Top Five Friday

Saw this idea on a friend's blog and I love it! Something different from the travel updates, and a fun way to remind myself to post something at least once a week (instead of once a month, I mean you guys follow me for a reason!).

So today I'm doing the five fun questions she posted (of course I have VERY different answers).

1. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I have to say Italian food. I love pasta. I love wine. I could eat Italian every day, every meal - I would definitely miss sushi, mexican, burgers, etc. but I know I could do it and still enjoy it, since I have basically done it before for several months! I did cheat... I had the occasional fast food just to have something else!

2. If you won $1 Million in the lottery tomorrow, how would you spend your money?

This is a tricky one! There are so many things I would love to do. I would want to buy property (probably not a house, since we live in NYC but don't want to raise a family). But I would buy property where one day we could build a dream house! I would send my parents on a trip to Paris - I want them to go and they've never been! I would pay off all my student loans. At this point I might have half left... assuming I don't have to pay taxes on it, I would save half (250,000) and put it in an account where it would accrue interest (that would be the future house-building fund). I would donate part of the rest to WFP for our hunger programs (I seriously believe in them THAT much). I would probably use the rest for small things - being able to travel and visit family and friends easier, maybe go on an around the world trip with Nate. Put some towards our wedding. Things like that. No huge purchases.

3. If you could travel through time, when and where would you go?

Limitless possibilities here! I would want to go back and witness lots of the mysteries of the world... the birth of Jesus. I would want to go back to ancient Rome, especially since I have seen the ruins in the modern day. I would love to see it in its splendor. I would want to meet my favorite historical figure - Anne Boleyn - because of how much she changed history, especially for being a woman at the time. I would go to a Yankees game and watch Micky Mantle and Joe Dimaggio play. I would want to see the dinosaurs too! Maybe even see my parents as children, and my grandparents as parents. That would be really neat.

4. If you had to give up one of your senses, which one would it be?

Smell. Those who know me know I already suffer from an unusually poor sense of smell. I usually cannot smell anything unless I am very close to it, like flowers and perfume. I think it's okay though... I would never give up sight or sound.

5. If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?

Power of movement against gravity - being able to move things with my hands, move myself like flying. If you can manipulate gravity you can do a whole range of things. Hehe. That would be fun. Would also help alleviate my fear of heights!

Jenni's Graduation

As much as I tried to refuse to admit it, my little sister is all grown up and this week graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, with a focus in Earth and Environmental Engineering. I am SO proud of her but it's hard to believe she is 22 years old and done with her undergraduate degree!

My family came up for the week - they stayed at our new apartment in the Upper West, and Nate and I stayed back in Brooklyn, using the second bed that we didn't move to our 1 BR (the Brooklyn apartment was 2 BR). She walked on Monday, and officially graduated Wednesday, but Monday was the big to-do because they read your name. My whole family was there, including our grandmother Mama Doris!



For Jenni's graduation gift, I gave her a photo album with 22 years of "sisters" pictures - this one would have made it, if not for me wanting to give it to her AT graduation! There were lots of family pictures I could have included, but I decided to keep it just sisters. And it's something she can take with her to Peace Corps, to show volunteers and people she meets!

One of the best things about the family coming to visit is all the amazing restaurants we get to go to! We literally had every cuisine imaginable - Japanese on Friday, Italian on Saturday, Mexican on Monday, and French on Tuesday! The nice meal was Eleven Madison, one of the best restaurants in NYC (and the country) which was named Zagat's Restaurant of the Year and received the James Beard award for national restaurant of the year. It's appropriately named and across from Madison Square Park, which prompted a photo-shoot



Dinner was 4 courses and like Iron Chef, you basically choose the "key" ingredient and then the dish is made up with the chef's creativity. We loved it! My favorite courses were a lobster appetizer and the chicken and mushrooms entre (poached chicken which was the best chicken I've ever had!). At the end, to celebrate Jenni's graduation, the restaurant gave us a tour of the kitchen and fixed us a post-dessert berry drink in the back. It was amazing!



At the end, my dad drove Jenni home and my mom and Mama Doris flew back, and while we will miss them we finally moved completely out of the Brooklyn apartment and are enjoying our first weekend alone in the new apartment!

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is one of my favorite places in all of Italy. It is comprised of 5 coastal towns connected by train, by boat (all but Corniglia) and hiking trails. Train is the easiest way to get around, but it only comes once an hour in either direction, so you have to plan accordingly! The hikes are fun but LONG - an hour and a half for the most difficult, 30 minutes for the easy ones. The towns (from south to north) are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. The hikes range in difficulty, the easiest being between Manarola and Corniglia (flat hike along the water) and Riomaggiore (the most well constructed, and dubbed Via dell'Amore "the walk of love"). The other two (Corniglia to Vernazza, and Vernazza to Monterosso) involve steep stairs and dirt paths, and are the most difficult. We chose Vernazza as our home base, we stayed at the Gianni Franzi hotel and we had a beautiful room, and the hotel has a public balcony with a great view of the coast.



The first day we started with the easiest walk, the walk of love! We took some cute pictures (like the one above) and enjoyed gorgeous weather. That night we cleaned up and had a reservation at Ristorante Al Castello (the Restaurant of the Castle) in Vernazza. This place was wonderful with the cutest waitress/owner Melissa. We had a table on the edge of the coast with spectacular views of the sunset, and the best pesto lasagna ever!



The thing I like best about Cinque Terre is that there are no "sights" to see - just the towns themselves and the views from the coast. It's very relaxing and wonderful to be outdoors. The towns have little restaurants and bars, boats to take you to other towns. It's very quaint and picturesque. Our second day the weather was cloudy (less than ideal) but left the trails much less crowded for hiking, which was a plus! We headed out from Vernazza, where we were "based" in the direction of Corniglia. On the way out there's a beautiful view of Vernazza:



The hike to Corniglia was really fun - we even went off the beaten path farther up the cliff and thanks to Nate understanding the self-timer on the new camera, we got a frameworthy picture of us at the top of the cliff:



I love the view of the coast, there are so many unique flowers, olive trees, lemon trees and vineyards. It literally has everything you need! We continued hiking to Corniglia, where we took the recommendation of a friend and went to Osteria Mananan. We had fantastic ravioli, each of us with a different sauce - Nate had Salsa di Noci and I had Pesto. We wandered around a bit and opted for the longer down-slope hike to the Corniglia train station, as opposed to taking 500+ stairs. On the way we spotted the most beautiful rose I have ever seen:



From there we took the train to Monterosso and scouted a place for dinner before making the final hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. Again, the view on the way out is breathtaking. Monterosso is the most "beach-y" of the 5 towns and has a unique feel to it.



The hike back was long but worth it! We cleaned up in Vernazza and took the train to dinner in Monterosso. We had dinner at Ristorante Belvedere and it was the best meal of the trip! It was really good!



We walked the beach at night before taking the train back to Vernazza. It really is magical (cheesy I know, but that's what it is!). You can see the lights from the other towns along the coast. It was the perfect weekend trip before returning to NYC.

Last Week in Rome

The last week in Rome flew by - Nate was sightseeing during the day while I was at work, and at night we'd do dinner somewhere in the city. I took him to my favorites - Maccheroni, Pizzeria da IVO, Renato e Luisa. We also had an aperitivo at the BEST place in Testaccio with my friends from work and the old intern crew! It was wonderful to see them again - Zhijian, Cat, Cristiana, and Federica.



Nate had a fantastic time sightseeing too - his favorite was San Pietro.



And one last picture - I have to post - his sneaky picture inside the Sistine Chapel. It was perfect (and since they are pretty strict about it, you gotta be sneaky!)



Thursday after work we had a final night out with my friend from work. The next morning we departed for our weekend in Cinque Terre - one of my favorite places in Italy and #1 on Nate's list to visit!

Nate's First Weekend

A very delayed posting (only a month late) - but here are the highlights of Nate's first weekend in Rome. First, everything went like clockwork for his arrival - his plane was on time, he met me at the gate, we caught a train in just a few minutes and were back at my apartment in less than an hour (unheard of with Italian transit!). We spent his first day walking around and getting acclimated to the city. We walked by Piazza Venezia (which he loved):



And continued on towards the Colosseum. We had lunch at one of my all-time favorites, La Bottega del Cafe, which is in the Cavour neighborhood near the Colosseum, but tucked away enough that it's usually filled with locals (not tourists). The food is fabulous, my personal favorite being the traditional caprese and the four cheese gnoccetti.



After lunch we wandered around the Colosseum and were lucky enough to find a fellow Canon DSLR carrier who obliged us in an excellent photo in front of the Colosseum (those who know me well know that this picture is already framed in my new apartment!).



Sunday was the single most perfect day of the entire trip. It started with an early walk to Campo d'Fiore, one of my favorite Roman neighborhoods. There's a daily market with the freshest flowers and food, so we stocked up on fruit, salami, prosciutto, cheese, and fresh baked bread. From there we took a bus to Villa Borghese, my favorite park in Rome. We wandered until we found the perfect spot in the green grass for a picnic. It was lovely.



After lunch we walked across the bridge into Prati, my new favorite Roman neighborhood where my friend Cat lives, with my latest discovery of the best gelatto in Rome. From there we took the subway to nearly the end of the line in attempts to find a bus to go to Fregene. This was an adventure, as most people will tell you Fregene is best accessed by car. After some broken Italian conversation with the bus driver, we found bus tickets on sale across the street, and rode to Fregene, anxious to get off at the "right" stop (which we did) and follow the directions to the restaurant (which we didn't) and were subsequently rescued by very kind workers at Singita (the restaurant we were headed to).



Singita more than lived up to my expectations - it was fabulous. It is a restaurant on the beach (more like a bar, with free food). You can rent beds that face the ocean, which are comfortable and relaxing and as cool as it sounds!



We ordered Singita sangria (a pitcher) and while they brought us tons of pasta plates we watched the sun set over the ocean. It was windy, but magical :)