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09/16/2004 Entry: "Market Day in Montepulciano"

It's market day in Montepulciano, and everyone in town, especially the old folks, are out and about, clutching their white plastic bags filled with fruit, vegetables, cheese and salted meats. Although the weather is a bit gloomy, no one seemed to mind. We were coaxed into buying not one, but TWO kilos of peaches -- way too much for 2 people, but hey, it was 2.50 euros! What a deal. And he said it was molto bene! After waiting in line for what seemed like half an hour, we finally got our hands on some porchetta (salted roast pork -- very tasty). The past few days, we've been enjoying our Tuscan vacation in a converted monastery turned vacation villa called Sant' Antonio. The land is vast, filled with olive trees, and right outside our apartment, two chestnut trees and a pear tree. We have a small kitchen so we've had the chance to enjoy the local produce and create some wonderful meals. Breakfast consists of some salted meats like prosciutto, salumi, mortadella, cheese like pecorino fresco, and some acacia honey. I find the bread here very bland though, they do not salt their bread in Tuscany, probably because they heavily salt their meats. I've had the sweetest melon here ... from the day we bought it, our whole apartment smelled like sweet melon. We've been eating a lot of pasta -- last night, we made penne al amatriciana -- with pancetta from Siena and a spice pack (pepperoncini, garlic, basil) that we bought in Pienza. Garry and I have been driving around Tuscany, going as far as Florence the other day. We have this book which lists all the slow food restaurants here in Italy, and we try to visit one in each town. So far, the best place we've been to is Osteria La Soleta Zuppa in Chiusi, which served local Tuscan food like ribollita, tripe, pici. We had a meal complete with wine pairings for about 30 euros per person.

I've taken some photos but will have to post them later. My laptop died the first day we arrived. It must've suffered a blow in Garry's luggage on the flight from SFO. We've also been too cheap to invest in an adapter, so we can't charge my digital camera anymore. I've taken some pictures of Pierre Hermé's Fall Collection though. I spent about 60 euros to buy an assortment of cakes. I didn't get to try that many patisseries in Paris since we didn't have a fridge in our hotel room and it was scorching hot everyday. We managed to try out some restaurants though, L'Astrance, Allard, L'O A La Bouche, L'Arbuci, Pinxo. I didn't like Pinxo very much, I thought it would be good since it's Alain Dutournier's (from Le Carré des Feuillants - our favorite) third restaurant, but I found it too experimental. The dishes were hit or miss. L'Astrance was very good though, they had an appetizer with thin slices of porcini over raw foie gras, served with lemon confit. Mmm... One tip though, never say yes to the champagne! Garry and I got 2 glasses of Tattinger, and when we saw the bill, we were shocked to see that it cost 20 euros each! Painful!

Will talk more later, my trente minuti in this internet cafe is almost up... Ciao!

Replies: 2 comments

Nice informative site, well written easy to navigate good colour scheme. Thank you for all your hardwork and effort in making this site.

Posted by Karl @ 10/20/2004 11:18 PM PST

Ah!!!! Those vendors...they are really good at selling you more than what you may need. A few weeks ago I was 'coerced' into buying more than 1/2 kilo of figs....but they ended up in a tart anyway, so my stomach was happy. I noticed that you follow the Slow Food movement? Brava! My husband and I prefer only to eat at restaurants included within the Slow Food way of thinking. Ciao!

Posted by rowena castelli @ 10/05/2004 06:06 AM PST