Saturday, March 15, 2014

Last day in Cortona

Today is our last day in Cortona so we went up to the town and said goodbye to our favourite barman – Mauro.


We also gave Kay/Doug and the aunts presents to remember their stay in Tuscany:



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Tania's birthday

It was Tania’s birthday yesterday – a significant one I might add but I’m not going to say how significant.



Tania and I had a quiet day up in Cortona where we had a beautiful lunch at “La Bucaccia” restaurant (their website is: http://www.labucaccia.it/en/). It was a typical Tuscan-style with lots of meat and finished off with grappa from Friuli (of all places).

We got a taxi back to the villa where we then got ready for the birthday celebration.

There were photos in the garden (see below) and a glass of Tania’s favourite champagne: Moet.


















The owner of the villa (Sig. Tanganelli) even dropped by to give Tania some tulips in her favourite colour: purple.





Looking out towards the kitchen and to Cortona


What we’d organised for the evening was for two chefs (Francesco and Cristiano – both lovely chaps) to come to the villa and cook us a meal.

Chef Cristiano
Chef Francesco
They’ve been doing this for seven years and service a lot of the villa and agriturismo places in the area.


This night, we went with Gourmet Menu 2:

Welcome aperitifs with the Chefs

Tomato Caprese

Zucchini soup with Parmesan chip

Appetizers

Pappa al Pomodoro reinterpreted in the tradition;

Ricotta Cheese with basil pesto oil and “Lardo di Colonnata”

Ribolitta with cavalo nero

First Course

Risotto with Saffron: Saffron Carnaroli of Cortona, white truffle oil, pecorino cheese and arugula;

Second Course

Fillet of Veal: served with Chianti sauce grilled vegetables;

Dessert

Arezzo’s Chocolate small cake pie: served with strawberry sauce;

All this was served with water along with some very nice local reds and whites (the Tuscan chardonnay was really nice !!).

The Tomato Caprese
The zucchini soup
The table is all set to go !!
The Pappa al Pomodoro
The fresh ricotta cheese with basil and lard
The Ribolitta
The risotto with rocket 
The veal steak (called Chianina)
The Arezzo chocolate cake
By the end of the evening, we were all full.

The cost for 10 people – Euro 40 per head !!

Worth every penny I reckon !!


A big hand to the chefs !!

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A visit to Siena

On Thursday, the Wilson family and other hangers on went to the lovely city of Siena, home of the famous Palio race in the campo.

Il Campo is a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by – I somehow imagined it to be much bigger than it actually is.

No matter – a lovely place to be in anyway.



























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