Tour of Tuscany

Having just returned from Italy, I am reassured that the country has some of the best food in the world. Here's a "day in the life" of my dining in Tuscany:

Breakfast: espresso or cappuccino with a fresh almond croissant so soft and flaky it melts on your tongue, dipped in homemade jam of apricot, blackberry or peach. Wash it down with arancia rossa juice, bloodred orange, which you rarely find elsewhere in the world.

Lunch: A streetvendor panino (not to be confused with the American use of "panini" which indicates the plural, or more than one sandwich) - thinly sliced cheese and an assortment of salumi meat to choose from. Pedestrians can be seen eating gelatto at lunch or all hours of the day, really - it's socially acceptible to have an ice cream at 10 a.m. in Italy - and for good reason. It's to die for.

Dinner: antipasto of meats and cheeses or fresh mushroom salad with shaved parmesan. I sampled some rare mushrooms while there, including porcinis with the sunny yellow color and lightness of an egg. The primi piatti, or first course is traditionally the pasta course; here I tried the Tuscan classic papa pomodoro as well. The second course is for meat and vegetables, followed by cheeses and fruit. There is a plethora of vegetables and fresh fruit on the typical Tuscan table, so meals are far more wholesome and nutritious than the average American meal. All great dinners - an epic event nearly every night - are followed by an espresso or digestive liquer with biscotti to dip in. My favorite dessert? Tiramasu, of course.

Some Italian family home-cooked meals I had while there:

First course: gnocchi with porcini and meat ragu.
Second course: fresh tomato salad.
Fruit and cheese course: (enormous!) grapes, buffalo mozzarella.

First course: spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and spinach.
Second course: steamed zucchini, sliced prosciutto and mortadella.
Fruit and cheese course: pear and gorgonzola.

First course: fresh pesto rigatoni with pine nuts and parmesan.
Second course: bistecca fiorentina, cooked over coals in the brick oven fireplace.
Fruit and cheese course: fresh figs and "claudie" fruit, as I called them, with scacciata.

*All served with preceding fresh mushroom salads and Tuscan bread and olive oil on the side.

My Sunday lunch in the Chianti hills:

Antipasto: grilled summer vegetables - eggplant, zucchini, squash.
First course: tortelloni filled with cheese and potato in rustic tomato sauce.
Second course: brasato (typical regional stewed beef) and sauteed spinach.
Dessert: tiramasu followed by limoncello.

All with wine, needless to say. How delicious it all was ...