Buona Pasqua

This was the baby’s first Easter.  She was so excited!!  Just kidding, but we were.  We dyed eggs with some of our friends who have kids the ages that can actually dye eggs.  We had Matt’s traditional Easter breakfast of creamed eggs on toast made with the dyed eggs.  We had an Easter Egg hunt from the Easter bunny and Easter baskets!!  The dog was very excited about the Easter baskets, mainly looking for Snickers. Luckily this year, she did not get ANY Easter chocolate (that doesn’t mean she didn’t get my nieces and nephews birthday chocolate in March though!!).  She even got lamb dog food! 

The baby was not as excited about the basket but she sure loved putting the plastic eggs in her mouth and she loved knocking down the block towers that daddy built with her new blocks! 

For the past few Easter Matt and I have been to brunch with friends so we were excited when our friends invited us to join them for an Italian brunch. Our Easter Lunch was hosted by the Italian Jack Nichalas!  He had the same mannerisms and chained smoked.  We decided to try a traditional Easter dinner  at a local restaurant called La Vigna Agriturismo.  An agriturismo is a certain kind of restaurant that you can find throughout Italy.  It is a restaurant/hotel but to stay there you must help work on the farm.  This one is obviously a vineyard but also has rabbits, ducks, horses, goats, and chickens. It is a price fixed menu, which means you pay a set price and you get what they bring you.  This is a bit scary for picky eater such as myself, although I do try everything, before I ask what it is!!  Another appealing part of an agriturismo is the playground.  During the long Italian meals, the kids get up between courses and play on the playground which can be seen from the tables.

When we walked into the restaurant we were mesmerized by the display.

I made sure not to inquire about the menu prior to getting there because I am so picky.  Our set menu was:

 Antipasto:

Prosciutto ,Mozzarella, Olive, Salame ,  Pancetta,

Crocche’ , Bruschette, Zeppoline, Verdure  alla  brace,

Frittata rustica, Tortano Napoletano, Ricotta  salata

 Primo : 2 assaggi

Cannelloni Napoletani

Risotto ai funghi porcini.

 Secondo:

Misto alla brace
o
Agnello  alla  brace

 Contorno:

Patate fritte  e insalata verde  mista.

 Misto di dolce e frutta

Translation (at least my attempt):

Appetizer

Prosciutto, mozzarella, olives, salami, bacon (this was really pork fat), Bruschetta, Zeppoline (this was a bread thing with salty ham), grilled vegetables, frittata, Neapolitan Tortano (this are puffy fried bread balls) and ricotta

First Plate

Cannelloni Neapolitans (cannelloni with sausage)
Risotto with porcini mushrooms

  Second Plate

Mixed grilled meat plate (I choose mixed plate because I am pretty sure I am not a fan of lamb.  There were three meats on the mixed meat: lamb, sausage, and something we could not identify)
or
Grilled lamb


Sides:

French fries(I personally prefer Italian french fries to American) and mixed green salad (I personally prefer American salads to Italian).

Dessert
  Mixture of cake and fruit

Some of the dishes are served family style (the pastas, the french fries, salad, and half of the appetizers).  You get unlimited vino and acqua.  The vino di casa (house wine) varies dramatically from restaurant to restaurant and 75% of it, we do not like.  This wine was actually good.

Baby trying bread for the first time!

In my family, Easter dinner was always ham, potato salad, and other things (can you tell which parts made an impression! I LOVE my mom’s potato salad).  In Italy, Easter dinner is always lamb and various other things.  During our Italian meal, Jack Nichalas Italian Style brought us two piles of beans wrapped in paper towels.  And then he walked away.   Of course the four adults had lots of speculation about what type of beans and what we were supposed to do with the beans.  The next time Jack came back, I asked him what we were supposed to do with them.  I apparently spoke too quickly for a limited English speaker so we tried again slower.  We learned that besides lamb, another traditional part of Italian Easter dinner is farva beans.  He showed us how to open the beans and told us to eat the small bean inside raw.  Farva beans are very large (I had never actually seen one) so when you open them the inside bean looks like a big lima bean.  We all tried one and I don’t think raw farva beans will be added to our favorite meal list.  It didn’t really have much taste and I didn’t enjoy the texture.

I do not know how Italians celebrate Easter at home although I know they buy very elaborate and gigantic Easter baskets and BIG chocolate eggs with amazing detail.  I believe they also do something big for Easter Monday.  I guess I will have to learn more next Easter!

Video of Lucy burying her bone.  Notice where it ends up!