Pacina

You will have to excuse my English, because we now do not speak properly in any language. Our Italian is getting better, but still at the beginner stage, and we speak broken English to each other when we do not know the words in Italian. It is quite amusing. We left Pacina this morning, and headed towards Panzano in Chianti. Stefano and Giovanna, owners of Pacina, met us there yesterday afternoon and we got a tour of the Estate, tasted some wines and the new olive oil, then they showed us to our room. They let us stay in an apartment on the property that overlooked the rolling hills of Chianti. The view was amazing, and the pictures we took do not do it justice. The harvest this year is complete, and now the olives are being picked for Oil, and the 2006 vintage is being bottled, so they are still very busy at the vineyard. The apartment had a kitchen, fireplace, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a heated pool below us, a big upgrade for the hotel room in Siena we stayed at the night before. Once we were settled in, we drove around the town of Castelnuovo Berardenga where we came across Felsina, another popular wine we have at Tomasso and Panzano. We dropped in there and also received a tour of the cellar, the vineyards, and the majority of the porperty. The, of course, more tasting. We tasted everything from the I Sistri white to their Grappa, and everything in between. We did not have an appointment with them, but they were very happy to see us anyway. We decided to stay in for dinner, and utilize the kitchen. We lit a fire and toasted bread for bruschetta over the fire for our antipasto, locally made pasta that we tossed with white anchovies, grape tomatoes, and olive oil, we roasted 2 pork shoulder steaks over the fire and fennel roasted in the oven, afterward we drank way too much wine while tending to the fire, my headache this morning told me so. We had a great time. Today we drove through the windy roads of Tuscany and made it to Panzano for lunch this afternoon. We have a tasting set up at Il Palagio tomorrow morning, then we are heading to Vicchiomaggio in Greve until Saturday. It is difficult to write about everything we are experiencing, but I will stop now because I am rambling, please leave comments if you wish, it's good to hear from everyone, ciao

Piove Piove Piove

Sunday morning, another rain filled day! It has rained almost everyday since we got here, of course everyone says the weather was beautiful up until we got here. We had a wonderful dinner last night at Sergio Mottura's estate. While preparing the meal, we tried some bruschetta with the freshly pressed Olive Oil. The oil was delicious, very peppery, spicy, and a bit frizzante because of how recently it was pressed. We started the meal with "Strochetti" a very tasty chicken broth with a mixture of eggs, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs mixed in. The next course was a Bucatini al'Amatriciana, classic dish from outside of Rome, made exactly how we make it at Tomasso with Guanciale, Peperoncini, White Wine, and Tomatoes. For the main course, we had roasted Duck. The Duck was raised here by Allesandra Mottura, who recently became a vegetarian after having to kill the Ducks for dinner. They were stuffed with sauteed organs, potatoes, fresh rosemary, dried black olives, and fennel seed, roasted and served with rosemary roasted potatoes. Finally we had seared cauliflower cooked with white wine and red wine vinegar. For Dolci, we had Sergio's favorite, pureed chestnuts (first of the season) cooked in milk with some sugar and vanilla, covered with whipped cream and cocoa powder. With the Muffo sweet wine, it was a perfect pairing. We are waiting to hear from the people of Pacina winery in Siena, which is hopefully our next stop. Until then, we are going to enjoy the small towns in the area of Civatell d'Agliano and see where our day will leave us. Ci Vediamo Dopo.

In Italia

We arrived safely in Italy on Tuesday morning. There is no internet connection where we are staying now, so I am not able to update very often. Today Emily and I visited the small town of Amelia in Umbria near where we are staying. We have been before, so it was very familiar, but still nice to see the beautiful countryside where Emily's family lives. Tomorrow we are off to get our rental car, and visit a few small towns in the area of Viterbo. Friday we are going to a small Olive Oil company that presses all of the olives for the residents of Amelia. Saturday it is off to Sergio Mottura where I will be teaching a small cooking class before dinner. I must go now, we finished dinner with the family and we must get back and attempt to understand more Italian!

Italia Fall '09

Emily (my wife-to-be) and I are looking forward to the trip of a lifetime. 70 days traveling throughout Italy with nothing but our rented car (hopefully large enough for me to fit in) relying on people we barely know, or have yet to meet to guide us. The goal is to become "entrenched in the culture," learn everyday, meet great people who produce great food and wine, and ultimately bring as much knowledge about the true Italian lifestyle back with us, so we may share it all with you. We have always talked about traveling in Italy since we met nearly 6 years ago, but the time has finally come. We are excited for quite an adventure, mostly since neither of us has any sense of direction, but with the help of maps, GPS, and luck, it will be 70 memorable days worth following. We officially leave the country on November 2nd, and will be reconnecting with the Fabbrizi family, Emily's cousins, who graciously hosted us on our last visit. After a few days of visiting we will be off to our old friend Sergio Mottura's, who many of you may have met during our wine dinner at Tomasso last year, and the trip begins. Lazio, Umbria, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Friuli, Piedmont, Alto Adige, and Liguria, I will keep you posted as often as possible. No need to worry about dining at Tomasso while I am away, Chef Jeff Pond and Sous Chef Danielle Sprague will be at the controls and undoubtedly wowing you in my absense. (hopefully they will allow me to return) So enjoy, and get ready for our January 31st dinner at Tomasso highlighting the food and wine experienced along the way!