Buon giorno!
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| Lavender and saffron gelato on the stoop. |
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| Jenna with her saffron gelato on the stoop. |
One of my goals coming to Italy was to be able to order my
meal completely in Italian and another was to eat gelato every day. Amazingly,
both have been a lot easier than I expected! Like I mentioned in an earlier
post, learning the language has been very fun for me and being immersed in the
culture has made me truly want to learn all I can. Ordering meals is a piece of
cake, I have even been able to carry small casual conversations with some
locals! On a sweeter note, grabbing a gelato everyday has not been an issue
either, there have even been a few days where I have had two servings (shhh,
"calories don’t count in Europe") (quote by Jenna Rios).
This week we took a day trip to San Gimignano, the city of towers,
that is located halfway between Florence and Siena . The city was built in
920AD and began to grow when the location became a popular stopping point for
Christian crusaders. The tourism market escalated and the city became known for
wine and the unique spice, saffron. Saffron spice comes from the dried stigmas
of a flower and is used in cuisines as flavoring and coloring. The spice is
very expensive and the process is very meticulous, it takes 150,000 flowers to
make one kilogram of saffron spice. (Making even a small jar too pricey for me
to bring some home to my mom, sorry Ma) However, I was able to taste a little
of the elegant spice in my new favorite food… gelato. Our tour guide stopped in
the main piazza and pointed out a world famous gelateria that had a multitude
of unique flavors including saffron flavor. I took a chance and paired the
saffron gelato with a local lavender blend gelato for a wonderful delight!
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| Beautiful look out point in San Gimignano. |
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| City of towers. |
Needless to say, I have not tried one thing in Italy that I didn’t
like! There have been a few things that I did not take seconds of but one of
the best cultural experiences is simply trying the local cuisine! My culinary
mother will be proud!
Until next time, Ciao!
Josie E
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