luna di miele

Hi there darlings, hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! Sorry I haven't been around, I've been prepping my Grad Party which will take place later today. I'm not sure why we're celebrating ;). Anyway, since I'm busy, I figured this was as good of a time than ever to restart the Plates from Around the World series! As a reminder, these posts run on Saturday and describe a contributor's incredible travel experiences with food. Today, I'm so excited to welcome the beautiful mama-to-be Heather, a veggie role model for me, who will whisk us through her phenomenal honeymoon vacation .

Hello, Heather here from Heather Eats Almond Butter. :)

I was so excited when Danielle asked me to be a part of her Plates From Around The World series, and I knew right away which part of the world I would discuss in my post: Italy! In my early 20's, I spent about 18 months living, working, and traveling in Europe, and I fell in love with Italy the moment I stepped off that train in Venice. What an experience to leave the train station and walk out onto the Grand Canal. Flash forward about 7 years to my honeymoon. When Chris, my husband to be, and I began planning our honeymoon, he knew that the countries of Europe held a special place in my heart, and since he had never been, we decided to spend 3 weeks in Italy. Now, this was before my food blogging days, and the thought of taking a photograph of my delicious meals never even crossed my mind. However, the memories are still there, and I'd love to share some of my more memorable meals with you.

During the first week of our trip, we stayed in a small town called Castelrotto and spent our days hiking among the Italian Alps.

Castelrotto is located in Northern Italy, close to the Austrian border, and most residents there speak German. Honestly, it didn't even feel like we were even in Italy. The scenery was absolutely stunning, and on our first day after miles and miles of hiking, we checked out a restaurant listed in our guidebook, one known for typical northern Italian cuisine.  The first thing I noticed upon entering was the salad bar. Ah, just like home and I piled my plate high with all the various veggies. It was wonderful. However, the most amazing part of the meal was the entrée. The first night, I ordered the lamb, and Chris ordered the venison. My lamb was good, but Chris's venison was one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth!  Venison was something I would never associate with Italy, but it was a meal I will never forget. It was so good in fact, that we went back to the same restaurant every night during the remainder of our stay in Castelrotto.

The venison meal was the best tasting, but the most memorable meal from our time together in Italy was probably after a morning of cycling through Tuscany.

We only rode about 14 miles, but Tuscany is hilly! Normally, I skip the bread and pasta, but there wasn't much of a choice at the family style restaurant where we dined for lunch. And let me tell you, those two big plates full of pasta and bruschetta were worth every bite. There were two kinds of pasta, one with a cream sauce and one with a tomato sauce. Oh my gosh, it was just so fresh and unlike any pasta I've ever tasted here in the States. If only I could recreate this meal at home.

Throughout the rest of the trip there were more foodies adventures. After a 14-mile hike in Cinque Terre, I ate hands down the best pizza of my life at some little hole-in-the-wall restaurant up the street from our pensione. It was nothing but thin crust and pesto sauce, but sometimes, a simple pizza is all you need.

Last, but not least there was much gelato consumed...oh gelato, how I love thee.

That about sums our trip. We had a pretty active honeymoon and enjoyed a lot of good food. It was perfect. Again, many thanks to Danielle for allowing me to stroll down memory lane...now the travel bug is biting once again. :)

Thanks so much to you, Heather! Oh my gosh I need to go back to Italy. Who's with me?! I hope to continue the Plates from Around the World series throughout the summer, so if you'd like to participate, please email a description of your favorite place and it's foodie memory along with a few photos to aroundthworld340@gmail.com. Thanks! I'll be back tomorrow with this weekend's updates, ciao for now.