This weekend has to be one of the best since I got here in Italy! A weekend full of Tuscan food at the best possible price :) Saturday Lizzy and I mapped out four different places we had found in the Florentine newspaper that would be giving away free treats to those who came in a certain time period. So we circled the streets and added the names and times to my map and we set off! Our first stop was a local grocery store called Conad right by the Ponte Vecchio. They had a small stand set up inside offering little bits of biscotti made on the island of Giglio, which is right near where the cruise ship the Costa Concordia sunk. Each was a little different from the next, either with texture or ingredients, different nuts, with out without honey, and different dried fruits. After trying as many variations as we thought acceptable without buying any, and having a little chat with the salesman, we made our exit. The next place on the list was a small vintage store that we'd gone to once before but never purchased anything because the prices are very high. We got small cups of wine and a little piece of dark chocolate that was made without eggs, four, butter or sugar and it was delicious and creamy! Went very well with the wine. We perused the lines of colorful and funky clothes but gave up shortly after. The third stop was by far my favorite for the entire weekend. It seems we got into a food tasting competition of some sort where many bakeries that make and sell their own sweet Easter bread had them on display and cut into sample strips for us, the judges, to try. Right as we arrived we were given beer in a fancy glass, one of the nicest beers I've had. But we had to chug it unfortunately, we didn't have enough hands to carry the glass, the plates we'd been given, and the gelato we were drooling over at the next stand. After we got our mini cups of cream and orange gelato, we turn to the right, and see a long line of tables. And what's on those tables? Samples! Tables and tables of samples and we tried them all! I can not even tell you how many there were, but I can tell you the best one. Many of these breads were either plain or had raisins, Sicilian fruit, orange, or apricots inside. But one, one was a wonderfully blue purple color and had olives! The bread was still sweet but you could taste the olive distinctly whenever you bit one. It was the most unique and beautiful bread. Almost like taking a bite of Tuscany and what it truly stands for. I would give the runner up to the orange, chocolate, cinnamon bread but perhaps my love of cinnamon makes me biased. We were giddy with excitement over all this incredible free food! We were the kids in the candy shop, laughing and excited at our luck while all the posh Italian adults were taking the competition much more seriously. The last X on the map for the day was a bit harder to find, but make it there we did! It was held in a home decor store with very modern furniture and light fixtures. I probably wouldn't have purchased anything in that store ever, but we got our wine and pretended to be interested. There were also a few funky cheeses to try. I enjoy cheese, but mostly mellower cheeses; like fresh mozzarella or ricotta or even parmesan. Not chunky salty cow cheese, or moldy cheese. The goat cheese wasn't bad though, very creamy but I'd prefer to stick with my boring cheeses. The best thing to go with wine and cheese is chocolate and they had individually wrapped chocolates that even the posh Italians present were taking handfuls of. Thus concluded day one of the foody treasure hunt.
Sunday the 10th I started my morning at ICF church located right near the duomo. Much later in the afternoon Jess and I went to the first of just two free food events of the day. It took place in another wonderful but overpriced vintage clothing shop. The odd thing was that they had actresses dressed up very old fashioned and they were sitting around a table pretending to have a tea party. Sometimes they would laugh and sing and do little dances and then they would all stand up with plates of bread or chocolate and wander silently around the room offering the treats to all the spectators inside. There were also small tables set up with more free beer and wine. One of the chocolates being offered by the actresses was dark on the outside with pistachio inside and it was really nice! We stayed awhile, watching the show and helping ourselves to the sweets. We then went back to my house and made Gnocchi with vegetables for dinner. Soon it was time to go to Il Re Gelato (the king of ice cream) to sample olive oil gelato. We thought it sounded odd, but olive oil and gelato are two things Tuscany is so well known for we had to see what it would be like if they put them together. As the woman was putting some in a bowl for me, a boy behind us started whispering, "Don't do it. Don't do it." I started wondering if this was a good idea or if the taste would ruin my love for the frosty treat. She put three different savory toppings on each of ours and we sat down to draw our own conclusions about the gelato. I never would have thought I would eat savory gelato but actually, it's pretty good! The bit with the toasted sesame seeds was the best so we added some more of those. The worst bit was with these big black crystals of sea salt that were so overpoweringly salty we couldn't eat them. Luckily the black color came off so we could see just which parts to steer clear of! Olive oil gelato= a success! Just like my whole weekend was. Whether or not we had gotten so much delicious free food wouldn't really have mattered as it was a pretty fun scavenger hunt.. Oh who am I kidding? It wouldn't have been nearly as great! All the goodies along the way made for an excellently scrumptious two days.
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