Not A Diet Post 2 - Still More Italy

Saturday morning we headed off to Alba where our hosts told us of the market in town. What they didn't tell us was how huge it was. If filled streets and squares of the town selling all kinds of hard goods, clothing, other soft goods, not to mention food.

Put then it was off for more eating. After Friday's binge we all agreed that we should tone it down so we only did antipasti and pasta. We went to this small restaurant outside of Alba. Once again it was only us. And again it was very, very good.

They started off with an amuse that was a small Asian dumpling.

It's difficult to enjoy yourself too much with #3 because she is always soooo serious.

We were quite amused by the snail shaped bread. Actually they make all their own bread at this place and it was great.

3A had a bagna cauda with some gnocchi in them

#3 had a roasted veggie salad

I had this wild combination with scallops on a yogurt sauce with fresh basil and a ricotta filled crisp pasta tube. Yogurt and fish is not a normal Italian combination but with basil I really liked it.

Our main courses were the pastas and each was better than the next

#3 went for the traditional noodle with a broccoli/tomato sauce

My veal filled ravioli with porcini mushroom sauce - a great sauce!

But I thought that #A's fettuccine in veal stock sauce was the best.

We had coffee after our meal and the chef owner came out and gave us some house made chocolates. A very nice touch.

We then went to a town in the Barolo region where we did another wine tasting and picked up some very interesting wines. We decided to just have a picnic for dinner so we had bought cheese, veggies, fruit, and cured meat at the market. But first we did another walk. Both #3 and 3A seemed to really enjoy the country feel to this place and just chilling.

We enjoyed eating as the sun went down. I must note now ever that one of the cheeses (see below) was just about the strongest thing I've ever eaten...and that's saying a lot for a guy who enjoys strong flavors like me.

Weird ass ancient blue cheese

Sunday was kind of a lost day. We drove to Turin and walked around a bit. We were going to have lunch there at a restaurant that a friend of #3 and 3A recommended but evidently Sunday lunch out is a big deal and you needed reservations. We ended up going back to the airport where we ate just before the airport restaurant closed. Again we ate all by ourselves. And the meal actually wasn't all that bad.

Tired co-travelers ready to head back to Amsterdam

On Monday it was goodbye to everyone and back to the US for me.