Little thimbles

This is a really easy and yummy pasta.  These little noodles look like little thimbles and are called ditalini (I haven't seen GF ditalini, but you could use any other GF pasta).

 

Recipe:

1 box ditalini (or any GF pasta)

1/2 bag pre-washed fresh spinach

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 small jar of green olives, halved

fresh Parmesan cheese

fresh garlic, pressed or chopped

olive oil

5 scallions, sliced

Heat oil in large skillet, add garlic and warm.  Add green onions, tomatoes and green olives.  Let simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add spinach and saute until limp.  Toss cooked noodles with the sauce and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.

supper of champions

Sometimes you just need grilled cheese, tomato soup and a Leinies. 

The end of the Italian adventure

On one of our last days in Sorrento, we attempted to take a bus trip to Amalfi.  The first day that we tried, we sat on a bus for about an hour, waiting....the bus driver was just sitting in the driver's seat, not doing anything....a lot of people were getting impatient and asking questions...but the driver didn't speak English and none of the tourists really spoke Italian.  So we sat.  The driver didn't make any attempt to communicate what was going on.  Finally a local informed us - via sign language and broken English - that the bus was broken.  I couldn't believe they didn't try to find some way to communicate that to us.  We had been sitting there for a long time.  And why was the bus driver just sitting there?  It was weird.  We spent that day in Sorrento.  The next day we tried again.  We got as far south as one tiny town past Positano on the bus, when we were told the bus could go no further - the road was broken.  So that happened.  We got off the bus in this place.....it wasn't a town at all.  There were no restaurants, stores, etc.  We both had to pee, and we had to wait in the hot sun for an hour and a half and then get back on a bus to head back north to Postiano. 

Positano is a beautiful coast town.  Unfortunately, there weren't many places open when we were there. It was a weekday in early March....they probably don't have many tourists coming through in the off-season.  We still got some great pictures.  But what a crazy adventure.

I would highly recommend traveling completely by train.  The bus rides were insane.  The roads are so narrow and winding.  Along the coast the cliffs are tall and people drive crazily.  The buses speed around corners, honking their horns to alert people of their presence.  It's frightening. 

 

When we left Sorrento we only had one more full day in Rome before heading home.  We decided to see Vatican City - which took most of our last day. It was beautiful.  The Sistine Chapel was the most amazing room I've ever entered...unfortunately, no photos are allowed.  We did get a lot of pictures inside St. Peter's Basillica and inside the museums and galleries.  Vatican city was quite an experience, I would highly recommend checking it out.

 

  

  

After leaving the Vatican, we walked along the river to the Mouth of Truth - La Boca della Verita.  Ever since seeing the movies Only You and Roman Holiday I have wanted to go to this place.  

 

 

The following day, we flew home.  Ah, what a great trip:)

Pompeii, Vesuvius and Hercolano

We took day trips to each of these sites from Sorrento, each was only a short train ride out of the city.  As an Anthropologist, and lover of history, these sites were of particular interest to me.  In fact, Pompeii was the main reason we decided to focus this trip on "southern" Italy (Rome and the Amalfi coast) instead of "northern" Italy - which would have included Florence and Venice....which I am also really looking forward to - someday:)

Pompeii was an incredible site.  The town was quite large, and you can walk throughout the entire thing.  So many homes and structures are still (somewhat) intact.  The frescoes and mosaics impressed me the most.  So many are still visibly beautiful; which, in it's own way, is quite sad.  The ability of this art to survive, through such a tragedy, is amazing.  That is survives still, after all this time - I found Pompeii to be a beautiful, peaceful, sad place.  Hercolano is a smaller site, also destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.  We visited both sites, here are some pictures - mostly from the Pompeii site.

 

  

  

  

  

Mt. Vesuvius was an amazing adventure as well.  We wanted to go up to the top and see the crater, we found a tour company that was ready to take a van full of tourists up to the top - the weather was questionable.  It was warm and fine in town - but cloudy up above....they warned us about visibility....but this was our only option to go up the volcano.  We decided to go for it.  The guy driving the van, while I'm sure experienced on that road, made me nervous.  He was an absolute nut-job.  The driving nearly made me sick. The roads were narrow, winding and very steep.  He sped up these roads as if he was in a race.  When we got to the top, the fog was so thick, we could barely see 20 feet in front of us.  We had to hike up the last few hundred feet, which was very steep....that combined with the altitude made it a slow and exhausting trip.  Walking through the cold fog was like getting a facial - our faces, clothes and hair were soaking wet by the time we reached the top......It was amazing to be up there, but the fog was so thick, we couldn't see inside the crater.  I am so glad we went to the top, but it would have been nice to see inside:)  We did get some nice postcards....so we know what it looks like, but here is what we saw:

 

  

Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast

We departed Rome on the train, the Circumvesuviana line, travelling along the Amalfi coast down to Sorrento.  We spent a full week there and just fell in love with it.  Sorrento is beautiful, easy to navigate and centrally located to visit Pompeii, Positano, Amalfi and Hercolano.  It's also not a long train ride from Rome. 

We stayed at the Hotel Mignon in Sorrento: http://www.sorrentohotelmignon.com/

It was very nice and pretty centrally located in the town. It was about 4 blocks from the train station and another block from the main shopping/dining street in town.  We weren't brave (or insane - depending on how you look at it) enough to rent a car....so we walked everywhere.  Sorrento is small enough to easily walk through it while looking for restaurants or shopping. 

 

 

Sorrento is known for their lemon groves, and subsequently, their Limoncello.  I didn't really enjoy Limoncello....it's very strong.  But this is the place to try it! You can see a ton of lemon groves from the train....lovely.  Here is the website for the Limonoro - the premire Limoncello maker in Sorrento, and where we bought our Limoncello souvenirs: http://www.limonoro.it/home_eng.htm

We had sliding glass doors in our hotel room that lead out to this patio - right off the patio was a lemon grove:

 

 

As Italy is also known for great leather goods, I found an awesome store in Sorrento and purchased a leather purse....it is one of my most favorite material posessions.  Here is a link to the store: www.concettapane.it

 Tomorrow, Pompeii.

Rome!

One year ago today, Luke and I were on our way to Italy.  It was a great trip, and likely our last international one for awhile....as we are both in school and it's hard to find the time (and money) for a big trip.  Hopefully we'll be able to go abroad again soon, but it will likely have to wait until I'm out of school.

Here is a little review of our trip to southern Italy, along with some pictures.

We started our trip with three days and two nights in Rome, followed by seven days and six nights in Sorrento, ending with another two nights in Rome.  In Rome we stayed at the Hotel Apollo.  The room was very small, but nice and clean.  We were just a few blocks from the Colosseum and the Trevi fountain.  We spent a little more to stay within walking distance of these monuments....but it was nice and safe and clean.  They had a great breakfast area up on the roof....which I am sure we would have enjoyed more if it had not been February when we were there.  Here is a link to the hotel: http://www.hotelapollorome.com/

The first day we wandered around the area surrounding our hotel.  We visited the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, did some shopping and had our first gelato.  De-wait for it - lightful.

The second day we walked up the the Colosseum from our hotel, we ate at a great restaurant right across the street from the Colosseum....couldn't beat the view. We had a great calzone, such yummy food the whole trip.  We then walked over to the Colosseum.  We spent most of the late morning and early afternoon there.

Luke is so cute!  From the Colosseum we wandered over to the Roman Forum, it was beautiful - so rich in history. Luke and I listened to audio guides by Rick Steves (downloaded free off iTunes) whilst walking around - this was a tip from Cynthia and Chris - very helpful and interesting.  The Roman Forum is way cool.

 

 

 

Tomorrow I'll revisit Sorrento.

Spiced beef empanadas

This is one of my new favorites.

I got this recipe from Real Simple magazine a few months ago.  I've already made it several times. It is easy (although a little time consuming) and so delicious.  

Spiced Beef Empanadas:

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 pound ground beef
1/3 cup golden raisins
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
s/p
2 store-bought refrigerated rolled piecrusts (I get GF ones from BitterSweet Bakery)
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp. lime zest

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium head. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 6 minutes.  Add the beef and cook, breaking it up with a spoon until no longer pink, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the raisins, ketchup, cinnamon, salt and pepper.

Using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter (or biscut cutter) to cut out circles from the piecrusts. Divide the beef mixture among the circles, brush the edges with water, fold in half, and press with a fork to seal.  Transfer to a baking sheet and brush with the egg. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Put the sour cream in a small bowl and sprinkle with the lime zest. Serve with the empanadas.