Today Guido and I went to Caglio, a small town super close to the Swiss border (which explains why I had "The Sound of Music" in my head). A friend of Guido's told him about a Slow Food festival in this little mountain village, and Guido, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, knew that we had to go.Tucked into the foothills of the Italian alps about ninety minutes north of Milan, Caglio was the perfect location to display locally handcrafted foods from the province. (You can see a fun blog about Caglio here--but the photos are taken in winter.)
There were so many sweet things to see. First we had buckwheat polenta (recipe for that later), followed by the most amazing gelato I've ever had (it was some of the best Guido has ever had too, and since he's Italian, that's saying something). The three flavors we tried: mandorle di Noto, almonds from Noto, a Sicilian city famous for its almonds; riccota and amaretti (a type of cookie); and zucchini (!). They were all amazing, but I have to say that the ricotta and amaretti gelato was totally orgasmico.
A couple other fun things we got in the city: salami di capra, or goat salami (mostly for G); a deep amber mixed-flower honey (from the display pictured); a hard goat cheese; and best of all, the gift that keeps on giving: plants! We bought four aromatic herbs for the balcony, a pungent mint, pineapple sage (love it!), lemon balm, and rosemary. All four were grown in the mountains, and the man who cultivated them lectured us for almost half an hour (maybe more) on how to care for and use each one. I'll never forget his shock white hair and bright blue eyes as he explained everything with so much passion.Finally, if you're wondering how I plan to stay slim enough to fit into my skinny jeans this fall, that's a darn good question...
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