George and I

I love food.  Sometimes I love it too much, which in turn makes me hate it and myself for indulging in some of the high calorie high taste concoctions I encounter. 
My sister often remarks with fascination, how the most wonderfully tasting things are most often the worst for you health wise, an opinion which I used to agree with.
That was until last summer when I embarked on a mini European vacation.  My travels took me throughout the United Kingdom, overnight in Paris and Amsterdam, and ended with a week in Italy.  The bulk of time being spent in the United Kingdom, a beautiful collection of countries, with breathtaking landscapes, interesting style, numerous cultures, strong history, and the most tasteless food I have ever encountered.
Staying with my friend in London, allowed me access to a kitchen and a number of well stocked grocery stores near by, something necessary as I quickly became tired with the bland supposed fine dining and pub offerings given tome.  However, even making the simplest recipes that I love when at home, in London left me feeling very unsatisfied.
I boarded my Easy Jet flight from London to Pisa and after a short bus ride arrived in Florence; home of Michelangelo’s David, the last resting place of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and my beloved cousin George.
George, a Halifax born, Parisian who because of work was living in Florence was to be the highlight of my trip, a fact I was sure of, and one that George lived up to as always.  More of a brother than a cousin, George has always welcomed me into his home and life with open arms, the finest coffee (a must for me) and a mischievous grin.  I knew that the next six days in Italy were going to be fun, however after how disappointed I had been food wise in the weeks prior, I wasn’t very optimistic with the combination of hot and humid weather, paired up with the heavy and rich pastas I associated with Italy.
On my second day in Florence George met me for lunch.  Instead of going out to eat, we decided to go back to his apartment where he would make something for us.  We left the outside 40 degree weather, stepped into the small stone entryway of his apartment and subsequently into 45 degree heat.  We climbed the 500 steps to his top floor flat (in this, as well as previous trips to Europe I have heard that the top floor “is the absolute best” of course these buildings are all walkups and every one of my friends MUST have the best!) We stopped a third of the way up.  I took the opportunity to rest my head against the cool stone of the walls and watched as George plucked a number of basil leaves from the plant in front of his neighbor’s door.  George looked at me with a wink, put his index finger in front of his smiling lips in a quite “shh” and gestured for us to continue.
Now sitting in his kitchen, I watched him take out two of the reddest tomatoes I had ever seen.  Ripened to perfection, not too soft, and not too hard, he sliced the tomatoes onto a plate.  Next came the buffalo mozzarella, taking the block out of it’s brine, he sliced into it a number of times then layered the cheese, tomato slices and basil leaves onto each of our plates, put just the slightest dash of salt and pepper, then drizzled each plate with olive oil.  The most simple concoction, but as I took my first bite, quite possibly the most divine food I had ever tasted.
Each of the ingredients were in their purest form, the taste erupted into my mouth and quite literally took my breath away (of course it could have been I was still recovering from those stairs). In all seriousness though, it was that moment which allowed me to achieve a clarity I never realized was missing until then.  At that moment I knew what a tomato really was, what fresh basil, olive oil, and cheese were truly supposed to taste like.  There in front of me, was a healthy, low fat, high fiber meal that was better than anything I had ever tasted.
Overall the food in Italy did not disappoint, including some of the best seafood I ever ate, coupled with a picturesque location on the Sea outside of Rome, however it was George’s Insalata Caprese that still makes my mouth water.