Gelato!

Gelato....ummmmmmmmm buono. I have been in Italy for exactly 21 days now and this may be a bit indulgent of me, but, I have not gone a day without gelato since I have been here. It is so bad! But so good! Each day, usually around four o'clock in the afternoon, we have snack time. That is the hour in the day I look forward to the most. The rich chocolately (usually) flavor of the ever-so-smooth and delicious Italian gelato. Some days we go to the gelaterìa. Other days we grab some out of the freezer of our own home, a delicious swirl of chocolate and vanilla drizzled with fudge and nuts packed into a cono carefully wrapped up in a package of an Italian brand incomparable to any pathetic American-made ice-cream. OK, maybe I'm becoming a bit of a snob about this Italian gelato, but really, this stuff is good.
Italian food is obviously something worth talking about. The tomatoes here are so juicy and ripe and usually are paired with the freshest basil which gives such a wonderful aroma to the dish. Olive oil is used in practically everything, and as I soak my schiaciatta (bread) in it, I, too, am soaking in this experience, this flavor, this culture of Italy. It is wonderfully delicious.
In Bolgheri, where I spent the last 11 days of my trip (and is the main reason for why I have not been on this blog), the girls and I visited their Nonna and Nonno at their beautiful, gigantic, Tuscan seaside home, or should I say, estate? It was heaven. There is too much to say about it all at once, but one of the highlights of being there was the food. Every single day it was amazing. The breakfast room was set every night so that as we, sleepy heads, trickled in each morning, tired from the previous day of fun and relaxation, we had the options of fruits, cereals, pastries, and delicious coffee to start out our day. Then at lunch, at 1:00 in the afternoon each day, we had lunch outside in the main eating veranda, where we were served course after course of delicious pastas, the freshest vegetables from the property's vegetable garden (Maurizio, the gardener was there every single day), the softest mozzarella balls that simply melt in your mouth, pizzas, salads, schiaciatta always, of course, and for dessert, the ripest, sweetest, most delectable fruits - my favorites were the figs, pears, and medieval peaches, flat shaped smaller peach from the south of Italy that are so soft and so rich in flavor. Afternoon snack, as I mentioned before, was inevitably gelato, which one could never be bored of. And for dinner, usually around 7:30, an exaggerated version of lunch was brought before us, with course after course set out on the serving table, pronto (ready) to be eaten. Also, usually some type of meat was served at dinner, veal, chicken, fish -- one day we had the rare delicacy of Mediterranean Red Tuna that Nonno caught on a fishing trip. It was seasoned with the most excellent spices and grilled to perfection. It was superbly satisfying. Oh! The wine! I almost forgot! Almost every day before dinner Nonna had the wine brought out at about 6:30 (when I say "brought out" it is because at all times there were at least two servers present -- two in the morning, two in the evening). Bolgheri is famous for their wines, but I believe the wine we drank was from Lucca. It was a delicious white wine, full-bodied and slightly sweet, and it went wonderfully with the tastes of our dinner. After dinner, of course, there was fruit, always a medley of something new, interesting, and utterly appetizing.
Though the food is plenty, I actually finish my meals feeling quite light, but certainly satisfied. The food here seems as though it is the quintessence of how eating should be. Food (or "cibo" in italian), is something which I've always had a great appreciation for, but strangely at times, have felt guilty about in the United States. Here, there is no guilt factor. Only pure satisfaction.