More awesome people from my travels…. Baths in Budapest, Hungary.

Met these fine young Italian Boys in the Baths in Budapest, Hungary. They were there with their school program and ranged in age from 17 to 21 years old. All from Napoli ( Naples), Italy. We met them when they asked to take this picture with us as we were the only “Americans” in the Baths that day that they had spotted. For the most part their english was really good and they were all very funny and had a lot of great jokes about Italians and Americans. Also they treated us to a serenade of some classic Italian Songs, which I wish I had caught on camera as it was really a once in a lifetime experience. Ended up booping around the outdoor and indoor baths and saunas with them for almost 3 hours until deciding that we were all too waterlogged, pruney  and hot to stay in the baths any longer. After promising to come visit in Naples and getting all their names to look them up on facebook (which we did), we all went our separate ways. Funny how it took going to Hungary to finally meet some decent Italian Men. Go Figure.

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Must Do. Barcelona, Spain. Fruit and Produce Market.

Located off of the main road of La Rambla, this market has every kind of food you could want. From enumerable eggs, to varieties of chocolates to a plethora of fish, to delectable fruits to tantalizing veggies to AMAZING fruit mixed fruit juices, its like a heaven for your palate. And the best part? It’s all reasonably priced, extremely fresh and local. Good in my book.

If you decide to get a fresh fruit juice (which you should at the awesome price of 1 Euro each), I would highly suggest the Coconut/Blackberry. Divine to say the least, combining two of my favorite things into one. Brilliant.

You meet the Coolest People Traveling- Parker and Kyle. Barcelona, Spain

Met these two while napping on the beach on a sunny day in Barcelona. They we’re nice enough to save me and my visiting roommate from home, Sarah, from a creepy middle aged spanish man who kept asking us if we wanted his company in very broken english. Clearly no wasn’t an international word to this guy.

These two come strolling down the beach and must have seen us getting very upset and uncomfortable and talking in English so they decided to sit near us and initiate a conversation. The creepy Spanish man left shortly after.

Parker and Kyle, age 24 and 25 respectively are from California and are both recent graduates of Cal Poly. Parker is an identical twin and is a Stock Broker in California. After two years playing for various teams in the NFL and coaching at his former college, Kyle is taking some time off and traveling through Europe using his graduation present from a family friend of two first class tickets. Parker’s now gone back to California and Kyle is still on the road, perhaps coming to visit in Rome.

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ” – Judy Garland

The Thermal Baths of Budapest, Hungary

Exactly what I think about life and how to live it…

http://www.eightprinciples.com

Pasta Sauce… Success.

So since I have no work to do tonight (hence the ridiculous amount of blogging today), I decided to make myself sometime special for dinner.

Now I am definitely no cook. It’s not that I can’t cook. I’ve made some really awesome, semi-complicated meals in the past. It’s really just that I really don’t have the patience for it. It’s time-consuming and I find myself getting distracted constantly. Then something always ends up burning/ on fire/ spilling over. So usually I stick to basic meals that require little to no cooking time or skill.

But since being in Rome, I’ve expanded my horizons in the kitchen. The vegetables here are just too ridiculous good (So much better than the US, probably because they lack artificial growth hormones and are the way nature intended them to be)  to not try new things with them. And that, coupled with a cooking lesson in Florence compliments of my abroad program, made me want to try something new. But seeing as it’s Sunday, and everything is closed my options we’re pretty limited with the amount of groceries I had left over from my last trip to Tuodi (aka the BEST grocery store ever…. everything is dirt cheap there. You literally leave feeling like you robbed the place).

So I tried my hand at making my own pasta sauce. I diced up a tomato and a zucchini ( really all I had in way of produce). I simmered some olive oil with some pepper and basil in a pot. Then added the combination of zucchini and tomatoes. Added about a 4th cup of water. Covered. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Put a pinch of red pepper in for good measure. Then added pasta. and Voalah! Home made pasta sauce. Unfortunately, it was a bit spicier than expected but still absolutely delicious. I know it was a simple meal, but hey, for me it was pretty damn complicated. I was oh-s0-very proud of myself.