Day 12 & 13: Packing, Relaxing, and Eating

When planning this tour, John requested 2 days to catch up with his long-time friends, Marco and Isabelle. They are your dream hosts, as they have a large comfortable home, relish guests, have traveled and lived all over the world, often host guests, are both gourmet cooks, especially traditional Italian dishes. Another plus, Isabelle is a professional translator, fluent in Italian, French, Spanish, and English, spent a year as an American Field Service exchange student in Baltimore. 

John and I devote most of Tuesday morning, 15 October, cleaning, disassembling, and packing our bikes. Bye, bye stinky mud!

The dishes are beginning to blur  with and emphasis on traditional dishes of Souther Italy, and many do not involve tomato sauce. Just some of the main courses:

  • Tortolini with ground meat and cheese sauce
  • Orecchiette pasta with broccoli and cheese sauce
  • Osso buco over risotto 
  • Chicory salad 
  • Creme brulle 
  • Chocolate torte
  • Various regional red, rose, and white wines
  • Italian beer

Isabelle is educating me about pasta. Orecchiette, not that common in the US, is a pasta typical of the Apulia region of Italy. The name comes from the Italian word for 'ear', a reference to their shape. Italian stores have large sections devoted to pasta: fresh, semi-fresh, and dried; many shapes; and some flavored (pesto, tomato, etc.). The best one to buy that can travel is the semi-fresh, found in the refrigerator case, but ok for hours unrefrigerated.

Roadside Trash

Sad to see such a beautiful country littered with roadside trash. Italy seems to have a universal system where trash is segregated by type by the public, and collected by type on separate days. So what prompts people to carefully pack rubbish in plastic bags, and then discard the entire bag along the road. Intersections, bridges, pull-outs, and underpasses are popular discard points. Perhaps they are slowing, see something discarded, and decide it' OK to add to the pile. Perhaps the present trash was lonely. 

Orecchiette pasta with broccoli and cheese sauce

19 Pound Lobster, Caught off Rhode Island. Marco is a fisheries expert, as I understand it, he focuses on the ecological health of the entire system. This shell was collected in the 1980's.

Marco selected our lunch wine, from the Puglia region of Southern Italy, where we viewed the trulli buildings. 

Our 2-Day Crash Pad

Dog of the Day. Marco and Isabelle's 2nd Dog. A bit shy, a kennel rescue.

Risotto and Osso Buco


Cheese. A common offering between the meat or main course and dessert. All Italian origin, no, I cannot name them.

No Gelato in Italy? When I mentioned to Isabelle that the gelato bins in the shops were empty as summer was over, she stopped by a local shop for a 3-flavor take-out portion: raspberry, stracciatella, and egg (vanilla base with egg yolks?). From the web: While not a traditional or required ingredient, eggs, specifically egg yolks, are used in some gelato recipes to enhance richness and texture. This creates a custard-style gelato, a distinct variation from the more common eggless "white base" version. 

Spotted Today. I remember Mateus from College in the 70's, well above Boone's Farm swill. Modern label, similar shape to the bottle, and surprising rating from Vivino. No, did not try it.

Gotta Love the Tiny Cars, Not Just Smart Cars

Everything Frozen. Freezer cases full of an incredible variety of seafood, and smaller sections with desserts, vegetables, and pastries.








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