Tuscany trip

It's been a while since I haven't been posting anything new. The reason is that I was in Florence, following my man at his first ever conference and God it was amazing! I had a wonderful week of walking around the picturesque city with impressive churches, narrow romantic streets, beautiful buildings and smiley people. The morning would start with a breakfast at the hotel, then a lot of walking around and shopping, then lunch, short nap and then evening going out with all the nice people from the conference. And yes, computer nerds ARE interesting and noooot even close as nerdy as finance people! :P It was great!

One of the best parts of the trip was the food. I used to think that Italian food was about pizza and pasta but I was sooo wrong!!! Tuscany cooking is very diverse, including many amazing combinations of meat, vegetables, cheese, spices and much more. Recipes are coming soon!

Normally I eat my meat well done. However, a friend insisted on ordering a bloody one, and I have to admit that after trying the Florentina steak I will never be able to be a vegetarian!!!

Of course it is impossible to upload all the food-pictures in one blog post, so for now just the most representative ones. Just look! Those people surely know how to eat, and eat good!

The market speaks for itself. You can't walk around the Mercato Centrale without immediately getting hungry. I challenge you to take a quick look:






But then you go to a Trattoria for a lunch or dinner and you are forced to chose out of many appealing options. Impossible!

Antipasti (starters):




Panini:


Pasta:


Gnocchi:


And of course deserts!!! Typical italian such as panna cotta (with wild berries sauce in this case):


or local ones, like Vin Santo (sweet Tuscan wine) with Cantuccini (local crunchy almond cookies that you are supposed to dip into the wine):


I was surprised to know that in Italy it is very typical to drink coffee directly after dinner. Usually espresso or in my case just a cappuccino:


and more cappuccino:


And one of the best of all, Italian Gelato. I would have it every day between breakfast and lunch!


After this trip I am thoroughly avoiding being anywhere around the scales. I think I will have a week of diet before weighting myself :P It's gonna be really hard, given all the nice ingredients that I bought and the new cooking book that I can't wait to try!