So Many Dishes

This is my first post about breakfast. And, truthfully, it’s more about memories than what we ate this morning, although that’s what triggered the memories.

I made a stop at BJ’s yesterday (and before you ask, why not Costco, BJ’s opened a couple years before Costco, so we joined there and have never felt the need to change), and I almost always get prosciutto at the deli when I go there. I have a number of recipes that include prosciutto, including one I’m going to cook tomorrow night. But there are times when we buy it just to eat with melon.

Prosciutto and melon has become a favorite breakfast, and Ken grinned when I set a plate of it, along with a toasted whole grain English muffin, in front of him this morning. We’d never considered eating it for breakfast before our trip to Italy in 2013, but both prosciutto and various kinds of melon appeared on the breakfast buffet daily, and we discovered that it’s a great morning combo.

At the time of our trip to the Italian Piedmont, I didn’t yet have a smartphone. Do I didn’t have a camera with me all the time, and I rarely got pictures of what we ate. That was too bad, because breakfast at Hotel Ca de Lupo was spectacular. The array of fruits was breathtaking, and I could have filled up just on that. But in addition, there was a variety of cold meats and cheeses, and enough cakes and pastries to stock a bakery. Everyone’s favorite was a dense hazelnut cake made by the owner’s mother. Although there were tables indoors, most of us in the group took our plates outdoors to the terrace, where we could gaze across the valley as we enjoyed breaking our fast.

Of course, we needed the fuel, because this was a walking tour, and boy, did we walk! Ken and I walk for exercise most days, but there was no place in flat South Florida to prepare for the hills in the Piedmont. We joined the “easy walkers,” but it was still pretty strenuous. We had lots of fun, though, and made good friends.

Most days, lunch was a bag lunch from the hotel, or fruit and cheese purchased at a mercado. But we did have one day where we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. And what did Ken order? Prosciutto and melon!

Happy eating!