Food, Food, Food!

     As I was looking though my previous blog posts, I noticed that I completely forgot to dedicate a whole post to food! Italy is obviously known for food, so I want to share some of my favorite discoveries all throughout the amazing country.

Favorite Pastas:

     One of my first meals out in Rome was with Nik and a couple new friends on the trip at a traditional Roman style restaurant called Osteria Da Fortunata. Eating in Italy is usually a two to three hour ordeal, which can be a lot of fun when you're with friends, as we were for this meal. Even though Osteria Da Fortunata's most famous dish was the oxtail pasta, I opted for the zucchini flower pasta because it sounded creamy and delicious, on top of the fact that I had never tried zucchini flowers! This dish ended up being one of my favorite meals in Rome, and you can probably see why!

    Another favorite pasta of mine was this Cacio e Pepe at a restaurant in Rome called Santa Lucia. This restaurant also happened to be in the movie Eat Pray Love! I tried a few Cacio e Pepe dishes while in Rome, but nothing compared to this!

Favorite Pizzas:

     My favorite pizza in Rome was at Pinsere, a tiny walk-up restaurant in an out-of-the-way part of the city. When we came here, we got the traditional Roman pizza experience because all of the slices were laid out on a table behind glass, and we each got to pick the slices we wanted. It got a little crazy at lunchtime because it seemed to be a popular spot. Everyone was going crazy picking out their slices, and you could barely tell what the different types were! You had to choose based on their looks, and I think we chose very well!

     Another must-have pizza is this delicious option from Naples. Naples style pizza is incredible- you just have to try it for yourself! This restaurant, La'Antica Pizzeria da Michele, also happened to be in the movie Eat Pray Love. Looks like Julia Roberts really did have the eating trip of a lifetime!

Favorite Desserts:

     The best dessert I had on my trip was at an amazing restaurant in Capri called Da Tonino. We stumbled upon it when trying to look up a reasonably priced restaurant in Capri. That's a joke, though, because everything there is crazy expensive. Lucky for us, we were able to find a restaurant only slightly above our budget. After climbing up a mountain for a half hour, we arrived at a quiet restaurant that people didn't seem to know about. The atmosphere was very luxurious, and they put us at what they called "the romantic table" because it was overlooking the town and water. It was beautiful! This restaurant was known for having a slight Asian flair, which was rare for Italy. We soon learned that our waiter and the chef were from Madagascar. While I could talk about the stuffed zucchini flowers, fried rabbit egg-roll things and ravioli that we shared there, my favorite part of our meal was, of course, dessert! I insisted on ordering dessert because so far, this meal had been the beast we had eaten in Italy. We ended up going with cheesecake, and we were soon presented with a mozzarella cheesecake with a lemon crust, strawberries and basil gelato.....it was probably the best dessert I've ever had!

     Another beyond incredible dessert option is this chocolate pie from Florence steak restaurant, Perseus. This restaurant is known for having the best steak in Florence, which is a big deal since Florence is known for their beef. However, I was extra impressed with their array of homemade pies. My chocolate pie went so fast I could barely get a picture!

Favorite Sandwich:

     Panini's are a staple in Rome, but little did I know, I had the best sandwich on our trip in a small town outside of Naples! We stumbled upon a cute cheese and bread place called La Nuova Masseria across from the train station in Portici, a small town near Naples that we stayed in (Naples was a little to scary to stay in the actual city). We quickly realized that this place made their own buffalo mozzarella cheese. When we looked behind the counter, we could see the huge tanks used to make the cheese. We immediately knew we had to order a sandwich. Sandwiches weren't on the menu, but after living in Italy for three weeks, we learned that sometime you just need to ask. They were excited when we asked for a sandwich, so we ordered a mozzarella, prosciutto, and artichoke sandwich. It was amazing and so fresh!

     I am missing the food in Italy very much, but I was lucky enough to visit Nik in Dallas this past weekend. This meant that I had plenty of barbecue, tacos and In-N-Out Burger to keep me satisfied :)