Simple Pleasure Sunday: Aperitivo Al Fresco

The weather was wonderful today. It was sunny and a high of 70 degrees (F). I got outside and enjoyed it twice.

After lunch, I took a short stroll through a nearby neighborhood. In a black and white striped long sleeve tee, blue jeans, and black ballet flats (without a winter coat and scarf in February!), I walked up the road for ten minutes until the timer on my phone went off and then I turned around and walked back for another ten minutes. I figure walking twenty minutes is one mile. Even though there weren’t any flowers yet, the stroll on the sidewalk through a single family home neighborhood was lovely in the sunshine under blue skies and the perfect temperature nonetheless. I should have worn sunglasses though! Not only was this something to do for fun, I appreciated the exercise as well because I am trying to lose weight and hit my goal weight of 150 pounds.

On a day like today, you couldn’t keep me away from my balcony! I decided to have my near daily wine, cheese, and crackers sitting at my little table around 5 o’clock.

It was National Drink Wine Day yesterday and in celebration, I opened my favorite bottle of wine, Banfi Chianti Classico. I like that it is dry and medium-bodied yet smooth. (You may read my entire blog post dedicated to my signature red wine here.)

This afternoon, I poured myself less than a glass of this wine and arranged a bit of antipasti to go with it, just a few slices of sharp cheddar cheese and a half dozen Toasteds Harvest Wheat crackers. Both the glass and olivewood cheese board are from one of my favorite stores Crate & Barrel.

Those food choices are not so Italian, but I like them. The tradition of a social event surrounding a pre-dinner cocktail or glass of wine along with snacks is called an aperitivo in Italy. One of the popular cocktails for this occasion is a Spritz or any other drink than contains a bitter like Aperol. The cheeses would be Italian like fresh mozzarella. Italians have many rules regarding digestion and an aperitivo is thought to “open” the stomach. Italians eat dinner later than Americans do, so a bar may start serving aperitivo at 7. This concept is similar to happy hour in the US, different since a discount is important here and may also start earlier at 5. So, I had an Americanized aperitivo al fresco. I quite enjoyed it. I sipped and snacked while viewing a few short YouTube videos on my phone. I look forward to spring and quality time spent on my balcony.