I enjoyed cooking this evening. Took my time, made the food I love to eat, picked vino I felt like opening on Saturday evening, enjoyed dinner with my favourite people on the planet.

Confit duck legs were taken off the bone today, braised red cabbage made the house smell like winter is coming ( sun sets around 6pm behind our mountanin here) and then there was a potato frittata I found on youtube and peeled the potatoes immediately. La ricetta calabrese, apparently. Peeled potatoes got sliced, not too thinly, tossed in a bowl with some flour, salt and quite a lot of oregano. Olive oil, not a stingy amount at all was heating up, a crushed garlic clove in it, which I removed after a couple of minutes. Potatoes in, fairly neatly, pressed down, then the heat gets lowered, lid on, about 25 minutes. Then, with the help of the lid one removes the olive oil, saving it aside, in order to safely turn the frittata upside down using a plate. Olive oil goes back in. The lid too, another 10 minutes. Olive oil out, frittata onto the serving plate, good to eat. Potato dishes like this I would happily eat on their own, with a spoon and a glass of wine!!

Braised cabbage was my regular Delia Smith’s recipe, plus some raisins, to get Izzie more excited about it.

Florek, not a fan of duck, had a beautiful chicken kiev.

The amount of calories on this plate was probably mind blowing, but I will be looking to reduce them daily from next week. How long will I last this time, we shall see, but with 62kg of me at the moment it is time to sort me out.

Last Saturday we popped out to Lucca to see if I could get my new reading glasses sorted. One gets older, one gets more blind. One had her glasses done about 5 years ago in Specsavers in Cheltenham and one noticed that it’s time for a new eye test. In the wonderful Ottica Bruno, where Florek got sorted a year ago quickly and efficiently- I was seen within minutes, picked new, designer frames that I loved from the first, blind sight, got an eye test and was told to go and come back in an hour.

So we went to Piazza Anfiteatro for a quick, early aperitivo, ended up in Parlascio. Iza fancied prosciutto e melone, I went for bruschetta, but not the tomato one, the gorgonzola, pear and walnut one. It was a revelation. I was also convinced that the bread was not just toasted, I thought it was slightly smoked. Drizzled with honey. Washed down with a bellini was such a treat. I just made one at home with the remaining piece of gorgonzola piccante I had. I flattened some brioche and pan fried it on butter, as you do, for extra flavour. Gorgonzola piccante. Thinly sliced pear. Chopped pecans. Honey. Delicious!

Svedesi are coming on Friday, this might be a little something to start with. They raised the bar really high when they had us over last time, so I have to match this. With an absolute pleasure!

Also placed an order with vinello.it this morning to restock on some Argentinian reds, it was dispatched 2 hours later, so there is a good chance it will be here on Friday. 🙂