MILWAUKEE-NYC-ITALY-GREECE AND A DAY IN LONDON BLOG POST FOUR

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY IN ROCCA D'ORCIA

Family is the key to life in Tuscany. Holidays, Sundays and birthdays have families gathering for meals where the occasion's foundation is food but the purpose is laughter and the connection with those you love

even if those who've been brought into the fold aren't blood related.

That's why after my birthday party on Saturday we were invited to Stefania's sister's birthday party on Sunday at La Cisterna Nel Borgo in Rocca d'Orcia.

We've been enough times to Tuscany to think that we'd been at least once to every significant hill town Tuscany could produce. Wrong.

Rocca d'Orcia turns out is another spectacular town with a glorious medieval history

architecture that is fairytale at its most fanciful

and views of the surrounding landscape that transcend the ordinary making every utterance in reference to its beauty a "Wow!"; this coming from a town with a population of twenty-nine inhabitants.

And with twenty-nine inhabitants the town is still the location of several magnificent restaurants, even one boasting a Michelin Star, I've got to assume that the help commutes from the surrounding area.

The restaurant, La Cisterna Nel Borgo, gets its name from the old cistern out in front of the restaurant. It is no longer used as the water source for the village put still holds the echo when you hang your head over the edge and sing your wishes into its deep, deep well.

Situated in an ancient coach house with vaulted ceilings and Tuscan charm the restaurant provided the perfect setting for a family gathering and yet another spectacular meal.

The food was served family style with plate after plate showing up at the long table reserved for the occasion.

Plates of pappardelle bathed in a Tuscan duck ragu were followed by

Peppers filled with tuna and black olives and then we were served

Wild boar with yogurt cream sauce dripping with true Tuscan history and meat not found anywhere I'm aware of in the United States.

The meal didn't stop there meatballs made for local Sienese pork came out swimming in another cream sauce sprinkled in herbs and if that wasn't enough there were still desserts to arrive that were just as plentiful as the rest of the meal!

Chocolate salami drizzled with chocolate sauce and a spicy cream served in a mini ladle were the first to arrive followed by

Faux eggs made with a dark chocolate outer ring and a fried egg served sunny-side up made with ricotta cheese and a marsala cream yoke.

The last to appear was a bowl of roccota mousse topped with figs and covered in honey. It was more than I could bare.

Not so much for Alessandro. He decided the meal was so good it deserved a plate licking so he offered to clean every last plate.

And if that meal wasn't pushing close to perfection on our way out of the restaurant a perfect rainbow arched over our walk back to our cars for the drive back to Armena. Somehow the Italians manage to delight and impress us every time we sit down to eat and every time we look to the skies for forgiveness from all our glutinous indulgences.