Modena Recap

10/29 - 12:20pm

Okay, I realize I was a bit over excited when I wrote my last post, but the truth is, I am still on cloud 9 from that experience.  It was like watching the Giants win the World Series or seeing Muse live or any other life changing experience. 

So we rolled into Modena Tuesday afternoon, checked into our tiny B&B that literally was right above Osteria Francescana and walked into downtown for an adventure.  We stumbled upon a French market that transported us back to the open markets in Provance and like a kid in a candy shop bought literally everything.  Played cards at a caffe in the piazza and then it was all you can eat Sushi.  Sushi in Italy is strangely amazing!  The quality of the fish is the same you would get at any of the best joints in San Diego and the price puts it to shame.  We ate through 2 rounds of guests next to us like gluttonous Americans do, and had to slow play our walk home in fear of a stomach cramp.  Watched Chef’s Table, Massimo’s episode of course, to prep us for our meal the next day and crashed hard.

Morning of, we headed out for a light breakfast of croissants and coffee then walked the public market that has some of the freshest ingredients you’ve ever seen (same market Massimo shops at in the Chefs Table episode).  We picked up lunch for the kids, plopped them in-front of the TV like responsible parents, and left them for 4 hours while we stuffed our faces and souls with pure euphoria.  There wasn’t a bite that was not perfect or a sip of wine from the pairing that wasn’t on point.  The Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano is worth 3 Michelin Stars alone.  Hallelujah amen!

Of course when we returned to the room the kids wanted to know all about our journey and were delighted to hear we not only met Massimo, but that he had a message for them.  We walked down to a small cafe for Italian happy hour with the kids and I’ve got to say that it crushed any High Tea you could ever dream of.  More walking and it was dinner in a smaller piazza that was on the back side of their main church.  I was 100% full from our massive lunch and then happy hour, but, as soon as the server described their specialty meats and pastas and soups and pizzas we got one of everything and basically exploded on the spot.  Brody and I had a little man time and stopped off into the gastro-pub just below our B&B and enjoyed a few pints together while the girls played cards back at the room.  I had work to do when we got back but was so dazed from my food coma that I passed out with my laptop literally on my lap.  An absolute perfect day.

Morning came quick and unfortunately the end of our mini getaway.  We had breakfast at this tiny cafe we’d walked by the night before and fell in love with the staff and food.  It reminded us of something out of Gramercy in New York.  A quick shop at the market for dinner groceries and then the 2 hours back home.  Perfection. 

We are now off to the Truffle Festival to meet up with the Camerotas and lunch at Buligame.  Peace out.

Saint Massimo

10/26 - 5:14pm

I have just been reborn.  again.  After 4 hours on a culinary journey through Italian culture with Massimo as our adventure guide I can officially say the best restaurant in the world has found it’s home in the center of Modena Italy.  I’m clearly not the first person to say this, San Pelligrino just named Osteria Francescana the #1 restaurant on the planet, and from the reviews, not many disagree.  Before I start to sound like I’m bragging about eating at some pretentious expensive snobbery you have to watch Netflix’s series Chef’s Table Season 1 Episode 1.  It was in that moment that we first learned about Osteria Francescana, and more importantly the mad scientist behind the brilliance, Chef Massimo, that we fell in love with his vision and concept of not only food but reality, and bucketlisted it as the most important culinary experience of our life.  As fate would have it, we moved to Italy...and Modena was only a 2 hour drive from our home...oh but wait, getting a reservation is almost impossible.  After being denied month and month again it had seemed all hope was lost - but prayer works - and when we added the human connection of calling and talking to someone we were miraculously added to the list.  The date... today! 

Okay so that’s a long intro to say what I really want to say.  Beyond the food being absolutely daringly perfect, and the company of the most beautiful woman as my sojourning partner, meeting Massimo was like meeting a modern day profit.  That sounds really stupid saying.  I know.  But it is so real.  He is a culinary profit.  And if you know anything about me, I couldn’t care less about peoples ‘social status’ in this world, rich, famous, blah blah none of this impresses me - I care about people, and if you’re a genuine human then I’m impressed and if you’re not then you’re not.  Something was different today.  I was kind of an 80’s teenage girl meeting New Kids on the Block.  But not in the same way.  Like somehow he had my respect and admiration immediately, and in the 3 minutes he talked with us, there was nothing but pure humanity - absolute authenticity.  But I digress.

So here we are, talking with the “Sting” of cooking, and telling him about how our kids are so jealous that we are getting to eat there, and then he drops the ultimate one liner and just walked away.  In his emphasis that ‘if the kids want to share their gifts with the world, and especially in the food world’, he encouraged study and hard work and then said as if saying something so common like have a good day, or make sure you do your best, he said “Culture is the #1 ingredient of the Future” mic dropped and walked away.  As I put my blown mind back together and helped revive Shiloh from a revelation heart attack my iPhone seemed a million miles away to type in the genius that he just expressed to us and I was left there to chew on this prophetic word he just gave to our children.  There is no way to describe this moment.  It was a word for us, not a post card, not a repetitive statement, an honest and true revelation.  The closest thing I can compare it to, is when the guitar comes in at 2:34 on Mumford & Sons ‘Believe’ (for those who know, you KNOW, and if you don’t, please listen to it a million times). 

That’s it.  I’m done.  I will recap this trip here and how incredible Modena is and what an amazing last few days we have had, but for now, I have to open a bottle of wine and drink it in while digesting the experience of a lifetime with my loved ones.

Ciao.

Buligame or nothing

10/23 - 5:20pm

I wasn’t kidding about needing to recover.  We took the first 3 days of the week and did absolutely nothing but R&R.  School. Movies. Soup. Tea.

Then came Thursday and after feeling claustrophobic all week we ventured into Citta di Castello for a pre-dinner snack at what is now our absolute favorite boutique restaurant Buligame.  Two young artisan hipster butchers have opened a farm to table culinary anomaly in a back ally of downtown Castello with untypical Italian dishes paired with unique wines and German craft beer.  We were only there for a snack but after singing their praise, the chef excitedly started sharing other creations with us, and sorry to say Catalina no longer has the best fish sandwich.  We regretted not having our full dinner here seconds after leaving, but no doubt we will be back weekly.  For dinner we rolled back up the hill to Montone to Tipico where the chef only uses local Umbrian ingredients, and as much as possible only from Montone.  The meal was incredible, but sadly overshadowed by our regret of not staying at Buligame.  We are spoiled brats at this point. 

Friday was magical.  Thanks to Mia and Cara, Shiloh and I were able to sneak away from 2-9pm for our first date in weeks.  How important these are!  And we soaked up every minute.  Our adventure began with tackling the hill and heading into Cortona for an early snack and a couple cocktails.  Then a pre-dinner vino run to our favorite wine shop in Umbertide.  Finished off with a bottle of Burgundy and dinner downtown.  Although the food and wine were spectacular, it was all trumped by getting to spend such a perfect night with my beautiful wife.  Somehow I think she still likes me.

No sleep for me after a late night of work - and it was back on the road to Umbria’s wine region of Montefalco.  Though we only spent 4 hours there, we are certain we’re in love and will be back at least 20 more times before we head home.  Lunch in the piazza, local craft beer flights along the city wall, and wine tasting at likely the best vineyard in town, all in all it was perfection.  We arrived home to meet the Camerotas for a Christmas Whiskey Cake making party (you bake this heavenly smelling cake then feed it whiskey every week until Christmas) and then dinner at the Mafia restaurant down the road.  We are now obsessed.  Thank you Camerons again for leading us to the well.  The porchetta and focaccia is contending for my final supper.  Great times with great friends and a full belly equals perfection.

I am now sitting here at the dining table watching the sun set over the hills with the remainder of our bottle of Cab Franc from lunch today in Montarchi and ready to put on PJ’s and watch some football.  On Wednesday we head to Modena for what may be the best meal I will ever have in my entire life.  Ciao. 

"Don't Take My Cat"

0/17/16 - 2:52pm

We said goodbye to the Camerons yesterday morning after a week of nonstop indulgence and as much as we would have loved another week or two with them, my liver is failing and I can’t see my feet.  We had homemade chicken broth soup for dinner last night and crashed early and hard.  Recovery begins.  Other than swimming this morning and a game of kickball I am sipping tea and allowing my body to heal.

Their last day here was not lacking excitement.  We started by walking to the mafia restaurant down the road (reason for the name is that it is flat out beautiful, always empty from the road, and still in business.  We had always talked about going but sort of remained hesitant until we had some muscle - in steps Mic).  I’ve got to say, our biggest mistake thus far was not coming here sooner.  It is a quant almost Napa like Thomas Keller lunch bistro that is financed by the owners of one of the largest pig farms in Italy (so maybe we’re still right about the mafia part).  Of course with that understanding, we ordered a massive charcuterie board, heaps of porchetta, freshly grilled focaccia, a few bottles of wine, 2 rounds of Amaro and more beers than we wanted.  It was exactly how you want to do lunch with the mafia.  On our way home, Shiloh was lured into Mario’s house (a late 60 year old overly friendly overly touchy Italian) so we all joined for a glass of wine.  As we were walking back to our house, the kids noticed that our neighbors had just put a grey kitten into a carrier and were giving it to a little kid who was about to drive away with his mom.  In heroic fashion I ran up to the family and told them “you are stealing our cat” and that “that is our grey kitten so you can’t give it away” to which they replied “NO.  This kitten was born here.  That is its mom.” and then the worst thing happened, they pointed at momma kitty who has been the cat we thought was wild and was living at our home.  There was a miniature meltdown by all parties until Brody came running back from our house yelling “our kitten is still there!”  Whoops. I deeply apologized (likely a bit too late after accusing them of stealing our cat) and then realized the kittens that the momma cat brought over to our house were actually there's, but that the mom had other kittens too.  Long story boring, I stuck up for my kids and they know that Poppa Bear will regulate when needed.  The worst part is now we have these two cute kittens that are technically not ours, but, since the momma cat brought them here, finders keepers :  )

That was all before Tony & Andrea arrived for a final meal with the Camerons.  They ended up cooking dinner for all of us, their famous curry, which was likely the best I’ve ever had.  We all had a great time hanging, a couple more Montenegro’s and then off to bed.  Probably good to call it early too because they had to head out early for their flight, and I don’t think I would have woken up the next morning if we didn’t slow the Amaro.

All in all, it was an absolutely perfect night and we are so incredibly thankful to have such amazing friends.

Watching the rain with friends

10/15/16 - 1:51am

Why am I still awake this late?  ...because I have spent the last 3 hours sitting on the porch 50% under the awning with a wet blanket and my dear friends watching the sheets of rain sprinting down our brick step driveway while God sends lightning bolts by Thor that stretch across the sky with supporting thunder in the deepest of bass.  This is my heaven.  It would be a lie to say a tear didn’t fall from my eye.  Lame.  I know.  But this is my jam!  Thank you Jesus for tonight.

The precursor to this majesty was a 6 hour meal of a multi-fish coursed dinner involving fire, Pirates and our beautiful wives...and my two incredible children... and I guess the kittens too.  We started with an antipasti of mixed fish snacks and toast points (boquerones, smoked salmon and salmon sashimi), then onto the grill, 2 small whole fish and one mega (wish I knew what they were, I’d pretend normally to make myself sound cool, but the reality is I have no clue - their name tonight is Amazingfish), oh wait, there’s more, Shiloh made possibly the best risotto I’ve ever had with Mic’s micro clams in white wine broth, and if that wasn't enough, how about another filet of snapper on the grill, just for good measure.

Then came the card games, Amaro, and rain baby rain!  Work is done for the day as of 9 minutes ago and now I can go to sleep if I wanted to, but, I, don’t.  It’s One Republics new album, more rain, thunder and his good friend lightning while I sit back out on the porch.