Manarola

Hey guys! I’m so excited to share the rest of the Cinque Terre photos with you today! Today I’ve got our photos from Manarola and Riomaggiore, the two southern-most villages in the Cinque Terre. If you missed Monday’s photos featuring the other three villages, here it is! Tons more Cinque Terre photos there. :) So sorry about that. I was going through a little server upgrade, but it’s all good now. :)

I am absolutely smitten with these beautiful, tiny villages.

The ocean, the fresh air, the small town charm, and of course all the fun, fun colors.

This scene in Manarola is the first thing I ever remember seeing about Cinque Terre — Rainbow colored homes sitting on a cliff above crystal clear waters.

Heaven.

So, so happy to be here.

House on a cliff.

See Monterosso way back there? :)

Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore was so colorful and fun!

This place had so much charm.

How cute are all those boats??

I loved just wandering around the cute villages, shopping, snacking on foccacia and pastries, and snapping photos.

I couldn’t put my camera down!

Laundry day in Riomaggiore :)

View from the rocks.

Hills of Riomaggiore.

Sun is starting to go down.

This is the best, best spot in Cinque Terre to watch the sunset.

Keep scrolling and I’ll show you why…

Sigh! Sunset in Riomaggiore. It sets right over the water. That’s Monterosso way back there next to the sun.

Ya’ll know I can’t resist a good sunset photo.

Colorful, clear night in Riomaggiore.

I love seeing Monterosso back there, all lit up.

Thanks so much for looking. I’ve got Tuscany photos coming up next week. :) Until next time, friends!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Monterosso

What a wonderful, glorious three days we spent in Cinque Terre! The Cinque Terre — pronounced Cheen-Kwah Terra and literally translates to Five Lands — are five small fishing villages along the northern west coast of Italy on the Mediterranean Sea. And hands down, it’s one of the most beautiful, picturesque places on earth. All I can say is Wow. I cannot believe this place is real!

This is the beach on Monterosso, the northern-most village where we stayed.

Five tiny colorful, old-world villages, hidden away and unhindered by modern intrusions, are nestled on jagged cliffs and tower over sparkling teal waters below. It’s like something out of a fairytale. On a clear day, from the beach in Monterosso you can see the other four villages: Vernazza, Corniglia, (pronounced like the name Cornelia — In Italian, gli is pronounced like the ll in million, like in famiglia and Milo Ventimiglia, swoon) Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

Rocky cliffs in Monterosso.

Vernazza

The first time I saw a photo of Cinque Terre, I knew someday I had to go there. Some way, some how, I had to get there. I had to see this place in person! This was the number one place I wanted to go. I couldn’t feel humbler that we were able to turn this dream into a reality. I am already missing this beautiful place.

This is the small beach in Vernazza. In October, massive flash floods and landslides swept through the Cinque Terre, hitting Vernazza and Monterosso the hardest. Thirteen feet of mud covered the village of Vernazza as cars were literally swept into the sea. We talked with one store owner who narrowly escaped with his life, just catching the last train out. It was hard to see Vernazza in this state of devastation, but there were also signs of hope — bright colors, painted doors, and new shops opening every day. The people of Vernazza are working hard to reclaim their town. Each day we visited there was something new. I have no doubt that Vernazza will one day soon be returned to its full glory. Even the way it was… I think Vernazza was my favorite.

So happy to be in my dream place.

Vernazza at dusk.

Quiet cemetery in the hills above town.

Cliffs of Vernazza.

A simple train runs from each of the five villages and carries passengers and goods to and from the city.

Corniglia

This is the first thing you see when you step off the train in Corniglia — a perfect view of the village Manarola high on the cliffs above the sea.

The train drops you off down by the water, but to get to Corniglia, you have to take the stairs. If you remember from the first photo, Corniglia is the highest of all the villages. But at least you have this view!

About half way up!

Ahh, here we are. Foggy morning in Corniglia. Remember, we started all the way down there at the water! :)

I loved the views in Corniglia.

Colorful houses.

Foggy vineyards.

Beautiful landscapes.

Orchards on the cliffs.

Starting to clear up into a gorgeous blue day at the beach.

Tiny village, high on a hill.

Low clouds in this mountain town.

There are hiking trails between all five villages, and I would’ve loved to have hiked them, but most were closed due to the floods. Next time, though. For sure.

I’ll be back with photos from Manarola and Riomaggiore. See you soon!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Hi guys! I’m skipping ahead a few days to Florence because I just love these photos. Next week will be all Cinque Terre week. Yay! Are we starting to look tired here yet, lol?? I swear this photo looks like it’s 6 am and we just rolled out of bed. But actually this is what we look like when we just roll out of bed, ride on a train for 4 hours, and then climb about eleventy billion flights of stairs. Oh, and the wind probably had something to do with our hair. Sorry about that! :)

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This is basically the first thing we saw when we stepped off the train in Florence. Love. Little did we know, we’d end up right back here, on that bridge you see in the foreground, for a gorgeous sunset.

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We made our way up to the Piazzale Michelangelo for this breathtaking view of Florence. I don’t know if you guys can see it, but if you look all the way to the left, you can see the wall that surrounds Florence. I can barely see it and I know it’s there, though! I loved seeing the walls around all the cities we visited.

Postcard perfect view.

Loved these little houses on the hills.

I seriously could not get over this amazing view. Click on the image above for my attempt at a panoramic photo of the view. Seriously, this small thumbnail does not even show half of what you can see in the full photo, you have to see it! :) How amazing is that?

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We were crossing the Santa Trìnita bridge, heading back towards the train station, and caught this view just as the sun was setting over Florence. The bridge you see in the picture is the one we stood on when we first arrived.

Rower.

This was in the exact same spot, but looking the other direction towards Ponte Vecchio.

Ponte Vecchio = Old Bridge.

We had the best seat in the house, such beautiful views from both directions.

Looking East.

Looking West.

Wow.

Is this why they call it Firenze?

Have a beautiful, beautiful weekend friends. xoxo

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Really Old Monument. AKA, the square in front of the Pantheon.

Oh my goodness, there were so many neat things to see in Rome! Michael Angelo’s set us up with a few fun tours to take in all this wonderful city had to offer. We took a four-hour walking tour of Vatican City, then a five-hour tour of all the major sites in Rome the next day. And there were still so many things we sought out to explore on our own! But basically, there were a lot of really old monuments. And there were a lot of people sitting on them. :)

On our last afternoon there, we did escape the crowds of the city for a quiet walk along Viale Gabriele D’Annunzio above the Piazza del Popolo with this beautiful view of Rome as our backdrop. It was so neat to be in Rome, but also a little displaced from it, in a quieter, slower paced atmosphere.

But my favorite thing we did was see the Colosseum.

Aren’t slow shutter night scenes so much fun? I love taking them. Especially with all this hustle and bustle and traffic of Rome!

One of my favorite things we did in Italy was find a new place to watch the sun go down and take a new nightscape photo every night.

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Don’t worry. There was a median. :)

8:12 pm

Another one of my favorite things to do when I go to a new city is look at all the postcards and find all the fun places to take photos. I didn’t see this one on a postcard, but I did see lots of street vendors in the piazzas selling photos and paintings of this beautiful scene — the view of St. Peter’s Basilica from Castel Sant’Angelo.

8:19 pm

When I was telling the cab driver where we wanted to go — Castel Sant’Angelo, but not all the way, just to the bridge — he replied, “Ah, yes! For photo!” :) I have to say, we had some really entertaining cab rides in Rome. On the way to the Colosseum, our cab driver started the ride by saying “I do not speak much English, just spaghetti English!” and then proceeded to give us the world’s fastest tour of Rome completely in Italiano. Best cab ride ever. :)

8:21 pm

I loved watching the sky change from brilliant hues of gold to pink to purple as the sun set.

8:25 pm

Here’s where we cozied up for the night, by the way. See GPS Location on Map.

8:43 pm

Good night, Rome! Cinque Terre, here we come. :)

Thanks so much to Michael Angelo’s for this wonderful opportunity!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

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Oh Venice, where do I start? I loved every single second of our time here. What a beautiful, magical place. I could barely stop looking around long enough to catch my breath. We just had one short day to explore this enchanting island, and we spent our time just wandering up and down the canals with me snapping a photo at just about every step. I could not put down my camera! I could’ve easily spent several more days here just walking these streets and taking in the beauty of Venice.

Here’s a peek at what we saw.

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Boats looking across the Grand Canal.

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Colorful rainbow buildings.

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If you click on the photos, you can see the camera, lens, and settings I used to take the photo. I had my Canon 7D and 24-70mm f/2.8 lens with me this day. Oh how I wished for my tripod and wide angle lens though! Especially later for sunset at the Rialto Bridge. There’s also a map to see the GPS location where I was when I snapped the photo, if you’re into that sort of thing. :)

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Gondolas on the Grand Canal.

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Stopped to snap a picture in front of this beautiful canal.

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We had three scoops of gelato every single day while we were in Italy, from a different place each time. Some of the best gelato we had in all of Italy was here in Venice, at La Boutique del Gelato. I am still dreaming about just their plain, simple vanilla and their creamy, dreamy Nutella. How it is possible to be this much in love with vanilla??

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Is this a door? So neat. The building next door is a boat repair shop for Venetian vehicles. There’s a crane to lift boats from the water and take them inside for repairs.

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Laundry Day in Venice.

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Washing whites.

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Did I mention Kevin lost two pounds while we were in Italy? I did mention the whole three scoops of gelato a day thing, right?

I, on the other hand, am refusing to comment.

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Boats and ladder.

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Colorful canal.

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View from the Rialto Bridge over Venice’s Grand Canal.

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Looking the other way.

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Another view from the Rialto Bridge.

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Walking down the canal.

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Boats on the Grand Canal.

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A shady canal in Venice.

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A gondola ride through colorful Venice.

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Boat ride.

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View from the Academia Bridge on the Grand Canal.

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Directions to Saint Mark’s Square. (S.M. and arrow)

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Afternoon in Venice.

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My favorite, favorite canal we stumbled upon in Venice.

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On the street.

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Sunset at Ponte San Barnaba.

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We made our way back to the Rialto Bridge to watch the sunset.

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Gondola ride at sunset, anyone?

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Loved these colorful buildings at the golden hour.

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Fiery colors in Venice.

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Dusk over the Grand Canal.

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I edited the photos in Adobe Lightroom 3 (<< my tutorial on how I use Lightroom is here) and Photoshop CS5 — another tutorial here :) — or see my reply in the comments for more info. :)

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Nightlife on the Grand Canal.

View in a larger map.

Here’s a photo map of where all we went in Venice. It’s easier to see in the larger map, but from there you can zoom in and see where each picture was taken across Venice. :)

I hope you guys enjoyed Venice!! I wish I could take you all back there with me. How fun would it be to do a photo tour of Venice?? :)

Thanks so much to Michael Angelo’s for this wonderful opportunity!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

All I can say is “Wow!” about this trip Michael Angelo’s took me on! I feel so incredibly fortunate to have been given such an amazing opportunity. Thank you so, so much to Mike, Sara, Cheryl and the Michael Angelo’s family for this wonderful opportunity!

One of our final meals together with the Michael Angelo’s family was at a little restaurant called Da Bepo, about an hour and a half north of Venice. We met up with the sweet family who owns the Ca’ Madresca Winery — Adriano Teston along with his wife Mara and two beautiful daughters Francesca and Frederica. And oh my goodness, did they know how to show us a good time! This lunch was hands down one of the most incredible lunches of my entire life. It was eight courses and lasted over four hours, and each dish that was brought out was even more life-changing that the last! It is definitely something I will never forget.

We started with this fun guessing game, which was probably my favorite guessing game of all time because it involved fruity scents and spicy flavors and guessing what they were. Here’s Cheryl, Mike’s sweet wife, taking a guess and writing down her answer… :)

Now I didn’t take a picture of the first course, because at that point I had no idea what I was in for. But when this came out — fried scallops literally swimming in butter, served with bread for soaking up every last bite of deliciousness, and served in a massive seashell — I kind of got an inkling of what I was in for. :)

Next were these fried zucchini blossoms. Oh my gosh, Italy has ruined me. I am obsessed with fried zucchini blossoms now! They were everywhere, we saw them on the menu at just about every single restaurant. And I had to order them just about every single time. But this one? My fav. This one was stuffed with Mediterranean seabass. And a whole bunch of other good stuff. A-mazing.

Our fourth course was asparagus with sole and shaved Grana Padano cheese. Beautiful.

Next they brought out this massive, salt-encrusted Mediterranean seabass and began to crack away the thick salt tomb…

What was left was this absolutely gorgeous, melt-in-your-mouth white fish — which was surprisingly not salty at all!

Now. Did you happen to see those potatoes in the photo above? The ones that were served alongside the salt-encrusted Mediterranean seabass? Okay. I cannot stress this enough, people. These were the most life-changing potatoes of my entire life. I would’ve given the chef a standing ovation for these potatoes. I grilled our server for how these were prepared, and he swears they are just fingerling potatoes pan fried in olive oil. But oh for heavens sake when you stuck your fork in them they literally exploded with olive oil! (Which I thought was butter at first, because they were just so buttery tasting.) The outside was as crispy and buttery as a Lays potato chip and the inside was as soft and buttery as the creamiest mashed potatoes ever. I die. I faint. I would give my entire life savings for another bite of these potatoes right now. I weep that I cannot have another bite of these potatoes right now.

I’m gonna move on before this gets any more disturbing.

I don’t know how I was still able to eat at this point, considering I had just consumed about twenty servings of potatoes. I ate mine, Kevin’s, and pretty much everyone else’s at the table as well, since they were all stuffed by now, lol! But when everyone  started raving about this Parmesan Flan with Montasio cream, a Parmesan wafer, and prosciutto, I had to give it a try. And oh my gosh. I cannot tell you how good this soft, golden brown and bubbly cheese was. All I can say is this is how cheese was meant to be eaten. The end.

But that so was not the end. For our final (and quite possibly my favorite) course of the meal, Adriano’s lovely daughter Francesca prepared this gorgeous Tiramisu for us. Adriano explained that it was a tradition for the oldest daughter to make Tiramisu. We were so honored that she made it for us! We ordered Tiramisu all up and down Italy but I can honestly say this was my favorite ever. Seriously yum!

Adriano’s perfect pairings from Ca’ Madresca for each and every course. The Ca’ Madresca winery is named out of the combination of his wife and daughters names. Frederica, Mara and Francesca. Isn’t that so sweet?

And of course we couldn’t slip away without the classic ending to every meal we had in Italy — one tiny shot of espresso. :)

Frederica, Mara, Sara, Cheryl, Adriano, Mike, and Francesca

This is Adriano and his beautiful family with the Michael Angelo’s family. Thank you so, so much to these two amazing families for opening up their hearts and homes to us! I loved every single second we were able to spend with these sweet folks. It was an honor to have them share their goals and passions with us for the short time we got to spend with them.

I would love for you guys to get the chance to meet Mike, Sara, and Cheryl. Michael Angelo’s is hosting the Ultimate Foodie Weekend in Austin, Texas, the home of Michael Angelo’s. Spend a long weekend in Austin at a luxury hotel while spending your days shopping, touring the city and cooking family-style alongside Mike and Sara. Enter for a chance to win this weekend getaway now!

Thanks so much for following along on our adventure with Michael Angelo’s! At this point we waved sad goodbyes to new friends as they sent us off on even more adventures they’d arranged for us — tours in Venice and Rome, and then Kev and I headed off on our own adventure to Cinque Terre, Florence, Sienna and Tuscany. If you’re following me on Instagram, you got a peek at some of the amazing photos we were able to take! I can’t wait to share the “real” ones with you guys on here next week. :)

Have a great, great weekend guys!! :) xoxo

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Oh my goodness, I cannot tell you how excited I was for this stop on our tour of Italy with Michael Angelo’s! :) I loved the story of how this organic Parmesan cheese maker in Bologna — Casearia di Sant’Anna — ended up in Michael Angelo’s Frozen Italian Meals. When Michael Angelo’s first started, Sara, the mom, grandma, and family chef behind the Michael Angelo’s line (who’s originally from Sicily) and whose tried and true recipes she uses to feed her family are the same ones that go into each and every one of their frozen meals (whew, that was a lot!) was attending an expo and offering samples of her meals. She noticed one gentleman in particular kept coming back again and again for samples. Finally, he came back one more time, this time dragging his son as an interpreter along with him. He said that he loved these meals so much that he wanted his Parmigiano Reggiano cheese to go into every single one. He loved ‘em so much he wanted his name associated with the product!

We got to visit their dairy in Bologna and see their Parmigiano Reggiano cheese being made from start to finish. This little cutie pie is a future Parmigiano Reggiano cheese maker!

Casearia di Sant’Anna dairy cows are grass-fed only from their organic fields.

This soft, gooey ball of Parmesan cheese looks just like a giant ball of fresh mozzarella cheese! I guess it never occurred to me that Parmesan cheese started off this way too, lol!

The fresh cheese is wrapped in cheesecloth, placed into molds, and topped with heavy wooden lids to form the cheese into its classic wheel shape.

The next step is imprinting the cheese. If you’ve ever bought a wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, you’ve seen the classic, dotted imprints of Parmigiano Reggiano on the edge of the wheel. It was so fun seeing all the templates before they went on the cheese! Not only do these templates imprint the cheese with the Parmigiano-Reggiano name but also the dairy’s unique number and the month and year of production.

The cheese is placed into this stainless steel round with the template and pulled tight with a metal buckle.

It only takes one day to imprint the cheese, and then after that the cheese is placed into a Mediterranean sea salt brine for nearly one month to absorb the salt into the cheese. Then they took us to the aging room where the cheese hardens and ages for 24 months…

I think we were all a little speechless when we got there! :) This room can store up to 30,000 wheels of cheese.

Next was the moment we’d all been waiting for :)

Taste-testing time!

Oh my goodness, what I wouldn’t give for another bite of this cheese right now! The indigenous grass from their organic fields gives the cheese it’s subtly unique fragrance and flavor. Why did I not grab this wheel and run, lol?? I could’ve totally carried this on the plane. ;)

Thanks so much to the kind folks at Casearia di Sant’Anna for sharing their passion with us! It was so wonderful to see the amount of love and care that goes into each and every ounce of their cheese. I’ve got just one more post to share from our adventure with Michael Angelo’s (it might possibly have been the most amazing lunch of my entire life!) then it’s on to our own adventure in Italy. :) Stay tuned!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Hi guys!! I’m back from Italy! Kevin and I just returned from 16 wonderful days in Italy. I woke up this morning and had no idea where I was. I dreamed in Italian last night. I instinctively said Sì to the American cab-driver taking us home yesterday. All in all, I actually feel surprisingly well rested today, especially considering I got up at the ungodly hour of six this morning. But only because I’m still on Italy time, and it was one in the afternoon there, which is way more on par for the course for me. People who know me in real life are shaking their heads and nodding along. People who don’t know me in real life — I was totally just kidding about that last part. I don’t really sleep until noon everyday. Really. Anyway!

I am so excited to be partnering with Michael Angelos for the next couple of posts! We had this incredible opportunity to travel to Italy all thanks to the wonderful and sweet family at Michael Angelos, who make the Michael Angelos Frozen Italian Meals in the freezer section of your grocery store. They are so, so passionate about food and cooking, and using only the freshest, all natural ingredients in their meals, with absolutely no chemicals or preservatives, that they wanted to show us, and you guys, the orchards, vineyards, and farms where their ingredients come from. In Italy. Because they think Kevin and Amanda readers are awesome. And so do I!

Our first stop was the Redoro Olive Oil orchards in the hills just north of Verona. Redoro is another family run business that has a genuine love and passion for their product. They have produced extra virgin olive oil in this region since 1895. This is Daniele, the owner of Redoro with the Michael Angelos family, Mike (Michael Angelo himself!) and his mom Sara, the chef behind the Michael Angelos line.

We got to see for ourselves and walk up and down Redoro’s gorgeous, massive orchard in the rolling hills of Grezzana. Some of the trees were over 500 years old!

Redoro’s extra virgin olive oil is D.O.P. certified, a tribute to the love they have for their olives and their passion for producing only top quality extra virgin olive oil.

The certification recognizes and guarantees that their olive oil genuinely originates and is produced in this specific region.

I couldn’t stop snapping photos of Daniele talking about his olives. He was just so charismatic! :)

Our view from the orchard.

After soaking in the beauty of the fields, we stepped inside this lovely antique home on the property.

Loved this little secret picnic table!

The Redoro family truly opened up their home to us.

After our beautiful morning at the orchard, we stopped for a fabulous lunch at La Fornace in Grezzana. The chef here is working with Michael Angelos for a new dish to add to their line!

After lunch we got to go back to the Redoro factory and do some taste-testing. We also got to make our own bottle of Redoro olive oil! I put this little bottle on the conveyor belt and got to watch it being made from start to finish :)

Each bottle is personally inspected by hand, and then packed off for shipping.

Daniele and the Redoro family with the Michael Angelos family. It was truly an honor to spend the day with these two amazing families! They truly opened up their hearts to us and showed us their passions — serving their families and their customers only the best food possible.

Can’t wait to show you guys more :) Have a great Tuesday!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Back in March I was in New York for a quick 30-hour visit. The wonderful folks at Hellmann’s Mayo (they’re the ones who let me meet Bobby Flay, swoon!) brought us up for a fun event. We got to pretend like we had our own cooking shows and make a video preparing a recipe. They put us up for our one short night at the ultra swanky Eventi Kimpton Hotel in Chelsea, and I loved every minute of it. Since our time was so short, I didn’t have much time to sight-see outside of the hotel, but I did get to meet up with my friend Shaina, eat arepas, and lounge around in this deliciously comfy bed while staying up way too late chit-chatting with my friend.

I arrived at the hotel before Shaina, and I may have taken a few too many pictures of the room while I was waiting for her! I apologize in advance :)

But this bed? Oh my gosh.

I am still dreaming about it.

Peeking out from behind the curtain :)

Fun NYC fabric on this chair!

The bathroom was massive!

Hello, full length mirror.

After thoroughly exhausting every possible angle of the room, I went to check out the rest of the hotel. These pretty flowers were right outside the elevator doors.

Swanky chairs in the lobby.

This was the path to the outdoor terrace.

One of the floors had this gorgeous, cozy outdoor terrace.

These couches looked so inviting! Perfect for curling up outside with a book.

Or perhaps have a little afternoon tea?

Oh, and did I mention the view? :)

The next day we got to sleep in, have brunch, and go do our videos. Shaina and I teamed up to make our video together. The videos were totally just for fun — they’re not going to appear in any commercials or anything, thank goodness! :) — but Hellmann’s totally treated us like such professionals anyway.  They took us to a professional studio, brought in people to do our hair and makeup, and we even had food stylists who prepared all our food for us.

I am telling you, that is totally the way to cook!! With food that is already pre-cut, measured, and lined up in little bowls, just waiting for you to dump everything together. :)

You want me to say what on camera?!

Just kidding :) It was totally unscripted, so I just kept rambling on! :) Lesson learned — do not put me in front of a camera without a script. :)

Since I was a complete nervous wreck on camera, and I was totally nervous about dead air, I think I even make some silly remark in the video about how easy it all was. Of course it was! The food stylists did everything, I just dumped, stirred, and smiled, lol! :)

In honor of Shaina’s new book, Desserts in Jars (which comes out in June, yay!) we made Chicken Salad in a Jar. I loved this fun dish! My job on camera was to shake it all together, lol! Head on over to Food for My Family to get Shaina’s recipe.

Now, okay. The video. I was also really nervous about not making eye contact with the camera, so I end up over-compensating by making this creepy, come-hither snarl at the camera most of the time. It’s pretty embarrassing. You probably just shouldn’t watch at all, okay? Actually, promise me you won’t watch. It’s SUPER EMBARRASSING! I can’t get through the whole thing without slamming down the laptop lid in horror and running away screaming.

ANYWAY! We totally had a blast, even though I was pretty mortified the whole time. Thank you so much to Hellmann’s for putting on this fun event for us!

P.S. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and photos from Italy this week! :) I can’t wait to get back and show you all the photos :)

P.P.S. I am a dork!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2012. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

I am so, so thrilled to share some exciting news with you guys today. :) Over Christmas Kevin and I found out that we would have the amazing opportunity to travel to Italy for 16 days this spring. We are traveling with the fabulous Michael Angelo’s brand on a culinary tour across Italy. I am so thrilled and honored to be working with this amazing family and brand.

This is them! They are right on the back of the box. This is Mike (he’s the Michael Angelo) and his mom Sara. And they are going to take us all over Italy and show us some of their favorite places to get fresh ingredients for their meals.

Have you heard of Michael Angelo’s? They do frozen meals — family and single sized — and you can find them in the freezer section of the grocery store right next to all the other frozen lasagnas. But when you turn the back of a Michael Angelo’s box over, you can pronounce every single thing in the ingredients list — and you know exactly what it is. No chemicals, no preservatives, and no guessing. Just simple, fresh, delicious ingredients. I definitely always have a frozen meal or two in the back of my freezer for those nights when I just don’t feel like cooking or can’t seem to get dinner on the table in time, and Michael Angelo’s is a brand I can feel good about eating. Plus they’re actually really good! :) We love their Baked Ziti and Meatballs.

We leave on Saturday!! Here’s where all we’re going. We fly into Bologna, go on an olive oil taste testing tour in Verona, spend three days in Venice, and three days seeing all the sights in Rome — then Kevin and I are spending a few extra days on our own. We’ll head to gorgeous Cinque Terre, Florence, Siena, and back to Rome for our flight home. We’re renting a car in Siena to take some scenic sunrise drives through Tuscany. If you have any advice for me, I would love to hear it! I have never traveled outside of North America. I go back and forth from being so nervous I can hardly stand it to so excited I can hardly stand it. :)

I’ve got a few posts scheduled for when I’ll be gone, but follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram these next two weeks for live updates and photos from Italy! :) I’ll be keeping in touch and sharing from Italy throughout the trip, anywhere I can find wifi :) Instagram is now available on Android, so go download it ASAP!! :)

Thanks so much for reading, guys. Ya’ll are the best. See you around soon!! :)

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