We had a great time this fall in New England this year visiting family and friends. Thanksgiving is over, and posted, and so now the time has come to share some of the highlights in eating and visiting that we enjoyed in New England. We traveled from Connecticut to Vermont and back again. In fact we drove up to New England from Florida, stopping at my Aunt’s house in VA both on the way up and on the way back. We got to spend time with Roberto’s daughters Rachel and Gwen as well as many friends along the way. It was a wonderful time – a time I have looked forward to every year since we moved to Florida.

We spent a large portion of the trip in Western MA. I lived in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts for over 10 years. I came to live there by way of education, and then after 4 years of college, decided to stay. I was just so enamored of the place – the quaint towns, historic buildings, and good food, as well as all the cultural activities taking place due to all the colleges in the area. I made a lot of lifelong friends while I lived there and was definitely part of a community. When I think about that time in my life, I get a warm and fuzzy feeling – and I always enjoy spending time there. I have moved away from New England twice since I lived there, once to go back to my home state of Maryland for a few years, and the other when we moved to Florida three years ago. Each time I move away, I find myself missing it, and it doesn’t take long before New England re-claims me. I guess I am a New Englander at heart, and I am proud of it!

People in New England are just nice. It is a very eclectic kind of place sometimes, and so it is typical to have friends from all walks of life. People are just more accepting of paradoxes, creativity and uniqueness. I don’t know how to describe it, but I always find myself gravitating towards New Englanders wherever we are, and that is how we met Valley Writer and Mr. Valley Writer.

We met them, almost 2 years ago, when we were all newlyweds, spending our honeymoon in Jamaica. We originally met them at a social for newlyweds and then ended up running into them at breakfast one morning. So we decided to sit together. We found out we had a lot in common. She and I are both writers (this was before her now famous blog), we both have black cats with asthma, and we both were practically neighbors at one point without even knowing it, in a small New England town called Hatfield. She met her husband the same way I met Roberto – online, and in the same time frame. So likely I ran across Mr. Valley Writer’s profile in my searches…who knows. But there was just so much in common (besides the love of food and cooking) that we knew we were meant to be friends. We visited with Mr and Mrs. Valley Writer last year when we were in New England . Then this year, they graciously invited us to stay with them for a few days.

When we arrived, the first thing we did was take a quick drive to a local farm, and pick up her last CSA of the year. We picked out some nice root veggies to make some roasted roots – my favorite – to go along with dinner that night. The plan for dinner that night was to make duck. Neither of us had ever made a duck before, so we were both very excited at the prospect. We were worried about the method of cooking, we didn’t want it to be dry.

So we decided to do it beer can style, and used a raspberry wheat beer in the preparation. It turned out really delicious – although it did make the house a little smoky – all that delicious duck fat (which of course was reserved for later use)!

We enlisted Roberto to cut the duck – and of course he had to wear Amber’s Flirty Apron that she won a few months back from The Foodie Blogroll.

(Mr. Valley Writer likes to keep his identity hidden….just WHO is HE?)

The food was really good that night, but the company was the best part! We all had a great time getting re-acquainted with each other and getting to know each other better – and it was a breeze. Sometimes you just really hit it off with another couple, and this was one of those times!

Unfortunately Mr. And Mrs. Valley Writer both had to work while we were visiting. So the next night, to thank them for their hospitality, Roberto and I decided to get some extra ingredients, and cook them dinner. There was already a pork tenderloin in the fridge, so we decided to add some wild rice, glazed carrots, and miniature carrot cakes from Whole Foods (which used to be called Bread and Circus in that part of the world) to complete the meal. We prepared the pork in a fresh apple cider and dijon mustard sauce, and it was delicious. When they got home from work, we all started working together in the kitchen! What else can you expect from a bunch of foodies? This time we had Mr. Valley Writer do the honors on cutting the meat.

Again the food was great and the company spectacular! We had a wonderful few days spending time with them, and look forward to continuing our friendship when we move up to Vermont this spring!

Thanks Valley Writer family for your hospitality and friendship! Please check out her post about our visit together on her blog, Adventures in the Pioneer Valley !

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In addition to Finest Foodies Friday, I am also phasing the Royal Foodie Joust Winners and New Ingredients posts over to Foodieblogroll.com. So if you want to read about the winners and the new ingredients. Please visit Foodieblogroll.com.

Also for more foodie fun, don’t forget to join us at my friend Ben’s blog for a Homemade Party!

Saturday afternoon, after the Farmers Market we enjoyed the afternoon’s main event – The Tasting Pavilion at the Metreon. We enjoyed talking to Jerry from Cooking By The Seat of My Pants on the way over to the Metreon. Growing up in California, he told us a lot about different California grown foods, like rice, wine and cheese. In fact we talked quite a bit about cheese (and which is better, CA or VT – of course you can guess that I am all about the VT cheeses). Oh…and cowboy hats. I have known Jerry for a long time through blogging and he is just as much of a character in person as his blog would have you believe!

At the Tasting Pavilion, we tasted food and drink by many local CA producers as well as Artisan food producers from all over the country. It was an amazing experience and so inspiring to see so many people passionate about food! It was a great opportunity to network with food producers, and hopefully we will work together with many of them in upcoming Foodie Blogroll Giveaways!

Some of our favorite tastes were all the delicious dishes inspired by Bertolli sauces that Food Bloggers at the festival created. It was really fun to watch them prepare their winning dishes in the Bertolli Sauce Kitchen! I got to catch most of Chrystal and Amir’s aka The Duo Dishes , presentation (that is them in the collage above) and they did an awesome job! The best part was getting to taste all the food coming out of the sauce kitchen! Well done everyone! I wish I could have seen all the presentations…but there was just too much to see!

We also enjoyed talking about beer with the guys from Magnolia GastroPub located in San Francisco and Rogue Ales . If we had stayed a few days extra I would definitely have stopped by Magnolia. They brew their own historic and traditional beers, and create gourmet gastropub food sourcing local ingredients!

One of our favorite eats of the afternoon was a seafood ceviche from Fuego At The Maya. Executive Chef Jesse Perez made an awesome version of the Latin dish, including Mexican shrimp and tender juicy scallops, broiled calamari and sweet potato. Check out Jerry’s post – he has a lot of great photos about the things I discussed!

Roberto and I also attended a Merlot wine seminar hosted by Alder from the popular wine blog, Vinography.  This was an extremely interesting seminar about the stories behind the wines – about the producers, and the history of where the grapes are grown. It was a new and intimate way to learn about wines, something that Alder is amazing at doing. There was also much talk about wines in general, which was very informative. Our favorite was the Paloma 2006 Merlot, from Spring Mountain in Napa. All of the Merlots we tasted were from California and were between $25-65 a bottle. Definitely your upper end, and very different from what most people think of, when they think Merlot.

After the afternoon’s events, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Saturday Night Dinner. This was a big night for me, because I had the extreme honor of being asked by Foodbuzz to co-host the Food Blogger Awards with Managing Editor of Foodbuzz, Ryan Stern. Coming into the weekend I was a bit nervous, but after meeting nearly everyone who was going to be in the audience I felt much better about it. Plus Ryan is a great person, so I knew I would feel comfortable up there with her!

(Roberto and I on the bus to dinner, Me and Mari from Secrets of a Kitchen Wizard, Peter from Souvlaki for the Soul and Joan from FOODalogue, the gang at dinner).

The dinner and awards ceremony was held at Greenleaf Produce Warehouse which was the perfect place for a dinner brought to us by Outstanding in the Field . It was a bit too chilly to hold an outdoor dinner, so this really was the next best thing!

(Photos courtesy of Peter Georgakopoulos)

Very rustic and the perfect environment to enjoy a menu of farm fresh products. Our menu was created by Chef Dennis Lee of Namu. All of the food was local, organic and sustainable and the meats were all pasture-raised. It was really nice to enjoy a guilt free meal of the highest quality!

(Photos courtesy of Peter Georgakopoulos)

Winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon , selected wines to accompany each part of the meal. It was fun learning more about Outstanding in the Field, and chatting with Greg from Sippity Sup about being nominated for several awards, and about fashion!

(Photos courtesy of Peter Georgakopoulos): Me and Catherine of Munchie Musings, Christey of FotoCuisine, Joan of FOODalogue, and Val of More Than Burnt Toast

We had a truly wonderful and memorable dinner, in really great company. We had the honor of sitting with longtime blogger friends: Peter of Souvlaki For The Soul, who came all the way from Australia to be at the festival, Peter and Christey of FotoCuisine , Val and Giz of BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine , and Joan of FOODalogue . I also got to meet Angela of Spinach Tiger , another of my favorite blogs. In fact, Angela was the first blogger I saw in San Francisco – we checked into the hotel at the same time! The best thing, is everyone we met in person is even better in person! It was a fun night talking about blogging, food and everything else. I really enjoyed spending time with these people, and know I have life-long friends! I can’t wait for them all to come and visit! Thanks to Peter G for many of the great photos in this post. Your photos are truly magazine quality, Peter! You should totally be famous!

(Val, Roberto, Me, Joan and Mary (aka Giz)

After dinner many headed over to the Americano at Hotel Vitale for a nightcap. There I got to spend some time chatting with the Foodbuzz staff and my blogging and Twitter buddy, Esi from Dishing Up Delights ! It was great finally getting to meet you! And of course we were trying to get in as much time with everyone as possible. We knew we probably weren’t going to make it to the Brunch the next day, so this was our last hurrah so to speak. It was wonderful getting to see everyone and making that personal connection. I didn’t want to leave…or more realistically, I wanted to pack everyone up in my bag and take them home with me.

If you have never been to a blogging event, I highly recommend it. If there aren’t any in your area, start one! There is nothing like meeting bloggers in person! Thanks so much to Foodbuzz for putting on this wonderful weekend, and I am very much looking forward to next year’s festivities!!!

DISCLAIMER: Our camera battery died on Friday night and so the photos in this post are snapshots pulled off our video camera – which is essentially why they suck! But I wanted to be sure to give some viuals.

The next morning, everyone met up at the Ferry Building, to enjoy the morning at San Francisco’s incredible Farmer’s Market. We started off up stairs drinking coffee, eating pastries and meeting up with bloggers. We had a fun and lively conversation with Nichelle, from Cupcakes Take the Cake and got to meet another one of my foodie friends, who had evaded me the night before, Joan of FOODalogue . After chatting, we wanted something savory for breakfast. So on several recommendations from Foodbuzz staff, Roberto and I (as well as many other bloggers) enjoyed breakfast sandwiches from the Golden Gate Meat Co. We decided to enjoy the sandwiches al fresco so we could enjoy a view of the San Francisco Bay. Once back inside, we couldn’t pass up a “meat cone” from Boccalone which was a mix of several of their different cured pork products. The mortadella with pistachios was my surprising favorite (usually my favorite is salami). I wish we had gotten video of this, but we were hanging out chatting with Kristi of Austin Farm to Table. But I know she talked about it on her blog, so go check it out!

We spent the rest of the morning perusing the market. I was especially impressed by one of the indoor shops that was exclusively mushrooms. I saw the most beautiful and delicious looking mushrooms – colorful chantarelles, lobster mushrooms and the biggest FRESH porcini. My heart sank a little because I knew I could not take any home. Outside, we spent time marveling at the fresh produce booths. We tasted Asian pears, yogurt, persimmons, honey and much more. I also bought 4 lbs of beans and grains from Rancho Gordo on a recommendation from Kat and Matt of A Good Appetite .

At 11:00 we joined Peter and Christey from FotoCuisine , Joan of FOODalogue and Catherine from Munchie Musings at the Farm to Table Discussion led by Executive Chef of the Americano – the restaurant at the Hotel Vitale, Paul Arenstam and the general manager of the Hearst Ranch (sorry, no picture of these guys…). Hearst Ranch  supplies their grassfed beef to the Americano for their burgers and so the discussion centered on the differences between grassfed and conventional beef (something I talk a lot about ), how farms and restaurants can work together to get quality and local meats to consumers, how food producers can work with food bloggers to get unbiased and genuine word out about their products, and how to build a farm to table model that works, and can be copied by local farms and the restaurants around them.

Some facts about grassfed vs. conventional beef:

Conventional beef depends on fossil fuels and government subsidized feed (like corn and soybeans) to feed their cattle. Conventional cattle are weaned at 6 months and spend the rest of their life, eating subsidized grain, living in close quarters (with other cows, and their own excrement) and in 13 months become 1300 lbs of meat.

Grassfed beef remains free ranging and pasture fed their entire life. They depend on sunlight and photosynthesis to eat. They experience low stress, and little handling from humans, making their meat tender and lean. In an 18 month period they will become 1100 pounds of meat. Grassfed cattle, through well managed grazing, are part of a natural cycle which actually aids in the conservation of grasslands.

During the question and answer period, Catherine, from Munchie Musings asked about what kind of a discount food bloggers could get on Heart’s new program where consumers can buy a share of a grassfed cow directly from Hearst. He was quick on the draw and responded that food bloggers can get a 30% discount and free shipping, if they use the coupon “foodbuzz”. Now that is a great deal! If I lived in CA I would totally go for it – but I am looking forward to supporting my local meat producers. If that fails – I am going for Hearst – they are a company that I can support without reservation.

I really enjoyed the morning – it was nice to see lots of farm fresh products at the market and then learn more about how local businesses and farmers can work together to get local foods out to the consumers. It was inspiring in so many ways. If you live in California, and have not been to the Americano, you should try it out. Their menu sounds delicious, and I got to sample Chef Paul’s Hearst Meatballs at the Tasting Pavilion later that afternoon (more about that in a follow up post) and they were really fantastic. I would also encourage you to check out Hearst Ranch and their Cattle Share program.

Roberto and I were fortunate enough to spend the last weekend with 250 other food bloggers at the Foodbuzz Food Bloggers Festival in San Francisco, CA. This was our first trip to California, so we were very excited to visit San Francisco and for all the events of the weekend! Needless to say we had a great time, in great company. I have been blogging since 2006, and in that time have had a few opportunities to spend time with other bloggers. Putting faces to the names we see and hear so much through blogging and getting to meet in person people we have “known” for years in the blogosphere is a really awesome experience. These last few weeks, I have had a chance to meet many bloggers, both through the conference, and also through our travels in New England. I will try to do my best to re-live those experiences through words.

This weekend was a real meeting of the minds of food bloggers. I will attest again, for the record, that food bloggers really are the nicest people in the world.

Hanging out with food bloggers has a certain comfort level to it, because you already know up front that you have a common ground (and a high level of obsession)! So having the privilege to get to know the people behind the blogs you love, and learn more about them and their lives, beyond the food blogging aspects, is an enriching and wonderful experience. I am very thankful to everyone at Foodbuzz for the great job they did putting this together for us. Giving us the opportunity to meet other bloggers, and feeding us amazing food along the way!

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(Me with a delicious Autumn Apple Martini, with Mari from Secrets of a Kitchen Wizard, with Vanessa from Italy in SF and with Kat from A Good Appetite).

The weekend was kicked off on the rooftop of the Hotel Vitale with a meet and greet happy hour. We enjoyed cocktails from Skyy Spirits, sparkling wines, beers and sparkling juices, including a special and delicious Autumn Apple Martini which was inspired by Melissa York of Cheese Wine and Cheddar. This gave us all the opportunity to meet and greet everyone.

After happy hour we headed over to the Ferry Building and were treated to an amazing Street Food extravaganza featuring the best of the best of San Francisco ’s street food fare. I did my best to try at least a bite of everything.

I think the unanimous favorite of the evening was the Porchetta Sandwich with greens and caramelized onions from Roli Roti . Porchetta is a Roman specialty, and my resident Roman claims it is the best he ever had. So you can imagine how good it was.

I also really enjoyed the Potato and Chorizo tacos from Tacolicious. Their sauces are to die for – if you can take the heat! If not, their Green Goddess herbal sauce, will cool things off. The tacos were so good, I had to go back for seconds!

I also admit to going back for seconds at Straus Family Creamery, the booth right next to Mission Mini’s Cupcakes (this one is the Pumpkin with Dulce de Leche icing!) They served us organic coffee and vanilla bean ice cream. It was creamy and delicious! Just the way ice cream should be.

Another delicious treat was the vegan, raw cheesecake from Alive! . Honestly the best cheesecake I have ever had – see my face! The expression says it all!

But this was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the offerings. We also really enjoyed fresh shucked oysters from Hog Island Oyster Co. To wash it all down, beer from Thirsty Bear and cocktails from Skyy Vodka- my favorite was called the Blood & Sand – equal parts of The Glenrothes Select Reserve (Speyside single malt Scotch), fresh orange juice, Cinzano sweet vermouth and cherry liquer. The drink was garnished with delicious cherries from Italy. There were also fresh chichharones (spicy pork rinds) that were perfect with the wheat beer from Thirsty Bear.

Also in the offerings were – wood fired pizzas, meat pies, roasted beet salads and more. It was a fantastic way to experience some classic San Francisco treats and meet all the wonderful vendors who create this delicious food and feed the people of San Francisco!

That night we really enjoyed hanging out and getting to know the folks from Foodbuzz, meeting my buddy Kat from A Good Appetite, Val and Giz of BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine , Vanessa from Italy in SF , Mari from Secrets of a Kitchen Wizard , Jen from FoodBat and Donna from Cooking with Donna (anyone have her blog URL?).

It was also great spending time with our Florida friends, Peter and Christey from FotoCuisine.

Please stay tuned for more pictures and stories from the weekend!

I said something to that effect when we got our takeout home and opened up the package to see what you see above. We are heading out soon on our annual New England trip, and I had gone through all of the leftovers, and stuff in the fridge. So we decided to call our local BBQ joint and have someone else do the cooking for us!

We have been to Smokin’ D’s a few times in the past and each time, they had always been out of ribs. This little BBQ joint, and by little, I mean little – all they have are big wood burning smoke houses lining the pack wall, a kitchen prep area and the cash register. No seats. Just BBQ. This little BBQ joint is housed in a small shack next to a gas station. It has a huge resin pig sculpture on the outside to greet you, and basically they start cooking in the morning, and close once all the food is gone. They do pork, brisket, chicken and turkey. Their pulled pork sandwiches are heavenly, served on thick slabs on garlic toast with one side (cole slaw, beans, or yellow rice) and a beverage for only $5.95! And really, it is some of the best BBQ I have had in my life. DE-licious.

(My brother-in-law, Davide in front of Smokin D’s, hangin’ with the piglet).

This time we called ahead, to make sure we had a chance to get their ribs, and we figured since they are hard to come by, we should get extra, to last us a few meals. So we ordered the rib special which is supposed to feed 3 people! So imagine our surprise to see this pile of ribs when we opened the bag!!! Not only did we each have two meals out of it, I also put at least 8 ribs in the freezer to use later this winter in soups and stews and beans!

If you ever find yourself driving through Saint Augustine, we recommend Smokin’ D’s!

110 State Road 206. St Augustine, FL. 32086 . 904-797-2050

FYI – My posts may be more sporadic over the next several weeks. We will be in New England, and also San Francisco for the FoodBuzz Food Blogger’s Festival! But I am bringing my laptop and will be working, just maybe not as much on a regular schedule! Look forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco in a few weeks!

Siena is another Tuscan hillside city that was founded by the Etruscans (just like San Gimignano). It was less than an hour’s drive from the Torraccia di Chuisi and finding parking was very easy. The minute we got out of the car and started exploring, I knew I was going to love it. Isn’t it strange sometimes when you are in a place, and you really like it, for no other reason than a feeling? That was what it was like for me in Siena. I found it to be aesthetically beautiful – cobblestone streets, lots and lots of hills, red shingled rooftops and a most majestic Gothic cathedral.

As we were wandering around Siena we were wondering why there were so many statues of Lupa, the Roman she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. This is the story behind the founding of Rome and is a highly recognizable symbol of Rome. But apparently, according to Wikipedia Siena was named after Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Mystery solved. But since Siena was not along the major Roman roads and trading routes, it wasn’t really a major player during Roman times. Its prosperity did not come really until the invasion of the Lombards of Northern Europe in the 4th century. When they surrendered to Charlemagne in 774, the Franks then married all the Sienese nobility. This is when Siena became known as a major money lending center. By 1200 the huge cathedral or Duomo was constructed, as well as the Piazza del Campo.

Siena is probably best known for the Palio, a horse race which take place twice a year, during the summer, on the Campo. The Sienese have kept the medieval tradition of having various Contrade, wards or districts within the city walls. Each ward is represented by an animal and the rivalry between wards really come out during the Palio. I read about the Palio for the first time in the book Too Much Tuscan Sun by Dario Castagno
Since reading the book, and Dario’s descriptions not only about the Palio, but also the history of Siena and other areas of Tuscany, I knew I wanted to visit Siena someday.

We spent the first part of our visit just wandering around the Campo and taking lots of pictures of the Duomo. This amazing building was perfect fodder for my budding interest in photography. What really struck me about the Duomo was how much detail, art and craftsmanship was involved.

I was also overwhelmed by the amounts of marble that covered not only the building in stripes, but also the stairs and walkways surrounding it on all sides. You could literally spend a day just taking photos of this one building.

After this we went in search of a restaurant that Bruno and Grazia had recommended to us. It took us a while to find it, and when we did, we saw that it was closed…on Saturdays…huh. So we just decided to check out some of the back streets to find a restaurant off the beaten path. We came across a cute place, Trattoria Papei that had a nice menu of Tuscan regional cuisine and good prices. So we decided to go for it. The interior was very cute, cozy and warm with brick walls and ceilings, exposed beams and lots of windows to let the beautiful sunshine in. It was cold the day we were in Siena, so cold it even snowed a little. So we were looking again for some warming food. First we ordered a bottle of the house wine…something we learned you just do when in Italy. For food I decided on a Ribollita con Pane – a delicious vegetable and bread stew, swimming in olive oil. The perfect comfort food on a snowy day. I look at the pictures we took of it, and still drool. Roberto loves Scallopini of Veal and so he opted for that – it came with a mound of deliciously sautéed mushrooms. It was an extremely enjoyable lunch full of good wine, food and conversation.

After lunch, we decided to do what the rest of Siena was doing, and go sit on the Campo and watch the clouds roll by. It was a great thing to do, because even though it was a cold day, the bricks that make up the Campo were nice and warm (maybe it was the wine?), and really helped take away the chill. After some time spent there, we decided we were ready for something sweet. We were both too chilly for gelato (which is crazy, I know) so we decided to head to a pasticceria in search of a nice pastry to have with coffee. We found this GIGANTIC pasticceria, and ordered our goodies. I went for a bignè di crema alla nocciola and Roberto got his favorite Italian pastry of all times, a diplomatico. I also got a macchiato…I love anything hazelnut and so I really enjoyed my hazelnut filled donut. It was a nice sweet end to eating in Siena.

The rest of the day we spent walking through the many neighborhoods of Siena, taking lots of pictures, because just like San Gimignano, it was impossible to get a bad shot! We really enjoyed our day in Siena, and it is most certainly a place I would love to spend more time in.

Our good friends Erin and Chris over at The Olive Notes spent a year studying Italian in Firenze and so when we found out we were going to be spending some time in Tuscany, I immediately set up a lunch date with Erin, to discuss spending “The Perfect Day in Florence”. Her recommendations were based on having only one day to spend there, which was all we had. If you want to check out a map of her suggestions (with descriptions of the places), you can click here.

We were not able to squeeze in all of her suggestions, unfortunately, but I think it warrants another visit to Florence. Not only because there is so much to do, but because much to our disappointment, we didn’t have the best time there and I think it needs to be re-visited.

Now if you all remember, in the last post Roberto and I were hiking through the Tuscan countryside from Torracia di Chiusi to San Gimignano…and getting very lost and tired. Well the next day was our day in Florence. Florence is a city of art and amazing Renaissance beauty. It is also known for its towering church, Santa Maria del Fiore, known as “The Duomo”, which dominates the skyline. The Duomo is the largest brick dome ever constructed and we figured that with only one day in Florence, the duomo was a high priority of something we shouldn’t miss. So after parking the car on the outskirts of the city, we walked in the direction of the duomo. Well it was a chilly and gray day. Walking from the parking lot, I was taken unawares by the swarms of motorini (crazy Italians on mopeds) driving like bats out of hell through the city. I had prepared myself for dealing with this in once we got to Rome, but I wasn’t ready for it in Florence. So it kind of started my day off on the wrong foot. I am not a big city kind of person by nature – so lots of traffic moving erratically at rapid speed trying to run me down kinda freaked me out.

However, once we got closer to the Ponte Vecchio things quieted down a notch, and I was able to take my eyes off of oncoming traffic and enjoy the views. Which are quite lovely by the way. So off to the duomo we went.

Santa Maria del Fiore, “The Duomo”

We stood in the windy line for tickets for only a few minutes. Once inside we were greeted with lots of signs telling us that there are no elevators, and people with heart conditions should not take the tour to the top. We really didn’t pay it much mind, paid our tickets and started to climb the 463 steps to the top of the Dome. No big deal, right? We just did a major hike the day before and we are very active people. Well at first it wasn’t too bad, but the passageway is very tight, dimly lit and the stairwells spiral, so after the first few minutes, I started getting a little dizzy. Luckily there was a little rest area with some beautiful marble statues of various popes not too far up. I was thankful for the rest and figured we had to be at least half way…not too bad. After the little rest, we started up again. The spiral staircase continued and by this point both of our leg muscles were starting to feel taxed – especially since we just had a big hike the day before. At this point the steps began to get steeper. Way steeper. And the oxygen was getting thinner. Well that is what I thought at the time, but later I realized it was my fear of heights that were beginning to take their toll. I am a very earthy person, who prefers feet solidly on the ground, and although I did have a sturdy passageway beneath my feet, my brain knew better.

At this point we were lead out of the stone passageway, and onto a circular glass enclosed bridge that went around the perimeter of the dome, with the dome above us. This is one of the highlights of the tour – where you can see all the beautiful (and macabre) artwork that covers the interior of the dome. You can also see how far up you are, as you look down to the center nave of the church. Here we took lots of pictures and video.

The interior of the dome is painted vividly with scenes from Dante’s Divine Comedy as well as stained glass depicting Mary and Jesus created by the greatest Florentine artists of their times, Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Paolo Uccello and Andrea del Castagno. It is really a sight to behold and very exciting to be so close to such masterpieces, all the while marveling at how difficult and frightening it must have been for the artists to paint them. At this point we thought we must be finished with the tour, since the closer we got to the exit to view the dome, in the stone passageways, there were people going in two directions, those going up to “the top” with us and those coming back down again. But we were surprised to see more, even steeper stairs continuing up. At this point there were handrails on both sides of the stairs to help you the rest of the way up. The last bit was quite a climb. Some people decided then and there they had enough and didn’t go the rest of the way. But I was determined, we had gotten this far, I wanted to go all the way. Once we got to the very top, there was a very short staircase and above it, you could see the sky. So we knew we were close to the top.

Breathing fresh air was a relief. I am not claustrophobic, but that said, I now have a real appreciation for those who are. Once I got all the way out, I became pretty numb as I realized how high we really were. We were at the top of the dome for sure (when looking at the photos of the dome, where we were standing is ABOVE the red brick roof, on the little circle below the small spire a top the dome), with all of Florence laid out before us. The wind was whipping and it really took my breath away. I couldn’t believe how many people were leaning against the very short fence around the edge taking photos. I stayed as close to the inside wall as possible. I managed to go around the whole circle, and take photos, but neither of us really felt like lingering. Except for the fact that we had to face going back through those tight stairwells again…but we managed to get down without incident. When we were finally down on the ground again, looking up to where we once were, it was a so weird. I was thrilled to have been able to experience it all, but would never do it again. In fact, I think I am finished with tall towers in general!

The Lampredotto Incident

After the nausea subsided we decided we were hungry. Erin had told us about their favorite sandwich shop in Florence, Il Ritrovino dei Servi . She said that she never saw any tourists there and that it is a little tiny place, but really worth it. That sounded good to us! She recommended getting the roasted veggie and brie sandwich, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get, as I was really enjoying all the cured meats I had been enjoying (Erin is a vegetarian). As began to read the menu board I saw they had a Florentine specialty, Lampredotto so I figured in the spirit of being adventurous, I would give it a try. I was in Florence, I should get the full experience. To prepare this speciality, first, a huge soft bun was taken over to a woman in the back who was standing over a simmering pot. She dug into the pot with some tongs and pulled out what looked like shaved meat of some kind. I thought to myself, “good, this is a hot one, it’ll warm me up”. Roberto less adventurous, went for salami. We got the sandwiches to go, as there was nowhere to sit inside and we wanted to take pictures of the food a little more discretely. So we found a nice wall to sit on outside and dug into the bag. I pulled out my sandwich, and took a nice big bite. Roberto was video taping, and so it was funny to look back at my expression. He asked me if I could tell what it was. I said no, but that it was very likely some kind of organ meat. It wasn’t that bad, and so I kept eating. But after about 3 bites, it just got so rich and offaly, that I couldn’t finish it. So I threw it out, and Roberto let me share his unadventurous salami sandwich. I should have gotten the roasted veggie that Erin suggested. Bad me. Later that night when we got back to the Torraccia, I asked Bruno what Lampredotto was, and my suspicions were confirmed, it is a dish made of the fourth stomach and intestine parts of baby calves (not to be confused with tripe, or trippa in Italian). Bummer. I am not a veal person at all for a variety of reasons, but I ended up having a part of a baby cow none the less.

Coffee and Donuts…Italian style

At this point I was in desperate need to turn this day around. So we headed out to two other places Erin recommended – one for coffee and the other for ciambelle, Italian donuts. If anything was going to do the trick, this was it! First we headed to Chiaroscuro for a special coffee . Now for those of you who have been to Italy and to a coffee bar there, you will know that there are very few choices. Italians enjoy their coffee simple and to the point – no skinny venti hazelnut lattes. This is what makes Chiaroscuro so unique, as they like to create unique coffee creations. So I ordered a Vaniglino which is essentially a vanilla macchiato – no, not like a Starbucks macchiato, an Italian macchiato – where macchiato actually means “stained” because it is just espresso with just a stain, of milk or foam. It was delicious. Just perfect for getting the chill out of our bones, and the taste of Lampredotto out of my mouth.

Next we headed to Cucciolo for hot and fresh ciambelle. Erin said she remembered that they made hot fresh ones at around 4 or 4:30, but when we asked they said no, they had them all the time…so I am not sure if they stopped doing that, or if we weren’t clear. But they did have 3 different varieties – one was a circular piece of fried dough(with a hole in the middle) with sugar on top. The other two were circular with fillings – either chocolate or custardy cream. So Roberto went for chocolate and I went for cream. They were delicious and totally hit the spot.

After our little treat, we headed back to the Ponte Vecchio and strolled around for a bit, taking photos of the river Arno and just enjoying the afternoon sun that decided to finally come out! So it looks like the day turned around after all.

I want to thank Erin so much for creating this awesome map of Florence and advising us on the best way to spend the day! We certainly did have an adventure in your second home and look forward to exploring some of the other ideas you had someday! For those interested in visiting the places Erin recommends or for more recommendations, please follow this link.

Don’t be fooled by the title of this post into thinking that any of these places I will be talking about doing day trips to can be fully explored in just a day, as that is so far from the truth. These are just the places we took day trips to, while we were staying at the beautiful Torraccia di Chuisi.They are mere suggestions for day trips if you are staying in Tuscany and want to explore some of the cities in this region.

Our first day in Tuscany, we decided to explore the closest town to the Torraccia, San Gimignano. San Gimignano is a small medieval, walled town located in the province of Siena. It is well known for its towers and other medieval architecture. Its history spans back to the time of the Etruscans. During the middle ages it was a well known stopping point for Catholic pilgrims on their way from Canterbury, England to Rome. The pilgrim’s trail is still called Via Francigena and from the Torraccia di Chuisi you can use it to walk to San Gimignano “in less than an hour”. From the Torraccia, San Gimgnano is clearly visible, so we decided to make a day of it. Roberto and I are big fans of hiking and nature, and so we decided to follow the Via Francigena to San Gimignano, giving us a good chance to enjoy the Tuscan countryside.

At first things went pretty well. We were escorted for the first leg of the tour by one of the feline residents of the Torraccia, Leo. After he left us, we followed all the cute little Via Francigena signs, until we got to Montauto.

I am still not clear what exactly Montauto is. But it a big castle-y looking thing that is midway between the Torraccia and San Gimignano. From there, the dirt trail turns into a paved road. We are still to this day not sure if that paved road is a part of the Via Francigena because at this point we could not find another cute little sign for the life of us. We didn’t think at first that the paved road would be part of the Via Francigena so we tried several other dirt roads to no avail.

About an hour into the walk, with San Gimignano still looming far off in the distance, we decided to walk back to Montauto and take the paved road, since we knew that at least got you to San Gimignano even if it wasn’t part of the Pilgrim’s Path. Although the hike was much more than we had bargained for, it was a beautiful day.

We saw many vineyards, farms and other agro-turismo everywhere. No matter which way you turned you were greeted with another view of the beautiful landscape. Granted, this hike was very hilly and so if you are not in fairly good shape, or into hiking, you might just want to take a car. But we were happy to have had the experience we did…as it provided a guilt free opportunity to eat to our heart’s content once we got to San Gimignano!

Once we got to San Gimignano, we were exhausted. As the paved road was pretty much all up hill, and it was at least a 45 minute walk from Montauto. We had no watches, so we really don’t know how long our hike was in terms of time, but after looking at our trajectory on google maps when we got home, we realized it was about 4 miles – counting the getting lost parts…mostly up hill…so like I said, once we got to San Gimignano, we were hungry. We decided to first take a quick look around, and get the lay of the land before eating. Plus we had several restaurants that we wanted to check out before making a decision.

One of the things I immediately loved about San Gimignano is that it is not very crowded. Even though there were a lot of tourists, there were many streets that were empty, and so it was easy to get a lot of beautiful shots. It was on this day that I really started getting into taking photos. Roberto had our video camera, and so I was in charge of the camera during our trip. I had a great time taking photos in Venice as well. But in San Gimignano, I really got into it. Plus I love Medieval architecture, not to mention that once you are high up in San Gimignano the entire Tuscan countryside is laid out before you . So I was in heaven.

After taking some photos and exploring restaurant options, we decided on Ristorante Beppone which basically translates to “Big Pepino”. So of course we had to go. It is a bit off the main streets, but once you get inside, you know you have picked a winner. The whole inside looks like a wine cellar – it is like a brick tunnel – super warm and cozy. We were tired and hungry and so we decided to order a “fiasco” of house wine. I asked Roberto what a fiasco was, and he said a small bottle of wine. It was only 5 Euros, so I figured what the heck. Well what they brought out was a regular bottle of Chianti in the basket. But for 5 Euros, even if you don’t finish it, you haven’t lost much.

Beppone is known for its Tuscan specialties and so we were really excited – already being fans of Tuscan cooking. I ordered gnocchi with a truffle cream sauce and Roberto got roasted wild boar. We figured the two dishes would go well together, and did they ever. My gnocchi were extremely tender, and the sauce, full of the flavor and aroma of black truffles. Roberto’s wild boar was incredible, it was in a tomato base, and there was enough olive oil in there that it was literally swimming in it. Delicious. We really enjoyed that meal. The weather was chilly and so after a long walk in the hills, this was the perfect way to warm up.

After lunch we decided to continue exploring the town on our own, taking lots of pictures and enjoying ourselves. We also were scouting out all the specialty stores. Bruno was going to be away that night at a Tuscan food producers gathering, and even though he would have missed it to cook for us, we didn’t think that was right. Plus we decided it would be fun to have a picnic in our room that night to celebrate our 11 month anniversary which was that day! We had also been told by Grazia that there was an incredible gelateria in the square called Gelato di Piazza. Now even though I know di Piazza means “of the square” and that was the reference in the name, it is still pretty cool to find a gelateria “named after you”. This particular gelateria has won many international awards for it’s gelato, and so we were excited to try it. I went with nocciola (hazelnut) which is my favorite because I figured this was closest to the best nocciola gelato in the world, that I was ever going to get. I also got “santa ….” because I had never heard of it before and wanted to try it (something that usually works in my favor, but really did NOT in Florence…which we will get to in a later post) which had a lemony flavor dotted with pine nuts. Roberto got his classic pistachio and coconut. They really were so excellent. The texture was perfect and the flavors very true to their names.

After gelato, we decided to start getting provisions for the evening. We started with getting some local cheeses – all pecorino – some fresh and some slightly aged. If all you have ever had before is Pecorino Romano, like I have, you will be amazed at how different these fresh pecorinos are. They are not salty and hard, but more like a havarti both in flavor and texture. It made me even more excited than I already am about having sheep and making cheese someday. Then we got several varieties of salami and prosciutto – some made from boar meat and others from regular pigs, as well as some olives and preserved mushrooms and of course chianti produced in San Gimignano. I had also heard somewhere before about Panforte and how it is a Tuscan specialty. So I saw lots of shops selling all kinds of varieties of panforte, and we decided to get some for dessert. We chose chocolate and marzipan flavors. Once we were finished with shopping we both agreed that although it was the wussy way out, we needed to take a cab back to the Torraccia.

We had a great evening really delighting in our room, eating all these great Tuscan treats and talking about our own future plans for having a farm and enjoying a more rustic lifestyle. We loved being able to buy all local products, much like we did when we were in Vermont and really taste the difference. It is these moments in life that make you think about your priorities in life and really how you want to live it. Being in Tuscany and enjoying all the flavors confirmed for us our desire to live a more sustainable life, where most of the food we either produce or get locally. This is not something that happens overnight, but it is a goal for us that we are looking forward to pursuing in earnest and we have the people of the countryside of Tuscany and their dedication to producing local foods to thank for that reminder.