Grigliazatta

Italian Labor Day was on Saturday. Personally I found this beyond Ironic. A National Holiday for the workers, on a weekend....a day they were going to get off anyways. WOW did they get screwed on this one.

As a result of the Holiday, our game was rescheduled to play on Sunday instead. This opened up a rare Saturday evening for us to celebrate. Anyone that knows me, knows that means FOOD...More specifically Bar-B-Que or Grigliazatta!

Roberto invited myself along with a few other players and some friend of his own to his Grandmothers house up in the hills of Bergamo. The home its self was amazing, dating easily over a hundred years. It was awesome seeing the progression of the house. The oldest part, the entrance was made with old stones (as if there are such things as "new stones"), then you could see that more rooms were added in brick, and finally the backyard was mostly stucco. The back was definitely the best with a small vineyard, great view and an amazing outdoor fireplace.

Appetizers of bruschetta, sliced salami, cheeses and polenta would have easily been enough to send me away with a smile but then I spied the MEAT. Sausage, Ribs, sausage, and more SAUSAGE. I wanted to dive in right then and there but they told me it wasn't cooked and I should probably wait.

And wait I did. Their style of BBQn is a bit different than tossing a match on a stack of Kingsford light-anywhere charcoal and waiting 15mins. Here they make a wood fire and keep adding wood. They let all the wood burn down to the bright red embers and break it up into tiny little chunks. Then they bring the embers to the front of the fireplace and spread them out creating heating area where the place the meat which is waffled inside a mettle grill directly on top of. If you don't understand, I recommend just coming over to Italy and experiencing it first hand.

When the meat was finally done about an hour later we all sat down at a long table, "Chin Chind" our vino and dug into the feast. I ate so much meat I'm pretty sure I'm going to be Hoovered for a DAM week. I didn't think anything could possibly make the night better, until they brought out the desert.

Have you ever had Tiramisu? NO you haven't. You may think you have, but I assure you that pre-frozen thing you orderd from Buca di Beppos was NOT Tiramisu. I thought I had had it before too, until I had Sessas Moms home made Tiramisu. This made everything else Ive ever had taste like Hostess Twinkie. I could write a whole blog on just the tiramisu and it would probably end up being my longest post so far. The layers, the flavors, the cream, the chocolate shavings sprinkled on top. It will regain your faith in God.

The Food Coma finally set in and the talk about the favorite Italian board game Risk to be played informed me that it was time for my exit. With a belly that demanded 2 more notches from my belt and a dumb smile from ear to ear I drove home to my apartment not sure if I was going to be able to play in the game the next day and not sure if I even cared!

Bus #10