Florence: Italian Food

After our quick 3 nights in Venice, it was off to Florence by train. Here we had paper reservations for our trip but were held up because we could not show our stolen Eurail pass. They never asked to see our pass in Spain, so we thought that maybe we could squeak through in Italy, but after a bit of arguing and even a willingness to purchase tickets again, they would not let us on the train, and we miss it. This forced us to head to the ticket office and remedy our situation because we had three more trains in Italy that we'd already booked. Fortunately the office personal were very helpful and friendly and we got all three of our trains rebooked. It was unfortunate to have to repurchase our tickets, but the prices were actually fairly reasonable due to a special they were running where kids travel free with an adult. In hindsight, we realized that the Eurail is not the way to go, at least for our itinerary. It cost way more than it's worth and we should have done more research. Also we have since learned that our insurance will not cover the loss of tickets, so we are out that money. We did get reimbursed for our passports though. All in all our lost bag/theft was not a cheap endeavor but not the end of the world either.

Upon getting the next train, we arrived in Florence about 2 hours behind schedule, but we had nothing planned so it didn't matter all that much. We had mapped out how to get to our place but we had also mapped out where our food tour started the next day. Unfrotunately, Dad directed us to the wrong one - with all of our packs on! The troops were not happy. Ultimately some grabbed a cab and threw all of the bags in as it was hot and they were heavy, while some of us walked to the proper accommodation location.

That evening we had an amazing dinner at a local place where the food was excellent and the prices were reasonable. We ended up going back to this place on our last evening a week later. However, during dinner our first night, SJ fell over in her chair into the lap of the patron behind her. Her face was terrified but thankfully everyone was good humored about it and we quickly packed up and returned to our apartment.

Florence apartment entrance

On Saturday we had signed up for a Taste Of Florence Food tour which we have grown fond to booking early on our stays in new places. Its fun to learn about the local cuisine and also get recommendations on places from a local. The more we travel the more we realize how little we like the touristy stuff, which is ironic considering that we are, after all, tourists.

This tour started with some an introduction to the art of Italian coffee, which we would learn is incredibly different than the Starbucks experience we've come to enjoy as we sip our gargantuan mug, all cozy in an armchair, over in-depth conversation. No, Italians pop into a bar, where they order a shot of their favorite caffeine concoction and often shoot it while standing up, and off they go. What comes closest to the American idea of an espresso is referred to as "caffe" and is ordered by requesting, "Un caffe." We sampled several caffes brewed from different beans, and of course being American, added much sugar to it. We discussed the benefits of getting a quick jolt verses a stomach full of many unnecessary extras that we are used to in our large mugs. We learned about the Bialetti maker that is in most Italian homes and how it is used to make these possibly-addicting caffes. Unfortunately, our daughter has a thing for coffee and when we weren't looking, one of her brothers slipped her their shot of the strongest brewed caffe, Robusta, which she excitedly gulped down, only to later experience the consequences.

We moved on to sample trufle butter, and then to a wine shop to sample some cheeses and learn about the regions local wines. If the Chianti bottle has a rooster icon on it, it's 80% San Gervoise grape from the Chianti region, which means that it's authentic. Then we headed to San Lorenzo Market where we sampled different cured meats, balsamic vinegars, olive oils, schiacciata (a fried focaccia type of bread served as an appetizer), Tuscan Miranda (a common mid-afternoon snack made by drizzling Tuscan red wine on a slice of bread and sprinkling some sugar on top), Panforte (a desert that monks would carry with them and use to pay taxes during the Middle Ages, consisting of almonds, nuts, sugar, honey, four and candied fruits), and pasta. We learned about Vin Santo, a delicious dessert wine that a hard almond cookie called catuccini is dipped into. Of course the tour brilliantly wrapped up with gelato. It was another great start to understanding the gastronomical highlights of this area, and we enjoyed visiting with the other Americans on the tour - some fun women who were taking their daughter's on a Europe tour for their high school graduation.

Food Tour group in Florence

Since the tour ended near the market area, we decided to just spend the rest of the day wandering around the city shops. This is where our sweet four-year-old daughter experienced her caffeine crash, and for really the first time on our trip, completely melted down. She's been such a trooper and we can't imagine there are many other four-year-olds that would put up with this lifestyle as well as she has. Dad took her home to nap and Mom took the boys shopping. She returned to let Dad out for pizza with the boys so she and SJ could snuggle and have a movie night.

AMAZING pizza combo - truffles, ham & burrata!

Sunday Mom and G stayed in to catch up on some schoolwork and make a plan for the rest of our travels so that we could get the necessities accomplished without stressing over missing out on the fun. Dad took the rest of the kids out to walk around the city and we all met up for dinner.

On Monday we headed to the Tuscan countryside for a day of authentic cooking and feasting. This was a unique experience as it was a somewhat new organization and not overly professional; however we embraced this as we were seeing a more accurate picture of what Tuscan life was like. Traffic and construction caused our driver to be an hour late, and we had to take two cars to the countryside, but only one of the drivers spoke English. Once we arrived at the farm/guesthouse where we would be spending the day, we settled in and were thrilled at the beautiful views, hammock, trampoline, Foosball table, and unique miniature pony. After having a couple of appetizer/snacks, we got started making the pork and tomato sauce for the gnocchi. We mostly observed this process, but were excited when it came time to make the berry tiramisu and we were able to be hands-on. We wrapped up our chefs-in-training by learning how to make gnocchi, little potato puff of pasta that, if made properly, are little nuggets of melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Then we were able to sit down and indulge in our delicious feast. Throughout the morning people would stop by and lend a hand and there were several other guests at the lunch table, and from what we could gather, these people were neighbors and it was not unusual to have several other people stop in unannounced for a meal. We rested after lunch and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, then we headed to a nearby winery to sample some of their products and learn about their wine-making procedure. Upon returning to the farm and waiting for dinner, Dad and our oldest took the motorcycle out for a spin and adventure as it ran out of gas - luckily it uphill at the time. Our dinner didn't begin until 9pm and was a BBQ feast of sausages, steak and more. It was an interesting day and we all enjoyed it, the gnocchi and tiramisu making were highlights and we learned that in Tuscany, wine flows more readily than water!