Cena Bruciaculo – Dinner on Fire

A spicy dinner for those who think they can handle the heat!  Our friend enjoys spicy food, so much so, that when we go over to his house for dinner we have to remind him that are palettes can't handle spicy as much as he can.  At one point he also started to grow some…

Easy Tuscan Bean Soup

As the days become seemingly shorter and the evenings are chillier, it's the perfect time to start making this easy Tuscan bean soup for lunch or dinner. You only need 3 ingredients (plus some olive oil, salt, and pepper) and you have a delicious warm dish ready to eat in just a few minutes. This…

Italian Driver’s License

Yay! I passed my driving test and now have my Italian driver's license! I knew that eventually I would want to drive here since I'm living and building my life here. At first it wasn't so important since most of my life revolved around the center of Bologna. Work was within walking distance along with the…

Happy New Year!

This New Years was the first time I celebrated away from Minnesota. I had heard a little about New Years Eve in Bologna from friends that had stayed over the Christmas holiday while I was studying abroad. I knew that if you were going to stay in Bologna you need to head into Piazza Maggiore…

StraBologna 2013

Strabologna is an event organized by UISP that is supposed to promote getting up off the couch, going outside, and moving your body whether that's walking or running.  It isn't competitive, but instead an event just for fun. This year they were raising awareness of diabetes. Strabologna MascotIt's an all weekend event with a photo treasure…

Festa In Collina

Last weekend we headed down into the heart of Tuscany for the "Festa in Collina", a whole town barbecue. We drove about another 30 minutes south of Siena until we arrived at this small, rustic, picturesque town- Casciano di Murlo, up in the hills. The whole center was lined with tables, ready for the hundreds of people…

Festival della Lasagna

Today Luca and I unexpectedly went to a Lasagna festival. It is the first year this festival was held in Bologna and it may just be the first of many.  Lasagna is one of the typical dishes from the Emilia Romagna region made with the classic and famous ragù.The festival was held in Piazza del Mello on…

Attempting to Snowboard

I have been terrible about posting new blogs and I apologize. I will try to do better! This post is long over due but it's never too late! Back in December, Luca took me into the Apennine Mountains in Northern Tuscany to go snowboarding for the first time. I had never been skiing/snowboarding in actual mountains before, my…

Holiday Festivities Have Begun

It has been quite the start to the month of December. Luca and I put up our first Christmas tree together just a few days ago. We went to the large local grocery store just outside of town to get a nice big fake plastic tree ( a tree is better than no tree). His…

Mille Miglia

La Corsa Più Bella del Mondo                                                                                        Mille Miglia, " Thousand Miles" passed through…