Gluttony, thy name is Warren (and Amy)

Yesterday we went on a trip to Cerveteri to explore the remnants of the Etruscan culture which dominated this region of Italy some 2700 years ago. This is a trip that Amy makes every time she travels to Italy with students, so she is very familiar with the area. While everybody else was spending their euros getting pizza and panini in town, we headed to a little, out of the way restaurant just off of the road which leads to the necropolis. Several dogs greeted us at the gate and the proprietor was waiting for us at the restaurant door. The five of us in our group were the only customers for the entire two hours we were there. We began with a liter of white wine produced by our host. It was a very light, crisp, unoaked chardonnay. We ordered antipasto for five and were served six large platters of food: mozzarella, prosciutto, batter fried vegetables, roasted vegetables, toasted bread with olive oil and bruschetta. That would have been more than enough, but we had already ordered our pasta dish. Each of us had a plate of pasta with a pesto-like sauce made out of local herbs and mushrooms. Several people had coffee and then a glass of digestivo made the rounds. Again, it was a locally produced, herb liquor based on anise which tasted somewhat like sambuca. Completely sated we waddled to the archeological site and rejoined our group.

As if one extremely filling, multi-course meal in a day wasn't enough, one of our friends had invited us to a dinner party that evening. It was a lovely affair. When we arrived we were greeted by a large coffee table laden with all forms of antipasto. This time it leaned toward the cheeses and meats with the addition of little sandwhiches and rolls she had baked herself. Several kinds of pecorino, a mozarrella and a very nicely aged parmesan were joined by sausages and wine. We adjourned to the table where we began with a primo of pasta with roasted pistachios. This was followed by a pork-based, stew-like secondo accompanied by sides of tomatoes and beans, a carrot cassarole and an artichoke cassarole. Dolce was individually prepared ramkins of chocolate souffle topped by homemade whipped cream. Everything was capped off by coffee for whomever desired it and liquors as a digestivo. The company and conversation were wonderful and the food magnificent. I am hard pressed to identify a more wonderful and satisfying culinary day. It is one which will be difficult to duplicate, assuming Amy and I would ever want to try.