We'll miss you...

Thursday was a sad day in our household. After 2 years of delicious cooking and eating, Jenny and I have finally exhausted our supply of Tuscan extra virgin olive oil. Jenny purchased 2 bottles from the Altesino winery in Montalcino, Italy when we visited with a group in 2003.

The oil is a very deep, dark green and tastes like you dreamed olive oil should. We've been using it to drizzle on salads, to saute veggies, and in a million other applications. Frankly, I could drink the stuff. Because of its chemical makeup, EVOO is supposed to go rancid relatively quickly. We didn't notice any change over these few years.

I guess we're going to have to get used to the normal supermarket brands since we're not going to Italy anytime soon. Maybe that's why it's so hard to throw the bottle away. It's not so much the end of our gourmet olive oil supply, but the final chapter in one of the best experiences of my life. Reaching for that bottle, even when making ordinary dishes, took me back to Tuscany, where the food was awesome, the scenery perfect and the love was certainly in the air.

Goodbye, old friend.