Italy Hangover

It's been ages since my last post and it thrills me to say it's because I was vacationing (again) in Italy. First I was busy preparing, which included a recovery juice cleanse after a long weekend visit from some of my favorite swim/bike/run/eat/drink friends. To say we ate our way across NYC would be an understatement.

 With the lovely Laura

Then I was busy packing for another fabulous Thanksgiving in Italy. This year's trip still involved Piedmont, but also included a quick trip through Parma, the Northern Tuscan coast and a brief visit to the Cinque Terre in Liguria. It was so beautiful, definitely on the list of places to spend more time.

 The Cinque Terre

But when it comes to Thanksgiving in Italy, there is no place like Piedmont. We arrived just in time for lunch after a three-hour drive and went directly to Trattoria della Posta in Monforte d'Alba, the town we like to stay in. Lunch was divine including the seat by the fire, some Piemontese favorites and our first bottle of Barolo.

Carne Cruda with the cutest poached quail egg

And of course, our first truffles. This was the best egg in cocotte I've ever had.

I won't post the wine because I took about 50 photos of wine and could fill a post a mile long. Instead I'll share a link to the entire photo album once it's online. 

We checked into the gorgeous Villa Beccaris and immediately fell in love with the view. It was sunny, the weather was perfect and the location is the best in town.

 View from Villa Beccaris

The rest of the week was a whirlwind of wine estate visits, incredible lunches and dinners, good friends, more Barolo than you can imagine, copious amounts of Champagne and some really hilly, really fun running. And it goes without saying, more truffles. This is unfortunately not a great truffle season so we didn't have them as often, but the ones we had were spectacular.

Unfortunately I didn't get to eat all of these... just one

 

Sometimes I think a food hangover is worse than an alcohol hangover, and in the case of Italy, it may be the worst hangover I've ever had. At least every incredible morsel was worth it and it's nothing a month of salads won't cure.