up there.<br />
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Nancy and I wandered around the shops while the men climbed the tower in the Campo then we all went back to the villa to get ready for the evening. Then back to the escalator in to town. We had made a booking at a restaurant that I had been to for lunch at the beginning of the trip. There were 8 of us and we had a large square table which was perfect. I ordered the carpaccio which came covered in salad and shaved cheese.<br />
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This was amazing and exactly what I wanted. Dave ordered the chicken and mushrooms.<br />
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This had the most intense mushroom flavour I think I have ever tasted. A couple of people ordered the chicken caccitori<br />
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This also had an incredibly intense flavour. After all this amazing food, we ordered dessert all made by nona. This might be the best restaurant in Siena. We came out and whilst we were having dinner a street party had popped up.<br />
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We walked over to a small church near the bus station where we had tickets for an opera singer. When she started up we could not believe the power and clarity of her voice, I am sure she could break glass! It was a wonderful end to another great day. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-64053699226974644982014-09-24T00:43:00.001-07:002014-09-24T00:43:30.876-07:00A month in Tuscany day 17 - Our first winery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Day 17 dawned foggy but warm, first thing Dave, Nancy, Al and I went to the Co op to load up on supplies for food and wine. Then 8 of us headed out in two cars to Pienza. We stopped in a small town for lunch. The special of the day was panzanella the Tuscan bread salad.<br />
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We all ordered this and got a large platter of it and plastic plates and cutlery to eat it with! Not the greatest presentation, but very good salad. We washed this down with a litre of house wine and continued on our way. We happened upon a winery that was actually advertising sampling that was open so of course both cars pulled in. I lovely young Italian women directed us to sit in a covered area with the a view across the vineyards. We were also greeted by a St Bernard the size of a small horse.<br />
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We sat down and she brought out the three wines that we would be tasting and 3 glasses each. For each tasting we got about 5oz of wine!<br />
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The winery had been in the her husbands family for 300 years. We had one pinot grigio and two reds which both had a large percentage of san giovase grape. This was the best one and we bought several bottles at 15.00 euro a bottle, which to us Canadians seems cheap but not necessarily to the Brits.<br />
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We rolled back in to the cars and on to Pienza. We arrived in the early afternoon and it was market day, and therefore rather busy. The first stall we happened upon had an amazing choice of dried and glace fruits, there were several purchases made.<br />
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We wandered around poking in to the small stores selling amazing smelling cheeses and enjoying the amazing views.<br />
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There were several purchases then we drove back to the villa to get the pizza oven fired up. Another beautiful picture of my stand of trees in the sunset.<br />
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Howard barbecued 3 enormous steaks and Tuscan sausages as well as cooking 2 pizza's in the oven.<br />
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We had this with asparagus with toasted pine nuts, served over lettuce.<br />
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This was washed down with much wine including one bottle from the winery. The last revellers retired at 3:30!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-40249261943169051992014-09-22T23:49:00.002-07:002014-09-22T23:49:57.898-07:00A month in Tuscany day 16 - The british invasion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am writing this a day late as the last 24 hours has been a whirlwind. The day started calmly enough, Connie and Dov arrived late the night before managing to get a train when there was supposed to be a 24 hour strike! So along with Carl and Lois we walked in to Tuscany for lunch. We went to the same restaurant that we had been to, several times before. I took a picture of the name on the place mat as I thought they ought to have credit.<br />
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Dov ordered gnocchi with arugala sauce, he was very happy with this choice and indeed it was very tasty.<br />
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I ordered the cut pork, which I now know is grilled pork sliced and served over apple and radicchio salad drizzled with balsamic creme and topped with shaves of cheese.<br />
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This was so good, but unlike most meals in Italy far too big a portion, I was not able to finish it, there was just so much meat. Carl had a Pizza, Lois had the chicken that I had the previous time and Connie had the pici with wild boar. All in all a very good meal. We walked around a little to orient the newcomers to Siena. Connie told me that I had not posted any pictures of the sights of Siena just food and views so this one is for you Connie, a picture of the unfinished wing of the Duomo.<br />
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I left the others and walked down to the station to meet up with Dave and pick up Nancy, Gord and Al who were arriving by bus from Rome. This we did, then drove back to the Villa where Jackie, Candy and Howard were just driving in to the driveway. The villa exploded with noise and after several prosseco's and gin and tonics we managed to hold it together enough to make dinner.<br />
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Dave and Carl had picked up some Nile perch a large fish that is an invasive species in the Nile. It may be invasive, but it is very tasty.<br />
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To go with this Nancy roasted up some potatoes with lemon olive oil and rosemary.<br />
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Jackie cooked up some green beans with cream, onion and tomatoes.<br />
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I roasted some tomatoes and bread with olive oil as well.<br />
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There was also a green salad. It was a very good meal and very loud, much wine was consumed and a good time had by all.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-65633137324415917642014-09-21T01:22:00.003-07:002014-09-21T01:22:44.710-07:00A month in Tuscany day 15 - A trip to Chianti country<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Three of our guests were wanting to rent scooters and scoot around the Tuscan country side. So Dave and I drove them up to a small town in the centre of the Chianti wine district Gaiole, to rent them. This took far longer than you would expect. Jennifer you are far more patient than I. When Bri and Ern get together it is indeed like herding cats! When they finally had there scooters running they took off and we arranged to meet them in Radda for lunch. Radda is yet another beautiful little hill town and we sussed out a good place for lunch.<br />
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We ordered two glasses of Chianti Classico and waited for their arrival. Amazingly they were not that late, and using impeccable Italian we ordered lunch. I had Bruscetta Tuscany, which is, warm liver pate with toasted bread.<br />
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This was delicious with a real liver flavour which I love. Bri and Dave ordered the pizza for two, I think really it was a pizza for four!<br />
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Ern and Jen ordered salads, which were fresh and probably much better for them than either of the other options.<br />
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We enjoyed our meals and a glass of wine and then it was time for the easy riders to take off.<br />
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Dave and I then drove around the Chianti vineyards. This is amazingly beautiful countryside and the grapes are starting to be picked.<br />
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Back to the Villa to make dinner with some ideas from my new Tuscan recipe book. I made panzanella a Tuscan bread soup, which utilizes stale bread, tomatoes, onion, basil and olive oil.<br />
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I also made Chicken Caccitori loosely based on a recipe from the same book.<br />
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On a sad note, our villa gato is not doing well, she has a very lame paw and is not eating or drinking. Dave and I spent two hours with the cat in the car unsuccessfully trying to find the vets. I spoke to them 3 times and used all the technology that GPS and Iphone had to offer and failed. We brought her home and she sleeps all the time but when you stroke her she purrs and looks at you with such gratitude. Jacopo has promised to take her on Monday with me, meanwhile she receiving lots of love and cuddles and will sip a little milk if you put it next to her.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-12513324686794236132014-09-20T16:14:00.000-07:002014-09-20T16:14:00.439-07:00A month in Tuscany day 14 - halfway through feeling like home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One couple left for Monaco early in the morning and another couple took the bus to another hill town and I walked in to Siena with the two new arrivals from yesterday, and Carl who is always game to walk into Siena. As usual I could not help taking some more pictures of the movie like scenery.<br />
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Ernie was wanting some Italian black T shirts and I was able to take him to the a store where my sons had bought several. I then bought a pair of sunglasses to replace the ones that I had lost :(. By this time it was 1:00 and time for lunch, I took them to the same restaurant that we had lunch on the first day at. I ordered cut chicken? This is what arrived.<br />
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It was a very fresh grilled chicken breast sliced over arugula and topped with cheese excellent. Ern decided since I was ordering something that I did not exactly know what it was he would too, and ordered salt cod and chickpeas.<br />
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This was quite intensely flavoured and very delicious. Bri had the sausage pizza<br />
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Jen had the Pici (thick pasta) with wild boar sauce, very good was the verdict.<br />
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Carl ordered the chicken with fried potatoes, another very good choice.<br />
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We walked back through Siena and Carl wanted to go get his daily gelato so I decided to walk back down the escalator to the station, and then I cheated and took a cab back. I ended up walking 20,000 steps that day so I do not feel guilty.<br />
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Everybody met back at the villa and after bread and cheese on the deck I produced dinner. We had roasted peppers and eggplant cooked in a tomato sauce topped with breadcrumbs and Parmesan.<br />
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Then I tried to replicate a dish that I had in Rome several years ago, thinly sliced beef cooked quickly then drizzled with balsamic and served over arugula.<br />
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We had this with a green salad and roasted potatoes.<br />
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Another great evening on the deck and sadly the last for Rob an Eileen who were heading out the next day early to the next step of their trip.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-11502952556742455132014-09-19T00:51:00.001-07:002014-09-19T00:51:10.884-07:00A month Tuscany day 13 - We adopt a villa cat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I woke this morning with the sound of purring in my ear, we seem to have adopted a large skinny grey tabby cat. The owner does not recognize it, and fears it has been abandoned. It does have a flea collar, seems very domesticated and loves to be held and sit on your lap. After 24 hours of hanging around with us we broke down and bought cat food!<br />
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After Breakfast and getting some of the necessities done around the place, Dave and I walked all the way in Siena. This is a good walk and necessary to counteract all the not healthy things I am doing to my body. We stopped in The Campo (main square) for a cup of coffee and people watching.<br />
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I realize that sitting having coffee in the main tourist attraction in a city is not going to be the cheapest cup of coffee, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and this is what we did. After a nice sit in the shade, we explored around a little more, and were just heading back to go home for lunch when we saw a small restaurant in a back street which caught both of ours eyes. So we decided to stop for lunch.<br />
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I had Pappa al Pomodoro (bread and tomato soup), which was amazingly intensely tomatoey, I have to have a go at making this. Dave had fuzilly with pesto.<br />
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Along with 1/2 litre of house red this made a really good lunch. We then walked back down to the train station to catch the bus home. After a swim and a read we went down to pick up some more groceries at the Co Op. Then two more people arrived so it was appetizers and prosseco on the deck.<br />
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Jacopo rounded us up at 7:30 for the daunting ride through the countryside to the restaurant in the forest. This time there was more people so Brian rode on the back of Jacopo's motorcycle while Rob drove his car.<br />
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I got a photo of the restaurants sign.<br />
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Very similar menu, though this time instead of a small amount of steak we got a large pork chop.<br />
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This photo does not do justice to this extremely juicy flavourful pork chop. My day started with a purring cat and ended with a really good piece of pork, a very good day indeed.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-27551511396975170102014-09-18T05:36:00.002-07:002014-09-18T05:36:32.024-07:00A month in Tuscany day 12 - market day in Siena<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Wednesday is Market day in Siena, so 5 of us set off on foot and walked all the way from the villa to the market which is in the old town about 3km of very hilly terrain, so good for working off some of the wine, cheese and gelato which I have been consuming. We arrived at the market and were immediately overwhelmed by the size of it. There were stalls selling clothes, nightwear, pets, leather goods food and almost anything else you can imagine.<br />
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It was quite crowded and so much to see, so we decided to divide and conquor. Lisa and I went off to find food. We stumbled upon the food section near one end of the market and immediately started sampling cheese and salami.<br />
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We bought the cheese with the black speckles. Those black speckles are truffle yum! We also bought some salami.<br />
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Everything at the market was cheaper than in the stores and though there was a lot of dreck there was enough to make it worth checking out. <br />
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After very thoroughly doing the market we walked back through the old town for some lunch. For some reason I did not take any pictures of what we had, but it was fine. I had a tuna salad and shared some of Lois's pizza.<br />
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After lunch we wandered some more around the old town and picked up some delicious almond cookies for dessert that night. We took the bus back and swam to cool off. We were supposed to be going to the restaurant in the forest but unfortunately Dave and Bri had decided to drive to San Marino and were behind schedule and did not get back in time. Lois and I kicked in to high gear and Lois made her favourite meat sauce for the pici (fresh pasta)<br />
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I roasted some fennel I had purchased in the market with a little Parmesan and lemon juice. <br />
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Though not quite the restaurant in the forest, an acceptable substitute and of course we ended the night with the almond cookies Lois had bought.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-69338302513485081852014-09-17T00:27:00.000-07:002014-09-17T00:27:49.217-07:00A month in Tuscany day 11 - My family leaves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I can not remember the last time that my husband, two sons and I spent over a week together, it has to be years. We also had my Father with us for this whole time as well, it has been good to reconnect and spend some time together as a family. But today the boys and my Father headed back to Florence and then to fly back to Canada, hopefully this has been a trip that they will remember for a long time.<br />
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In the morning Nicholas Mark and I walked the 1.5 km down to the local stores to pick up some bread, butter and shared a cappaccino at the local cafe. The bread that we picked up was used to make tuscan sausage hot dogs for their last meal at the villa.<br />
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After we dropped them off we went to the Co op to pick up a few items that we needed. As we drove home the heavens opened and it poured rain for about 15 or 20 minutes then cleared up again.<br />
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All the others were out and about 2 in Florence, 3 in Siena and 2 cycling around the countryside. They all avoided the rain by being on a bus or a coffee shop so no drowned rats that day.<br />
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Darren was making mushroom risotto for dinner, I had picked up both dried and amazing fresh porcini mushrooms for him. I am afraid I do not have a picture of the finished risotto, but here is a picture of it in the making.<br />
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Like most days the sun set as we were preparing dinner and like most days I tried to get a good picture of my stand of trees.<br />
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To go with the mushroom risotto I fried up some flattened chicken breast with a white wine, lemon sauce and capers.<br />
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We had picked up a stray, a young women who had signed up for couch surfing.com and could not find Jacopo the owner of our villa. So we invited her in and to have dinner with us. Jacopo showed up just around dinner time and joined us with a bottle of wine and then brought out a bottle of grappa with no label. We stayed out on the deck until bedtime, another beautiful evening.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-89348291064553627962014-09-16T04:30:00.000-07:002014-09-16T04:30:08.675-07:00A month in Tuscany day 10 - the wood fired pizza oven<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Day 10 the last full day with my family. My husband drove me, Lois and my Father to a very small town called Monteriggioni, which is about 13 km North of Siena. This is a very small walled town or village really, you can walk across the whole town in about 5 minutes. <br />
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At the entrance there was square with a couple of restaurants with shady umbrellas, but we chose a restaurant to the right of the square that had a garden at the back. This was very pleasant and the menu was full of Florentine specialities. Dave ordered ribollita (Tuscan bread soup) this was delicious and more like a stew than a soup as it was so thick.<br />
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My Father ordered grilled porcini mushroom cap.</div>
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Porcini mushrooms are in season and there were several specials using them. Lois ordered porcini mushroom salad which she was extremely pleased with.</div>
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I ordered the antipasta platter which consisted of tomato bread soup, white beans served in a filo pastry cup, sweet and sour onions and a bruschetta of lardo.</div>
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This was a very good lunch washed down with chianto classico. We wandered around the town checking out the many little shops. It was a pretty little town and well worth the half hour drive.</div>
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We drove back the villa and spent the rest of the afternoon on the deck. When the boys got back from Siena we fired up the wood fired pizza oven.</div>
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Whilst the oven was heating up Nicholas and I went for a walk along the road and took yet more pictures of the incredible scenery. When we returned, there was much discussion regarding how we were going to cook the pizza. Mark was doing the heavy work with much advice from all.</div>
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Eventually we put the pizza on a large flat oven tray and slid it in.</div>
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It was extremely hot and took only minutes to cook.</div>
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Then Mark shovelled the hot coals from the pizza oven to the barbecue next to it, in order to barbecue some Tuscan sausage (yes we have had Tuscan sausage every day, it is that good) and pork chops</div>
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We ate by candlelight on the deck and it was just as I had imagined an evening in Tuscany should be.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-72696577089524067872014-09-14T23:51:00.002-07:002014-09-14T23:51:42.344-07:00A month in Tuscany day 9 - The hoards descend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The morning dawned quietly with the boys sleeping in until after 10:00, and I enjoyed a leisurely morning doing laundry. The washing machine has been a bit of a trial, but I believe we have if figured out now, and have determined that it is not a combo washer and dryer but but just a washing machine. Therefore the drying is done on drying racks in the sun.<br />
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For lunch I made some chicken vegetable noodle soup from the stock made from the chicken the other night.<br />
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After lunch we went down to pick up the first two couples who arrived at the train station with in 20 minutes of each other one couple from Rome, the other from Cinque Terra. We brought them back to the villa for the obligatory tour and drink on the deck. The afternoon passed pleasantly swimming and chatting on the deck in beautiful warm sun shine. Then at about 5:30 a large cloud came over and suddenly the heavens opened.<br />
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But this only lasted a few minutes, we wiped off the table and chairs and proceeded with dinner.<br />
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I made a pork roasted roasted on a bed of carrots, garlic and rosemary.<br />
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When it was finished I poured wine in to the roasting tin, squashed the vegetables and simmered it all up and poured over the cut meat.<br />
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I served this with fettuccine tossed with a spicy tomato sauce<br />
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I also made a simple green salad. Halfway through the meal the last couple arrived by taxi and quickly integrated in to the group for dinner.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-3215132630751074302014-09-14T00:55:00.001-07:002014-09-14T00:55:09.245-07:00A month in Tuscany day 8 - A road trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We are now heading in to our second week in the villa and it is feeling like home now. Day at dawned beautiful and sunny and a hot air balloon was drifting low over us.<br />
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Currently there are only 6 of us here all family and we decided to go visit a couple of other small towns in the area. So after breakfast we drove south from Siena through the countryside, which changed quite dramatically a few miles into the trip.<br />
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There were far fewer trees, or any vegetation for that matter. Most of the land was newly overturned earth, punctuated by the dark spikes of cypress trees, lining the lanes and driveways to peoples properties. By the many bales of hay that we saw we assumed that hay had been growing here and it was newly harvested. Looking North we could still see Siena.<br />
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />The first town that we came to was Asciano. A banner hanging over the entrance to walls declared that 2014 was there 1,300 anniversary, apparently they became a town in the 714. It made Port Moody's 100 anniversary in 2013 seem a little lame, though we all have to start somewhere.<br />
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This was a small town with little or no tourists, the only ones that we saw, were arriving by bike! We walked through the city wall and came upon a small square with a shady spot that was calling us for a coffee.<br />
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So we all had some coffee and couple had a pastry, then wandered around the narrow streets for about half an hour. There was a beautiful simple Romanesque church which my Father would appreciate just by the entrance.<br />
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We then drove on to a much larger more touristic town about 30 km away called Montalcino, we first glimpsed it as we were driving towards it, and it did look spectacular perched high up on a hill.<br />
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Parking was a little more of a problem here as this was definitely a tourist destination. We did find a place to park with a bit of a walk, which was fine on the way down, but quite a hike on the way up. By this time it was just past 1:00 and lunch was next on the agenda. We found another nice shaded table and ordered lunch. Nicholas and I had the ubiquitous Tuscan sausage and beans. I fear that both my sons and myself are addicted to these sausages.</div>
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Bri and Dave had the local pici with ragu.</div>
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Mark had the assorted cured meats and cheeses from the region.</div>
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I swapped him some tastes of his for one of my sausages. Sufficiently satiated we commenced exploring. very quickly we bought some essentials, such as a beautiful little plate and some balsamic crema, then I wandered into a little bakery. I have never smelt a bakery as good as this. The smell of butter and sugar mixed with the perfume of almonds, vanilla and dried fruits was intoxicating. Nicholas had to leave it was so overwhelming. I had to buy something and bought 5 little almond cookies, I should have bought a hundred they were amazing. </div>
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We walked around the narrow streets marveling at the views.</div>
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The streets away from the entrance were quite deserted, but the ones nearer to where we came in were quite crowded.</div>
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Just as we were about to leave we stumbled upon a market which appeared to be part of a honey festival. There was lots of honey for sale, so of course we had to buy some, we picked up a large jar of "fiori di bosc" which I think translates to wild flowers.</div>
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There was also cheese for sale, that many samples were being given of, so of course we had to buy some of that as well.</div>
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We bought a small round soft cheese that was half goat and half cow.</div>
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After this back to the car and ably navigated by Nicholas we were back at the villa in time for Bri to make dinner.</div>
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Whilst he was doing this I managed to get a decent picture of a stand of trees in the distance that has been obsessing me.</div>
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This will have to form the basis of a picture when I get back.</div>
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Bri's lasagna was ready just before sun set, and we enjoyed it up on the deck.</div>
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We watched the sun set over the tower in the Campo before retiring to the kitchen for games of quiddler and hearts.</div>
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We enjoyed our last night of relative quiet, for tomorrow 3 more couples arrive!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-36065193870879835382014-09-13T00:01:00.003-07:002014-09-13T00:02:06.538-07:00A month in Tuscany day 7 - Under the tuscan rain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Day 7 dawned with pouring rain and cool temperatures it was not very promising at all. Gay and Cheryl were going back to Florence and flying back to Vancouver. We had a leisurely breakfast then took some photographs as I want do document all the groups that are staying here. Then we drove down to the railway station to drop them off which is conveniently near the Co Op grocery store. We did a big shop, I am hoping that we will not have to grocery shop for another 3 days. To quote my husband Dave you know that you are in Italy when the pasta aisle is 4 times bigger than the cereal aisle.<br />
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After our big shop we headed back to the villa and I made some panini for lunch.<br />
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Though it was still raining Nicholas and I decided to head into Siena to poke around. Dave dropped us off at the train station and we took the escalator up to the old town which is at the top of the hill.<br />
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This consists of 3 moving walkways moving upwards and then three escalators. When we came out at the top we were just outside one of the gates to the city. A great way to get to the old city from the train station in the valley. The views from the top were as always beautiful, even though there was a light drizzle in the air.<br />
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Undaunted by the drizzle we headed in to the old town and dropped in to all the men's shops as Nicholas was in a buying mood. He bought a T shirt with an unusual photograph of an English soccer player who played in Italy in the 90's who Nicholas seemed to be familiar with and a light hoodie. We then decided it was time for our first gelato. I chose blood orange and coconut and Nicholas mango and pineapple. <br />
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Nicholas declared that this was the most expensive ice cream he had ever had at 6 euros, but also the best ice cream he had ever had, and I concur.<br />
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By now the sun broke through and suddenly it was clear blue sky again. The air was fresh and clean as we wondered back to the bus stop.<br />
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The bus drops us 1.5 km away from the villa which is good walk along a gravel road with a big hill at the end which is good for the glutes and ridding the extra calories of gelato, bread and pasta.<br />
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We had a quiet evening playing games and enjoying the peace as 3 couples arrive on Sunday! for dinner I did chicken and Tuscan sausage roasted with lemons and rosemary.<br />
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With this we had green beans and garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes.<br />
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A simple but appropriate meal in a villa with a garden full of rosemary.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-1227980931992764262014-09-12T08:41:00.002-07:002014-09-12T08:41:25.572-07:00A month in Tuscany day 6 - A day of rest.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After an epic thunderstorm overnight day 6 started with rain but ended in sunshine, with wonderful cloud formations along the way.<br />
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The maximum we can get in the car is 5, so 5 headed out to see another hill town Cortona for the afternoon, my sons took the bus into Siena to do some shopping, so poor me I was left all alone, and had to have lunch by myself :( As you can see I made the best of it with some bruschetta, olives and a nice glass of white wine sitting on the deck.<br />
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I spent the afternoon reading in the shade by the pool and had a thouroughly relaxing day. Everyone returned from their exploring and a friends sister, who was in the area dropped by for a glass of wine before dinner. <br />
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The owner of the villa Jacopo offered to take us to a restaurant in the woods that a friend of his owned, and we jumped at the chance. So at 8:00 we set out in two cars through the Tuscan countryside. It was a good job he was leading because this was really out of the way and I am sure we would not have found it on our own.<br />
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On the way in to the restaurant which was situated in an old coaching inn, we passed the owner/chef who was grilling sausages on an outdoor wood barbecue.<br />
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The inside was cavernous with the chef's artwork displayed on the walls.<br />
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There were no menus and Jacopo brought over two bottles of good red wine and sparkling water and then an old lady appeared with a plate for each of us containing a large stuffed pasta called girasole which translates to sunflower.<br />
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This was stuffed with ricotta and spinach and covered in an intense tomato sauce and it was amazing. Then came pici which is the thick spaghetti which is the traditional Siena pasta, this was served with a ragu sauce. This was served as the rest of the meal was, family style. Unfortunately this was the only picture I have of the pici.<br />
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Next was salad and a platter of fried potatoes, in my book it really does not get any better than that.<br />
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After this the grilled sausages served on grilled bread with grilled onions arrived.<br />
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These were similar to the "Tuscan" sausages that we had been buying wonderful. The next course was steak. This was a large rib steak grilled rare and cut up by the chef at the table.<br />
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This is not a very good picture of a very good steak, we only had a little each but really at that point that was all I could handle.<br />
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Then there was dessert brought out, which I did not have, nor do have any pictures of, but the others tell me it was good. Then came vino santo (dessert wine) grappa and some bottle of green liqueur which was 76% proof, time to go home I think.<br />
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We raced back through the dark countryside and home to bed. A wonderful meal, one I will always remember as will my sons who were blown away by the food.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778195208202751232.post-53721101779784063992014-09-11T02:23:00.001-07:002014-09-11T02:23:12.171-07:00A month in Tuscany day 5 - Sometimes it rains in Tuscany<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The fifth morning dawned like all the others misty but warm, but this time when the mist lifted we were left with cloudy instead of Sunny. My husband and sons drove to Florence for the day and then to pick up my brother in law at Florence airport in the evening.<br />
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Gay and Cheryl and I decided to to take the bus in to Siena. We knew that it was probably going to rain, but were ill prepared, when we got off the bus and the heavens opened. Luckily there was a news stand close by that sold ponchos and umbrellas. Gay and Cheryl opted for the poncho's and I the umbrella.<br />
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We wandered around the old town revisiting a couple of shops that we had seen things that we had liked before, there was a pair of boots that Gay was eying but was still not able to summons the courage to purchase. We watched a young man making large square pizza's in a window, he saw our dishevelled trio and waved.<br />
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By this time it was lunch time and the heavens opened again and so we stumbled in to the nearest restaurant which looked promising.<br />
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The first thing I noticed was that the customers were all Italian and then that there were no English translations on the menu. Both really good signs, though the waiter did speak English. We were brought a plate of panzanella salad (traditional Tuscan bread salad)<br />
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This was absolutely delicious and boded very well for the remainder of the meal. Gay ordered chicken breast with a white wine sauce.<br />
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We learned that if you order chicken in white wine sauce your get chicken in white wine sauce and nothing else! This was very good and Gay was quite happy with it. I ordered scallopini with balsamic sauce. This also came just on it's own but was also extremely tasty.<br />
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Cheryl is vegetarian and fancied pasta with a tomato sauce and vegetables, so the waiter said that the chef would make one up for her.<br />
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This was full of flavour and vegetables and we whiled away a happy hour or so over a glass or two of red wine. By the time our lunch was over the rain had dissipated a little but it continued to shower for the rest of the afternoon.<br />
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After wandering around for a while longer picking up the boots and a couple of sweaters we took the bus down to the Co op to provision for dinner. Our shopping was rather heavy and we decided to take a taxi back to the villa. Coincidentally it was the same taxi driver that had rescued the two girls that night before.<br />
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When we arrived back I grilled some zucchini and peppers and Cheryl put together an amazing lasagna using fresh noodles and many cheeses and spinach.<br />
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Whilst this was cooking there was spectacular sun set under the heavy clouds.<br />
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We had a late dinner as the plane was delayed and the boys arrived back at 9:30<br />
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A delicious vegetarian lasagna, Tuscan sausage and a green salad.<br />
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