Vendemmia (aka the grape harvest!)

This past weekend we were invited out to our friend's family vineyard to help with the grape harvest. It was pretty awesome. We spent a few hours picking grapes and then we were completely spoiled with bread, salame and wine. I'm pretty sure Rob and I would work for food and wine every day if we could swing it.

It felt really good to get our hands dirty. When you sit in front of your computer all day working, sometimes you can forget what good old-fashioned hard work feels like. Instead of tiring us out, it actually kind of invigorated us!

Our friend Mollie was there snapping photos along the way. If you're Facebook friends with Rob or me you've probably seen her fantastic photography before, but if not you definitely need to check it out. She does really cool personal travel photography sessions -- so if you're taking a once in a lifetime trip to Tuscany you can get it documented in a really great way. You can check out here site here: www.molliepritchett.com.

Sunsets and Instagrams

If you live in or have visited Italy you know that the sunsets here can be absolutely stunning. During our trip to the countryside last month there were a couple of nights, in particular, when the sunsets were just exceptionally beautiful.

One night we drove to a pull-off spot closer to Panzano just to take photos of the beautiful sunset. We played around with the camera settings to try and capture the colors. Although none of the photos really do the sunset justice, they are still pretty cool. The top photo is the least true to color, but I wanted to give you a sense of the landscape where we were shooting.

On another note, I'm still obsessed with Instagram. Here are some of my recent favorites that we've snapped:

Antica Macelleria Cecchini in Panzano, Italy

The longer I live in Italy (nine months and counting!) the more I appreciate good old fashioned butcher shops. So often in the U.S. we only see our beef neatly packaged in the grocery store. Buying meet from a butcher makes me feel a little more appreciative of the the food and where it came from.

These feelings are, obviously, what made us so happy to not only eat at Dario's restaurants, but to also stop into his butcher shop. The place is like a shrine to meat. One entire wall is full of all of the books and magazines that Dario has been featured in. What's so amazing is that despite his food fame, the guy is obviously happy just working in his shop every day, interacting with people and enjoying damn good food.

While we were there we picked up some of Dario's salt mix, Il Profumo del Chianti. Seriously, when you sprinkle a bit of the salt on a piece of pane toscana and top it with good olive oil, it's like crack in food form. So good.

Mac Dario and Solociccia

One of the best parts of our vacation in Chianti earlier in the month was our frequent visits to Panzano...mostly because of the food experiences we had thanks to Dario. And, yes, experience is the right word.

Our first food experience was at Mac Dario. A few days each week the restaurant opens up for 3-5 hours for lunch. There are only two options on the menu: Dario's famous hamburger and Dario's famous Tuscan meet sampler. Rob and I both opted for the burger and could not have been happier. It was perfectly rare, served with fries and veggies. Rare meat is something I'm learning to appreciate here in Italy. With really good beef like Dario serves, you just taste the beef in a way that a medium or well done preparation just would not allow for. BTW, no bun with the burger. Just good meat, plain and simple.

Our second food experience was at Solociccia, Dario's family style restaurant right across the street. This was actually our 3rd anniversary dinner (2 days late...they aren't open on Tuesdays or Wednesdays) and it was one I will never forget. For two hours we were served an endless array of meats. It was a meat feast. Sure, there were veggies and bread on the table, but this meal is all about the meat. Oh, there was wine, too. Total price? 30 euro. You won't find a better value.

I apologize for not having more photos of the Solociccia (which translates to "only flesh," in case you were wondering). In fact, I have just one -- an empty table:

We were seated next to an awesome couple (with an adorable and well-behaved 9-month old baby) and talked to them the entire dinner. We didn't even get their names because we were too busy chatting. That's the awesome thing about travel experiences though...sometimes you just meet cool people, have a fantastic time and get to remember them in that context! Good company + wine = forgetting to take photos.

We went to the 7pm dinner seating and since we were running up against the restaurant reset for the 9pm seating, we all flooded out onto the street where Dario began pouring wine and grappa. Grappa is poison, by the way. After Dario refilled Rob's shot glass for the second time (and after 4 glasses of wine at dinner), I had to cut him off. See blurry photo in the top right of the collage for evidence. I was having flashbacks of my 20th birthday when Rob and I were in college and knew it was time to get him out of there :-)

Coming tomorrow: photos from inside Dario's butcher shop.

Driving Around Southern Tuscany

With our anniversary dinner actually planned for two days later, we found ourselves trying to figure out how to spend our third anniversary day. I can't remember which one of us ended up suggesting it, but considering we had a rental car and quiet country roads, it only made sense to pack up some snacks, throw Winston in the back seat and head out for a little drive around Tuscany.

One thing we didn't do? Make a plan. Nope, no plan. We just decided to drive down roads that looked fun, follow signs to towns that sounded neat and just generally enjoy a carefree day. Let me tell you something, country roads in Tuscany in August? Empty. It was like the owned the place and it was awesome. Winston loved it, too, as you can see above.

I was caught by surprise by two things. First, the number of sunflowers that we saw! Now granted, we were about two weeks late and most of the fields were dried up, but I had read that it can be hard to find sunflower fields sometimes. We, however, saw them everywhere, particularly on the country roads between Montepulciano and Cortona. Second, I was truly amazed by how quickly the terrain changed. In Chianti, the hills are a lush green color and it's all very rich and fertile. Just an hour or two south and the colors are golden and crisp. I think we underestimated how diverse Tuscany is.

All in all, we spent about 5 hours in the car and had a total blast. It is an anniversary I'm sure we'll never forget.