If you haven't been keeping track, Patrick travels a lot more than I do. 
Not really sure when we took this picture, but it was probably when we were trying to keep up with Daniel. I, of course, went home, since it was a school night (and it was after 10PM.) But several tried to run with the bulls. See "Why I can't be friends with the Spanish"
It's was that time again . . . Thanksgiving - celebrated on the Saturday after.
As you can probably tell from this picture, we didn't really dress up the night before Thanksgiving, but we did have killer fondue and raclette. Fondue recipe was complements of Laurence Ciravegna - I think the secret is in the three cheeses.
I know this may come off as politically incorrect, but I have decided that I cannot be friends with the Spanish (but not the Mexicans) (Insert another politically insensitive comment)
I know this might be a bit hard to see, but for Thanksgiving (the official Thursday Thanksgiving), we had Cincinnati's finest Skyline Chili. And we even had it at Joe's place. Two great adventurers.
Well, it has finally come. Lucia and Alberto were married in Italy this weekend, and we were honored for being invited. It was our first wedding ever in a foreign country - and what a place to have one.
Well, it wasn't really a hotel - it was a castle - literally. Outside of Casteggio (Alberto's hometown), is an old country Castle - I think the Medicis stayed there once. Fantastic place - full of knight's armor, silver, etc. The ceiling alone in our bedroom was worth a picture.
After driving several hours through four countries, we arrived at the hotel about 7:30 at night. We then headed off to the rehersal dinner, where we met up with Lucia, Alberto, Lucia's family, and various other friends of Alberto and Lucia. The restaurant was a very good Italian restaurant which had an amazing ability to make pizzas, risottos, and pastas. Already the food was substantially better than Maggiano's, but it also doesn't hurt that your in an area of Italy that is famous for its truffles, rissotos, and sparkling wines.
As you have followed the fashion evolution of Mr. Weber, this should strike you as the most outstanding.
In case you missed it from the above photograph - Patrick was tie-less. Quite frankly, we just didn't have time to look around in Strasbourg for a tie (he was in the US the week before). So before we met up with Alberto, Patrick and I ran into the Bar and grabbed a cappucino, and then over to the men's clothing store for perhaps the most expensive tie we have ever purchased (85 euros). And if you need to convert that to dollars, you shouldn't ask.
Any proper meal - Italian, French, or otherwise - has to begin with a drink, and we were not disappointed. Alberto's hometown region is well know for their sparkling wine (think champagne without the legal right to use the word), so we hung outside (it was a bit cold, so we just drank a little more). Also had a couple of little olives and peppers - which I just call the teaser. The purpose of this food is just to wake up your stomach a little bit to say, "Hey, wake up - you don't want to miss what comes next".
As the name implies, the dish that comes before the pasta, and the warning that there were more than one - quite frankly, there were a lot of antipasti.
This is going to be your cheese soufflé with a white truffle fondue. Not only was the region we were in well-known for their sparkling wine, but it was also truffle central - both black and white ones.
The first dish I had to skip being the veg, Pig’s trotter with stuffed onions. Not sure how they got the pig in the onion, but they did - Jim and Patrick said the onion was pretty sweet.
Skipped this course too - but you will soon see that this was a survival advantage that others did not share.
They just kind of threw this one, but I think this is what Italians would call Russian salad, basically it was a very nice potato salad. Patrick did score points here because he said mine was better.
This is going to be one of those things that sounds a lot better in Italian than it does in english, Lard ‘double vein’ on soncino salad with balsamic vinegar.
Again, was able to skip this dish - keep in mind, that by this time, I was feeling a little filled. Patrick really liked this one - Curry Chicken fillet with green sauce. It wasn't your typical dried out chicken that you usually get at catered events - this one was really nice.
I know, it looks like a bad science experiment, but this was the best risotto I've ever had (and I've had a lot). Since risotto is hard to make in a restaurant setting (it gets gummy, if you don't eat it right away), this one was impressive. And yes, this part of Italy has risotto as its standard starch/pasta.
And again, low light did not help this pic very much - but this is one of the better pasta dishes I've had too - Tortellini di magro (ricotta and spinach filling) with walnuts and maggiorana sauce. No idea what a maggiorana sauce is, but it was good.
So in case you've been keeping score - we are on course number 10 - so I guess it was time to get to the real eating.
This is going to be your roasted duck with some vegetables. Again, I think at this point - everyone's eyes had just glazed over - even with several trips outside for breaks in the cool air.
And no Italian Wedding would be complete without two desserts.
And then we had the actual wedding cake.
And finally the coffee.
After a night of recovering from the Feast from the previous day, we headed back to Casteggio for the local Sunday markets - a relatively rare thing in France. Just had to take a picture of these artichokes.
After spending a short trip to the market in Casteggio, Patrick and I parted ways with Gaby, Cindy, Jim, and Theresa, and headed off to Vernazza, which is part of Cinque Terre. Driving most of the way on highways until we reached this nationally protected area, the roads close to Vernazza and the four other protected towns gave new meaning to the words "twisting one lane road hugging a mountaintop"
Cinque Terre itself was beautiful - we got up relatively early and hiked to the next town, Corniglia - and then on to Manarola. The paths were very well maintained and took you straight up the rocking hillside. The Cinque Terre region is also well-known for some of the best olive oil, which is pretty mild and subtle. So as we passed through olive groves we picked up some olives. Since they are really meant for oil production, they tasted horrible - but we'll see if we can grow some when we get back to the US.
Nope that's not snow, but Carrera marble quarry from the town of . . . Carrera, which is about 30 minutes away from where we started in Vernazza. Yup, the same marble that Michelangelo's David was created from.
After a brief visit through Carrera on our way out of Vernazza, we then headed down to Pisa. Also not worthy of a stay over on our whirlwind tour of Northern Italy, but we did do the obligatory visit to the leaning tower of Pisa.
After visiting Pisa, we decided to drive across the better part of Italy and head to Parma. We figured they made some pretty good cheese, and there would have to be something there. It was also in a good vicinity of some other places we could go.
Close to Parma is Modena, which is home to Balsamic Vinegar. Taking a couple of rules out of the french rulebook to protect their local goods, the Italians instituted a classification system for balsamic vinegar. Basically you can get the great stuff with the stamp of approval, the great stuff without the stamp or approval, the good stuff without a stamp of approval, and the common stuff. Prices range from $2 a bottle to $200. Age ranges from 1 day of aging to 80 years. Consistency ranges from a liquid like water or a thick syrup that is one step more fluid that mayonnaise. Taste (we did a tasting) ranges from good vinegar for a salad to a sweet elixir without a trace of acidity.
This was just too good a picture to not post. Patrick and I came back from Italy through Switzerland. When the sun was setting we passed through an area that had a bit of fog over a lake - not a bad picture for going 130 kph.
While Patrick was back in the US, the Hagans, Mindy, and I went around Alsace on Sunday. Turns out we came across "Le Linge" or "The Line", which was the World War I trenches that are still maintained in the Vosges mountains close to Colmar.
Well, the first of the Application Engineers are beginning to leave. Mindy was on a shorter assignment here in France, so she is the first one to leave for the US :(
As preparations for Lucia's and Alberto's wedding gets closer (like one week away), we had the chance to meet Lucia's parents, Israel and Leticia, for the first time. They came a week early to Strasbourg, and we all had dinner at Rio's on Wednesday night before heading down to Italy.
This gives you an idea of some of the stuff that Christian sells. like most of his things, the key is really in the ingredients - he's found a rare supply of Haitian chocolate (apparently Haiti only produces a ton of chocolate each year, and it's considered some of the best). This is also the same guy who searched for years to find the right chocolate for his truffles - ended up going with a Venezuelan one in a limited area in the mountains. He also has an exclusive deal with that plantation too, I think.
We had the opportunity to learn how to make chocolate truffles and chocolate mousse from one of the better known chocolatiers in Strasbourg. The organization "American's in Alsace" plans various events throughout Strasbourg during the year, and this month's event was going to Christian's to learn from . . . Christian how to make confections.
Here's a shot of Christian just before he cuts into his "mousse lasagne". Can't really go wrong when the noodles are Venezuelan chocolate, and the mousse is puffed into little balls.
Granted it wasn't Chi-Chi's, but we did find a Mexican restaurant up north of Strasbourg, and the whole gang went out. We were even joined by Chris and Claire from Basingstoke. It's kind of amazing to go to a Mexican restaurant in France, because even those there are burritos and fajitas, they still taste french.
Yes, I know - I don't support this either. I'm not really sure what Jim was trying to do here, other than freak us all out.