Pranzooo

Staying in Florence on the weekends and not schlepping around through Europe really does have its upside. Now, instead of grabbing sandwiches in between classes, my friends and I have time to sit down and enjoy our lunches. Being that the start of Passover was sundown on Monday, we wanted to get in our last hurray before cutting out our best friends pasta & pizza from our lives. We decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants ZaZa and there was no holding us  back!

rigatoni with tomato sauce & cheese

fettuccini with walnut sauce

truffle carbonara

gnocchi in a rose sauce

We started to realize that keeping Passover wasn’t so much a religious thing, but more then ever a diet. Cutting out pasta, pizza, and sandwiches led us to really only one thing: salads. Surprisingly, we did have an issue with this. Our home away from home, Osteria del Gatto e la Volpe helped satisfy our needs with huge and delicious salads.  

caprese with cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzerella

piccante vegetable salad

greek salad with grilled chicken

Why is this night different from all others?

Another year, Another Passover... The Jews have all become accustomed to their rituals and then out of nowhere the issues start to arise…One Word: Quinoa

The new every so popular grain that’s been hitting shelves everywhere from Whole Foods to Trader Joes (and now your local kosher butcher) has recently become a topic of kosher debate. Is quinoa kosher for Passover? Well, for all you hippy-esc, health-conscious, gluten free, Jewish quinoa lovers out there, the answer is…. Yes!! Gourmet Magazine gave my throne away and named quinoa the new “belle of the Passover ball.” Get excited Jews, there’s a new trend out there for Passover. #QUINOA

Scrumptious

 I’m starting to find it unbelievable that after being in Italy for 3 months already, I still seem to be fascinated by every single thing I eat. I am please to say I have not become jaded by the insanely delicious food that has come my way. The best part of the cuisine here is the simplicity of it. They use the freshest ingredients without having one overpower the other. Some of my favorite things I have eaten in Florence is the focaccia pizza. This specific one pictured above I got from a fair in Santa Croce Square. The bread, which was a mixture of warm, salty, softness was one of the best pieces of focaccia I’ve ever had. It was topped with insane amounts of garlic, cheese and pesto.   

The pizza wasn’t the only thing attracting me back to that stand; the man working the oven was the cutest little Italian grandpa I have ever met. We basically fell in love at first bite. 

embracing the culture

The one thing everyone told me to do while abroad is embrace the culture. They told me to put myself in uncomfortable situations in order to better emerge myself in the Italian lifestyle. Well… I took everyone’s advice, went out of my comfort zone, and befriended an older Italian man. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Italian men only have one thing on their mind and I’m not denying this Italian man doesn’t love me, but once I found out this specific Italian man owned restaurants, I knew I had to get an in with him. After exchanging pins one night, I got a bbm from my new friend Pasquale asking if I would like to come eat at his restaurant. I replied OF COURSE! A free meal? Why wouldn’t I go for a free meal? My friends and I headed to his restaurant where we were all treated like royalty. Before we knew it our first course was being brought out to us…

Basically this was a bowl the size of a wok filled with every shellfish imaginable...HEAVEN

Next we were brought linguini with sea bass in a white wine sauce...

And for the grand finale we were presented with a molten chocolate cake! I really would like to thank everyone for their advice. Embracing the Italian culture has never tasted so good.