Saturday in Alba is the big market day; for us, it is the day we celebrate David’s birthday. Settante? Si! More on that later.

We did sleep in a little bit today – I guess we either needed the rest or our livers were protesting. Once we were cleaned up, we headed outside. It’s another beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 70’s and just a few clouds passing through.

From our apartment, we walked about 30 meters to the Piazza. Turning the corner, we immediately entered the Alba Market. If there is something that you can not find here, then you probably don’t need it. Clothing, purses, belts, underwear, perfumes, cosmetics, linens, fabrics, small electronics, household gadgets, tablecloths, (deep breath) and then we came to the food – fruits, vegetables, cheeses, salami, nuts, breads, pastries, fish, meat, honey, jam and pastas. Quite a spectacle.

Tucked away in certain areas were also some street musicians that were excellent and entertaining. All that was missing was a ventriloquist singing ‘Volare’ while drinking water.

Turning a corner, we found a ventriloquist – oh, never mind!

After walking around for a while, we stopped in a little shop and bought two slices of pizza to take back to the apartment for lunch. The shop had about twenty different kinds of pizza in rectangular pans and you just asked them to cut you a piece in the size that you wanted. The best part was that for two fairly ginormous slices, we only paid 8.10 Euros. On the way back to the apartment we ran into Jan and Dave, who were also out marketing.

Dinner tonight was special. This was the night we celebrated David’s 70th birthday and we wanted to make it memorable. Our dinner was at Ristorante Marc Lanteri at Castello di Grinzane Cavour. It’s a one star Michelin restaurant located inside of the historic castle.

We arrived just before sunset and had a beautiful view of the surrounding area as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Let’s make this easy – it was fabulous! Everything about the restaurant was exceptional. We had high expectations and it blew right through them. First off, the staff was outstanding. Everyone was very professional, yet very friendly. They truly made us feel special.

Next was the food. Every bite was heavenly. The flavors made your taste buds dance with pleasure. I know it sounds corny, but think of your favorite flavor then multiply it by ten. The starting pre-appetizers and amuse-bouche left you wanting more, which is what they are intended to do. Our first course choices were split: Jan and Dave both chose the risotto with cuttlefish and broccoli raab, while Sue and I both had the gnocchi with white truffles. For secondi, we had two braised beef cheeks, one Fassone rump steak and I had the roasted quail with white truffles.

And for the desserts this evening, Sue actually passed on dessert as she was too full, Jan had the molten chocolate cake, I had the Zabaglione and David had the poached pears complete with birthday candle.

Along with the meal, we started with a glass of Spumante, followed by a bottle of Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis 2017 and then two bottles of Punset Barbaresco 2010. All of the wines were outstanding and very reasonably priced. They all were perfect matches for our meals.

The restaurant staff was nice enough to help in letting our driver know that we would be a little behind our scheduled pick-up time as none of us wanted to rush through this meal. When we exited, he was actually happy that we had the chance to experience such a fine meal. The ride back only took a few minutes and then we all had the chance to walk off about 10 calories on the way to our apartments.

It was an excellent meal and a memorable way to celebrate a big birthday. Buon Compleano, David!!!