Friday night, Lindsey and Brittni met Hannah, Meghan, and me at our apartment. We walked to Santa Croce square because apparently there was this UNICEF concert thing, and we were bored. We got gelato and then we sat on the steps of Santa Croce church and watched the. . . event. It was something to do with this organization; there was a weird doll fashion show thing, and then some really awesome professional Italian ballroom dancers! After a couple of hours, we decided it was bedtime.
Saturday afternoon I finally had the brilliant idea to read outside. I walked about 20 minutes to a nice little park, plopped myself down on a bench in the shade, and read for about 10 minutes, when I got a text.
Lindsey: There is a food thing in repubblica right now!
. . . Food thing?
I called her right away. She waited in Piazza Repubblica for me while I speed-walked there to meet her. (Don't judge me. You'd drop everything and run, too, if there was a food thing within walking distance.)
This was similar to Taste, except
1) It was free.
2) It was a lot smaller, with not quite so many things to taste.
3) It was outside.
4) You didn't have to carry your own wine glass around in a pouch around your neck.
It was awesome. We tried several different wines, mostly Chiantis. (What do you expect when you're in Tuscany?) Olive oils on little pieces of bread. (I. Love. Olive oil.) Salami. Jams. Honey. And probably some other stuff I can't remember right now.
I bought some saffron! Just a little package from a nice Italian couple. They couldn't understand any English and I wanted to ask how long it lasts. After consulting an "Italian for Survival" paper Lindsey carries around in her purse, we came up with "Quanti. . . mese. . . bene?" ("How many. . . months. . . well?" Except I was pronouncing it "mezzi" which means "means," so I think I was confusing them.) The man said 2 or 3 years. ("Due o tre anni") Sold. Now I can make saffron risotto again when I get home! (Be ready to eat, family.)
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| The little packet my saffron came in; It includes some recipes! (In Italian) |
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| Saffron for 4-6 people |
I also bought some truffle sauce! I sampled a little on a cracker and decided I needed to buy it. (Once again, family, I'm going to be able to feed you some delicious meals! Maybe we should have an Italian dinner party and invite people over. I will cook. Sound good? Anyone wanna come?)
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| Truffles! |
Lindsey and I couldn't pass up the delightful old man selling baked goods, either. I had a wild apple tart cake pie thing with almonds on top. Lindsey had a strudel. We sat and ate them in the sun. Then I realized I had a sunburn, and should probably take cover ASAP. So I went home. Later that night, we (the usual group, same as Friday night) went to Gusta Pizza!
Although nothing will ever compare to my pizza in Naples, this was pretty darn good. I ordered the marinara pizza. No cheese. (GASP! No cheese?!) But it has tomato sauce (My favorite part of pizza anyway, I think) and garlic and basil and tastes actually a lot more flavorful than the margarita pizzas. I'd order it again! We got the pizzas to go and sat on the square by the Pitti Palace and enjoyed every bite.
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| I LOVE THESE GIRLS. |
We went back to the apartment for some delicious drinks and then went out for a night on the town. Well, we went to a pub for about 15 minutes. Then we left to go to another one. On the way there, we met some random dudes we ended up hanging out with the rest of the night. They showed us where the secret bakery is.
Secret bakery.
Are you intrigued?
Legend has it, there is some old law in Florence that says you can't bake anything (commercially) after 8pm. Or something. So if you're craving a 2am pastry, you have to go to this particular bakery. It doesn't look like a bakery. It looks like a door in a building on a little random street with a sign that says to keep quiet. You wait in line and the door cracks open a little bit. The baker man standing there asks what you want. You pay him. He shuts the door. It opens a minute later, and there he is, holding out a paper bag full of your secretly-ordered treats.
Amazing.
What a great night. (Morning?)
Sunday afternoon, Hannah, Meghan, and I went on an adventure. We began walking to the Piazza Michelangelo, up by the Church of San Miniato. From the piazza, there's a really pretty view of Florence. Except we weren't really sure how to get there, and we thought we could just figure it out after we got across the river.
We ended up going the wrong way and finding some nice big rich-Florentine homes. The streets we took to get there were also lovely, and we admired several trees with flowers in bloom. When we got back to where we started, we tried a new gelato place. It might be my new favorite. The line of locals waiting out the door was sort of a giveaway that it was going to be awesome. I had strawberry cheesecake, and cookie flavors.
And then my ice cream cone dripped all over me, because it was so nice and warm outside.
On the way back, we stopped in Piazza Repubblica again. I decided I wanted to buy some honey I had tried on Saturday.
Now, I try not to contradict myself.
I said in my Greece post (about Baklava) that I don't like honey that much.
But this honey is different. The lady selling it had a whole spectrum of honeys, ranging from this mild one to a very dark, strong honey. This is the only one I liked, and it was too good to pass up.
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| The Least-Honey Option |
Thanks for reading, Honeys!
Hope your weekend was as sweet as mine. :)
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