Gastronomical adventures with Mom: Eating our way through France and Italy, enjoying every part of it
I started this leg of my adventure by flying from Bucharest to Paris. It was a bittersweet departure; I had really enjoyed my time in Romania and made and strengthened a lot of friendships while there. When people ask me what my favorite country I've visited is, the answer is Romania. Such great friends, hospitality, food, and nature! Fortunately, I believe I'll be heading back to Romania in June, so it wasn't goodbye forever!
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| Sainte Chappelle in Paris |
It had been about 7 months since I was last in France. I was there at the start of my journey, working at American Village, but it was nice to return midway through my journey as a traveler. My wonderful host parents Emmanuelle and Bernard met me at the bus station- I flew into Beauvais, which is a budget airport far out of the city, so a 75 minute bus ride in is necessary. It was so great to see them again- I first stayed with the van den Broeks six years ago- my first trip to France/Europe!- and it's amazing to see how I've evolved from a timid 19-year-old to someone who has gained a lot more multicultural experience. It was fun to recount stories from the past 7 months of my time in Italy and Eastern and Central Europe. I was still in Romanian mode, so would answer "da" or "nu" to many questions, and had to remember to say "merci" instead of "multumesc".
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| One of the many covered passages in Paris |
After 9 months, reuniting with my mother again!
My mother flew into Charles de Gaulle the next morning, and Emmanuelle and I met her at the airport. How cool is it to have your mother fly to France and meet your adopted French family? A year after I first visited the van den Broeks, two of their children came to stay with my parents in Kansas- a cultural exchange if there ever was one! Because of that, it made this reunion extra special.
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| Rainy afternoon in Montmarte |
My mother and I were in Paris for four days before going to Italy. We spent the days touring the city. My mother had never been, and it's been my fourth or fifth time, so it was fun to wander around the normal spots, like the Notre Dame, but also have new experiences in new (to me) places, like hunting down falafel in Le Marais. In the evenings, we would eat dinner with the van den Broeks, which was always delicious. The youngest son, Gabriel, is a fantastic pastry chef, so every night we were treated to something new and tasty- be it choux pastry, creme brulee, or macarons with lemon cream.
One of the best things about traveling with my mother is our shared love of food. She is always up for hunting for something we found online, or wandering around in search of the perfect afternoon snack. When I was traveling with Michael through the Balkans late last year, he would get exasperated with me and my "food missions," as he liked to call them, as I would pass over several restaurants before we found one that looked "right", or I would scavenge the streets of Belgrade in an attempt to satisfy an ice cream craving in the middle of December. This actually led to a lot of contention between us- who knew my love (and obsession) with food could be so divisive? Fortunately, my mother is as much a food tourist as I am, so we had no qualms in that department. Or anywhere, honestly, My mom is a great travel partner.
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| Mmmm eclairs |
Back to Italy
After a few rainy days in Paris, we took the train to Milan, then another train to Bologna. If that sounds familiar, it's because I did the exact same route last September as I traveled to Italy for the first time. Before the train ride, we picked up a loaf of wheat bread and a sample pack of different French cheeses from the Monoprix. That, along with dried plums and figs from Romania, made for a delicious lunch as we were making our way through the Alps.
Originally, our plan was to stay with Francesco, my first-ever Couchsurfing host and gifted chef. Unfortunately, though, Francesco had a crazy work schedule, so we patchworked our way through the first days of our Italian trip before landing in Florence, where I had booked an a couple Airbnb months in advance. We spent one night in Bologna, picked up our rental car and headed towards Faenza. Our Airbnb host, Mario, cooked us a risotto with pear, walnut, and blue cheese. It was rich and creamy, and the flavor combination was surprising, but it worked. It definitely set us up for a great two weeks eating in Italy.
Last September, I WWOOFed at an agriturismo for three weeks in Emilia-Romagna. The couple that I worked with, Martina and Roberto, have since changed locations and started working at an agriturismo bed and breakfast/restaurant close to their old place. My mother and I stopped there for a night. It was weird eating at the restaurant that I used to technically work at- slicing bread, clearing dishes, etc. We enjoyed a great meal and spent a night in the peace and quiet of the countryside. The next morning, after a quick walk, we drove to Lucca, a walled city near the coast.
The next couple of weeks were a blur of delicious food, amazing views of Tuscan countryside, and mindblowing art and architecture. Such is Italy.
A life bucket list item checked off in Cinque Terre
After our night in Lucca, we drove up to the famous Cinque Terre, five fishing villages on the coast in the Linguria region. We parked our car and took a train between villages. There were a lot of tourists out, but we still enjoyed some solitude walking through crooked, hilly cobblestone streets and snapping amazing photos. Ever since my sophomore year of college, when I first saw a picture of Manarola, one of the villages, I had wanted to visit this area. I was so glad to knock this one off my bucket list with my mom.
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| Pescatarian Pause! |
I did a little food research before we arrived, and had decided to take a break from my full-on vegetarianism by sampling the local seafood. Probably 10 minutes after we arrived in the first village we spied a stand selling cones of fried squid with slices of lemon. Yep, the break has begun. It was a delicious snack, and held us over until we got to Manorola, where I was able to take some beautiful shots just like the ones I had seen.
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| Me, overwhelmed by these beautiful villages |
After our photo shoot, I led my mom towards a small bistro that purportedly was a local favorite. We ordered fresh trofie pasta with homemade pesto (Linguria is famous for pesto) and fresh anchovies drizzled with oil and vinegar. Mom ordered a campari and soda, I settled on a glass of chilled white wine. When the waitress brought our drinks, she also brought small bowls of local olives and lupini beans, which made for delicious appetizers. Our main course then arrived, along with fresh bread. Ohhhh my god. The pesto was flavorful and super basil-y. The anchovies were fresh and bright from the vinegar, and delicious with the bread. Overall, It was one of the most delicious, simple meals that I've had.
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| Anchovies |
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| The pesto to end all pestos |
Daily trips to the San Lorenzo Market in Florence
After our day in Cinque Terre, we drove into Florence and settled into our Airbnb, exhausted from the day. The next morning, however, we set our eyes on the San Lorenzo Market, centrally located in the city, albeit a forty-minute walk from our Airbnb. We got a late start that morning, so it was already lunchtime when we arrived. We ate roasted eggplant and artichokes, fresh gnocchi with tomato sauce, and topped it off with ricotta & chocolate chip gelato.
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| Gnocchi at the market |
Over the next several days, we visited San Lorenzo almost every day, enjoying different offerings from the market stands downstairs or the restaurants upstairs. There was a vegan/vegetarian stand, and I had my first vegan burger in a long while, complete with grilled vegetables and a spicy red pepper sauce. My mother ate lampredotto sandwich, which Florence is known for, and consists of meat from the fourth stomach of a cow, complete with green sauce. Apparently it was delicious, but needless to say I did not try it :)
One day, we went to the Uffizi gallery, and had lunch at a trattoria on one of the side streets. We split a caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil, and spinach ricotta ravioli with a walnut sauce. That ravioli was one of the best things I had tried on the trip. It was creamy and savory, with a distinct nutty flavor. Yummm. For dessert, we had panna cotta with blueberry sauce, which apparently the trattoria was famous for. My mother died of happiness.
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| Acting totally serious at the Uffizi |
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| A much more serious panna cotta |
On our last day in Florence, we went back to the market for lunch before heading south. I was slightly hungover from the night before, but we settled on a tomato and basil pizza with a few strips of salted anchovies- a hangover cure if I've ever had one (besides Coca-Cola and Lays potato chips, the family favorite). After pizza, Mom wanted to check out the mozzarella stand, and we were treated to knots of mozzarella that had been stretched and tied minutes before. WOW. Fresh mozzarella is amazing, but fresh mozzarella in Italy is on another level. Of course, we bought a handful of ties, and a ball of burrata to take with us to Siena. Oh, and of course I had gelato- coffee and stracciatella.
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| Mozzarella, basil, and anchovy pizza |
Tuscany- why are you so beautiful?
After we left Florence, we took the back road towards our secluded Airbnb outside of Sienna. It was a twisty, turny, hilly route, and my childhood tendency to get carsick returned. However, the views were stunning- it was almost incomprehensible how beautiful the hills of Tuscany are. My mother and thus started an ongoing joke- "isn't Italy ugly? People must hate to live here."
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| View from the botanical garden in Siena |
After 2 hours in the car, it began to rain. We decided to stop in the town closest to our Airbnb to pick up supplies for dinner. We followed directions for Monteriggioni, only to be led to some sort of fortified town/castle atop a hill.
Okay, let's just go with that. We wandered inside the castle walls and found a quaint, cobblestone little town with shops and stores. Tourists clad in brightly colored raincoats (myself included) wandered around, dipping in and out of craft stores. We stopped in something that reminded me of an old-fashioned general store for an espresso, and ended up buying some porcini pasta, a bottle of Chianti, and homemade cracker-like sheets of salty bread.
Armed with supplies, we hit the road again, and slowly navigated our way to our Airbnb, which was a converted barn/farmhouse in the hills. After turning onto a dirt road, we wound our way through trees and brush and eventually came across the farmhouse, surrounded by olive trees. Letizia, our host, greeted us warmly, and presented us with a small bottle of homemade olive oil and a bundle of fresh-picked mint leaves. What.
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| Our beautiful little Airbnb |
That night, we had a dinner of porcini pasta with the mint, olive oil, and grated pecorino that we brought from Florence. It was salty and delicious. Amazing what difference homemade olive oil makes! For an appetizer we drizzled some olive oil over our mozzarella knots and ate it with the cracker bread and some Chianti. In our secluded little farmhouse among the tree-studded rolling hills of Tuscany, it was picture perfect.
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| Mozzarella, cracker bread, lupini beans |
After a day trip to Siena, we spent another night in our little farmhouse, then took the faster, tolled road towards Rome- about three hours. Originally, we had planned to stay one or two nights in between Siena and Rome, and I booked an airbnb only for the last three nights of our trip. However, after Florence, we decided we needed more time to see (and eat in) Rome, so I booked us a last-minute stay closer to the center.
We drove in on a Sunday, and about an hour before our scheduled arrival we received a message from our Airbnb host, telling us that the center of Rome was closed to traffic due to the annual marathon. Fuckkk. When we got to the city, we had the worst time trying to find a route to our apartment that wasn't blocked by the running path. My mother deserves a gold medal, not only for braving Rome traffic, but braving it during a MARATHON. Bravo, Mom.
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| First image of Rome after staggering out of the car |
The first few days in Rome were spent hitting up the touristy parts and eating our way through Trastevere, a hip neighborhood filled with students and restaurants. A little note on gelato. Since we arrived in Italy, I think there was only one or two days when we did not eat gelato. It was easy to find highly-rated places using Google Maps, and both of us were always up for ice cream- sometimes twice in a day (no shame!) However, we found hands-down the best gelato on our trip at Fattamorgana, an artisanal eco-conscious place with considerable portions at affordable prices. Our first trip there, I ordered a small cup Madagascar chocolate and mint chocolate chip. The chocolate was deep, chocolaty, and delicious, but the mint chocolate chip blew my mind. It was made with fresh mint, and had dark chocolate bits and cookies in it. Wowww. Needless to say, we made this our last gelato stop in Rome as well. I'm sorry to say I have no pictures of my many gelatos. I did not want to waste any time before eating it.
When we moved over to our other Airbnb, it was farther out from the center, but it didn't keep us from hitting up the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel, which was a pretty incredible experience. Otherwise, we continued to wander around, stopping wherever we felt like, eating whenever we felt like it. It was nice to have that much freedom- I'm not used to traveling on a larger budget, nor with the flexibility of a car, so the entire trip was incredibly luxurious for me. Thank you, Mom. It was so much fun to travel and spend time with you.
Pampered and sporting a much higher sugar and caffeine tolerance, I said goodbye to my mother in the Rome Termini train station Friday morning. She flew back to Kansas City that afternoon, and I headed up north to Bologna and on to Ljubljana to meet up with my former Couchsurfing hosts, Marko and Petra. After a few days there, it's on to Croatia!
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| On the road again. |
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