Spring of Adventure

This is a summary of the highlights of my spring in Italy. It starts the week after I get back from Norway and goes through the beginning of May. I will try to post more soon, and maybe include some pics.

The Prosecco Hill, April 7, 2010

We drove to the "Prosecco Hill" to have a cheese picnic. I can't remember the actual name of the vineyard. Drove to San Stefano in the comune of Valdobbiadene (name of vineyard) to a type of Osteria Senza Oste (osteria: mostly drinking place, but serves easy to make food too; Oste is host; senza is without). The vineyard is right next to the one where Obama bought his inaugural bottle of Prosecco. Overlooking the Cartizze vineyards (very high quality prosecco only made in a small area of Valdobbiadede, a DOCG (Denomincazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita)) vineyards. We brought the following cheeses for our picnic: Piave fresco, Talleggio, Pecorino Sardo (fresh), Gorgonzola, and a smelly soft French cheese (of the same consistency as Brie), and a bottle of Chianti. In the little “shop without a host” we bought the sopressa (type of salame local to the Veneto) and we could have bought some home-made cartizze... this was later offered to us by an Italian family that could not finish theirs.

Eating at Frank Baracca, April 23, 2010.

Itlian pizzeria in Nervesa della Battaglia where you’de be silly to order the pizza, not because it was not good, but rather because the pasta-fish food dish was so much better: served for two people and covered with pizza dough (they brought it out still in the pan, they had put the dough over the pan and baked for a few minutes until brown). Where we ate was positioned on top of a large aquarium with glass tiles (we could see the fishes swimming below). They bring you an aperitvo and an calamari filled antipasto for free. Our main dish was a frutti di mare with squid-ink tagliatelle which is black in color.

Frank Baracca's family is who gave Ferrari their family emblem... which just so happened to be a prancing horse...

Etiquette and wine tasting evening, April 27, 2010

The etiquette course was quick and to the point. We took a quiz at the beginning... surprisingly I scored as one of the highest in the class, 2nd highest I think. I know, I know, you guys are all impressed. In the wine tasting that immediately followed we tasted 2 Saove (one a classic which had been rated as the 53^rd best wine in the world) from a town a little to the east of Verona, some Amarone (15° alcohol content) and some Recciotto (sweet wine). Both these wines are made from fortified grapes, just the Amarone is aged in wooden casks for at least a year. I probably had some of the fanciest wine I've ever had at this tasting. I felt so classy with my plastic cup. :)

Trip to Merano, April 30-May 1, 2010

Merano, a town in the South Tyrol Dolomiti. It’s a medium sized city by Italian standards and very German (the locals use german as the first language, but they all know how to speak italian). The region is famous for (besides the mountains, the wines (eg. The gewurtztramminer) and apples) the Sissi castles and the Thermal baths. We didn't do the thermal baths due to a miscommunication... I will try one out before I leave though! We stayed at the Westend: good deal, with a balcony in the room and breakfast in the garden. They even had free use of their bikes: awesome! I hadn't ridden a bike since Denmark and before that it had been YEARS! Interesting: the amount of flowers (which were so bright and absolutely beautiful!!), number of castles (they were nestled all in the hills), cycling and walking trails. Awesome!!! Great having a rest along one the cycling tracks (after hard day’s workout) with a view of the Roman bridge and drink a beer in a biergarten. Food of interest: Knederly in beef broth (they're like dumplings), and some other very good Austrian dish made with boiled beef (probably the one that made the broth), and some pork medallions with cream asparagus; we found this place as almost the last resort, but it had a wonderful internal garden.

Second day we took the bikes for half the day and rode to some castle with a large flower garden (too many oldies to go inside and it was really pricey for a botanical garden) and then we tried to go to another castle on the outskirts. Unfortunately there was no large non-state road to get there, so we went via the side rods: up hill!!!!! I'm not talking any hill... this was a wine hill with gravel, SO we had to push the bikes up a gravel path. I was so tired, but so proud of myself for making it the whole two days without being a big whine bag. After we returned the bikes we had a light lunch of curry wurst (German sausage with ketchup and curry powder) then walked up and down the hills for hours! We decided to leave and have dinner in back in Asolo. I would highly recommend this city to visit and I would/will go back.

Random occurances with no date in particular:

Made white Bassano asparagus risotto: 600g of Bassano asparagus, then dry white wine, risotto, vegetable broth and parmiggiano. The asparagus was peeled and the heads were broken off. It was my first time to peel asparagus... made it much easier to eat! They were placed in the pot to cook just before the rice (no need to boil them before that). The broth cooked on the side, but before that the rice was added, toasted slightly and the prosecco was added. Remember to add salt! It was SO good. I've made it twice. Next on my risotto list to make is porcini (mushroom) risotto.

We went to Conegliano one night. We went to the castle... which was walls and a small tower, not as impressive as some of the others I've seen. Nonetheless, we had a spritz and looked at the view up there before heading into town to explore the center. We walked around for a bit, small center, but still very cool. Next was dinner, we went to I Templari to have “spicy” chicken: it has a medieval theme. Good German beer, and the chicken was served without any knives and forks. It was a mess to eat! Italians have no idea about making things spicy. It was yummy still!

More to come and thanks for being patient with this posting. Love you guys!!!