Polenta Lasagne

I've been really enjoying these big casserole-type dishes where I can do all the prep and cooking on Sunday and then have great meals throughout the week. It certainly helps that A and I have no problems with leftovers, especially when they're dishes we really enjoy.

I don't usually go for recipes with this many steps but I couldn't resist the sound of this (maybe because it has 3 types of cheese in it??)

I subbed arugula in my version as I think it has a lot more flavor than spinach. I also omitted nutmeg as I didn't have the energy to seek out nutmeg for the tiny pinch needed. And I definitely added the red pepper flakes to give just the tiniest kick, as I didn't want this dish to be too bland as it was already full of soft textures. 

And for whatever reason - I struggle to find polenta in my local grocery store so have been subbing coarse ground cornmeal lately. Still tasted oh so fine.

Polenta Lasagne

Adapted from the NYTimes

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups polenta (not instant) or coarse-ground cornmeal
• 5 ounces arugula (about 5 cups)
• 2 cups grated Parmesan
• 1 pound whole-milk ricotta (about 1 2/3 cups), preferably fresh
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (25-ounce) jar good-quality marinara sauce (3 cups)
• Large pinch of red-pepper flakes
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella (about 4 cups)

Method

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees and butter an 13-by-18-inch rimmed baking sheet pan. Grease a rubber spatula with butter.
2. Prepare the polenta/cornmeal: In a large pot, bring 6 cups water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, then slowly pour in polenta/cornmeal, whisking constantly. Cook, whisking often, until polenta/cornmeal thickens, 8 to 12 minutes. Whisk in 4 tablespoons butter until melted. Whisk in arugula until wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in 1 cup grated Parmesan.
3. Scrape polenta/cornmeal onto the prepared baking sheet. Using the greased rubber spatula, spread the mixture into a thin, even layer to cover the entire pan, all the way to corners. Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated Parmesan on top. Bake until polenta is firm and cheese has melted, 12 to 18 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack until completely cooled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or place in refrigerator until cool to touch, about 40 to 50 minutes. (Polenta can be baked the day before and refrigerated until needed.)
4. When ready to bake the lasagna, heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
5. Prepare the ricotta filling: In a small bowl, mix ricotta, parsley, basil, egg, black pepper, nutmeg and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix until well combined and set aside.
6. Taste the marinara sauce. If it needs some zip, stir in any or all of the optional ingredients.
7. Assemble the lasagna: Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut cooled polenta in half widthwise, creating 2 pieces roughly 9-by-13 inches each. Using a large spatula, gently place one half in prepared baking dish. (It is important for polenta to be completely cooled and firm; otherwise, the pieces may break when transferring to baking dish. If anything breaks, just reassemble it in the pan. It won’t make much of a difference once it’s covered in sauce and baked.)
8. Spread about half the ricotta mixture in an even layer on top of polenta. Pour about half of marinara sauce on top of ricotta, sprinkle with about half of the shredded mozzarella. Repeat with remaining polenta, ricotta, marinara and mozzarella. Once assembled, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan on top.
9. Place baking dish on top of a rimmed sheet pan in case the lasagna bubbles over. Bake until cheese melts, about 30 minutes. If you like the top of your lasagna more brown, broil it for 2 minutes after baking until it develops brown spots.
10. Remove from oven and let lasagna stand for about 15 minutes to firm up before serving. 

Bon Appetit's Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia

Anyone still out there? I've been cooking the whole time, and have made some dishes that have become part of our heavy rotation in the last couple of years, but this blog definitely got pushed to the side. I still reference it a lot to pull up my favorite things to make - so as a personal recipe stash it is really performing its function well!

Now with all the time we have at home in this bizarro world, I've found myself thinking about making things that I would usually skip over, thinking they'd take too much time. Bread is certainly something that falls in this category - our usual homemade bread comes out of our handy little bread machine. But now! While I am still anti-kneading (I never feel like I have the right counter space, equipment, willingness to get super-messy, etc.) I am certainly ok with trying out no-knead recipes. This focaccia met the bill, and my neighbor's rosemary bush resulted in a slight tweak to the recipe since I associate focaccia with rosemary flavors.

Who knows how long we'll be staying at home - I might be able to keep track of time through how many batches of this I make though...

Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia
Adapted from Bon Appetit - the link has awesome step-by-step pics if you're new to baking

Ingredients

• 1 ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.)
• 2 tsp. honey
• 5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands
• Enough butter to generously grease the baking pan
• Flaky sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Method

1. Whisk one ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.), 2 tsp. honey, and 2½ cups lukewarm water in a medium bowl and let sit 5 minutes (it should foam or at least get creamy; if it doesn’t your yeast is dead and you should start again—check the expiration date!).
2. Add 5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour and 1 Tbsp. kosher salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms and no dry streaks remain.
3. Pour 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into a big bowl that will fit in your refrigerator. This puppy is going to rise! Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat in oil. Cover with a silicone lid or plastic wrap and chill until dough is doubled in size (it should look very bubbly and alive), at least 8 hours and up to 1 day. If you're in a rush, you can also let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 3–4 hours.
4. Generously butter a 13x9" baking pan, for thicker focaccia that’s perfect for sandwiches, or an 18x13" rimmed baking sheet, for focaccia that's thinner, crispier, and great for snacking (I used the 13x9" baking pan option as I was worried about the dough bubbling over the rimmed baking sheet). The butter may seem superfluous, but it’ll ensure that your focaccia doesn’t stick. Pour 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into center of pan. Keeping the dough in the bowl and using a fork in each hand, gather up edges of dough farthest from you and lift up and over into center of bowl. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat process. Do this 2 more times; you want to deflate dough while you form it into a rough ball. (We learned this technique from Alexandra Stafford, who uses it to shape her no-knead bread.) Transfer dough to prepared pan. Pour any oil left in bowl over and turn dough to coat it in oil. Let rise, uncovered, in a dry, warm spot (like near a radiator or on top of the fridge or a preheating oven) until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours and up to 4 hours.
5. Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 450°. To see if the dough is ready, poke it with your finger. It should spring back slowly, leaving a small visible indentation. If it springs back quickly, the dough isn’t ready. (If at this point the dough is ready to bake but you aren’t, you can chill it up to 1 hour.) Lightly oil your hands. If using a rimmed baking sheet, gently stretch out dough to fill (you probably won't need to do this if using a baking pan). Dimple focaccia all over with your fingers, like you’re aggressively playing the piano, creating very deep depressions in the dough (reach your fingers all the way to the bottom of the pan). Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with flaky sea salt and chopped rosemary. Bake focaccia until puffed and golden brown all over, 20–30 minutes.

Beef shin ragu

So a long time ago, I somehow ended up with some lovely beef shin from a farm. I never cooked beef shin before, so I did a little Googling to figure out what would be a simple, fool-proof method of making something tasty with this cut of meat. After seeing multiple suggestions for a beef shin ragu, I combined a few different recipes and made the sauce - and it was blissful. A kept asking for more and was really sad when we finished it. No pictures, but I'll have to source some beef shin in the great state of Texas and then update with a photo the next time I make it. So worth it.

Beef shin ragu
Serves 6
Adapted from Beef + Lamb NZ

Ingredients

800g beef shin
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 anchovy fillets, chopped (I used 4)
1 cup red wine
2 cups beef stock (I used water)
1 bay leaf

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC.
2. Season the beef with a little salt and pepper. Heat a dash of oil in a large frying pan over a very high heat and sear the beef to brown all over (you may need to do this in two batches). Set the beef aside. 
3. Reduce the heat to medium, add the butter and another dash of oil to the pan and cook the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and oregano for about 7-10 minutes until the vegetables are soft. 
4. Add the tomato paste and anchovies and cook for another few minutes. 
5. Add the wine, turn up the heat and let it bubble for 30 seconds. 
6. Add the water and the bay leaf. If your pan is ovenproof, add the beef and its juices back to the pan and cover with the lid or, transfer everything to a covered casserole dish.
7. Bake in the oven for 3 hours, stirring a couple of times to ensure the beef stays mostly covered with liquid.

To serve

Remove the meat with tongs and place on a clean board. Remove and discard the bones and pull the beef into chunks with two forks. If necessary, at this point you can simmer the sauce in a saucepan on the stovetop to reduce and thicken it. Add the meat back into the sauce, taste and season as required. Spoon the meat sauce onto the hot pasta and sprinkle with grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.

Pasta con ceci (one pot!)

So I've made pasta con ceci before - in fact a link can be found here. The other version is vegetarian - and has happily fed over a dozen people in one go so certainly multiplies well - but when I saw another recipe and knew that I had all of the ingredients sitting around the kitchen, I had to give it a whirl. This one is definitely more savory, more adult, more complex - so I guess which one you use will depend on who you are feeding!

Pasta con ceci
Adapted from Dinner A Love Story

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling (original called for 4 tbs)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 anchovies, chopped
3 tablespoons good tomato paste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or one 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (I have subbed 1 cup penne with good results, and I bet shells would work well too)
2 cups boiling water
1 large pinch red pepper flakes, plus additional for serving if desired

Method

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil until it shimmers. Add the garlic and cook, stirring until it becomes lightly browned and fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste, red pepper flakes and salt and fry for 30 seconds or so. Add the chickpeas, pasta, and boiling water. Stir to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot, lower the heat, and simmer until the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. To serve, ladle the pasta into shallow bowls, sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes, and drizzle a bit of extra-virgin olive oil on top.

Lemon linguine with crab

I absolutely adore crab. Despite our strict budget on our recent California road trip, I managed to squeeze in a portion of fresh crab in Monterey Bay - and I'm not sure much beats eating pure crab meat in the sunshine with the tiniest squeeze of lemon. However, if you actually want to be full after a crab meal (without spending 3 hours cracking enough crabs to fill up on crab meat) - crab linguine is a decent solution. 
This is a rich treat of a meal - the clotted cream and crabmeat combine into a luxurious sauce, lightened up a tiny bit with lemon and tomatoes. The original recipe called for peeling the tomatoes, but I never have patience for that (and tomato skin doesn't bother me at all) so I would just skip that, especially for a cozy meal at home.
Sadly I doubt this will ever be in high rotation for us, but I will certainly return the next time I have a huge crab craving and don't feel like murdering a pile of crabs.

Lemon linguine with crab
Adapted from Gousto

Ingredients

40g Cornish clotted cream
200g linguine
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 tomatoes
10g fresh chives
1 veggie stock cube
1 lemon
100g Cornish fifty fifty crabmeat
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp French Dijon mustard

Method

1. Boil pasta for 8 minutes.

2. Dissolve half stock cube with 50 ml boiling water. Zest half the lemon. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Chop the chives finely. Chop tomatoes into quarters.

3. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to wide based pan over low head. Add garlic, chili flakes and lemon zest and cook for 1 minute until golden and aromatic.

4. Add shaoxing and cook for 1 minute. Add stock and cook for further 2 min.

5. Separate white crab meat from brown crab meat. Remove stock pan from heat and stir in brown crab meat, clotted cream, Dijon mustard, tomatoes and half the chives.

6. Add cooked linguine and juice of half the lemon.

7. Loosen sauce with pasta water if needed. Add white crab meat and remaining chives and toss. Enjoy!

Padella

6 Southwark St
London 
SE1 1TQ

This is not exactly a hidden gem - if anything it is a gem that far too many people know about. In summary: amazing pasta. Incredibly affordable prices. Go.

Southern California – Part 1 – San Diego

A and I were lucky enough to be able to plan a week in Southern California before coming back to London. We decided to split our time between San Diego and LA – I went to both quite a lot as a kid, but A hadn’t been to either, so we had plenty of exploring to do.

San Diego was exactly as expected – sunshine, dudes in baseball caps, and a booming craft beer scene. We stayed in North Park for the first two nights, which is full of breweries and hipsters and made us feel right at home. A few of the places we dropped in on, in roughly chronological order:

Mike Hess Brewing – you can get flights here (which come with a souvenir glass which is shaped like a beer can and labelled with one of their brews). A loved some of the IPAs he tried; I struggled a bit more as I’m a wimp when it comes to hops but did taste every stout/porter they had on and liked the seasonal pumpkin one the best. I’m such a sucker for seasonal pumpkin flavours, mainly because they’re not common in the UK so I go a little nuts on them when I’m back in the US.

City Tacos – we needed a quick snack after an evening of trying beers so picked up a mahi mahi taco and a carnitas taco. Both were decent but were topped with the same mango salsa, which A and I both found too sweet and fruity for our tastes.

Breakfast Republic – this place was rammed already at 10.30am on Saturday, but there’s free coffee for those waiting and it’s warm and sunny outside, so A and I get caffeinated and bask in the glow. When we finally secure a table, we know what we want – crab cake benedict and French toast with fresh strawberries. I think the anticipation that built up over the wait and seeing how eager other people were made our food a slight disappointment – nothing was wrong, but it wasn’t the kind of breakfast that you talk about for the rest of the day, either. My hash browns were distinctly undercooked. But lovely outdoor seating and a friendly waiter.

Barleymash – we stopped in here for an afternoon drink while walking around downtown. I had a hard root beer (why is this deliciousness missing in my life?!) and A had another IPA (surprise!). While drinking, we looked at the menu and got fixated on the range of mac&cheeses they do. So… we came back for dinner and split the version with confit duck and duck scratchings. Again – something that had been built up in my head for too long; the sweet hoisin-esque sauce ruined it a bit for me. I’m really glad we shared it, we saw another couple start with a giant pile of nacho fries, then order a separate mac&cheese each, which I’m pretty sure should kill you on the spot.

Cat Eye Club – we headed here after dinner to catch their Saturday night happy hour – they do an excellent mai tai for $5 until 8pm. We couldn’t stop drinking these. The balance between sweet, dry and bitters was absolutely perfect, and then the jazz band that came on added to the atmosphere. Sadly I discovered that three mai tais is my limit – but we headed home feeling like we’d stumbled on some magic place.

Urban Solace – our AirBnB host recommended the Sunday bluegrass brunch and I’m glad we went with it. The band was great – they play outdoors in a covered patio area. I had the beef cheek hash (YES!) and A had the full kitchen sink – sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy (YES AGAIN!)

At this point we moved on the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina for one night – I have no idea what this place is like in the high season, but it was quiet, luxurious and very well situated for our stay.

El Pescador Fish Market – stunning selection of fresh fish. We tried the fish tacos – because they forgot our order, they also brought us some clam chowder on the house. Clam chowder was good (but not as good as the San Francisco sourdough bread bowl one we had a few years ago) and the fish in the tacos was fresh, but sadly pretty bland. A hell of a lot of shredded cabbage.

Oscar’s Mexican Seafood – another attempt at a fish taco. This one was my favorite, and finally helped A understand why people go nuts for them. Grilled fish, avocado, crispy cheese, just enough cabbage for crunch. This is when I started to realize that fish tacos are not fast food – every place so far was making them to order, which is fantastic, but it does mean there is a bit of a wait.

Stone Brewing World – this is the touristy outpost but actually the more interesting of the two, since they do smaller batches of more creative beers here but they still have the full list from the main brewery too. It being January and Sunday, the place was pretty empty, but that just made it all the easier for me and A to get two flights of beer. They do food too, but my constant fish taco ingestion made that unnecessary.

Modern Times – my favorite interiors of all the breweries we visited (though many were pretty spectacular). One, they had a mural of Michael Jackson with his monkey, made out of post-it notes. Two, they had a wall made out of book covers. Three, there were some spectacular lights / chandeliers. And of course the beer was good too – their unusual addition is their own coffee, cold-brewed and available by the growler. When you’re brewery and a coffee producer, you obviously then make some beers with that coffee, and I really liked the one I tried.

Pizza Port Ocean Beach – A and I were both a little surprised by how casual this place is (and how many tv screens there were showing various sports) – they make their own beers and there are certainly some unusual options available. I think I had some version of a hefeweizen, I’m assuming A had another IPA, and then we ordered kale salad and a pizza. What surprised me most is that the kale salad was one of the most delicious things I’d eaten all day, and the pizza paled in comparison. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a pizza place, but go for the kale salad?

Hodad’s – couldn’t resist popping into this burger joint staffed by a bunch of surfer dudes who were the friendliest, most chilled out waitstaff you could ask for. There were definitely some strong weed scents floating out from the back, accompanied by drum solos on the grill played with spatulas, but they delivered a juicy burger and fries quickly and competently (and even pre-sliced it in half since they knew we were sharing).

Olive Café – our last meal in San Diego and we wanted a traditional American breakfast. This was perfect – pancakes, eggs, hash browns and bacon (it’s one dish but A and I split it and it ended up being just the right amount to fill us up for the morning). A quick walk on the beach and we were ready to hit some of the breweries between San Diego and LA.

Phew.

Sicily - Day 6 & 7

Last couple of days - I don't have very many pictures because day 6 basically consisted of going to the beach and parking ourselves on sunloungers all day. It was perfect after a week of walking around (and quite a lot of driving for A). We had lunch at the beach as well at one of those overpriced beach clubs and it was strangely probably the best meal we had in Taormina, which says a lot.

But before dinner, I had an amazing cocktail called the July at a bar called Daquiri. A loved his martini as well. And the snacks that came with the drinks were top of the line - again, better than our dinner at Il Ciclope, where both pasta dishes were bland and boring. 

And the final story of our Sicily trip - when returning our hire car to Catania airport, the guy that came out to check our car pointed out some drops of sap that were on the hood of the car - they must have come from a tree we were parked under. After dragging his feet, he then tried to get us to sign a paper saying we damaged the car and were responsible for it. A and I pointed out the sap is hardly damage, and even rubbed off a couple of spots with some water to show them it could be cleaned off. This then resulted in some weird stand off where this guy insisted that we had damaged the car and wanted us to be liable for up to 900 euros, and other car rental employees came over to inspect the car, some more helpful than others. Finally, after about 30 minutes of arguing (and boy am I glad we got to the airport early), one guy came by, took a look and said he would take our car to their car wash and it would be fine. After he got a bit stern with the original guy, we were finally able to leave without signing anything. 

So in the end, Sicily was beautiful and I'm glad I saw it, but we're probably never going back again. 

Sicily - Day 5

Day 5! We arrive in Taormina, which is both the most touristy and the most traditionally beautiful part of our trip. I mean, the hilltop theater is just stunning - look at the views - and the architecture is all pastel-colored and well-kept, and since you're at the top of a hill, you just keep seeing panoramic sights.

All day, we just strolled around, had drinks when we felt like ate, stuffed ourselves with arancini right and left, and then ended up at Al Giardino for dinner. I had swordfish, A had disappointing ravioli. So I wouldn't recommend it, but then again we didn't really have any outstanding meals in Taormina, so I'm not sure if we just ate in disappointing places or if it's just not that great for food.

One thing I did love - the snacks that come out with aperitivo - you order a nice pre-dinner drink and it comes with little bites of grilled cheese, crostini, etc. and also potato chips, pretzels and nuts. Probably should have just filled up on those and skipped the full meals, to be honest.

Sicily - Day 4

It has been so long since this trip (and even since my last post) I'm not entirely sure why I'm continuing on with this, but it might have a little to do with my compulsion to finish things off neatly. So I guess we're stuck on Sicily for a while longer.

We're still in Siracusa on day 4, and we spend it walking around, despite a bit of drizzly rain. We visit a museum, and I wish I could tell you anything of interest about it, except it's been so long I can barely remember anything. There was historical art. And there was supposed to be the launch party for a lemon festival in the evening. I am starting to despair at ever finishing this.

Lunch... well the restaurant was called Trattoria Do' Scogghiu. From the pictures I can see a carbonara and some octopus. It was pretty cheap and cheerful, little carafes of wine were drinkable and the atmosphere was bustly with plenty of real authentic Italians inside. 

I can tell the sun came out in the afternoon since I have a picture of almond granita and pistachio milkshake - that triggers a memory of wandering around in the sunshine, ducking into a little cafe (maybe Minosse?) for something icy, and then finding a bar to sit outside in the sunshine, nursing cold beers and reading our books (A was particularly engrossed with Gone Girl at this point). 

Dinner was at Trattoria Il Cenacolo, where I had spaghetti with cod roe - definitely something I enjoyed but wouldn't recommend to anyone who doesn't absolutely love the briny taste of fish eggs. It was a warm evening so we ate outside at a romantic table for two, surrounded by olive trees and the braying sounds of six women on a night out. 

Sicily - Day 3

A gorgeous morning in Erice meant it was the perfect time to walk to the Spanish Quarter and take a gander at the views from the castle. Good start to the day! 

Today was the longest drive as we went from the western part of Sicily all the way to the eastern part. To break up the monotony, we stopped at the Valley of the Temples near Agrigento. It was a boiling hot day - I'm so glad we took the taxi from the parking lot at the bottom of the valley up to the top - that way we could just slowly walk through the park, stare at all the ruins, and then end up at the car. If you're a temple geek, this is the place for you - so many temples, so much history.

We also stopped in a beautiful little town called Noto, known for its particularly good examples of Baroque architecture.   

But finally, finally we arrived in Syracuse (Siracusa). We found a spot to park in, and went to find a cafe to meet our AirBnB host in. We ended up at Caffe Apollo, since it was close to where our host wanted to find us, and sat down to get a couple of drinks. Service was slow, but the waitress eventually took our order. When she came back with our drinks and bill, I decided to pay right then in case it took a while, so I handed her a 50 euro note to break it. We then waited for her to come back with change, and after a while it became apparent she was not coming back. We flagged her down and she then tried to pretend like we hadn't given her any money at all - I was getting pretty irritated by this charade and as we got more and more agitated she then started saying that maybe we just gave her a 20. In a stroke of luck, our AirBnB host showed up right then, said hello, and then asked us what the problem was - when we described to her what was happening, she burst into Italian at the waitress, who then quickly hurried off and came back with our change. This confirmed our worries that the waitress was trying to cheat us - I'm not sure how this would have ended had we not had our host there to argue for us - but it was really upsetting and such a stupid thing for her to do.

Our host, of course, was as lovely and charming as the waitress wasn't. She and her partner took us on a walking tour of Ortygia, pointing out shops and restaurants they recommended. The location of the AirBnB was perfect as well - right next to the Duomo. A and I were keen to go have a drink and meal to wipe out the cafe memory so after a quick look around we stopped at La volpe e l'uva - a restaurant in the piazza right in front of the Duomo. The view was incredible, and the warm evening, wine and food was the best antidote for our earlier frustration.

After a pizza that we couldn't stop devouring and some linguine with clams that were exactly what I needed, plus a carafe of red wine, we were stuffed and relaxed again, watching a guitarist play in front of the Duomo. It was such a beautiful evening we decided to explore a bit.

Which is how we ended up at a little cafe in front of yet another stunning fountain, drinking limoncellos.