13

No, not the Blur album.  Good album!  One of my faves by them, and I do like a lot of their stuff.  I'm getting off track....

Yesterday marked 13 years of marriage for us.  23 years since our first date as well - that anniversary was this past Saturday.  Hooray for us!

No going out to celebrate this year.  We'll save that for a milestone ahead, perhaps.  Or just a regular date night.  No, I wanted to cook us a nice dinner.  And I somewhat succeeded - that halibut was a little over, sorry to say.  But anyway....

Shopping at Eataly this past weekend helped.  We started with a Vesper each

and some tarallini to snack on while I put together a simple burrata platter. 

Once that was on the table (and oh, what lovely flowers from Van to celebrate our anniversary - that was so sweet of him),

I poured us each some chenin blanc.  Music in the background, no other distraction.  Sitting and enjoying food and wine and talking.  I told Conrad it would be a slow meal - finish making one course and then it was on to the next.  Our second course was a simple pasta with some truffles. 

Reminiscent of what we had in Italy, but the truffles were preserved from a jar.  Not the same as the fresh item, of course, but it was pretty decent anyway.  And a splurge.  Speaking of splurge, a 2012 Amarone della Valpolicella - an Eataly purchase.  We enjoyed that one,

but when I went to the wine fridge to retrieve it, I found that we also had a 2006 of the same style of wine but a different vintner.  That one will be saved for Christmas, and may it have survived what likely have been years of moves and doubtless variation in storage condition.  We shall.  Anyway, I cooked us a bit of halibut with some lightly roasted carrots, drizzled with some olive oil we brought back from our Italian vacation and dotted lightly with some very good aged balsamic vinegar.

That was a lot, and we decided to forego the cookies and ice cream I had for us for dessert.  Otherwise just a nice and - yes, truly - simple dinner at home with some good wine to toast each other and 13 years of marriage!

two meals in Lezzeno

On two different evenings in Lezzeno we had a dinner that was featured the warmest hospitality and a dinner that was the biggest meal we had while on vacation.  That isn't meant to be a backhanded compliment.  I'll get to it.  Let's start out with dinner at Osteria Il Governo.

It was about an eleven minute walk along that narrow road with only occasional sidewalks to get to the osteria.  The restaurant has been in the family for seven generations, which is pretty darn cool.  The building had multiple dining rooms, and we were in the first, not far from the entrance, able to watch the bar and the comings and goings.

I'll talk about the food and drink in a moment, but here is what I loved about the place:  the people who tended to us.  All men, one of them the owner and host, they provided service that felt genuine.  Polished?  No, not entirely.  Who cares?  They made us feel as if it was their very real pleasure to take care of us, to bring us the food and drinks they were proud of.  The bartender came over and asked if he might make a special drink for any of us - I told him I liked gin and out came this fizzy and refreshing cocktail. 

The owner consulted with us on wine and we found ourselves yet again enjoying a delicious Italian red. 

Better still, when we asked him about a local amaro, he poured us some then comped the servings and even produced a bottle for us to buy when we inquired. 

That amaro is one of my prize items I returned with, and I plan to share it with friends to return that feeling of care and hospitality.

I also liked the food.  Yes, we had fancier food on the trip, but again, who cares?  The cold smoked lake trout carpaccio was very good. 

The duck breast with sweet and sour pink onion was also very good. 

The desserts - pavlova and brownie - again, very good. 

And then they brought out a dessert sampler. 

Was it on them, or did we pay?  I don't recall.  We enjoyed it all.  The restaurant interior felt cozy but not close. 

The night was an utter pleasure.  We walked home, stopping at the lovely little cemetery to admire it,

then made it back to the hotel and to bed.

Our last night in Lezzeno we had dinner at our hotel, the Filario.  The restaurant dining room had a fantastic view of the lake,

and although I will complain that they almost never had tables for more than two people with views at the windows, we could still see it getting darker over Lake Como.

As always, we started with cocktails,

though we opted for the wine pairing option for me and Conrad through dinner (Van didn't want to drink that much, so he stuck to his cocktail and maybe one more).  The wine pairing gives the game away - we did a tasting menu rather than a la carte.  Chef's choice, but we asked for it to veer more to meat for a change on the trip.  The various amuses and small bites then followed, each one quite good. 

I'll try to remember, with the help of the online menu, what else we had.

There was the duck egg with duck.

A pasta with truffles.  One of the best things I ate the entire trip.  Simple, so good.

A filled pasta topped with shavings of raw porcini.

Quail filled with sausage.

A palate cleanser of two carob - I think - filled pasta with a little gelato and olive oil.  This was extraordinary.

Crispy bread with butter ice cream.  Loved it!

An assortment of sweet treats ended the meal,

and I am fairly certain I once again had an amaro.  I think I also had a decaf cappuccino.  I think.  It was all so so very good.  And it was all so very much.  That pasta with truffles was not a small serving.  None of them really were.  All of us had a rough night after that, clutching our bellies.  Our own fault - our own greed got the better of us.  But ah, how awesome to taste it all!