I wanted to share with you a recipe that I discovered just a few days ago. I have this lemony cake two years ago while visiting Ravello, Italy. I fell in love. I love all of the desserts using lemon that the fine folk of the Amalfi Coast make.
There are so many things to love about Italy. The food, shopping, architecture and history make visiting Italy repeatedly all worthwhile. But, and this is a big but, the driving leaves you with a really bad taste in your mouth (a mix of bile and blood from biting your tongue and being frightened).
When we visit Italy we like to rent a car for a few reasons. We do a lot of traveling and enjoy the freedom to do so without having to worry about schedules etc. The moment my husband steps behind the wheel of a car in Italy I see a change come over him. He becomes intense, on edge. He never smiles, never seems to enjoy himself. I am always amazed at the litany of foul words that spew from his otherwise polite mouth.
There is something about driving in Italy that requests that you have some level of insanity to deal with the streets and the folk who drive on them. Of course driving in big cities like Rome, Napoli or Palermo is always worse. The congestion is just mind boggling. Some streets are so narrow that barely two motorcycles can pass each other, but these roads are used by cars. We scraped our car mirrors twice, once in the medieval streets of Ragusa while looking for parking, and once in Napoli while a bus tried to pass us. Cars weave in and out of traffic with little regard for those surrounding them. If you are a pedestrian trying to cross the street, say your prayers and be quick and observant. I can assure you that drivers do not care that you are crossing the road, so you must be vigilant. On many occasions I saw senior citizens trying to cross the street. This one old fellow with a cane broke my heart. He stepped off the curb several times only to be nearly hit by motorcycles and cars who did not even consider slowing let alone stopping to let the old man cross. My husband stopped for this guy and the driver behind us honked furiously! I was surprised. I always thought Italians had great respect for their elders. I guess that when it comes to driving, they respect no one.
Then there are the motorcycle and vespa drivers. They may be the worst. They weave in and out of traffic, pass on the roadside, have little patience and seem to think they are invincible! If you are stopped at a red light, the bikers all swarm like killer bees to get to the front. There will easily be 20 bikes that will jokey for first spot. Speed limits in Italy tend to be a bit higher than they are in Canada, which for a guy like my hubby, he loves. Regularly he will drive 130 – 140 km per hour. Like at home the right lane is intended for slower traffic, the left for faster and those who want to pass. One time, Hubby was driving at 140 km/hr when a motorcycle came right up behind us. He flashed his light, then not even giving us time to react, he passed us on the left...on the shoulder! Within half a minute, the guy was no longer visible. He must have been going about 200km! On the autostrada, everyone drives too fast, they tail gate and honk. When you give some passing driver the evil eye, they just shrug their shoulders as if to say “Meh” and keep on going.
Parking is a whole other can of worms. Parking is really difficult. Spots are few and small. The bigger the city, the harder it is to find parking, but that is not to say that the small towns don’t have parking problems too. When we were in Napoli, we tried to find a spot for a good hour. Thank goodness for GPS locating a parking garage, but even still, with all of those one way streets and aggressive drivers, if you miss your turn, it could take a good 10 minutes just to get back to the spot you originally wanted. There is also a problem with double parking. There are those people who think they are so friggin’ important that it is ok to trap another car by parking on the road right beside the legally parked car! These are the bastards that drive me nuts. They make travelling down already narrow and congested streets a nightmare. Every time we found a parking spot with relative ease, we would be nervous. Italian road signs are often misleading and you are never quite sure if you are parked legally. We did give up a few times and acted like locals and parked illegally. We were never ticketed.
What bothers me most about Italian drivers are the seamless disregard for safety and laws of the road. My father in law, a native Sicilian, insists that there are laws on the road, but I have never once seen a driver pulled over by the police. I did see a police car on the side of the highway, with its “officers” sleeping in the front! As a mother living in Canada, I am thankful for all of the laws we have to keep us safe. Car seats for our kids, seat belts,and children not being allowed to sit in the front seat until they reach a certain age or height and weight requirement. In Italy, I saw nothing like this...at all. As a matter of fact, we even saw some of our family members whipping around town with their very young children in the back with no car seat or seat belt. We saw the car seat sitting in a back room of my husband cousin’s house, not in the car. The number of times that we saw parents driving vespas with a young child standing in the front made me ill. It was not uncommon to see an adult in the front seat of a car with an infant in their lap either. Really, why not just strap the kid to the grill of the car; it is just about as safe!
And finally there are the road signs. Often you will find way too many signs bunched together. If you sit at the intersection to read these signs, surely you will piss off some motorist. My advice, use GPS and listen to it, even if you think it is leading you down the path to hell. You will get to your destination....eventually.
As I write this post, I feel myself becoming anxious. Every time I was in the car I felt anxious. So here is a word to the wise. When in Italy, seriously consider using public transit (if you can figure it out). You will be somewhat safer and have fewer worries!
I must apologize for my not posting for a while. I have been very busy, mostly with a 3 week vacation to Italy.
We left for Italy on May 28th and returned on June 20th. We had a great 3 week visit to a country that I love dearly. I love most everything about Italy. The landscape, architecture, food and the language. For years I have been obsessed with traveling to the country and learning what I can about the culture and enjoying La Dolce Vita.
I looked forward to this trip. Hubby and I had great plans to visit wonderful cities, shop, eat, drink and absorb as much of the Italian lifestyle as we could. The only problem, we have 2 children. Under normal circumstances, having kids is not a problem at all, it is a joy, but on vacation it challenging (and that is the only polite way that I can put it).
We are fortunate to travel with my husbands parents to Italy and have family to stay with, so our costs stay down. We stayed just over a week on the Amalfi Coast (which I love) and enjoyed our time there (mostly). We visited such great cities as Positano, Naples, Avellino, Cava di Tirreni, Sorrento and Caserta. All great cities with wonderful things to see and an abundance of food to enjoy. We had plans from the offset to venture to most of these places on our own and bring the kids to only a few places. That was mistake number one! We should have NEVER brought the kids on excursions. From the minute they left the comfort of Zia's apartment they whined non stop, "I want to go home", "I'm hungry", "I'm hot!", " I want to ruin your vacation". For a year I looked forward to visiting Sorrento. I thought it would be a good place to bring the kids. NOT! Even though we brought reinforcements with us, Zia, Nonna and a cousin they adore, they still bitched and moaned until I was in tears. I have no idea what Sorrento looked like. I did not get more that 5 photos from that whole trip....I spent the whole time at war with the kids.
When our time in Salerno (Amalfi Coast) we drove down to Sicily, where my husbands family is from. We were looking forward to the great Sicilian beaches, food, markets and seeing family. The bonus part was that Hubby's uncle let us stay at his daughters Villa as it is unoccupied most of the time because she lives in Milan full time. What a wonderful property. A large house with marble floors, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, large kitchen, sun room and formal living and dining room. The house also offered great ourdoor living space complete with covered porches and a gated property to keep the kids nice and safe. There were even a few lemon trees, orange and olive trees too! There were an abundance of lizards flitting about to entertain the kids for hours. The place was perfect. Only a five minute drive from the sea, a shopping mall and other family members. It truely could not have been better.
While I say that I then am reminded that we were traveling with the kids, so like clockwork, just a day after settling into our accomodations the kids started to act up again. "I want to go to the beach", "I want Nonna", "I want gelato", "I want to make your life miserable". We tried our best to keep them entertained by taking them to the beach or going our for gelato, but the moment we would step out into the burning sun (or Sicilian furnace as I call it) my daughter would throw a fit screaming that the sun hurt her, my son would cry that he was melting.
After having just spent the week before fighting with the kids on excursions, we chose to do most of the stuff on our own. We visited Siracusa, Ortigia, Catania, Palermo,Noto, Ragusa, Enna and some other small towns near where we were staying. This of course was wonderful. It was like a second honeymoon for the Hubby and myself. We only took the evil minion to one town for a visit (and as expected they were miserable) and they enjoyed beach days and a day at a water park.
I don't like to bitch and moan. I am a fortunate person to have had the luxury to visit Italy 3 times in the last 5 years. I love the country from where my husbands family immigrated. If I won the lottery I would surely buy a vacation home there if not live there full time (if I could handle the driving, littering and general rudeness of people...but that is for another post). But I do not see myself returning for a long time...not until the kids can be left alone and we could be on our own completely. Here is my word of advice, if you can, vacation WITHOUT your kids when visiting Europe. Leave family vacations for Disney, Florida or a resort in Mexico.
I will be the first to admit, I am not an overly fashionable kind of gal. Sure I like nice clothes and all, but sometimes just how to put an outfit together eludes me. Or more often sticker shock will keep me from buying an item of clothing.
I never put much thought into my clothing, but when I go on vacation to Italy I do. I do this for a few reasons. One, I want to make a decent impression on my husbands extended family who we will surely spend time with. Two, I don’t want to look like an obnoxious North American tourist. You know the type, the folks who walk around with big baggy tshirts with huge print of the places they have visited, baseball caps, fanny packs and running shoes. Three, it’s Italy! The birthplace of Armani, Prada, Gucci. Italians are so in tuned with being stylish that they don’t even try.
Last year before we went on vacation in Italy, I did a little web research to find out what the latest fads were in Italy. My plan was to copy one or two of the looks and blend in a little more with the locals. Basically I did not find much. There were some good tips out there though which anyone traveling to Italy or anywhere in Europe might want to follow.
1. No track suits and jogging pants. These are clothes meant for the gym only. Leave them at home.
2. Wear comfortable but stylish shoes. This does not include flip flops or running shoes. Flip flops are for the beach ONLY! Running shoes, especially those white athletic kind are not seen of the feet of the fashionable. Stylish walking shoes however, I saw everywhere. Truth be told some of the walking/tennis shoes I saw in Italy last year were just over the top and tacky. But if you want to go with the flow, gold tennis shoes might work! But most important wear good quality leather sandals or loafers. Women try to stick to a kitten heal or wedge as walking for long periods on cobblestone roads can prove tiring for the tootsies.
3. Jeans ARE fashionable. Maybe 10 years ago they would not have been, but everyone wears them, young or old. The difference between the jeans worn by Italians and those of North Americans are that they fit well. No Mom jeans in Italy. No droopy drawers on the young Italian boys.
4. I have been to Italy twice and both times during the summer. I rarely saw locals wearing shorts. If I did see someone in shorts it was on a sweltering hot day at the beach. I saw the occasional young woman wearing shorts that were at the knee paired with tall cowboy boots (not quite the style I expected to find in Italy). Last year I did see more capri’s and on the men I noticed man-pri’s which at first I thought looked odd, but then learned to like them. I even baught a pair for my hubby. But please don’t wear cut off jean shorts, or shorts that are too small and revealing.
5. Women should always pack some dresses and skirts. They are always the safest bet for fashion when traveling in Italy. Just make sure your skirts are not too short or trashy looking. Knee length is always the best way to go. I most often choose to wear dresses when on vacation. They are a no brainer. You don’t have to worry about matching bottoms and tops, it’s a complete outfit. Easy Peasy.
While I try my best to blend in, I find that no matter how well I dress I always end up looking like a tourist. Could it be the fact that I barely speak the language? Perhaps the huge camera strung around my neck tips people off. Or maybe it is the fact that I walk around with my mouth agape staring at all of the beauty that Italy has to offer. I have not seen Italians doing this, they are used to their surroundings and don’t appreciate it like I do.
So for this upcoming trip I will pack up my dresses, jeans, button down shirts and nice shoes…along with my camera and wide eyed anticipation, and hope to fit in…just a little.
I am a lucky girl! I will be heading off to beautiful Italy at the end of the month with the family for a 3 week vacation. Just imagine the great food and sights, the culture, spending time with family! Sounds great right? Well, it is, but there is one stinky catch....preparing for the vacation.
Traveling is not as easy as it used to be when it was just my hubby and myself. Back before children, we would just toss some items in a bag and off we'd go. We did not spend a great deal of time planning out itineraries, worrying about entertainment on the plane or about food. We just went with the flow.
However, when you travel with 2 young children, you need to be armed with too many clothes, first aid kits, bug spray, videos and games, coloring books, reading books, toys, portable potty seats (that is a whole other story). I am fortunate that my kids are great travelers, but an 8 hour flight is difficult on an adult let alone a young child.
I am one of those parents who brings way too many things with me, but my attitude is that I'd rather be over prepared than miss something crucial to our vacation survival. We went to Italy last summer and things went very smoothly. But our concern is that as the kids get older they are often harder to please. The airplane does not hold the same excitement that it has in the past. They get uncomfortable in those horrible seats, they can't stand the food that is served, and just the fact that for an 8 hour period they are restricted to sitting or the tiny closet they call 'lavatories' can become unbearable to the kids.
So in planning this trip we find ourselves traveling extra heavy this year. We determined that for our own sanity (and for other passengers) that we would carry 2 DVD players, a stack of movies of course, the kids both have Leapster Video games which are rather bulky. We have stocked up on 2 new coloring books and crayons for each child and one book each. We are also carrying some card games like Uno and Old Maid with us. I even found a small magnetic checkers set. Then there is the food that we will bring. At least 2 sandwiches each, a container of pasta, some cookies, crackers, apples, candy (for those moments you need them to behave) and drink boxes. Then we have to bring the kids car seats with us! That is all the stuff we will carry just for the kids!
My carry on is the drug store. I will have my Sudafed, Otrivin, the ever important Gravol and Benadryl! Wipes for filthy hands, hand sanitizer, tissues, a book, a change of clothes for the kids, blow up travel pillows...the kitchen sink. My husband won't leave home without his laptop! And I could not go on vacation without my camera which is big and bulky too. So just imagine how burdened we will be, but I guess that in the end it will all be worth it!
We vacationed in Italy last summer. I was such a lucky girl to have experienced a dream vacation, even with my family! We stayed with family in Salerno, which is in the Campania region. The best part about being in Salerno was that is right near, or the gateway to, the Amalfi Coast! From Salerno we took a ferry to Amalfi. From Amalfi we visited the other towns nearby with Ravello being my favorite. We did not have to risk our lives driving along the infamous Amalfi Coast, but still had some of that hair raising fun by taking a bus up to Ravello. From Salerno we also visited Pompeii, which was an incredible experience, which I would love to do again, by myself. We also saw some adorable towns called Vietri and Cetara. After a week in Salerno we all piled into our rental car and drove south to Sicily. The drive was lovely, but all the same, hills and sunny sky and sea, how shitty ;)
We took a ferry from the mainland to Messina, Sicily then continued to our final destination in my inlaws home town of Priolo Gargallo, a small town outside of Siracusa. While we stayed in Sicily we visited Palermo, Erice, Trapani, Cefalu, an agriturisimo in Ragusa, Mt.Etna and of course Ortigia (Siracusa). I am sharing just a really small portion of photos I took on that vacation (there were 800 total!) because I find myself craving another Italian vacation. If all goes well my desire will be fulfilled in May, but until then, I can browse through my photos!
