A nice gift

My sister who lives near me had been in Italy on vacation this summer. I finally got her little gift last week, it is some olive oil and a sachet of lavender. It's always nice to receive thoughtful gifts!

And what exciting news about the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle yesterday!  I enjoyed watching their first interview, so romantic!  Meghan lived in Toronto for many years and in fact they said that the white coat she wore yesterday was sold out at the Toronto designer.  They plan to make more of the coats and will rename it  'Meghan'.

Pasta Pasta Pasta

I was at the mall the other day in the Winner's store and noticed this 'Trofie' pasta pictured in the first photo. Daughter L had brought a package from her recent trip to Italy. Then I noticed they had quite an array of all kinds of pasta. L said it was just like in Italy.

Daughter's trip to Italy - Part 5

Here is the final post for daughter L's Italy trip.

Adam had been concerned about visiting a country where they might not speak English.  L said English was not a problem in Florence, however in the small towns it would be more of a problem.  However the people in the small towns are incredibly courteous and friendly.  They remember asking for directions to a restaurant in a small town, the man was just entering his house.  Well he got back into his car and told them to follow him, as he showed them the short way to the restaurant!

These are the items L brought home, the shopping, gifts, and souvenirs from Italy.

L had eaten this pasta dish at some point and loved it.

cooked pasta

So she decided to buy a pack of it to try at home.

pasta

At her cooking course in Italy, they used these long rolling pins and we thought it was a good idea to bring one home!  It may be difficult to get a board to match.  L also brought us some Italian coffee.

rolling pin and coffee

This soft almond biscotti was so delicious.

soft biscotti

Son K was thrilled with these authentic Ferrari driving gloves.

Ferrari gloves

I loved this little Tower of Pisa souvenir.

souvenir

And lastly, for your entertainment ( L only took a photo she did not bring this one home)!

penis pasta

Daughter's Trip to Italy - Part 2

This continues Daughter L's trip to Italy from yesterday's post.

L and her girlfriend had reserved an Airbnb 2 bedroom townhouse in central Florence for the week.  They were very happy with it being steps from the Duomo and all the major galleries.  There was also a  fantastic gelato ice cream bar nearby.

The girls downloaded Rick Steve's free audio tours of the galleries and sites they visited and said it added a wealth of information to their experience.  Here is Michelangelo's David at the Accademia Gallery.

David

Here is Botticelli's famous 'Birth of Venus' at the Uffizi Gallery:

Birth of Venus

Stay tuned for Part 3 tomorrow!

My daughter's trip to Italy

Daughter L went on a 2 week vacation to Italy recently with one of her very best girlfriends.  This girlfriend had suggested this trip as a part of her goal to do some of the things on her bucket list now rather than later, with life being so short and unpredictable.  They both are foodies and decided to do a one week cooking course at a resort outside of Bologna in the Tuscan hills.  They would spend their 2nd week in Florence doing sightseeing out of that city.  Both girls carefully planned their holiday in detail and it was a resounding success in large part because of that.  L shared her photos with me and I thought you would enjoy hearing about her experiences over my next few posts (as I did vicariously).

The girls rented a car to get to the cooking school/resort and to get around the small town outside of Bologna that week.  They were very happy with their accommodations which included a large swimming pool and beautiful mountain views.  They were provided with a traditional bolognese dinner at the start of the course:

traditional Bolognese dinner

On the first day of cooking the class of 5 made their own tagliatelli pasta using large rolling pins. Daughter L said the Italian recipes are all very simple. Pasta is made from just flour and egg, two ingredients.

tagliatelli

Here is their tagliatelli with the bolognese meat sauce they also made:

bolognese meat sauce

For dessert they baked a simple custard:

Simple Custard

On the 2nd day, they learned to fold and make these tortolonis:

Tortoloni

Here are the tortolonis with a simple sage/butter sauce:

Sage/butter sauce

They had made a couple of  friends, 2 girls of about the same age from the Netherlands.  They had all spent a day in Medieval Bologna on one of the free days, had dinners together most nights and all too soon it was time for L and her friend to say goodbye and return their rental car and depart for their week in Florence where they would not need a car.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this trip!