Italia 2011: villa

Patrizia & the pyrotechnics atop her cake

Last night was the big birthday party for Signor Gori's daughter Patrizia who turned 60. There were about 80 people in attendance and it was a spectacular night! Apertivos were served by a small lake / large pond on the property. Then dinner was served at tables set up behind the villa. Unfortunately the meal was heavy on the seafood, which I'm not a huge fan of, so I missed out a bit. But what I did have was excellent. The first course was ricotta and spinach gnudi with a sauce of either lobster or crab (I couldn't tell which). Next was linguini in a tomato sauce that tasted to me like it had a bit of orange in it, which was a neat flavour addition. Next was tuna steak, which looked perfectly done, but I didn't try it. Last was dessert, which was millefoglie (crispy, flaky pastry layers with cream in between). They also served little creamy desserts in shot glasses during dancing, and those were incredible. I probably had more than I should have...

Then everybody danced until 2:30 am. I had to stop after a while, and got severely out-danced by all the 60 year olds (especially the birthday girl). My feet are in agony today... partly because of the heels I wore for the first half of the night, and partly because I was dancing outside barefoot for the second half of the night.

Today is just a relaxing day at the office. I officially have nothing to eat, so I'm going to go into Florence after work to grab some dinner and something I can have for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. Tonight is my last night sleeping at Celle!

Signor Gori & the birthday girl, Patrizia

Millefoglie for dessert

Patrizia and her younger sister, Stefania

Me, sweaty after dancing, and Anna, Stefania's oldest daughter

Dinner setup behind the villa, plus live music

My parents and their friends during their tour of Celle

This past week my genitori (parents) were visiting Italy with their friends. It wasn't their first time in Italy, so rather than racing around to see the sites, they were able to just relax and enjoy the tuscan lifestyle for a few days. They stayed at a beautiful villa about 15 minutes from where I'm living, named Villa San Simone. On their first day they picked me up and took me for groceries (a MASSIVE favor considering what a mission it is to get groceries here) and then I went back to Villa San Simone for dinner with them. The couple who owns the Villa, Sandro and Lydia, are extremely nice, and the dinner that Lydia cooked for us was incredible. Zucchini risotto, melon & prosciutto, flaky bread sticks, a variety of cheeses, caprese salad, onion frittata (best frittata I've ever had) and so much more. Dessert was homemade yogurt gelato, and I would sell my right arm to have some more. It was incredible!

Another day of my parents' visit, after I finished work for the day, I joined them in an afternoon trip to the walled city of Lucca, which was very pretty.

On the thursday, my parents and their friends John & June came to Villa Celle for a tour of the collection. They thoroughly enjoyed it, and afterwards we had lunch in the house with Katie and Miranda and Signor Gori. It was cool that my parents got to see first hand where I've been living and working, and who I've been living and working with.

On Friday I was supposed to go to a big lunch with my parents at a big farm called La Petraia in Radda in Chianti (about 2 hours from here). Unfortunately, though, I had a dental problem (a piece of my tooth broke off) and the only time I could get in to see the dentist (Signor Gori's daughter) was Friday afternoon, so I had to miss lunch, which was unfortunate because A) as nice as Signor Gori's daughter Patrizia is, going to the dentist is never fun, B) I passed out when she started the reconstruction surgery... soooo embarrassing, and C) my parents informed me that the lunch at La Petraia was THE MOST incredible meal they have EVER had.

Last night was my parents' last night in Italy and they spent the night at their favourite hotel in Florence, Antica Torre di via Tornabuoni. Via Tornabuoni is Florence's posh shopping street (Tiffany & Co, Gucci, etc.) and the hotel is as nice as you would expect from that area. I joined them in the evening for a buffet dinner on the rooftop terrace of the hotel (see pictures below).

Now they're gone and I'm facing a busy week at work! Well... not so much busy as tedious. I'm burning 20GB of documents and images onto DVD, and the computer is taking it's sweet time....

Ciao!