After more than 3 months away I feel like we are eating and drinking our way through our Italian adventure. What and where we eat is of the utmost importance. It shapes our day. It makes our day. Unfortunately it accounts for the extra kilos that both Glenn and I are wearing and surely it is the reason why I find it so hard to fit into the gorgeous Italian clothes that I insist on trying on!
One of the most wonderful memories I have of our time in Otranto is our daily lunch on our "terrazza".
Every morning Glenn & I would go out to our favourite little stores to buy fresh bread, local cheeses, local "salumi"( cold meats), salad ingredients and other little treats along the way. Wednesday mornings in Otranto were extra special as the local market was on and at our favourite butcher come rosticceria"rotisserie man", we would choose our rabbit, chicken , shaslick and come back at lunchtime and collect cooked! Delizioso!
Our terrace was on the top floor of our apartment and as there were no other tenants we had the large space all to ourselves. We would take all our food upstairs and sit in the glorious sunshine and have a delicious lunch. Simple food that tasted magnificent and how rare to eat lunch together. After lunch we would head to the beach with a little stop along the way at the local bar that made its own lemon granita. Deliziosa! After the beach, a trip to Martinucci, a fabulous gelati bar was a daily occurrence. Whilst we cooked at home, we also enjoyed some sensational fish & seafood dinners in the local restaurants. Our most memorable was quite unexpected and unfortunately for Max, he missed out as he fell asleep at the table. There was no menu and I was unsure of what the waitress was suggesting but we went ahead anyway. We had ordered a whole fish and what they do is use part of the fish to make a fish soup with a type of past and then you get the rest of the fish cooked in a sauce. It was a sensational meal and I'm salivating now thinking of it.
On our last evening there, we went to a restaurant that was owned by the mother of a gorgeous manicurist I had just met......We enjoyed a similar dish and in chatting with the mother she invited me back to the restaurant for her to teach me how to cook the dish. I was so disappointed that we were leaving because i would have gone back in a flash.
Every evening in Otranto we went for a passegiata in the main piazza and there we met Renzo and his wife and daughter. Lovely local man who ran the lolly store that sold roasted chestnuts. After the first few nights of buying a few lollies and some castagna, we would stop and chat to Renzo and his wife. Days later he brought along a bottle of his home made white wine for Glenn. Then would come the home made red wine and the home made grappa one night nearly finished Glenn off....I couldn't even get close to it . We got to the stage where we would take a longer detour to avoid Renzo and his home made offerings as they were mostly lethal! When we get home to Australia we are going to send him a bottle of good Australian red and he will probably hate it.
In summary we have eaten some wonderful fish & seafood and drunk some decent inexpensive (actually very cheap by Glenn's standards) wine.
Now onto a completely different culinary experience in Tuscany......
One of the most wonderful memories I have of our time in Otranto is our daily lunch on our "terrazza".
Every morning Glenn & I would go out to our favourite little stores to buy fresh bread, local cheeses, local "salumi"( cold meats), salad ingredients and other little treats along the way. Wednesday mornings in Otranto were extra special as the local market was on and at our favourite butcher come rosticceria"rotisserie man", we would choose our rabbit, chicken , shaslick and come back at lunchtime and collect cooked! Delizioso!
Our terrace was on the top floor of our apartment and as there were no other tenants we had the large space all to ourselves. We would take all our food upstairs and sit in the glorious sunshine and have a delicious lunch. Simple food that tasted magnificent and how rare to eat lunch together. After lunch we would head to the beach with a little stop along the way at the local bar that made its own lemon granita. Deliziosa! After the beach, a trip to Martinucci, a fabulous gelati bar was a daily occurrence. Whilst we cooked at home, we also enjoyed some sensational fish & seafood dinners in the local restaurants. Our most memorable was quite unexpected and unfortunately for Max, he missed out as he fell asleep at the table. There was no menu and I was unsure of what the waitress was suggesting but we went ahead anyway. We had ordered a whole fish and what they do is use part of the fish to make a fish soup with a type of past and then you get the rest of the fish cooked in a sauce. It was a sensational meal and I'm salivating now thinking of it.
On our last evening there, we went to a restaurant that was owned by the mother of a gorgeous manicurist I had just met......We enjoyed a similar dish and in chatting with the mother she invited me back to the restaurant for her to teach me how to cook the dish. I was so disappointed that we were leaving because i would have gone back in a flash.
Every evening in Otranto we went for a passegiata in the main piazza and there we met Renzo and his wife and daughter. Lovely local man who ran the lolly store that sold roasted chestnuts. After the first few nights of buying a few lollies and some castagna, we would stop and chat to Renzo and his wife. Days later he brought along a bottle of his home made white wine for Glenn. Then would come the home made red wine and the home made grappa one night nearly finished Glenn off....I couldn't even get close to it . We got to the stage where we would take a longer detour to avoid Renzo and his home made offerings as they were mostly lethal! When we get home to Australia we are going to send him a bottle of good Australian red and he will probably hate it.
In summary we have eaten some wonderful fish & seafood and drunk some decent inexpensive (actually very cheap by Glenn's standards) wine.
Now onto a completely different culinary experience in Tuscany......
No comments:
Post a Comment