Il Vecchio Maneggio - Agriturismo

After our time in Siena, the bus took our tour group into the hillsides of Tuscany. Gooooorgeous!

We stopped at an organic farm, which was part of where we were going to have lunch. There were vineyards, cows, honeybees, and more.

You can see San Gimignano across the way! (Our next stop.)

Our lovely lunch spot:

Me and mom at lunch:

Although I don't have pictures of our lunch, it was great! We were impressed. Our tour group was probably about 60 people and we all fit in one room. The food was ready and came out quickly. We could have second helpings... and thirds... as much as we wanted!

The starter was my favorite... plates of bread, cheeses, and a couple different kinds of honey were passed. (That could have been my entire meal!)

We also had pasta, coldcuts, and lunch included 3 or 4 different types of wine. EVERYTHING is made locally on this farm. That is the basis of an agriturismo -- everything you eat is made on that farm, or at least locally.

Lunch at Le Proposte in Piacenza

I was invited to go to lunch last Sunday with a group of ladies from school. They had all been to this place before and raved about it... now I see why! It is about an hour's drive to Piacenza from Milan. The drive is gorgeous... especially once you get to the area and there are rolling hills of vineyards.

Panoramic of the area:

We had lunch at Le Proposte - a cozy little place with amaaaaaazing food!

We started with the antipasti dishes, which they bring (and seem to never stop bringing!) and we shared. Then we each ordered a primi (pasta) - I had the pumpkin ravioli. We skipped over the secondi and went straight to dessert from there! And, of course, finished up with un caffe.

The drive to and from Piacenza was almost as delicious as the food!!

FISH LUNCH at Silvana and Vincenzo's!

When we were invited to Silvana and Vincenzo's house for lunch, they asked us if we like fish. YES! SI!

Vincenzo said that the entire lunch would fish(es)... and he was right. Amazing. We had six different types of fish made a variety of ways. This is truly one of the best meals I've ever eaten.

Primo (first) course - pasta with fish:

Secondi (second) course - four different plates of fish:

These stuffed prawns (shrimp) were absolutely amazing, mmmmmm:

Cold salmon with onions, tomatoes, and a juice sauce... amazing!

Angela, Christopher, Denis, Gina, Silvana:

I was already stuffed and then Vincenzo brings out a huge platter piled with aluminum foil packets. I asked what was inside and he said 'a surprise' - haha. Inside was a breaded fish... teeth and all! I felt like I was back in Vietnam but without chopsticks. This was awesome. We basically picked at the fish to get forkfuls... so soft and flavorful.

Aaaaand, of course, rounding off the meal with a caffe!

lunch for 20 ...totally normal

Angela and I lounged and people-watched on the beach for the morning of our first full day in Alba Adriatica.

Then we headed to Jacqueline and Giacomo's house for lunch. We showed up and found a table set for 20 people! - TWENTY!

Lunch was AWESOME. The courses kept coming from the kitchen. I appreciated Giacomo warning me that after the rabbit, there was also going to be cutlets and olive ascolane (stuffed olives) - a specialty from this area and one of my (and my family's!) favorites.

Before the meat courses, however, was the timballo. Mmmmmm. Similar to lasagna but, again, a specialty of Abruzzo - timballo is made with egg noodles and seems lighter than lasagna... not as much cheese but absolutely deeeelicious.

Timballo: 

A moment caught... Angela and I each laughing/smiling at different things.

What a GREAT experience!

Giacomo with the rabbit(s)...

Just a normal family lunch in Italy!

And, of course, ending the meal with homemade tiramisu!

Lunch at Alfio's parents'

Alfio is a teaching assistant at ASM and his parents live in Naples - near Pompeii's ruins. He picked us up after our day walking around Pompeii and brought us to his parents' home for a lovely lunch. This was one of my favorite activities during the winter holiday. The food was delicious and the company was even better! We had a lot of laughs and conversations mixed in English and Italian.   : )

After we ate, Alfio's mom taught my mom how to make the delicious greens that we had. We also had pasta, sausage... then fruits, panettone, coffee, aaaand homemade limoncello AND a walnut limoncello-type after-meal drink.

Pretty cool watching the two moms communicate about cooking together -- different languages, same conversation   : )

Luca and Alfio -- brothers