Got to our apartment from Como about twelve thirty. Only one and a half flights of stairs to this place, a two bedroom place with a huge bathroom and large living room. It's located in a local neighborhood about a ten minute walk from the center of town, which we've done numerous times since we arrived. We walked in when we got there to grab a few groceries. While in the store, which was about to close for the afternoon break, we asked the woman checker if there was a good restaurant, tratorrio, or osteria nearby. "Just up the block is a place with "typico" food from the region". When we went into Trattoria "La Morina" in town, we were taken back by the place. Lots of black and white pictures on the walls. Here's a link to their websight, www.trattorialamorina.com . This area is the food capital of Italy. We're surrounded by Modena, Parma, and Bologna. So we walk into this place and have the best food of the entire trip for lunch. All the pasta is made in house with the same recipes from the owners grandmother. He says he's fifty seven, but doesn't look it. Donna orders tortallini, which is a larger version of what we call ravioli. Two different types come in the bowl. The first is spinach, combined with chard, parsley, parmesean, and riccotta. The second is pumpkin, combined with crushed amaretto cookies and cheeses. Almost like a dessert and will probably show up as that at our house.
I have an escargot ragu' that i'm keeping the recipe for secret. Takes a day to make and is one of the best ragu's I've ever tasted. The depth of the flavors is amazing to me.
Next morning we drive to Modena in search of a market with all kinds of vinegar. It doesn't exist any longer so we regroup and drive to Bologna. This city has to be the food capital of all of Europe. We wander a bit and go into the TI. We're looking for the food market section of town that Donna remembers from last time here. (All I remember from lst time here is going down a pedestrian road and running into a car blocking device that comes out of the ground and having to back out and almost knocking over a motorcycle and almost hitting some people sitting in a sidewalk cafe and being humiliated and thinking how much I want my mother........) But Donna's right and we're a block from a place called Tamburini, which is famous. Walking in we see why. They have a lunch buffet that has a line out the door, and around the corner. We go into the take away part and grab dinner for the night. Pastas, the BEST eggplant parmigano we've ever had, and some chicken salad unlike anything. I also stock up with a gorgeous hunk of mortadella for the rest of the trip, and a piece of something that looked really good for desert. And it was.
Today we headed into the hills above Bologna in seach of the Festival de Tartuffe. (Truffle Festival.)
Emily took us on some of the narrowest steepest roads i've ever been on, and when we finally got to where we were heading...............no festival. So we changed course and finally ended up in Viana at their truffle festival. Ordinarily, on sundays, there are no markets, unless there is a festival. We got lucky today and picked up some wonderful olive oil to bring home. The truffles they were selling sold from $20.00 a pound to $300.00 a pound. The pungent fragrance that surrounds the stands is amazing. There are pictures of the dogs that are used to sniff them out, and you can tell that these are members of the family. (Good thing they weren't there or we'd probably still be there.) Picked up some wonderful candied nuts and some incredible nougat, and headed to Parma. Parma ws pretty closed up on this day so we did a half hour walk and came back to the apartment. Tonight we're going back to "La Morina" for our last meal in Italy. We've had nothing but great weather since we got here. Sunny skies and clear nights. The sun is huge as it sets and the moon is bigger than any we've seen.
It'll be sad to leave this country as we really enjoy our time here, but tomorrow we head back to France. We're going to spend a night in Flayosc, where we went with Eric and Char and Siena years ago, to try and replicate another memorable meal. Ciao.
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