It’s been a few days since I got back from Italy, and I’m having a hard time getting back to the grind after all the fun I’ve had. Italy was everything I dreamed of, and more. It was astonishingly beautiful (despite all the grey!) and I went into a tizzy photographing the beautiful windows and doors.
If I had to name two things that blew my mind in Italy they would have to by olive oil and tomatoes. Oh, my goodness. Now, finally, I get the fuss about them. The first time I had the extra virgin olive oil at a restaurant in Verona, my first reaction was ‘Dear God! What I’ve been having back home is nothing short of dog p*ss!’ The fruity, grassy oil had me reach for more helping than I should have. Sopping bread in oil never tasted this good. Monini Granfruttato, please come to India. Until then, I’m going to be very judicious with my bottle of the signature Zefferino Monini non filtrato oil, and each time I douse it over my bread, I’m going to think of my meal in his fairytale home in Spoleto.
And the tomatoes – juicy, tangy and full of flavour, when baked on a focaccia the flavour concentrates and sweetens even more, and with one bite, you get an explosion of tomato juices in your mouth. I’m so glad we skipped the boring hotel breakfast for a kilo of assorted focaccia on our second morning in Spoleto.
As a part of the program we travelled to different parts of Italy – Verona, Cremona, Parma, Spoleto, and finally ended with a day in Rome. Snapshots from the trip:
Of warm welcomes and hearty food
Of inviting stores and tattoria
Of quaint markets and friendly people
Of wineries and wine barons
Of 1000s of bottles of red, red wine
Of rosemary needles tall and slender
Of wrecked yellow scooters on cobbled streets
Of freshly carved meat at la pizzicheria
Of intense dinner discussions, banter, and giggles
Of chalk-board menus and bicycles
Of pastaccheria love and Chiacchiere cookies
Of dining amidst 1000s of cookbooks, vintage and new
Of tiny lanes and opulent lamp posts
Of heaps and heaps of Parma ham
Of olive fields and olive oil
Of cream filled Spoleto speciality
Of cooking classes and litres of bubbly
Of wheels of cheese and painting them pretty
