After a long hot shower and some fresh potions on my face, I felt like a new person. So I got back into the Panda and headed up toward Perinaldo for dinner.

I ended up at Au Gaggian Bar Ristorante, and after mastering the left side parallel park against a stone wall and extruding myself out the inched open door, I was still too early to eat. However, since there was only five minutes to go, the hostess/waitress took me upstairs and gave me my choice of tables.

She brought water and birra while I looked through the menu. A tiny starter was an array of three triangles of semi soft cheese, which I ate with my wonderful pane, and three white cheese straws -- flaky, crunchy goodness.

While I had the option of stuffed Apricale Rabbit, Wild Boar, or pasta cooked in Apricale Rabbit juice, I chose instead the Tagliolini Con Zucchine, Pomodorini E Menta -- which had raisins for sweetness and pinenuts for crunch. The zucchine was not the typical one we get in Charlotte. It was smaller around, had a much milder flavor, and kept a nice texture after cooking. The dish was a wonderful explosion of flavors and textures!

While I dined -- and dined, it was! -- a few other parties arrived, none Italian, testing the language skills of the waitress.

The kitchen was open to the dining room and the chef made a show for us, complete with bursts of flames and wild waving of pans.

I finished my dinner and made my slow and windy way down the mountain home.