Kuah and Karen’s Day Away

On Sunday Kuah and I took off to do some exploring on our own. After a quick breakfast we headed to Cortona. It ended up being quite busy as they had a flower and antique market. Like other towns this one was full of small steep streets that were fun to explore. We ended up doing some shopping with me buying a t-shirt.

Kuah was interested an Coltelleria L’Artigiano knife set but we couldn’t decide whether or not to buy it. Kuah had spotted it in a knife shop that was also a butcher and restaurant. As it was in a restaurant display case near where people were eating we were unable to take a close look but Kuah talked to the owner a bit about the knives and the company that makes them. Then we headed to lunch to think more about it.

We decided to have lunch at Osteria Del Teatro. We hadn’t made a reservation but were lucky to get the last open table for an early lunch. The restaurant is made up of several rooms and has a decor that reminded me of a less cluttered Buca Di Beppo. It serves typical Tuscan cuisine. I started with a fried artichoke stuffed with cheese in a spinach puree. Then had cod fish with pea puree and an onion stuffed with cheese. In both dishes the vegetable purees were the star. It is definitely something I wish I could do. Kuah started with a Gnocchi stuffed with pienza pecorina with Casentino ham and artichoke. Then went onto a meat course.

After lunch we headed back to take another look at the knives. This was a special set as it contains 12 steak knives each with a different handle. The handles are made from a variety of woods and animal horns. My favorite was the springbok as it’s grooves fit perfectly with my fingers. These knives were much more comfortable to hold than our current ones. So after more discussion we decided they would make a great long lasting and useful souvenir from our trip.

Shopping done we headed to Arezzo, which is also in Tuscany. There was free parking available but is was about a 15 minute walk to the town. While this normally isn’t an issue it ended up meaning we didn’t get to explore Arezzo as much as we had wanted. The town had a cute medieval look about it. There were lots of interesting alleyways and buildings. Due to my foot we only saw the main part and a few streets. There was an antique market in the center of the piazza. The antique market had lots of large pieces of furniture that I’m sure were difficult to bring in and out.

After walking around the piazza we headed down one of the busier side streets. This town was one of the more crowded ones we visited. Luckily after walking some we were able to stop for some tea and fresh fruit at a coffee shop in the shade. We wanted to explore more but that wasn’t going to happen with my walking limitations so from there we decided to head back to the car and drive to dinner. We first selected a butcher shop that was connected to a farm and only about an hours drive away. It turned out that the hours written were for the butcher shop and not the restaurant so when we got there we had to pick something else.

After spending too much time on Google maps we ended up going to L’Altro Cantuccio Ristorante in Montepulciano. The restaurant was fancier than expected but we had no problem getting a table. A lot of people there seemed to be on romantic dates. As Kuah and I didn’t want to have a long dinner this might have been the wrong place for us.

We did end up with some fun dishes. The first thing was the bread which Kuah really liked. There was a turmeric foccia, regular foccia and sourdough. For his first course Kuah had a smoked Chianina that came with a very wow presentation. The whole restaurant looked over to see his dish and the release of the smoke. Chianina is the name of the best known Italian breed of cattle. The cows often weigh more than 3,300 pounds and there meat is highly valued for it’s intense flavor. I had an artichoke appetizer. The flavor was good but it was a bit prickly to eat. For the main course Kuah got a pasta with truffles. I made my own little meal with beans, greens and cold vegetables. it was a nice light dinner for me.

Montepulciano looked like a great town to walk around but it was late so we headed home directly after dinner. It was already dark so it would be our first time driving with our lights on. This turned out to be quite a harrowing experience as we didn’t have our headlights working correctly. We had thought we had our headlights on but it turned out that they were our daytime running lights. This meant that the high beams wouldn’t stay on and it was difficult for Kuah’s eyes to adjust. Most of the drive was on curvy country roads with no streetlights so I was very thankful when we go close to home. Our last driving surprise was a giant porcupine in the middle of the road leading to our house. Thankfully it stayed only long enough for use to see and identify it. Then it ran off into the bushes.

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