When you have bills to pay, finding a job is much more important than blogging. Unfortunately. But! I've sent out a handful of applications and gotten caught up on photo editing, so I can finally start sharing my stories.
Thinking about how to accurately convey my experiences over the past couple months is overwhelming because so much has happened, but the starting point is obvious: Italian food! An Italian meal is not merely food on your plate. It is art. And while my appreciation for fine art in the cathedrals and museums dwindled throughout the trip, my palate did not tire!
I made a personal goal to gain 10 pounds in Italy. I should probably think about having more relevant-to-real-life aspirations. I failed miserably, but my effort was commendable. I took full advantage of every opportunity to start my day off with a nutritious and balanced breakfast: my first choice was always a croissant with Nutella, which completely obliterated me justifying the consumption of 2 giant spoonfuls of Nutella the day before I left as a month-long goodbye. Second choice was usually cereal with half and half. I consider either a breakfast of champions.
Venice was our first stop, and my first pizza.
Italians pride themselves on fresh and simple ingredients, which seems like the perfect cooking mantra... until you apply it to pizza. I'm all for fresh ingredients, but turns out "simple" is code for not using any seasoning. So my first slice of Italian pizza was soggy, bland, and far from transcendent, but that didn't stop me from eating the entire pie. I refused to give up on the birthplace of the pizza and ordered several more throughout the trip, trying repeatedly to be impressed by a fresh and simple pizza. After all that, I'd still prefer an American pizza any day. Please, please don't hold it against me, and more importantly, don't tell the Italians--the mafia is on their side. Seriously.
Beyond the pizza letdown, the food was phenomenal! We enjoyed one of our most delicious meals the first night of the tour, in Padua, at Trattoria al Prato di Marmini. The outdoor dining room provided an intimate setting with a few lit candles and a spectacular view of Prato della Valle, the largest square in Italy. The primo piatto, or first plate, was particularly memorable: a plump pasta pillow stuffed with sweetened pumpkin. I was wrong to think I'd be missing pumpkin while in Italy. The secondo piatto boasted a tender cut of veal that dissolved on my tongue before I could even begin to chew, and a fluffy tiramisu rounded out the evening.
After Padua, we headed south towards Bologna and Montone. Bologna is renowned for its good food and aptly nicknamed Bologna La Grassa, the Fat One. It is often said that the towers in Bologna are leaning over to smell the delicious food. And Montone? I think its towers are leaning, too.
In Montone, Celebrity Chef Giancarlo Polito restored La Locanda Del Capitano to provide travelers with a unique lodging and dining experience. Giancarlo is The Captain of this adorable, boutique hotel in Umbria. He wears many hats, but the toque is his favorite, which was evident in the authentic Italian feast he prepared for us...toast with a black truffle spread, prosciutto, Volcano Risotto, goose breast, and Chantilly cream with biscuits. Giancarlo's expansive knowledge of Italian wine impressed us all, so we graciously obliged to sample his suggested pairings. Now, that is art I can appreciate.
For the record, I am stealing the Volcano Risotto name and assigning it to the mountain of mashed potatoes with a gravy crater that will be on my Thanksgiving plate next week. Volcano Mashed Potatoes just sounds better. :)
Like goose breast and veal, seafood is something I never order off a menu. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to avoid eating creatures of the deep when traveling in a country surrounded by the sea. I scoffed when I saw a swordfish at the fish market in Venice, not knowing I would later sample a piece at our fish feast in Levanto. I am extremely proud of myself for branching out. I would just advise skipping the anchovies... or at least washing them down with some limoncello.
 |
|
With all this eating, it only seemed fair that we helped prepare a meal. We spent one sunny afternoon at a slow food farm owned by the demonstrative Stefano. Stefano is the real life twin of Popeye's arch nemesis, Brutus, which is pretty ironic since he devotes most of his time to producing olive oil. Every aspect of this man screams Italian, especially his accent; most Italian words end in vowels, and most of Stefano's English words do too..."You use-a da spoon-a to cook-a da soup-a!" Stefano patiently instructed our group how to make noodles, gnocchi, arugula pesto, and sausage. I am extremely grateful that my pasta comes pre-packaged because the noodles we made looked (and tasted) more like night crawlers than spaghetti.
I always save the best for last. Before all the pasta, and even before my first pizza, there was GELATO!!!!! Our first morning in Venice, I introduced my taste buds to gelato, and they all shrieked with joy! They had met their match, their soulmate, their other half--true love.
With a gelateria around every corner, I felt like Princess Lolly fluttering around my own version of Candyland, indulging in a rainbow of flavors and loving every last lick of creamy, smoothe, heavenly gelato. Sometimes I had gelato after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sometimes I even ate gelato instead of dinner, which happens to be a much better meal replacement plan than Slim-Fast. ;) Really, there weren't many times when I wasn't savoring a scoop or two of gelato.
Kiwi, coconut, and limoncello were by far the best flavors. Yes, I said limoncello gelato. Florence did not disappoint as the gelato capital of Italy, and the local favorite, Vivoli, didn't disappoint either. There, I ordered a (large) cup of gelato di riso, rice pudding gelato, then strolled down the street in the rain as I relished each and every bite. A thousand rain drops on my head could not have washed away my happiness in that moment.
It would be a mistake not to mention Grom, an organic gelaterie chain, with locations all over Italy--33 to be exact. I had the pleasure of visiting three: Padua, Florence, and Siena. Grom makes the fresh and simple mantra work.
It would also be a mistake not to mention the banana and Nutella crepe I scarfed down in Lucca.
Okay, who am I kidding? I didn't eat just one crepe. I ate two. In the same day. Like I said, I worked hard to attain my goal.
Whoever said food isn't your friend is a liar. Because I love Italian food, and gelato is my best friend, and I MISS THEM!
