Day 6: Tuscan Sponge Cake (Although Today Deserved at least 5 Posts)

Today was filled with lots of walking and amazing food. We had a free hostel breakfast, went for a run in the beautiful local park, spent time souvenir shopping in town, and walked 10k to a nearby monastery. Overall, the walking made us quite hungry!

Our first two great dishes was at lunch. Kim had a penne pasta with sausage and rosemary while I tried the traditional Tuscan soup, a tomato, basil, olive oil, and bread soup. While it was salty, the bread added greet texture and the soup was perfect for a summer day.

Kim also tried her first tiramisu. It was very heavy in the mascarpone, which Kim enjoyed, over a thin layer of Sony cake. While not the best tiramisu I've had, it was definitely nice.

Dinner was even more amazing at Trattoria La Grotta. Kim and I shared two dishes: a spinach and ricotta gnocchi and a homemade spaghetti. I always thought gnocchi referred to potato dumplings, but, apparently it can be dumplings of any kind. These were large clumps of squishy spinach and ricotta topped with smooth tomato sauce. They were soft, cheesy, and delicious. The homemade spaghetti had thick strands of fresh pasta, much larger than the spaghetti commercially available in the US. It was topped with a tomato sauce with spicy red pepper and plenty of parsley along with a side of Parmesan cheese. It was a perfect combination of tomato-y and spicy all at once.

It only gets better from there. After much deliberation about dessert, we threw our options out the window at our waiter's suggestion. We ordered the lemon torte and Tuscan sponge cake. The lemon was like a lemon bar, in torte form, but better: amazingly lemony and perfectly tart, with a sweeter crunch crust. Finally, today winner, the Tuscan sponge cake was filled with a fluffy cream dotted dotted with chocolate an almonds, surrounded with a spongy cake layer, dusted with chocolate powder, with a chocolate sauce drizzled across the plate. It fluffy, sweet, and full of complex flavor, a perfect intersection in creamy desserts (Kim's preference) and chocolate ones (my favorite.)

We ended our evening in a square full of live music and dancers sipping on. a glass of wine, contemplating the amazing food experience here in Cortona. On to Florence tomorrow!