I finally caught up on my sleep. I missed breakfast today and opted to wake up at 11:00 just in time for us to leave for our travels of the day. This morning we went to the Grinzane Cavour Castle and museum. This castle was built around the year 1000 and was built as a defense tower and then later it became a resident. It is positioned to offer you a beautiful view of the vineyards in the Lange Region.

We had lunch at the top of one of the turrets. It was beautiful and romantic. You could look out the window and see across the hills dotted with little wineries amongst the crisscross pattern of vineyards. Lunch was very good, I again chose the vitello tonatto for my appetizer. It was just as good as yesterdays. I really like this wonderful little appetizer. We then had a white truffle shaved over hand made tagliatella.  We had some very good tiramisu for dessert.

After lunch we drove around the area and check out the views and an old Catholic Church at the top of the hillside on the outskirts of Alba. We then headed back to Alba to do some shopping and it gave us some time to explore the city again. Of course I had to have some gelato, today had an incredible Panna Cotta flavored gelato and wanted more. My mother and I looked through a few different stores, she bought a very fashionable pair of new black shoes that makes her look so very European. Of course we had to go play "BANCO, BANCO, BANCO". My mother won a few items again, but yet once again they were little items that are probably better left here in Italy. I mean who wants to take home a deck of cards with images from the 1980’s of boy band members? I guess my mom does, because she will surely pack it away and show off her treasure she won in "BANCO, BANCO, BANCO".

Tonight we ate at Ceretto’s Piazza Duomo Restraunt in Alba. We ate at this restaurant last year and wanted to return this year as well. We had an eight course dinner tonight. It really wasn’t as good as last years dinner that we had at the same restaurant. The same chef is still cooking in the kitchen, but some of the flavors just didn’t match up with my palate. The service on the other hand was absolutely incredible. I have ate at very few restaurants that provide such incredible service as we experienced tonight. We started dinner with an Amuse-Bouche of five different appetizers. They were presented very uniquely and in sets of four.  Here are our courses of dinner for the evening:

Our first course was a Jerusalem artichoke cream soup with a raw quail egg dropped into the center

Second we had cod that had been cooked by a salt brine and then placed on top of a black olive sauce and green parsley sauce

Third we had pigs cheek with essence of chick pea, cabbage and hazelnut

Fourth we had shoulder of Rabbit that had been slow cooked for two hours with a cocoa powder garnish

Fifth we had gnocchi filled with fonduta in a cheese fonduta sauce and porcini mushrooms. This was then topped with shaved white truffles

Sixth we had a Veal Cheek on a bed of polenta drizzled with a veal reduction

Seventh we had a palate cleanser of fragola grape sorbet on a bed of melted testune cheese with testune cheese shaved over the top

Finally we had a sponge cake on melted ice cream with an espresso reduction

After dinner we finished with some vintage Grappa. I think Grappa tastes like jet fuel, at least that is what it feels like I am drinking. I have never felt anything burn my esophagus like Grappa. What a way to finish off the evening though. After we left the restaurant, we decided that we would go and see if "BANCO, BANCO, BANCO" was open, but after a 5 hour dinner, we were not so lucky and there would be no prizes for us tonight. We ended up at a little bar just off the main street of Alba and drank some Gaja. Have I ever mentioned how much I love a good Gaja? This little bar had wine on tap! I really need to get me one of these machines. We finally made it back to the hotel after they closed the bar. I am ready to wrap it up for the night and hopefully I don’t sleep in late like I did this morning.