VIEW OF FLORENCE WITH THE AWESOME CLOUDS!
ALL THE FOOD BEFORE WE STARTED COOKING
TARA AND I MAKING GNOCCI
COOKING
PREPARING THE TOMATO SAUCE
CHRISTINA, TARA AND I
COOL PICTURE OF OUR HANDS
ALL 10 GIRLS IN THE VILLA GARDEN
Ciao,
Since I didn’t write yesterday I’ll talk about my one day in Florence and then begin on Sicily. Yesterday morning Tara, her roommates and I woke up early and took the 8:00 train to Florence from Milan. Driving through the countryside was gorgeous and made me even more excited to go to Tuscany with Katie in a few weeks!! Florence was very pretty much unfortunately I didn’t find it all that impressive, but I’d love to go back because I didn’t do any touristy stuff. We only had 4 hours to wonder the town so we mostly stayed in the city center and I didn’t get to see the original David nor was I able to make it over to the other side of the Arno River to see the neighborhood or the market. At 5:00 we met up with their friend Gretchen and her 3 friends from the U.S. and went a villa just outside the town for our Tuscan cooking class. I was really excited for this since I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, it could make me somewhat more domestic, and it worked! It was so much fun. The class was cool. When you get there they give you wine and an apron and then you set out to make a HUGE meal ALL from scratch. First we made pizza with homemade dough, and fresh homemade tomato sauce (which I made!!) and mozzarella. Then we made crepes stuffed with asparagus and ricotta topped with béchamel sauce and gnocchi with pesto sauce. For our last part of the entrée we made chicken stuffed with pistachio, sausage, ham and fontina with gravy (dad you would love this!) And the best part of all was the dessert –obviously-panna cotta with a strawberry sauce on top. The dessert was unbelievable. I am so making this at home and I know how to because I made it in the cooking class! Keep in mind that everything was pulled fresh out the garden from vegetables and fruits to all the herbs and that all the pastas and dough were made from scratch. Even the vino was made on the villa. Be excited all because I am coming home ready to make homemade food and I have a fabulous Tuscan recipe book (Mom we are so getting domestic in your new kitchen!!!) After cooking we were all in a huge food coma and went straight to bed when we got home around 10:45.
This morning we all got up at 4:15 and had to leave the hotel at 4:45 to head to the airport in Florence for Sicily. Traveling in a group of 10 can be fun, but it is really hectic. Our first 4 nights in Sicily we are staying in Taormina. To get to Taormina we had to fly into Catania airport then take bus for an hour and half to the top of the mountain. OMG I get motion sickness easily enough as it is but the driving here is insane to say the least. People drive on the wrong side of the road, do not follow traffic signals and speed everywhere with scooters and motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic with cars and buses everywhere. I saw so many parents with their baby (like toddlers) sitting between then on motorcycles on the wrong side of road and skidding in front of our bus. I could not believe my eyes. The rumor of crazy hot-blooded southern Italians is true!! The bus ride made me totally sick but it was really a fun experience. The view from Taormina is gorgeous. The buildings are pretty run down but it just adds to the charm of the medieval beach town. Taormina is on the top of a mountain so in order to get to the beach you have to take a cable car down and then about 1000 steps to the rocky beaches. We laid out and had a picnic on the beach today and then came up and got ready for an early dinner. The girls are going out to some outdoor movie in the piazza for the Taormina Film Festival, tonight they are playing the Godfather, but Tara and I are going to stay in and read our books on the balcony with an ocean view. Our dinner here was so good. For how good I was saying the food in Milan was, the food in Sicily is sooo much better! Everything is fresh and delicious!! I wasn’t too hungry so I just had zuccini soup with carrots on top but all the girls got fish because that is was Sicily is so well known for. Tara had some amazing swordfish (even I liked it), Lauren had some muscles that everyone at the table loved so I am assuming it is safe to say that the fish is awesome! To top that meal off we all shared a connolo with pistachio. I am getting my own tomorrow no doubt about it. Sicily is really beautiful and I know that I will be coming back. The island is huge with so much to see and explore. I am not sure what else we are going to do here but laying on the beach and snorkeling is fine with me. We have looked into going on a wine tour or going to Noto which is a boroque town not too far from here. Everything is going great here and I am totally loving it but it is really hard traveling with this many people since it is impossible to please them all at once. So while I am having a great time I am also looking forward to going to Rome and spending some quality Rachel time. It is so well needed!
Miss you all!!! <3
Since I didn’t write yesterday I’ll talk about my one day in Florence and then begin on Sicily. Yesterday morning Tara, her roommates and I woke up early and took the 8:00 train to Florence from Milan. Driving through the countryside was gorgeous and made me even more excited to go to Tuscany with Katie in a few weeks!! Florence was very pretty much unfortunately I didn’t find it all that impressive, but I’d love to go back because I didn’t do any touristy stuff. We only had 4 hours to wonder the town so we mostly stayed in the city center and I didn’t get to see the original David nor was I able to make it over to the other side of the Arno River to see the neighborhood or the market. At 5:00 we met up with their friend Gretchen and her 3 friends from the U.S. and went a villa just outside the town for our Tuscan cooking class. I was really excited for this since I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, it could make me somewhat more domestic, and it worked! It was so much fun. The class was cool. When you get there they give you wine and an apron and then you set out to make a HUGE meal ALL from scratch. First we made pizza with homemade dough, and fresh homemade tomato sauce (which I made!!) and mozzarella. Then we made crepes stuffed with asparagus and ricotta topped with béchamel sauce and gnocchi with pesto sauce. For our last part of the entrée we made chicken stuffed with pistachio, sausage, ham and fontina with gravy (dad you would love this!) And the best part of all was the dessert –obviously-panna cotta with a strawberry sauce on top. The dessert was unbelievable. I am so making this at home and I know how to because I made it in the cooking class! Keep in mind that everything was pulled fresh out the garden from vegetables and fruits to all the herbs and that all the pastas and dough were made from scratch. Even the vino was made on the villa. Be excited all because I am coming home ready to make homemade food and I have a fabulous Tuscan recipe book (Mom we are so getting domestic in your new kitchen!!!) After cooking we were all in a huge food coma and went straight to bed when we got home around 10:45.
This morning we all got up at 4:15 and had to leave the hotel at 4:45 to head to the airport in Florence for Sicily. Traveling in a group of 10 can be fun, but it is really hectic. Our first 4 nights in Sicily we are staying in Taormina. To get to Taormina we had to fly into Catania airport then take bus for an hour and half to the top of the mountain. OMG I get motion sickness easily enough as it is but the driving here is insane to say the least. People drive on the wrong side of the road, do not follow traffic signals and speed everywhere with scooters and motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic with cars and buses everywhere. I saw so many parents with their baby (like toddlers) sitting between then on motorcycles on the wrong side of road and skidding in front of our bus. I could not believe my eyes. The rumor of crazy hot-blooded southern Italians is true!! The bus ride made me totally sick but it was really a fun experience. The view from Taormina is gorgeous. The buildings are pretty run down but it just adds to the charm of the medieval beach town. Taormina is on the top of a mountain so in order to get to the beach you have to take a cable car down and then about 1000 steps to the rocky beaches. We laid out and had a picnic on the beach today and then came up and got ready for an early dinner. The girls are going out to some outdoor movie in the piazza for the Taormina Film Festival, tonight they are playing the Godfather, but Tara and I are going to stay in and read our books on the balcony with an ocean view. Our dinner here was so good. For how good I was saying the food in Milan was, the food in Sicily is sooo much better! Everything is fresh and delicious!! I wasn’t too hungry so I just had zuccini soup with carrots on top but all the girls got fish because that is was Sicily is so well known for. Tara had some amazing swordfish (even I liked it), Lauren had some muscles that everyone at the table loved so I am assuming it is safe to say that the fish is awesome! To top that meal off we all shared a connolo with pistachio. I am getting my own tomorrow no doubt about it. Sicily is really beautiful and I know that I will be coming back. The island is huge with so much to see and explore. I am not sure what else we are going to do here but laying on the beach and snorkeling is fine with me. We have looked into going on a wine tour or going to Noto which is a boroque town not too far from here. Everything is going great here and I am totally loving it but it is really hard traveling with this many people since it is impossible to please them all at once. So while I am having a great time I am also looking forward to going to Rome and spending some quality Rachel time. It is so well needed!
Miss you all!!! <3
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