This past Sunday we celebrated our daughter’s baptism! Our lucky girl followed in her brother’s footsteps and was christened in the local church in Arzachena, the small town that we call home during the summer months.

Here she is all dolled up and ready to be baptized!

We chose to christen our children here rather than in Canada for many reasons:

1) To give their Italian grandparents (whom they see once a year) the opportunity to be present at such an important milestone in their lives.
2) The locale: the perfect backdrop for pictures!
3) We like to think that some sacraments, such as a baptism, are given more importance here (in regards to planning the restaurant locale, number of guests, etc)
4) The celebratory lunch! No boring, know-what-to-expect “hall” food here…in Sardinia (and I’m sure all of Italy for that matter) the meal is of utmost importance.  I think it’s also safe to say that the actual lunch might be even more important than the sacrament itself!  (Choosing a restaurant for a baptism is almost as important as choosing a locale for a wedding!)

The stunning locale: Parco devil Ulivi, Arzachena

View of the restaurant (on the left) and the entrance area (on the right) where we enjoyed drinks and noshed on appetizers.

Upon arrival…champagne on ice and fresh drinks (servers included!)

Poolside appetizers; pane guttiau, deep fried veggies, mini pizzas, fried mozzarella, canapés with ricotta, celery, cherry tomatoes and bottarga fish roe.

Appetizer buffet
Local cheeses; smoked Sardinian peretta, sweet peretta, pecorino, and ricotta topped with fresh drizzled honey.

Local cured meats; pancetta, sausage, carpaccio with bresaola and arugula, and freshly sliced Prosciutto from Oliena.

This is all I managed to get on my plate…too many tables to visit! (Once again, just like a wedding!)

Plated seafood appetizer:
Shrimp marinated with red onion, fresh cherry tomatoes, and celery
Octopus carpaccio with saffron potato purée
Salmon and sea bream sashimi, marinated in orange juice and topped with bottarga
Steamed tuna filet with sun-dried tomato pesto

Entree #1:
Sardinian fregula risotto with calamari and mussels in a basil pesto sauce.

Entree #2:
Baked sea bream topped with fresh tomatoes, shrimp and calamari on a bed of sautéed zucchini and puréed potatoes

Kids meal:
Sardinian gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce

My son didn’t even notice what he was missing…he was quite happy with HIS lunch!

Dessert buffet! No need to go into detail here 😉

Millefoglie cake with custard cream and chocolate chips!

Tasted even better with some chilled sweet Sardinian Moscato wine 😉

I’m quite the classy gal…rocking my daughter to sleep, barefoot (and proud of it!) with my third, I mean second glass of Moscato in hand!

Cheers to an unforgettable day!