Five Pictures of Florence

We’re bubbling over excited: we have visitors coming a week from Thursday. And, even better, the visitors are Nat’s mom and sister, and they’re coming for Christmas. Yay! They’re flying in (from KS and LA) to Florence first, and spending a day there more-or-less with Natalie. Florence is one of my favorite cities in the world (Seattle being the other), and if we had limitless $$s, maybe we would have tried to find a place big enough for us and the dogs there (though the country is pretty darn fine, so I'm glad I didn't have to face that daunting choice. Well, sorta glad). We stopped in for the first time (which is sad, but hey, things happen) last weekend, in preparation for Nat’s mom and sister because Nat wanted a quick Florence refresh. We trained in, ate some lunch, walked here and there, and saw some sites without getting in too deep (as Nat will be there again so soon). I thought I’d take you on your own whirlwind tour, following our basic itinerary. First stop, the San Lorenzo market. It’s surrounded by a street market, but to us the real San Lorenzo market is the indoor food market in a building behind the sellers on the streets. There are many, many meat stalls (pretty much every meat you can imagine), a fish and seafood stalls section, veggie stalls, condiment stalls, wine stalls, and more. There are also a few restaurant stalls, and we had lunch at one: the Virginia. While waiting for our mushroom risotto and pesto lasagna, I took a pic of the stall across the aisle:

From there, we headed inwards to the centers of old Florence, stopping first to take in the Duomo. One of those buildings that never ceases to amaze me, take my breath away, and make me wonder “how,” the Duomo is hard (impossible?) to get a full pic of, but here’s a shot from the front:

Heading next to the Arno, we ambled towards, and then into, the Piazzo Vecchio, where the statue garden is fabulous (the Cellini is my fav, but the Rape of the Sabines is heart-stopping, too), and where the statue of Neptune (with a Medici twinkle in his eye) gazes out over the populace. Of course, this art doesn’t stop commerce, as shown by the man riding his bicycle through the center—with a ladder:

From there, we walked past the Uffizi (one of the best art galleries in the world, natch), walked along the Arno, past the Ponte Vecchio (the most famous bridge), and along the Arno towards Santa Ponte Trinita, which is my favorite bridge in Florence. Its un-assuming lines, and the array of colorful houses, buildings, and hotels reflecting off the Arno make it more of an approachable, convivial, bridge to me:

For our final stop, and our final picture, we headed up the most fashionable avenue in Florence, the Via de' Tornabuoni. Now, it’s not that we aren’t fashionable (Nat does have the snazziest jacket in Italy), but we head down and up this street for one reason: Procacci. A Panini and tartfuoreum (I made that word up—but they have lots of truffle and other products), Procacci has the finest mini-sandwiches ever. White truffle pate on light little loaves. They rule. I didn’t take a picture of them, cause after going in the door my hands hold only sandwiches:

 

Cielo Chiaro Special: Italian Onion Dip

We’d had a bit of a dip craving lately. I think (for my part at least--I can’t speak for Nat) that it started because I had sent someone the recipe for French onion dip from Party Snacks. That recipe basically modifies the classic one using French onion soup mix (I love that dip), which we can’t get here. We did have some luck though, which led to a dip that was quite different than French onion, but just as tasty on crackers and chips. The luck came at the Umbertide Wednesday market, where we found some amazing onions: each was about the size of three green onions put together, but they were red. Not as sweet as regular red onions, they still held a little sweetness and great onion flavor. We also had to improvise somewhat due to Italy’s lack of sour cream. Using yogurt instead made the dip more liquid, but firm enough for an amazing dip experience:

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup onions (red or green)
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes
4 or 5 sage leaves, diced
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup plain yogurt

Directions:
1. Add the olive oil to a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions and sauté for about five minutes, stirring regularly.

2. Add the sun-dried tomatoes to the pan, sauté for a minute or so, and then add the sage and pepper. Sauté for another two minutes and take off the heat.

3. Add the mayonnaise and yogurt to a bowl, and then add the onion-tomato mix. Stir well with a fork or whisk until all is combined. Taste, and add more pepper if desired. Then place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Serve with chips or crackers or other dipping devices.


*See more specials: Penne e Noce, Zuppa di Pomodoro e’ Fagioli,Torta Vegetariana, Lasagna Vegetariana con Tartufo Crema, Homemade Tagliatelle e Gorgonzola, Orzo Vegetale con Crema

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D.S.D.I.: Dr. Strange Battles the Italian Seitan

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* The first post and the explanation behind D.S.D.I. posts

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Snow on San Martino

A quick shout out to those in Seattle who’ve had some up-and-down-the-thermometer weather the last month and some odd days (as well as any others living through La Nina) in picture form. Though today is sunny (and chilly, but not too chilly), this time last week this was the view out our back window:

Three Days of Pizza: Day Three, Quattro Formaggi con Cipolla

I wanted to end our three pleasurable precious poppin’ days of pizza with another quattro formaggi varietal (after yesterday’s quattro formaggi con roket pizza). This one’s also from the Fizz (like our first pizza), and is one that Natalie created (I think I talked about it briefly in a past post), a quattro formaggi con cipolla pizza. The cipolla is thinly-sliced, almost paper thin, and spread liberally over the cheeses, which are a blend of Gorgonzola, and I believe mozz, pecorino, and chunks of stracchino. It’s our favorite pizza of the moment, one that when I get it Natalie wishes she would have, and when she gets it I wish I would have gotten it—pizza envy may be the best recommendation. The onion mingles so well with the cheese blend. This one’s super close up, so you can admire the gooey goodness at close range:

Three Days of Pizza: Day Two, Quattro Formaggi con Roket

For our second day of pizza I wanted to diverge a bit away from red sauce (represented with yesterday’s porcini pizza) and into a pure cheesy bliss. The below pie is from Nestor’s, taking their wonderful quattro formaggi  pizza and topping it with fresh (added after it’s taken out of the fire) roket, or arugula. The fresh greens (which deliver a bitter balance to the cheese) on top of the cheeses provide the best kind of culinary rollercoaster for your mouth:

Three Days of Pizza: Day One, Funghi Porcini

I thought instead of doing longish pizzeria posts for a couple days I’d skip the song-and-dance and hit the pie itself. The idea (which is somewhat sadistic I suppose, but only in a gentle way) is to maximize reader salivating.  Okay, not solely to do that, but to allow me and us to focus in on the pizza itself. Like with the pizza below, a funghi porcini pizza from Bar Fizz. It’s funny to have funghi (meaning mushroom) and porcini (a type of mushroom) together in a “mushroom porcini” way, but it’s to draw a line between it and the regular funghi pizza. And look at it—those porcini are awe inspiring. Big meaty rich bites. They almost break the fork:

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