Butcher saves the day

I can't believe I was at work yesterday(?)

I don't know what day it is or who you are but hi? Arrived safe and sound to Rome Saturday morning (afternoon?) with little fanfare (except that it was from the same JFK terminal from which I flew to Morocco, so I had minor PTSD). I also watched The Fugitive twice, which made the whole airfare worth it. HE DIDN'T KILL HIS WIFE.

Liza met me at the airport, and after spending 10 minutes trying to exit through the Telepass lane, we hit the road for Tuscany. I still don't know the name of the actual town we stayed in except that it started with Monte so I loved it. We settled in (i.e. I changed out of the clothes I had been wearing for an unknown number of days) and headed into Cortona for happy hour. The nice lady at our hotel (we'll call her Lucia) told us that there were lots of nice places to have a drink there but if we wanted some action we should go to Arezzo.

And damn, she wasn't joking. Cortona was quaint but deserted. Liza and I settled into an enteca and had a couple glasses of Prosecco to officially kick off our sixth vakay (sidebar: how can you not love a country that respects a happy hour), and then wandered around the (again, completely deserted) town to find a spot for dinner. No restaurant had more than 3 people in it. So we settled instead for a beer at small pub serving only Italian beers, and then moved on to Arezzo.

Arriving in Arezzo from Cortona would be like arriving into New Orleans from Beaumont. The streets were packed and everyone seemed 16 years old. We found a local hot spot that did not disappoint. I had some wild boar ragu with pici pasta (the typical pasta of Tuscany) and Liza had some duck (a typical dish of Arezzo) and both were on point (sidebar: I love how much Italians use the word "typical"). We asked our waiter if there was a university nearby to explain the youth roaming the city and he kindly explained that a US university had a study abroad program in town. And that university...was OU.

Those f***ing jerks.

DESPITE THESE MAJOR MINUS POINTS, Arezzo was pretty freaking awesome.

SUNDAY, we got up early to grab free breakfast at our free hotel (sidebar: I love European breakfast so much) and make a plan...which was easy because the plan was just "drive through Chianti region and eat and drink." Now I came to Italy in February fully realizing and expecting that places would be closed for the low season. So it wasn't unexpected that pretty much every place we tried was closed (some even for just the two weeks that I'm here). But, the universe made for this when we the random Chianti town we stopped in, Panzano, just happened to be home to Tuscany's finest butcher. Which Liza just happened to remember. After we stopped. And walked down a random street. And heard music pounding. And saw a huge crowd. And found free food. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Antica Macelleria Cecchini is basically the hottest spot in the whole region, and we found it by 120% by accident. There was an array of meets and bread and lardo set out and people walking around handing out wine. We're pretty sure that this was not intended for randoms off the street like us, but for people who actually had a reservation for lunch, but we bought some products to save face. It was the highlight of the day.

Oh, except for how we had virgin cow carpaccio for lunch in Greve.

So by 5 pm we made it to Parma, and after a Spritz landed in our apartment (managed by an Italian who lived in Philly for 10 years). We are right in the middle of town, and thus in walking distance to every single recommended restaurant in every single book and/or web site we can find. We ventured to Tabaro, an awesome wine bar for a late apertivo/hh (including one of the best rosés I've ever had in my life), before hitting up Corrieri for dinner. Now, on the one hand I know that I will be eating parmesan and prosciutto for the next three days, so i shouldn't feel pressured to have it at every meal. But I was. And I did. And it was worth it.

Liza and I split an order of tort misto (fried puffy bread that's like little puffs of heaven) and a mixed plate of ham, then she had a trio of tortolini and I had a pasta with arugula and prosciutto and parmesan, which basically combined all of my favorite foods. If every meal stacks up to that one, I will need two seats for the flight home.

And now we're at our apartment drinking wine and watching Fallon's SBTB reunion sketch. Friends Forever yall. Monday's plan: food tour. OMG TERRIBLE.