festa

Too much of a good thing...

I had lunch out again today and I am going to dinner for a friend's birthday tonight. I hope the MOB outfit still fits me tomorrow!

It is custom here to take the dessert with you when you are invited out. This is generally a range of tiny attractive sweet pastries and biscuits on a gold foiled cardboard tray, beautifully gift-wrapped. I bought the ones for the lunch "down in the valley" up in my village, and the ones for tonight "up here" down in their village. Makes a change, I reckon!

Lunch? Beautiful fresh pasta with a special mountain chicory which only grows above a certain altitude, and a second round of fresh pasta with mushrooms. White pizza with rosemary and sea salt. Tomato pizza cooked in an outdoor wood-fired oven by the host. Roast potatoes and onions. Fish fresh from the sea... steamed over the barbecue with parsley, wine from the host's own family vineyard, and lots and lots of water because today summer really has arrived!

Buon appetito!

Today I am grateful for friends who are fantastic cooks!