Goodbye to Doriano

So the time has come yet again to say goodbye to Doriano Pazzaglia and another one of our beautiful Italian families.

Leaving Piobbico the sky's are getting grey and the prediction is for snow today so we need to hit the road or we may be snowed in till ... Christmas ... could think of worst things!

 

 

So pretty the drive into the mountains the autumn colour so brilient but not showing up in the pictures under the grey sky's

It freezing and we would like to say a big thanks to Doriano and Carla for organising some winter woollies for Sandy and I before we left.

So I'm now the proud owner of a beige snow jacket with a construction company logo on it and it is sooooo warm, its my new best friend.

Sandy has a glamorous black snow parker with a furry hood so we are both set for what the Italian winter has to throw at us.

The first part of our trip today heading west will take about 1 hour and a bit to go 39 km over the mountain and heading into Tuscany.

  

 The second part of the trip still traveling west is about 120km and another 2 hours and then we will be arriving to the snow clouds that are

"Under The Tuscan Sun"!!!!

 

 Stoped for a bite of lunch

I'm thinking that the bottles are a good tell tail as to where we are now.

 

 With the cooler day the autumn leaves hang on a lot longer.

  The breads are all in house made with no salt (apparently their are 3 food regions that make bread without salt, but that's a story for later) and the brown bread has fennel seed and is from ancient grains so tomorrow we are back in the kitchens to get some food secrets of this the Tuscan food region.

 Fried polenta with pickled onions, meet ragu, mushroom, olive paste, lardo and a cream cheese.

 Some fried bread with San Daniele prosciutto, pear and a local stringy cheese 

Now for a drop of Chianti Classico 2008 it waaaaas fantastic!!

Sandy told me of her travels to this area when she was on a Contiki bus tour back in 1984, she vowed for years that she would never touch Chianti again. Well perhaps the Contiki tour weren't serving the Classico and maybe it was quantity and not quality Sands! ...  She has now been converted back.