Tag Archives: pasta e fagioli

C’era una volta…

Posted on by
I found another yummy tea!
Rilassante=Relaxation=YES PLEASE!
It’s minty but has hints of lavender and other earthy tastes. It has such a unique taste, different from other mint teas I’ve had. A box might just have to stow away in my suitcase…
Perhaps it’s because my time here is nearing it’s end, or maybe it’s just that I’m at “that age”, but I have really been noticing how much this semester has challenged me to figure out who I am. I feel like here I’ve had so many experiences that have made me say “well, that’s just not me.” Almost like a process of elimination thing? It’s been interesting, a little painful, a lot fun. That’s my thought for the day :)
Tuesday Alaina and I ventured by bus to Cascine Park to check out the market that sets up there once a week. We’ve never been and with our time here nearing it’s end (which we are NOT talking about yet, thankyouverymuch), we figured it’s now or never!
It’s a serious haul to get there, so we bussed it. It’s so pretty! And massive.

The market turned out to be really sweet. I got a shirt and a cute dress. The shirt ended up being, um, less than flattering, but I like the dress a lot! I’m hoping to break them on this weekend’s adventure.
All my pictures of the market, of course, are of the furry friends we met…

Just chillin in one of the stalls. It’s pretty obvious who’s boss.
Dogpile….of BUNNIES!!! So fluffy and cute!

Lots and lots of boids.

PUPPIES. Oh man. I had to drag myself away from the babies. So. freaking. adorable.

And CHIPMUNKS! I have a special connection with chipmunks. When I was little, my grandfather would make up stories for each of us grandkids with our own personal sidekick – mine was Chester the Chipmunk. We visited Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty, obvz)’s castle many times together. So yeah, I have a thing for chipmunks ;)
After walking through the market, it was definitely lunch time. We are revving up the restaurant tour of Florence to high speed, and it was time to check Nerbone off the list.
Nerbone, like Mario’s, is a true institution here. It’s inside the market, and if you go arund 11 or so you will all the little hold men hanging around, sipping wine and eating sandwiches. It’s been around just about since the market itself has, and a reputation for serving Florentine food as typical as you can get.
After much debate, I went with a classic: pasta e fagioli. I’ve had it at Sergio’s, so they were up against some pretty intense competition, but I had faith.
Complete with an artful swirl of olive oil.
I’ll be honest…I was unimpressed. Of course, it didn’t help that a) I had this place built up pretty high and b) I am used to the amazingness that is Sergio’s. It was liiittle too soupy for me, and I wasn’t a huge fan of how tomatoey it was. I spent the majority of my young life despising tomatoes, and didn’t like them until my first trip to Italy. They taste different here – SO fresh. But I think I have reached my tomato capacity for a bit and they just haven’t been tasting all that great to me. This was by no means bad, but wasn’t the incredible experience I was expected either. Perhaps I will try to go back and get a panino – maybe the sandwiches are more their thing. It was fun to eat inside the market though :)
~~~
Gather round kids…
It’s story time!
Once upon a time…or c’era una volta, as they say in Italian…

There was a big old fortress. A tall, dark, menacing figure from the outside…but on the inside, oh the wonders it held…
A craft fair! Artisans from all over Italy (saw LOTS of Sicily, interestingly enough) came to show off their wares in one big convention. They had pretty much everything, from furniture to copper pots, to artworks and beads…and food. You know what I was there for.

Chocolate, cookies, and pastries, oh my!
I just love pretty chocolate :)
That would be some form of pasty dough STUFFED with chocolatey goodness. A sight for sore hungry eyes!
SO many drool-worthy cannoli to be had! I haven’t actually had one since I’ve been here yet (not a big Tuscan thing), so Alaina and I decided to split one.
With chocolate chips, of course!
Ohsogood. The ricotta was unlike anything I’ve had before – you could definitely tell it was cheese, not just some sugary cream fakeness. The creamy, sweet ricotta with the chocolate and powdered sugar plus the crumbly pastry was just heaven. I’m glad I waited ’til now to try it!
We wandered around the entire room once, sampling breads, olive oils, LOTS of cheeses, some wine, a little chocolate, and several truffle stands. Basically, my idea of the perfect evening.
There were also a couple chocolate stands with marzipan in fruit shapes, which I have always loved because they’re so pretty and colorful!
I got myself a pear and a strawberry. I love marzipan!
Yummmm.
I also bought these 2 little plaques with the cutest drawings ever. I couldn’t decide which I liked better, so I got both *blush*.
 They just make me smile. A lot.

LOVE.
So, you may be curious about this weekend’s adventure…well, alright, I’ll tell you. We’re off to BARCELONA! My roommate from school is studying there, so she will be our lovely tour guide. We leave tomorrow evening and don’t return til LATE Sunday (as in, almost Monday), so Gillianasana will be sadly postless until then. BUT fear not, my new yet-to-be-named camera will [hopefully] be accompanying me, and I intend to get to know her/him very well :) My last cooking class of the semester (*tear) is tomorrow, so I will do my best to update before we leave, but I can’t be sure (there is a good possiblity I will be running around the apartment wildly throwing things into bags…don’t you wish you were there to see). 
Ciao for now!

Spring Sprang Sprung

Posted on by
I know, I know, long time no post. Bad blogger, bad! But I come with pictures! LOTS.
I don’t know how or why, but on Wednesday I slept until 1. PM. I did NOT see that coming! It was literally like someone just hit me over the head with a hammer. It was sooo good though – I haven’t slept like that in months. After all, what would a real vacation be without some great sleep? After a little get-together with Minerva the yoga mat and some breakfast, my roomie and I decided to try our luck with the Uffizi.
Note to self: Do NOT expect to just saunter on in to the Uffizi Gallery at 3 in the afternoon. Ain’t gonna happen. In my defense, there is a reason I thought this was feasible: my study abroad program gave us each an “Amigli degli Uffizi” card that gives us free admission to all state museums in Florence. We were told that with these card, we had to enter the Uffizi at entrance #2 (yes, there are multiple), so I figured there was a special entrance reserved for people with the magic card. Well, the card may be great, but it is not a miracle-worker. There are 2 entrances to the Uffizi – the one for those with reservations, and the one for those ignorami without. So, you say (at least I did),”well why not make reservations for tomorrow?” Because you are reserving a ticket, not just an entrance time, and the magic card means we don’t pay for the ticket, and thus no reservation. I realize that this has not been the most enthralling story…sorry. I like to rant.
SO, Plan A up in smoke, we improvised and visited an old friend – Dante. As in, Alighieri. As in, the Divine Comedy and Inferno. As in, the brilliant poet who lived in Firenze for a good chunk of his life. His “house” is now a museum (read: tourist money suck), and we being the diligent English majors we are just had to see it! It was kinda blah, but this was pretty cool to see:
Firenze ca. 13th century.
Notice anything?
NO DUOMO! Not built until 1476. Thank goodness it was – that thing has saved me from getting completely lost many, many times.
All this tourism shtuff really works up my appetite…what better a reason for gelato?
Mango + strawberry mousse
The mousse had a little of that artificial “cool whip”-y taste to it, but the mango was deeeLISH. 
Dinner was a bit of a re-run:
My vegged-up bruschetta!
Toasted bread with spinach, basil, garlic and tomatoes baked along side the bread on the oven, spinkled with pecorino romano. Bruschetta rock my socks.
So do gorgeous sunsets from out apartment window.
Frida doesn’t like it when I turn the flash off. But the colors are perty!
Thursday was significantly more eventful. It was a gorgeous Spring day – perfect for my first trip to the Boboli Gardens!
But first, lunch at Sergio’s since I didn’t make it Wednesday:
Paste e fagioli! The real deal. 
I want to put this restaurant in a box and take it home with me. So. Good.
On to Boboli! It’s a huge park behind Palazza Pitti (Pitti Palace), where the Medici lived when they were in power. It was absolutely beautiful. I could totally get married here. You know, with my millions.
back of Palazzo Pitti
My favorite part. I. Love. Tuscany.
Do you see this house? It’s turquoise. I have no idea what it is/was…but it’s more important what it will be: my house.
Cutest little spot. Good for reading/napping, I’m thinking.
Old (serious understatement) vineyards
The stone work looked like melted candle wax…no idea how that happened.
Check OUT this bathtub. Maybe the horses used it.
No words.
On the trek back, I, being the bottomless pit that I often am, was feeling some gelato. A neighbor from home told me about this gelato place across the Arno, which is where the Gardens were, and this was the perfect opportunity!
After-eight (as in, the most amazing dark chocolate covered mint candy ever. If you haven’t tried them before and like the mint-choc combo, seek these out. They leave York patties in the dust.) and yogurt & nutella.
The yogurt-nutella was ok; I have discovered I don’t really like the “yogurt” flavor of gelato after 3 tries. It’s tangy in an odd way. But the After-eight….WHOA. Yum-my. I know that the green color means they added all kinds of artificial crap (nautral mint ice cream is white)….but I don’t really care. This was amazing.
BUT – I still think I like Perche No! better. I guess I will have to go back to confirm…;)
If you want to see the rest of my Boboli pictures (or the rest of my pictures in general), check out my photobucket @ http://s32.photobucket.com/home/NorbertsShiksa!
Stay tuned for my solo adventure…where in the world is Carmen Sandiego Gillianasana???