Top 10 & Trip Highlights

1. Mrs. H (and sous chef Mr. H) makes the best English Breakfast!!

2. Always a must.... Fish & Chips from Parrot's (Peterborough, UK)

3. ITALY. Hillsy and I decided to have a picnic in our room for dinner (weather wasn't so great out): local bread, honey, olive oil, Pecorino cheese, cherries and meats from the famous Greve in Chianti butchers - Antica Macelleria Falorni

4. It was hard to find bad pasta, but this was my all-time favorite - hand rolled pici (sort of like spaghetti but a tad thicker) with Boar Ragù. Mmmmm from Il Grappolo Blu (Montelcino).

5. I fell in love with this four legged animal. Pascualina was one of the two residents dogs who often greeted us in the morning and when we got home from our day trips.

6. Taking afternoon baths overlooking the hills became a fast favorite!

7. The inspiration for this trip.... cooking class at Badia a Coltibuono! We learned how to make fresh pasta, bread and plenty more. I definitely recommend it!!! I'd love to go back and take a week-long course.

8. Hands down the best steak I've ever had in my life - cut by another famous butcher DarioCecchini (from Panzano), this Bistecca Florentina was full of flavor, light as can be (I swear), tender, rare but far from the bloody mess we often get here! This meal did two things.... a) I now have a greater appreciation for the art of butchery and b) it inspired us to be more mindful of what we eat... we're currently researching ways we can eat a locally raised diet... more on that later!

9. One of our favorite finds was Le Cantine di Greve in Chianti, where you can serve yourself a taste of over 140 wines by using an electronic card available in different amounts... pure genius!

10. Elena's (owner of Borgo Argenina, where we stayed) famous morning cake. Freshly baked each morning, the smell was unforgettable!

Honorable mention:
One of the funniest moments...
Taking a wrong turn and ending up in the pedestrianized central Siena complete with swarms of tourists and a road the width of a drinking straw.