ITALIA Day 5: Lost in Palermo, we find a beach

At last, we made it to Palermo - a journey of sweat and tears. The 7:30 AM bus from Taormina to the Catania airport was no big deal, even waiting for the bus from the airport to Palermo wasn't too bad if you don't count the swell of gypsies constantly bombarding you for money. It was the getting off the city bus WAY too early en route from the bus station to our hotel - big mistake! I'm pretty sure we ended up trudging a little over a mile with luggage in the hot hot Sicilian sun. Oops. To turn our frowns upside down, I left Stacy in the room to cool off (might I add it was the cheapest and BEST hotel we stayed in the entire trip, massive corner suite, superb AC, balcony, full breakfast and free WiFi) while I went to a market a few blocks away to gather nibbles and wine, a most successful outing I might say. When I got back, we decided to check out a nearby beach where we stayed for the rest of the day, beautiful Mondello.

ITALIA Day 4 (con't): Farewell Taormina

After our long day of fun in the sun, we got back to our hotel and got ready for our last night out on the town. We wandered around the high street and stopped to grab an aperitivo in IX Aprile Square and people watch. WE SPOTTED ALESSANDRA AMBROSIO , of all people, with her daughter. Too bad we didn't get a picture, she is absolutely gorgeous!  After a bit of pizza and wine, we headed back home to get a good nights sleep for our early morning start the next day - another long day of traveling to Palermo, back to where it all started.

ITALIA Day 4: To the Beach!

Towels - check; Sunscreen - check; Swimsuit - check --> off for a day of sun, sea & sand!

ITALIA Day 3 (con't): Stairway to Heaven

We decided to head into town after relaxing by the pool and getting ourselves all cleaned up. Instead of relying on Sicily's amazing (sarcasm!) transportation options, we took the staircase from our hotel on the edge of where Taormina meets Castelmola. The view the entire way down was just amazing, you could see the ancient theater and a few of the pretty piazzas. Once down into town, we strolled around the streets in search of a restaurant recommended to us by our hotel. We found it and ate a lovely meal, smoked fish to start (why don't we have smoked swordfish in the States???), white wine and tagliatelle with big chunks of swordfish for my main (Stacy opted for seafood risotto chock full of frutti di mare). We left the restaurant feeling full but had to have our first taste of gelato before we headed back to the hotel, yum!

ITALIA Day 3: A view from the top

After traveling on several buses, numerous twists and turns up the steep and narrow roads and the most expensive taxi in the world (15 Euros for a 2 mile journey!) we finally made it to our hotel. The room was overpriced for what it was, but the view from the outdoor pool made up for it. Absolutely stunning. Buongiorno Taormina!

ITALIA! Day 3: En Route to Taormina

Just a quick glimpse of Mt. Etna on the bus from Catania to Taormina.

ITALIA! Day 2: Agrigento, a city of ruins

This was my best "all encompassing shot" that captures 

the main bit of Agrigento (right) with the Valle dei Templi or Valley of the Temples (left). The picture was taken from the top of the Temple of Juno Lacia, below is the Temple of Concordia, we were so hot and sweaty by the time this was taken and it was only 11:00 AM! After we finished our walk around the ruins, it was time for us to bus it back to the train station and make the hike (literally) back to our hotel to gather our things and catch the bus to Catania in order to catch (wait for it) another bus to Taormina (sensing a trend here with all the buses?). The night before when we first arrived, was more than interesting as we got completely lost searching for our hotel. We trudged up and down the steep and winding streets, steps and sidewalks of Agrigento and finally found it! No thanks to the sign that hangs outside the hotel which is only painted with the name on one side, thank goodness I turned around! After we got settled and cleaned up, we went out for a stroll on the main street until we found a restaurant to dine al fresco. I had a delicious plate of Pasta alla Norma, a traditional Sicilian dish made with eggplant, and we shared one of the best bottles of white wine I have ever had. We even bought another one to take back with us to the hotel - I'm still kicking myself for not remembering the name!

ITALIA! Day 1: A Long Day of Traveling

We've arrived! Well...sort of...after a 7:30 AM flight from Heathrow (surprisingly, it wasn't too horrible waking up at 4:30 AM because we saw Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin in the security line beside us and a ton of other Olympians headed home!), a stop in Milan and a bus ride to the Palermo train station from the Palermo airport, we have our tickets in hand for our journey to Agrigento. With time to spare and our tummies rumbling we stopped, of all places, at McDonalds and low and behold I had one of the best "fast food" items I've ever had - a Caprese - only in Italy folks. After noshing, we did our best to wait patiently for the train which was a solid 15 minutes late, things in Sicily definitely run on their own time, aka. things happen when they happen. Off to Agrigento we go!

Houseguest

One of my good friends from Texas is coming to visit for a little more than a week starting today - YAY! Had to post as I'm mega excited! I can't believe I've already been gone for 2 whole months, I've definitely been missing my girls back home. I wish everyone could come over to see jolly old England!

*We're off to Sicily for four nights next week so traveling posts to come!

Devon: A quaint country wedding

Ever heard of Little Torrington? I hadn't either! Above is a picture of the happy couple whose wedding we went to last weekend in the cutest (and smallest) village in the Devon countryside. The wedding was lovely and the reception, held down the road from the church on the bride's family land, was an absolute blast! Cheers to the newlyweds!

My very first cricket match

I must admit that I rarely pay attention to a cricket match when it's on "telly". Until a few weekends ago I would've just said it was a boring version of baseball (admittedly not my favorite US sport to watch) but that was before I saw my very first live game! The people, the weather (hello sun, finally!), the Pimm's cup, the picnic bits and bites, it all combined to make for a fantastic day despite the fact that we got a tad burned and England didn't play their best against South Africa. Oh well! I still had a blast :)

*Many thanks to Hel & Phils for a lovely weekend!

SUSHI! (all caps means I love it)

Marty and I comparing our beer 'shots'

I don't know what it is about sushi that has me hooked, my guess is the combination of salty soy, fresh sweet fish and perfectly cooked rice. The only thing I am certain of, is that I will always always be one of sushi's biggest fans.

Living in a village, it's not as easy as one would hope to come by "good" sushi but there just so happens to be a small (and I do mean small) Japanese restaurant in Oxford called Edamame. They only serve sushi on a Thursday evening, they don't take reservations and the fish runs out fast. I've braved various weather conditions from the pouring rain to scattered snow standing outside in a 'queue' waiting for my turn to enter and order my fill of delicious raw fish.

This place is what makes Thursdays a good day!

Feelin' granola

Every time I'm in the kitchen I try to add a twist to a new recipe, tweak an old recipe or just make things up as I see fit!

This granola started off on a whim after reading (thanks Googlreader!) a post for a tried-and-true recipe courtesy of granola entrepreneur and contributing blogger for The Kitchn, Megan Gordon. 

The recipe/process is a lot easier than I expected and the results were more than worth it. Think I might be making different batches every week. NOM.

Punting - wait, what's that?

For the BF's birthday at the end of last month, we decided to gather the troops and go punting along the river Cherwell.

I must admit, I didn't even know what punting was until I googled it (think boat taxis in Venice). It was absolutely brilliant! Everyone brought picnic food and bevvies for the journey down the river. The actual punting bit is a bit tricky, I let the boys handle things because I was afraid I was going to drop the pole in the water or worse, fall in! Once we finally made it to a nearby pub's waterfront, we pulled the punts up onto the bank and set down the blankets and laid out the spread.

I highly recommend trying it!

Happy belated Independence Day America!

At first I pretended like I didn't need to do anything "special" to celebrate July 4th, but after chatting on the day of with my long-time American pal who lives in Germany, my heart started to ache a bit. Her and her BF had planned a party with friends (all German, but still), were going to grill out, eat apple pie and drink some good old American lager. 

So last minute, I got my hands on some fo-sausages to use at hot dogs (thank you Linda McCartney), tossed together some mac n cheese and found a knock-off recipe for one of my favorite cakes from my beloved Whole Foods. Check out Chow Hound for the guesstimated recipe, I just used whipped cream for the layers but it tasted just as I remembered, delicious!

It's like I never even left...

back in the village

So, apparently I'm not such a good blogger. 

New goal: actually WRITE a post on my own blog. I've been back in England for approximately 30 days and have yet to write anything. I guess that's 'cause I've been busier than expected - good thing - but starting today, I will attempt to recount my visit thus far and start blogging! More to come.