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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Thursday 26 May 2011

Italy: Florence Part III - art, art and more art! And gelato too.

Continuing on in our Florentine experience, this is the tale of how we spent our second day in Florence. I don't have as many photos to show and tell because we spent most of the day visiting art galleries and museums (as one does in Florence!), and most of these places do not allow photography. I was of course an obliging tourist and managed to resist using my camera, even though I'd really wanted to take photos - why else would I carry around not one but two cameras (one is a bulky dSLR too!)?

We crossed over Ponte Vecchio again on our second day, and I saw that the morning sun casted a more pleasant light on the scene than when we first saw it in the afternoon the previous day:

First thing on the day's agenda was the Gallerie dell'Accademia, where we had an 11am appointment with David. As no photography was allowed inside the gallery, I will just have to make do with showing the David replica that stands just outside the entrance of Palazzo Vecchio.

A replica of Michelangelo's David masterpiece:

After seeing the original David, we headed towards San Lorenzo to check out Mercato Centrale (Central Market), a 19th-century sheltered food market located behind the outdoor stalls of the San Lorenzo Leather Market. The central market used to be the main shopping center in Florence where people went to buy fresh food, meat and fish, but it became less important as more supermarkets set up shop around the city. These days you can buy souvenirs, taste food samples, eat a full meal at the market. I just love wandering through the food market of any new city I go to, because I believe that these are the treasure troves of the heart and soul of the local culture and cuisine. My eyes are always wide with fascination at the beautiful array of the local food and ingredients, and free samples are always a good thing. There are of course stalls aimed at tourists looking to buy souvenirs, and there is bound to be a thing or two (or a hundred!) for everyone, be it Tuscany wine, biscotti, or cheese. The only limit is luggage space and customs restrictions!

Inside Mercato Centrale:

A shop selling all sorts of stuff - candies, biscotti, cheese, wine, oil and even cured meat. I bought a selection of dried fruits from here for snacking, and saw many tourists taking photo of the colourful array of dried fruit, and I thought why not?
A replica of Michelangelo's David masterpiece:

The outdoor San Lorenzo Market, selling leather jackets, belts, bags as well as various knick-knacks for souvenir-giving. That's the Medici Chapels in the background beyond the market stalls:

After the markets, we headed to the Medici Chapels. Rob was keen on going inside but I wasn't that interested in going to yet another museum/gallery, so I wandered around the outdoor market with a napping toddler in the stroller for the following half hour.

Medici Chapels (stitched together from two images):

I felt a little bad for not accompanying Rob, so I went with him to the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (confusingly also called Museo dell'Opera del Duomo). There are more artwork held at this musum, including the Florence Pietà (aka The Deposition, Pietà del Duomo or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ), one of the last sculptures by the great Michelangelo intended for his tomb.

The Florence Pietà depicts the body of Christ newly taken down from the cross and carried by Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene and his mother Mary. The face of Nicodemus under the hood is considered to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself:

I'd almost missed this one (as what tends to happen when you've seen too many artworks in a short period), but then I noticed that the images on these A4-sized plaques had been composed of miniscule materials, clearly shown only through the magnifying glass provided (see next image):

I can't imagine the painstaking effort that must have gone into this mosaic work (click image for larger size):

After that museum, we headed towards the Uffizi Gallery and discovered that the queue was unbelievably long, so we made a booking for the next available time slot, which was 2 hours away. (By the way, I highly recommend paying the 4 euros extra to schedule an entry time into the popular museums (like the Accademia and the Uffizi) - well worth the investment especially when you have little ones tagging along.) To be honest, I was grateful for that little break from all the art-viewing - I still can't believe I went to not one but three art museums in Florence in one day when i had no intention of visiting any! While waiting for our scheduled entry, we had some delicious gelato at a gelateria recommended to us by our lovely B&B lady. And this one served cones with the gelato!

Double scoops of dark chocolate and pistachio gelato at Gelateria dei Neri. Usually we don't like the flavour of pistachio-flavoured gelato, but this one was true to the pistachio flavour (What is it with nut-flavoured stuff not tasting anything like the nut - e.g. marzipan and almond?):

Gelateria dei Neri
Via dei Neri, 26r
50122 Firenze, Italy
Tel. +39 055 210034

Back at the Uffizi, we spent almost two hours inside, but we didn't get to see everything even though we rushed through pretty quickly. Photography is prohibited inside the gallery, but I could not resist taking out the camera when I saw the view through one of the windows. Surely I wasn't really breaking the rules because I was taking a photo of something outside the museum, right? I wasn't the only one doing that, so I didn't feel so bad.

The view of Florence through one of the windows at the Uffizi:

Tired and museumed-out, we headed back to the B&B where we had a delicious dinner whipped up by the chef owner lady (previously blogged about). We had a restful night sleep, and then we hopped on the early morning train bound for Venice where our Italian adventures continued! Stay tuned for more!

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Revisits: Mexican @ Café Iguana (Elements), Hong Kong

Apologies for the lack of updates on my blog. My 2.5-year-old boy came down with a viral infection and was out for most of last week (he usually recovers within a day or two). The multiple night wakings, too-early morning wake-ups and general sleep deprivation was starting to take a toll on my health too. Thankfully Zak doesn't get sick very often - in fact I can't remember the last time he was this sick. He is better now, and sleeping better too, so I have a bit more time to spend on the blog.

My blog has been dominated with our Italy trip in the past few weeks, but we have been eating out every weekend - mostly re-visits to favourite places so I don't have to devote too much time to writing up about them when I still have a backlog of photos from our trip to edit. We recently went to Café Iguana at Elements mall downstairs with a Japanese family who also lives in the same apartment complex as us. I have written about this Mexican-style restaurant bar two times before, and it has become one of our favourite haunts in Hong Kong. All previous three experiences at Café Iguana were for dinner, and this was our first time perusing their Sunday Brunch menu. For HK$98, we had a choice of starter and main course from a list of options, and could add the optional HK$20 extra to enjoy the 'chef's dessert of the day' too. Usually Rob and I would grab different dishes and share our food for variety's sake, but that day we both wanted the same things for each course, and neither was willing to go for another option, so we got the same dishes. I honestly can't remember the last time we did that. Food was delicious, as always.

Starter: Tomato and Crabmeat Tartare with mackerel, mesclun greens and fennel seed dressing:

Main: Egg Royale - two poached eggs on toasted English muffin with spinach, cilantro and tequila-cured salmon and hollandaise sauce. I had a hankering for an Eggs Benedict, and this one really hit the spot, although the hollandaise sauce was not prepared properly:

A serve of Chicken Quesadilla ensured that the 2.5-year-old didn't go hungry:

Chef's dessert of the day was Baked Cheesecake. It was light and airy for a cheesecake, and not too sweet:

The Semolina Caramel Pudding is our favourite dessert at Café Iguana, and we ordered one to share with our friends:

I just recalled that we also went to Cafe Iguana in January for dinner with another friend from Perth, and I took photos but never had time to blog about it. I was pretty pleased when my friend said that it was the nicest meal she ate during her trip to HK. Here are photos of what we ate that night:

I think this one was the Tapas plate which included quesadilla, ceviche, spicy fried chicken wings (partly hidden by the bowl of ceviche), chorizo and grilled meat on skewers:

Caesar Salad with spiced grilled chicken, visually appealing in a large taco shell:

My friend ordered Burrito (with roasted pork, roasted Anaheim peppers and Asadero cheese) for her daughter, and it came in a green wrap:

My friend also ordered Carne con Chile (slow-cooked beef stew in sun-dried Anaheim peppers sauce) which she said was yummy, one that she must try making at home:

Rob ordered Bisteces Rancheros (10oz New York strip loin, Cajun-rubbed and grilled with asparagus, roasted potatoes and fried onions), which he said was quite ordinary. It was also the most expensive item on the menu:

I got the Alambre al Pastor (grilled skewers of pork and vegetables) because I'd remebered how delicious it was on our first visit. This is how it looks like shortly after being 'de-skewered':

We tried their Churros with chocolate mousse for dessert, which was the only dessert on the menu we'd yet to try. It was quite nice actually, as far as deep-fried pastries go:

I think we've probably already eaten everything of interest on the menu, but we're going to keep coming back to Café Iguana. The place is popular as ever during the day time as it is at night, so it's probably wise to make bookings ahead of time especially on the weekend.

Café Iguana
Shop R004
Civic Square, Elements Mall
1 Austin Road West
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel. +85 2 2196 8733

I am still not done with blogging about our Italy trip - Venice is still yet to come!

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Italy: Florence Part II - our stay and eats at Giglio Bianco B&B

When I was organising where to stay during our trip to Italy, I noticed that B&Bs dominated the accommodations scene in Italy. I usually go for hotels because they are generally more affordable, available and accommodating to requests (so important when travelling with a young child), but then I suddenly recalled our lovely stay at a B&B in Okinawa, which had played a big part in making our trip a memorable one even though we were there for only one night. We really enjoyed the personal attention given to us, and it certainly didn't hurt that the co-owner of the inn was a chef who used to own a small restaurant bar. It was quite by accident that I stumbled upon Giglio Bianco B&B. I was looking at suggestions for Florence B&B accommodation on tripadvisor.com, and one review caught my (weary-from-travel-planning) eyes because the reviewer had written that it's "a must for food lovers". We travel for food, but food is not high on many travellers' list of priorities for accommodation (evident when you look at majority of the accommodation reviews on tripadvisor), so I was very happy to have come across a B&B that offered foodie delights as well as a nice accommodation.

The dining room at Giglio Bianco B&B, with beautiful antique furniture:

Giglio Bianco is located near the Boboli Gardens, which is an easy walking distance to Florence's tourist attractions but far enough from the noise of the touristy areas so that we could sleep peacefully at night. The B&B owners, Vary and Edo, are truly a delightful couple, and the term "vivacious" comes to mind when I think of them. Vary greeted us when we checked in, and she gave us a lot of helpful information on what to see, where to eat and how to beat the dreaded long queues into the popular galleries (she was briefly mentioned in my previous post). Edo is a friendly guy, who always responded to our requests with "No problem" and a generous smile. The B&B is tastefully decorated with antique furnishings, and there are only two guest rooms, which means you will have to book quite far ahead to get a room, especially during peak travel season. We were fortunate in that we were travellling to Florence in early April (shoulder season) and mid-week, so there was a room for us when I enquired with only a few weeks notice. Our room was spacious and clean, and we slept very well at night. The B&B is located on the second floor, which was a bit of a pain to get up and down with the toddler and the stroller, but that was a fact I already knew when I made the reservations and was willing to accept.

Delicious homemade sweet pastry with apple and raisin filling, piping hot and fresh out of the oven for breakfast:

The food was delicious. Breakfast was freshly cooked to order each morning - homemade sweet pastry, homemade yogurt, fresh juice and eggs as you like them. The cappuccino was also pretty good. Vary is a very good cook, and her passion for food really shows on her face and body language whenever she talks about cooking, sourcing ingredients and food in general. Edo was immaculate in serving the food, and I think that they make a great team together!

Close-up of my pastry pie:

Scrambled eggs with bacon and toast:

The great thing about Giglio Bianco B&B is the gourmet dinner. We chose to have Vary's cooking for dinner on our second night, because we had to be up early the next morning to catch the train to Venice. The dinner was so good, it was definitely worth the small amount of extra cost on top of our accommodation. Each dinner that Vary prepares are different every day, highly depending upon what is in season and her creativity. In the morning of our dinner, Vary had excitedly told us that she'd gone to the markets with her parents and had picked up some salsiccia and guineafowl, and her contagious enthusiasm got us excited pretty about dinner. We were looking forward to her dinner the whole day. Thank you to Chef Vary for taking the time from your busy schedule to give me more information on each of the courses, and also to Rob for helping me jog my memory on what each dishes were like.

Duo of appetisers:

First appetiser - buffalo mozzarella mousse with tomato sauce and grilled tomatoes, tossed with black salt and extra virgin olive oil. So smooth and creamy, yet not too rich or heavy; perfect for an appetiser course:

Second appetiser -
a) For the ball on the left, Chef Vary wrote "Salsiccia (sausage) e stracchino (soft fresh cheese produced in Lombardy, Nord Italy) ball with spices and sunflower seeds. This is a typical tuscan appetizer but served in different style." Wow. Excellent combination of texture and flavour in a little ball.
b) On the right is pecorino cheese with strawberry and aged balsamic. Cheese and fruit go well together, and strawberry and balsamic also pair well. This woman knows how to use ingredients well!


Onion soup with cinnamon ("an ancient tuscan recipe", wrote Vary) with puff pastry and bacon. It's a little like the French onion soup, except lighter:

A savoury soufflé with ricotta and guineafowl, served along with rucola, cherry tomatoes and balsamic. I thought this was a creative way to serve the main course, and from memory, the soufflé was perfectly light and fluffy, and guineafowl goes very nicely with cheese:

Home-made fresh pasta with tomatoes, pine nuts and parmigiano. You know, eating
homemade fresh pasta is almost like having an epiphany. You suddenly realise that most of the pasta that you've been eating were inferior, and you suddenly understand what the big deal surrounding pasta is all about. Okay, perhaps not quite like that, but this pasta was very delicious, good enough to convert any non-pasta lovers
:

Key lime cream with fresh strawberry. Vary revealed to us that her favourite dessert is key lime pie, and here she adapted a lighter version for the night's dessert. The cream was rich and sweet with a piquant tartness from the key lime, perfect for any sweet tooth:

Don't worry, our 2-year-old didn't go hungry. Zak got a generous serving of spinach penne simply tossed in olive oil and topped with grated parmigiano. Simple but perfect for the toddler, who dug into his bowl with great enthusiasm:

We had a great stay at Giglio Bianco with two charming hosts, and I echo that tripadvisor reviewer who wrote that this B&B is "a must for food lovers".

Giglio Bianco B&B
Via Romana, 28
50125 Firenze, Italy
Tel. +39 055225873

Stay tuned for more on our trip to Florence!

Saturday 14 May 2011

Italy: Florence Part I - seeing Florence in half a day

[Apologies for the lack of updates on my blog. I couldn't publish due to problems on blogger.com last week]

We have now come to the next part of our trip to Italy - Firenze (i.e. Florence)! What can I say about this beautiful city? That if I would choose only one place to re-visit in Italy, it would be Florence. It was my favourite part of the trip, and not because of the art museums and galleries! It has a lovely laidback atmosphere. Although Florence could not escape from the claws of tourism, I found that it was a lot less obstrusive and intrusive than both Rome and Venice. I also love how compact the whole city is - everything is within easy walking distance. Anyway, after two full-on busy days in Rome, we took the morning train bound for Florence. I enjoyed watching the scenery transform into the gorgeous Tuscany landscape. That's one thing I'd do if I came back - take a long drive around the Tuscan countryside to absorb the beautiful scenery its known for.

Fresh baked bread placed on the table shortly after we sat down at Trattoria La Casalinga:

After the 95-minute train ride, we headed for our B&B to check in and drop off our luggage. Then after a short chat with our lovely B&B hostess and armed with a rough map and a handful of food recommendations, we headed back out to fill our tummies with lunch at Trattoria La Casalinga. We were also given recommendations for two other places nearby, and while we were checking them out, we met a fellow foreigner (not sure a tourist or expat) on the street who said "Definitely go Casalinga, it's really cheap too". The trattoria certainly was very popular and we had to wait a short while for a table. There was a lively bustling atmosphere, perfect for families with noisy young kids. Our waiter was friendly and service was prompt and efficient, as you'd expect from a place so popular. The menu was completely in Italian, so we asked our waiter for a couple of recommendations which proved to be winners. Portion sizes were generous, food was delicious, and our tummies were satisfyingly full after lunch.

Taglierini ai carciofi (taglierini pasta with artichokes):

Frittata di verdura (omelette with spinach), ordered mostly for the 2-year old, although he effectively ignored it and would have eaten all the bread for lunch if we'd let him:

I'm guessing this dish is called Brasato al chianti (braised with red wine) as I don't have a record of what it is except for my memory of how it tasted. I'd asked for a Tuscan dish, and this was recommended. Tender beef braised with sweet onions - full of flavour, although a bit on the oily side:

Rob picked Millefoglie (the Italian version of mille-feuille), a puff pastry slice filled with a custard filling. The Italians sure do desserts well!

We also ordered a plate of Misto di verdure lesse (mixed boiled vegetables, not pictured), because no meal is really complete without vegetables (although Rob would beg to differ and say dessert, not vegetables, completes the meal). Casalinga is recommended if you're looking for an affordable meal at an authentic Tuscan trattoria with no-frills food and cheerful atmosphere.

Trattoria La Casalinga
Via dei Michelozzi, 9r
50125 Firenze, Italy
Tel. +39 55 218624

Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge") is located very close by the trattoria, and my breath was literally taken away when I saw the views on either side of the bridge. The bridge is one of Florence's major tourist attractions (for good reasons!), and it was hard getting a spot with a good view to take photos.

Panoramic shot of one side of the bridge, stitched from three shots. The bright glare from the overhead afternoon sun made for awkward exposure blending, but I still like the panoramic shot better than the narrower single shot (click image for larger size):


The only family shot from the whole trip. Rob helped someone take a shot of his family, and the guy reciprocated by offering to take one of us too. If not for that kind gesture, we would have had no family shots at all! Flash had to be used so that our faces could be seen in the shot:

We then headed in towards central Florence and stopped by Piazza della Signoria to admire the statues (originals and copies of the original) and to take some photos of the gorgeous architecture. Again the strong overhead sunlight resulted in strong shadows cast across some parts of the buildings, but thankfully not in a big way.

Palazzo Vecchio ("Old Palace"), which overlooks the Piazza della Signoria:

Loggia dei Lanzi (aka Loggia della Signoria) is adjacent to Plazzo Vecchio in a corner of the Piazza della Signoria. This building houses a number of statues:

The Fountain of Neptune in front of the Palazzo Vecchio:

We didn't stay long in Piazza della Signora, definitely not long enough to check out the Uffizi Gallery. We continued in a northerly fashion and stopped at Piazza del Duomo, again only for a short while to take photos.

One of the streets we walked on to get to Piazza del Duomo from Piazza della Signoria:

Giotto's Tower which is part of the rather confusing set of buildings that make up Florence Cathedral at Piazza del Duomo. This image is stitched together from two shots as I wanted to include a bit of the view width-wise together with the height:

The façade to the Florence Cathedral. Image is stitched from two shots taken along the building's height:

We then continued our trek in a northerly fashion, mostly to scope out the location of Gallerie dell'Accademia (where the genuine David is) so that we would have no surprises the next morning for when we had booked an entry time in order to beat the queue. We walked past the entrance to the Accademia Gallery and stopped very briefly at Piazza san Marco.

At Piazza San Marco. A little more quiet and less crowded as it's just a little away from all the main tourist attractions:

By then the sun was going down, so we made our way back south for dinner. We would revisit most of the sites again the following day to take a closer look inside the museums and galleries. We crossed Ponte Vecchio again, and I liked the gentler lighting and shadows better than earlier in the day, so I stopped for a few seconds to take more photos.

The view on the other side of Ponte Vecchio:

Our B&B hostess recommended and made dinner reservations on our behalf at Trattoria 4 Leoni. This trattoria was slightly more pricey and perhaps a little bit better presented than Casalinga. The food was of course delicious, but if we had to choose which we liked better between Casalinga and 4 Leoni, we prefer our experience at Casalinga where the atmosphere was more cheerful.

Peposo all'Imprunetina - stewed pork in red wine, a traditional Tuscan dish that originated from the village of Impruneta situated 15km from Florence. We also ordered salad (pictured in the background):

Polpettine di manzo in umido - beef meatballs in tomato sauce. The meatballs were lovely and moist. Our order of Verdure fritte (vegetable fritters) is on the brown paper in the background. Quite good and not too greasy for a deep-fried dish:

Cheesecake with chocolate sauce. Quite average, in Rob's opinion. Cheese and chocolate don't pair very well:

Trattoria 4 Leoni
Via de'Vellutini, 1r
(Piazza della Passera)
50125 Firenze, Italy
Tel. +39 55218562

Coming up next, details of the B&B we stayed at in Florence, which is really quite the perfect stay for foodies!