Make your own lunch (but never stint on pastries)

 Month 6 - Bite 25 +  1

The last post sort of links straight into this one with the thought of bought snacks and supermarket visits.

We do like to experiment with meats and cheeses and breads so making our own lunch at times helps us to explore new ideas. This also tends to help on the financial front too! Some fresh bread filled with cold meats, cheeses and sliced tomatoes is always welcome.

As mentioned, the supermarket near to where we stay (opposite in fact) is great for this the local markets are brilliant too. When in Florence a stroll round the market there makes you want to groan about the fact that you don't have enough days in the holiday to work your way through all the different types of produce. One of the other bonuses is the way you can get invited to taste before you buy. SOmetimes a walk is needed to make space for the food you've bought for lunch!

However, pastries are not to be passed up on. Buying local versions of different cakes, pastries and bakes is one of the sheer delights of being away from home (all that walking around will make sure the waistline is safe).

                               

Month 6 - Bite 26

Eating like a local did come into it in the last post. There's more than one way to view it though. Breakfast is a real pleasure when it's taken at a pasticceria or coffee shop. (And that goes for other incarnations across the globe in their own localities). In Florence for example we popped acfross the road from where we were staying for breakfast in this way. The thing to remember is that there is often a different charge for your breakfast depending on where you eat it. We prefer to prop up the bar like the others in there rather than sit at the tables and voila, good chats with other customers and a cheaper price.

In fact with time on our hands at the end of one trip we decided to go to Caffe Gilli - the oldest cafe in Florence. We'd seen it on a TV programme and thought we'd take the plunge and accept the hit on the budget. How wrong were we - yes, it was great, yes it was a particularly good establishment, but budget breaking... the coffee at the bar was 1 Euro and the pastries just as cheap as elsewhere..... Always worth a try - you never know how pleasantly surprised you can be....