Sprint 2 the Table

Appetites and Adventures

Liquid Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie + WIAW

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Deck the halls with tubs of frosting.

 

Last Wednesday I mentioned that holiday baking had begun.  If it began then, it has EXPLODED now.  There are 3 different containers of icing in my fridge right now.  It’s a little ridiculous.

P.S. Does any one have tips for freezing icing?  How about making room in the freezer to store said icing?

 

It’s Hump Day!  Time for another installment of Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday.  As always, check out Peas and Crayons to see the ever-growing collection of what everyone else dined on.

 

Pre-Breakfast:

This morning began with a 4 mile run.  Normally I don’t run after eating (I get bad cramps), but I woke up starving.  Balls.

 

 

Lisa @ Healthful Sense recently posted a this recipe for Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls and I had 2 left in my freezer.  Perfect pre-run stick-to-your-ribs snack.

I followed her recipe except I left out the Stevia (my banana was sweet enough), added almond extract, and subbed cacao nibs for the chips.

Apparently it worked – 4 miles at an average pace of 7:20.  Fastest time yet!

 

 

Breakfast:

It was a 65 degree muggy morning, so I was hot and sweaty from my run.  Perfect time for a Sweet Potato Pie shake!  (Recipe at the end… yes, its green. 🙂 )

 

Pre-Mix

 

If you haven’t tried almond extract before, I highly recommend it.  It gives smoothies an almost cookie-esque flavor that I crave.

 

Lunch:

I’ve been inspired by a lot of bloggers lately – today I used this this Vegan Pumpkin Mac ‘N Cheeze sauce from Angela @ Oh She Glows to coat my barley.

 

Pumpkin Barley ‘n Cheeze

 

My modifications: halved the recipe, subbed olive oil for butter, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence, and sauteed 1/2 a fresh red bell pepper.

It was fantastic – I loved having the bell pepper to chew on and the addition of red pepper flakes gave it a pleasant heat.

 

 

Dinner:

Last night I worked late and then baked for the office potluck today (just wait until you see what I made – OMG).  Dinner was a hodge podge I cooked.

 

 

Sparkling Squash, roasted tomato, white asparagus (which oddly doesn’t make your pee smell like the green stuff), toast with this Pumpkin Basil Cheese Spread by none other than our WIAW host (Jenn @ Peas and Crayons)… and stuff I was baking…

 

I know, I know… another teaser… I promise it’s all coming soon!

 

The Sweet Dumpling Squash was surprisingly good.  It was a new (to me) variety – I had Prosecco left over from a certain baking endeavor (which may or may not be pictured above).  People cook with wine all the time… why not the bubbly?  In it went!  Add in some red bell pepper, scallions, spices, and vegetable broth and you have a lovely (mashed) Sparkling Squash!

 

Snacks:

I had a new flavor of the Think Thin bar – Cookies and Cream.  Better than the Chocoalte Toffee after the recipe change… still not my fav.

 

Snack #2 was Kombucha and jerky.  Vegan, gluten-free jerky.  Hickory Smoked VEGAN Jerky.

 

Jerky + Kombucha

 

The awesome people at Primal sent me a whole box of flavors to sample and I couldn’t be more happy.  It’s made from soy protein and is 100% vegan.  So far I love the Mesquite Lime and the Hickory the most… Hot and Spicy tomorrow though!

 

One of my favorite thing about Primal’s jerky is that they are just under 100 calories and contain 10g of protein.  That protein is key to a satisfying snack!

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Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie

  • 1 C spinach (optional)
  • 1/2 large sweet potato (baked)
  • 1/2 C Unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1 tsp maca powder
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ginger
  • 1/8 tsp allspice
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp Guar gum
  • Shake of salt
  • Stevia drops, to taste
  • Water + ice, to taste

 

Place everything in your blender of choice and mix until smooth.  Bottoms up!

Note: It’s a long ingredient list, but the spices are super-easy.  I don’t even measure anymore, so it takes all of 30 seconds to make this smoothie.

***

Thank you to everyone who “Buzzed” my Fig and Feta Shortbread Cookies – check it out: I made the FoodBuzz Top 9 today!!!

Do you like vegan versions of traditional meat products?

 What is the best thing you’ve been inspired by another blogger to make? 

 

Getting Buzzed with Foodies

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Meeting the people behind your favorite blogs?  A privilege.

Being in a room full of people who don’t bat an eye as you photograph every food item in the room?  Surreal.

Sharing ideas with a roommate who comes up with the coolest food combos around?  Inspiring.

Sampling all of the food, wine, and beer you can handle?  Sin-tastic.

 

FoodBuzz 3rd Annual Blogger Festival?  Priceless

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Friday night we attended a Welcome Reception sponsored by Sabra.

 

To start we had hummus hors d’oeuvres and wine.  Hummus Heaven.

 

When it hits stores, try the new Holiday flavor – the rosemary deliciousness will knock your socks off.  I’m thinking that served on little toasts with goat cheese and micro greens will be my holiday party go-to this season.

 

Sarah (my Smart Kitchen roommate) and I tried everything, obsessed over the fresh veggies, and made friends with fellow bloggers.

 

We were then brought in for the Awards Dinner.  Served buffet-style, many of the dishes were inspired by fellow FoodBuzz-ers.

 

Our table, which included new friends Karen (of The Tamale Girl) and Lauren (of Vegology), voted the night’s winning dishes to be the Housemade Beet Ravioli  with arugula and goat cheese and the Lentil Salad with shaved  fennel  and  escarole with a sherry vinaigrette.

 

After that smorgasbord Sarah and I hit the (surprisingly) nice gym to start out day 2 on the right foot.  I also ran to the host hotel to get my schwag bag.  Check out these goodies:

 

By the time we made it to the pre-panel breakfast bar we were ready to chow down.

Delicious fresh fruit, vegan sunflower seed bread, local jam (the strawberry was my fav), spinach-mushroom frittata, pumpkin bread, and scones.  I sampled a little of everything.  And then seconds of everything.

 

As good as that was, the highlight was getting to try Cookie Dough Balls from Mamma Pea herself!  Sarah and I split a Chocolate Chip and a Pumpkin Molasses.

 

Run, do not walk, to try this recipe for the Pumpkin Molasses.  It will change your pumpkin-lovin’ life.

Did I mention I also got the meet the famous Ms. Pea?!  Pics tomorrow! 

 

We attended 3 panel discussions: Taking Your Blog to the Next Level, DSLR-free Zone, and Effective Social NETworking.

My personal favorite was the one on taking good pictures without a DSLR camera, presented by Greg @ Sippity Sup, Chuck @ Foodgawker, and Angi @ Rice & Wheat.  You may have noticed photography isn’t one of my many talents.

 

Top take-a-ways:

  • The Camera+ app is a necessity for iPhone photography
  • When going out to eat, choose the table with the most natural light if possible (how did I never think to request this?!), or at least choose the seat with the best lighting
  • If you must use a flash, use one layer of a thin paper napkin to diffuse the light
  • For home photography, a grow light from Home Depot in a reflector (those sliver bowl things) works well when you can’t use natural light

 

It’s getting wordy and I’m running late for work (doh), so more to come tomorrow.  We had an awesome time at the tasting pavilion, met T Flo, and tweeted our way through a fun banquet dinner!

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Quickie week recap to hold myself accountable:

 

Workout Recap (10/31-11/7)

  • Monday – 0.6 mile run jog,  Ab Ripper X, 10 min X-fit circuit
  • Tuesday – 100 push-ups 
  • Wednesday – 1.5 mile run, Biceps/Back, 6 min plank sequence, 100 push-ups
  • Thursday – 1.5 mile run, 30 min core class, Body Pump, 40 ins Stairmaster
  • Friday – Triceps/Chest, 6 min plank sequence, 100 push-ups
  • Saturday – 10 min jog, 30 ins elliptical, 100 push-ups, crunch machine (50)
  • Sunday – Travel day 🙁

***

I am full of inspiration after the weekend – perfect timing for the holiday backing season.

Do you have any tips for low-tech photography?

How did all the race-runners do this weekend?

 

Pumpkin Pie BYOgurt + WIAW

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Some things make being on the road all week a little better.

 

Check out the Roasted Pumpkin in the top left corner of this screen shot of today’s FoodBuzz Top 9 – its my roasted pumpkin from this post!!!  🙂

Another thing that makes a long week brighter is my favorite weekly event – Jenn @ Peas and Crayons‘ What I ate Wednesday.  Here’s my WIAW (technically Tuesday… but whatever).

Breakfast #1:

Pumpkin Zucchini Muffin… recipe coming soon to a blog near you!

Breakfast #2:

Remember the Sweet Potato BYOB Greek Yogurt?  Same idea, same Sky mag (the new one wasn’t out until the flight home – SJP looks amazing in it!), different flavors.

Pumpkin Greek Yogurt

Pumpkin Greek Yogurt with Fage.  I think the secret is using a thick yogurt (this may also help when getting through security!) and not being afraid to add spices/flavors.  Shout out to almond extract and ginger in this cup.  YUM.

You should have see the guys next to me on the plane wondering WTF I was doing taking multiple pics of my BYOgurt. 🙂

Full recipe at the end of this post.

The St. Louis airport was especially festive after the Cardinals big World Series win!

Lunch:

Lunch today was from a deli in the bottom of an office building.  It is barely worth mentions and certainly not worth picturing.  Over-salted but otherwise flavorless vegetable soup and a dry roll.

I would have rather had my Wild Mushroom Soup from last week.

Snacks: 

Unpictured pretzels and an apple on the plane.  I did get a shot of a gorgeous sunset.

Dinner:

Totally made up for lunch.

My boss and I had to work late.  Since we were at the airport already, we decided to check out One Flew South in the ATL airport.  It was recently featured in Food & Wine!

There weren’t any vegetarian options on the menu, but they did have tofu in a salmon dish.  I asked the server if they would make a tofu-only dish and they surprised with me an amazing tofu-veggie sauté.  It included sweet potato straws, butternut squash, snow peas, carrots, fennel, spinach, and shittake mushrooms over a parsnip puree.  Absolutely delicious.

Dessert was fantastic – Banana Pudding with ‘Nilla Wafers.  So much so that I forgot to take a picture until there was barely a bite left in the jar.

I had NO idea airport food could be this good!

Homemade Pumpkin Greek Yogurt

Pumpkin Pie Greek Yogurt

Mix all ingredients together in bowl or recycled yogurt container.  For best results, let refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight to allow flavors to meld.

Add toppings as desired.  Mine included: pomegranate seeds and these Cardamom Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

Get through security and enjoy your yogurt-pie as a reward!

As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway

***

As always, check out Peas and Crayons to see the tastiness everyone else ate today!

What is your favorite seasonal flavor?  Eggnog?  Hot Chocolate?  A pie of sorts?

What airport do you think has the best food?

Orange You Glad Its Friday?

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Happy Halloween Friday!

In the spirit of The Great Pumpkin/Halloween (and the fact that I’m up to ears in work), here are some of my favorite orange food creations (click the image or title for the recipe!):

Orange for the A.M.

Apple Carrot Muffins

Carrot Cake Oatmeal 

Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt

Orange for the P.M.

Butternut Squash Drop Biscuits

Indian-Spiced Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onions 

 

Lentil-Stuffed Acorn Squash (ok, I realize it’s more yellow… but go with it…)

Sweet Potato Falafel

If I had just one orange item to make this Halloween weekend… I’d make the following soup.  It’s one of my Top 5 Favorite Creations.  That’s including desserts.

Butternut Squash-Apple Soup

Searching past recipes to write this, I realized I don’t make many orange desserts.  My friends do though!  Check out some of these awesome treats from the blog-world:

***

I just realized almost everything I ate yesterday was unintentionally orange.  Creepy.

What are some of your favorite orange/Halloween creations?

Who is doing something fun this weekend?  Tell me about it so I can live vicariously! 

A Michelin Star Day in Italy

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It would have been fun to post a What I Ate Wednesday from Italy…

My first in-person pomegranate tree!

… but I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and write when there was so much to explore.

So today, 2 weeks later, I bring you: What I Ate on a Wednesday in Italy.

Breakfast:

Typical European tourist fare consists of pastries, cheese, and cured meats.  The novelty wears off after 1-2 days.

At least we know the Nutella is fresh!

Cheese selection (thankfully no stinky cheese!)

Breakfast of champions

That Robiola Rocchetta cheese was pretty amazing.  It is native to the Piedmont region and would be fantastic with the local Barolo wine.  It is a layered, creamy cheese made from goat’s, cow’s, and sheep’s milk.  It’s structure is reminiscent of a brie – pliable rind with a dense, semi-soft texture inside.

FYI – this is what you get if you order a latte in Italy:

Cup of hot milk

Lunch:

Most days this consisted of more cured meat and cheese with bread sticks… served at a wine tasting. 🙂

I should have my cholesterol checked

Snack:

We had a mandatory daily snack of gelato.

Like a kid in a candy shop…

Dinner:

My favorite meal of the trip was at Il Cascinalenuovo, and Michelin star restaurant just outside of Asti.  The restaurant is part of a family-run B&B.  We were lucky to have a tour of the kitchen with Chef Walter.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Walter’s niece, Alice.  Alice was so much fun to talk to and hosted us all evening.  Her father is the front of house and wine expert in the restaurant.

Alice with her father

Chef sat with us for quite sometime, asking about our backgrounds and telling us about his inspirations.  He admitted to being surprised that we are “young and skinny.”

He was expecting “fat old ladies.”  Direct quote – I can’t make this stuff up.

Me, Chef Walter, and Corinne

He told us the story of when he was invited to California to cook for a United Nations event where he worked alongside greats as Wolfgang Puck.  Puck introduced him to Asian-fuision and inspired one of the dishes we would be eating.  I love hearing the stories behind techniques and dishes.

The kitchen was having dinner when we arrived, so Alice showed us to the pool patio for aperitifs.

Sparkling wine, tripe, toast with fig jam and Rocchetta, salami balls, and mini-pizzas

Walter came out again to give us a kitchen tour.  He thoughtfully explained each station and process.  Chef Walter is a big fan of preparing meats sous vide.

We were even able to stand in the back to watch the first order being coordinated!

The kitchen was quite tolerant of our paparazzi-like behavior.

We sat down for dinner an elected to let Chef Walter surprise us rather than ordering off the menu.

We do know how to order well!

La tavola (the table)

This turned out to be the best meal of the trip.

The starter alone was mind-blowing: a perfectly silky pumpkin soup with Parmesan gelato.

Followed by the dish inspired by Wolfgang Puck: Sesame-encrusted Amberjack fish with julienned fresh vegetables, wasabi, and passion fruit sauce.

Next was Chef Walter’s signature dish, created in 1987.  It has become his signature dish.  Normally we’d be leery of the ingredients, but this was on a whole new plateau of deliciousness.  Corinne nearly licked her plate.  

Veal tongue and foie gras millefoglie with port wine jelly and balsamic reduction 

Check out this wine glass – the bubble ring makes it perfect to swirling/smelling.

I’m on a mission of find a set for myself!

This texture combination in the next dish was divine: quail egg, duck carpaccio, marinated porcini mushrooms served atop a bed of butter lettuce.

Last was the region’s Tajarin pasta (homemade) served with porcini and finfirli’s mushrooms.

Did I say last?!  I meant last dish before dessert.  2 girls = 3 desserts.

Chef Walter clearly knows the way to my heart.  He even made one with almond milk!!!

Pineapple carpaccio, ricotta with candied orange, and strawberries

Almond milk “panna cotta” with pistachios and candied nuts

I can’t begin to name all of this… truffles, macaroons, chocolate-covered gooseberries… it was sheer bliss

Thank god we had a driver because a food coma immediately ensued.

Thank you, Ferretto family, for an evening we’ll never forget!

***

I still swoon just thinking of this meal.

Have you ever had a meal so good it brought tears to your eyes?

Do you carefully plan your restaurant strategy when you travel?  Or do you think I’m crazy?

 

Have Food, Will Travel

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It’s no secret that I travel A LOT.  I am a Consultant, so it is literally in my job description.  Good thing I like to travel – work or pleasure!  Last month I flew 17,140 miles on Delta.  That doesn’t even include my return from Italia.

Being that it’s such a big part of my life, I though I’d share some tips I’ve picked up for eating right on the road.

Top 3 Tips for Eating Right On the Road

1. Bring Airplane Snacks

Often on domestic flights pretzels or peanuts aren’t going to cut it for me.  I’m notorious for having to run through airports, leaving no time to eat meals.

I like plan ahead and bring carrot, zucchini, and celery sticks on airplanes for snack.  They can handle not being refrigerated for a few hours and are far better than a few peanuts (or nothing at all… I was shocked to discover that United doesn’t serve anything).  That PB packet was from leftover from hotel strategy #2 below.

For early flights I like to BYOB.  I’m usually scrambling to get to the airport at 7am and need to bring my own breakfast to the airport.  Sorry Delta, but Biscoff does not a breakfast make.

Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt

Yogurt will make it through security.  I recently enjoyed my homemade Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt on a 8a flight.  Also, remember to save your old yogurt containers for perfect storage when making your own.  It was soooo good.

Other BYO Ideas:

  • Various bars or granola – homemade or store-bought; I like to take my Banana Nut Bars
  • Fruit – apples, plums, and bananas all travel well – I find oranges are too messy and pears are too easily punctured
  • Trail mix – avoid the $6 airport bags and make you own with nuts and dried fruit from grocery store bulk bins
  • Sandwiches – sans meat if you can’t keep it cool; veggie wraps and PBJ travel well
  • Chocolate – I always have a bite of dark chocolate in my bag for “emergencies”

2. ASK Hotels for Healthy Food

Often the only healthy option on hotel breakfast menus is oatmeal.  When I order mine, I ask for banana or fresh berries as toppings in lieu of brown sugar and raisins.  Even though I always have nut butter with me, I ask if to hotel has any.  Many keep individual packages of peanut butter (pictured below) that I take with me for future use.

Sometimes I shake it up and order eggs.  If so, I request half egg/half egg whites and that they be cooked with olive oil or cooking spray instead of slathered with butter.  If there are veggies listed with other menu items (tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, etc.) I check to see if they can scramble those into my eggs.  This request isn’t always met, but it’s worth a shot!

Dinner can be more of an adventure.  Options are so limited in hotels!  Typically I order a salad with grilled chicken – easy on the salt and dressing on the side.  What is it with the over dressed, salty food?!  I also check to see what the seasonal veggies are and order a side of those too, preferably steamed.  With a glass of wine.

As I discovered this week on the cleanse, it’s especially hard to order dinner on a vegan diet.  Without the option of my go-to grilled chicken salad I had to think outside the box to get a substantial dinner.

Again, the idea is to ask for help.  Before calling down I read the menu to see what veggies they keep in-house.  Then I called and asked if the kitchen had brown and/or wild rice on hand.  Night one wasn’t such a success but…

The import thing is to be specific: the hotel line cooks aren’t going to be creative like you are at home.  Read the menu and know what veggies you want from, specify how much rice is a serving for you (sounds picky, but it’s better than being hungry), and asked that they bring the oil and salt on the side.  Know that may sacrifice on flavor, and circumvent that problem by asking for a side of red pepper flakes or herbs.

On night 2 this worked like a charm – my dinner was delicious.  Though maybe not worth the $40 the Ritz charged for it.

3. Bring Hotel Snacks/Condiments 

It’s a great idea to hit a grocery store once you arrive at your destination.  However, most of my work trips are 1-2 days and I don’t have time or transportation (I prefer to taxi vs. rent a car).  This makes it difficult, but not impossible to eat well.  I’m also lucky in that I can expense food on work trips.  Helloooooo room service!

All this to say I bring my own accoutrements to accompany my crazy requests mentioned in #2.

Tops on the “to bring” list is protein powder.  You can check with the hotel kitchen, find a coffee shop (99.9% make smoothies now), or locate a smoothie place.  They will be happy to make you a  smoothie with your powder just ignore the weird looks.  Before you leave home, pre-mix it with your favorite spice(s) (I always add cinnamon) for added flavor.

This trip I ordered 2 at a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s shop a block from my hotel – one for immediate breakfast consumption and the second one for a post-workout protein fix (sorted in the room fridge or in a bucket of ice if you don’t have a fridge).

Custom smoothie

Other must-haves on the road:

  • Fruit – good snack or breakfast in a fix
  • Nut Butter – to top your hotel oats or go with your fruit
  • Granola or Cereal – if the hotel has yogurt, this is a great topping; I carried my Biscoff granola all over Italy
  • Chia Seeds – use your fruit to make chia pudding in your room
  • Stevia – my vanilla-flavored bottle is less than 3 oz, so I carried it with my on the plan in case I had to get more creative with the protein powder… and I did…

The most creative hotel creation yet occurred yesterday morning.  I knew is was going to be hectic since my boss was now on the road with me and we had an early meeting and my room service oatmeal strategy wasn’t useful since oatmeal isn’t allowed on the cleanse.

I made an overnight breakfast pudding with my cinnamon-laced protein power and a banana from home.  Just be sure you remember to save a fork and glass from room service to mush up the fruit.

Hotel Overnight Breakfast Pudding

  • 1 banana
  • 1 T chia seeds
  • 1 scoop protein powder (pre-mixed with cinnamon)
  • 5-7 drops Stevia
  • Water, to taste

In a glass saved from room service, mush up banana with similarly obtained fork.  Stir in remaining ingredients, adding water until fairly liquid (the chia will soak up the excess overnight).  

Place in mini-fridge or in ice bucket overnight.

In the morning, stir and enjoy whilst patting yourself on the back for being so creative. 🙂

***

One more idea… if you’re taking a train in Italy, pack up some Prosciutto di San Daniele and bread sticks for the trip.

Do you bring snacks on the road?

How do you navigate not-so-healthy hotel menus and special dietary needs?

Crashing Vespas in Italy

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This begins the start of the Bad News Bears portion of the trip.

After Valpolicalla we boarded a train to Cormons in the Friuli region.  Trains in Europe are a whole other beast.  The 3 of us are not accustomed to public transportation (it isn’t prevalent in the South), so tackling the Italian train system was… interesting.  There were a lot of changes and a couple of times I was just crossing my fingers we were headed in the right direction!

We finally made it to Cormons around 9p – I was STARVING, but we still had to walk to our B&B.  I’m not sure how far it was, but let me tell you it felt like 10 miles because the wheels on my suitcase BROKE!

I carried that $%&^*n 50 pound bag all the way there.  I’ve never been to happy that I lift weights regularly in my life!  It wasn’t funny at the time but later I’ll post a pic of me carrying it up the stairs in a train station.  It is pretty comical – that thing is bigger than I am!

Our B&B, Borgo San Daniele was beautiful, even at night.  Even more beautiful was that our hostess had a full tasting of their wines (which I drank a but too fast following the bag carrying-adventure) and a ton of cheese and cured meats (proscuitto de San Danielle is the most incredible stuff ever).  Followed by desserts and grappa.  I was so tired that I didn’t remember a picture until the dessert.

We woke up the next day and I decided to go for a jog through Cormons.  This would have been a great idea after the wine the night before; however, my knee wasn’t having it.  You seen, I had the brilliant idea to go for a run the day we were flying to Italy.  Wellllll… I tripped and landed directly on my right knee (which is my bad knee, naturally).  It swelled up like a melon on the plane, making me generally miserable by the time we landed.

Anyhow, my “jog” through Cormons turned into a limping walk followed by some ab work in a park I stumbled upon.  This was the last time I’d work out until the last day of the trip.  That’s unheard of for me!

Back the the beautiful…

Next on our “to do” list was to rent Vespas and drive ~30 km north of Cormons to Cividale.  It’s a wine road (though we weren’t about to taste and try to drive scooters!) and we were told that the town of Cividale was a “must see.”

Don’t I look like a natural?

PSA: Driving a Vespa is not as easy as it looks.

We crashed that thing.  Twice.

Who just hands you keys to a scooter without any instruction?!  The uber chill Italians, that’s who.

I laid thing thing down on the way there and Corinne did it on the way back.  Mine scraped the whole side of the Vespa!  And I landed on my hurt knee side.

Corinne’s at-fault bruised up my hip and her stomach.  I wish I’d gotten a pic of the bruise on my hip on days 3 or 4 – it turned black!

War wounds

We did make it to Cividale, but were pretty shaken by the time we arrived.  Shaken and hungry.

Some German guests we met during the previous night’s tasting suggested we try the Salame all acela and the Frico and at Al Campanile.  Being so close to the Austrian border (and Germany), we decided to trust them!

Al Campanile

They didn’t steer us wrong!  The Salame alla acela was amazing served warm with cooked onions and polenta.  The Frico was good, but quite heavy with all the fried potatoes and cheese.  It was very German!

Salame all Acela

Frico

But the best part was… a very fresh arugula salad and a cold bier (much-needed after the harrowing ride on the Vespa).

Refreshed Slightly less frazzled, we spent the next several hours exploring Cividale.  It is pretty tiny, but there we tons of quaint little streets to wander up and down.

With helmets… at this point safety was paramount.

We tour like rockstars – go big or go home!

Gelato Flavor of the Day: Pesca (peach)

Everyone was a little sad when it was time to return the Vespas to Cormons.  Mostly because we were scared to drive them back.  

I was scared to turn in the scraped Vespa because it was paid for on my card.  Valid fear – yesterday I spent 30 mins on the phone with American Express filing a claim for the $413 Euro the rental place charged me for damage.  That’s almost $600 USD.

Moving right along… nerve-calming aperitif at Jazz & Wine and dinner at Ai Due Fratelli.  The dinner spot was a recommendation for our new friend Erika, the bartender at Jazz & Wine.  We have her to thank for one of the top meals of the trip!

Spaghetti with clams and a fantastic clam-olive oil-butter-garlic sauce

Eggplant with red sauce (much like an eggplant parm with out the heavy fry)

Some delicious grilled fish that I can no longer name…

Wait.  Where’s the wine?  Did we not order a bottle of white with dinner in the region most famous for it’s Pinot Grigios, Friulanos, and Ribollas?

Silly Rabbit, of course we did!  White wine, noir-style.

We selected a bottle of the Ribolla, which is a light-bodied, floral wine from the region.  It also has hints of lemon, which played well with the fish.  The Friulanos tend to be sweeter and the Pinot Grigios are what you see most often in the States.  Being red wine fans, we chose more acidic and obscure white. 🙂

Post-dinner we headed back Wine & Jazz to hang out with Erika and some other soon-to-be new friends.

I like sparkly things. Including wine.

Italy Milestone: first bar we closed down during our trip.

Speaking of wine… I’m almost through the first 1/3 of the cleanse!

Interesting observation/learning: it is EXTREMELY difficult it is to be vegan (and bread-free) while on the road.  It took the Ritz 2 hours to figure out how to make me wild rice and grilled veggies for dinner on the first night of my stay!  They did apologize and offer a free glass of wine… which I turned down (sorry for the cold front – hell hath frozen over).

As nice as they were about making me a special meal… I was starving after it took so long to prepare.  Sadly, there wasn’t nearly enough food on my plate and it was really oily.  Ritz fail.

For breakfast I wandered down the street to a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s with the hope that they would be able to make a smoothie for me.  Success – they guys there were super nice and made me a delicious berry–banana smoothie WITH the protein powder I brought with me.  

Special Diet Travel Tip: pack your own protein powder (BYOP!) and locate a smoothie place.  They will use your powder!  If you enjoy cinnamon if your smoothies like I do, go ahead and toss some in the baggie with your powder before you leave home.  It worked perfectly!  I’m a little shocked I didn’t get search by TSA with my bag of powder!

It was so good that I returned for lunch to have a delicious vegetable soup with a (modified) Greek salad.  They (once again) went above and beyond to customize my food and were incredibly nice about it.  Thanks for making my day, Kaldi’s!

I was actually nervous to call down for dinner after the previous night’s ordeal, but steeled up and dialed room service again.

The Ritz pulled through for dinner this time – they were ready for me!  Perfectly cooked wild rice with steamed french green beans, asparagus and spinach with cherry tomatoes on the side.  Not too oily or over salted this time!  Ritz win.

***

All that flying on Delta will call for some Biscoff Cookie Dough Balls soon ehough. 😉

Do you have any trips for traveling on a special diet?

Have you ever been on Vespa?  Would you try it in a foreign country?

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