Monday, October 10, 2011

Day 10 - A Long Train to Italy

Buongiorno!!

Today, we enter our second week of Mofo, which means I'm venturing into Italian cuisine.

When we were planning our first trip to Europe, Jeff suggested we go to Florence. I didn't know much about the city and did not expect it to have the impact it did. Someday, I will go back!

When we first arrived in Florence early in the morning after suffering through an all night train from Paris, we were told our room wouldn't be ready until at least 2pm. We left our stuff with the manager and wandered around the corner. The first thing we saw was the Duomo, Florence's most beautiful cathedral (well, in my opinion). The second thing we saw was a little cafe. I was suffering from a rager of a headache, so we stopped in and got two delicious espressos.

That espresso knocked the headache straight out of my head.

Every single thing we ate after that was just as fantastic and I've really come to appreciate the simple yet rich dishes of Italy.

Wandering around Wordstock, a non-profit book festival put on every year in Portland, I ran across a book for $6 that I had to have, and it came in very handy tonight as I made my first Italian dish of the week.
It's not Nonna's Italian Kitchen, but it's chock full of recipes waiting to be made!

Our first dish was Penne in Spicy Tomato Sauce, or Penne all'Arrabbiata. I used angel hair instead of penne, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. Can we say...garlicky?



3 comments:

vegan.in.brighton said...

I would love o go to Florence! I haven't been to Italy for about 10 years & I'd love to go back

Sarah said...

Oh pasta, how I love thee. I went to Italy briefly when I was 16 - I totally need a revisit.

Got my prize, thank you!! :)

celyn said...

That pasta looks tasty! Lady Marmalade would like you to cover it in nooch because she is a nooch fiend.