insalata caprese

Isn't it funny how one trip can just really alter your views on food so completely?  I left for Italy the type of person who wanted to put sriracha on EVERYTHING and was really happiest when food involved like 100 ingredients.  

I came home wanting to eat no more than 10 food items: mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, good crusty bread, pasta, salt/pepper, parmesan, balsamic vinegar, and truffles (okay, I know truffles is a bit ridiculous, but they were in season over there and came on just about every dish.)  I was also seriously missing the socially acceptable 1/2 bottle of wine at lunch, but I managed to get over that.  

What I didn't get over was this salad.  I ate some variation of this salad at basically every single meal when we were in Florence, knowing full well that there would never be sweeter tomatoes or fresher mozzarella once I got back home.  I managed to come up with a somewhat approximated version of it at Trader Joe's, and then realized that fresh mozzarella is key, so if you have an Italian market nearby that makes their own in-house daily, go that route first!  

The sweet saltiness of the balsamic vinegar reduction will make up for any imperfections in the tomatoes.  

Sorta-Close-To-Italy Insalata Caprese

for one, and then just keep adding to it for more people

2 really good tomatoes

1 ball of fresh mozzarella - if you're going the trader joe's route for this, get the kind packaged in water

10-12 basil leaves

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

rresh ground sea salt and cracked pepper

Slice the tomatoes & mozzarella with a serrated knife and layer back and forth.  Tuck the basil leaves in between each slice.  

Pour the balsamic vinegar into a very small shallow saute pan, heat over medium heat until boiling and then let simmer away until it reduces to about half.  Do not walk away from this!!!!  Balsamic vinegar reduction goes from syrupy to scorched in the blink of an eye.  It's worth it to watch it.  

The reduction will thicken up more when it cools.  Let it get down to just "warm" and then pour over the entire salad - not too much, you don't want it sitting in a pool, but just enough to wilt the basil leaves a little.  Enjoy, preferably with a crusty piece of french bread swiped with a little butter, to sop up the extra balsamic.  

our honeymoon in 8 pictures

So now you get the explanation as to why this blog has been MIA - we got married & went on our honeymoon!  Oh, and then we moved.  All in three weeks.  Why yes, we are a bit insane, but now that everything's settled I can't help but be thrilled that it's all over and done with!  No wedding pics yet, but I have all the good pics from our trip to Italy (and accidentally, Paris).  

So we had quite the wedding party - we were literally up pretty much all night the night of the wedding and we left for the airport at 8:30 the next morning!  We decided to just suck it up until we got on the plane across the Atlantic (from Atlanta to Amsterdam) because at least then we could sleep through 8 hours of sitting in coach.  While at the Atlanta airport waiting for our flight, I was in line changing some USD to Euros and Darrell spotted Dave Matthews walking by our gate!  I was much too shy to say hello, but Darrell walked right up and said hi, and I was so glad he did!  He was incredibly friendly, asked us all about our honeymoon and even offered to take multiple pictures to make sure we got a good one.  It was a fun little start to our honeymoon, especially since I've listened to Dave Matthews Band ever since I was a little kid and me and Darrell have seen him three times together!  

When we got to Florence, we were greeted by THIS beautiful terrace.  Our apartment in Florence was truly beautiful, and only steps (literally, about 10) from the Duomo, the biggest church in the city.  

Our first full day there we walked to the Arno to cross the Ponte Vecchio, the beautiful bridge in Florence pictured below.  It was covered in shops and street artists, and we bought three paintings that we were so excited to bring home.  

 Once we crossed the river into the other side of the city, we went to most likely my favorite restaurant in Florence.  This is a bit ridiculous because we ate at probably 15 different places, and some were much fancier with multiple courses, but this pizza was hands down the best thing I ate while on my honeymoon.  I don't know how they did it - although I have a hunch that this mozzarella was made fresh in the back of the store - but this pizza, simply crust, fresh tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil, was one of the top 5 meals of my life.  We ate a whole one each, and went back the next day!  If you are ever near Florence, you must go to Gusta Pizza and get the Margherita.  

Friday we went to Venice for a day trip, which was both wonderful and slightly terrifying.  Venice is a beautiful city, but it is laid out like a maze (literally, like the kind you did in grade school as a child).  The streets are short, take frequent turns, and it isn't uncommon to reach a dead ended courtyard or just a canal with no bridge when trying to head in a certain direction.  The difficulty getting around almost caused us to miss our train back to Florence, and I'm sure we made quite the sight running in the rain, stopping intermittently to ask stranger in my admittedly broken and not-so-perfect Italian how to get to the station.  

Nevertheless, we did make it back (yay!) and even made our 10 pm dinner reservation at Coquinarius, where we had probably the best wine of any place we ate.  Chianti, a variety that is usually mediocre at best in the US at almost any price, basically tastes like the nectar of the gods when you actually have it in Tuscany.  According to our waiter, only 5 cities in Tuscany produce the only good Chianti in the entire world, and they don't much like to export it.  Stingy!

I sadly wasted some - I was so tired from our day in Venice I poured some Chianti into my Pellegrino....

Our last day in Italy, Saturday, we mostly rested up for travel Sunday and it was a good thing too!  We had a terrible morning I still don't understand entirely at the Florence airport, and Air France wouldn't let us on our flight!  We had to buy a ticket to Paris to get to speak to a Delta agent in person (our cell phones didn't work in Europe and there was a 5 hour wait to speak to a phone agent because of Hurricane Sandy so a pay phone was out of the question.)  Basically we were told we couldn't leave Florence without speaking to a Delta agent and the only way to do that was in person.  It was a bit insane, but once we get to Paris our agent Pierre Laurent was so friendly.  He upgraded us to business class for our flight home (Which was awesome!  Free champagne & your seat is like a bed!), and since he couldn't get us on a plane until the next day, he put us in a very nice hotel near the airport and told Darrell he had to "take his wife to the Tour Eiffel" since we were going to be "stuck" in Paris for the night.  

 All in all, a mostly perfect trip, and any slip ups we mostly made the best of!  

(ps - big thanks to my Mom & Dad for the amazing trip!)