Zwolle, Netherlands, June 3--
DINNER TONIGHT at another Italian resto, Meridiana, in the city of Zwolle. Very good indeed. We began with an appetizer trio: smoked duck breast, asparagus, little fried sardines.
Then I had pasta: tagliatelle in tomato sauce with fennel sausage. After that, sole fillets, steamed and rolled and very lightly sauced, with little stewed tomatoes and green beans -- haricots verts.
I skipped dessert, opting instead for a small grappa. What kind do you want, the waiter asked: Cheap, I replied, ever frugal.
They're all the same price, he said. In that case, said I, the best. He brought three bottles and two glasses, to let me decide after tasting them all. But I liked the looks of one of them especially. It proved to be soft, fruity, and just a little sweet. A fine evening, all in all.
Nebbiolo, Anna Maria Abbona (Langhe), 2006
LUNCH HAD BEEN perhaps the most delicious pannekoek I've ever had, an apple-speck (bacon) one, crisp and airy at the edges, thin but substantial under the filling. I told the proprietor how unusually good I found it, and she said her place had been named second-best in the country four years ago in a survey by the very active Dutch automobile club, ANWB. (The top prize went to a pannekoekenhuis in Eisden, well to the south.)
That was in Gasteren, near Assen, a few miles north of here. We'd been walking from Zuidlaren to Rolde, our second and last day (for now) on the Pieterpad with friends. Next we'll be back in Nijmegen for the weekend, and then... no plans yet.
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