Dining Out

Last weekend, we had the great pleasure of eating at Florence's friend Elena's grandparents' house (got that? I love nested possessives!). They are the most lovable and loving people you could meet.

They live down by Crocefisso, and on our way down, we saw the owner of Buffetti (our local school supply store; needless to say, our family alone kept them afloat for several months last fall). He greeted us cheerfully and I introduced Michael, whom he'd never met. We exchanged a few words...it turned out that he was going to be the chef for the party that was being held at Crocefisso, and he thought we might be on our way there.

We explained our purpose, and went on our way. A few minutes later, he came up from behind, carrying a bottle of homemade wine -- an offering for our dinner! From where we were, he was able to point out his own vineyards -- how often does that happen upon receiving a bottle of wine?!

And there we were...being greeted warmly by i nonni, Elena, and Elena's mom. Unfortunately, her dad was not able to join us, as he had a gig playing trumpet.

They showed us through the house, which had been a farmhouse for who knows how long. The grandparents were local butchers for many years who also raised their own animals, so they continued the tradition of keeping the bestie (cows for slaughter) in the lower level of the house and living upstairs. The pigs, by contrast, lived in what is now their shed/where the cats hang out.

The tree in the background extended over the entire table,
providing welcome shade

The table was beautifully set outside, under a tree that the nonno told us was around 300 years old. Michael expressed his amazement, and we received further explanation and corroboration: some years back, the tree was infested, and they'd had to call in a tree surgeon. As part of that work, they'd had to augur out cores in order to pack in medicine for the tree (details are a bit sketchy here, sorry), so they could get a feel for the number of rings.

And the melon was scrumptious, too!

At that point, the eating began in earnest. First we had prosciutto -- that of course they had prepared themselves. Confession time: I've not been a huge prosciutto gal. But they loaded my plate, and I had to be brave, so here I was. Supplied amply with torta di testo, a freshly-made flatbread (it arrived hot off the griddle), we made little flat sandwiches. Can I tell you about this prosciutto? Seriously yummy. There were two types -- the first was the more commonly found kind that was still yummier than usual. The second? Well, it had some really good chew to it. And it was so so so so so delicious, I couldn't believe it.

The view from my seat

James ate nearly the whole pig leg. But we won't embarrass him about it.

Next came a cold risotto. It was really made flavorful with the addition of tuna -- but it also had veggies, eggs, and so on. Moving on, we had little slices of pork loin (?) poached, with a sauce of tuna and mayonnaise, and who knows what else.

Another small part of the garden

At this point, we could hardly move. But we had to: the sunset was too compellingly lovely, so we all ran down to a little viewpoint where we could see the entire sky with Todi in the background.

Back to the table! Not done yet! At this point, we had a salad of some sort (I'm wracking my brain), and homegrown cherries for dessert.

The live accordion music from Crocefisso provided such a fitting accompaniment! After a while, the kids drifted over there while the adults continued to chat over coffee.

And then, a brisk walk up the hill, and bed.

Love,

Alexandra