This beautiful city was historically an independent nation, and during the Middle Ages and Renaissance it was a major maritime power and center of commerce. It was also a major player during the time of the Byzantine Empire, trading extensively with the Muslim world, something still reflected in the city’s astounding and decidedly “moorish” architecture. The City of Lights, which it is often called, is cited as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Having been there, even though briefly, I can vouch for that. It is a labyrinth of canals, cobblestone streets and passageways, surrounded by the Adriatic Sea.

The skyline is all domes and spires jutting up into the blue sky. Venice is literally built in the water of the lagoons that surround it. Making it a most interesting city in terms of its architecture, culture, and food, as all of these developed based on the city’s geography and status in the world for so many centuries.

We flew into Venice and stayed for just one night. We wanted to at least experience a little of what this mysterious city, shrouded in fog, has to offer. We took a public water taxi, the Vaporetto from the airport to the city. It was the cheapest way to get there, but it also offered us an extensive tour of the outskirts of Venice and the many islands out of the main city, like Murano. We stayed at a tiny hotel close to the Rialto Bridge. It was a great central location for us to explore the city’s main attraction – Piazza San Marco and the main tourist port where all the ferries and gondolas park.

We had taken an evening flight out of New York (after flying there from Orlando) and so by the time we got to Venice, it was about 10 AM local time. We had only gotten maybe 3 or 4 hours of very uncomfortable sleep on the plane, but I guess the adrenaline of being in such a beautiful place kept us going. After checking into the tiny hotel and having a much needed shower, we headed out in search of food. This was to be my first ever meal in Italy, and so we picked a nice outdoor cafe’ in a cute little square we found near our hotel. Since Venice is a seaside city, we both opted for seafood.

I had an awesome salad with tuna, and Roberto got a mixed seafood plate with an assortment of cold seafood salads.

Both were fantastic. We enjoyed it with a nice class of local wine and basked in the sunlight of the beautiful day. A good way to start our trip. After lunch we both had gelato on the brain. So we went in search of a place that looked really good. It didn’t take long to find one. Venice (as well as most Italian cities) are full of gelatarias.

There were a lot of flavors to chose from and many that I had not seen before. So I was asking Roberto if he knew what they were. He didn’t so he asked the girl behind the counter for a taste. Well, apparently you are not allowed to taste gelato in Venice and apparently you are supposed to know this, because after this innocent question, the girl got very impatient with us. She couldn’t get us our gelato fast enough.

She gave us our change on top of the gelato counter, and when Roberto slid the coins across, one fell through a little crack between the glass and a euro went into the chocolate gelato. This of course made the girl behind the counter really mad, and we just dashed out of there! But the gelato was worth it. Mine was full of hazelnuts and chocolate chunks. I am not sure what else was in it, but it was simply divine!

Next stop – Piazza San Marco – St. Mark’s Square. This is the place to be in Venice. People just go to the piazza to sit and enjoy the sights, feed the many pigeons, watch the people from all over the world and kiss their sweethearts. Dominating the piazza is the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia which is the Doge’s palace, constructed from 1309 to 1424. It is a marvel to behold in person. Such intricate design and details. You could spend literally hours seeing all the parts of this building and looking in awe at this incredible building that was built before modern technology. The craftsmanship and artistry is just unparalleled.

The piazza is also home to St. Mark’s Basilica and clock tower and from the piazza you have a straight view to the Grand Canal and there are several cafe’s.

It really is the center of Venetian life, and is a bustling place, full of tourists, street vendors, and flower pushers (different from actual flower vendors), which out of all the people selling things are the most annoying and unfortunately made appearances in every Italian city we went to on our trip.

Wandering around the piazza we saw an advertisement for a Vivaldi concert that night in a little building right off the piazza. They were going to be featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Roberto and I are both huge fans of Vivaldi and his compositions, and since we were in the city of his birth, we decided this was something we needed to do in our lifetime. We got our tickets (which were VERY reasonable) and headed back to the hotel for a quick rest.

Before the concert we made a stop at Harry’s Bar for a world famous Bellini (which were NOT very reasonable, however, the experience was great) and headed off to the show. It was a wonderful evening, and a great way to spend our one night in Venice.

The next day, we were headed to Tuscany, but not before enjoying a typical Italian morning. Roberto has been telling me about breakfast in Italy for years now – about going to your local bar (what they call cafe’s in Italy) to get a cornetto or tramezzino and an espresso drink of some kind. So we got up fairly early and found a bustling pasticceria full of Venetians on their way to work.

Roberto gave me instructions, and I ordered myself a cornetto (like a croissant) filled with vanilla pastry cream and a cappuccino…in Italian! I was nervous, but it went fine, and I had an amazing breakfast! Roberto had a nutella filled cornetto and a succo di pera (pear juice). In Italy when you go to a bar for your breakfast, be prepared to stand at the counter and quickly eat your pastry and go. This is not a time for relaxing, people are in a hurry and on their way to work, and space is limited, so scarf it down and get moving!

If you are still hungry, walk a few more steps and you will likely come to another bar, and you can get something else – this is also a very Italian thing to do, apparently. So that is what we did, we went a few steps down and enjoyed a tramezzino, which is basically a triangle sandwich with a savory filling. We got ham and artichoke heart with a nice smear of mayo. The ham was sliced so thin that it literally melted in your mouth.

We spent the rest of the little time left we had in Venice walking the streets and taking photos of the canals, bridges and shops before the rest of the tourists got up. It was a wonderful way to see the real Venice and its people.

Hi Everyone and welcome back to FFF hosted on the Leftover Queen Blog! I trust you had a nice time reading Judy’s picks over at No Fear Entertaining over the past several weeks. I had some issues with Internet reliability while I was in Italy, and so I wasn’t able to post her FFF picks over here like I had hoped. But if you missed them and want to check them out, click this link

As always here is what the FFF is all about. Finest Foodies Friday! FFF is a weekly Friday post featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites and yours!
What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is the first and fastest growing free membership blogroll for food bloggers and has become a wonderful community to share ideas about all things food related. With a membership of over 3500 food blogs, I am sure you can find much inspiration and new friends!

The only requirement to be featured here on FFF is to be a member of The Foodie Blogroll and be displaying The Foodie Blogroll widget on your blog. If you are not yet a member, but you have a food blog and would like to join us, please click here!

If you have a favorite foodblog on The Foodie Blogroll, that you would like to be featured here on FFF, please join us over on The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum, and post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

Richmond Food Collective
Everyone knows how much I love eating local and my interests in sustainable living. So I really do enjoy blogs that focus on these topics, and this is one of them. From their about page: “We believe that food can change the world, and indeed, that there is no more blissful, celebratory way to go about doing so.” Check out how to make natural dyes for Easter Eggs.

Food Salon
This is a blog about a foodie who is always full in the stomach and empty in the wallet. Sounds like a lot of us doesn’t it?! There are lots of wonderful dessert recipes being featured as of late, but the post that really caught my eye was for gnocchi. I had some amazing gnocchi in Tuscany, and this is certainly a dish I would like to re-create soon. Thanks for the reminder Diana!

Pickle Freak
I certainly am one, so when I came across this blog I got post in reading. It is not only full of pickles, but also hearty doses of humor. There are just so many pickles and I need to get eating them! So many pickles, so little time. I really hope to make her list of “Other Freaks” she admires.

My Fabulous Recipes
This is a blog full of family favorites, from appetizers to desserts and everything in between. All of these recipes have been approved by the blogger’s family, as the not so successful recipes are not posted on the blog! Be sure to check out those Korean Wontons!

Green Dog Wine
This is a fun blog written by Allison and her blog chronicles all the things she loves – food, eating, running, wine, dogs, and the color green!  She is quite a fitness buff and very much into healthy eating. There are a lot of product reviews on her blog as well, which is always a good thing. But I must admit, I stop by to look at all the cute animals!

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.
I NEED NOMINATIONS!!!!!!

Also we all love to know how people came to find our blogs, so please visit all of our featured bloggers today and don’t forget to tell them that you found them via Finest Foodies Friday!

The Royal Foodie Joust is an awesome and fun monthly peer voted competition that is hosted on
The LeftoverQueen/FoodieBlogroll Forum! It gets better each and every month as the competition gets stiffer as Jousters try to outdo each other every month! It is also one of the friendliest competitions I have ever seen. So please don’t be intimidated to come and join us this month in another round!

We don’t bite, unless of course there is real food in our faces.

The only rules for the competition is that each Jouster create one dish and each entry must feature three ingredients in common. This competition has been referred to many times as the “Iron Chef” of the Food Blogosphere. Each month’s ingredients are chosen by the previous month’s Best Overall Entry winner. The Best Overall winner of each Joust not only wins the Queen’s favor, bragging rights and a cool icon to put on their blog, but is also awarded with a super awesome Royal Foodie Joust apron! There are also prizes for the winners of the other two categories: Best Photo and Most Unique Interpretation

So what are you waiting for? Come over and join us this month!

If you would like to participate in this month’s Joust, be sure to submit your entry by 12 NOON, Eastern Standard USA time on the First of the following Month!

If you have an idea you would like to share about how to make the Joust a better community event, please join us in discussing it here

Now onto the winners of this month’s event. The ingredients for this month were chosen by last month’s Best Overall winner, 5 Star Foodie :

Asparagus (white or green)
Lemongrass
Almonds

The Best Overall Winner also won the Best Photo entry as well, and it is husband and wife team Peter and Christey from FotoCuisine (he cooks, she photos) with their Almond Crusted Asparagus Rolls with Lemongrass Hollandaise.

Now trust me on this when I tell you that Peter is a master at classic French sauces, especially hollandaise. I know this information first hand because I was able to enjoy it on a nice eggs benedict he prepared for Roberto and I when we went to visit them a few months ago so I was happy to see that his winning entry included this sauce. I am a huge fan of both Peter and Christey’s blog AND sushi and so this entry really caught my attention, I think the flavors really work well with each other, and I just loved the creativity! Plus, you must admit that is some serious food porn! Great work guys! Thanks so much for participating in this event and for putting out such an inspired creation. If you are not familiar with Peter and Christey’s blog, FotoCuisine, you really need to check them out. They are both extremely good at what they do and great people besides.

Another foray into creativity is this month’s winner for Most Unique Interpretationwhich is Asparagus Ice Cream in Almond-Lemongrass Cookie Cupsby LK from Healthy Delicious.

This recipe was inspired by an asparagus ice cream they had at a Belgian restaurant. Apparently it tastes like asparagus, but it is really good. I can believe it too, because I once had garlic ice cream, and it was delicious! I love savory takes on normally sweet recipes, and this is no exception! This certainly was an extremely creative take on ice cream, and the cookie cups the ice cream is served in, are also a stroke of culinary genius all to themselves.

Thanks again to all the participants!
If you would like to see all the entries please check them out here.

Here is the challenge for this month! Really great food can look as good as it tastes.  So, Peter has chosen something a little different and picks “Red, Green, and White” as the ingredients.  Each cook should interpret “Red, Green and White” for themselves and come up with something really fun and interesting. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

Here’s one quick clue:

Did ya get it? Espresso……the land of espresso….un caffe’ per favore….???
That’s right folks, I have been away for a bit in the Mother Country – Italia!
I had a wonderful opportunity to visit Tuscany to experience and write about Agro-turismo a thriving vacation business where Tuscan farms offer accommodations to tourists and visitors who want to experience a bit of the country instead of the more common hotels, or even bed and breakfasts. I will write more about our experiences there in a later post. But for now I will leave you with a quick overview of our trip – for when you are in Italy, being such a small country, it is recommended that you visit several regions. We flew into the beautiful and ancient city of Venezia, Venice, and spent one night there.

Venezia- gondolas-duomo-venetian masks

Highlights of course were Piazza di San Marco, the Gondoliers, and the amazing and thriving shops all over the city dedicated to the celebration of Carnivale – full of elaborate masks and costumes. We even had a drink at Harry’s Bar, for the fun of it!

Venice really is an enchanting and romantic city -made up of tiny canals where most people travel by foot or boat (no cars) full of tiny shops, cobblestone streets and the most amazing architecture.

The next day we headed to Tuscany and specifically to Torraccia di Chiusi right outside of the beautiful and medieval village of San Gimignano.

The Torraccia di Chiusi is an amazing place. The accommodations are exceptionally beautiful and the views from the villa are stunning. All you foodies out there should go, just to experience Chef Bruno’s cooking. He is an absolute genius in the kitchen and of course prepares traditional Tuscan cuisine using fresh and seasonal ingredients that they produce right there on their farms. He also enjoys preparing Etruscan and Medieval cuisines if you are so inclined. He was a joy to spend time with each evening at dinner, hearing his food stories and about life in the Tuscan countryside.

San Gimignano- entrance to san gimignano – us with chef bruno – tuscan hills – view from our room

There is an ancient pilgrimage trail, called the Via Francigena that you can walk from the Torraccia di Chiusi to San Gimignano in about an hour. I will talk more about our adventure on the Via Francigena in a later post, but let’s just say that it didn’t take us an hour. But San Gimignano was worth it – such a quaint and beautiful place.

From the Torraccia di Chiusi we made several day trips. Our first was to Firenze, or Florence.

Firenze – duomo – motorini – duomo

It was a pretty cold and gray day when we went, which didn’t make it so enjoyable. Although our good friends Erin and Chris from The Olive Notes spent a year living in Firenze and so they had given us an extensive itinerary of things to do while in Florence – mostly involving food of course, and seeing some of the major sites. We weren’t able to do it all, but I will discuss the highlights in an upcoming post.

The next day we headed to the medieval city of Siena which is famous for the Pallio a horse race that is done on the campo, the center of town, that is a scene of not only sportsmanship, but also huge political rivalries. The Pallio really defines Sienese life in so many ways.

Siena – duomo – lions head detail – the campo

When we visited Siena it was a nice a quiet day. The city is very charming and was probably my favorite. It was easy to navigate and the architecture there was so unique. I really enjoyed traveling the ancient streets and stairs.

After five idyllic days in Tuscany we had to head south to Rome, for some family time. Roberto doesn’t make it home very often, and so we had to make sure to go to Rome where his family lives.

Roma – forum – colosseum – pantheon

What can you say about Bella Roma? It is an incredible place. Going from the more medieval towns of Tuscany to a truly ancient place, like Rome was an amazing chance. In Rome you have the ancient alongside the most modern. From the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Forum to Via del Corso where Prada and Dolce Gabbana live.

Roma – trevi- bronze angel- piazza di spagna

The enormity of the buildings were breathtaking, and photos will never do justice to these ancient and modern buildings, fountains, and structures – everywhere you turn is a work of art, or some kind of major human accomplishment…and the FOOD. The food throughout the areas of Italy we traveled were all amazing, but in Rome, it is just abundant – markets, green grocers, cheese and meat shops. It is unending. Oh and did I mention the gelato and coffee? Those are whole posts to themselves.

Our final four days were spent in Ostia, Rome’s seaport.

Ostia – ostia antiqua – port of rome – il mare

Ostia Antica is nearby and again, everywhere you look are ruins. Ostia is reminiscent of Saint Augustine, on a much smaller scale. But it was nice to end our visit with a place that reminded us of home, and where we were surrounded by family.

I will be working on some follow posts to feature all the places we went. So stay tuned! This small tour of Italy is not yet over. I am still getting settled back into real life, and I am starting to make my way around the blogosphere!

NOTE: Thank you for all your concern about Roberto’s family, the earthquake was in the Abruzzo region of Italy, so all of the family is OK. I have a friend in that area, and she is alright too. Thanks again for all your concern. You guys are all so sweet. If you are looking for ways to help, please check out Michelle’s post at Bleeding Espresso and Sara’s post at Ms. Adventures in Italy . Thanks you ladies for getting that info out. Our prayers go out to the people of Abruzzo and their families.