Some Italian Dishes Will Never Make It in the USA...

Last night Queen Bee and I went out to dinner in Torino at a restruarant called L'Acino (the grape).  Apparently it is noteworthy as offering very good examples of traditional Piemontese dishes at reasonable prices.  It is consistently full and is one of the few places here that need a reservation at least a week in advance.

As we listened to the description of the dishes it was quickly apparent that one item was off the table for consideration.  In these situations we're not always certain that we are understanding the descriptions correctly, but but it was reasonably clear that the Finanziera was not a contender for our dinner.  As the other guests arrived, we were amazed at how many people, young and old, selected this traditional dish.  And at the end of the evening nearly everyone complimented the owner on how his Finanziera was equal to their mother's (or grand mother's or aunt's etc...).

So returning home I dragged on our Piemontese cook book to confirm our interpretation of the description. And the main ingredients are...
- beef
- beef spine
- beef brain
- chicken liver
- pork liver
- crest of chicken  (brings to mind a witches brew)
- beef sweet breads (glands from the neck)
- beef kidney
along with mushrooms and other stuff... Actually I'd be OK with many of these things but brain and glands cross the line from my perspective.  And Queen Bee's list of OK items is much narrower than mine.  Of course we American have become ridiculously fussy about what we eat and have lost the connection to many of the traditional foods our ancestors used to looked forward to.

In any case, we did stay traditional with a dinner that included... sliced beef with tuna sauce, a small cheese quiche, small ravioli (call agnolottini...  forget the tomato sauce, these were swimming in butter with sage.. yum!), braised beef (for Queen Bee), port shank (for me), and roast potatoes (forget the olive oil...  these were cooked in real beef or pork fat.. as they should be!).  The gentleman that owns the pace is very attentive and chatty.  He seems happy to talk about what the dishes are and where they originate.   It was all wonderful.

San Giorio di Susa

Last Sunday Queen Bee and I decided to have a little change of scenery for our normal walk with Dog. So we drove up the valley about 10 km to San Giorio. The town is located between the two state roads, SS24 and SS25, that run along the base of of the valley toward Susa. The town has the typical mix of houses and buildings that date from the middle ages to the 1970s. There is a large castle overlooking the town. Apperantly it is privately owned so you can't explore it.  Much of the structure seems to have fallen into disrepair but it remains an impressive structure.   There is a permanent arrangement of construction cranes around the complex but we have not seen any noticeable change in the several years we have been here.  On the other hand it is probably about a thousand years old so its time scale is a little longer than ours.  It can afford to be patient.


Sorry for the strange arrangement of photos...  I'm struggling a little on the blog formatting thing.


The town seems to be primarily a residential community.  I.e. not so much to see from the touristic point of view.  But there are a couple of restaurants.  One of them looks worth giving a try sometime.  

Art of San Giorio

Walking around San Giorio we found a few interesting creations. Someone had done a series of wood carvings of faces done in logs. They are a bit somber but well done. Wood carving seems to be popular here. There were a number of hobbyists at the Condove cheese festivals and there is a major event inAosta each year. In addition to the carvings there were the usual paints on the various shrines located around the community.