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nitens – Great Fish-Restaurant in Viareggio

nitens_viareggio_post

During our last trips to Tuscany, we never left out a dinner at this delicious restaurant. nitens has a very cosy, but modern inside. A window at the end of the restaurant allows you to peek into the tiny kitchen, where the cooks prepare the wonderful meals! The waiters are very attentive and friendly and recommend good wines from the region, without trying to sell you the most expensive one!

In the summer they have a small terrace with a few tables outside on their “porch”. Even though the restaurant is not directly located at the ocean, you still feel that it is close.

We have tried various starters and main courses over the years and all of them were absolutely delicious and can be recommended. The fresh seafood platter is spectacular, but also the millefeuille branzino e patate is great and the tonno in crosta di pistacchi is just mouth-watering. Great, now I’m hungry and craving for the millefeuille!

We usually never stay for desert, where the waiters are at first irritated, but when they hear why we are not staying, it’s the best and only excuse they allow: Cremeria Emma – the best ice-cream parlor in the whole of Tuscany (at least for me) which is just around the corner. Try the pinoli flavor (pine nut)! A perfect finish to a perfect day.

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Apple-Roses Tart

Apple-Roses-Tart

A beautiful tart for a special occasion (or just like that)! I however have to admit, that it does take a little patience to get it ready, but the result is a very delicious and very ‘pretty’ dessert.

Check out the recipe

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Fast & easy Pumpkin Coconut Soup

Pumpkin_Coconut_Soup

Autumn for me is always connected to falling leaves, apples and pumpkins. Here is an ‘autumnly’ pumpkin soup with a little coconut twist. Perfect for the weekend!

Check out the recipe

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Sweet Truffles – 7g of perfection

Tartufi

Yummy, yummier, yummiest. This weekend I went to a gourmet fair called gourmesse in Zurich, Switzerland. Next to delicious chocolate, wine, bread, vegan and pasta stands (and lots more), there was also an Italian stand that presented their tartufi – small chocolate truffles. The colorful packaging directly caught my eye and made me stop. The company is called Tartuflanghe and was the world’s first to reinterpret the traditional 14g praline size to an adorable 7g mini format in 2007 and as of this year the truffle has a new packaging and its own name: Trifulòt.
My absolute favorite flavor is Pistacchio – made of Sicilian pistachios that are only harvested every 2 years, making them super special. The result is a sweet taste, mixed with a tiny tang of salt. Absolutely delumcious (if you are wondering what that word means – a combo of delicious and scrumptious, a word we used as kids that probably only English kids would know)! These goodies are available at Jelmoli in Switzerland. And they have 3 flavors as limited edition: Rose (loved this one!), Saffron and Cardamom.

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Cutest little Bar in Verona

Verona_Bar

Hello hello! Remember I mentioned that really cute bar (Osteria Zampieri la Mandorla) in Verona, prior to going to the opera? Well – I was there again this September and enjoyed a few (!) Aperol Spritz before going to see Verdi’s Nabucco (loved it!)! I took a few pictures this time to give you a better idea of how the bar looks inside. This year round, it really started raining cats & dogs in the evening and we weren’t sure if we could go see the opera, but just in time it stopped raining. We were more or less the last ones to go into the arena and I think the only ones that were not soaking wet! The opera experience was just overwhelming once again (I’ve been visiting Verona for the past 5 years!). Especially listing to the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” gives you goose bumps – so beautiful!

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Filo Pastry Rolls with Feta, Pine Nuts, Thyme & Honey

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Very easy and very delicious appetizer, starter or addition to a salad. Can be enjoyed any time of the year! And yes, you are right – pine nuts and feta in a recipe after each other – but hey, I love the combination!

Check out the recipe

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Zucchini Feta Salad with Pine Nuts

Zucchini_Feta_Starter

The perfectly refreshing summer starter for warm days. The fresh mint and lemon give this dish a wonderful lightness.

Check out the recipe

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Enjoy an Aperol Spritz in Verona

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Visit Verona – the city of Romeo & Juliet. It’s a beautiful town, lots of small alleyways and tiny streets with lovely shops. Definitely go to the opera! Insider tip: book the “cheap” seats where you sit on the stones and bring your own wine (careful – you need to fill the wine into plastic bottles – no glass allowed!) and cheese or snacks to enjoy while watching the opera! And prior to going into the arena, enjoy a drink (or two or three…) at the cute little bar, just 150m away in the Via Alberto Mario, directly opposite the Hotel Bologna. They have a fantastic Aperol Spritz, served in fancy marmelade glasses!

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Steakhouse & winebar in Gualdo

Gualdo_LaPiazzetta

A real insider tip: the restaurant La Piazetta (steakhouse e winebar) in Gualdo di Massarosa. Gualdo is a tiny town on top of a hill, that actually mainly only consists of a church, where you can have dinner on the churchyard (careful: take a jacket or scarf, it can be quite windy) with a great view and it is just very Italian. Not fancy, but fun and original. The bistecca alla fiorentina is pure goodness and enjoy the “panzerottis” (delicious pizza dough bits) as an appetizer. And wait until you hear the first sound of the church clock – it might kick you off of your chair! La Piazzetta

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