Eating our Way Through Italy
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2005
1
127
152
Trip End
Nov 30, 2011
Where I stayed
Our Friend's Beautiful Restored Barn in Parma
Antica Torre de Via Tuornabuoni in Florence
Parma and Florence, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
I've written before about how our friend is such an incredible cook that I consider our annual visits "Cooking School." And this short visit in Parma Friday-Sunday morning was no exception. We are met at the airport with a driver in Milan or Bologna for the hour drive to Parma each time we visit-- Rob is dropped off immediately for his meetings and the driver is always kind enough to take me on to our friends'--where a home-made lunch that rivals a meal on the cover of any cooking magazine awaits. This Friday's lunch was a thin, elegant slice of a mushroom tart, followed by a large, fresh mozzarella ball on a plate with small heirloom tomatoes in shades of red, yellow, orange and green, drizzled with a little balsamic (thick, syrupy and incredible) vinegar and garlic. Add a glass of bubbly, followed by a glass of wine and sparkling water, and a piece of rustic bread. Dessert was one of the huge oranges, taken from the 'outdoor kitchen' on one of the patios--bowls of fresh fruits and vegetables that stay chilled, but never freeze in Parma's temperate weather.. A simply perfect lunch.
By the time Rob was dropped off at the house (an Architectural Digest-worthy restoration of a Parmesan barn and silo) at 7:30 p.m., the smells from the kitchen were the first thing to greet him. Dinner began with toasts and sparkling wine, a thin, light broccoli tart, followed by fettucini with zucchini and onions, perfectly sauteed potatoes, stuffed veal, more wine, and ending with a plum tart and coffee.
I can't tell you that we did anything as a tourists in Parma, but we had a great visit just being there, enjoying the beauty of our friends' home and its surroundings, feeling the long-missing sun on our backs, accompanying our friends on a passeggiata--the Saturday afternoon walk in the centro-citta--where the whole town comes out to shop, stroll, greet each other, stop for coffee, and be seen, followed by lunch with friends in their apartment (a tapas spread honoring the Spanish cookbook the friend's husband has just purchased for her birthday), more glasses of sparkling wine, hours of laughter, jokes and politics--mind you Rob speaks little Italian but he seems to understand and participate without a problem. In fact, Rob's minute Italian is perfection--he knows the word for afternoon nap--pisolino--and can respond to most anything of interest with his 'si' 'si' as well as his 'essatamentes'--the word that enables him to escape everything for his de-rigeur nap.
Dinner was with the same couple with whom we'd had lunch, but at a sister's apartment: more sparkling wine, an eggplant mousee with soft chevre squares, a home-made pasta with artichokes, a delicately designed crust with leaves covering a beef stew which reminded me of a French beef bourgingnon--rich wine flavors and tender chunks of meat. Or so I thought because by then all I could eat was a teaspoonful of the meat. And then, home-made canolis, another bottle of sparkling wine, espresso, and hours more laughter. A beautiful evening.
Coffee so strong in the morning that I have to add hot milk, a little brioche, an orange from the patio..and off we go to Florence. I love Italian trains, but when you leave from a little town, there are no electronic signs to help you know which train is when..and if you're taking the 11:04, but one train shows up and 11:01 and another at 11:17--how do you know which is your train (especially if you missed or didn't understand the loudspeaker's announcement in Italian? So I was a little edgy as our train was late and we missed our change in Bologna. Happily we re-booked on the next fast train and made it to Florence a little later. Only we were starving and after getting installed in our hotel, every restaurant in Florence seemed to have closed until dinner. We popped into a bar for a sandwich, and then found ourselves in the middle of the weekend's women's demonstrations taking place all over Italy--not really a women's right's march but a 'respect for women' march--with many 50-60 year old women (including our friends in Parma) marching.
But it was Sunday afternoon, and we continued on as all Italians do in the afternoon-- we were salmon going upstream through the women's march, making our way close to the Ponte Vecchio--a purpose-driven passeggiata designed for Rob to finally get his cup of gelato.
That evening we met up with friends (a former babysitter for us when she was 16 and is now 38, her boyfriend, and her mom who is one of my sister's dearest friends from her years living in Florence in the 1960s and 70s). Dinner started with sampler plates of Tuscan delicacies--crostini, eggplant roulades, stuffed zucchini slices, bruschettas, liver and mushroom pates, and bresaola, as well as an assortment of porcine meats that delighted others but didn't interest me.
Wine, pastas, and shared entrees that couldn't be finished by any of us, coffee, laughter. A wonderful night.
Monday morning in Florence was too warm for the down coat I had, and after a hearty hotel breakfast on the patio that has an incredible 360 degree view of Florence--a typically Italian breakfast of cheeses, brioches, yogurt, coffee and juice (the carrot, lemon and orange juice mixture I tried was terrific), we were off for a morning walk. We really didn't have much time left before we were to be at the next meal--lunch with Rob's friends who are Florentine royalty.
So we finished our sojourn on Valentine's Day in Florence with interesting conversation and a fine repast at a formal lunch--served by the butler--a spinach tart followed by veal roulades, fried potatoes and a fresh macedonia dessert of seasonal fruits and coffee. And of course, if you know where we were, we were drinking very good wine. The question of the weekend--so what do you bring an Italian Marquis if you're a lunch guest? It was the question that popped out of someone's mouth at our last dinner in Parma when another mentioned where we were invited for lunch.
Italy: one of our favorite countries. Italy: home of many of our favorite friends. Italy:some of the world's best food. Italy: friendship and laughter.
And, of course, we brought French chocolate.
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