Trip(s) to Italy (Travel from Home #2)

It all started with some pasta I wanted to try. So my next travel from home destination was Italy.

I asked my BookCrossing group for recommendations and got so many! I ended up choosing two books from my To Be Read mountain. The first book has been on my TBR shelf for about twelve years now (it was on my friend’s Italy list in Goodreads) and the second is an audiobook I also got through BookCrossing and hadn’t even realized was set in Italy.

My First Fake Trip

I had planned to fake travel on a particular day, but the movie I had ordered from Netflix DVD did not arrive when it was supposed to. Because I had been looking forward to the fake trip and blocked out time in my schedule specifically for it, I had a mini trip that night instead.

I found a generic Italian dinner music playlist on Amazon Prime, had a small dinner (Amy’s Pesto Tortellini) and dessert (Lindy’s Italian Ice), and watched a movie (Letters to Juliet). Technically, that qualifies as a full fake travel trip under my personal requirements, but it was not at all what I originally had planned.

My Second Fake Trip

When the DVD finally arrived, I decided to go on another adventure. I am still working through the books, but I did a little reading that day around all the other things I had going on. Then I played the same album while prepping dinner. I wanted to try out the Public Goods tortellini, because it’s shelf stable for more than a year and might make a good addition to my emergency supplies. Turns out, it’s just okay. I think I cooked it a little too long. I couldn’t add sauce, because of my dietary restrictions, and I could have lived without the fake vegetarian beef flavoring. But it was all right, especially with bread sticks. One packet of the tortellini seems to be enough for three or four meals, so that’s pretty cost effective.

The movie that caused this whole scheduling issue is Call Me By Your Name. I had been wanting to see it for more than a year now, so this fake trip was a great excuse. It was gorgeous in so many ways. I ate dinner and dessert while watching and was finished long before I reached for the tissue box at the end of the movie.

My Choices

Books: I started reading Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel and (in my car, on audio) The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark. Since my trip, I finished The Book of Unholy Mischief and very much enjoyed it (especially the cat), but I'm still in the middle of Galileo's Daughter. Nonfiction isn't as quick a read for me as YA fiction, I admit.

Meals: In all, I ate Amy’s Pesto Tortellini, Public Goods Tortellini Soup, and Stella D’oro Bread Sticks. The tortellini soup is meant to be eaten with spaghetti sauce or to accompany meat, but I am unable to eat that. So it wasn't as filling as a meal on its own as I had hoped. It was good, though, and I finished it off the following night.

Desserts: Lindy’s Italian Ice was my first trip treat, though it probably shouldn't count as pineapple flavor hardly screams "Italy," right? During my second, I enjoyed Steve’s Sicilian Chocolate Cannoli Ice Cream. I'd been looking for somewhere I could buy a proper cannoli, and I stumbled upon this ice cream instead. The one pint ended up lasting me a month, the way I eat, but it was incredibly delicious.

Music: Italian Dinner Music album on Amazon Music

Movies: Letters to Juliet was charming, and full of beautiful shots of the countryside. My friend recommended it to me because she’d heard about the spot where people leave letters asking for advice to Juliet from “Romeo and Juliet.” I thought it was a fascinating concept and enjoyed what the movie did with it. Call Me By Your Name turned out to be absolutely amazing and just as beautiful. Now I think I would like to read the book and dive deeper into these characters. Both excellent choices, I think, looking at many different types of love in Italy.