Agrodolce // Wedding Anniversary II

Aloha friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? We've had more visitors than we can count over the past few weeks and months. Between house guests Bryce and I managed to sneak off to a nice dinner to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary at Agrodolce, known for their Organic Sicilian Cuisine. We went to Sicily on our honeymoon, right around our first anniversary, so it was more than appropriate.

 

Dinner During Lent - Pasta Con Le Sarde

Welcome to part 2 of Dinner During Lent, where I'm cooking a different meat-free meal for every Friday during the 40 days leading up to Easter. This year is seems fast food chains are geared up for Lent and even inviting the Pope to join them!

Part 1 included a simple dinner of pierogies and asparagus. This recipe has much more history and work to be done!

Last year when we (Bryce and I) traveled to Europe, the part I was most looking forward to was our cooking class in Sicily. There we learned to cook the esteemed Sicilian dish of Pasta Con Le Sarde, or Pasta with Sardines. It's made with fresh sardines, which are abundant on the island, and wild fennel which only grows in Sicily. On our first night in Sicily I had Pasta Con Le Sarde in a restaurant before learning how to make it the following day in our cooking class.

During our class the English-speaker/tour operator recorded the recipe for us while the Italian-speaker cooked and dictated to him. I didn't take a good look at the notes until just recently while planning to remake the recipe. Mamma Mia is all I can say, here's what they said: 

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta

I've wanted to go to Italy for as long as I can remember. To say that our recent visit there lived up to my expectations is truly an understatement! The country was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, the people were so caring and friendly, and the food was delightful. 

In the little imaginary Italy in my head, I'd drink a lot of coffee + wine, enjoy plenty of pasta, and do most of my dining outdoors. Reality was very, very accurate to my little dream! What I wasn't expecting was that each and every meal would be spectacular, regardless of price, city, or restaurant location. I'm excited to relive them and share them with you through this little blog. 

Get ready because this is a photo heavy post! It's actually quite like Green Eggs and Ham as I'll be showing you all the times we ate pasta and where.

Bryce and I had lunch on the streets of Roma at an adorable little spot called Di Qua. Your first option is Italy's restaurants is always acqua (water) with or without gas (carbonation), to which we vote NO. On this particular day Bryce was up for some day-drinking!

Mangia Mangia in the Motherland

We are on our first flight of our honeymoon trip as I'm writing this, from Seattle to DC. After a brief layover and some airport dinner (my expectations are low) we will be off to Italy and landing in Rome! We've collected, borrowed from the library, and been given many travel books surrounding this adventure and I've taken plenty of notes. Thank you Catholic School eduction! Most notes are regarding what to eat. You're shocked, I'm sure of it.

                      

During our visit in Idaho I spent several hours relaxing in the sunlight jotting down the best tid bits of the many, many books.