A Rainy Day – But There’s Pizza

Today started cloudy and gave way to a good little shower.  We were out walking and got caught in the rain.  We ducked for cover in the lavanderia, then the church, then the portico outside the bank, and finally made a run for it back home.  It looked like it might rain all day – cloudy, gray and a steady rain.  We decided today was the perfect day for our first pizza.  We went to the Pizzeria Baldaccio on the piazza.  The. Best. Pizza.  Anywhere.  And when we came out, the sun was shining.

It’s getting really chilly here.  The days are coolish with some periods of heat, then at about 4:30 it really starts cooling off.  Definitely long sleeves and light jacket weather.  They have had a horribly hot and dry summer, so I’m sure this coolness is welcome.  The rain, too.  It’s rained a little almost everyday we’ve been here.  Not too much to spoil things, but enough to make the tobacco fields too muddy to walk in.  I love this time of year.  The olives and grapes are getting ready to be harvested. Maybe it’s because when we lived here, this is time of year that I was really getting into the groove.

Just did a little driving around this afternoon.  To Citerna.  To Monterchi.  To Tavernelle.  No particular reason – just because.  In Monterchi, we saw the big beautiful porcinis we’ve been eating like crazy.

We’ve decided tonight is a pasta night, so we’re trying to figure out where to go.  When you have limited time, you want to measure it very carefully.  No time for mistakes.  We’ll discuss it over our happy hour, which today we’re having in the apartment with a nice bottle of red we got in Arezzo.

The restaurant we decided on – La Pergola in Tavernelle – is not open on Tuesday night.  Or perhaps they’re on vacation.  The sign on the door said “Chiuso per Torno” which means Closed to Come Back.  Not sure what that means.  Then we thought we’d go the place we love in Monterchi, La Pieve Vecchia.  Closed on Tuesday.  Then we decided to try Talozzi in Anghiari.  Closed on Tuesday.  The only other place we wanted was Fuedo del Vicario in Anghiari and guess what?  It was open!!  Thanks goodness.  The meal was fabulous.  Steve had ravioli – classic, with ricotta and sage.  I decided to have chicken – don’t know why I can’t eat the pasta, but it’s just too much with the pizza and everything

else.  My chicken was wonderful – certainly not light, but very good.  We had an appetizer, the two meals, a salad, a caffe, a bottle of wine, and we bought a bottle of olive oil and a bottle of wine to take home.  Total?  About $70.  How can that be?  I love this.