Before Italy, Mozzarella was my favorite cheese. Silly American, I just didn’t know any better. What I discovered during my time in Italy is a delightful cheese called “burrata”. To put it simple: Imagine a mozzarella ball stuffed with cottage cheese. Burrata means “buttered” in Italian, so how could I not love this cheese? It starts …
I didn’t have any expectations for Cambridge because I wouldn’t even had considered visiting Cambridge if it weren’t for Alex. I knew the fancy schmancy university was there, but I had no idea how charming Cambridge would be. Getting their via train was pretty easy. It was only 2.5 hours away, I only had to …
Nothing makes me feel more at home than a weekend at the beach. A cold, grey, windy beach. Chris and I decided a small getaway my first weekend in England because we both could use some time in the sand and do some exploration. The last time we were on a beach together was three years …
Pretty pictures driving from Manchester to Nottingham. I don’t think I’ll ever get to driving on the left side of the road. Good thing Chris did it all.
So here I am, back in England. Long story short, my visa was expiring, work at La Distesa was winding down, and it was probably time for me to really get some real traveling done and living out of my backpack. I spent the night in the airport and when the TV monitors were finally …
To be completely honest Venice was not high on my list of places to visit in Italy. After going to Florence and Cinque Terre (places that were on my list), I had enough of the tourism scene. As selfish and silly as that thought process is, I knew I should visit Venice but I really …
In true Sandy fashion, the week before I leave Italy is one giant whirlwind. Italy has a strange way of making your life chaotic even when you don’t mean to. Either that or I’ve completely lost the ability to foresee future possible obstacles that might come my way. My last weekend at La Distesa was …
I haven’t been quite up on my restaurant reviews in Italy since I’ve been so fortunate to be able to have homemade Italian food twice a day. I haven’t explored the fancy places to dine, and for the most part restaurant Italian food doesn’t have the same warmth and comfort as the simple pasta or risotto dishes …
For lack of a better description, we’ve dubbed Valeria’s recent breads as “Wine Bread”. We call it wine bread because it’s made with yeast collected from wine. I know you’re probably confused, so read this short previous entry about the process. Now that you have your mother yeast, when you are ready to bake all …
Did you know you can bake bread without commercial yeasts? You can cultivate your very own yeast at home, and it’s easier than you think! They call it Pasta Madre, which at first translated sounds like Mother Pasta. But Valeria calls it a Mother Yeast, a natural yeast base created by combining collecting the must …
This week has been a crazy flux of new music for me. Such an exciting time. The delayed obtaining of Mumford and Sons‘s new album “Babel” (WOOT!), Taylor Swift’s album “Red” (Sorry, the sappy romantic in me just loves her too much…admittedly there are very few songs on this album I enjoy), and most importantly, …
Next to lasagna, one of the many Italian dishes I came to discover in my teenage years was Carbonara. However, since I’ve been living in Italy, it occurs to me that the Carbonara that is served all over the US that we’re used to picturing is not truly the way Carbonara has been traditionally made. …
It’s funny how you can build things up in your head sometime. It’s coming, it’s coming, this thing that you’ve been waiting for and as soon as it passes, whether it lasts a few hours or a few days, as soon as it’s over you either keep on truckin’ along as if nothing special has …
Experiencing my second wine festival was for lack of better words: great. Having Jordan around gave me a chance to really show someone from home all the wonderfulness I love about Italy. Jordan decided to drive a motorcycle from Rome to Cupramontana, which sounded like a great experience, but like all Italian travel experiences, it came …
One of my favorite parts about living anywhere for some amount of time is getting to know the locals well enough to get the “inside scoop” on local happenings. This year, I have been lucky enough to meet Luisa, a retired art professor, but continuing artist. If you’ve been following along you might remember she …
This was such a magical afternoon. What a priviledge it was to be a part of Corrado’s verticale tasting of his Gli Eremi. We tasted the past 11 years of his Gli Eremi starting from 2000, his very first wine. I’m not a sommelier by any means, and I was too busy taking photos …
This year’s harvest was much different than last year’s. With a hot summer, we began the harvest much earlier this year (before the end of August). And while we had a couple long haul days, overall we kept to a regular day schedule. The weather was MUCH cooler than last year’s so we didn’t get …
Since I referenced the event in my last post, I figured it would be a good opportunity to post some of my favorite Skagit Valley Tulip Festival photos. This festival takes place for a couple weeks in every year in April/May in Mount Vernon, Washington. It’s always been my sign that spring is almost here and usually …
We stopped by this little town for some exploration, happy hour, and lunch before heading for an incredible hike to Mount Vettore. I’ve never had such a lazy morning/day before a big hike before, but there is a first time for everything. This little town was a bit strange, but cute in it’s own sunny …
Located in Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sebillini within the Marche region, Monte Vettore peaks at 2,476 meters (8,123 feet). There are several ways to get there, we came from the southeast trail after spending some time in Castelluccio, which was more or less 335 meters (1,110 feet). While it sounded a great workout, a workout was …
Now that I am all caught up on my London tours, I can finally breath and focus on writing something a little more substantial and something I know folks back home are wondering about. Ever since I left Turkey, I basically fell off the grid. Aside from the occasional texts, brief e-mails, and fulfilling the …
Giovanni has come a long way since I met him a year ago. While he is the most dedicated and passionate worker I’ve met, he lacked the spark and drive to create something more. He was more or less, maybe just stuck or content with his life in little Cupra. Happy to be doing what …
Corrado and Valeria turned 40 this year. Valeria turns 40 in October, but they decided to celebrate together this year. Nothing shows how well this couple is loved more than the people that were in attendance. Gifts ranged from hand crafted pieces to weekend getaways. They decided to celebrate their big bash with live music …
As I’ve said before my favorite part of traveling next to trying new foods is meeting people. While London wasn’t the friendliest of cities, it reminded me of Seattle. For the most part people keep to themselves in the streets, but if you’re lucky enough to strike up a conversation with one, they’re perfectly pleasant …
Pork Scratchings and beer I felt like a disaster my first night in London. I didn’t stand on the right side of the escalator, I fumbled through my coin purse trying to figure out what the difference was between my pounds, euros, and turkish lira, and apparently had to sample nearly ever beer on tap because English beers …
