some people travel for the sights. for us, we travel for the food! and that’s what this trip to italy was all about. not only did we eat some of the best pastas and pizzas we’ve ever had, we also experienced the opportunity to learn and cook in an italian kitchen.
we started in florence. it is there that we met up with our friend geraldo and his family for lunch at their home. we told geraldo that it would be an honor to learn some traditional recipes from his mom, anna. she was absolutely delighted to hear that. the first thing she taught us was this dish called gnudi. it’s basically a ravioli filling, but supersized, and without the pasta wrapping. think of it as a naked ravioli. thankfully, geraldo was there to translate, otherwise we would have been completely lost.
gnudi, a naked ravioli
the whole reason why we were in italy in the first place was for priscilla’s younger sister, christine. she’s been studying fashion design in polimoda, one of the top fashion design schools in italy. this year, she is finally graduating. the whole family attended her ceremony.
christine’s graduation design collection
the next day, we drove to pisa, to see the leaning tower of course. but that was a quick 10 min stop as we literally snapped a few pictures and left. we continued driving west, to our ultimate destination that day, a town called manarola in cinque terre. it was an absolutely peaceful and relaxing location by the sea. the best part was the amazingly fresh seafood that we ate by the cliff side.
manarola in cinque terre
to finish the day, we drove back to florence to have dinner with geraldo’s family. this time, it’s not about pasta. this time, it’s all about meat… florentine steak to be specific. geraldo took us to the local butcher to pick up some fresh steaks. we did not expect what was coming next. in our minds, we were thinking of the regular 1-inch cuts. but no, we were wrong. when the butcher began carving, it ended up being 3-inch thick massive slabs of meat. we were clueless as to how to cook such a behemoth. luckily, geraldo is a pro when it comes to grilling steaks that size.
that steak is bigger than her head!
watch our food journey in more details here:
Homemade in Hong Kong 