Under the Tuscan Sun

These past few days have been very fun. Last Thursday I decided  I wanted to make some brownies. I didn't want to buy all of the ingredients, so I figured I could just buy a cake mix and turn it into brownies. Of course the cake mix instructions were all in Italian anyways. I poured myself some wine and googled how to make brownies from cake mix and found a number of options. So I took the cake mix and just added one egg, 1/4 cup of oil, and 1/4 cup of water... just like at home brownie mix. It was about the right consistency, but tasted very bitter. So what do I do? Add a crushed candy bar, not realizing that it was 'extra dark chocolate'. This was not looking so great, so I just added a huge glob of Nutella (because that fixes everything here) and some milk. Half a bottle of wine latter, it turned out pretty good. It was a great send off for a pub crawl with some roommates and neighbors. We went to some popular clubs in Florence and ended up back at my apartment to finish the cake. Classic.

Friday afternoon we headed out of the school sponsored all inclusive Tuscany adventure. We took a bus to our Hotel, Cala di Forno, in Talamone. From there we were taken on another bus ride up to the historical area of Talamone. The view from here was amazing and we walked around the little old town.

We headed back to our hotel for dinner in the restaurant below. We were welcomed with a bottle of wine and bread to munch on. The first course was an assortment of bruschetta and other finger appetizers, followed by pea soup, shrimp gnocchi, lemon fish, and finally tiramisu. I tried everything and of course my favorite was the tiramisu. I was very impressed by the 5 course meal and have no idea how Italians can eat like this and stay so skinny!

Day 2 We headed out to an archaeological park in Populonia and Baratti for the beach. The archaeological park had tombs from mid-7th century B.C. that families previously buried their loved ones and prized possessions. We got to enter the biggest tomb on the left of the photo.

The other tombs were from around the same time period but were very different styles depending on the time and family. Some of them were so tiny you couldn't walk into them. Our lunches (Tomb Snacks!) for the day were bread, bread, and more bread, and FRUIT! Finally, something other than carbs. It had the consistency of an apple, but the very middle was like a peach. We are uncertain and decided to call it a papple until we are told otherwise. The beach was great. Did some swimming, relaxing, went for a walk, and got sunburnt. Typical day at the beach for me. I swear I put on sunscreen, but my legs don't usually burn so I skipped that. Except that my left side faced the sun most of the day, so the entire left side of my leg is bright red and some of my back. Finding aloe in Italy is like a treasure hunt since Italians don't really burn. Advil and wet cloths are doing to trick though. And of course the gelato we got after the beach helped.

Our dinner plans were scheduled at a 'nearby' town up in the hills. Our bus driver was fantastic at getting up these hills and making these turns. Of course we got lost and our travel time doubled. We finally got to the restaurant on the top of the hill for dinner. This dinner took twice as long as last nights and was not very impressive. I'm pretty sure the restaurant hated us and didn't really want us there. I tired the seafood risotto, buttery fish, and tiramisu. It was ok, but I'm not sure why we decided to go so far away through the narrow streets in our very large bus.

Sunday was my favorite. Sarah, Kylie, and I got up and went to breakfast early to ensure we got warm croissant with nutella and mixed fruit granola. Delicious way to start the day. Then we headed off to the Country Villas Fattoria Le Guardiole  for an Equestrian show and organic lunch. We once again got lost and couldn't find the farm. I'm starting to just expect Italians to always be 15- 30 minutes late and expect to get lost 50% of the time I travel. We started off with a tour of their hotel, restaurant, and wine cellars. Ahh-mazing place. It was so pretty and there was even a little chapel for people to get married there. Their wine cellars doubled as meeting spaces for functions. The total HRA nerd in me got really excited about how great of an idea that was and what functions could be held there. The view of the Tuscan countryside was breathtaking. I could have stayed there all day and just relaxed outside.

Next up was the Equestrian show. We walked down the road to find about 40 long horn cattle and 6 horses. I guess we didn't know what to expect out of this besides a horse show. It turns out we here to see the Maremma Butteri show about the old cowboys of Tuscany whose main job was to control, count, and move cattle. They put on a show of how to sort out the calves and how they would brand them. Not quite the horse show we were expecting, but it was nice to see some animals. 

Next up was an amazing organic lunch. Right away we were served a giant bottle of wine from their farm and warm fresh bread. The best bread I've had to far and it was served with their fresh olive oil. The wine was also great. I'm really starting to prefer red wine over white wine since that's mostly what we taste in class. Our first course was a ricotta quiche with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette that was delicious. Everyone at the table cleared their plate.

To top things off we were served organic turkey and potatoes for main course and assorted fruit pastries for dessert. This trip was a lot of fun and it was great to see the Tuscan countryside. We had a lot of laughs and ridiculous bus stories. The bus ride back took 2 extra hours because of added rest stops and traffic. We got to see about 20 cars drive up and then reverse down an exit ramp because of the traffic. That for sure wouldn't fly in America. The bus driver decided to blast a cd on the last hour of the bus ride that included Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, I Will Survive, random Italian songs, and finally Lady Gaga. Italians are crazy, and I love it. Cheers to a great weekend!