Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Honeymoon II--the FOOD
Okay, okay. I didn't mean for yesterday's post to be a pity party, but THANK YOU all so much for your sweet comments. I think I just needed a reminder that you're all out there--and for those of you that know me personally, especially in Nashville and far away places, I miss you all and I'm so glad that I still have this way of communication with you!
So, I liked Tisra's idea of breaking it up into sections. So today's is FOOD. Thanks to a skyrocketing Euro to Dollar ratio, most of the usual tourist trinkets one might purchase seemed outrageously expensive. That and Jason is the most annoying person to shop with on the face of the earth. Love ya, babe, but seriously.
So instead of boxer shorts with Micheangelos' ahem...likeness... on them, we ate (and maybe drank a little) our spending money. And it was so worth it. The town up the road from our farmhouse, Pienza, is a tiny town. There were about 6 restaurants, and we ate at 5 of them. All little trattorias run by familys and with about 15 tables. We truly had some amazing food.
The first night we were there, we ate at a place called Latte di Luna (Milk of the Moon, I believe). Jason ordered Pici al Ragu--handmade noodles in the rustic local tradition with a special meat sauce. He tried it, liked it, then ordered an entire 2nd order and proceeded to eat it. I drank more wine. Oh, and that's my gnocchi up there--unbelievably delicious.
We made it a point to eat bruschetta at every single restaurant. This is some homemade mozzarella on this version. Wow. Pecorino was famous in the area where we stayed, and we ate quite a bit of that while sitting on the patio at the house. And while we were there, Pienza held their Feria de Cacio--festival of cheese. They take cheese seriously. These are my kind of people.
In Florence, we went to the central market--a favorite place from my summer there in college. It smelled just the same as I remembered!
Unfortunately, while in the market we saw lots of defeathered fowl. Unfortunate because when we stopped for lunch at an Ecuadorian restaurant--a chicken burrito and sangria for 5 Eure--my stomach was a little shaky about eating chicken with skin and tiny hairs still on it. But the change in flavors from the ragu that is so prevalent was nice.
Hmmm...they love pork in Tuscany. We stopped in a little butcher shop where they had a giant pig and were chopping it for people, but we (I) chickened out before it was our turn to order.
And now it's time for the dessert portion of the program. Cookies, gelato, what more is there? Tiramisu, that's what more. Our favorite place to eat was a tiny roadside outdoor cafe in Radicofani--we had ravioli that was handmade and to die for, and then I ordered this Tiramisu.
Jason doesn't even like tiramisu, so imagine my outrage when he tried to eat all of mine! He had to order his own. I'm not sure what it was about this particular kind, but it was creamy and heavenly. This is how we felt afterward:
And we may have had a little wine. What? It was our honeymoon!
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The blissful shots at the end are marvelous! I have a healthy kind of jealously over the Tiramisu. Love, love, love tiramisu! I love to travel, too, so- yeah- I will totally follow along on whatever you have to say about Italy. :-) I'm thrilled that you guys had such a great time.
I have to tell you that Chris's Mom bought him some of those boxers when they went to Italy. (imagine right hand raised) I swear to never buy Miles any type of underwear after he is married.
Love the photos and the food looks FANTABULOUS! Looks like you had a fantastic time! Do you know Italian or did most people speak English as well?
mmm... you're bringing back my italian food memories. italian gnocchi and tiramisu cannot be beat here in the states. i could eat italian food every day and be perfectly happy about it. nice necklace in that last picture!
Beth,
Since you are wondering if anyone reads, it is time to confess that I have been sneaking onto your blog from time to time to see what you've been up to. It's a whole new window into the wonderful person that you are---thank you for sharing.
MC
Your cousin, of course
ohhhhhhhhhhh
myyyyyyyy
goodness.
my mouth is watering. how much fun you two had!!