The FAQ in Milan!

I just returned from an adventure in every sense of the word. About a month ago a dear friend won a scholarship in Milan -- right about the time I decided I needed to take a vacation! Is that perfect timing, or what? I had never been to Italy -- Europe, yes, but not the land of pasta. Although I was really excited to visit my friend in a beautiful city, my main concern was about northern Italian cuisine...lots of wheat, dairy, tomatoes, garlic...all out to get me. The other concern was airplane food, since my food allergies are so all over the map that there isn't any one style the airlines can get me (kosher, veggie, etc.).

I prepared by bringing trail mix, Lara bars, and chocolate. All stuff that is portable, and easy to tuck into my carryon. The trail mix especially came in handy, as a handful of quick protein helped prop me up when I was famished...esp. as I picked my way around the two airplane meals on the 11 hour flight (which was surprisingly good, at least the parts I could eat. Thanks Lufthansa!)

My hotel provided a free breakfast. I worried about it being continental-style (just bread and coffee), but it turned out to be surprisingly flexible for me. My brekkie looked odd, but gave me just enough good stuff to get me to lunch...it usually consisted of salami (which was amazing on every front...I ate it every chance I got and was very sad that I couldn't bring it back through customs), a hard-boiled egg, fruit and lots and lots of strong Italian coffee. Yeah baby!

For most of my meals, we were careful to select places that had meat, fish and antipasti options in addition to the three p's: panini, pasta and pizza. Veal Milanesa (their signature dish) had some breading on it, but not too much, so I didn't feel too badly afterwards. I had a SPECTACULAR lunch with excellent service (friendly, professional, and they asked if I had food allergies) at Cracco-Peck, a two-star restaurant, but will go into detail in a separate post because there is just too much to tell. Once I had to break down and have a sandwich because I ate all my snacks for the day, but the rest of the time I enjoyed the sorbetto and coffee (which were available on practically every corner) as I strolled through the city all day long.

Note: the lone bratwurst was from the train station in Frankfurt. Because it was so long, and the roll so short, it made it easy to work around the bread!

Enjoy the pictures, and Ciao for now!