This past week was a veritable eating and drinking bonanza!
It started on Friday. My classmates came over for dinner and we cooked together. Sushi for Japan, and risotto for Italy. Yuma, our Japanese school friend, is a chef in Japan, and oh my, did we ever luck out.
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| Making sushi |
The risotto may just have been the best I've ever tasted. Yuma confessed after that there was half a pound of butter and a lot of parmesan. We loved it!
Earlier in the week, in Chianti, we had been wine tasting. I'm trying to develop my palate for wine. I may need a lot more practice. What was so interesting about this wine tasting cellar in Greve, Chianti was how you get to taste. You buy a wine card that you load with some euros. Then you go around the big cellar and put your card in a slot above the bottles you want to taste. You press a button, and , voila, you get some wine in your glass. The price varies. The really expensive wines might be 3 euros a taste. The cheaper ones might be 80 cents.
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| Tasting "Super Tuscan" wines |
On Saturday there was a chocolate festival in the main square in Siena. Chocolate artisans from around Italy set up their booths and gave samplings of their wares. There was every kind and shape of chocolate imaginable. Little kids were drinking cups of hot, liquid chocolate. We controlled ourselves with difficulty and only bought a few items.
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| The chocolate festival in the main square |
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| Sampling the chocolates |
The weekend was capped off with a wonderful sunday lunch in the home of Bob's colleague. This lovely Italian man bought an ancient church just outside Siena and renovated the inside to make a home. Lunch was a leisurely meal of 3 courses, each with a separate wine, that lasted 4 hours. This man cooked all the food himself, including soaking the beans for the ribolleta soup! I want him for my second husband!
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| Lunch at the church house |
I'd love to see more of that church house and I have to say the 'wine card' is a brilliant Italian invention.
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