Tourist Tuesday: Rome

I don’t know how to start this post other than to gush. I love Rome. Being there makes me so happy. Yesterday was Ryan and my two-year wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a long weekend in Rome. It was wonderful. Yes, the traditional gift for this anniversary is cotton (in Rome he got a sweatshirt and I got a tea towel), but I think maybe the second year anniversary gift should be pizza and gelato instead.

Part of the reason I love Rome is that I studied abroad there seven years ago during my junior year. Living in Rome was the first time I was away from home for so long and the first time I lived in a city. I ate so much pizza, pasta, and gelato. My roommates and I also cooked dinner together almost every night and befriended the local shop owners. We’d buy the fresh pesto and the guys in the store would give us free chocolate. My roommate Inga became one of my best friends, and with our upstairs neighbors Charlie and Michelle, we tore up the city.

Crete! Grecian Holiday Part 2

I’ve been back from vacation for a week. My wisp of a tan has faded. My bug bites are no longer itchy. But the memories of the sunshine, the food, the beautiful ocean are still strong. Crete was so beautiful.

My family and I went to Crete because my mom’s colleague Elias was getting married. We stayed at Bella Vista, a hotel in Stalida (Stalis) Crete owned by Elias’ parents. They were the most generous and hospitable hosts I’ve ever met. The hotel is up on a hill, about a ten minute walk from the beach. There is a pool, a family of semi-stray cats, and a gorgeous view. About thirty wedding guests stayed at the hotel and every night up to the wedding Elias’ parents cooked a giant feast. There was salad, bread, lamb, meatballs and much more. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the food.

Athens! Grecian Holiday Part 1

I’m in Greece! Literally as I write this I’m typing poolside in Crete. Look here’s proof.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Last week I flew back to London, back to our cute little flat, and back to Ryan. It was wonderful to be back. Done with the move and done with long distance. Now, on to be an expat. The only draw back of my arrival was that the airline lost my luggage for just over 24 hours. I was grumpy about it, but at least I eventually got it back.

Sugar Cookies & Vacation Recap

Last week I was in Stone Harbor, NJ. Ryan’s family has been going with four other families, every year, for over a decade. It’s pretty flipping amazing and awesome. All week there is so much laughing and handing out. And even though we don’t always see everyone a ton during the year, that week at the beach it’s like time hasn’t passed. It was a blast to sit on the beach, splash around in the water, and just hang out. And of course, there’s lots of good eating.

We started out the week by cooking for our family. Ryan and I made pasta with shrimp and scallops in a white wine sauce. Sounds delicious right? And luckily our family is super nice, and told us that it was delicious. But, in our opinion it was mediocre. Cooking in a rental kitchen is hard folks! It took half an hour to boil water for pasta, we had to chop with a steak knife, and we set off the fire alarm. Everything tasted fine, it just didn’t come out exactly right and so we were disappointed. But after that comic disaster our meals greatly improved. If you’re ever in Stone Harbor here are my recommendations for some places to eat.

Food in Montreal

A warning at the start, this post is about eating, not about cooking. I promise in the next post I’ll be back with a recipe.

Ryan and I recently went to Montreal for a long weekend. It was a wonderful getaway and the perfect mix of site-seeing, taking in a new place, and also sitting around relaxing. As with most vacations, we ate well and tried to seek out popular and local restaurants. I’m a little crazy about this. I read my guidebook and then I constantly talk about what I want to try, until we get to try it. I took pictures of some of our favorite meals and wanted to share in case you ever find yourself in Montreal.