“Birds do not chew their food and have no gag reflex, thus they can be force fed large amounts of whole foods.” … “The next feeding phase, which the french call finition d’engraissement, or “completing the fattening process”, involves careful stuffing of feed into the bird’s throat through a metal pipe several times per day.” … “animal death rates increase by a factor of ten to twenty during the two-week forced feeding period. Also, while the consequences of force feeding in birds are reversible, the “level of steatosis should be considered pathological.”"

While the poor birds may not throw up, I feel very much like it.

Look for the balsamic vinegar to be from Modena, it’s an artform like the wine..
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/c00038.asp

Enjoy your pieces of heaven!

(from a person who lives in Italy)

Funny that you mention Italian prosciutto. We pay a premium for the stuff in the states because the domestic is crap. But after spending the summer in italy, and eating that same wonderful proscuitto like snack food because it’s cheap and available everywhere over there, I’m going to have a hard time buying in the states again.

Your half-price wine on the other hand sounds wonderful =)

I also second the calvados, if that’s what you got, and you should try pommeau, the aperitif version.

That was an enjoyable post and a nice change of pace.