Livorno for Lunch: Take 2!

To start, I would like to thank those who commented on my ranting, raving post yesterday. It means a lot to know I have so much support. It wrote it for me, because I needed to get it out there. This growing up thing is hard!

To return to blog business, I had a relatively uneventful Thursday - except for a tour of a gelateria! Well, it wasn't exactly a tour, and there were some snags hit, but in the end we got to watch a cute little old man make strawberry gelato and then eat it fresh from the ice cream machine! 

See those teeth it's coming through? That's how it gets to look so pretty!!

And pretty it is. Not to mention delicious.

Although strawberry isn't always my first choice, it was cool to eat gelato you watched get made in matter of minutes! They had some flavors that we also wanted to try (dark chocolate sorbetto?! nutella mousse?!!), so expect to see more gelato from this place in the near future.

The most exciting part, though, was that he couldn't give the tour in English, and even though we had a translator, I understood almost every word he said. So exciting!!!

Made some mean oats that morning, too:

Chocolate + banana. That's true love, right there.

After my field trip, I was treated to some incredible eggplant parm made by Alaina (click for pictures!). We spent our train trip today in fact discussing how to incorporate spinach into it and decrease the amount of oil used. You know you've been living with someone for a while when you start having the same ideas about recipes!

I mentioned our train trip today. Alaina and I went to Livorno! Yes, I went again. Both of us were dying to try cacciucco, the local specialty seafood dish that I wasn't able to have on my first trip there.

We went back to the same restaurant I went to because it was SO. GOOD. They didn't let us down.

I had to have the antipasti platter again:

A lovely selection of seafood salad (shrimp, calamari, and octopus with some tomatoes in a very light vinegar-olive oil dressing), smoked salmon (YUM),delicious fresh anchovies, the BEST mussels I've ever had, and the most. amazing. crostini. ever. [I talked about it here too.] Seriously, I have no idea what's on it, but my tastebuds didn't care. Some kind of tapenade with mussels. And maybe a little magic.

Next, we moved on to cacciucco. Please prepare yourself for what you are about to see. This is not your grandma's seafood stew like we expected.

Ready?

That would be a plate piled high with vast quanities of unidentifiable body parts of sea creatures. Tentacles, fins, and a whole shrimp - eyes included, all drowning in this earthy, spicy, salty sauce - almost wannabe bbq sauce? We could not figure it out. Actually, we were so in shock with this dish, we couldn't really figure any of it out. I didn't love it, but I definitely didn't hate it. This dish encapsulates what I love most about food - it's a true experience in and of itself. We laughed, we ate, we looked in awe at what was put before us. It definitely goes to show - when in Italy, expect the unexpected! We certainly had fun.

And just like last time, we were brought a very large shot limoncello to aid in digestion - we were definitely in need of some of that!

What I like about limoncello is that it is a nice way to end the meal. It's suuuuuper strong and always leaves me a little tipsy and a few mere sips, but I really enjoy taking part in the ritual of it. What can I say - American girl, Italian heart!

Despite the fact that were stuffed to the gills - or perhaps, to the tentacles - we are firm believers that no city has truly been explored without sampling their gelato. And we are hard core explorers.

Melon (canteloupe) and dark chocolate.

The dark chocolate was alright, but nothing special - of course, now that we've discovered the best of the best in Florence, anywhere else becomes "less than." Actually, Alaina hit the flavor right on the nose - it was just like Hershey's dark chocolate! I use their dark chocolate powder a lot at home, and this was definitely that taste. Not bad, but not Vestri. The melon was lovely, though. Very sweet, as it should be. Gosh I love melon.

After a lot of walking, we made it back to the train station in good time. Another lovely afternoon spent in Livorno.

Off to paper-writingdom!

~Namaste~