shain

Yes, they were. It was a small orchard of quinces. I'm no expert on Roman city planning, and there was no signage, but I don't believe that their location was an orchard originally, perhaps it was a garden. The choice of tree makes sense, though. Romans did cultivate quince trees.

Had a small holiday dinner this year. We hosted just my parents. Challah. Moroccan carrot salad (cooked carrots, paprika, cumin, caraway, olives, parsley, garlic, olive oil). Georgian style green beans, with eggs, cream and feta, walnuts. Roast beef. Plenty of wine. Apples with honey for dessert.

Most of it, I removed the back shell (which I did regardless in order to devein them), along with the legs and tails.

A visit to Herculaneum. Very impressive, but I won't attempt to summarize it with pictures. Followed by a short visit to the nearby marina (have I made it obvious already that like marinas? ). Dinner. Caparese. Fish balls with potatoes and smoked cheese, on the house. The fish balls I've been told where OK, but I didn't like the potatoes. Trofie with shrimp, arugula, sun dried tomatoes. Fritto.

Lunch in the lovely town of Cava de' Tirreni. Perfectly cooked pasta with clams and porcini mushrooms for me. Another pairing I wasn't aware of, and turns out to work well. Paccheri with ragu bolognese. We also had some white wine, which was a bit too acidic to me, but it did manage to get me more than light headed surprisingly quickly Dessert was a strange combo of chocolate mousse cake and rum baba, with caramel sauce. As if I needed more booze. Followed by a walk around in the quiet town.

Morning in Cetara. Snacking on a sfogliatelle. This is the version with pastry cream filling. The pastry was good, but the filling too sugary.

Tofu ran-dang, with toasted coconut. Corn with coconut cream, Thai curry paste. lime zest, peanuts. Green beans. Lemon grass rice.

Udon with spicy and (lightly) sweet sauce. Five spice, oyster sauce, white soy sauce, black vinegar. Soft tofu. Basil. Smashed cucumber salad with dried shrimps, chili, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil.

Pasta salad with sour cream, dill, eggs, pickles, onion.

Steamed buns with soft tofu, eggplant, peppers, chilies. Sesame sauce. Also a couple filled with lotus paste for dessert.

Dinner at pizzeria Nonna Nannina. Neapolitan style pizzas, with nice smokey flavor from the oven, light and fluffy. Margarita with porchetto. Mozzarella, pesto, tomatoes, Parmesan. Those ended up being the best pizzas on our trip.

And the following evening in Salerno.

Back at the hotel by lunch time. We opted to eat at the same restaurant again before leaving the town of Scala. Baked mixed pasta - potato gnocchi, trofie and ricotta filled crepes. In tomato and mozzarella. Delicious sauteed mussels in wine, garlic, olive oil. With focaccia to soak the sauce and juices. RIcotta tart with amarena cherries and caramel.

Awesome! I found it to be quite funny

Ravello.

Fig flaugnarde.

Late dinner at the only restaurant still open near the hotel - Ristorante Il Pinguino. It seemed popular with the locals and the food was good. "Focaccia", made of pizza dough, with some olive oil and tomatoes. A nice improve ever the ever present bread basket in Italian restaurants. Fried shrimps and calamari. Baked spaghetti, beans and mussels. A combination I've never heard of before, but it works well. Nice beer.

Positano. Amalfi.

Tracking "path of the gods". Lunch. Eggplant parmigiana. Bright tomato sauce and delicate, not greasy eggplant. Steak with parmesan. Pasta with shrimp and lemon for me. I rarely eat seafood when not on vacation. Shrimps are borderline on the foods I'm comfortable eating, and the quality that i can get at home is not good enough to justify. Those were excellent, though the sauce a bit too acidic. Lovely plates. View

Breakfast at the B&B. One of the three pups joined us. Homemade preserves, garden grown fruits and eggs with basil picked from the pot by the table.

Evening in Sorrento. Neapolitan style pizza Margarita. Not being very hungry, we shared a single one. It was quite good, smokey. The oven could have been a bit hotter, based on the texture (and char pattern) of the dough and cheese. Why was routinely surprised by the light handenes of basil application throughout the meals we had (note for example the Caprese and ravioli posted above). I personally, can never have too much basil Gelato. Very good pistachio gelato. Fig flavor that was a bit funky to my taste. Dark chocolate and rum. And "cassata" flavor that was awesome. It was made of ricotta, with a gentle almond flavor, chocolate chips, candied orange and candied cherry. I believe that I heard of cassata before, but I never had one. Know I surely need to either make one, or recreate the flavor combo of the ice cream.

@BonVivant Beautiful pictures - and delicious looking food. I got some figs on hand, going to make a flaugnarde as well.

Bibimap. Lacking a dolsot, I opted to fry the rice on a pane, and serve the crispy pieces tahdig style.

Basil plants overgrow during the last week, and trimming was in order. Pasta, pesto, green beans.

Day trip to Punta Campanella. Wonderful lunch at Ristorante Pizzeria La Macina. Wonderful lemon and shrimps risotto. Pasta with clams, tomatoes, wine, olive oil, garlic. I forgot the name of this pasta shape, it's a bit like gnocchi in shape and had a very nice bite. The renaming sauce was happily eaten with some fresh bread. Caprese salad.