While we were in Florence we had the great opportunity to meet up with our friend Tommaso and his wife Elizabeth. We met Tom while he was doing an exchange with the US Navy and was spending some time in Virginia and attending CrossFit Rife with us. We had always said we would meet up in Italy one day, and we were pumped that it worked out.
Tom and Elizabeth came into town and had already made dinner reservations for us, but we had some time to kill. The Italian tradition or normal string of events is to get a drink and talk for awhile before getting a meal anyway, so we grabbed a bottle of wine and stood on the sidewalk catching up. They didn’t know Florence very well, but since we had been in the neighborhood of the restaurant they chose a few times we happened to know that the great sandwich place we had been to also served wine, so we went there. Wisely, we let Tom pick the wine though! (Cara's note: this is the first red wine I have actually enjoyed! What can I say, I'm a white girl!)
After a drink we made our way to what claimed to be the oldest restaurant in Florence, but I don’t think they are the only ones making that claim… Either way, the food was great and it was an incredible evening catching up with friends and laughing over excellent food. The waiter was fantastic and took extra good care of us, plus it was funny to watch our friends try and translate for us back and forth and I think the whole restaurant enjoyed the banter coming from our table, especially the waiter harassing my mother for her special order and then not finishing all of it. Seems that Italians really like to be members of the clean plate club haha.
After dinner they ordered us some Tiramisu that was fantastic and different than any we had ever had before, as well as a traditional Tuscan dessert of a biscotti like cookie/bread and some sweet desert wine that you dip it into. It was a combination unlike anything we had eaten before, but nonetheless delicious!
This evening was one of our favorites among the two weeks with my parents, and we can’t say thank you enough to Tom and Elizabeth for coming into town and meeting up with us. When we are back in the States our home will always be open to the both of you!
Last night in Florence was a gorgeous night!
-Jeff
P.S.: If you don't understand the joke that the title of this post is making, watch the following video: