poor tommy. he's really being screwed at work. i've offered to kick his boss in the face for him several times, though i'm not sure what good that would do, except i'm seriously constantly wanting to kick some wayward male in the face. got a careless boyfriend? give me a call. that creepy coworker at your office who won't stop leering at you over the cubicle wall? i'm your girl. BAM!

but today i have some good news that will hopefully cheer tommy up, and that isn't really relevant to anyone else, except people who like to hear me ramble on about italy. i got us a lunch reservation at villa gaidello in castelfranco d'emilia while we're going to be in italy!

really, there has never been another restaurant quite like villa gaidello. it's an organic farm/b&b/restaurant/huge agroturismo place located in the emilia-romagna region - the po valley area, somewhat near the city of bologna. the po valley is just miles and miles of flat, flat farmland, with dilapidated farms dotting the countryside and fog that will settle down in the evening and never burn off.

when tommy first came to visit me in october 02, we were about to celebrate our two year anniversary, so i booked a room at villa gaidello. i wanted tommy to see bologna, since it's an amazing city that no one ever visits, and he had already been to florence, rome, venice, etc. i had also read raves in b&b books (yes, i somehow started reading bed and breakfast books, a sign of my impending old ladiness) about villa gaidello's restaurant. they make absolutely everything they serve, from wine to olive oil to vinegar to cheese to chickens.

the entire enterprise is run by this little old lady, paola bini. i'm mostly excited that we got reservations again this year because, well, i thought she might be dead. she is this tiny, frail italian woman with enormous glasses and fluffy white hair, but man. do not let looks deceive you. she is a force of nature and master of her domain and any other cliches you could think to apply to spirited old ladies. the villa, all the surrounding buildings, and the acres and acres of farmland have been in her family for over 200 years, and in the past decade or two she decided to renovate everything and turn it into a successful b&b. villa gaidello is a pioneer of agriturismo, which is a fairly recent movement (in italy, anyway) that allows farmers to supplement traditional farm operations with innovative on-farm ventures, and in most cases of italian agriturismo, there's usually a b&b on the grounds, too, though a lot of times it's nothing more than an extra bedroom in the farmhouse.

so when we went to villa gaidello, we were, at the very least, expecting a quality meal, not one of the best meals we had when we were in italy. but that's what we got. it was amazing -- we started off with antipasti of mixed meats, onions in balsamic vinegar (don't knock it, they are a true delicacy), artichokes, etc. then we had tagliatelle in a ragu' sauce, then pumpkin tortellini with butter and cinammon, then tomatoes au gratin, then the most perfectly roasted chicken i have ever encountered, accompanied by the most perfectly fried potatoes i have ever eaten. then some fritto misto (literally mixed fried things), then a dessert, which i can't remember (desserts in italy are generally forgettable), finished off with some walnut digestive liquor and all accompanied by a bottle of the local sparkling wine, lambrusco.

and that was just the fall menu. i can't wait to see what they're serving this spring.