Budman's Trip Report to Ireland
Oct 15th, 2004, 06:08 AM
#21
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Budman, Great trip report! Sounds like heaven to me. Now to convince my DH...Italy is our next big trip. We did Hawaii in May, and it was great although the whales head north in April, if I remember correctly. We must discuss further at the GTG! Trish
Oct 15th, 2004, 06:49 AM
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Welcome home!Enjoyed reading your report.My husband and I will be in the same area in 2 weeks.I'll be taking some of your report with me and will be drinking probably the same wine.
thanks for the report.
Is Ireland on your mind for the next trip?
thanks for the report.
Is Ireland on your mind for the next trip?
Oct 15th, 2004, 07:08 AM
#23
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Trish, looking forward to it.
<"Is Ireland on your mind for the next trip?">
I had a brain spasm. I'm blaming it partly on my computer, and partly on my failure to proofread the dropdown menu.
<"Is Ireland on your mind for the next trip?">
I had a brain spasm. I'm blaming it partly on my computer, and partly on my failure to proofread the dropdown menu.
Oct 15th, 2004, 07:33 AM
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Ah yes, that hairpin turn. Thank goodness for small cars. It was fun driving around there though!
Another great time of year for Hawaii is October. Not quite the tourist season and the kids are in school.
Monica
Another great time of year for Hawaii is October. Not quite the tourist season and the kids are in school.
Monica
Oct 15th, 2004, 01:12 PM
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Budman, we are thinking of doing a winery tour and were thinking of Banfi with a dinner there as well. Seems like you were not impressed with the tour. do you recommend any other winery? I have never been to a one well accept at the Bilmore Estate but we just did some tastings and no tour of the winery itself. I appreciate your response. We leave in a couple of days.
Oct 15th, 2004, 02:31 PM
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R5, WOW!! You don't spend a lot of time in your Living Room, do you?
robbiegirl, The winery is about 2 miles down the road from the restaurant and tasting room/gift shop. If you've never been to a winery before, it might interest you. It was just old hat for me.
The restaurant for dinner sounds nice, if you want to spend that much. If it's a special occasion, go for it.
robbiegirl, The winery is about 2 miles down the road from the restaurant and tasting room/gift shop. If you've never been to a winery before, it might interest you. It was just old hat for me.
The restaurant for dinner sounds nice, if you want to spend that much. If it's a special occasion, go for it.
Oct 16th, 2004, 06:34 AM
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Oops, I forgot to talk about our Steak Florentine experience.
One of our favorite restaurants in Montepulciano was Osteria Acquacheta, just down the street from our apartment. It was very popular with the locals, and you had to make a reservation. They speak a little English.
They have a laminated house menu in English, and every night they scrawl out on a piece of brown parchment the menu special for that evening. We always asked for the paper because it was fun to try to attempt the translations.
It was our last night in Montepulciano, and they sat us at a table for 4, and 15 minutes later sat a young Italian couple at our table. My wife says I'll speak to just about anybody, and I struck up a short conversation. The cute lady (from Venice) spoke very good English and her boyfriend little to none. We had such a great evening with them, but back to the Steak Florentine.
We were told by the couple next to us that you could only get this steak in the Tuscany region, and it is cooked in a wood burning oven. So, we decided to go for it.
This is a T-bone steak, and you are charged by weight, meant to feed 2 people. At this restaurant it was 30 Euro per kilo (2.2 lbs). They paraded out this hunk of raw meat (steak) to our table for our approval and told me that it weighed 1.5 kilos (it was about 3 inches thick). WOW, a little over a 3-pound steak, but I felt I was at the point of no return and nodded my head in approval. As she walked away from the table I joked with Maureen "who the hell is going to eat this thing?"
The couple sitting with us also ordered this steak. By the way, we took before and after pictures. What a hoot!!!
Well, they brought this steak out to us on a platter. It was seared on the outside, but when I went to cut into it, it was r-a-w, r-a-w, r-a-w on the inside. Now I can eat my steak med-rare to rare, but we sent it back to be cooked a little more.
The owner, who was a jovial man also waiting on tables kinda sorta came over to our table to reprimand us. "This is how we eat this steak here, this is how we do things, you cook it more and you will ruin it, yada, yada, yada."
After several minutes, they brought it back to our table -- a little better, but still raw/cold in the center. We kinda sorta just ate around it. Don't tell me how. The young lady next to us was literally eating the meat off the bone. There was nothing left but bone -- I offered her ours, but smiled and said no.
During our conversations nearing the end of dinner, she learned that this was our last night in Montepulciano, so she wanted to make it memorable.
She ended up buying us dessert (little cookies you dip in something alcohol -- yummie), grappa, limoncello, expresso, etc. She even argued with the owner that our steak was bad, tough, etc, and he took off 15 Euros. That was a pleasant surprise.
What a delightful evening. Sorry for being so verbose.
One of our favorite restaurants in Montepulciano was Osteria Acquacheta, just down the street from our apartment. It was very popular with the locals, and you had to make a reservation. They speak a little English.
They have a laminated house menu in English, and every night they scrawl out on a piece of brown parchment the menu special for that evening. We always asked for the paper because it was fun to try to attempt the translations.
It was our last night in Montepulciano, and they sat us at a table for 4, and 15 minutes later sat a young Italian couple at our table. My wife says I'll speak to just about anybody, and I struck up a short conversation. The cute lady (from Venice) spoke very good English and her boyfriend little to none. We had such a great evening with them, but back to the Steak Florentine.
We were told by the couple next to us that you could only get this steak in the Tuscany region, and it is cooked in a wood burning oven. So, we decided to go for it.
This is a T-bone steak, and you are charged by weight, meant to feed 2 people. At this restaurant it was 30 Euro per kilo (2.2 lbs). They paraded out this hunk of raw meat (steak) to our table for our approval and told me that it weighed 1.5 kilos (it was about 3 inches thick). WOW, a little over a 3-pound steak, but I felt I was at the point of no return and nodded my head in approval. As she walked away from the table I joked with Maureen "who the hell is going to eat this thing?"
The couple sitting with us also ordered this steak. By the way, we took before and after pictures. What a hoot!!!
Well, they brought this steak out to us on a platter. It was seared on the outside, but when I went to cut into it, it was r-a-w, r-a-w, r-a-w on the inside. Now I can eat my steak med-rare to rare, but we sent it back to be cooked a little more.
The owner, who was a jovial man also waiting on tables kinda sorta came over to our table to reprimand us. "This is how we eat this steak here, this is how we do things, you cook it more and you will ruin it, yada, yada, yada."
After several minutes, they brought it back to our table -- a little better, but still raw/cold in the center. We kinda sorta just ate around it. Don't tell me how.
The young lady next to us was literally eating the meat off the bone. There was nothing left but bone -- I offered her ours, but smiled and said no.During our conversations nearing the end of dinner, she learned that this was our last night in Montepulciano, so she wanted to make it memorable.
She ended up buying us dessert (little cookies you dip in something alcohol -- yummie), grappa, limoncello, expresso, etc. She even argued with the owner that our steak was bad, tough, etc, and he took off 15 Euros. That was a pleasant surprise.
What a delightful evening. Sorry for being so verbose.
.
Oct 16th, 2004, 11:52 AM
#34
Your steak story is funny. Americans like their meat well done compared to Europeans. But my folks though born in Italy, over cooked every kind of meat. I suspect this was because way back meat inspection wasn't as rigid and to be sure nothing was amiss they cooked everything over high heat. Not sure why, but you do lose thew taste in over-cooking as well as vegetables that should be al dente.
Oct 16th, 2004, 12:29 PM
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Cigalechanta, if you think overcooked meat is bad you should have had to eat the vegetables I had to eat growing up.
The funny thing was that my mother had a wonderful vegetable garden, so all vegetables were picked fresh, right before they were cooked.
And than oh boy were they cooked!!!
String beans, 40 minutes, carrots, an hour, peas 30 minutes and so on. I kid you not.
At age ten I started making salads and that was the only kind of vegetables I would eat. My father quickly joined me eating salads.
And of yes, these vegetables were cooked in water only, not even salt touched them.
You cannot even imagine how terrible and digusting they were. Yuck! LOL
The funny thing was that my mother had a wonderful vegetable garden, so all vegetables were picked fresh, right before they were cooked.
And than oh boy were they cooked!!!
String beans, 40 minutes, carrots, an hour, peas 30 minutes and so on. I kid you not.
At age ten I started making salads and that was the only kind of vegetables I would eat. My father quickly joined me eating salads.
And of yes, these vegetables were cooked in water only, not even salt touched them.
You cannot even imagine how terrible and digusting they were. Yuck! LOL
Oct 17th, 2004, 06:43 AM
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Hi Budman,
Reenie and I enjoyed our steak in Florence. It wasn't rare enough for us (we like our meat mooing), but still quite good. The French couple sitting next to us offered their remaining steak, but we said no. We laughed! We could have eaten it too!
Once in France, where the French chefs cook meat only rate, I ordered it "saignant." The waitress had such a surprised, but please look, "Saignant??" I replied "Oui!!" as in, how else would I order it. That made her night.
Monica
Reenie and I enjoyed our steak in Florence. It wasn't rare enough for us (we like our meat mooing), but still quite good. The French couple sitting next to us offered their remaining steak, but we said no. We laughed! We could have eaten it too!
Once in France, where the French chefs cook meat only rate, I ordered it "saignant." The waitress had such a surprised, but please look, "Saignant??" I replied "Oui!!" as in, how else would I order it. That made her night.
Monica
Oct 17th, 2004, 08:23 AM
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A hearty welcome home, Budman!
I'm glad to hear you both enjoyed your vacation so much, though I had to grin at your account of all those times you had to trek up and down the many, many apartment stairs!
Poor man, just think of the cardio-vascular benefits!
I'm glad to hear you both enjoyed your vacation so much, though I had to grin at your account of all those times you had to trek up and down the many, many apartment stairs!
Poor man, just think of the cardio-vascular benefits!
