Vacation Eats: Dessert in Lecce

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Aside from fruit (and cake) at our neighbors' sister's house, when we ate dessert out in the city, we only ate at one place.  There is a gelateria widely considered to be the best, and we went there several times while we were in Lecce.

I thought the Kinder cereal flavored gelato was unusual! 

Also, here are a few pictures from La Pasquetta, Easter Monday.  In Lecce, they have a large festival in the city.  While most Italians usually spend la Pasquetta in the country, there are enough people in the city that many cities organize celebrations.  In Lecce, there were tons of bands playing in the center of town.  Lots of fun to listen.



Vacation Eats: Vegetarian Lunch Extravaganza in Lecce

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

As we were going to visit our neighbors in Lecce, and they know all about my dietary preferences and restrictions, there was a special meal waiting for us when we arrived on Easter Monday, la Pasquetta, all made especially for me!

The meal started with this huge serving of eggplant.  Yes, I ate it all...  Another one of my favorite foods of the trip.

I failed to photograph most of my secondo plate (and don't know how to rotate pictures).  It included these things that resembled cheese sticks, and that fresh mozzarella seen in the background, olives, fresh ricotta and bread. 

Dessert was fruit, pictured above, and a big bowl of strawberries, and whipped cream.

We also had these cream-filled Easter cakes, and dessert wine. 

Vacation Eats: Easter cake from your neighborhood gas station

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Easter is a big holiday in Italy, and on la Pasquetta, Easter Monday, lots of people go with their friends to the countryside for a picnic.  We drove that morning to Puglia, Italy's boot "heel."  And they had a big "Pasquetta in Citta'" festival going on.

But the point of this is that even at the gas stations, Easter is a big thing.  We finally broke down and bought our first Padre Pio magnet to bring home for our refridgerator (hubby's family's house (and friends' homes) is filled with Padre Pio stuff.  We might as well get our collection underway.  We already have a little wooden thing, but our fridge was void of Padre Pio until we stopped at this gas station.

Free with purchase of our Padre Pio magnet was an Easter cake.  Too funny!

Oh, and I photographed a new variety of Pringles that I saw at the gas station.  I don't know why I take pictures of Pringles cans in foreign countries, but let's just say, 2011 is not the first year I've done this.
You really find some unusual flavors abroad.

Vacation Eats: Easter Lunch

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Now that I've celebrated Easter in Italy, I better understand why they don't have a feast day that is the equivalent to Thanksgiving -- in terms of quantities of food consumed, the holidays of Thanksgiving here and Easter there are probably comparable.  We ate so much on Easter I seriously spent the second half of the day feeling like I was on the verge of vomiting.  Way too much food.  But it was all so good, and looking back now, I wish I'd eaten just one more of the peach desserts....  Sigh.  We'll have to go back one year.

Above, church in Nicastro, Easter morning.

The chocolate egg with a surprise inside.  This photo fails to capture how big it was.

Before Easter lunch, we went to hubby's cousin's house, and she served this chocolate liquoer.  It was thick and a nice way to start the meal.  Her dad (behind her with the cane) also had a glass. 

The table set for lunch.

Lots of things on the stove before lunch!

This better shows the scale of the egg.  Texas flag trivet!

Hubby's cousin from Belgium checking the pasta.

Homemade pasta, probably one of my fave foods from the trip.

This was some kind of meat-stuffed fried eggplant.  Again, note the Texas trivet -- that was a gift from us years ago.

Another fave food.  These were some kind of stuffed crepes.  I think most of them had meat in them, but at least a few were solely cheese, just for me. 

My first course -- the crepes.  I should have taken a picture of my clean plate afterward!

My second course, the homemade pasta.  So, so good!  Another clean plate afterward...

This was some kind of pork with red sauce.  I didn't eat it but hubby said it was good.

The pork and another kind of meat as secondo, plus the peas.  I count peas as one of my favorite foods in the world.  These peas were probably the best peas I've ever eaten.  Fresh, delicious, insanely good.

Hubby's secondo plate.  After he'd eaten a plate of the pork with the red sauce.  Lots of eating on Easter. 

My secondo plate.  This shows about 1/8 of the cheese I ate.  And about 1/3 of the peas.  I went back for more several times!

Fennel after our secondo, to aid in digestion.  Very necessary after all that food...

This is a Calabrese drink.  It's coffee in mineral water and hubby's cousin's son loves this stuff.  I tried it once a few years ago and didn't really like it.  Didn't have any on this trip.

A chocolate Colomba, a typical Easter dessert in Italy. 

Another fave food of the trip.  These were called "peaches" but they were a cream-filled dessert, made by hubby's cousin.  Again, insanely delicious! 

And some kind of ricotta torte for dessert, homemade and very good. 

The three main Easter desserts.  And spilled wine on the tablecloth.

Another shot of the peaches...

My almost-empty dessert napkin.  Don't worry, I also finished the last bite of that rictotta torte.  And coffee. 

Hubby's cousin's son with the chocolate egg on Easter night.  Hubby got to do the honors of breaking it, and we all ate some.  When we left Lamezia, of course we were loaded down with food for the rest of our travels and I got a big bag with pieces of this chocolate egg.  I'm not a huge chocolate eater, but this was really, really good.

So that concludes our Easter feast!  Can you see why I felt slightly ill the rest of the day?  It was so much food, but all of it was so good.  I think many of the pounds I gained on this trip might have come from this day, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and even now, when I run and I feel like I'm wearing a weighted backpack, this is the meal I remember most and I don't mind trying to run off the pounds!