Last Day of Pasta, Wine, Fruit, and All Things Good in the World!

Today marks my last day of pasta. At least for two weeks, that is. But to me, if it's for two weeks it may as well be forever. I'm beginning the Phase One of South Beach diet in hopes of being look halfway decent in my bikini when I go to the beach in a couple of weeks. So since tonight is my last night of carbohydrates, I fixed myself a giant plate of pasta. Also in Phase One, you aren't allowed any alcohol, which means no wine for two weeks. So I also fixed peaches (also considered a carb) soaked in sweet Italian dessert wine. Below is a picture of the wine with some biscotti (which I'm also not allowed to eat...).


There is quite a great story behind this wine. Initially, I went into my favorite Italian wine shop (Enoteca Di Palo) in search for Vin Santo to give to my friend that I had met in Italy whom I was going to visit for the weekend. Since dipping biscotti in Vin Santo is a Tuscan tradition, I thought this would be quite appropriate and nostalgic for both of us. After explaining what I was looking for to the owner of the shop (and being a total nerd by pulling out my Moleskin notebook with my list of wines to reference and asking some impossibly detailed questions), he offered me a bottle of dessert wine for free. "Seriously?!" was all I managed to say in my state of shock. The bottle itself would probably fetch for somewhere around $30, but it really is priceless because it isn't sold in America at all. Apparently the producers had sent him a bottle to try in hopes that he would purchase it for his store. He insisted that the wine was very special, and since I find him quite dreamy and incredibly knowledgeable on the subject, I believed him. I was full of anticipation. Once I get back to my apartment, I end up wanting to try the dessert wine so badly that I couldn't part with it. I decided to give my friend another equally as wonderful bottle of wine that is very similar to Orvieto Classico but is from the Lazio region (we both travelled to Orvieto together and fell in love with the wine, so I figured she would appreciate this wine as well). Anyway, I ended up drinking the dessert wine, and it was fabulous (but what did you really expect anyway?). Although dipping the biscotti in it was pretty good, I actually prefer to drink it by itself or with the peaches soaked in it.

Side note: The biscotti I chose were nocciola - hazelnut - but also had an intense anise flavor that I don't really care for. Tonight I tried to mask the anise flavor with copious amounts of Nutella. Not quite a success, but still pretty tasty.