Tag Archives: pear

For the Love of Anchovies and Flowers

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Oy. I have been thinking about changing the blog layout…and after 4 hours of clicking, copy-and-pasting, and tearing my hair out, I think I give up. Too…many…choices….
I didn’t end up having to babysit this AM, so I went back to bed and made AM turn into PM! Does anyone else get a lot of crap from other people about sleeping late? Somedays it seems like everyone’s favorite joke is how late Gillian sleeps and I gotta say, it gets old. I am perfectly aware it is because I stay up late, but that is simply because I am most productive from about midnight on. Always have been, too. I think it’s something about the total quiet and solitude that just frees up a certain part of my brain and lets me think more clearly.
I’m so excited to hear from those of you thinking of/going to Italy to study abroad!!!! Italy is just a magical, wonderful place. DisneyWorld ain’t got nothin on Tuscany. If any of you have any questions or concerns about it – or just want some sweet restaurant tips – please email me! It literally makes me giddy when people tell me they are going to Italy now. I’m ready to go back, like, right now.
Recently, I have been trying every fun flavor of Stonyfield Farms yogurt I can get my hands on. It may or may not be a coincidence that this week they were 2 for $1 at Whole Foods. So, on with yogurt week!
This morning included:
The likes: Very creamy, not fruit-on-the-bottom. For lemon yogurt fans, you can’t go wrong with this. And it tasted sooo good this hot & humid morning!
The not-so-much: Kind of had a weird aftertaste after I finished it. Can’t really relate it to anything, maybe I was just thirsty. Other than that – YUM!
Next up:
Maple Vanilla!!! 
The likes: Very creamy, and the flavors were definitely there. Would be ca-razy good on pancakes!
The not-so-much: Had an odd tang that didn’t so much appeal to me. Also, this is a limited edition “seasonal” flavor – what is summery about maple-vanilla? Hell if I know. My real problem with that is it means it will go away – this should clearly be kept on year-round!
And finally, my addiction continues:
Yes, another Pomegranate Berry.
The likes: No fruit on the bottom, yet the flavor was not fake at all. Probably because none of the ingredients are…imagine that!
The not-so-much: The berry flavor is, well, just that – vaguely berry-like. I wish it was blueberry pomegranate; that is one of the most genius fruit combos ever. That’s pretty much my only problem :)
Breakfast this morning also included this beauty:
Blushing!
And this guy (too hot for toast or oats and I was too lazy to whip out the blender):
Odwalla’s Superfood bar
Yes, it is green! It contains spirulina, a blue-green algae with a whole bunch of good whole food benefits. It has a very…interesting flavor. I go through the same cycle every time I eat it: I hate it, then like it, then end very confused. It has this weird stick-in-the-back-of-your-mouth thing that I find it hard to get over, but the flavor is very complex and earthy kind of like green tea, which I like. [Hence the confusion.] This bar was nothing if not complex. Every bite was a different flavor – from dates, to banana, to raisins. And that is what the bar claimed its flavor profile was, so I guess mission accomplished? It also had little bits of little rice crispies that added a nice crunch for texture variety. Would I buy it again? Honestly, I have no idea. It’s the type of thing I would never buy, but could get a random craving for and nothing else would do. Ya know?
I dragged my brother out to walk the dog with me – mostly because I wanted to take pictures, and as I discovered last time, that’s not so easy to do when you are on the other side of a leash from a very eager, excited dog.
For once, I was off pick-up patrol!

Tell me these are not the coolest flowers ever?!!! The colors are like crayons!


Flowers = the non-edible fruits of summer.
We came back just in time for dinner – Friday=Pizza night! I was pretty excited for this:
Broccoli + Anchovies. Italy changes a girl. At the very least her tastebuds! The broc worked really well with the anchovies, too – earthy matched with salty, and the mozzarella added just the right sweetness. Oh anchovies, where have you been all my life?
Dessert was one of Bertucci’s (Italian/pizza classy chain in New England – their pizza is exactly what I had in Italy. Che buono!) rolls. They are famous for their complementary dinner rolls, and once you taste one, you know why.
Doughy and delicious. I eat them plain – they don’t need anything.
Dessert also included this:
A Raspberry “Sherbetter” Bar!
It’s a little too “milky” tasting for me, but the texture and creamy flavor is enough to overcome that little detail. I’m way more of a sorbet fan than sherbet (the milk thing again), but this is really quite tasty! I will enjoy the rest of the box, but not really sure I’d buy it again unless I was craving it in particular.
This is a pretty exciting weekend for me…but you’ll just have to wait to see why! Here’s a hint: I’ve been brainstorming new names….
~Namaste~

Beautiful Thing

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Today was a good day.

It started out with Italian, which because of my “sick day” yesterday, was relatively easy to get out of bed for. And lucky for me, today we took a field trip – to a cafe! Our teacher ordered pastry and cappuccinos for the 10 of us and we each had to ask the waiter a question about espresso. If I learned anything, it was that field trips in Italy are SO much better than home!! The capp was delicious, too :)

It only got better from there. After some food shopping (the best kind!) at the market, we went to Sergio’s. The main man in my life! I ordered the ribollita…second week in a row. Addicted? Me? Naaaaah…..

It’s a beautiful thing.
Speaking of which, check out this gorgeous (and massive) pear:
Doesn’t it kind of look like it’s floating? Frida wants to be Salvador Dali when she grows up ;)
Most of the day was spent working on the blog paper – I have a very rough outline and sources, but I’m still a little nervous about it. I have the tendency to get over-ambitious with my papers and then end up disappointed, and this one has so much potential…well, I’ll stop neurosing about it.
Alaina and I took a trip to a new gelateria that is *supposedly* better than Grom…and this we had to see taste.
Dark chocolate + crema di vin santo
The second flavor is based on the traditional Tuscan dessert wine vin santo, which is frequently had after dinner with little almond biscotti. I’ve had it before and really liked it, but the past few times it’s just been a little too strong on the alcohol-side – but this was perrrfect! Had the nice biting taste of the wine that was perfectly balanced with the sweetness of gelato. I loved it! 
We agreed that this place was on par with Grom – no better or worse, very similar. Interesting variety of flavors and high quality ingredients. Oh gelato, how I love thee!
I have nothing profound or particularly interesting to say in this post, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Simple works. Simple is a beautiful thing.
~Namaste~

Zentastic

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Today was a much-needed day of r&r. No trains, buses, museums, or century-old churches. Just chillaxin.
It was a big day however – after sleeping quite late, I was honored to attend the opening of the hottest new yoga studio in town – my living room:
Just me, the mat, and Lisa from YogaDownload. It’s GOOD to be back.
By the way, if you haven’t heard of YogaDownload, it’s a website with TONS of different yoga classes you can download to your computer. They have both audio and video classes and all different levels and schools of yoga. The prices are great, and they also have many free 20-minute classes which are perfect for the morning. They also have a podcast with many of their 20-minute classes. If you have never ever done yoga before, I would hesitate to recommend it, just because in the beginning you really want some teacher supervision, but if you’re a all familiar these classes are great. Any mood you’re in, they have a class for. Check it out!
Yoga felt amazing – MAN have I missed it! Thank goodness for UK Amazon & my dad who ordered it for me. It’s even a pretty color!
Time to show off some NaturaSi loot! (That’s the name of Italy’s Whole Foods. A dangerous discovery but oh so fun!)
Peach-mango yogurt. Taste-amazing. The price…not so amazing.
Organic pear. I think he was lying down in submission. He knew his fate.
Stark apple. I’ve never had this kind before, but it was great! Not mealy at all. Just like classic apple juice.
And finally…
ALMOND MILK!
Oh goodness, have I missed almond milk! It took my coffee to a whole new level. Of course, today I went to the regular grocery store and there it was, laughing at me. I don’t know if I’d never noticed it before or if it’s new…well, at least I know I won’t have to trek to NaturaSi when I run out!
I could eat breakfast foods for 3 meals a day. So many options! Oats for lunch it was:
Carby, dark, and handsome: cocoa powder + almond milk, topped with berry jam. De-lish.
About now, I had a fight with my camera. Every time I clicked to take a picture, the camera turned off. My cameras enjoy finking out on me on big trips, so I probably should have seen that coming. But, it was nothing a fresh pair of batteries couldn’t fix. Left me a little nervous though. My roommate was laughing at me, because I have the tendency to yell at inanimate objects when they fail me. “You have ONE JOB. Take pictures. You are a camera. How hard can THAT be?” Yeah…living with me is, um, well…entertaining, at least.
After some more, er, doing absolutely nothing productive, my roomie and I went to the grocery store/bakery to grab some necessities. It was COLD today.  Hi, Mother Nature, it’s March. March means spring. Get it together, woman. I’m glad we didn’t try to go to Fiesole today; I’m sure in the hills it would have been bitter. More on that later.
Came back and made dinner, and I must say, it was quite awesome.
Homemade bean burger with arugula and sauteed spinach-tomatoes-garlic. Perfect!
The burger recipe comes from this genius, whose blog was the beginning of my food-blog addiction. She’s got a great philosophy and is always a pleasure to read! I want mine to be just like her’s when my blog grows up:)
It’s super easy and the possibilities for different creations are endless. Tonight I used my cannellini beans and added sage, garlic, fresh basil and tomato. Threw it on the skillet, flipped it once, and added some pecorino on top to melt (totally took this to the next level!). I heated up some garlic and olive oil in a pan and added lots of sage with spinach and tomatoes. Thrown together with some fresh arugula, this was great! Super fresh and light. Don’t forget the bread!
Finished it off with a mocktail:
Tropical fruit juice + sparkling water. In a wine glass that I promptly broke and shattered all over the floor…the sad part is there wasn’t even any alcohol involved. I’m just that good.
I got a hankering for some gelato, so we braved the chill and wandered out to get our fix! We tried 2 places that have been recommended…but both were closed. 9 o’clock on a Saturday night seemed a little early, but whatever. We prevailed on our walk home:
Dark chocolate + coffee mousse. It looks good right? Well, it tasted better. The coffee mousse was light and fluffy, and the chocolate was super dark, just the way I like it. My name is Gillian, and I’m addicted to gelato.
Promptly came back and did…homework more nothing. Except eat a bit too much peanut butter. Some things will never change.
It has been a blissfully unproductive day. Tomorrow I’m *planning* to go to Fiesole with my roommate, which is a little hill town overlooking Florence with some beautiful Etruscan ruins and views of Firenze. Wish us luck!
~Namaste~

The Firenze Effect

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It seems that this amazing city has quite the effect on us writers.

Ha, I just called myself a writer. I’ve never really thought of myself as one before, mostly because in high school, I abhorred it. With the notable exception of writing fiction – in fact, for a long time I wanted badly to be a creative writing major. But, I was Dedham’s resident “music major to be” and I played that part so well that I even convinced myself that it was what I wanted. Well, many of you know the story, but I arrived at Converse a bright and eager band director to be. It took one week for me to figure out that it was not who I was. Looking back on that time now, I see how much of a true crisis of identity it was for me. I went from “The Music Education major/band geek” to “…um…I have no idea what I want to do.” Have you ever seen a show or a movie where a girl (it’s always a girl – but that is another feminist rant for another post) gets asked if she’s seeing anyone, and when she says “no,” she gets the head nod of sympathetic pity and “oh, that’s ok, you will.” Ok, well, that was my exact experience when people asked what I was majoring in: “I’m undeclared right now.” “Aw, well that’s ok…” Oh MAN did that tick me off. I have never not had an ambition; in first grade, I was going to be an art teacher. In middle school, a choreographer. In high school, I had the band director plan set in stone in my mind. And then along comes reality in the form of music school and it took a very heavy sledgehammer to that stone.

And then, I took my first English class at Converse. It was so interesting, and it felt so liberating to not have to  have to fight in my head of “oh, I could do this…no, wait, I’m a music major.” I wasn’t even aware how often I did that to myself until I cut that chain. It was a wonderful feeling. I tried Creative Writing, but even more to my surprise, I didn’t like it. Sophomore Fall rolled around, and I was introduced to the wonder and beauty that is early British literature with Mr. Morgan, and hook, line and sinker…I was an English major. I started getting praised for my writing, even though ever paper I write is accompanied by major self-doubt and perfectionist concerns (much to the chagrine of my amazing and very tolerant roomie). I started to realize that, hey, I kind of like this writing business. Around the same time, I started getting into the world of food blogs.

Got into it I did. Enough to believe that maybe I should start a blog. But I was intimidated and more or less camera-less, so I put it off. A week or so into my time here, after watching more and more people jump on the blog-abroad bandwagon, I decided to jump too. And I am SO glad I did.

It’s actually a source of comfort knowing no matter how wonderful or how crappy a day is, I can come here and talk freely about it. Writing is my release. Expressing myself through the written word is such a natural, organic process to me, and this informal space I’ve created allows me to write without second-guessing myself or worrying about being clear or correct. Playing with language has always been really fun for me, I was just never able to articulate that until recently.

To return to the first sentence of this post, I have been feeling so inspired and liberated by the lifestyle here. I had an “Italian revelation” if you will, a few days ago. I was walking back from my 8 AM Italian class, cold, sniffly, thirsty, and sleepy. I was speed-walking as only Americans can when it suddenly occurred to me that I could be much less miserable in this very moment if I simply slow down, look around, and enjoy my walk back to my apartment where a cup of green tea and a lovely bowl of oatmeal awaited me. So I did. And it was lovely.

And speaking of lovely…

Chocolate-pear oatmeal. A little cocoa powder can do amazing things.
(Chef’s Note: The bottom picture I cooked the pear in the pot with the oats, which I recommend over mixing in after, as the flavors mesh a bit better. Less pretty, perhaps, but I find it tastier.)
Both Alaina and I have felt that our passion for writing since starting our blogs abroad has intensified unexpectedly, and it’s really a cool feeling. The idea of writing a book popped into my head a few days ago, and for the first time I actually feel like it is a feasible project. Sure, I’ve thought about it, but it has never seemed truly doable. Until now. Yes, there I go again, trying to find an ambition, because heaven forbid I, Gillian, live a day without “knowing what I want to be when I grow up.” I am, in fact, ok with not knowing. What I am enjoying right now is the freedom of knowing that options are limitless, and it’s even more exciting to think about now having uncovered my passion for food.
I was having a rather icky day today. Didn’t sleep, stomach hurt, cold and gray weather, and wasn’t getting much accomplished at all. But I feel better just getting it out there. Thanks for listening.
~Namaste~