Tag Archives: sandwich

A Beautiful Blur

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Have I mentioned that I was going on a trip to California?

Maybe once. Or twice.

Well, I did! From Thursday to Sunday, my roommate and I ran around northern California for real life/outside-the-college-bubble stuff and little bit of fun. Oh, and food. Always, always food.

15 minutes after our morning classes were out, we were on the road to the Charlotte airport. California adventure? Bring it on.

We stayed with my uncle and his family in the San Rafael area (thanks, family!!), and rented a car to get us around. After the 45 minutes from the airport to their house in which I bit my lips repeatedly, gripped the steering wheel like my life depended on it, and emitted the occasional profanity when someone 2 lanes over sped by at 90 mph, I got quite used to it.

PS, South Carolina drives way too slow.

Day 1: Getting down to business

My roommate is a music therapy major, and as part of her degree she has to do an internship after graduation. Her top choice was (yes, was) in Sacramento and when she started planning the trip so she could audition for them live, I jumped at the opportunity to visit the CIA Greystone campus. Plus – adventure tiiiime! [When you call a trip to the grocery store an adventure, a good reason to go to California in January looks like an epic journey. You understand.]

We dutifully bounded out of bed at 6 in the morning on Friday (is that sarcasm I hear?) to beat rush hour traffic into Sacramento. At least we got to see a pretty sunrise!

A big thank you to my navigator, who sleepily obliged my request to take these pictures ;)

After dropping her off, I zoomed to Napa Valley! The CIA is located in St. Helena, just down the road from Napa and across the street from a vineyard.

 

Culinary school….or castle??

mmmm, grapes :)

Turquoise lamp posts! If you are unfamiliar with my turquoise obsession…consider yourself warned.

The herb garden!

I have to admit, part of the pull of this school is its location. Not just wine country – M.F.K. Fisher lived in St. Helena with her 2 daughters at one point in her life. I’ve walked the same ground as M.F.K. Fisher. Whoa.

The town of St. Helena is as cute as it can be! Love at first drive-though.

 

Love the grapes on the street signs!

Note the G on the clock!! Omen?

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I waited for my 3 o’clock appointment with admissions, I spent the afternoon in – where else? – a bakery. A really cute, local organic bakery with incredible coffee.

I haven’t had coffee that wonderfully strong in a while!

I had to stay for lunch, of course. It’s just polite.

Well, that, and I found this sandwich of hummus, goat cheese, lots of veggies and balsamic on focaccia – all my favorite things on bread? Yes please.

After the tour of campus, during which I asked tons of questions and all my mother’s hopes of my liking the New York campus better flew out the proverbial window, I headed back to Sacramento to pick up my kid roommate. Not without about an hour and a half of rush hour traffic. But I did manage to get something out of it…

Tuscany? Is that you??

 

 

 

If anyone asks, I most certainly did not take these while driving/sitting in traffic. That would be dangerous.

Out of hunger and desperation, we chose a brewery on the same street as the internship location for dinner. It actually turned out to be a pretty good choice!

Spinach salad with feta, artichokes, crispy onions and little baby bay shrimp that I subbed for chicken. I’m on the west coast, people – seafood all the way! It was in a really delicious garlic-basil dressing that I am going to try to recreate – both flavors balanced so nicely! Paired with a glass of wine, I was a very happy – and exhausted – girl.

We slept in a bit til about 9 and I made us breakfast – oatmeal, of course!

2/3 c oats, 1 c. of water and 1/3 c. of low fat milk. Topped with a barely ripe banana (when they are not quite ripe, they are better on top – if you mix them in the pot, they are just to starchy and lose all the sweet flavor), peanut butter, and whipped cream. Because it was there. I recommend it heartily :)

We decided to have a low-key day because, well, we are pretty low-key people. We headed to Sausalito, a really cute little town (that was apparently the theme of the weekend!) on the other side of the bridge from San Francisco. We wandered, drank more amazing coffee while sitting on a bench and gazing at the water, and of course, we ate.

 

It was a blissful 60 degrees. I’m ready to go back now, please.

[twss?]

Loved the funky hydrant!

sooooo good.

 

 

 

Cheers!

We didn’t plan that…we swear.

 

The bus stop. Obviously.

We made a friend.

For lunch, we decided on the bakery where we found the wonderful coffee. I’ve decided that local bakeries are generally the best choice for dining when traveling. How can you go wrong with bread?

 

Cibo = ‘food’ in Italian. Good sign!

We ordered 2 panini for lunch and split them.

This was the veggie filled with beets, chard, pepper, other veggies and either mozzarella or fontina cheese – the bread was great and the veggies had a lovely sweet flavor that went well with the melty cheese.

We also ordered the prosciutto panini, which had spring greens, peppers and fontina – it was like a crispy, crunchy rainbow! It reminded me how much I love prosciutto. It just has such a wonderful smokey flavor, but it’s so thin. That’s saying a lot coming from an almost-vegetarian!

Dessert is, of course, a necessary thing.

Kona Coffee Fudge yogurt from the apparently famous Lappert’s. Such a good flavor combo!

We spent the late afternoon crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve been to San Fran a couple times, but I was way too young to remember if I’d even done this before, and this time I had a camera!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Night night, sun!

It took 16 hours, 2 cars, 3 planes, 4 states and time zones, and a grande sub-par latte from Starbucks  to get us home. But it was worth it.

Well worth it.

Unexpected Austin

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Wednesday, August 11th 2010: Wake up far too early for a sunny day in August. Eat some melon. Head to airport. 
Destination: Austin, Texas.
Purpose: Training as a Peer Mentor for Academic Programs International.
[Just wanted to set the scene for y'all. Why the James Bond writing style?...If I told you, I'd have to kill you.]
Once I passed through security – always a barrel of laughs, that process – I proclaimed it breakfast time. And whaddya know, but there was a UFood Grill in the American terminal. I have heard of this particular restaurant and have always wanted to go, but all its Massachusetts locations are in downtown Boston, and it’s not easy to just hop down there. (Mostly because I refuse to drive in Boston. I value the lives of myself and my car far too much.) It’s a super casual dining place that features all health-focused fresh foods – AND tart frozen yogurt. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I have a frozen yogurt, erm, problem. The problem being that I love it and will get it at pretty much anytime of the day or night, irregardless of actual hunger. It’s usually worth it.
But, I also saw they offered smoothies, and that sounded perfect so early on in the day. I grabbed a yogurt and the Mango Madness smoothie – mango, banana, and orange juice.
It was a little heavy on the OJ flavor, but it was pretty tasty. And it made me happy to see a substantial healthy breakfast option in the airport. It made me smile.
I had a layover at OHare in Chicago, and was equally as successful in finding a healthy lunch option!
It was lacking in the protein department, and was seriously screaming for some avocado, but it was really fresh and tasty. The cilantro made ALL the difference, and I was really impressed that it was even there! When I think of airports and herbs together, I see a flight attendant asking me if salt counts. Go OHare and cilantro!
Got to Austin and eventually found the other 3 Peer Mentors who were with me – we were on the same flight the whole time!
I’m just going to say it now: I have never, EVER in my life experiences humidity like I did in Texas. It was what I think rain forests and green houses are like. It was intense and inescapable. But I actually kind of liked it – the air conditioning never felt too cold! 
Despite all the heat, we still saw plenty of runners and bikers and strollers out and about, sweaty and smiling. It was impressive. Insane, but impressive.
After getting to the hotel, my roommate Gab and I chilled in the room and literally talked for 2.5 hours straight. She had studied with the API Toscania program, and it was absolutely incredible to share our mutual Italy experience/adventures. In fact, the entire time in Austin was like the best therapy I could have asked for in the transition back to home life. I loved hearing about everyone else’s experiences and even though we all went to different places, we all had the common ground of loving every minute of it and it was amazing to connect with that. It was just the coolest group of people. I kinda wish we got to work together more as Peer Mentors. But before I get too wish-washy…
On to the FOOD. We definitely ate well in Austin. The first night, we went to a Tex-Mex place. As we should have.
 
[Insert here bowls of some seriously delicious salsa, guacamole, and queso. I always thought queso was just glorified melted Veleveeta cheese....I was wrong. It's amazing.]
I went with the fish tacos for my entree. It was a tough choice, but I’ve always wanted to try them, and I do love me some grilled tilapia. It was a good choice :)
The corn tortillas were soft (my fave!) and tasted homemade, and I never thought I would say this, but the best part of the dish was the Chipotle Ranch dressing drizzled on top. I usually opt for no dressing, because the plate typically arrives drowning under a cloying, bland, cheap-tasting white goo. But this was unlike no other ranch I’ve ever tasted. It was light but wonderfully creamy, well-spiced but not too hot, and accented the dish without taking any other flavor away. Basically, exactly what a sauce should be. One of the best tex-mex experiences I’ve ever had. (The only one that was better was a seafood enchilada in downtown Boston when I was around 9. It remains in my head as one of the tastiest seafood dishes yet to reach my mouth. I could eat one right now.)
After dinner, the group of us wandered around downtown Austin (ha! that rhymes with Boston!…maybe I need to get out more.). Austin is such a cool city! It reminded me a lot of Charlotte, North Carolina which I was totally not expecting. Most of our group ended up doing a bit of bar-hopping on the [in]famous 6th street, but my 20-year-old status and very tired self prevented me from doing the same. Luckily, my roommate and one other girl were also still 20, so I wasn’t alone. Yay for the youngin’s!
After a none-too-restful night, I awoke groggy but excited to get started. It was so great to actually meet the people I had emailed obsessively and see the building where that rather hefty check was sent to. The API Staff is just awesome. And a lot of them are Gillianasana readers, which just makes me grin like an idiot to know. [Hi everyone!!!] And the office decor is SO cool. The creative director Mark is, well, creative. It’s really colorful and fun, and I have plans to decorate my future apartment a la API. You’re all invited to my housewarming party. Bring chocolate.
We went out to lunch & I had my first one of these:
A fried pickle! And the consensus was that it tastes like…um, a fried pickle. Yep.
Dinner was really exciting. Like, really really exciting.
Italian! What else would get me so excited?
[That was some delicious focaccia. Nothing like the focaccia I had in Italy...but delicious nevertheless. Crispy, cheesy, chewy. God I love bread.]
Remember my first garganelli experience? I loved the shape, and when I saw it on the menu simply done with a tomato & basil sauce, my mind was made up quite quickly.
Simple is always a good way to go.
The dining experience in Austin was really fun. Great food + great conversation. It was, well, great!
And lo and behold, what was across the street from this Italian restaurant but a frozen yogurt shop. I was all over that like white on rice.
This was my first experience with pay-per-ounce fro yo, and I must say, I am jealous of those of you who have one nearby. Although my wallet sure is happy without them.
But who can say no to this??
Not I. 
I went the next night too.
The next and final day, we all gave our presentations about our personal study abroad experiences. It was so much fun to hear everyone’s, and made me want to go back. And then go everywhere they went. Global tour, anyone?
Earlier, we met with our program managers, aka the person I stalked via email for 3 months when I was dealing with the massive amount of paperwork involved. [Note to all those study-abroad hopefuls I just scared: most of it is now done online. I am jealous.]. Mine was absolutely awesome, despite the fact that I emailed her 3 times in a row in a period of 10 minutes, and it was so cool to meet her (and see a pic of her adorable son!). 
Another highlight was lunch.
Turkey+sprouts+lettuce+tomato+mustard+”avocado”. Apparently in Texas, when you see avocado on a menu, it means guacamole. Only one more reason I love Austin. More places should adopt that principle.
But dessert basically eclipsed everything else. There is a “cookie delivery service” nearby that the office orders from often, understandably. But the kicker? The cookes are delivered fresh from the oven.
In one word? GENIUS.
That was hands-down the best M&M cookie I’ve ever had. It was all gooey and melty and warm and if I didn’t have enough reasons to up and move to Austin, this would do it. I want to open a fresh-from-the-oven cookie delivery service. Seriously. Possibly one of the best business strategies I’ve ever heard of.
After our training was all over (*tear*), a small group of us decided to check out Barton Springs Pool, which is a public outdoor swimming area with natural water. (I don’t know how else to describe it; by “natural,” I mean not chlorinated. So before you start giggling about the concept of “unnatural water”…shutup.)
[I love that there is an award for "Best Swimming Hole."]
We ran back to the hotel and I fought with the hotel printer, and before I knew it, it was dinner time! We met at a tapas bar (we were going for barbecue, but the was an hour-long wait, and it was already 8 o’clock. Not happening.).One of the group studied in Barcelona, so needless to say, we asked him for recommendations. I
went vegetarian.
It was some fresh bread with some of the best grilled veggies I’ve had – and I have had a lot! It was leeks, artichokes, and asparagus in smoked olive oil + sea salt. The leeks literally melted in my mouth. That romesco sauce on the side was none too shabby, either. I wanted to partake in the bottle of wine, but that pesky age limit and my conscience stopped me. Oh, to be in Italy again.

It was really a great trip. Even better than I expected, and I was pretty excited to begin with! The job will be a lot of work, but studying abroad is something I’m pretty passionate about & I think it will really be fun. 
That wasn’t the only surprise; the trip seemed to trigger a bit if reverse culture shock. Perhaps it was all the talking about living in our respective countries and how much we loved and grew from it, but either way, I came home happy but a little hurtin’. But what it really did was remind me of what a crazy, confusing, beautiful experience studying abroad is and, for me, was. And I’d do it all over again.
Thanks, Austin!
I think I’ll be back ;)
~Namaste~
[P.S. - if anyone read this earlier, my mouse clicked the "Publish" button of its own volition when I was halfway through writing it. Hate it when that happens.]

Coffee Talk

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Here’s what I’ve learned after 3 consecutive summers working in a small coffeehouse:
1. Eat a good breakfast. Preferably involving an ample serving of protein + fat + fiber.
[oats + greek yogurt + melone]
2. Sandwiches are friends. Quick, tasty, portable friends.
[tempeh + Crofter's SuperFruits jam + goat cheese on sprouted grains bread. makethisNOW.]
[cucumber + anchovies mashed w. avocado + oregano + rosemary. also quite delicious!]
3. Bars are friends of sandwiches. Don’t split those lovebirds up. Your blood sugar will thank you.
[ProBar's Fruition Cran-Raspberry: This is a truly wonderful bar! Not too tart, just pleasantly refreshing. If only it were a bit less $$$$, they'd make many more appearances in my life.]
[Clif Chocolate Almond Fudge: Anyone who can't stand how overly sweet Clif bars are, this will change your mind. It's like a wonderful chocolatey brownie with hints of almond extract, helped by the real chunks of almonds in there. Must be my favorite Clif. SOgood.]
4. Drink water nonstop. Yes, you will have to pee a lot. But I have learned that the chances of the front of the store exploding or a line of customers around the block forming in those 3 minutes of potty time are shockingly small.
5. Be prepared to be hangry when you step in the door. Make a fast, delicious, & healthy snack.
Overeasy egg on toast will do just fine.
6. Always have your camera on hand. You never know when you’re going to walk out after closing and witness one of the most photogenic sunsets of the summer.
And finally, my latest lesson learned:
7. Windex makes a kickass fly killer. Even if your clientele think you’re insane because they see you spraying Windex into the air with a ninja-like look on your face.
To all my fellow baristas out there – keep on brewin’. And to all my dear coffeehouse patrons…have you tipped your barista lately?
~Namaste~

All My Single Ladies

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I think it’s about time I introduced some of the ladies in my life:
Daphne, the newest addition to the Gillianasana family. We even like the same music ;)
And a traveling chica of a different sort:
Isabella the Polka-Dotted Moka!
I bought her in Florence because we had one in our apartment and these seriously make some incredible coffee – and it’s TOO easy!! I almost squealed out loud when I saw Whole Foods actually sells them. I highly recommend if you only drink a cup or two a day, because they’re easy to clean (NO soap, just good rinsing), fast, and the taste is bravissima! Unfortunately, they only have the regular one here, no polka dots…all the more reason to pop over to Italia, no?
I’ve met a couple other singles…
Raspberry Goji Dannon Light & Fit
Unfortunately, I did not like this enough to put a ring on it. It was just kind of a vague berry flavor. Admittedly, I can’t think of what gojis alone taste like – haven’t had them enough – but all I could taste was a strawberry-raspberry-ish flavor. Oh well. Made for a decent enough snack.
The next one was slightly more likely to be a keeper:
Chobani Champions! I guess these are the greek-yogurt-for-kids attempt. I personally am a fan of the starburst design.
Normal Chobani consistency – not super thick, but enough to be called a respectable Greek yogurt. The flavor was, well, cocoa+vanilla+cane sugar, which is pretty appropriate considering that’s basically what it is. I liked it and it made for a fun little dessert, but to be honest, I could make this on my own by just mixing in cocoa and vanilla to plain yogurt and be just as happy, if not more (the cane sugar taste was a little much for me). But, the package also comes with a “honeynana” flavor which sounds quite promising, so stay tuned!

And finally…

This Odwalla Sweet&Salty Peanut bar may have been single, but I wasn’t really lovin’ it. It had a very peculiar flavor that reminded me exactly of spirulina? It was muted but strong enought o distract me with every bite from the sweet & salty peanut goodness. I was in my car when I gobbled it down, but it looked pretty much like a wider, flattened Kashi TLC chewy bar. This was odd. And when I wasn’t distracted by the mystery flavor, I noticed it was almost all sweet and very little salty. Oh well. 

Being single is all well and good…but couples can be pretty cute too.
What could be mingling with the Fage?
MANGO!!!! Oh, yum. These were perfectly ripe and juicy and wonderful. Despite my obsession with them, I don’t often buy them fresh because they tend to be pricier. But as I walked into Whole Foods, lo and behold – cart after cart of mangoes on display for 5/$5!! It was a good day.
That mango is a bit of a philanderer – he was also seen canoodling with oats last night:
[Almond milk, flaxmeal, and cocoa powder may or may not have also been involved.]
And he didn’t leave ’til this morning!
Scandalous!
Ridiculously long-stretched metaphor aside, this was a seriously delicious bowl of overnight oats. Mango + chocolate=love. Maybe star-crossed lovers?
The next mingler was:
Amazing Grass Green SuperFood in Lemon Lime – the “energy” drink powder.
Schmoozing with frozen banana and cherries, almond milk, spinach, vanilla and a dash of cocoa powder.
I actually kinda liked this. The combo wasn’t perfect (but actually I liked the cocoa powder), but it was pretty tasty. I definitely think it gave me energy, though – I drank this before leaving for a dinner party I was helping the caterer with (serving, plating, etc.) for some more food service experience. When I came home, I was still pretty wired and not as wiped as I expected for being on my feet for 4 straight hours! Quite impressive, Amazing Grass!
Speaking of that dinner party, please at some point this summer make these:
Grilled peaches. Cut in half, place on grill. Easy, pretty, delicious. Emphasis on the latter.
On with our couples!
Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter.
First spotted with sprouted-grain toast and cinnamon…
Then getting friendly with a cracker…
 The verdict? I liked this much more than the honey almond butter – I could taste the honey a little better. Overall, it’s a really decent peanut butter. Nice mouthfeel, and a very classic taste – you think peanut butter, this is that flavor. But, it wasn’t good enough to knock over my dear Naturally More, so I probably won’t be purchasing the jars. Those packets sure can be handy, though! And I’ve heard about Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut butter…NUTELLA with natural ingredients??? YESPLEASE.
I have also discovered that tempeh makes a wonderful sandwich.
Just a leftover block of tempeh with spinach, mustard and S+P on sprouted grain bread. This is my favorite kind of thing to eat because it does leave me full, but not heavy. It lasts me a long time but I never have that super-full-feeling in my stomach. Love that :)
Single Taken Smoked Salmon salad:
Spinach + arugula + smoked salmon + tabbouleh + capers + mustard + balsamic. The only thing it was missing was goat cheese…other than that, yum. Sure made this single girl’s tastebuds happy!
~Namaste~

Squish, Squash, Applesauce

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I have some SERIOUSLY exciting news….but I’m going to keep it a surprise. Because suspense and tension is fun!
Yesterday was a big day. Was anyone else excited?
They’re HERE!!!
4 NEW Larabar flavors. And no, your eyes do not deceive – that IS chocolate chip cookie dough!! I am going to stalk WFs until they carry them. And they will.

Last night in a fit of…something, I baked up another batch of Supercharge Me Cookies – this time with unsweetened carob chips and chopped dried apricot.

YUM. What’s a day without baking, I wonder.
This batch was actually a lot less crumbly than my first attempt – maybe it was the switch from whole wheat flour to spelt flour? The batter was much wetter this time. It made them more cookie-like…but I think I liked the first texture better! Since making these again is an inevitability, I will just have to play around with it.

Hmm, what else have I been eating…

Apple cinnamon cream of wheat = comfort food at its finest.

*Insert here Dunkies’ Iced Toasted Almond coffee – I may have a new fave flavor!!*


Half a Tomato Basil panini from Panera – I got lucky and my mom only wanted half! Pretty much like pizza…in sandwich form. No complaints here.

And finally…

TEMPEH!
I bought some a while back and keep forgetting about…until tonight.
I first tried tempeh at a hippie dippie little restaurant in Boone, NC (one of the most surprisingly cool towns ever) when I was there with a class to hear a talk at App State. I had had tofu, but never tempeh, so I went for it – and have never looked back. I LOVE this stuff. The texture is just so fun – grainy and a little chewy, yum. Like tofu, it is a fermented soy product and has little flavor on its own, but I like to look at it as a culinary blank canvas. Tonight, I mixed up a random marinade off the top of my head (always a little scary when I do that…)
-2 T maple syrup
- 1 T (about) grey poupon mustard
-splash of cider vinegar
-onion powder, rosemary, paprika, S+P
It was a little too much maple syrup, but not a total failure. My mom liked it very much :) I let it marinate in the fridge for a couple hours (maybe 2.5?) before baking it at 350F for about 30 minutes, flipping a little over halfway through. It was in there a little too long and I probably should have flipped sooner, but it worked. Since my body seems to be rejecting the mere thought of animal meat (seriously, except for fish, the thought of eating it makes me gag), I was so relieved to have some on hand. I even bought more at the store today! Let the experimenting begin! I’m a tempeh-recipe-researching fiend. Bring it.

We ate it with my mom’s “Mexican Squash Casserole”. She just kind of made this up one night and it ended up being fabulous! It sounds a little weird, but it’s really quite good. We’ve been discussing alterations to it, but here is the basic recipe – I apologize for the estimations, my mom just eyeballs when she cooks (an ability I really envy!):
- 5-6 smallish yellow squash (3-4 if they’re bigger)
- diced white onion, probably about 1/2 of a large
- 2 eggs
- ~1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley, if desired
-shredded mozzarella, maybe about 2/3 c.
- 16 oz (1 container) ricotta cheese (fat free, part skim, whatever)
- salsa
- shredded cheddar cheese (we’ve used fat free, I suggest using less of the real stuff for flava)

1. Lightly steam the squash. When done, cut them into half-rings.
2. Mix the ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, and onion – and a little S+P and fresh parsley wouldn’t hurt, either :)
3. Place the mixture in a baking dish and cover the top with salsa – as much as you deem enough. We don’t use much more than a thin layer, as the flavor will seep down as it bakes.
4. Cover the top with shredded cheddar cheese. It will melt so again, only a light layer is necessary, but it’s all up to you!
5. Bake at 400F for about 35 min – until the cheese is bubbling.
6. Don’t burn your mouth gobbling it down too fast!

Threw it on a bed of spinach. Because even squash should be comfy before I devour it.

While the cookies were baking, I snacked on one of these:

These are actuall WAY bigger than they look on the box – don’t you love it when that happens? I kinda liked the mango better (I know, big shock); this one isn’t quite enough of a “mix.” It’s really heavy on the strawberry – the only reason I know it’s not all strawberry are the hunks of a tropical yellow fruit (I can never taste it well enough to tell if it’s mango or pineapple), and while I love them, I wish there were more. On the bright side [for me, at least], it says there is coconut in it but I can’t detect the slightest hint of it. I’m not big on coconut flavor (my mother abhors it, I can tolerate it but don’t crave it), so I was happy about that. Oh well, the mango was awesome, so I ‘ll stick to that. [Haha, get it? "stick" to that? because it's a popsicle??.......wow. even I'm telling myself to move on.] 

I will leave you with the cutest.face.ever.

What I miss most when I’m at school? Having a dog.

P.S. – I’m glad to hear that the new layout is liked! It’s not perfect, but it was fun to play around with and I liked that I got use my own picture in the header (even if it took me 20 years to get it right….) :)

Edible Vengeance

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This being my blog and I all, I have every intention on being 100% honest on here. And honestly – today was not a good day. I know exactly why, but that didn’t change the fact that just getting out of bed was a challenge. Every negative thought possible was running through my head, about everything – my body, my abilities, my future – it was an endless stream of depressing negativity.
What I hate most about days like this is how LOUD the ED voice becomes. I should eat as little as possible, work out as long as possible, blah blah blah blah BS. There was a time where I could and would listen. But now, it just pisses. me. off. So, I fought back. How, you may ask?
Chocolate.
First in the form of yogurt:
I have had this for a while, but was saving for dessert…and then kept forgetting about. This morning was time.
It was good, quite good (although not amazing). At first it felt “wrong” eating something so chocolatey…but really, it’s not all too far away from what I would put in oats.
I mean look at the ingredients:
It was a tad sweet for me, but all in all yummy. And it helped – made me feel just a little stronger.
Oh, and the chocolate did not stop there. Oh no.
Chocolate-covered cherry oat bran.
[Note: Next time, cut cherries smaller!]
Amazing Grass GreenSuperfood Chocolate
With almond milk, banana, cherries, and a splash of ‘nilla. 
LOVED this. Very deep and chocolatey; I was impressed! I liked this as much as the Kidz Wildberry flavor – my only reservartion in buying a bigger container was that I don’t necessarily want a chocolate-flavored smoothie every time I make a smoothie…maybe I will like the Original? Anyone else tried these before?
I continued my day of “edible vengeance” – after quite the breakdown in the kitchen with my mom – with probably the best sandwich this side of the Atlantic:
This is an Italian Sub from a little Italian Deli near my house that I grew up going to. The family who owns it is from Southern Italy and import most of their products, and make their [absolutely mouth-watering] bread. Walking in there is like walking into a mini-Mercato Centrale. It’s wonderful. And they make the best Italian sub ever on their crunchy, golden, doughy baguette that rocks my carboholic socks.
Although, I will say this – there is nothing “Italian” about an Italian sub except for the individual ingredients. Yes, the bologna, salami, mortadella, mozzarella, and all that is Italian – but try to find this in Italy, and it’s simply not there. In fact, when we explained what an Italian sub is to my Food & Culture professor, she looked at us like we had 3 heads! It is such a cool example of how food changes and adapts to a different culture. One of the many reasons why I love it so :)
Anyway, the vengeance went right on into dinner:
Artichoke-onion-garlic pizza on whole grain crust from Whole Foods. Aka, heaven.
This was so yummy. Their whole grain crust is to die for – you can see the flax seeds hangin out in it! YUM. And really not all that expensive, either!
I suppose today has been a long time comin. I can tell because I’ve had a serious itch to bake, bake, BAKE! And I have. Tonight it was Jenna’s Whole Wheat Banana Bread that I made into muffins:
We had ripe bananas, I had the recipe pulled up…it was fate.
That little heart is from the end of my box of Kashi Heart to Heart cinnamon cereal (one of my favorites!). The two on the bottom have a drizzle of almond butter on top, and though you cant see it, the top 2 have a brown sugar sprinkle on top. I like getting creative with the presentation :)
And last night, I made Dreena’s SuperCharge Me! cookies:
With craisins and vegan chocolate chips.
May I just say – WHOA. These are incredible. I just love sweets that are good & good-for-you. The flax meal gives them a wonderful nutty flavor and texture! I will be making these again. Butterscotch will be involved.
And speaking of chocolate [when I am not speaking of chocolate?], the Amazing Grass trial continued yesterday with:
I loooved the Wild Berry, so I had high hopes for the Chocolate!
1/2 nana + 8 cherries + 1/2 c. almond milk + ~1 c. spinach + 1 packet Kidz Chocolate SuperFood.
Meh. I didn’t like this one much – too…grassy? I was really surprised when I liked the regular Chocolate so much! It was better after I added a hefty spoonful of cocoa powder, but still – I’ll stick to the Wild Berry.
More new things were sampled yesterday, including:
Sideways-spoon test:
It passed – a little too well, though! It was a bit too reminiscent of eating glue. And it had a weird texture, like a little gritty? I’ll keep on keepin on with Fage, the tried & true [love].
Took advantage of a 5 for 5 sale at WFs and got some new Odwalla bars – well, new to me.
I liked it, but it was not very pomegranate-y at all. It reminded me of a NutriGrain bar without the icky sugary filling. I might not buy it again, just because it wasn’t exactly a stand-out, but it was worth the try.
In other news, I think my body is insisting on becoming a vegetarian. My mom and I went to the gym and then when we got back, she made a lentil-chicken soup using leftover chicken from dinner this past weekend. It smelled good, and I do love all-things lentil…but I couldn’t stomach the idea of chicken. No idea why. But, if your body screams at you, it’s a good idea to listen – so I made this tasty mess:
This was 2 egg whites + the remains of the tofu package I used for the cake frosting. It was Nasoya Lite Silken Tofu, because it was the only silken tofu the store had. It mixed with the egg whites more or less easily, and I cooked it in the pan with some broccoli slaw, garlic salt, pepper, oregano and rosemary. I drizzled it with *the best* olive oil, and when it needed still a little something more, I added a splash of golden balsamic vinegar – perfect. With a slice of whole grain bread from Costco. It was really tasty! I will definitely be making this again!
I wish I could say that’s all that’s been happening over here, but…this ain’t the half of it. Emails, culinary school research, job search…oy vey. This is definitely a job for yoga.
~Namaste~

Being Back

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WHOA! I’m home…how did that happen???
The flight(s) were actually pretty smooth. Being the [lovable] OCD control freak that I am, I got to the airport at 9…and couldn’t check my bags until 2 hours before my noon flight left. So, I dragged my heavy – but not so heavy that I had to pay extra fees! – luggage to the cafe and had a goodbye cappuccino. Well, maybe more of an until-next-time cappuccino.
I hate traveling. Ironic, considering how often I do it, but I always love being in the place I’m heading to – it’s the getting there that causes my blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels. You walk up to the attendant at the desk to check your baggage and hold your breath as she weighs them, praying that they are under the limit. Then you have to get in line for security. Ah, security. My favorite part.
You hand over your passport and ticket to that security agent. More breath-holding ensues as he looks from your passport photo to your face – “I swear that’s me, I was just having a bad hair day!” One time they must have been doubtful and asked me what my name was. Now, for a 13-year-old, my immediate reaction was “are you blind? did you not just look at my ticket? who hires these people????” And this is just the beginning.
Now you have to carefully place all your belongings in specific places and hope that you didn’t forget to throw that tube of lip gloss in your Ziploc baggie. If you’re lucky, you step up, calmly place your laptop in one of those plastic bins, shrug off your jacket and step through to the other side. If you’re me, you get out your 2 cell phones in preparation of putting the with your computer, one falls to the floor and the battery and flimsy piece of plastic that holds it in scatter on the floor, your jacket is still hanging off one arm, you’re frantically looking for that Ziploc baggie that you thought you had put in the most accessible part of your purse, and you’re struggling to get your laptop out of its velcro case and into that stupid bin before the security agent ushering everyone through ups his voice one decibel louder. Forget gyms – airport security is the ultimate workout.
Once I got to the gate, breakfast was thoroughly burned off and I reached for my treat. My last Casa del Vino panino.
Prosciutto, pecorino, love.
I think I am going to start a ‘Restaurant Reviews’ page as well and include Florence – just because Sergios & CdV are not to be missed!
An earlier flight to Frankfurt was canceled, which made me nervous, but my flight to Munich left on time with no problems, thankfully. Once I got through customs there, I deemed it snack time and found…
Fresh fruit juice!!! I have no idea what this was, but I’m thinking strawberry-raspberry-citrus something. Yes, specific, but give me a break – I had already been up and going for 6 hours. I was not exactly a pretty sight ;)
My layover wasn’t long at all, a comfortable hour-and-a-half or so – thanks to my very good travel agent, a.k.a dad. The flight itself was alright, the food was blah but I got to watch “It’s Complicated”, “Did You Hear About the Morgans”, and the pilot episode of Glee which, of course, I loved. I am a huge Broadway geek, so this show was made for peeps like me, but I didn’t want to get attached to a TV show and then go off to school so I waited. And then I discovered the magic of watching TV on the computer…and, well, let’s just say  I’m planning some major catch-up sessions this summer ;)
I apologize for being MIA – I woke up Sunday with the worst case of flu I can remember. Every inch of me was in pain, running fever…oy. Welcome home?
All worth it though, just to see this:
It’s good to be back.
~Namaste~

Stomaching It

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There is nothing like walking the streets of Florence with a gelato in one hand and new shoes in the other. Not even the rain can bring me down.
Dark Chocolate + William Pear from Vestri.
Vestri’s dark chocolate goes beyond just ‘gelato’…it’s like another dessert within itself, it’s so good. 
I haven’t posted in a while because, well, there hasn’t been much to post about! I had two finals on Monday which I think went pretty well overall, I was pretty well-prepared and knew what to expect. To be honest, my semester here is about so much more than studying, I’m not too stressed. Don’t get me wrong, I studied and read and took my classes seriously, but in the grand scheme of things, my classes were only an iota of my time here. SO MUCH has happened these past few months! It is sad that it’s the end, but I am ready to start reflecting on it I think. It’s a lot to take in, for sure.
Monday night I had a date (gasp!) and we went to Pepo, a place right by the market that was on the to-go-to list but we never made it.We’ve done pretty well getting through it, though!
I ordered:
Tagliatelle vegeteriane – just pasta and veggies. Keepin’ it simple – hard to go wrong with that!
It was yummmmy (although it could have used a little parmesan). The pasta was perfectly al dente - mushy pasta is one of my biggest pet peeves. The veggies held up their texture as well. A little oily but overall very tasty!
Tuesday was a bit of a rough day. I spent most of the night swatting at the mosquito buzzing in my ear, but unfortunately my efforts did not keep the nasty little thing from eating me alive. I must have at least 8 bites in various places right now. Ick. I came home from Italian and went back to bed. Got up to eat something…and went back to sleep again. Whoops! I think I must have needed it though; my throat had been a little sore for a few days and I needed a little more rest to fight it off. I spent the remainder of the day staring out the window at the torrential monsoon-like downpour outside and telling myself to start packing…and then doing crossword puzzles instead. Just one of those days, I suppose. 
3 of us went to the farewell aperitivo API held for us at a nearby restaurant/bar. I wasn’t expecting much, but…ouch. It was just sad. It really wasn’t aperitivo – we had to pay for drinks if we wanted an alcoholic one. Diet Coke is not what you drink at aperitivo!!! The food was some over-oily pizza, which actually didn’t totally suck, but it only came out every 10 minutes or so and the 50 students that were there jumped on them like hawks when they came out. There was a rice-veggie salad type thing that had what I swear was chopped up hot dog. Seriously, I understand cooking for a large group is hard…but it’s not that hard. Fail.
Came back and attempted to study for Italian…aka, listened to Michael Buble and caught up on blogs & email. The final really wasn’t bad, and I was right to not be concerned about it, we had basically done everything on the final at some point in class before. I only wish we had had more listening assignments; that’s really my weakest point. Just don’t have a big enough vocabulary yet. I’m going to keep working on it, though; it’s such a pretty language and I’d love to be fully fluent!
After coming home and passing out – had another bad night sleep-wise – I woke up and got to the day’s activity: shopping. I don’t do much shopping at home (aside from food, of course), so I like to take advantage of having a city full of great shops while I can. Especially since the prices are usually so good – I can get birthdays and Christmas covered in a snap!
For lunch, Alaina and I had plans. Scary plans. What could be scary about lunch in Italy, you ask? One word: stomach. Cow stomach, to be precise. It’s crazy popular in Florence; their “fast food” comes in the form of lampredotto, a sandwich of boiled stomach (not tripe – that’s the 3rd stomach; lampredotto contains the cow’s 4th stomach…you hungry yet?) and served with a green, herby sauce on a roll.
Looks totally and completely innocent, no?
Ok, here’s my opinion: taste-wise, it was actually pretty good. Very much like roast beef, but the difference is really hard to explain. The texture, on the other hand…hmm. Slimy. Slimy, slick, and not at all pleasant. We both took two bites before giving up. We just couldn’t stomach the stomach!
I was in desperate need of something to take the slimy-meat memory out of my mouth – and it just so happened that we were right by Casa del Vino! Considering I hadn’t gone this week (Monday is my usual sandwich day but I had my last Sergio’s date planned for then), it was perfect. I got the very first sandwich I ever tried, waaaaay back in February:
Anchovies in a parsley-olive oil-garlic mix with fresh pecorino. And the reason why I fell in love with this place came rushing back. It was gone too fast, but I enjoyed every last bite.
Packing is an overwhelming act. I think I’ll go pour myself a glass of wine.
~Namaste~

Rain, Rain, Vattene!

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Monday was a generally unpleasant day, with one notable exception…
Prosciutto, pecorino, and arugula. Worth staying awake through my classes for.
That, however, was an exceptionally difficult task considering we got back to Florence via taxi from Pisa at 2:30. More than once I had to physically struggle to keep my eyelids up. 
But enough of my whining. THE END IS NEAR!!! It is our last week of classes, then exams and then home! I’m still in a state of semi-denial about this whole’ leaving Florence’ situation. Let’s not talk about it.
Let’s talk about oats!
Mmm, chocolate-pineapple oats to be exact. Maybe it sounds weird, but really it makes sense – every chocolate fountain I’ve encountered is usually accompanied by strawberries, pound cake chunks, and pineapple! If you haven’t tried this combo, you must – whip out that fondue pot collecting dust in your basement and get to it! Heck, just nuke some chocolate chips in a bowl and dip some pineapple in there. I am a chocolate+fruit fiend. Especially in terms of gelato combos…mmmmm….
It has yet to cease raining here since we’ve returned from our Spanish vacation. We’re thinking Florence is sad we’re leaving soon. Yup, that’s definitely it.
Last night was our LAST Ethnic Tuesday! Che peccato! And what better way to do up our last one than with…pizza?
We actually discussed the interesting nature of pizza recently in my Food & Culture class. It has become an “archetype food,” meaning a food with no specific identity and neutral characteristics. Think about it – we have Thai Chicken pizza, Hawaiian pizza, Mexican pizza…it crosses every ethnic boundary line! So really, it’s the perfect choice for our final Ethnic Tuesday. It covers every ground!
We’ve had Gusta Pizza on the list for a while (and yes, I have an actual Excel spreadsheet of restaurants to go to) because it is rumored to be the best pizza in Florence. That certainly sounds like a challenge made for the ladies of The Palace! It was pouring down rain, and the restaurant was across the Arno – but we do not let Mother Nature stand in the way of pizza. We called a cab. Totally worth it.
There are only 7 different pizzas made (and a couple daily specials), which we all agreed was kind of nice – sometimes looong menus are just too overwhelming! After much debate, I went with the Napoli – tomato, mozzarella, capers, and anchovies. It was the anchovies that did it – Italy has made me an addict ;)
Melty mozzarella deliciousness :)
It was saltier than I would have liked – and before you say it, yes I know anchovies are capers are salty, but actually the anchovies I’ve had here haven’t been overwhelmingly so. I still enjoyed it. How can you tell? I ate the entire thing. Crust and all. Yes, it was that good. And I don’t regret a single bite.
Today the weather matched our mood…our LAST Wednesday lunch at Sergio’s!!! WAAAAAH!!
Alaina’s parents are coming next week and Alaina is taking them there on Monday for lunch and I’m tagging along (for blatantly obvious reasons), so it’s not our true last lunch there, but it is the end of our Wednesday lunch date tradition, and that is sad. We all sat around with our pasta e fagioli with mournful looks on our faces between bites.
From this…
To this. No better tribute could be paid than that of an empty plate.
Tonight, LdM is hosting a farewell sit-down dinner for us – and where free food beckons, we follow. Until then, I’m getting my study on for the written part of my cooking final tomorrow. Antioxidants, phytochemicals, and homocysteine, oh my!
~Namaste~

Barcelona or Bust

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Bienvenido a…

Barcelona!
Be prepared for an epic photo post. I came. I saw. I clicked.
After my very first flight on RyanAir [which, by the way, Alaina hot on the nose when she called it the "Ikea of all airlines"], we arrived at our hostel around midnight and promptly passed out after some very unpleasant cold showers. We arose for a depressingly mediocre hostel breakfast, but it didn’t matter because we were in freaking SPAIN!
We met my roommate Monica, who is studying there this semester, at Plaza Catalunya. We may or may not have looked like crazy, confused tourists while trying to figure out the Metro on the way, but by the end of the trip we had that baby down!
Monica played tour guide and steered us all over the city and back! It was great because she could tell us what attractions weren’t worth spending the entrance fee to go in. It’s always fun to visit a city from a local’s point of view – I wish someone had visited me so I could show them my Florence! But aaaanyway…
We ventured down Las Ramblas, one loooooong strip that leads to the water.
Lots of people and green!
Monica knows me well and led us right to, what else, a market! Mercato St. Josep. It was SO colorful!
They had a whole bunch of fruit stands selling every different kind of juice combination you could imagine, and this I had to try. I went with Papaya-Mango:
We went back later and I got strawberry-pineapple. Both were SO good. I wish Florence would pick up on this juice trend! But, overall, my dear Mercato Centrale in Firenze wins. It feels more personal there, I think. Oh, how I will miss market-shopping!
Our tour continued and we eventually found ourselves in front of Gaudi’s Sagarada Familia, a church whose construction was started something like 140 years ago and they’re still working on it! None of us had much desire to go in – the looooong lines and one too many Italian churches did us in – but it’s a beautiful sight. I went in when I was here 8 years ago. I wish I could remember better how it looked then to see how much progress they’ve made!
Those crazy twisty tree branches in the front reminded me of Sleeping Beauty when Maleficent made all those thorn bushes grow in front of the castle to stop Prince Philip. Yes, I’m a Disney nerd. Don’t hate.
You can kind of see how the front looks a little like melted candle wax. It’s really such a cool structure!
Next stop: Parc Guell
Another Gaudi work! This I remembered well – it was my favorite part of Barcelona. I think it still is! It’s so colorful and funky. If I had a patio, I’d want Gaudi to decorate it.
One of the best views of the city.
See how crazy-cool the architecture is?!
Mosaic work everywhere!
LOVE.
You’re probably wondering by now – where’s the food?? I was a tad disappointed by the food this trip – Italy has it aaaaalll over Spain in that area. But we still ate pretty well!
We stopped for lunch at a little outdoor place across from the sea:
That would be a sculpture of a lobster. Hard to tell from this angle, but either way – wicked cool!
We started with some mandatory Sangria. I was a little concerned, my past experiences with it have NOT been pleasant – but it turns out I liked it a lot! Probably because I’ve learned to like wine so much here. Yum!
One of the prettiest sangrias we had this trip.
For lunch I was SO tempted to try their hummus & pita, but in the end I decided that I’m just going to wait until I go home to get my hummus fix – it will make it taste even better! I went with a hot sandwich with serrano ham & manchego cheese. Gotta eat local!
My family discovered Manchego cheese several years and got hooked! It’s mild but still has a real kick to it. I love how every culture seems to have their own version of ham and cheese. I’m still a prosciutto-pecorino girl, but this was very tasty in its own right :)
After lunch we decided to head back to the hostel for a siesta and to get ready for the night’s festivities. We made a quick stop back at Mercato San Josep for some snacks and I got some mango (yes, I’m obsessed. for good reason, mind you – it’s SO good!):
One euro of tropical juicy goodness. Mmmm.
We were amazed at how easily we slipped into the Spanish way of eating dinner so late – We didn’t finish until  after 11 PM! A far cry from the 5 PM dinner I eat at school. 
We had one mission tonight: paella. The national dish, I ate this a little too often on my first trip to Spain and got tired of it, but I was very eager to try it again. Say the word seafood and I’m there!
Monica took us to a place near the beach recommended by her program, La Fintora. It was a good sign when we were brought a glass of complementary champagne!
And bread. Not in a basket, but on individual plates – we were definitely not in Italy anymore!
And olives that were SO. GOOD. A bit different from Italian olives – a little spicier, I think. 
We ordered Cava sangria, which is made with sparkling white wine instead of the regular red wine. I like it, but I think I preferred the classic sangria.
Pretty color, though!
And then it arrived in a pan almost the size of the table. Oh yes, we were excited.
I only wished there had been more mussels! It was reaaaallly good though – in fact, I think paella is the sole rice-based dish that I truly enjoy. A little sweet from the seafood and spiced with the saffron. I ate a little too much, but honestly, how often do you eat paella by the sea in Spain for heaven’s sake!!
Before heading to the club to get our dance on, Monica took us to this really unique, cool bar, La Ovella Negra. It was like a huge open warehouse with wooden cafeteria-style tables and sangria on tap. It was really cool, very different. We went to Razzmatazz, the biggest club in Barcelona – and big it was! 4 floors of crazy booming music. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say – we had a really good time. ;)
We slept in and decided on a trip to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast! This city had SO many American chains, and when we stumbled upon Dunkies, it was immediately put on the list. If you’re from New England, Dunkies is where you go for iced coffee. Sam and I were feeling nostalgic and Alaina was sick of listening to us rave about it, so to Dunkies (called Dunkin Coffee here!) we went! Because it was so late, we went ahead and found a place for lunch after coffee. Dancing all night makes a girl hangry! We picked a random place on La Rambla and settled. Nothing fantastic, but everywhere here was touristy so it didn’t really matter. I actually was quite pleased with the salad I got:
Mushrooms, asparagus, and shards of parmeggiano reggiano. It was a really good combo!
[I have genuinely no idea why google refused to upload this right-side up. But you get the gist.]
We stumbled upon a gelato place that looked good, and felt that since we have become such gelato connoisseurs, it would be plain wrong to not sample it in another country. This place, Amorino, was actually pretty cool because when they put it on the cone they form it into a rose! You know me and pretty food. I swear it tastes better.
Mango + soy chocolate.
The soy chocolate was SO good and dark! The mango had a bit of an ‘off’ consistency and hard to eat, but my love for mango is enough to ignore such minute details.
Red shades, black dress, yellow gelato – I’m the Spanish flag!
That night we met Monica at Plaza Espanya for the “magic fountain”! There is a huge fountain in front of the national art museum and they play classical music while the fountain “dances” along. They actually played American 80s music for us…we found it incredibly entertaining. What fountain wouldn’t want to dance to Madonna?
We went out for tapas that night but sadly we had no idea that Saturday was Spain’s Labor Day and the best tapas bar was closed :( We settled for one nearby and it was pretty good but not a-ma-zing. No pictures, sorry! We were already dressed to go out and I didn’t want to bring my huge purse (and I was a little paranoid about stolen cameras…because mine is so new and pretty!). Just imagine some tomatoes and mozzarella in olive oil (they called it a greek salad…we were a bit skeptical but enjoyed it), an anchovy, a big slab of salted cod – which I liked at first but in the end it was too salty, and a “tortilla” which in Spain is basically a frittata. This one was stuffed with veggies and it was really pretty good. Not an incredible meal overall, but I love the tapas concept of getting a lot of little things and getting to taste a variety of foods. Always fun!
We went out to a different club, Apolo, after we went to an “Irish” pub and then this awesome shot bar! They had an entire wall of different shots and they were insane. The best was the boy scout – they pour alcohol on the bar after pouring the shots and give you a marshmallow to roast, then you dip it in the shot, eat it and then drink. It was really fun. They weren’t very alcoholic either, which I appreciated :) It was a late night (perhaps I should say morning), but LOTS of fun. I actually felt like a normal 20 year old for once. 
Our last day was beach day. Hit up Starbucks for breakfast (the Dunkies didn’t have bagels and we were not feeling donuts for breakfast) and then were off to the beach. It was a little cool, but sunny for the most part. I didn’t bother with a suit, but got a little sun. I also got the roomies into collecting beach glass! On my search, a little boy saw me looking at the rocks and gave me this:
“La quieres?” Bah, of course I want it! So cute! Best souvenir ever.
Boats galore!
When I got bored, I started to play with my new camera…
SO FUN!
Finding a place for lunch turned out to be a rather difficult task – everywhere we wanted was packed to the gills. We eventually found somewhere – at that point our only requisite was that they served food. We got to sit outside, and got Sangria, so all was not lost. I ordered the pan con tomato, which is a Catalan specialty. It’s basically ciabatta-like bread with a tomato kind of rubbed/crushed on top. It was interesting…but made me long for bruschetta. It needed garlic and basil!
I also got a caesar salad which was…um, not caesar salad. The dressing was like some kind of ranch or something. It came with chicken though, which was unexpected but appreciated. 
I also stole several of Sam’s patas bravas, which is a typical tapas dish. Potatoes pan fried with spices and sprinkled with paprika and served with a tangy mayonnaisy sauce. I’m not much for the sauce but the potatoes are gooooood. Try them if you get the chance, I’ve seen them at random Mexican restaurants before.
It was a bit of a mad dash from hostel to metro to bus station – we were literally sprinting with all our bags out of the metro. But we made it. The train however that was supposed to take us to the Pisa train station from the Pisa airport never showed, and we ended up having to take a cab from Pisa back to Florence. That was a VERY unexpected and even more unpleasant little surprise – cabs are not cheap. But it was either that or sit in the incredibly sketchy Pisa train station until 4 AM, and that just wasn’t sitting right. Ah, traveling in Italy. Always a joy.
NOT.
The return trip put aside, it was a pretty fantastic weekend. Lots of fun, and I got to see MoMo, who I haven’t seen since we left school in December! Perhaps the most interesting part of the trip though was that I realized how perfect my choice to study in Florence was. I would have hated living in a huge overwhelming city like Barcelona. Not to mention the food – oh how Italy has spoiled me there! I had fun, but it was good to come home. Tiny shower, no dryer, and no peanut butter, but it works for me. American girl, Italian soul.
~Namaste~