Tuscany: Pics and Commentary

This post has been a long time coming! For some reason I've just not been doing a lot of editing or photography stuff lately, so that's put me way behind on editing pictures from when my family was here visiting.

The first place we ventured to while my family was here was Tuscany. My Mom really wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and although I've been there before, I didn't mind going back. Besides Tuscany we were planning on staying in Montalcino and then driving over to Montepulciano the next day before our return back to Northern Italy.

First up? The infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Of course I had to get the holding up the Tower shot.

I know, I know...another shot of the Tower? I liked the angle on this one though.

This is inside the Duomo at Pisa. The ceiling (and the Duomo itself) were gorgeous!

It seems like whenever I go to a touristy location I always happen upon a couple who is getting married taking pictures there!



This is where we stayed outside Montalcino.  It was called Villa Le Prata and supposedly used to be a hunting lodge.  I thought it was a nice place, the owner spoke absolutley no English, so I had to get by on my limited Italian, but we made it work.  I was not a fan of the breakfast though. Italian breakfasts are normally pretty skimpy to begin with and this breakfast consisted of juice, coffee and a plate full of hard cookies. Not really my style.



Our plan for the second day was to see another hill town. Because we saw some of Montalcino the night before we decided to head on out towards Montepulciano with plans to stop and enjoy the typical Tuscan views on the way to Montepulciano via the town of Pienza.

This is looking back at the town of Montalcino

Hay harvest on the way to Pienza. This stretch of road had so many beautiful views

This ended up being one of my favorite pictures from the Tuscany trip. I just loved the fields, the sky and the old building. Such a typical Tuscan view.

Another scenic view on the way to Pienza. We were stopping A LOT to take pictures.

I've always wanted to get a picture of the amazing poppy fields around Italy and I had yet to catch them at a good time. Luckily for me, there were fields FULL of poppies on our drive and I got the chance to take many, many pictures of these lovely flowers.

This is in the town of Montepulciano. To be honest, I didn't take a lot of pictures while I was here. Sometimes I find the small Italian towns start looking repetative and I stop taking pictures. I know, I know....not a smart thing to do.

This is Montepulciano, I was a little disappointed that the clouds had started rolling in when we got here and so I didn't get any lovely, sunny shots. Montepulciano was a cute hill town. I think my favorite hill town is still Volterra, but if you're ever in the region you should check out Montepulciano as well.

Overall our trip to Tuscany was great. I got to see a few more towns, eat delish food and take some great pictures.

Parma and Prosciutto

I've been a bit spotty lately with my blog posting, but honestly when I don't have anything to say I'd rather just not post instead of forcing myself to write something. So if anyone was wondering that's why I haven't been posting as much.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going on one of our Outdoor Rec trips to Parma for a parmesan and prosciutto tasting. I love trips and I love Italian food, so I thought this would be the perfect trip for me.

I was not disappointed!

To start the day we went to the factory where they processed the prosciutto. We were shown the various stages that the prosciutto had to go through before it was sold to the public. The factory that went to was one of the smaller prosciutto factories, but you'd never known it from all the legs of ham. I've never seen so many in my life.

Our tour guide explaining how the stick (made from the legbone of a horse) is entered into various points of the prosciutto to test that it is good.

Afterwards we were treated to a delicious spread of various kinds of meats, cheese and wine. I do love Italian tastings!

Next we were off to Parma for a little bit of free time for lunch and a quick tour of the city. I had some tortelli with fresh herbs for lunch (no pictures, but they were quite tasty) and the tour of Parma, although short was interesting.

Our last stop was the factory that made Parmesan. Unfortunately they only make the cheese very early in the morning, so we didn't get to see that, but we did get to see one worker turning the wheels of cheese and changing the cheesecloth.

These are the cheese wheels taking a bath in salt water to release the fat from the cheese.

Have you ever seen so much cheese in your life?

The finished product with the authentic stamp letting you know it was made in the region.

I ended the day with two packages of salami and a wedge of 24 month aged Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, all for 15 euro. I'd say it was another successful day in Italy.

Nove: Home of Ceramics

One of my favorite local places to shop here in Italy is a little town called Nove. They are known for their ceramics and after a few visits there, I am hooked.

They have some famous collections like Tiffany, Ralph Lauren, Lenox and Williams-Sonoma. Generally those collections are small, but I did spy a Tiffany cake stand that I really wanted this past visit.

My main objective this time, besides getting a gift for a friend, was to get some awesome FiestaWare-esque dishes for my own home. I'm obsessed with FiestaWare and the color turquoise, but currently don't want to spend the moolah on it, so I'm working on my knock-off Italian version.

I got everything in the picture below for 20 Euro. Not a bad price in my opinion.



There were about 3 other items in the collection, but I'm doing it a little at at time. Ideally I'd like a place setting for 6 or 8, but we'll see.

Now I just need to get to Poland for some Polish pottery....

Girls Roadtrip: Asiago

On Saturday, three other wives and I decided to do a little roadtrip to Asiago. (Yes, it is indeed home of Asiago cheese).

Asiago is only about an hour drive and it was so worth it! It's a smaller town and there's honestly not a lot to it, but I enjoyed the open meadows and cows scattered around. In all honesty, it was like we had driven to Germany or Austria. You'd never even think you were in Italy if it weren't for people speaking Italian.



Asiago view, right by the market.



My lunch: Cheese wrapped with speck( a type of ham from the Tirol region) mushrooms and polenta.



Fence and meadow on our hike up to the WWI monument.



The WWI monument. I have to say I don't know a lot about WWI or the battles fought around our area. Perhaps I should study up.



Meadows around Asiago. I wish I could move here. I miss open space!



We stopped to play on some playground equipment. You're never too old for a playground!



The most awesome Fiat EVER!



This church looks almost exactly like one in Innsbruck. I just love how cute the buildings are here!



Straw people! Of course I had to pose with them.

Halfway Through

My title refers to the fact we've already been in Italy for a little over a year and a half and if we truly PCS when we are supposed to, then we are already halfway through our time here.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. I love living in Europe most of the time. I love being able to see so many things that I always dreamed about seeing and read about in books. I love expanding my list of countries I've been to. I love the food and the wine.



I do not love not speaking the language fluently (which I realize is my own fault, but I'm still working on it) I don't like only having AFN, the crazy Italian drivers, no good Mexican food and no closets.

If Sean stays in the Army, we both agreed we wouldn't mind another overseas tour. We'd both love to be staioned in Japan or even in Europe again. I think we'd both like Germany next time instead of Italy.

I'm in the process right now of writing up an introduction to life in Italy for Army spouses. Once I get it done I'll make a link available somewhere on my blog so that anyone PCSing to Italy can get an idea of what to expect. I really wish the Army would do something like that, but the info I got before we moved here wasn't the sort of info I really needed to be able to adjust to life here.

Celebrate Good Times...

Last night was a combined birthday party for myself and two of my friends. We had it at a local restaurant that we all love and I had such a good time.



Sean and I doing a mock wedding toast.



My "Why are you taking this picture?!" face



The two other birthday girls and me.



All of us girls. Only two of us looking at the right camera.



Our main course: Ostrich, chicken, peas and a few other things that I'm not sure about. Our full menu was: Salad with bacon fat (so tasty!) risotto with lemon, faggotini (pasta with pears inside with a cream sauce and ham) and birthday cake for dessert!



The cake that our friend Lindsey made for us. It had three separate layers with three different flavors.

Just another good memory I'll have of our time spent in Italy!

News and a Weekend Update

I've been such a crummy blogger lately! In my defense, I have been out and about a lot in the past week.

I also have some big news. Sean is now in Germany and should be home within a week. They are doing an MRI in the next day or two and from there will decide if he needs a spinal injection or surgery. Either way he'll be home for at least a month and we are thinking he won't be sent back to Afghanistan. Although I am happy he's coming home, this is not the way I wanted it to happen. I know he's upset that he won't be finishing out the deployment with his friends and I can't blame him. It's a tough situation.

This weekend I had the pleasure to go to Nove with Dana, her little boy and a neighbor of hers. I got a couple of sweet deals.



This awesome platter that I'm sure I'll use for dips and chips.

AND



These bowls kind of remind me of Fiestaware, which I love and so I snatched them up...for 2 euro apiece!

The best picture from Nove is this random plate we found in one of the shops. It seriously looks like a crazy version of Jesus. Ha!



Last night I went to a local cherry festival. The proper name for it is Festa dea Siaresa, but I prefer to just say Cherry Festival.

It was great, this is the first time I'd really been to an Italian festival and once we figured out where to buy tickets for our foods and drink we were golden. They were selling a kilogram of cherries for 5 Euro and it was well worth it. The cherries are AMAZING. So sweet and tasty.



Best cherries EVER!

Night At The Cellar

Last night, a group of friends and I went to a local villa for a night of food and wine.

It was AWESOME.

For starters, the villa is beautiful. I enjoyed just walking around, taking pictures of it and the beautiful flowers all around it. The wine and food just made the experience ten times better.



Looking at the stairs from the entrance. It's quite an imposing first view.



Some of the many flowers.



There were a ton of fountains on the property too. This was my favorite!



Me in front of some gorgeous yellow roses


Dinner was amazing. We had four courses and it was served sort of buffet style. For the antipasti we had polenta with fish, crackers with some sort of fish spread and squares of some sort of spinach like quiche.

The primi piatti was risotto with mushrooms (it was heavenly) and ravioli with pea sauce. I'm not one for peas, but again, this was delish.

The secondi (or meat course) was veal topped crositini and skewers that had potatoes, pearl onions and the most tender and melt in your mouth meat I've ever had. I found out later it was rabbit. I've never had rabbit, but it was so good!

I actually didn't stay for dessert as I was tired and my ride was leaving, but I've heard it was delicious too!



Lovely scenery around the villa



Last night was just beautiful! All the beautiful views...one of my favorite nights in Italy by far.



All of us girls...plus a writer from Frommer's guidebook and her mom.