Dinner in Asciano



SUNDAY, March 5, 1995.

Hello from Michele's apartment in Bern, Switzerland! I've left Italy for the first time in 2 months and it feels nice to return to "civilization" - although I can't speak a word of Swiss German, (suddenly, I realize that I've been speaking Italian) Switzerland feels more orderly - and since I'm an anal-retentive, software engineer from the United States - orderly feels nice. Although, I also realize now more than before that Italy has a special charm - I miss it. My Italian may be primitive but I realize, now that I'm a mute again, how much Italian I've learned.

On Thursday night in Siena, I stayed in a small hotel run by nuns - room complete with bible and framed photo of the Pope. The place was clean and cheap, but had the drawback of an 11pm curfew - I ended up there after the first two places I checked were booked.

My mother sent me a restaurant recommendation from a friend of hers - a place called Osteria della Peivina (SS. 438 Lauretana in Asciano, tel: 718368 - if you happen to be in the area). Asciano is only about 20 km from Siena - so I wanted to go before I left the area. Unfortunately, it was somewhat complicated.

There are trains (about 25 minutes) between Siena and Asciano - but there were a few problems. One, the last train leaves Asciano at 10pm, but the restaurant doesn't open for dinner until 8pm (and an Italian dinner is no speedy affair). Two, the restaurant is 5km from the train station! So the train didn't sound like a good idea. Luckily, a friend of mine from school has a car - so I figured that I could ask her to drive (and since my mother offered to pay for me and a friend, use a free meal as incentive). But wait! I had an 11pm curfew...

To make a long story short, I managed to change hotels, get a later curfew, convince Parisa (a friend from the school) to take us to the restaurant, and make an 8:30 reservation. Sounds simple now, but it was an awful lot of fuss and running around town just to arrange a dinner.

Carol, Malina and I met Parisa with the car in front of the school at 7:30. Now remember that driving in Tuscany is a stress-filled nightmare. Luckily I didn't have to drive, but I got to navigate (oh, joy!). Stress. Stress. With only two wrong turns, we arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early! at 8:15. Phew! The adventure had just begun.

The restaurant was a lone building on the side of the road. Inside, the decor was very country-side, farm-house with lots of straw, dried flowers, and garden implements decorating the walls. Quite overstated - but it certainly provided atmosphere. There was no menu - just the price fix meal of the day. On the table was mineral water and the house (actually home made) white wine. We were informed that tonight was fish night.

First out of the kitchen was a wicker basket filled with steaming hot, delicious breads. Mom always told me not to fill up on bread; now I know what she meant. We then received our first piece of shocking news - there were going to be 10 (yes, Ten) antipasti. And there were:

1. sauteed seafood on little slices of bread

2. calamari salad (excellent - best I've ever had)

3. small fish in olive oil

4. sardines sauteed with onions (delicious)

5. smoked, peppered mackerel

6. small fish fried with egg, capers, cheese, and bread-crumbs

7. clams with tomato sauce

8. small snails with a tomato, meat sauce (a.k.a. bolognese)

9. mussels with melted cheese, tomato, bread crumbs

10. mussels with lemon

Phew! Now, at this point we'd been eating for over an hour and all agreed that we'd had plenty to eat, but the kitchen was just getting fired up. The waitress came to the table (all smiles) and told us that there would be 4 primi piatti. Gulp! We told her, please, please, bring small portions. She left smiling.

She returned with the "Soup of the Saints," delivered complete with her making a cross and a small prayer. Chicken broth with egg, cheese, bread crumbs and spinach. Now I know what the saints eat. She said this was a "prima primi piatti" - oh, boy. Next, another "prima primi piatti" - this one outstanding - shrimp with a chick pea sauce. Now, we were really full. But wait, those four primi piatti were still to come: 2 varieties of seafood risotto, a homemade smoked fishrricotta ravioli, and some pasta. Basta! Basta! Enough already.

After all this, we felt it would be impossible to eat another bite. We simply had to tell the waitress that we would not eat the secondi piatti - of which she wanted to give us three. Before giving in, she brought us a special drink that was supposed to enhance our appetites - a rhubarb based "wine" without sugar or alcohol. It was absolutely vile and did little to enhance my appetite. "Non posso mangiare piu" I insisted. And so we got off the hook. We could have eaten: fried calamari, shrimp scampi, and another fish soup. We also could have exploded.

Then out came a variety of dessert wines and a parade of desserts: small cookies (like Vienna fingers) with chocolate cream, another batch with vanilla cream, canduccini, cenci (two types of yummy Italian cookies), 2 custard pies, and chocolate swirl cake. Each dessert was placed on the table with a big grin. Then, of course, coffee.

Phew. When the desserts just kept arriving, we were hysterical. It was funny how much they wanted us to eat. I managed to try a bite or two of every dessert - but I was so full. The waitress told us to fast for a day before we came the next time. She thought it was very funny.

The ride back to Siena included a few wrong turns and a chat with a semi-drunken local to get directions. All in all, delicious, but it would've been more fun if I'd been better prepared and if I'd been with bigger and more adventurous eaters. Turned out that Malina doesn't like fish - although she tried the snails! She gets the award for adventurous eating. Carol wouldn't touch calamari or snails - three demerits. Parisa and I sampled everything, but only I really chowed down. Oh, well, kind of a waste, but I was glad for myself.

A true gastronomic adventure.


MONDAY, March 6, 1995.

Michele and I had planned to go skiing with her sister today, but we didn't go because of bad weather. Besides, I have come down with a cold. It's not too bad, but I feel a little run down and don't imagine that a full day out in the snow and sitting on chair lifts would do me much good right now. Instead, we slept in and spent the day wandering around Bern. I got the grand walking tour - churches, towers, clocks, the home of the Swiss government, the river (which is clean enough to swim in!) and the bears! Bern has some cute and playful brown bears on display in their own little zoo in the middle of town! People stop to look at them and throw them food - the bears even have names and do tricks!

I've been enjoying Swiss dinner specialties - which seem to universally involve potatoes, cheese, and onions - how can you go wrong with these ingredients? Tomorrow night, Michele and I will go out for Fondue and play pool with a friend of hers.

The trip to Bern wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - I'd psyched myself up for another nightmare like my journey from Liege to Siena in January. I took a 9:17 pm train from Siena to Florence, sat in Florence SMN for an hour (chills, thrills, and excitement - I wasn't going to go far carrying what seems like 3 tons of luggage) and then boarded my all-night train to Bern. I was amazed that I didn't have to change trains in Milano. When I bought the ticket, they told me that I had to reserve a space in a couchette - i.e. a sleeper car. I'd never done this before. When I boarded the train, I found my compartment locked - I knocked on the door and eventually a short, fat, extremely smelly, fire-breathing, balding French man opened the door for me. He really stank - b.o. plus the smell of stale wine and strong cheese.

The compartment already had 4 other people in it - I was the fifth and final occupant. I had some trouble finding space for my luggage but finally succeeded (after waking up everyone) in stuffing it (more or less) under my bed - I was in one of the bottom bunks. Despite the smell, snoring, coughing, sniffling, sneezing, and other gross bodily functions, and the fact that my bunk was really too small for me, I think the sleeper car was more comfortable than sitting through the night - as I did, for example, on my way to Krakow. I managed to get about 6 hours of sleep. When I woke up, I lifted the shade and looked out the window. Impressive, snow-covered Alps greeted me. What a breath-taking view - especially first thing in the morning.

I arrived in Bern at 8:38am - reasonably well-rested - and even fed! In the morning, the conductor brought us coffee, a croissant, and a small sandwich. All in all, not too bad an experience. I took a taxi to the hospital (Michele is a nurse and was working) to get her apartment key and then took another taxi to her apartment, where I spent the day resting, reading, and writing, until about 4:30pm when she got home. Last night, we went out for dinner, and saw "Pret-a-Porter."

Wednesday morning, I'm off to Zurich. I'm looking forward to having everything finally in place again, and to continuing my travels.

Stay tuned for a final installment before I sign off.



Copyright 1997 by Bradley Edelman
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E-mail: Brad Edelman