Took our lives in our hands today as we headed up and over the mountains to Assisi, where we were able to see a huge array of Medieval and Early Italian Renaissance frescoes at the Basilica created to honour the life and work of St. Francis of Assisi. There were quite a bit of tourists, nothing quite as bad as the line ups for the ROM when they reopened, but still. The paintings were amazing, and I bought the cutest pair of handmade mugs - perfect for tea when we go back to the land of the dark and damp. We did manage to find a pretty good slice of pizza (my first since coming to Italy). K was gross and ate something with spinach and meat on the inside, but mine was yummy with just a nice tomato sauce on top.
I wanted to share last night's dinner, because it was unusual. Unusual only by token of what I put in my tummy. Pasta. I am not a big pasta eater, I think this derives from residual post traumatic stress symptoms of eating spaghetti for dinner one too many times as a kid (no offense mom), but, last night, after our long hike up Mt. Sibilli, which was both terrifying and exhilarating, I was a little on the starving side - given that our attempt at an after-hike lunch, with my elementary-at-best Italian skills and the propensity of most restaurants in the smaller towns to wait until dinner time to fire up their ovens, I ended up with a none too appetizing crusty piece of bread for lunch (yum). So, I was hungry. I didn't have a world of pasta, not even half a bowl, but the bit I had, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, hit the spot on the fill up portion of the meal, but the taste was by far engineered by the chickpea and tomato stew I filled my bowl with.
I decided that the photo of the fresh veg was well worth the share....
Again, mostly garden ingredients with bursting flavours and extraordinary freshness. Lots of fresh herbs and a great bottle of wine. Nummmmy in my tummy. After dinner we decided to bake some fresh plums (night three of baked fruit thank you very much), and booked some eurostar tickets to London for an end of August back to work shopping spree....whoopppeeee.
3 comments:
The pasta sounds wonderful! And there's nothin' wrong with a nice piece of crusty bread for lunch...especially in Italy.
St. Francis of Assisi, that's pretty cool. I hope to go there someday.
I had spaghetti too often as a child also, the meaty kind mixed with Ragu (I hated it). So now I can't eat pasta very often.
hmmmmmmmmmmm thanks
Now i've got an idea about what i'm cooking tonight :)
THink i'm going to rush right home now and start!
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