It is actually early morning (before 7:00 am), Wednesday. My legs must have decided it was time for me to get up, because they began to cramp. Small wonder after our ascent yesterday of Everest, errrr, I mean Cortona.
I promised a few words about the meal Giusi cooked for us last night. Truthfully, I do not have the writing talent nor skill to convey the combination of aromas and subtle tastes, nor the magical atmosphere of the evening. But here goes......
In our Tuscan wine tasting course, our instructor first served Prosecco and the Italian toast, "Salute!" Even though Prosecco is a wine from Veneto, she informed us that it is the traditional Italian "Welcome to our home." Giusi arrived about 4:00 p.m. and took over our kitchen with her sous chef. At 7:00 p.m. We were served h'or d'oeuvres out on the terrace. Placed on the garden table was a bottle of Prosecco and the most amazingly light deep fried vegetables - zucchini flowers, zucchini strips, and red pepper strips. The batter was like air and the vegetable flavours bursting! We six toasted ourselves with the Prosecco and then headed into the kitchen, glasses in hand. "Salute Giusi! Salute Anita!" Our two chefs actually seemed overcome by the gesture. Good Canadian thing to do, don't you think?
Cathy decided, at this juncture to put on a Pavarotti CD of famous opera arias. As we drank and ate on the terrace, during the rest of the evening, we could hear Giusi and Anita singing along to the arias while they cooked in our kitchen. They knew every word.
I so wish that somehow through this computer I could send you some of the taste sensations. Not possible! I am reduced to generally listing what we had. I embarrassingly do not know the Italian words for each course.
Antipasti - paper thin slices of prosciutto with arugula, slices of parmesan, and orange.
- thin slices of grilled eggplant
- crostinis with Italian sausage (Giusi's) and mozzarella
Primo. -freshly made tagliatelli with the best tomato sauce I have ever tasted
Secondo. -lemon chicken (this was my personal favorite), thin pork slices in the most
amazing rosemary sauce, roast potatoes and salad as the contormo
Dolce. -thin bowl like shell (cross between shortbread and meringue) with fresh fruits
Topped by lemon gelato.
See! This reads like nothing. I am totally incapable of coveying the suble flavours and beauty of presentation.
Dinner completed, we wandered into a totally clean kitchen with the dishwasher humming. Hugs and kisses, gracias....and then Giusi and Anita departed.
After our meal, we were talking about the Andre Rieu concert in Cortona. Yesterday, in the ceramics shop, Jim and I were speaking to the potter who was quite conversant in English. There are three major piazzas in Cortona - I asked in which piazza was the concert held? Our lovely potter told us that it was in Piazza della Republica, even telling us from which balcony one of the arias was sung. When asked whether she attended, she placed her hands over her heart and said, " Si. Twice." (The concert was filmed over two performances.) David and Donna had not seen the concert on PBS. We were talking about the magic of the first number when the cameras soar in from above showing beautiful Cortona at nighttime and the orchestra begins playing the haunting theme from the Godfather. Thank god for iPads. Jim grabbed our iPad, went to YouTube and pulled up the very number. Funny thing, there wasn't a dry eye out on that terrace as we listened to that haunting theme performed by Rieu's amazing orchestra and said a silent thank you for the privilege of being in this magical place.
Arriverderci!
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