Tag: Tuscany
Tuscany- Day Four- Castiglione della Pescaia
Day four was a lovely visit to a coastal town in Tuscany called Castiglione della Pescaia. We started to research the night before where to go and decided it should be a somewhere near the ocean. I was envisioning a seaside shack serving delicious seafood and wine. We got to this lovely, little coast town with beautiful turquoise water as far as the eye could see. We parked on the outskirts of the town and started to walk by the water. Very quickly we started to pass water side restaurants with beautiful views.
We decided on one, randomly.. well, actually some of us needed to use the facilities and were not willing walk any further. We sat down and were greeted by very friendly restaurant owners- they spent a significant amount of time translating the menu for us. We decided on some fried seafood consisting of shrimp and calamari. We enjoyed a big salad and pappardelle with mixed seafood, grilled vegetables and two whole fishes. The food was delicious and absolutely fresh. We washed it down with the most amazing sparkling white wine. It was a perfect afternoon.
Fried Seafood
Seafood Pappardelle
Grilled Vegetables
Whole Fish
We headed back to the villa- had a few hours to enjoy the pool. Before we knew it, we were headed to a local farm to table restaurant. We started with a local Chianti, a delicious salad. I enjoyed a plate of cinghale (wild boar) cooked for hours in tomato sauce. It was tender and was falling off the bone. The highlight was definitely the desserts- specifically the creme caramel, creme brûlée…
Cinghale (Wild Boar)
Gnocchi Pomodoro
Pineapple Tiramisu
The creme brûlée was very different than what we were used to. It didn’t have the hard crust on the top- there was sugar sprinkled on top with some kind of liquor which was flambéed. It was creamy and absolutely delicious..
Tuscany- Day Three
When you have sixteen people walking around a medieval town, lots of interesting things happen. One thing that doesn’t happen is a lot of sightseeing.
We woke up the third morning to a gorgeous blue sky…. I could hear the roosters in the far distance and birds were chirping quite loud. I am usually a great sleeper but somehow here, I can’t wait to wake up and start the day- I am averaging a few hours a night…
The breakfast consisted of a few kinds of cheeses, prosciutto, crusty bread and the most delicious cherries… oh, and of course, coffee. We lingered over coffee and headed for Siena.
As I have mentioned before- we are a big group. To achieve some order, we divided ourselves into several different committees. Yours truly is in the food division- planning meals, buying ingredients and deciding where to dine. Most kids were in the planning the day committee. They decided we would all go to Siena, which was about an hour away. We arrived there and slowly made our way to the main square. It took a while as we stopped several times for water, pizza, olive bread and gelato. We did look around a bit and took lots of lovely pictures but somehow the focus was on where we were going to sit down and eat….
After lunch, we walked a bit more and ended up in a bar/café that had very interesting looking sandwiches. We had cappuccinos (which I realize is a very touristy thing to do – as most Italians stop drinking cappuccinos after 11 AM) and decided to get our dinner packed from there- including the dessert.
We headed back to our cars and some of us in the food committee headed to the super market to buy some more supplies for dinner- including the most delicious and cheap wines I have ever had the pleasure to taste…
Dinner consisted of a platter of olive bread, raisin bread, cheese, ham, sandwiches and lots of wine. We started with the most delicious sparkling rose wine and finished with a yummy white.
As I anticipated, this trip too is turning into a food and wine fest…
Tuscany- Day Two
I woke up to an amazing morning in Tuscany- it was absolutely beautiful… a blue cloudless sky and birds chirping…
The day started with a delicious breakfast, a visit to the super market and a delicious lunch. We found this hole in the wall restaurant by the high way. We walked straight into the kitchen not realizing where we were and asked them if they could make pasta and salad enough for sixteen people. They were very skeptical and decided to have a conversation amongst themselves before they gave us an answer. I watched the mom make pasta pomodoro and pasta carbonara for us. We brought the pastas and salad home and washed it down with some delicious, very cheap Tuscan wines….
Pasta Pomodoro and Pasta Carbonara
For dinner we went to a neighboring town to a small restaurant that was willing to accommodate sixteen of us. We started off with delicious brushchetta pomodoro 
.
Tuscan Bean Soup
Had some delicious Tuscan bean soup, Zucchini Pasta, Fried Chicken and three different kinds of Panna Cotta- chocolate, caramel and mixed berries. The highlight was the brushchetta, fried chicken and the caramel panna cotta!! The local wine was delicious…
We all went home very happy, relaxed and filled with delicious food and wine!
Tuscany- Day One
So after a lot of planning and anticipating, my Italy trip is here! I am here early in Rome with my daughter waiting for the rest of the family (14 other people) for our first week together in Tuscany.
The trip started off not so auspiciously with a cancelled flight- it turned out for the best as the airline put us on a direct flight to Rome instead of the initial one with a layover in Lisbon. My daughter and I got in quite early and since our hotel room was not ready, we decided to venture into the city. Although we were quite tired, we managed to walk around for a few hours, eating gelato.
Before we got to the city, we ate a delicious snack of salami panini and cappuccino at the airport. My daughter had her first doughnut of the day (she had two altogether) – they were all delicious!! The problem of not sleeping on the plane is that one is completely exhausted! We picked up some pizza, salad and wine to go and headed back to the hotel room. The Sangiovese was delicious and so was the pizza! The highlight was the simple salad made out of some greens, radicchio, a salted ricotta salata, olives and tomatoes. Packets of Modena balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper accompanied the salad. I dressed the salad and began eating. As I bit into a cherry tomato, I was taken aback by the most delicious, juicy and sweet- the most amazing tomato I have ever had! This salad was not from a fancy restaurant… goes to show how ingredient driven this cuisine is…I love it!!
It took us all day but we made it to the villa in Tuscany. Why did it take all day, you ask? Well, long story, but it includes rental car delay and meeting a childhood friend at the car rental office after twenty years. We got their 10 o’clock at night and ended the day with some delicious wine and cheese.