Then There Is The Food...

I'm sure some of my Dear Readers are not following me on Instagram (#jgistelli44), which I've only started posting on in the last year. 

I finally got a smartphone, and it's so easy to take a photo and post it. It's like the Reader's Digest version of my blog, I guess. Also, it's become more difficult to post on my blog. I don't know why, but it just got harder to upload pictures, and such. But, I'm committed to keep it going! 

I'm mentioning all this because I've been posting photos of food on Instagram, but I also want to keep blogging about food, because I know you all enjoy it.

Whew. Can we move on to the food? Yes.

We've eaten out a few times since we arrived 3 weeks ago. We hit our favorite spots in the first week, I think! I wrote about Enoteca L'Alchimista a few posts ago, but here is my favorite shot from that post-

I mean, come on! Patrizia really outdid herself on this one!

We've had a few very simple pasta lunches at our favorite spots...

The best olive oil, garlic and peperoncino pasta...ever.
Made to order by a classic Grandma. Sweetness...

There are several places in the area that we call "working man's lunch" restaurants. They are open only for lunch, Monday -Friday. Often on Fridays they have only fish items on the very limited menu. We love these inexpensive, totally tasty and friendly spots. We've become regulars at a few over the years.

This is why we love them:

Made in house tagliatelle with aglione sauce.
Simple and delicious.

Again, tagliatelle...with fresh cherry tomatoes and little chunks of cow's milk cheese,
all sort of melting together.

Nothing fancy. One glass for wine and water. We love it.

 

We've hit our pizza place twice already...

yum.

We don't go out to dinner much, because we don't like to drive at night. We have one or two places we go, because they are close by, and we know the way, even with our eyes closed.    

We went out with pals for dinner once, since they offered to drive. That's always a nice treat.

I'm still enjoying making our lunches at The Nut (#thenutview), and we love being able to eat on our terrace with the view. It's usually something simple...depending on what we've gotten that week at the market. Wine is always in the mix.

A wonderful green salad with a side of sliced cheese.
In this case, both sheep and goat's milk cheeses.

Our first dinner at home. Baked ricotta and bruschetta.
It was cold...we ate inside!

The market had beautiful cauliflower 'Romanesco' and purple potatoes, so I figured they would be pretty roasted together.

That was a very tasty meal...twice. It made for good leftovers!

I always try to make sure we include some protein in our lunches. This usually means cheese, eggs or nuts. All readily available, often just a walk away. 

Really sweet cherry tomatoes with basil and ricotta cheese.
Having the best olive oil in the world doesn't hurt.
Almonds on the side.

You can't always get avocados here, but when they are available at a descent price and look good, I'll buy a couple. 

Lunch on the terrace last week. Avocado toast with arugula salad and pecorino cheese.
I can't believe we're getting actual snow today as I write this.

Dinner here at The Nut can be anything from a simple salad to a full on hand made pasta meal. Usually, it's something simple...I have to admit. By dinner time, I'm pooped from all we've done during the day!

I promise I will make some type of pasta from scratch, and I'll post about it. Soon, I hope.

Yes, we call bruschetta dinner.

Leftovers often come back as a frittata. This one was made with a little leftover pasta 
topped with some good pecorino cheese. That's not a crust, it's a well made frittata!

Since I save and freeze all my bits and pieces of veggies while I clean them, I end up with enough to make a good veg stock. I have enough every two or three weeks, so it';s perfect. I made stoch a couple of days ago, and it turned out beautifully...

We actually had it just as soup last night. It was that good.
And there is enough left to make risotto later this week! 

I'll keep writing, as long as I have time. With this wacky weather keeping us indoors, it;'s an easy and entertaining thing to do.

Ciao for now!!