La Dolce Vita

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the congratulations and warm wishes. It made my day (over and over and over...) to read the comments on facebook and my blog! Jacob and I are so blessed to have the love and support of so many people!

The Sunday after he proposed, Janet, Gloria, Jacob, and I went to Venice for the day. We planned to take the 9:30 fast train to get there, but when we got to the station we discovered that all of the direct trains to and from Venice for the day had been sold out. That was the only day we would all be able to go, so we had to settle for a long, slow, round-about way of getting there. Unfortunately, that only gave us about four hours in Venice, but we were still able to see some beautiful buildings and ride the infamous gondola. :)

Posing in Piazza San Marco, the most famous plaza in Venice and home to Basilica San Marco. We took a "water bus" to get here and slowly worked our way back to the train station, stopping to ride the gondola and take pictures along the way.

Gorgeous roofline in San Marco.

Jacob and I with our gondola driver (not sure that's what they're called, but you get the idea). I swear, he could pass for the Italian Dennis Quaid!

See the guy standing on the left side of the bridge? He totally took out his camera and starting filming us as we rode under the bridge. Creepy much?

Beautiful view of one of the back canals. There are no streets at all in Venice... Not a single one! Everyone gets around by walking or by boat. Amazing!

We're so cute! :)

On Monday, I started my new class, Classical Italian Cakes and Tarts. Our class meets every day of the week, and already we have made almost twenty desserts! I am learning so much about classical Italian pastry doughs and cooking techniques and I can't wait to get home and make some of these recipes with my Momma!

Yay for baking! Is our chef's goatee the junk or what? :)

Torta di Semolino. The crust was made of a typical pastry dough filled with ground hazelnuts; the filling was a creamy mixture made of boiled semolina, milk, butter, sugar, and eggs (doesn't sound appetizing, but think of a cross between cheescake and custard). We topped it with dark chocolate ganache and let it chill in the fridge overnight before eating). Garnished with candied hazelnuts, dried orange, and cinnamon sticks. It was INCREDIBLE. Definitely my favorite thing we've made so far!

Crostada di Frutta Fresca. Pastry shell filled with a sweet custard, topped with fresh fruit and a lemon glaze. Yum! Refreshing and beautiful!

Umm... Yeah... We made all of this in ONE DAY! Did I mention that we get to eat all of what we make? I have a feeling I'm going to miss this class in a few weeks...

Yesterday, I took a trip with a few friends to Cinque Terre (translation: five villages), a region on the northwest coast of Italy that is made up of five little towns nestled between the mountains and coast. A train connects the cities or you can hike the trails that wind up the mountain. There is also a paved path above the cliffs of the coast that you can walk to get from town to town, but unfortunately the one we were going to take was closed because of a landslide. We hiked between two of the villages and then took a train to the fifth one to relax on the beach before taking the train back to Florence. The area is breathtakingly gorgeous and reminded me of Sicily in many ways. Italy continues to amaze me with all of the beauty contained in this little country!

The walking trail between Riomaggiore and Manarolo (towns one and two) is named Via Dell'Amore (the path of love). Couples from all over the world come here to hang a lock along the trail (it is supposedly good luck) and there are literally thousands of locks hanging on the railings and metal hearts that are posted everywhere. This was one of about a hundred hearts tied onto the grate of a fence. So sweet!

Looking back on Riomaggiore from the path. Gorgeous!

Too bad my crazy hair had to go and ruin such beautiful scenery! ;)

See the top of the mountain were those rain clouds are? Yup, we hiked up there... It was intense to say the least, but so worth it.

It took us about two and a half hours to hike the whole trail, and more than half of it was walking up stone stairs built into the side of the mountain. Talk about a workout!

By the time we got to the top, I was beginning to wonder why in the world I had signed up for such a ridiculous hike. In Keds. But then we got to views like this and it was all worth it! This is about halfway through the trail, looking ahead to the town we were walking to.

The paths we were walking on are the same paths the locals use to harvest the grapes grown on the side of the mountain. Can you imagine?...

This picture was taken at the end of our hike. The tiny village at the tip near the ocean is where we walked from!

Me post-hike with some much-needed fluids!

That's a brief update on what's been happening in my life over the past week. I have two day trips planned for this weekend - my last weekend in Florence! -  and will try to work in a few short trips during the week as well. It blows my mind that I have less than two weeks left!

Stay tuned in the next few days for some really amusing stories about my 15 minutes of fame...

Hugs and kisses y'all!