The Dinner

What an experience. The food, the wine, the view, the service – oh to be able to live like this – oh where is that rich man? He doesn't need to be a count – a duke, a doctor, a lawyer, even a storekeeper – just so long as either he can cook like that or can afford to bring me here to eat on a fairly regular basis.
I sat outside at the table where I had breakfast, having been greeted by my waiter as I came round the corner of the building. He spoke perfect English and asked me where abouts in New Zealand I came from, so I said I came from the North Island, as most people in Italy understand that we have two islands, and that is about as much as they know. He then asked where in the North Island as he was in NZ in February this year and when I said from Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty and he then told me he his wife Vicky comes from Tauranga – Carmichaels Road in fact, So during the course of the dinner we chatted extensively and he gave me their telephone number and asked me to call Vicky when I get back to Montepulciano, that she would love to catch up with someone from home and maybe we could meet for lunch. They have a nine month old daughter whom they had taken home to NZ to meet the family.
Anyway enough of that – on to the dinner, Just after I was seated I was brought the most tasty morsel to whet the appetite – it was cow's milk cheese melted on a crispy piece of bread, seasoned with herbs. Delicious – and delicate - and again the cheese was very very pale and soft.
It was then time to choose my wines and so I went for bubbles - very nice. I stuck with this wine for my starter and the pasta dish and then changed to a local red wine for my main.
So for the antipasto I had zuchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese and served with a tomato sauce. That was delicious and I can't wait until next summer when I will try cooking the flowers off my zuchini plants.
The next course – ah so many choices – spaghetti, tortellini, gnocchi, or papadelle. I chose the “chef's special” - Papadelle Dania, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The pasta was fresh and so soft. Very wide papadelle – about an inch wide perhaps, and the tomato and garlic sauce was very tasty. No parmesan to sprinkle over it here, the waiter told me the cheese was added to the sauce just prior to serving. And it certainly didn't need any other seasoning, salt or pepper. It was delicious.
And then to the main course – i chose the roast lamb with rosemary. It was so moist, so tender, it melted in the mouth and to accompany that i had roast onions, which again were delicious.
It's strange not eating a plate full of vegetables with the main course – like we have meat and three veg – here the meat dish is quite separate with perhaps one other dish on the side. I was not offered a salad with this meat, so it was probably most inappropriate to ask for one, but I did feel as if I needed some greens with the meat. However, having said that, the meat and onions was delicious and washed down with a couple of glasses of the red wine. Perfetto.
And to finish off I chose cioccolata. Again – heavenly – rich but not sickly – exquisitely presented and my waiter asked if i wanted a sweet wine with this, but subtlety mentioned that it is difficult to match a wine to chocolate and said that water is really just as good. I agreed, and by this time i felt i had really had enough wine. Thank goodness I only had to walk around to the other side of the building.
Ah ,the perfect meal. Waited on hand and foot, treated like royalty, delicious food, great wine. And so was it worth the money – I would say yes. At least once in our lifetime we all need to experience something as wonderful as that. For others it might not be Italian food in a restaurant that has been winning awards for the last fifteen years. But it needs to be something we have dreamed about, or longed for for a long time. For me it was to simply be in Tuscany, enjoying the food and wine, and to eat here was just the icing on the cake.
This evening is something i will remember for the rest of my life, and even as I am writing this at 6am the following morning, I can taste the juices from that lamb and remember the smoothness of the chocolate. And I will never forget being treated so warmly and graciously.

Sitting alone, outside under the tree watching the sun go down, for once I didn't feel alone. I didn't feel conspicuous or self conscious. I felt that this was right and proper and I savoured every single moment of that two and a half hour dining experience. It was peaceful and serene and that peace was only interupted for about three quarters of an hour when a party of four Americans decided they wanted to have their pre-dinner drinks and look at the menu outside before going in to the dining room. I was pleased when they moved inside, and left me out there to enjoy the evening. By ten oclock there was a bit of a chill to the air, but not unpleasantly so, and I was sitting there with just my cardigan around my shoulders until my dessert came and then i put it on, as I was starting to feel a little cooler, but I didn't want to go indoors at this stage. It was so pleasant outside under the tree.

I was tempted to take some photos of the food, but thought that this would be tacky in such a fine restaruant, so sorry guys, I just hope my descriptions are enough to make your mouths water and for you to be able to visualise what I was enjoying.

And now, time to think about packing up and heading off. I am off to Cortona today – 38km – so that will wear off the calories from last night. Catch you all in a few days. I am not going to have access to wi-fi for a few days, and I am going to cut down the use of my phone – I got a text from Vodafone in the middle of the night telling me the balance of my global roaming (wow and I thought the dinner was expensive). Of course I have to pay E1 to receive a text, plus each text out is the normal text fee plus E1.50 so yes that does make it rather costly. And then there have been a few phone calls to Rowan and Roxy as well. So for the next few days just go with the – No news is good news – and I will catch you on the blog as soon as I am back in the real world.
Ciao