Remember the other day when I was getting all excited about making summer plans? I've been daydreaming about traveling like crazy! So what better timing to go down memory lane with Al Fresco Holidays' "Wish I Was There" photo contest. 

They want to see a photo of a travel memory that brings you happiness. If you want to join, just share a photo of the destination you wish you were right now and tag it #AFWishIWasThere.

Here is my "I Wish I Was There" travel photo:

Because I just can't help myself. I almost always wish I was in Tuscany.  This photo was from one of our first hikes at Barbialla Nuova, so when I look at it I get not only a feeling of wishing to be in that place, but also a feeling of wishing to be at that time. It was the beginning of a fresh start, with so much time and freedom (and wine and mozzarella) in our future.  I remember starting in disbelief at that horizon and sunset and realizing that in Tuscany, time slows down. The sun seemed to be taking it's sweet time sinking below the hill, and I didn't mind one bit. I wanted to soak in every last warm moment of it before slowly retreating to our home and slowly sipping Chianti as I slowly cooked lentils and fresh arugula and tomatoes from the garden. 

How To Enter the #AFWishIWasThere Photo Contest?

• Tweet your happiest photo memory to @AlFrescoHols using the hashtag #AFWishIWasThere

• Post your picture on Instagram using the hashtag #AFWishIWasThere

• E-mail your photo into alfrescoholidayscompetition@gmail.com

Bonus: To gain five extra entries and increase your chances of winning, you can write a blog post mentioning the competition with a description of your holiday and the story behind the photo.

I can't wait to see all of the photos on Instagram - I love to walk down everyone else's memory lanes almost as much as my own! ;)

Happy weekend, friends!

Your Tuscan Dream Job

Attention travelers, nomads, adventurers!

Remember that time Jimmy and I gallivanted around Tuscany for 5 months, exploring, farming, drinking, working and eating? It was a dream come true. Life was simple. 

Well this summer, it's someone else's turn. And if you're really up for an adventure (and know a bit of Italian), there's a long term opportunity here. The agriturismo that Jim and I worked at in 2012 is hoping to sign on a new manager for the next few years, but at the very least, they'd like someone(s) to help out this summer. Here's the description from the farm:

"Barbialla is a very special wild and natural place that is looking for someone to come live on the farm and help run the tourism side of the business. The job is quite flexible and could vary depending on your skill sets and interests. Our ideal situation would be to have someone arrive at the beginning of tourist season (anywhere from March to May 2014) and assist through summer before taking over full-time in the fall of 2014.

The duties range from assisting with bookings to assuring that houses are ready (we have a separate cleaning staff) to maintaining gardens to interacting with guests at various functions to simple admin tasks. Barbialla also has a small store where we sell our own beef, truffles, honey and olive oil as well as other local and organic products. The work requires a good deal of self-motivation; the idea is not to guide you through each day but to give you general tasks and teach you how to run the agriturismo. We therefore are looking for someone who is competent, proactive and responsible.

Our ideal candidate:

• Has excellent people skills, both from a management perspective and a customer service perspective
• Has a great love of nature and respect for slow travel/food/life
• Has a strong work ethic and good organizational skills

The estate has many forests and pastures, walking and hiking trails, a small lake and various animals and wildlife. The farm is close to the major Tuscan cities, such as Florence, Siena, Lucca, & Pisa and has two international airports within an hour's drive."

Does this sound like you?? If so, give me a shout, I'd love to help connect you to our dear friends so that you can learn more about the possibility of working in this idyllic environment.  If not, please help spread the word!! We want to make sure our beautiful farm gets the very best helpers it could ever ask for :).  Reach out with questions, interest, or even just to chat about how amazing Italy is. I could do that every day.

Ciao miei amici!

Italy Flashback: Amalfi Part I

Ohhh memories. Jimmy and I Skyped with our good friends back in Italia the other morning, and I've been daydreaming about our time there ever since! It was wonderful to catch up and to get a glimpse of where we used to spend so much time, and it felt like we never left. I miss it. So, what better time to post pictures from the first segment of our amazing trip to the Amalfi Coast?

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Jimmy, my sister and I drove down to Amalfi from Montaione, taking our time and making stops along the way, finally arriving in the little town of Nerano about six and a half hours later. Once you're driving along the coast, the twisting narrow roads really slow things down a bit, and the views are absolutely magical. The drive is half the fun.

We pitched a tent at Villagio Nettuno, an awesome little village/resort with a combination of RV and tent campsites, bungalows and mobile homes to rent. It was the perfect place to have water views and still maintain a tight budget. We were only there for two short nights, but we made the best of it by enjoying the wine, people and good food, and by exploring the water and the islands in the best possible way - by boat!

Here are pics from the first half of our Amalfi trip.... I'll post the rest later this week! 

Azienda a Solatio & La Torre Antica

To job search...or to blog. Job search (/network/interview/apply)....or to blog (/read/do anything fun). That is the question. Lately I've been choosing the former more often than not, which although appropriate has sadly turned my posts into sporadic occasions. [Fun fact: I learned the word sporadic when I was 10, from the movie Clueless. Don't tell me I'm the only one!].

Anyhow, today I choose to blog! And before I get to my Amalfi photos, I wanted to reminisce a bit about one of our favorite activities while we were in Tuscany. Wineries. It's no secret that wine in Italy is top notch,  and by now it's also no secret that we were on a budget trip and often got our fill by ordering vino di casa and boxed wine rather than expensive bottles. Yet still, we managed to try some of the best wines Italy has to offer by visiting wonderful hidden-gem wineries from time to time. Here's a little bit about two of our favorites.

Azienda a Solatio 

(e il meraviglioso Raffaello)

This one must come first, because it was the best wine-tasting experience we've ever had - and we've done our fair share! When my girlfriends and sister were visiting, Jimbo and I took them to one of our favorite Tuscan hill towns for the day: Certaldo Alto. We had been there once before for Mercantia, and it's just adorable. There are only a couple of small shops and a few restaurants, but if you want to see the perfection of Tuscany in all its postcard-worthy glory but want to avoid the crowds of San Gimignano and Siena, check out Certaldo Alto. And you must must MUST visit A Casa Tua for lunch and order the fried balls of heaven.

We were in a small consignment shop chatting with the owner, when she referred us to her husband's winery up the road. She said he was home and would be happy to let us try some vino and vin santo. So we went! The next thing we know, we're cozying it up with Raffaello Viani in his beautiful outdoor terrace, he's giving us a full tour of the vineyard, and we're chowing down on crackers drenched in the most amazing olive oil I've ever had.  It was incredible how accommodating he was; it felt like we'd all been best friends forever. I was in his family's kitchen helping to grab saltines, he was special wrapping his last 2 bottles of vin santo for us, he and Jim were discussing the difficulties of Tuscan soil, and before you know it 2.5 hours had flown by and it was time to grab our goodies and head out. Here are some pictures of the afternoon:

The best thing about Raffaello and the visit was how passionate he truly is about the land, the process, and the product. Us being there seemed like a treat for him as much as for us, because he was able to share something he so obviously cares deeply about, which was much more important to him than any wine sales. It was one of the best days of the girls' vacation and I was so grateful that they were able to experience what Tuscan wine, oil and hospitality are all about.

You must visit Raffaello next time you're in Tuscany to grab some amazing olive oil and Jim's absolute favorite Vin Santo (check out #7). To set up a visit, email him at raffaelloviani@yahoo.it - I'm sure he'd love to hear from you!

La Torre Antica

We also loved our experience at La Torre Antica, an agriturismo in Gambassi Terme, very close to Montaione. It is on a small road called Santa Maria a Chianni, which by the way has a slew of other adorable little wineries to check out as well. As we've mentioned before, our favorite way to go wine tasting in Italy is to wander around looking for agricola or agriturismo signs offering up the vino. Go in the late afternoon (after il pranzo lungo), and you'll be likely to catch someone available to give you a taste. That's what we did here, and it worked out wonderfully. We were greeted and shown to the wine room, and got to tasting.

We tried almost all of their wine varieties, and walked away with our favorite, the Solleone. He had opened a new bottle to let us taste it, so we told him we'd just buy the one we'd already sipped from! He said "no, no, no, take a new one!" and we said "no, no, no, it's fine, we'll just take this one!" (en Italiano, naturalmente), and as a wonderful compromise he ended up giving us the bottle and refusing to accept payment. We slipped in a tip, naturalmente.

The staff at La Torre Antica was amazing, and the wine was absolutely delicious. You can check out details on their wine offerings here.

Ominous storm clouds had started rolling in just as we arrived at the agriturismo, so as soon as we were done we jumped onto the scooter and hit the road. And no....we did not make it home without getting soaked. But it was worth it!

We are currently in Wilmington, DE visiting Jimbo's family, but we have official plans to leave for the west coast on December 26th. Can anyone say ROADTRIP? It's happening, and we are psyched. Meet us in Jackson Hole for New Years! More Italy memories coming soon....

Note: We weren't paid or perked for these reviews - we're just spreading the love!

Was I Dreaming?

Was I just dreaming? Or did all of this Italian beauty truly happen??

It's been almost a month since our return (and almost a month since my last post...oops!), and to be honest it's been wonderful spending time with friends and family, eating our beloved and missed sushi and burritos, and reacquainting ourselves with the wonders of the modern world. But strangely, as more time passes, our amazing five months in Italy seems more and more like it was just a dream. Jim and I agree that when we were there time infinitely slowed down, to the point where at times we forgot that we would have to leave. It felt like our home; like we would be there forever. But now that we're back in the fast-paced suburban world we call home, it feels like our time in Italy was just a hallucination.

Thank goodness for a) pictures b) friends and c) scars that can all attest to the fact that we WERE indeed on a farm in Tuscany for five months! I can't wait to keep posting pictures from the rest of our time in Italy, allowing me to relive it all. After all I need something to prevent me from working too diligently on my job search, right? Right.

So keep reading ragazzi - more of Italy and of course our upcoming adventures to come!

Italian Favorites

The end of our time here at Fattoria Barbialla Nuova is nearing. I'm sad about it. I haven't been blogging because there's just too much to say - I'll sit down and get overwhelmed by everything I could write about when it comes to our experience here and our imminent return to the states, and then I'll get scared off and walk away. OR I'll think..."I should probably be job searching instead..." and will avoid blogging with that excuse. But it's time to jump the hurtle! There are so many stories/pictures/memories/plans to share.

So today we wanted to mention some of our absolutely favorite things in Italy. Things that exist here that you just don't see nearly as much (if at all) in the states, that we have come to know and love!! I will miss every last one of these babies...

Birra Italiana. Yum. Italy isn't known for beer, but Birra Moretti is a staple around here and we grew to love it! That one in the middle, Franziskaner Weissbier, is actually German- but we hadn't yet tried it back in the states and it is delicious. Does anyone know where to get this in the states without paying an arm and a leg? And Baffo d'Oro (which means golden mustache!) is the heavy big brother of regular Birra Moretti. It's great as well, but I think we loved it mostly because of the name.

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Farro salad. Oh my goodness. I'd had farro before (often seen as "spelt", similar to barley), but never noticed it much until it was introduced to me here. It's grown here in Italy so you see it sold absolutely everywhere, and it was made by our chef Maria Teresa at a bunch of the communal dinners as a cold salad. Cook it, add some fresh basil, carrots, red onions, cucumbers and tons of olive oil and salt, and you have yourself a dream come true.

Burrata. Burrata is heaven. It's fresh mozzarella on steroids; a fresh Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream, with an outer shell of solid mozzarella and a magical soft inside of both mozzarella and cream. It is usually served fresh, at room temperature, eaten by itself with a fork in silence as everyone closes their eyes and treasures the moment. Find one at the nearest upscale Italian restaurant/specialty food store immediately! Then come get one in Italy so you can see what it's really supposed to taste like :).

Bar/Snack/Gelati. The bars here (cafes) are awesome. And they're absolutely everywhere. And you can be sure that the cappuccino you order will be amazing every single time. They often serve snacks, panini, gelato etc. but we're mostly focused on the cappuccini. We love how you can always count on a bar to be open nearby for an afternoon pick me up, and the drinks are amazing and inexpensive. And the foam (schiuma) is magically delicious. Jim has taken to ordering his regular cappuccino plus a cup of foam only on the side for him to scoop up and savor. Anyone want to start up an Italian style Bar with us back in the states??

Mezzo Litro. Di vino bianca della casa. Per favore. That was our typical drink order all summer when we were out at restaurants (the house white wine). And I'm going to miss it so much! You've all heard it before, but it literally is just as inexpensive to order wine as it is to order any other beverage in Italy, even water! The house wines or table wines are generally delicious, and we often could get a half liter for anywhere between €3 and €7. Yum.

Scooters. Oh mannnn we are going to miss this little guy so much! Sure, they have scooters in America too but they're just not as common. Let's all go get one and change that! But seriously, we're probably going to get one. Our scoot let us travel all over Tuscany, allowing us to truly experience the ride with amazing views and breezes and then weasel right into the hub of the cities to park with no problem. Bostonians: imagine being able to park in the center of Faneuil hall whenever you wanted to with no problems at all. Great right?? Plus it's just so cute.

Vin Santo. Okay well this one's mostly for Jimmy. He loves this stuff! It's an Italian dessert wine made in Tuscany, and it's often served after dinner with some biscotti for dipping in it. I'm not a huge fan because it's too sweet for me, but I loved the type shown above which was made by an awesome wine maker named Rafael (more on him soon - I have a whole post planned!). Give it a try next time you're in Toscana.

Pandas. Just look at this little car! Fiat Pandas are all the rage around here. They are literally everywhere you look! As far as Italians see it there are two versions; this is the "old panda", and this is the new panda: photo. Just a tad different. But this old panda is pretty sweet, and even though it's rickety and tiny and always filthy and has a million tiny problems, it get's us all over the farm (in style, as you can see) and we have come to love it :).


Well that'll do it! Just 1 more day here, then we'll be back in the states missing all these things. More soon - ciao ragazzi!