Dinner in the Mountains

Wow, another post without any photos....this is really getting dry. Will try to spice things up with some good pics next time.

Last night, Friday, I went to an incredible dinner in the mountains of Bologna with Stefano, Micaela and 35 of their closest friends. We went to celebrate the birthdays of three or four of the people in our group. As it turned out, there was another table of 35 right next to us celebrating a birthday as well. Since Bologna is a relatively small town, pretty much everybody knew each other.

Although people complained that the "banquet" style food was not great, I have definitely had much worse.

We were served appetizers of prosciutto, mortadella, and crescentine (I believe is the name), which are kind of like fried dry ravioli, which you use to spread a bit of ricotta-like cheese (though it wasn't ricotta), then add the meat. Oh, I forgot, this appetizer was preceded by an array of crostini including bruschetta, liver, cheese and some others. Next we were served two types of pasta - spinach tagliatelle a la bolognese and tortelloni a burrosalvia (sage and butter).

After this, came a mixed grill that included ribs, sausages, pancetta and three or four other types of meat. For dessert, there was an incredibly delicious tart with custard and fruit and a birthday cake. The meal included as much wine as you wanted, plus an open bar for the remainder of the evening. Not to mention the spumante served with the birthday cake and espresso (I opted out). For 35 euro, I would definitely say I got my money's worth....really a great dinner and fun experience. Eating outdoors in good weather is always a treat, and the people were also quite friendly.

I got a chance to practice Italian, as one of the guys sitting next to me, Vittorio, didn't speak a lick of English, though he could recite all of the lines from Natural Born Killers, his favorite, a movie which he has seen more than 50 times (and counting).

I had thought about bringing my camera last night, but didn't want to be the "American tourist." Turns out it would have been just fine though, as more than a few of the Italians were snapping away on their digitals for their Facebook pages....man I wish I had thought of that business.....

Today turned out to be a day dedicated to sleeping, which was probably good, since I needed the rest after several consecutive nights of going out. Tonight's dinner of pizza with verdure was not the best I have had here, but maybe my standards are just getting higher....

In any case, it's around 10:15, so, still a bit early to be going out...think we (Stefano and I) will probably leave in another 30 minutes or so....not sure of the destination, but will be sure to fill you in!

Ciao for now!