remembering cinque terre

I should have recorded this a long time ago.  I can't remember much except that this was my favorite part of the whole trip.

So happy with my gelato and what I thought was a big belly then.  Someone should have told me to take the sweatshirt off my non-waste.

 It is a fad for couples to put hang a lock together.  This was some walk of love so there were a ton of them.

 I really liked this plant.

 While Karl hiked, I sat.  Once again, a lady came and sat with me.  Through charades and Italian, she kept telling me how excited she was about my baby.  Instead of trying to kill it with her cigarette smoke.  She was my friend.

 Just beautiful.

Il Pirata, the cafe by our hotel.  We aren't the type to go to the same place over the and over but this place was so good we wanted to try everything.  We practically had dessert after breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I have never had pastries like these.  It is run by twin brothers.  They were a comedy show.  One told Karl he needed to shave.  Said he would look 10 years younger.   

 The food here was amazing.  Some days we ate extra meals just because we wanted to try so much.  These pictures make me happy.  And hungry.

remembering venice

I never could have imagined a place like this.  

It is amazing.  The whole city, right there on the water.  An amazing city.  

 When my sister-in-law worked at this museum, I just never could have imagined such a beautiful building.  

  I tried to enjoy the place for its beauty but when I thought too much I got freaked out by all the water and the garbage and got a little claustrophobic.  

The main plaza was flooded when we got there.  It was quite the scene to see the dueling orchestras at all the surrounding restaurants and the waiters finding dry spots to stand while waiting for diners.

 This guy and this purse.  Something I will never forget even if I don't blog about it.  A lady dropped a purse that she had just bought.  A couple of gondoliers tried to get it for her.  One succeeded but when he threw it up onto the bridge, it just hit the side of the bridge and fell right back into the water.  The lady tried to reach for it and the guy she was with pretended to push her in.  He ended up reaching for the purse, grabbed onto the pole to stop himself from falling in, then ended up accidentally sliding down the pole and barely landing on the dock.  By the time he got the purse he had a huge audience.

 Five hours of driving each way.  And this is the (blurry picture of the) car that we made the trip in.  A Smart Car on the Autostrada.  

 We made it back to Florence at 5 a.m.  I actually got some sleep in the car.  But Karl?  Play now, sleep later, I guess. After all that driving, he had the energy to take these photos of Florence.  

 The food:

That licorice treat.  I still think about it (surprise surprise).  It wasn't my first time having such a treat but it was my first time having it housemade.  Cooked fish is one of my aversions this pregnancy so I couldn't enjoy the local fare to its fullest.  But we did sample some.  

Next stop:  Cinque Terre

remembering bologna

Once upon a time I used to blog with my computer about things besides lunch.

  

I have this mental reward system that I get to blog when I finish my to-do list.  Well, uh, the way I am feeling right now, I won't be blogging for about 2 years.  

So, bag my system, ignore the giant boxes waiting to be unpacked, it is time to get some stuff recorded before they slip my mind completely. 

We got a little restless in Florence after 3 days (us?  restless?).  So we decided to go to Venice.  Since most people plan ahead when they do stuff like that, all the train tickets were sold.  And it was pouring rain.  Pressing on with our impulse, we decided to rent another car. After a few different car rental companies we finally found a car.  A smart car.  As in, a tiny car without shocks or a reclining seat for the passenger for morons that don't plan ahead.  It was hilarious.  And bumpy and loud.  

 We stopped in Bologna on the way.  

I was excited to have some authentic Bolognese sauce.

 But we pulled up not knowing where to go for some great sauce.  We just found a cafe and hoped for the best.  This lady and I kind of raced for this table.  I totally got there first.  But she didn't care.  She just sat down with me.  And then lit up.  I pointed to my pregnant belly and she graciously did about a quarter turn and continued puffing away.  At MY table.  Karl came out, thought it was funny and snapped a picture.  Then we went and found a seat inside.  

Bologna was not a food success for me.  The lasagna bolognese came from a big pan in the deli case.  They scooped it up and warmed it in the microwave and brought it to us.  It was kind of cold and kind of a lot disappointing.  

We finished and moved on.  On the way out we stopped at another little cafe.  Karl ordered another lasagna bolognese.  This time to go.  He came out chuckling.  It was a frozen lasagna!  So much for our quest for lovely bolognese.  I got a few looks while ate my freezer meal (in Italy!) standing there Karl grabbed another gelato.  Crema de Grom makes everything better.

Next stop:  Venice.

san gimignano, volterra, monteriggianni, and sienna

We rented a car and took a day trip to the four different towns.  

Oh, the views...

And the food...

If, by chance, someone wonders why I am constantly taking photos of my food it is because it makes me happy.  That pile of pasta on the top left, they call it poci.  I look at that picture and it brings back some delicious food memories.  Aside from people memories, food memories are my favorite. I look at that picture and remember the simple sauce with the house made pasta with the crunch of the bread crumbs and I love it.  It affects how I cook, too.  I remember the creativity of the chefs and pretend like I can do that, too.  San gimignano was good to me.  And if I ever go back, I will go to Locando di Sant Agostino and order poci.

I don't have the photo, but this trip is the place that I had the most simple, tasty pizza I have ever had.  Great crust and sauce.  That's it.  The sauce was slightly spicy and the texture was chewy.  

The bottom row of food was in Sienna at a place called Trattoria La Torro.  It is the kind of place where the big burly guy walks up and tells you what you want to eat.  He delivers and it is amazing.  

I'll admit.  I slept most of the car rides between the towns sleeping.  I am not a good road trip companion.  I wake up all panicky, thinking we are going to crash.  And then I fall asleep again.  

Seeing all of this stuff in one day may have been a little overwhelming.  But looking back at these photos, I get to relive all of the beautiful sights.   

And how about some awesome graffiti...

Next up:  Venice

three days in florence

 Narrowing down a bajillion pictures of a huge beautiful place is a lot of work.  

Florence is full of beautiful famous places.  Just beautiful.  

I started of our Florence stay hoping to get all lovely and plugging in my flat iron.  It sparked and then the room went dark.  Whoopsies.  The room recovered.  Karl found a switch and flipped it.  My flat iron did not.  Ok, ok, I secretly have wanted a new one.  But I never would have had to the guts to blow out a room and make a big old spark just to get one. 

On with the real stuff.  Rickie (I have already professed our love for Rick Steves) can do a much better job at describing all of these amazing sights.  Actually probably anyone can do a better job that me.  So, I won't attempt.  I will just share a few (or a bunch, who am I trying to kid?) of my favorites... 

So many details, so many stories, so much history behind all of these this...

And to think that this was all built before all the the fancy machines that we have these days...

We took a bike tour.  Just us two, a girl that knew a lot about the city, some bikes, and some cool little speaker thing that she used that went into our earphones so we could hear her while we peddled around the city.  In such a busy city I never would have biked without her (even with her help, I got honked at twice and let's just say it wasn't because they thought my 5 month pregnant body was hot).  Biking was a great way to see so many neat things in a short time.  

Seems like everyone was so much more fashionable.  Even down to their police.  Check out their get up.  They put our "every police woman should have a front butt" police uniforms to shame, now don't they?

We saw some really famous stuff.  Karl got some illegal photos with his sneaky Blackberry skills.  Look who we saw!  Kelly Ripa and her whole family.  I was so excited, and you could tell who was American because they were equally excited. 

The real David used to stand here but he couldn't put up with all the elements and risks that go with standing outside so they moved him indoors and this one is a fake.

I don't mean to brag or anything but I have some serious napping skills.  Italy was no exception.  Right here on this plaza we napped for a couple of hours.  

L'Accedemia was huge.  Karl soaked it all in.  He has museum skills.  I used my napping skills while he his museum skills.  He used his Blackberry skills to catch me using my napping skills.  (And I really really really apologize to art lovers who would never even think of doing such a thing.  But if it makes you feel any better, a nap may for me what beautiful art may do for you.  Maybe?).  

Coming from the land where big box stores are (sadly) dominating more and more, I just love looking in the little shops and seeing all of the care and personal touches that go into the products.  I think it is beautiful.

Me, 5 months pregnant in Italy.  I am so glad to have these with this baby.  I have a total of about 2 pictures of me when I was carrying my other two kids and that makes me a little sad.  But, hey, look at us learning from our mistakes!  I 

I used my patience skills and waited to talk about the food.  

This was Trattoria Mario.  Recommended by both Karl's brother (our Italy pro) and Rickie, it was so fun.  The ravioli was okay but let's talk about the Bistecca alla Florentine.  You pay for it by the Kilo.  Yes, the Kilo.  That steak was HUGE.  The photos don't do the massiveness any justice.  The guy brings in these hunks of meat.  The other guy hacks off a big old slab.  They weigh it, show it to you, and then grill it up.  We should have named it.  It was huge.  And even better?  It was delicious.  No fancy sauces.  Just delicious meat.  And nerdy me enjoyed it even more knowing it didn't come from a gross giant mcfactory farm.  The place was so crowded that they sat you where ever they had seats.  At one point this couple from Japan sat across from us.  We told them to order the steak.  It was so funny how shocked they were.  

Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco

My brother told us to go here for their truffle pasta.  Little Utah me hasn't had much experience with truffles.  I loved this dish.  The texture, the flavor, the simplicity.  We had some bruschetta, some caprese salad, and some pasta with boar sauce.  Maybe the thing that I will remember most is our seats.  They sat us up in this tiny nook up some tiny stair at a tiny table.  A little loft-ette.  I will also remember how Karl left his wallet and the waiter snagged us on our way out and gave it to him.  I just love nice people.

My favorite way to experience other countries is through a cooking class.  

This one started with a walk through a market.  He told us all the ins and outs of buying fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, cheeses, pasta, etc.  I loved it.  The emphasis was on quality.  Eating in season, choosing fresh stuff, not wasting... I was in food nerd heaven.  

We then walked to a cooking school that so cool.  It had all these modern amenities in this old stone building.   We didn't make anything fancy, some down home, family cooking.  I learned so much.  

Tips that stood out:

Rub the bruschetta with garlic, then with the tomato pulp

Take the center line thing out of the garlic, that is part that smells

Toss the pasta with the sauce over and over to bring out the starch, bind the flavors and make it richer

Roll the basil leaves really tight, then chop to chiffinade

If Karl ever tells you that he doesn't know how to cook (because he just doesn't want to), don't believe him.  He has cooking skills.

Gelato.  Sometimes twice a day.  So fun to sample.  Even more fun to choose the flavors.

And just because we were in the land of lovely food, doesn't mean all the food was great.  Some of it was just okay.  Oh, and some not even okay.  Like, when we decided that we were hungry at 11 pm and Karl went out to find food.  He came back with a pizza a and gyro.  The fact that they were from the same place was kind of a sign.  We still laugh at how gross it was.  

After our time in Florence and the going to other cities.  We decided the food was, in general, better outside the big city.  

Next up:  San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggianni, and Sienna