Friday, October 7, 2011
National Heritage Day...
Just because I am across the ocean in a foreign land doesn’t for one minute that I would allow our National Heritage Day to slip by unnoticed. And so, as all South Africans do on this glorious day, we indulged in a good old fashioned braai, shared with friends. Unfortunately there was no biltong, boerewors or black label to be seen for miles, but nevertheless is was a wonderful...
Wine tasting at Coffele, Soave
On Wednesday we went for a wine tasting at Coffele, an outstanding producer of wine in the Soave DOC. Kirsten and I were treated to a tasting by a delightful Chiara, who spoke brilliant english and took us through some exquisite wines. The highlight being a 2005 dessert wine that was monumental, with only 600 bottles ever being produced. We were joined by a wine journalist and later the owner himself, and afterwards we were driven up to the estate itself in the hills surrounding Soave to tour the grounds. It was probably one of the most incredible days I have had in Italy thus far...
Nonno Bruno e Nonna Dolores
As I have mentioned in previous posts, my grandmother is originally from Verona. Both her mum and dad lived and died in Verona, and both their ashes rest in the cemetery. I went on a mission to lay flowers at their grave, but unfortunately got lost in the enormity of the place and couldn’t find their resting place. I have never seen such a massive cemetery in my entire life! So the flowers I bought for them I had to leave on a lonely bench, but I hope that they know that I came to visit nonetheless...
Dorset adventures...
Mum and Dad recently took a little trip across to the UK to give my little sister Anna a visit. Unfortunately, with the harvest being in full swing, I was not going to be able to join them. However, with the region having such a hot and humid month of August, the grapes haven’t been cooperating like they should in terms of their maturation. This did give me the chance to sneak away for three days, and so a very impromptu flight to London happened and next thing I was surprising Anna in a little pub in Dorset. Although we had very little time together as a family, it was lovely to see mum and dad again, as I haven’t seen them since April this year. Familiar faces have kept me going this year. And this was one of those moments...
Lunch next to the River Adige in Verona
Kirsten and I stumbled upon a glorious little gastronomia whilst walking through Verona toward Ponte Pietra. The old man inside the shop was from Parma, and proceeded to take us through a tasting of his different salamis and some of his grana padano. He seemed so excited about the fact that we spoke english, and after looking at photos of his grandson and being assured that the salami from Parma was the best, we left with panini and beers and headed toward to the river, where we sat on the banks of the Adige and watched the sun set... Pretty spectacular if you ask me!
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