Welcome... home.

Hi Everyone,

So, as most of you probably home... I've been back in the USA for about 10 days! I still have about 3 weeks worth of pictures to upload from the trip, so stay tuned for Umbria (who knew truffles grew on trees... ok well they don't, but it seems like they do in Umbria), Sicily (Italian street food!), Bologna, Verona, Budapest (would you like that with paprika?) and Istanbul (yes, it's as cool as you thought)!

Sorry I've been a little slow with the updates... but thanks to all of you who keep checking back regularly. I was thinking about just stopping updating until I saw how many hits on the site there still are every day. So thanks everyone! More food to come, as well as some commentary on all of it!

Happy eating,

Will

Day 141-142

For lunch, some MOUTHWATERING garganelli with peas and prosciutto and cream from Osteria dell'Orsa.

Then, pasta with tomato sauce for dinner. Pasta pasta pasta!

For lunch the next day, a calzone with spinach and ricotta from Terra dell Sole. So good! Oh how I will miss this place.

Day 140

Today I started off the day going to Mercato delle Terre with Lia. Though I had been once before in the winter, it was great to see it brimming with the season's produce.

One of the best things though were the small tigelle panini sold at a small stall at the end of the market. An old, and at times not particularly coherent couple managed the stall which vended a variety of top-quality cured meats.

I started with some salami. Now, I've had a lot of salami on my trip to Italy. But nothing quite compares to this salami. It was meaty, fatty, salty, tender, flavorful, peppery, warm (they had a panini press) and just wonderful. It was clearly made it small batches and I really can't describe how good this stuff is. It is addictive.

Happy but unsatisfied after trying only one of the meats, I decided to try the head cheese as well (yes, a cured meat made from the animals head, it's still good!). And this head cheese really was good.

Also from the market, some fresh cheese and some cherries. The Italians go crazy for cherries in the late spring - and there's no wonder why. They are so delicious!

Oh and some Italian blueberry cookies. Yummmmmmm.

This was a lot of people's last night in Italy, and so naturally, we had some... well... Greek food! This was actually super tasty! A selections of dips with a little meat in the middle. So good.

Finally, there were some fantastic "snacks" after a concert that Solveig was in. See my post on the food from her first concert for more. As always, it was amazing, and abundant.

Day 139

For lunch, Solveig and I stopped by Osteria dell'Orsa for some of our favorites. We split a tagliatelle con ragu, as well as a super panino with corn, cheese, arugula and tomato. And, some fries. Gotta have the fries.

For dinner, we had a massive feast of leftovers. Yum.

Day 138

UPDATES ARE BACK!

Sorry for the quite extended delay, but get ready for more mouthwatering pictures!

Had a lovely dinner party tonight. Started with some experimental appetizers including some of my favorite little Italian crackers filled with a plum/stracchino spread and topped with the season's first cherries! These were tasty.

Perhaps one of my all time favorite dishes, we made fried squash flowers. These were fried in a super light beer batter. The consistency of these, almost meaty (but like, in the good, flowery way), is just out of this world. Salty and delicious.

Vansessa made some of her Filipino pasta that, as always, was just addictive. Thanks Vanessa!

Day 137

For lunch, went to my favorite, Terra del Sole. Had some orchiette with wonderful fresh spring favas and asparagus and pecorino cheese. As well as some focaccia, as always.

Day 136

For breakfast at the Amsterdam sandwich I got this packaged sandwich, that, well, I have to say was fairly good. It was egg and bacon with some vegetables on perfectly good bread. I was impressed. As you can see from the packaging, this company is trying to find a way to present good, affordable, to-go food to people on the go. I really respect companies like this trying to find an alternative to people who can slow cook every meal which they've just picked from their organic garden. We don't need to end fast, accessible food - we need an alternative to the fast food chains out there. Good bye, McDonalds, Hello, Wessel Wessels (read the name, I can't make that up, only the Dutch could).


For dinner, salad with greens, fennel, orange and croustini with speck.

Day 135

The rest of my Amsterdam trip!

Delicious egg sandwich with hard-boiled egg, fresh vegetables and creamy dressing. Fresh and delicious.

Some PANCAKES and a BAGEL as a snack! Does it get any better than that?


An assortment of Indonesian food for dinner. Peanut sauce covered everything? Yes, please.