Roaming The Countryside

Yesterday was so much fun that I wanted more! And luckily, there were 3 willing accomplices. So we hopped in our car and headed to Cherasco, noted for chocolates, snails and something else I can’t remember anymore. Found a lovely restaurant for lunch, where I tried a snail salad with oranges an pine nuts:

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and Lance it it in pasta. Then I enjoyed some risotto:

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But not a barnburner, that’s for sure. By the time we exited the gift shop (JK) to walk the streets, and found ye olde chocolate store, it was closed for siesta. More walking the streets, where Taylor proceeded to show Evelyn how to shake it upside down (just missed the money shot):

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though two in the group danced through:

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and then back in the car for the loooong (probably 25 minutes) ride to Barolo. Another famous wine? The girls went to fine a coffee and do some shopping, while Lance and I walked through the small, historic center of town. Didn’t take too long. Saw the cutest dang sign plastered on a wall on the way back:

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and these lovely many-hued flowers that I’d seen often:

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Before we knew it, we were off again! Hoping to get to La Morra by 5 so we could really see the view. Quite a view, but as you’ll notice from other photos of the hillsides, the persistent drizzle and hazy weather prevented really stunning photo ops. We found a lovely cafe to sit in; the girls at one table and us at another, where we played cards, chatted and sampled a little not-so-great-wine. When the time came, we headed to our restaurant, which a more simple, family-owned trattoria. Excellent, though, and we enjoyed (what else?) excellent pasta and I asked for a heaping shaving of you-know-what on top of mine. Ranked up there in the top 5, and you can see it in the “featured photo” for this post. Just heavenly light like little pillows of air…Wasn’t planning to have dessert, but when I saw what looked like profiteroles go by, I quickly changed my mind. However, they were filled with rich chocolate mousse and were way to rich for me to eat. Evelyn was happy to take them off of my hands, and was tittering with delight about how that was really, finally the kind of chocolate dessert she generally dreams of but rarely finds.

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Back in the car and drove back in the dark. Time to pack up and head to Milan tomorrow morning!

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