Photo from Il Flauto Magico
“La cucina piccola fal la casa grande (A small kitchen makes the house big)”. Old Italian expression.
Mozart in the Langhe
The King of Wines and the Wine of Kings
The Castle at Serralunga d’Alba (image courtesy of VisitItaly.com)
“Water is necessary to live, but wine expresses the abundance of the feast and the joy of the celebration.”–Pope Francis
Brasato Vitello al Barolo
While we were in Piemonte, we enjoyed Brasato Vitello al Barolo (braised veal in Barolo wine) in several restaurants. I was so taken with the dish that, when we returned home, I thought it would be a cinch to duplicate it. How hard could it be? Put a veal roast and some veggies in some red wine and let it cook for 3-4 hours? Well, I was very wrong.
Slow Food in the Piemonte
“Our philosophy is good, clean, and fair food: Good because it is healthy and tasty; clean because it is produced with low environmental impact and with animal welfare in mind, and fair because it respects the work of those who produce, process, and distribute it. It is important to compensate farmworkers, fishermen, or artisanal producers in a fair way that provides them a comfortable standard of living.” – Carlo Petrini, Slow Food Movement
Tasting Barbaresco under an 11th Century Tower
“Our products are very natural, very traditional, very classical, very genuine. When you drink our products, you feel the soil, the terroir.” – Dr. Susanna Bianco
Are we there yet?
The Langhe viewed from the top of the tower in Barbaresco.
“The vineyard landscapes of Langhe…offer panoramas of carefully cultivated hillsides, following ancient land divisions punctuated with buildings that lend structure to the visual space: hilltop villages, castles, Romanesque churches, farms, ciabots, cellars and storehouses for cellaring and for the commercial distribution of the wine in the small towns and larger towns on the margins of the vineyards”. From: UNESCO World Heritage Centre 1992-2016
Duck Confit
Duck Ragout with Tagliatelle
“Oh, while Iris was eating her duck leg, she pointed to a piece of cartilage and said, “I think that’s the duck’s gill.” Perhaps we haven’t adequately explained the whole waterfowl concept.” – Matthew Amster-Burton, Roots and Grubs
A House in Sablet – Part 2
“And sharing food at the table is ultimately about sharing one’s love for life.” – Frank Stitt, Frank Stitt’s Southern Table
“5 Surprises…,except drinks”
“The dining room was filled with wonderfully intermixing aromas that I sort of recognized but couldn’t name.” – Julia Childs, My Life in France
Aix and The Great Sea Urchin Experiment
Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses, Paul Cezanne, ca. 1890
“Fruits… like having their portrait painted. They seem to sit there and ask your forgiveness for fading. Their thought is given off with their perfumes. They come with all their scents, they speak of the fields they have left, the rain which has nourished them, the daybreaks they have seen.” – Paul Cezanne
UPROOTED 