FOOD – Sunday, September 26th

England gets a bad rap. The food scene in London is second to none. We ate in some fabulous places this past week – as we have on prior trips.

However, we ate at one unusual spot on Wednesday night – Saltoun Supper Club. This is a so called “closed-door restaurant”. This place is run by Arno out of his little flat in Brixton – second floor up some rickety steps into a small room with four tables. The kitchen is tiny. But the very intense Arno cooks up a storm for 30 GBP – twice a week. Three hours and five courses (with only a couple of food mistakes {he did not peal the fiber off the snow peas)) later we left quite satisfied with our find…..It will be hard to eat here in the future. The New York Times was coming the following evening to write up a story..…Just note we found it first.

Other great meals included Bocca di Lupo (picture is me eating partridge); Terroirs (French small plates); Zucca (best new Italian find); The Anglesea Arms (gastrobpub where I ate grouse with wild mushroom in puff pastry – unbelievably good); Barrafina (Spanish tapas); and, of course snacks at the Borough market. When we left this morning Les and I realized we did not eat Indian food – a major faux pas…

Enough of London. We are in Rodez. It is cold, but who cares, tomorrow afternoon we start walking from Espalion. The bags are ready…

London

LONDON – Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Cockfosters. That’s how you enter London. Hop on the Piccadilly line at Heathrow and immediately realize that even though English is spoken it’s not quite the same. Can’t imagine the Religious Right or their Tea party cousins allowing such blasphemy on the public transit system…. But I digress. This is about travel, not politics. I get enough of that at home.

I love London. Always have. The history, the culture, the humour, and lately the food. But its language may be the most interesting. Very literal and descriptive. Fascinating to listen to and incomprehensible when spoken over the Tube loud system…

It is a city sans Exit signs as I first discovered 32 years ago when I was got lost in an Underground station until I found the way out. That time I stayed on a sailboat on the Thames next to the Tower of London. This time we are in a great flat near Covent Garden with our friends David and Chris.

We have been here many times. This time doing a few new things. Today went to Hampton Court – Henry VIII’s small country home. Afterwards, a 7 mile walk along the Thames to Richmond. Not the way tourists usually return. But then again we ain't tourists we’re travelers – and walkers at that…

Already stopped in the British Museum, British Library, Tate Modern, National Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery. They are amazing places and best of all – free. Right up my alley..…A couple of plays seen and good food eaten…..Lots more to come

Posting pictures of obvious places. Guess them all and you need read no more. At least about London

FRIDAY : Venezia

Is there a more beautiful city in the world?...No. Step out of the train station and you are transported into another reality. Sure there are too many tourists, but there have been too many tourists for hundreds of years. Yes, everything is a bit more expensive, but so what. Around every corner and over every little bridge is another picture perfect view.

Les and I went on Thursday on our last day of fun (Friday did not count because it was spent driving 680kms from Udine to Nice to catch our flights back home on Saturday morning)....We took the train from Udine and spent 6 hours simply wandering around, getting lost and marvelling, once again, at this unique city....Of course, we also stopped for lunch - at the small out of the way Trattoria Al Ponte recommended by Harley, a Venetian native....His directions? At the last bridge just past the Campo in this part of San Polo district. I pride myself on a very good sense of direction, but I had to inquire three separate times before we stumbled onto the place....And I'm glad we did. We both wanted fish - I had sepia en su tinta negra and Les had pulpo a la Veronesa - both accompanied by white polenta (Venetians eat white instead of yellow polenta)...both dishes were superb. Accompanied by a very nice mezzo litre of vino blanco from the local Azienda Plonk.

Thereafter, gelato at the Campo Santa Margherita...I have yet to mention gelato....There are numerous reasons to visit Italia, but its gelato alone is reason to go. Nothing ranks close to Italian gelato...Les and I are addicted to Nocciola (hazelnut)...We may have missed a day without at least una bola, but if we did it was a mistake.

Next time....una settimana en Venezia..

On Wednesday we visited Cividale del Friuli - a small city 15 kms from Udine and my favorite town in Friuli. Thereafter, a visit to Claudias' 91 year old mother in Moggio - in the mountains North of Udine...La Signora Maria Teresa is my link to my travelling past. I first met her 31 years ago on my first trip to Italy This was my fourth visit to her home - her home was one of the few that survived the horrific earthquake that leveled the medieval village of Moggio in 1976

TUESDAY (Oct 12th) Friuili

(I have posted some pictures from the trip - see below)

We are in Udine staying with our longtime friends Claudia and Harley. Udine is situated in the heart of the Friuli region, about an hour and a half northeast of Venice, close to Slovenia. A lovely city of about 100,000 people, it has all the trappings of what makes Italy different – a sense of style… Italians really know how to produce beautiful things – clothes, shoes, buildings, objets d’art, espresso makers…you name it – Italians make it look better.

Italians also dress better than anyone else in the world….Les refers to them as ”fashionistas”…. A case in point: this morning we went for a stroll through town, window shopping at all the fancy clothing stores. Les was wearing this bright-colored, flowery, spring-like skirt with a green top….The looks she got! It was clear she was wearing the wrong outfit for the time of year. The stares of disbelief were sufficient to cause her to change outfits before our afternoon adventures….I, on the other hand, am always appropriately dressed because I don’t care….

One final word on fashion – Purple… Definitely the new “in”color. You heard it here first…

The Friuli region remains an unknown area for Americans. Lovely, undiscovered small towns, great food and white wines, beautiful scenery and few tourists make it one of my favorite areas of Italy… Speaking of food today was another spectacular lunch – this time at Trattoria Blanch in the city of Mossa. A soup of pasta e fagioli, followed by a fresh porcini pasta (unbelievably good), then bacala e polenta with a side of contorni; a great house Friulano (used to be called Tokay), finishing with an espresso….near perfection. All for 25 Euros per person…. Another wasted day……Bello.

FRIDAY: Tartufo Bianco de Alba

What does one do in Piemonte in October other than drink lots of fabulous wine? How about exploring for white gold…otherwise known as tartufo bianco, or white truffles…

Today we went on a truffle hunt. Organized by the Villa, we visited a well-known casa de trifulau and went tramping thru the forest south of Asti with the trifulau his well-trained dog searching for truffles (no, they do not use pigs). Quite fascinating….After a short lecture on the member of the mushroom family we went a searching…. There are 9000 licensed truffle hunters in Piemonte, 3000 in Asti alone. They are entitled to enter any open lands in search of the golden nuggets. And golden they are. A small truffle (I really mean small) will sell for about 30-50 Euros at local establishments (@3-5 Euros per gram)……The dogs are trained from youth and they are the true treasure. Our little cane went scurrying through the trees (truffles grow 4-8 inches underground near the roots of certain trees), and when she picked up the scent, buried her nose in the ground and started to dig. The truffle hunter scurries over and the two of them proceed to dig and search….Sure enough we (ie the dog) found a truffle in two separate areas….The smell is intoxicating.

After the hunt, back to the farmer’s very nice home (while truffle hunters generally hunt as a hobby – however, there are obvious financial benefits) for some local wine (from the vineyard down the hill), real truffle oil on bread, and generous shavings of the white gold over a local mild cheese. This truffle was found the day before – truffles should be eaten within a few days of being picked…Quite delicious…Wanted more and more. A fun morning.

Therafter we headed to Alba – Asti’s rival city. Smaller and quainter, the town literally smelled of truffles – the annual truffle festival was beginning the next day. Looked in all the quaint food and wine shops and wanted to buy it all….

The previous day was spent exploring the Barolo region with a tasting visit to Rivetto del 1902 winery and another fabulous lunch at Cascina Schiavenza in Serralunga D’Alba. The bottle of Arneis (a white wine from nearby) – was not my favorite. We sat outside with a great view of the surrounding landscape. The 2 ½ hour lunch was topped off when the Italian man and his wife sitting next to us bought us all an appertif of Barolo cinato – an herb induced liquor.

WEDNESDAY: Barbaresco or meeting Angelo Gaja

I met the King of Piemonte – Angelo Gaja…but first a quick recap of events…

Tuesday found us driving through the Alps to arrive at Villa Sampaguita – our destination just outside Asti. No autostrada thru these mountains, so winding roads up and back down into Italy. After lunch, a quick visit to our first medieval hill top town of Saluzzo – visited in particular to find a highly recommended cheese store – and onto our Villa with various local chesses on hand for dinner.

The Villa is owned by Tim Brewer, a real character who loves to chat and is an expert on all things Piemonte. The villa has B&B rooms and two apartments. Close to Asti, but deep in the countryside. In fact, behind the Villa resides a very cute little donkey. Les and the ass have bonded… unfortunately (at least for the donkey), we found out later that he will be sausage in a few weeks…..

Today was our excursion to Barbaresco. Beautiful rolling hills covered by vineyards, mostly nebbiolo grapes. It is a small, beautiful hillside town where tourists and the wealthy like to visit. I counted numerous BMW’s and at least one Mazzerati in the handful of parking spaces. Great lunch at Trattoria Antica Torre (not cheap), and then my encounter with nobility….

The Gaja winery is located in town. A big iron gate shuts out the public. Gaja wines are renowned and very expensive. The Trattoria in town had a bottle of 1998 Barbaresco for 375 Euro…I wanted my photo taken in front of the Gaja sign, as I presume that will be the closest I’ll ever get to tasting a Gaja wine. Subito, up drives this gentleman who appears pleased we are taking a picture and tells to wait a moment while he goes inside to get us a book about the winery. Damn, I said, that looks like Senore Gaja himself! Indeed it was and a few minutes later he comes out with two books, inquires were we are from – we tell him Sacramento, he mentions Darell Corti – and I have my picture taken with him in front of the Gaja sign. I am star struck…Nebbiolo heaven. The only thing better would have been a wee taste of his Barolo, but I”ll have to settle for the photo…..

The evening meal is homemade pasta with fresh and dried porcinis bought at the market in Asti accompanied by a 2003 Francone Barbaresco purchased during our earlier visit at the winery....Not a Gaja, but not bad.

MONDAY: Cruis

Sometimes one stumbles and still lands a perfect 10….The Auberge de l’ Abbaye in in the small hamlet of Cruis is close to a 10… especially after the cramp quarters of a canal boat. I booked this place on the Internet because it was about half-way to our destination in Italy; Michelin had also mentioned its restaurant. Located in the Alpes d’Haute Provence region, Cruis has about 400 inhabitants, our one hotel (9 rooms), one café and patisserie – and is picture perfect. Our room had a little balcony that overlooked the local 12th Century eglise with a view of the entire valley below….After picking up our rental car in Bezier and driving 300 kms through Provence, it was a nice stop……

A young couple run the place – husband cooks, wife manages the hotel…..And the food? Best meal so far… Plain, little dining room, but easily one-star quality food. Started with “Les noix des Saint Jacques sur une fondue de poireau au champignon”; followed by “La ballotin de magret d’ore du Sud Oest fourree de sou foie gras jus de carcasse et flan de cepe” – essentially slices of goose wrapped around its own foie gras; Ending with “L’ananas dans tous ses etats” – which didn’t sound interesting, but ranks amongst the best desserts I’ve ever eaten…pineapple four different ways, all magnificent…30 Euros.

Life is rough...