Agriculture Tourismo

10/25/2009

Today day light savings ended in Europe. This was news to me because for some reason I thought that the US only did daylight savings (and even some parts of the US don’t participate). Well it turns out I was wrong, so we gained an extra hour, which was an interesting thing to go through with kids. It’s a good thing that all of Europe goes through dealing with daylight savings at the same time because that could cause serious transportation confusion issues.

Our plans for the day included driving about an hour away from Torino to a farm that participates in agriculture tourismo. Agriculture tourismo pretty much is a farm that offers its serives to the public. The services can be anything to having lunch on the farm, to selling animals, to making product out of the animals. This was a great Sunday activity because there was something for everyone. On the farm, there were animals for the kids to see(which turns out are being raised to be eaten, but we didn’t tell them that obviously even though we heard some shrieking in the morning) and a playground and then there was an incredible five-course homemade lunch for the adults. It was a beautiful fall day in the countryside of Italy and it was just really nice to be outside in pleasant weather. It was the type of day that reminds me why I love fall so much. This kids really enjoyed seeing the animals because they don’t see things like that very often living in the city. The animals were pretty entertaining to Claire, Miles and I too. We heard a donkey let out the most ridiculous bray, saw a chicken freaking out because her chick went through a fence that she couldn’t get through so they were separated, some cute piglets including a little runt (the adult pigs were by far the biggest pigs I have ever seen), and a cat on the roof (which seemed pretty cliché to me).

We spent the majority of the afternoon there. The lunch that was served to us came straight off the farm. We had homemade bread, wine, salami, a cheese puff pastry deal, eggplant and peppers, a polenta and beef dish, homemade pasta with porcini mushrooms (I love porcini mushrooms), baked season chicken and potatoes, and then finally panna cotta for dessert. Everything was incredibly fresh, flavorful, and delicious. By the end of the meal, which ended up being over two hours, I was completely stuffed and content.

After lunch the boys went on horseback rides. They were pretty cute because they both were scared at first. Giacomo put on a brave face and took the plunge and ended up liking it. Luka was pretty much thrown/tricked onto the horse and tried to throw a fit, but then realized he liked it. It was funny because he tried his very best to hide his entertainment with the situation and keep up his unhappy face, but he just couldn’t do it and broke it with a smile.

Around dusk, we all got into the car and headed to an area of the countryside that is known for winemaking. The town we pulled into was extremely cool. It was on a hillside so it gave a great view of the countryside and all of the vineyards and then had a very old towne feel to it. The vineyard that we chose to visit had won some awards for their barbera wines. We tasted some wines, were shown around the production facilities, and then ended up buying some wine. I have decided that I do not care for a dry quality in a wine. It was very pleasant and interesting evening. I think that I could get into the wine business and enjoy it very much.

When we returned to the house it was pretty late. Due to day light savings, the kids internal clocks were off. They were exhausted because of the very busy day we had without naps. I was extremely impressed with how well they did today with their behavior. Even though we all were still full from lunch, we prepared another light yet so delicious dinner of some pasta with pesto, fresh steamed veggies, cheese, and cold cuts. Oh my lord they buy the most out of this world mozzarella and proscuitto. I love staying at Susan and Diego’s house. If I was Claire, I would have had to buy a completely new set of clothing because I would not be able to keep my hands off all the fantastic food. Its so fresh and I always want to keep eating it regardless of how full I am.

We spent the rest of the night checking out information on the internet concerning possible things to do in the future of this trip. Miles, Claire and I are heading to Milan tomorrow to meet up with some family friends of the Gornto’s. Im excited to have another local tour guide experience! Then Miles and I are considering heading to Lake Como and checking out the lake district between Switzerland and Italy. George Clooney has a house there near a town called Bellagio. Josh Diamonstein also told me that this is one of Dennis Manning’s favorite places. I figure it must be good. We played some yatzee ( a household favorite game), had some wine, and chatted. We all were pretty tired from the day and daylight savings, so we turned in early. In addition to that, we planned to get up early to take a morning train to Milan. All in all, it was a great day.