Adventuring in Italy (aka EATaly) ...

5/2/2013

Adventuring in Italy (aka EATaly) ...

Two and a half years ago, my best friend Lauren and her mom treated me to an amazing dinner at Cleo in Hollywood for my golden birthday - 23 on the 23rd. We indulged in way too much of their hot fluffy bread, finished every bite of our decadent chocolatey banana dessert,  clinked our festive cocktails, and toasted to our October birthdays. High on life and lamb sliders, we talked about what the next few years would have in store for us. Probably the same routine that we've had since graduating college - going to work every day and squeezing in time to see our friends on the weekends. We figured not much would change in the next couple years.

It was then that we decided we needed something really exciting to look forward to in the future. We wanted  an amazing adventure to daydream about, and what was the most exciting and exotic plan we could think of? Jetting off to Florence for cooking school in the summer of 2013. We toasted to our plan and pinky swore it would happen.

Fast forward 2 years after the pact had been made . . . I just launched WeekNight Bite, loving every second of the recipe testing, writing, and creativity. Lauren was ready to get business savvy and go back to school for her MBA. It's 2013 . . . the year that had seemed so far away was already here! We asked each other, are we actually going through with our plan? Can we really leave our busy LA lives for a culinary adventure in EATaly? Is this a realistic plan or was it just for daydreaming purposes, to get us through the 8 - 5 workday? WELL my friends, I'm excited to report that pinky promises between best friends are the absolute most serious of pacts, and with the support of our friends and family, Lauren and I are heading off to Florence, Eataly for 6 weeks. Oh and we leave in 5 days! Hey, follow your dreams right!?

We'll spend 3 delicious weeks learning the art of Italian regional cuisine, Tuscan cooking, Italian vegetarian specialties, and of course we enrolled in a class specifically about Italian wine and food! The only way to follow these fabulous food-filled 3 weeks, is to meet our moms and then jet-set through Europe for another 3 weeks!

I cannot wait to share our experience with all of you. I'll continue to post recipes and my photos throughout our trip. What I would LOVE to do is to film some Italian meals for you in our cute little kitchen in Florence! Because I'm not sure how great our internet connection will be, I have some healthy meals already filmed and ready to go, as a backup so that I can keep providing weekly recipe posts! When I return from our adventure, I'll be stuffed full of new WeekNight Bite ideas!

Now my question for you - who has some recommendations for restaurants, gelato shops, and beautiful sights in Italy? How about must-sees in Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Amsterdam!?

Ciao, bacci, and buono appetito!