Siena… che città bella! Especially for food. Siena is in the heart of Tuscany, home of bistecca fiorentina, ribollita, papardelle al cinghiale, and of course, the famous Chianti. Siena is heaven for a foodie like me, and one would think that having spent five days there last month, I would have tons of tales for my readers of the gourmet meals I enjoyed.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. With temperatures of at least 35 degrees every day, the only food I could even consider consuming was ice cold melone straight from the ice box and of course gelato. Lots and lots of gelato. I got creative with flavors after awhile… after all, when you’re eating gelato two times a day, you need to try for a bit of variety. That left only one problem: the coffee factor.
As everyone who has ever met me knows, coffee is my way of life. I cannot exist without my morning coffee, my afternoon iced coffee, and my evening espresso. But even for me, 35 degrees is too hot for hot coffee or espresso, and iced coffee is nearly impossible to find outside the continental United States (I once had a waiter in Toronto stare blankly when I ordered iced coffee, and then watch in awe as I poured the hot coffee he brought me over the glass of ice I had requested). So what’s a girl to do?
The answer came in the form of a granita. Though I usually scoff at sugar in my coffee, turning to milk or nothing, this slightly sweet frozen beverage was welcome in the heat. I want to compare it to a frappuccino from Starbucks, but it seems sacrilegious to compare this Italian masterpiece, with real espresso coffee, to a mass-produced American conglomerate. At any rate, it became my new drug of choice… as you can see, I was double fisting them by the end of my stay there (though even I couldn’t muster the courage to actually order two… I just finished my friend’s.)
thanks for your lovely comments – glad you’re a reader and that you’re enjoying the recipes/writing/photos. I am dreaming of going to Siena some day – it sounds like a beautiful city!