Experience ITALY (through my sister!)

My sister sent me some pictures from a trip to Italy.  They visited Milan, Parma (home of Parma ham and Parmigiano cheese) and Bologna and many places in between. 

I visited Italy about 16 years ago but I remember how I loved it.  The little café bars where you can sit at the bar counter with an espresso,  little ham and cheese pasties, all the cured meats to try, the vineyards, pizza parlours where you can get one slice of freshly cooked pizza on a napkin! 

We stayed in a very small village in the mountain in the Rimini region, in a farmhouse guesthouse.  It consisted of a bar/restaurant run by a family.  Attached to this they had 4-5 apartments.  All set on acres of land with vineyards surrounding it.  Rolling hills.  It was magnificent.  We could eat down in the restaurant and sit every night with the locals. 

One day, the mother of the family brought us into the kitchen to show us a pot she was cooking up for hours for dinner.  She opened the lid and sitting in boiling water was a pig’s head!  I certainly wasn’t expecting it!

It was a great experience but I was young and did not appreciate the rustic-ness of the Italian way that i adore now and their cuisine and food.  I would like to return now to truly experience it. 

I am experiencing it through my sister’s pictures….that’s for sure.  Take a look. 

Pizza parlours……Meat delicatessens where all meats and cured meats are on show with pride!.....along with arrays of cheeses.  I can almost smell and taste everything!

Here shows freshly made ravioli in Parma, served with chilled prosecute.  I don’t know about you, but that just sums up simple deliciousness to me!

One thing is for sure, the Italian’s know how to produce delicious cuisine and foods.