Monterosso VV a church, home cooked meal and Calabrian singalong.

The church was right across the palazzo from my room. I knew this but was reminded of this fact when the bells rang for 6 am Mass. Later that morning we walked around town a bit.

William commented on the unique statute of the Virgin Mary atop the front of the church.

One will notices child on Mary’s right the Christ Child in her left arm the devil at her left skirt and a club in her right hand! Mary don’t play lol.

I got the opportunity to go into the church and as is with many churches in Europe, this one had multiple altars with unique bordering sometimes on creepy designs.

Later in the day we were treated to a home cooked Calabrian dinner at the Mayflower Hotel home restaurant, similar in concept to farm to table in that the menu was locally based and only fresh in gradients. Maria Theresa Maio and her mother were our hosts.

Apologies that I do not have pictures but the menu was as follows:

appetizer … mixed bruschetta and zucchini fritters; Prima…fresh pasta with aubergines seconding.. sausages and peperonata. and dolce ..Apple tart with plum jam

The mixed bruschetta was an olive tapenade with olives from their own trees and a spicy tomato salami meat paste specific to Calabria called Nudge (nude gee). Maria asked if it was too spicy, we said no (it was spicy but a nice spicy with just a bit of a bite) and she said “you must be Calabrian then” lol

Folks the meal was outstanding! The zucchini fritters had a light, almost tempura like lightly salted coating and were just delightful. The eggplant (aubergine) in the sauce was finely grated and had almost dissolved into the tomato sauce covering the penne like fresh pasta.

I learned a new way to prepare Italian sausages and we discussed cooking techniques as much as language barriers would permit (I had given her my recipe for apple cinnamon risotto that I had translated into Italian and converted from English to metric). I told her how long it takes me to smoke a whole brisket (13 hours) and she just shook her head and said “too long”.

Everything was lovely and as dinner came to an end we said a domani (see you tomorrow, more next post) and the guys and I went back to the Charleston bar to see Francisco again.

There were several locals in the bar and things were pretty quiet until William called out “dove la musica” where’s the music to which everyone said “Yeah! Where’s the music!” To which Francisco asked modern or Calabrian? To which we shrugged our shoulders and said Calabrian! And we were off to the races!

Calabrian music is similar to modern Celtic music (think one step down from Dropkick Murphy’s). Stephen loves Celtic music and a big smile came on his face as the locals broke into song with all of us periodically clapping with the music. It was truly an amazingly good time. We finished the night when I asked for a shot of grappa and let Francisco pick. Good call, most grappa can taste on step off paint thinner but this had a delicate bouquet of grape that was excellent.

As the evening came to a close Francisco poured another round of grappa on the house and even Stephen had a shot, what a good sport. Here are a couple of pictures of our new Calabrian friends.

Well oiled and full of a wonderful meal we toddled off to bed. In the next post I call an audible.