Later that evening - may 17 2003

Tonight several of us dined at the local osteria la cuco, this is a tiny place big enough to fit bench tables along 2 side walls allowing just enough space for the waitress to serve the tables without bumping into you too often. No menu of course just a rapidly delivered series of dishes in no particular order. Being a small not tourist infested town we sat at table which seats about 10, were joined by a young couple from an adjoining town and had another 4 people join the other end of the table.

What did w you eat what did you eat!!! I haer you cry,.. well,.. we didnt go absolutely nuts much to my disappointment,.. we had to find a balance that people were prepared to pay for,.. so we kep it to a good range of anitpasti and 2 pasta dishes oh and desserts and wines and grappa and some stuff that noone is sure about.

Antipasti,.. several salami and pecorino cheese types,.. no biggy around here, but the smaller salami are nice and meaty not too fatty,.. a kind of cold almost canelloni type crepe filled with a mince of mozarella basil and something which was translated to me as capsicum but was something i couldnt quite place,.. a beautiful orange colour,.. some simple bruschetta with (i was assured) truffle oil, although i could not taste or smell any myself (the area around urbania is famous for truffles,.. tartufi,.. but its not quite the season for it yet).

Pasta we had some ravioli containing a specific grade of basil that they grow around here just for stuffing pasta,.. very subtle and cobined with the olive oil that i think i have described earlier made for an intoxicating mix of flavours,.. the pasta itself contained something which we couldnt agree on,.. almost had a pumpkin like aroma to it, slithers of almonds and maybe a bit too much butter dressed it all. I never caught the name of the second pasta dish,.. but these were big plump ravioli, kind of like agnelloti with procini and other wild mushrooms and some kind of meat, topped with a very light drizzle of a cream based sauce.

Drinkies? Several bottles of the rosso connero that everyone washes things down with around here,.. i must say that i am a lot more impressed with the italian wines than i thought i would be, chianti and tosso connero go down a treat and at about 3 or 4 euro a bottle at the supermarket or bottle shop its better value than back home. We also had some god awful grappa which had a wheaty tate to it,.. it was a scuro and really should have trusted my nose and skipped it... but the drinking experience was saved with a nice bottle of vin santo which i described as a noble reisling not because it is a noble reisling.. it certainly isnt, but it reminds me of a swet lighter sherry,.. the locals soak biscotti in vin santo... why i asked as i downed another glass,.. also had some beautfully fragrant and warming cherry wine and a selection of the delci which was nice but the slices were so small it became rather hard to tell one from another.

At 30 euro a head not a cheap night but a pretty unique experience.