MY WALK TO WORK (really, i'm not kidding!)

as pictured above, we live right at the city limits of florence. the red stripe through the sign in the photo means that you have hit the city limits. from our house, it's about a 20 minute walk to the porta romana, the southern gate of the historic center of florence. it's called the porta romana (roman gate) because it is the gate that stands at the beginning of the road that leads to rome.

what i love most about our neighborhood is that it feels like we live in the middle of the tuscan hills, when in fact we are only 5 minutes away by car from the arno river.

last saturday i had a catering gig not far from my house so i decided to walk. i thought i would share some of the views i took in along the way.........





























needless to say, this eye candy helped me make it through preping a 10 kilo tuna for tuna tartare, shucking 200 oysters, making 6 kilos of fish risotto, gutting and cleaning squid and cuttlefish, cutting up baskets of fruit, to then feed 60 people who ate like absolute piglets. i swear they hadn't eaten for weeks, poor things.......in these situations, as soon as i start to feel a twinge of anxiety coming on, i have to thank the food whore for her help in bringing a smile to my face - she always makes it through her tricks with such grace and humor......



















(can you find the two monarch butterflies in the photo?! unfortunately i couldn't get a better close-up with the dinky little camera that i have, but i swear that they are in there!!)