Thursday, July 10, 2014

Tues, Wed, Thurs: Praiano

Tuesday:
Tuesday was another morning in Paradise. In the morning we have a new ritual here. When we first wake up,  I go to the curtains,  we both close our eyes and I throw the curtains open as we both open our eyes and see the entire ocean and mountains in front of us.  It's pretty awesome. 

We hung out by our pool in the morning and then took the 10 minute shuttle over to Positano for lunch at Chez Black.  The restaurant is right on the water and all the waiters wear sailor outfits.  It's definitely touristy but the food was very good.

After lunch we had a couple of hours to kill before our long awaited cooking class. Shayna found a sandal maker and had a couple pairs of sandals made for her tiny feet.  She was very happy.

Our cooking class was in the main kitchen at the restaurant Buca di Bacco. There were two other couples in the class with us,  one from Philly, one from Washington DC so we ended up getting along well with them. Over the next 2.5 hours we learned to make gnocchi, linguini, pesto sauce, tomato sauce and eggplant parmigiano, all from scratch. At the end of the class, we sat outside in the restaurant overlooking the water and were served the food we had just prepared for dinner.  We are officially pasta makers.

Wednesday:
This was supposed to be our Capri day but all of the boats leaving Praiano and Positano were cancelled because of rough water.  We ended up doing the beach again in the morning and pool in the afternoon. Then,  before dinner in Positano, we met up with a couple that we know from home, who are also here on their honeymoon.  Dinner was at Covo dei Saraceni and we each did the testing menu.  Shayna did the "traditional" tasting menu while I did the "gastronomic" menu which was a little more adventurous.  No shocker there.

Hopefully waking up in the morning to go to Capri. Fingers crossed.

Thursday:
Set an early alarm to get picked up to go to Capri. We head down to the lobby in our ready for Capri outfits only for the front desk person to tell us that all boats have again been canceled to Capri for the day. I think the honeymoon gods must have thought we were enjoying ourselves too much and needed to settle us down.  Capri doesn't seem to be in cards (this time).

After sulking for the next hour we went to Positano. We walked around, shopped a little, while Shayna continued to sulk. Shortly after, we returned to the hotel for a delicious lunch followed by some poolside Scrabble.

The silver lining in all of this is that it started to pour in the afternoon, which would not have been fun if we were in Capri.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave Praiano to head to Naples. While we're not excited for the end of the trip,  we are excited for the Neopolitan pizza.

Ciao,
Matt (& Shayna)

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Monday, July 7th: Praiano

Monday, July 7th
Praiano

We woke up late and opened our curtains to see blue sky, blue water and the sun shining. Our hotel serves breakfast on the top floor on a terrace overlooking the water. Gorgeous would be an understatement. We had breakfast and then decided to head down to the beach. Our hotel is affiliated with "One Fire Beach" a small "beach club" located 200 steps below our hotel (or so the staff said). We began the trek down the cliff. It was 287 steps, to be exact... I counted (duh)... It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but my legs were shaking at the bottom.

We were quickly set up at One Fire Beach with 2 front row chairs, an umbrella, towels, bottles of water and a complimentary bottle of Prosecco. Matt made sure to tell them, as he does anyone else we see, that it's our honeymoon- it works to our benefit most of the time and we usually end up with free Prosecco. We relaxed all morning, periodically taking a dip in the water to cool off.

As we relaxed, we watched a young boy, probably about 11 years old, repeatedly climbing onto a rock jutting out of the water and yelling to his mom to take a photo of him jumping into the water. My mature husband, just a little older than 11, of course, did the same.

We had a delicious lunch at our seats before climbing back up the 287 steps to continue relaxing by the pool.

Our hotel is located about 10 minutes outside Positano and has a shuttle to take us back and forth. For dinner, we decided to leave the tranquil Casa Angelina to venture out into Positano. Positano is a beautiful beach town, but to be honest, it was a lot more crowded than I expected. We walked along the narrow streets, stopping into all of the cute stores, before landing at our dinner location: Next2. The food was delicious!

We then walked back down the hill and had a night cap at Le Sirenuse, the nicest hotel in Positano, before heading back to our hotel.

We are literally living in paradise!

Food Post: Praiano & Positano

Dinner: Vivaro Wine Bar
T - bone Steak 

Grilled White Fish

Lamb Chops

More Grilled White Fish (Yes! He understood the "no shellfish" thing)
Pasta Bolognese 

Seafood Pasta (guess not)


Lunch: One Fire Beach
Vegetable Cous Cous 
Panino with Eggplant, Tomato and Mozzarella

Poolside Snack: Melon Sorbet


Dinner in Positano: Next2
Appetizer Sampler: Stuffed Zucchini Flowers, "Pizza", Eggplant Parmigiano 
Pumpkin Gnocchi 

Grilled Seafood of the Day

Seabass

Casa Angelina Breakfast 
Fruit Plate

#meeeeeats

Lunch in Positano: Chez Black
Mussels & Clams

Gnocchi in Tomato Sauce

Funghi Pizza

Cooking Class at Buca di Bacco
Fresh Tomato Sauce

Eggplant Parmigiano
Pesto Sauce

The Finished Product 

Dinner in Positano: Covo dei Saraceni
"Chicken Salad"

Octopus

Tomato & Mozzarella Salad

Lobster Ravioli 

Ricotta Ravioli

Spaghetti with Raw Tuna

Seabass over Tomatoes

Seabass with Potatoes and Green Beans

Lunch @ Casa Angelina
Caprese Salad
Mini Pizza Rolls
Vegetable Sandwich