Tagliatelle a la Joy

During our stay here in Cerro in the Lago Maggiore region, we are cooking our own dinners, so we have been taking turns. Last night was Joy's turn to cook and she decided to make salmon tagliatelle – for 11! She placed her order for ingredients a couple of days earlier in order to ensure that she could create the dish in the best way possible. Unfortunately, her minions forgot a couple of items on the list – lemons and milk. The discovery was made not long before she was ready to begin. I volunteered to hunt down the missing ingredients in the village. Having been there for a walk in the morning, I noticed a kind of convenience store that was open, so figured it wouldn't be hard to get what was needed there. To my dismay, I discovered that the only store open in the village around 7:00 p.m. was a clothing store – no help! I was about to abort the mission when I decided to approach one of the two restaurants that were open to see if they might sell me what I wanted. I started off by asking, "Parla inglese?" I wasn't feeling that confident about my Italian. However, once they understood what I wanted, I was able to switch to Italian. The kind woman first checked if they could spare a couple of lemons. Once she realized that she could, she asked, "Due limones?" I replied, "Tre limones, si possibile." The lady replied, "Tutti è possibile!" I was charmed. They also had a litre of milk that they could sell me. When I asked how much that would be, the woman shrugged and said, "Due euros." What a bargain for 2 euros.

I returned triumphantly to our house to find that Maggie had set out wonderful appetizers including a caprese salad and Joy and her minions were hard at work with the pasta in the kitchen. It didn't take long till Joy's gourmet dish was complete. She checked the sauce to make sure it met her high standards and was pleased with the results.

Delizioso!

The béchamel sauce with smoked salmon was ready to complement the tagliatelle and grilled salmon.

Gourmet Perfection

What a feast! The main dish was yummy and we followed it with a refreshing green salad that included fennel, radishes and tomatoes. Joy has decided that she doesn't need to eat radish again, but fennel may re-appear in her diet.

Mangiamo al fresco! Let's eat under the covered patio.

After the meal, we went for a walk down to the water. It was quite windy and a bit dramatic, but a lovely cool walk.

Evening by the lake

As night fell, back at the house we enjoyed the beautiful view from our backyard, looking at the 9th century church that abuts our property. It's beautifully lit every evening until 11:00 p.m

O Holy Night?

Alan