So long, Montese

Our last few days in Montese were spent pretty much the same as the first.  Late lazy mornings, hour upon hour by the pool, trying to escape multiple bee stings and the obligatory afternoon spritzing. The rest of our time there seemed to revolved around food.
Marzia very kindly taught us how to make gnocchi.  The three of us sat in her kitchen and watched as she measured, kneaded and chopped the gnocchi into puffy bite sized pieces. We took turns in following her direction and were pleased by our results.  Light, delicious gnocchi which we all sat down and shared, with Enrico & Marzia, for lunch.  Z even had two helpings. A miracle!
We tried an ice-cream sandwich which, despite how it sounds, was pretty incredible.  The bun was a delicious panettone type roll.....a little too sweet for the LF which meant I 'had to' make my way through the lot.
We ate dinner watching the sunset at the Terrace Restaurant, Hotel Miramonti in Montese. One of the best views in Montese. It was an early birthday celebration for the Ladle and we lapped up the time, without children, thankful for Ladle's parents who took care of all three munchkins. The food was fantastic and the lambrusco was flowing.  It was great to have a few laughs with Ladle and the BF for old times sake.  The kids also had a great time attending a concert at the church.  Apparently Little Miss G and the Z man had to sit at the back & cover their mouths to hold in their fits of laughter.
On our last night we were treated to pizza & beer (& grappa) by Fran and Sam, who turned up with enough pizza to feed the entire village!  Thankfully we were joined by Enrico, Marzia, Ladle, BF and the kids to help polish off .....mmm, approximately a 3rd of the pizza.  Marzia had also made two mascapone desserts (or sorry, puddings).  They were AMAZING! One was coffee the other wild berries.  I had a helping of each....ok, 2 helpings of the wild berries. I couldn't resist.
There was also a little bingle outside the supermarket and again a lot of tooting but this time the tooting was coming from the LF, countless parades around the square, humorous trips to the supermarket, a scenic drive to Maserno for spring water and time spent wandering the town with our buddies. It was so good to hang out with Milly & Greta and get to know them over an extended period.  Great friendships were formed.  The Z man really enjoyed having the girls and their cousins, Gus & Isi, to play with.  Thanks guys for fun times and a relaxing visit to the mountains of Montese..... unfortunately I can't get those poolside tunes out of my head (You will never know... Play Hard.... Wake me up!... La La La.....Mi Mi Mi ...... L'Universo Tranne Noi........ Estate ...... and one for Ben Bonfire heart)! Aaaaargghhhhh, I AM extremely grateful I don't have to endure another day of the 'Very Normal People' radio station.  xx

Grazie mille & big hugs to Miss G and her parents, Enrico & Marzia, for having us stay.  We really do hope to see you all in Australia again soon. xxx