Pisa

 

I've just got back from the best week in Italy for my cousin Jess' wedding.

We flew into Pisa from Manchester on Friday evening to stay 1 night. Our flight was at 2pm and landed at like 6pm.

 We got a taxi from the airport to the hotel which only cost €15. 

We stayed in Lu Lu Cozy Rooms 2. It was more like an Air BnB rather than a hotel.

Nice spacious room

Bathroom was tiny though. Felt like I was going to headbutt the shower and my knees were nearly touching the shower when you're on the toilet. No way I could have washed my hair in the shower.

Had a corridor.

We put our bags down then went out for dinner.

Square right outside our hotel.

We went to this restaurant which was a build you own pasta - choose your pasta, sauce and fillings.

I got a large 180g for €7.50. Holly got medium which was 150g €7. Might as well go large since a small is 90g for €6. Get double the amount for only €1.50 more.

Casarecce Pasta, Salmone - cream of courgettes, smoked salmon, burrata cream and chopped pistachios

Holly got - Sedani Rigati pasta - Zucca - cream of pumpkin soup with ginger, walnuts and rosemary 

Meatballs with ragu - €7

It was a lot of pasta I was getting a bit sick of it but did manage to finish it all. The pasta was very al-dente and the meatballs weren't good. The bread was also crap and like stale.

It came to €27.50 with a bottle of water and Holly got an Aperol.

After we got a gelato from Grom. I got the Grom chocolate and biscuit one. It was very runny and melted all over my hand.

€4 - 1 scoop

We walked to see the leaning tower. It was nice and empty at 8pm. Barely anyone around and the perfect time to get photos!

It started raining - massive rain drops luckily as we were walking back to the hotel and we came prepared with umbrellas. It was cloudy when we landed and when we were checking the weather it said that it was gonna rain the week we were there and was hoping it was lying to us but the rain came. It was only a short shower as it had been so hot recently there thunderstorms were due.

When we got back to the hotel we showered and went to bed.

We got up at 8am and the hotel had given us a voucher for breakfast from a cafe that was round the corner. We could have a pastry, hot drink and juice.

I got a custard cornetto, matcha latte - had to pay extra €2.80 for and a pineapple juice. Holly got the chocolate cornetto, cappuccino and orange juice. We split the cornetto and half of each one. The custard one was good. Matcha wasn't great - forgot they don't have the same milk as us and it was very weak.

We then went to see the leaning tower which was a very different experience from the night before as there was so many tourists. Got the obligatory photos at the tower then walked around.

Don't know why the man told us to stand apart

Found a Maccies which meant I had to get an ice cream cone - €1.50 and we needed to use the toilet so if you bought something and had a receipt you didn't have to pay to use it.

We walked towards the canal which looked like Verona.

Found a gelato shop that did 3 scoops for €4 - I got pistachio, almond and coconut. The woman wouldn't let me try it so didn't know what they were going to taste like. They were alright, not the best I've had.

We walked to the station and bought our train tickets to Empoli - where we were staying for Jess' wedding. We booked the 2:30pm train. We wandered around a bit more than walked back to pick our cases up from the hotel. 

They have this near the station that gives out free sun cream! No idea what factor it is but a really good idea.

On the way to the station we stopped at a Poke place to have some lunch.

I got the salmon one which was part of one of the set options for €10.80. They put a lot of teriyaki sauce on it. It was nice but didn't need that much sauce.

The train was full as it goes to Florence but we did manage to find a seat. Got to Empoli and it was a 20 minute straight walk to the hotel - Hotel Da Vinci.

The hotel was one Jess had blocked reserved a load of rooms for the wedding so we got discount on it. It was nice but very old and barely had any plugs in the room. There was 1 next to Holly's side of the bed then one under the table which was annoying for me to charge my stuff. 

Nice big bathroom but the worst hairdryer!

Next post - pre wedding party...

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Pistachio White Chocolate Cookies

 

Been a while since I baked. I was meant to bake over Easter but I was sick so couldn't and been wanting to try these for ages as I'm obsessed with pistachio. I had a bag of shelled unsalted pistachios from Aldi which I spent ages de-shelling and then crushed them. I didn't use the full bag as I'd eaten most of them. I used left over white chocolate coins we still had from Christmas.

Ingredients:

125g Unsalted Butter - Softened

(Take it out over night)

100g Light Muscovado Sugar

100g Caster/White Sugar

1 Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

225g Self Raising Flour

½ Tsp Salt

50g Crushed Unsalted Pistachios

50g White Chocolate

What you need:

Mixing Bowl

2 Bowls

Wooden Spoon

Measuring Spoons

Sieve

Electric Whisk

Fork

Flat Baking Trays

Baking Paper

Oven 180°C

Baking time 7-8 minutes

Method:

Make sure you take your butter out the night before so it's nice and soft. 

Mix the butter with the 2 sugars with the wooden spoon first - as the Muscovado sugar is quite dry and lumpy - it stops it flying everywhere. Then when it's partly mixed you can use your electric whisk until it turns pale and creamy. Use your wooden spoons to check the consistency.

In a little bowl beat your egg and vanilla with a fork.

Once they have been mixed you can pour it into your mixture and using your electric whisk, whisk until well mixed. Then use your wooden spoon again to check.

Then sift your flour and salt and mix it together with your electric whisk using your wooden spoon to check consistency.

Add the pistachio and white chocolate and mix using your electric whisk. Once they have been mixed in, roll your dough into balls and place them onto your lined trays.

Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes.

Leave them to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes then transfer onto a wire rack.

I could have done with more pistachio but because I was meant to make these over Easter I'd eaten some of the pistachios and only used what I had left. Cookies look really pale as I used light muscovado sugar rather than dark. Using light makes them not as sweet and dark is a lot more caramelised.


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