Last night we celebrated our 45th Anniversary with a lovely dinner at Trattoria Nostrani. We started with complimentary glasses of Champagne to toast our anniversary. Then we ordered our sparkling water and a Prunotto Barbera d’Asti. Instead of the 2004 on the list, we were brought a 2007 ‘Fiulot’ - dark ruby in color; rich nose and flavors of spicy red and black fruit; a full-bodied mid-palate with good acidity; and a long dark fruit finish. It was very good with our amusée of a nicely seasoned chicken liver pâte with an onion compote. Carollee finished our Champagnes with her appetizer of seared foie gras on arugula and a strawberry sauce and topped with slices of pixie tangerine; while my appetizer of asparagus with a rich tuna sauce was very good with the Barbera (the rich tuna sauce tempered the effect of the asparagus on the wine). The sauce was similar to the sauce on Vitello Tonnato, but thicker and creamier. The asparagus was stacked in a pentangle with the sauce poured into the center.
The Barbera mostly lasted through our pasta courses of gnocchetti with hot Italian sausage in a spicy tomato sauce and tagliatelli with arugula, calamari, and shrimp. We had ordered a 1985 Prunaio from Fattoria Vitticchio - still quite youthful looking and tasting: rich dark ruby garnet in color, with no change at the edge; bright cherry and currant notes in nose and flavors; spicy fruit mid-palate, with adequate acidity and resolved tannins; and a long, complex fruit finish. It was very good with the end of the pastas (which we had exchanged halfway through). As well it was quite enjoyable with our main courses of cod & potato croquettes on grilled chard for Carollee and roasted sea bream with olive oil for me.
Then we decided to have dessert. Carollee had a ricotta cheesecake with Meyer lemon glaze and candied cherries; and I had a trio of semifreddos - vaanilla, espresso, and dark chocolate. Carollee had an espresso with her cheesecake and we shared a 375ml of Fontodi Vin Santo - rich and carmelly and good with the desserts. A lovely way to celebrate our anniversary.
We were fortunate in that the roads were clear and it didn’t snow on our way there or on our way home. It did start snowing again sometime during the night. We woke up to around two inches of snow all around and light snow falling. The snow continued to fall all morning.
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