Under the Tuscan Sun: A Week in Italia Part I
Thursday started the same as any other typical weekday. I awoke to a blurry view of fading blue paint and the sound of my alarm. I put my surroundings into focus by fumbling at my glasses and slowly made my way out of bed. Slipped Graceland out of it’s worn cover and placed it on the table. I let the needle glide across the grooves of the vinyl releasing the 80s pop sensation into the morning air. After a quick shower things took a slightly different turn. My toothbrush went into a leather toiletry bag instead of the usual ceramic holder. Instead of pulling up weather on my computer I shut it sown knowing it would get no use in the next week. Locked my door and I was off.
A donut and Americano later I found myself arriving at the SeaTac airport. 15 hours into the future I land in Rome searching for DJ and Aleks. After successfully meetin up we hopped in the smallest car ever and cruised the beach side in search of food. I hadn’t eaten in 15 hours, I mean who can eat plane food? We stopped at this little seaside joint drank some complimentary Prosecco, got some sun and ordered some pasta. The next plate to sit on front of me was a glorious dish of pasta aglio e olio. It was cooked perfectly al dente and smothered in olive oil and garlic. The flavors just combined so perfectly in your mouth I couldn’t help but lick the plate clean. So simple too. A little vitamin d and a few glasses of vino later we were played out by the star wars completely satisfied. They must know I’m a fan of pasta and star wars best combo ever.
Next we picked up Chris and headed to the country to spend the night in the most beautiful hotel ive stayed at. We did happen to lose our way and made it a few hours later than anticipated. Important note: asking Italians for directions is like asking three different people what their favorite song is. Your likely to get multiple different answers and an argument. After following our instincts / driving up and down a mountain then abandoning our instincts we pulled up the dirt road to Relais villa d’assio. It was absolutely gorgeous tucked away from any major city, modest and classy, exactly what you dream of Italy being.
The next day we played errr attempted a game of basketball and then headed to our destination of Casa de la Flourdelisi.
Here we met up with friends family and wine… And wine… And wine.
We finally realized it was probably time to go eat. So we rolled down to cafe paradiso one of only two restaurants in the town and ordered… You guessed it. Wine, oh and pizza. I ordered the marinara. Just a simple pomodoro sauce with garlic and basil on the most delicious crispy chewy thin crust I’ve eaten. To top it off they had this little bottle of olive oil infused with red peppers. Pour a little on the pizza and it create just the nicest hint of spice and the end of the bite. I need to buy some when I get home.
