The Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta on the road from Pienza to San Quirico d'Orcia

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

"Tuscany is a state of grace. The countryside is so lovingly designed that the eye sweeps the mountains and valleys without stumbling over a single stone. The lilt of the rolling green hills, the upsurging cypresses, the terraces sculptured by generations that have handled the rocks with skillful tenderness, the fields geometrically juxtaposed as though drawn by a draughtsman for beauty as well as productivity; the battlements of castles on the hills, their tall towers standing grey-blue and golden tan among the forest of trees, the air of such clarity that every sod of earth stands out in such dazzling detail. The fields ripening with barley and oats, beans and beets. The grape-heavy vines espaliered between the horizontal branches of silver-green olive trees, composing orchards of webbed design, rich in intimation of wine, olive oil and lacy-leaf poetry. Tuscany untied the knots in a man's intestines, wiped out the ills of the world. Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." Irving Stone from my favourite book " The Agony and the Ecstacy" A fictional biography of Michelangelo



187. Osteria di Passignano 34

Well what a weekend! Even though it rains ALL day Saturday and ALL day Sunday, it's Annette's birthday and celebration is on the menu!

I pop to Giorgio's to pick up a selection of wicked pastries and then to the market for a lilly and iris flower arrangement. I'm back home to whizz up a frothy cappuccino and we enjoy a very indulgent breakfast and Annette gets her Audrey Hepburn D.V.D. box set... and surprise surprise they are showing Prince Charles and Camilla's royal wedding on Italian TV! Interesting, but not quite the Charles and Di affair 23 years ago...

After my 'best carbonara ever' (With pancetta from Folorni butcher's in Greve-In-Chianti) We rush round the supermarket in preparation for Monday's BIG NIGHT 3  meal for friends Nadia and Alberto and then it's on to our birthday restaurant of choice, Osteria di Passignano for our third ever visit! We put on our gladrags and drive out to the beautiful hamlet of Badia a Passignano in the Chianti hills... here is tonight's menu:

Complimentary glass of Antinori Spumante

Amuse bouche

three different olive oils with chick peas and an assortment of warm breads

Antinori Cervaro della Sala white wine

Antipasti:

Terrine of warm ricotta with asparagus and stewed tomatoes
Aubergine dumplings with tomato and basil

Primi:

Ravioli with Corzano รจ Paterno 'buccia del rospo' cheese, chestnut honey and baked 'bacelli' broad beans.

Secondi:

Roast pigeon and beans
Wild suckling pig with apples and calvados

Dessert:

Ricotta and mint, banana and aubergine filo parcels with chocolate sauce

Wine:

Antinori Chianti Classico Badia a Passignano riserva 2000

Happy Birthday Annette xxx


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