"socks, socks, socks, socks" - easter weekend in tuscany

'the hills are alive, with the sound of music' in your best ewan mcgregor voice from moulin rouge.

*in reference to the always entertaining website TFLN. A text was posted one time that was talking about how their friend had come home from the bar, opened a drawer and began singing the LMFAO song “shots” but with a few new words “socks,” as the singing (inebriated) person threw their socks around the room.

for easter weekend 3 of us decided to travel to mugello, to a small B&B in the region of tuscany for a weekend of rest and relaxation. Friday we trained from rome to florence, and then in florence hopped on a local train to arrive in the small town in vicchio. In florence we had a few hours to explore and grab lunch. Being back in florence we all wanted to go back by the leather market. I had made a 'vow' not to buy anything, but when lil coco found the most PERFECT summer scarves ever, I had to give in and break my vow. They are cotton, very light and somewhat of a gauze like texture and thickness. I got a light aqua blue color – which I imagined wearing with a summer tan. So I gave in, but only after I bartered the vendor and saved 2E (hey, every little bit helps). After the walk through the rain, leather market and getting 'hailed' on we wanted to grab a quick bite because it was lunch time and we would have a chance to escape the crazy weather pattern on the afternoon. We had eaten at a place called 'vulpa e gatti' when we were in florence the previous month. And they had AMAZING spinach. We went back and I ordered a Gorgonzola pizza and a side of the spinach. The pizza was great, but I am sad to say that I was disappointed by the spinach. It was NOT the same spinach I had before it was full of onions, and not the same taste and/or texture that it was before. But I still finished it.

yummy gorganzola pizza.

Then we were walking back to the train station to catch the 2:00 train. Lil coco was our unofficial guide, and was leading the way. After a while of walking in the “right” direction we did not see the train station. We were all certain that we walked in the correct general direction and kept assuring each other that “oh it must be right up here” and “we have to be getting close now.” then we asked a police officer and he said we were about 2 kilometers away. Which we still have no idea how far and actually kilometer is. So we keep walking. Not too much further we stop a taxi driver who didn't know very much enlgish, and we had to play – you guessed it – a game of charades. Soon he realized we were searching for the trains and pointed left and told us to go right (which is common occurrence when asking an italian for direction. We have learned you don't listen to the word but follow the direction in which they point.) so we head left and see a sign for the train staition. We finally make it! But we missed the train we originally planned to take, so we had about an hour kill and went to the 'cafeteria' to get a snack.

Soon it is time for us to get on the train. We are reading the 'departure' board and can not figure out what bin to catch our train. All the later trains have the bins, and the train was leaving in 10 minutes...making it odd that we didn't have an idea of what platform we would need to go to, so we could meet the train. Then lil coco noticed that it was bin 18, of course that bin would be the one that was the furthest away. We walked for what seemed like forever, making it just in time (the buzzer was sounding meaning the doors were about to close). It was an hour train ride to the Vicchio, where we would meet Heidi – one of the owners of the B&B.

GREEN!
lush grassy hills and sun, what more could you want for easter weekend?!

lil coco and laura beth.

on the patio. the house is on the left and the
'dining room' is the small structure on the right.
welcome to le due volpi

we had a couple hours before the afternoon 'appertivo' started, so we elected ourselves to be heidi's sous-chefs. we began making tiramisu. i have only had it one other time during my stay in italy, and i wasn't a fan. but when we had the chance to consume the fluffy dessert the next night i was immediately in love, i am getting the recipe from heidi so i can make it when i am in the states!

first you barely dip the lady fingers in the coffee and
then you line the dish with the moist cookies.

next you mix the whipped egg whites and sugar with the eggs.
you also grate chocolate on top of the cookie layer.

repeat with the cookies dipped in coffee, until the pan is full.

that little brown cookie was my handy work.
i accidentally dropped it into the coffee,
we could never figure out who ate that corner.

dinner that 'good friday' was a vegetarian meal. salad, risotto, pasta, bread, stuffed artichokes, tons of wine, cheese...the works. one thing i have learned is that italians are serious when it comes to a multi-course meal.

saturday morning we woke and headed to the little grocery store with lorenzo, heidi's italian (non-english) speaking husband. i improved my charade skills.

it is an italian whole foods!

making tortellini.

they look so uniform.

these barrels are full of wine.

and they work similar to a gas pump.

yum. cheese.

i am sure the locals and everyone working at 'roberto frutta' thought we were crazy (we being lil coco and myself) for taking pictures in that grocery store, but the presentation of the food made me want to buy EVERYTHING in there. lorenzo then drove us out to the outlets. which were a disappointment other than the missoni outlet, prada outlet and a LINDTT chocolate store. we spent a few hours at the outlets and i managed to buy 3 pairs of tall missoni socks (they are BAD ASS) and a pair of metallic green driving shoes, and of course some easter candy from the lindtt store. we grabbed a bite at a little deli and then met lorenzo.

happy easter!
enjoying the lindtt store at the outlets.

on the drive back we stopped a butcher. this butcher is apparently well known for his quality of meat and even ships it around the country/world for his loyal customers. i was thoroughly grossed out - huge slabs of raw meat hanging everywhere, hearing the butcher hack his ginormous knife through the animal's bones and seeing the meat rest in the pools of blood in the refrigerated counter. not yum. but i can not tell a lie, i did have a sausage with my dinner that night. saturday night dinner was quite the spread. we had pasta with meat sauce, salad, MEAT, and some great zucchini. of course i was on the edge of my seat waiting on the finale - dessert. heidi brought the tiramisu down, and i inhaled my serving. it was much better than i had anticipated. i quickly returned to the table for seconds.

sunday was EASTER. and we got up early, had breakfast and drove down the hill to a small local church for sunday mass. i was kind of able to follow it, but the people in the church were so entertaining they kept interfering with my focus. a little girl (probably around 5) kept pulling her skirt up and picking a wedgie out of her tights. priceless.

easter mass at a local church.

this church is only open a few times a year due to the large amount of churches that adorn the tuscan countryside and the lack of priests perform mass to the people.

after the service we headed back to the B&B to pack and eat lunch. lunch consisted of rabbit, which i found odd and made a statement at the table about eating the easter bunny. i had never eaten rabbit before and i will inform you that it is true, it does taste like chicken. the rabbit was prepared similar to a pot-roast and cooked with potatoes, carrots, leeks, olives and a few other italian veggies. for dessert we had more - you guessed it - tiramisu! and lorenzo served us chocolate gelato with grappa. grappa is an alcohol that is made out of the remaining grape pulp from making wine. initially i was scared of this 'concoction,' but i am surprised to inform you that it was actually tasty and i plan on buying some in positano this weekend.

we had to say good bye to everyone and head back to ariccia. we had a long week ahead of us - milan and barcelona.