a florentine affair

When it comes to Valentines Day I'm usually a cynic. The need to be more romantic on February 14th than on any of the other 364 days of the year sends the world into a pink and red, flower filled, chocolate coated PDA fury that I find ever so slightly nauseating. But this year was different. This year I was struck by cupid's bow and now I've fallen in love. Big time. It's the weak at the knees, butterflies in the stomach, heart racing at 100mph kinda love. Would you like to meet him? Here's Florence...

Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

To this man who, every day, spends hours chalk drawing onto the floor, only for it to be washed away by the rain, I am forever in awe.

Il Giardino di Boboli

Demetra

Loggia dei Lanzi

Valentine's Day drinks with my other true love. Sophie not a bottle of Gin incase you were wondering...

And there we sat for five hours, smitten with Florence, our cocktails and each other. Nawwh! Best Valentine's Day ever, and not a red rose or heart shaped chocolate in sight!

The next day we got up bright and early for what seems to have become our Viaggia l'Italia ritual. Visit new place, walk up a thousand steps to highest point of new place, end up too hot, sweaty and puffy to appreciate view of said place but feeling ever so righteous from the hike, therefore pat ourselves on the back with a well deserved drink. Here's the ritual in photo form:

View from Piazza Michelangelo

Babe

Michelangelo's David and what could possibly be the worst caricatures I've ever seen in my life. I think I can just about make out Hedwig on the bottom left.

Sophie & Joy

Do you remember me talking about a chocolate festival in Padova? Well we stumbled across it again, here in Florence! (Unplanned, I promise)

Soph introduced me to this Pistachio liquor from Sicily. I'm undecided whether this was a blessing or a curse. It is in-cred-i-ble! If you ever come across this, buy a bottle. 

This next place was without a shadow of a doubt my favourite thing of the whole trip. Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. It is the oldest pharmacy in Europe, founded by Dominican friars in 1221, it was later opened to the public in 1612. It is quite simply magical.

L'Antica Spezieria con monks.

Lotions and potions, chandeliers and painted ceilings. Think of it as Boots' older and more refined foreign cousin.

And then it was time for my whirlwind love affair to come to an end, and for us to go home. I think we can make the long distance thing work... And if not, well hey, at least all the Valentine's Day chocolate are now half price!

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finding my inner chia

No sooner did exam season come than it left again and I was back to being carefree with a filofax ready to be filled with coffee dates. Then the heavens opened and washed away my plans of sunning, spritzing and people watching. After a few hours inside, sat around like a moaning myrtle, I decided to find my inner chia.

Thanks to Calgary Avansino, Deliciously Ella & Gwyneth Paltrow, chia seeds have taken over my insta-world.

Superfood Superfacts:
3 times more iron than spinach
5 times more calcium than milk
7 times more vitamin C than oranges
15 times more magnesium than broccoli
Full of omega-3, protein, anti-oxidants and fibre. If all that can't cure a mild case of MMS (Moaning Myrtle Syndrome) I don't know what can!

What a chia-full way to start your day...

Banana, blackcurrant, coconut, almond, cinnamon & chia smoothie 

Now i'm gonna go ahead and state the obvious... this next one looks a tadpole bit like frogspawn. But it's toad-ily not! This is Coconut, Raspberry & Pistachio Chia Pudding.

1/2 cup almond, rice or coconut milk

2 tbsp chia seeds

Simply stir & refrigerate, ideally overnight but 20mins will do

Now Pimp your Pud: honey, cocoa, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, berries, cherries, ground nuts, whole nuts, fresh fruit & seeds etc.

So if like me you're experiencing a bit of MMS this month, this is a sure-fire way to chia up!

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