Konnubio, Florence | Food

I'm a bit sorry for the picture quality in this post, sometimes the lighting just isn't my friend and there isn't a massive amount I can do about it. Today I'm going to introduce you to a restaurant which at first glance you wouldn't necessarily associate with Italian cuisine but the second after you taste it, you just know. The restaurant is called Konnubio, it's very interesting because not only do they do a range of meats and fishes they also have a variety of vegan options and do offer even gluten free foods as well which I found incredibly impressive. The thing that melted my heart a little was actually that they had an English version of the menu, sometimes it's just nice to see words that are familiar. 

The restaurant was actually an old converted leather shop, Florence is known very well for it's leather but I thought that was a little interesting fact about the restaurant. I must admit when I was looking at the prices I though that they were a little steep for just a main course but I wasn't even expecting it to arrive as it did. At first I was really torn between having the Lamb or the Calf Cheek but because I've never hard calf cheek before I went with that option. The cornmeal mush was interesting, again it was something I've never hard before and cornmeal is basically like a flour that is made from dried maize, it was a looser texture than standard mashed potatoes but was very appealing anyway. We all ordered a side dishes of just roasted potatoes which you can see in the picture. We didn't order starters but still kinda got one anyway, as with most restaurants they provided us with bread and there was a wide variety of different breads and tiny little buns, I particularly liked these tiny little rolls that had raisin in them, but the bread itself wasn't sweet. Then we each were given these tiny little bread balls which you can see pictured. Well I had no idea what to expect, I mean I didn't even now whether it would be warm or not, but when I cut into it with my knife there was like a meat paste inside, bloody delicious which was also infused with herbs. I still have no idea what it actually was. 

When my main arrived I couldn't wait to tuck in, as you can see it was beautifully presented. The calf cheek was probably the most tender meat I have ever eaten in my life, you barely even needed a knife to cut it because it literally fell apart. The cornmeal mush was a nice accompaniment to the meat but I wouldn't say it tasted amazing, it was nice but the real show stopper was the meat of course. As I mentioned I also got a little side dish of potatoes and they were gorgeous, they were roasted with rosemary and had some olive oil over them, really really tasty I pretty much ate the whole dish. Another thing that arrived which you can just about see in the back of the picture was a little square of fried polenta, which melted cheese on top something I wasn't expecting at all to come with my dish. That was pretty tasty but the cheese was very strong, I couldn't eat it all. 

The evening was then finished off in a very traditionally Italian way by each of us having a little shot of limoncello, delicious. We split the bill 6 ways and it only came to 30.50 EUR each which I think is bloody fantastic considering we had wine etc. I think if you want to try out something a little different than "stereotypical" Italian food then you should check out Konnubio. 

What is your favourite type cuisine?

Pupa Light Active Foundation | Beauty

Today we are talking about foundation and my hunt to find a good one it Italy! If you have read my latest cream eyshadow post you will know that I have just discovered a brand called Pupa but the beauty store I visited only had a very small range. A couple of weeks ago I was casually wandering around, which is something I do very otfen here now because I don't really know where I am going so I just walk. Anyway, I was walking and all of a sudden I heard Last Christmas by Wham and found myself walking straight into this random shop, and I am so glad I did. Inside was massive and filled with all of these beauty brand there was a lot of high end but there was also brands like L'Oreal I was thrilled. Their Pupa stand was bloody huge and I went straight to the foundation. 

As you guys know, I often wear my Sleek Makeup CC Cream and I adore it however, I am going to run out of it at some stage so I need to find a nice replacement. Already a massive fan of the cream eyeshadows I thought I would have a look at what Pupa has to offer. Firstly, I was thrilled to see they did a really light shade, and I swatched the tester and fell in love! It melted into the skin and left a beautifully matte finish. It cost €20 which I must admit is a little pricey but based on the tester it was wonderful. However just as I was about to walk away I noticed they were selling a Duo kit with concealer for the same price, bloody bargain, so I snapped that up and went on my merry way. 

The next day rolls around and here I am so excited to try it all out on my face when I notice that the concealer is a little dark for my complexion but that's no big deal. I pump out the foundation onto the back of my hand and thought because of the texture of this product I'll use my stippling brush, it's very runny so that will buff everything onto my face fine. The moment I dabbed it onto my face I was over come with the scent, envision a little old lady, it was overpowering to say the least but I thought it's fine I'll carry on. Then I started to notice my face grow more and more orange... After I had finished I looked in the mirror and laughed! How was this possible? I picked up the right shade and everything, I had to wipe it all off! It was awful. I was SO gutted, I loved the little tester but the colour of the tester did not match the shade inside the bottle. The next day I tried to use just a tiny amount over my acne scars and pores to blur them out a bit and then used my cc cream over the top and it was ok but not ideal. The day after I didn't bother using it at all! I'll keep it because who knows maybe when I get a bit of a tan it'll blend a little better but right now, it just wasn't a good match. 

What foundations have disappointed you? 

An Aperitivo | Lifestyle

The literal meaning to an aperitivo is an aperitif, which is basically an alcoholic drink to stimulate the palette before a meal. In Italy, they love an aperitivo, which is what we do over in the UK, quite often we’d go out for drinks after work or go to a bar before go out for dinner but today I really wanted to talk about the differences.

Most places in Florence have a Happy Hour, but it’s not like the UK where it’s two for one cocktails or half price drinks, what this actually means is that the price of the drinks are slightly more expensive but you also get food with your drink. This food is mainly nibbles and small little dishes but there is a lot of it. I thought this was a really interesting concept, what I have noticed is the relationship with alcohol very different to the UK and even mine to an extent. Normally I’d just walk into a bar order a glass of wine, not too fussed about what kind, especially when it came to red wine you go out to get a bit drunk and have a laugh. Whereas here, you take you time to decide what wine you may like, the wine menus aren't massively long instead they are a carefully selected to appear on the menu.

In the picture above we were at bar called il Santino which genuinely was the cutest little wine place I’ve ever seen, but was tiny, it also had an amazing selection of meats and cheeses. We went here before going for dinner just to have a couple of glasses of wine, the thing I really loved about this place was that each glass of wine you order there is a little piece of bread that comes with it topped with a meat, each bread is decided dependent on your wine choice. How wonderful is that? I really like the idea that the wine is linked to your food, it really pairs everything together and makes it much more of an experience as opposed to just going for a drink. We ordered two glasses of wine each at this place the first bread we got had like a salted beef tartar that was delicious and the second, as you can see was salmon. I’m in heaven over here, the 4 main things I love, cold meats, cheese, bread and wine, what more could a gal want?

Also I’ve noticed that I’ve started to slow down with the wine I’m drinking and overall enjoy it more. I’ve also become quite accustomed to Chianti, which is a very typical Tuscan wine very rich in flavour but some people find it quite heavy. That’s not to say I don’t get drunk, I do, but it’s really good to have a bit of food there as well.

I love a happy hour but now, I think I’m starting to prefer the Italian Happy Hour more than the UK one.

What’s your favourite wine to drink?

O’Munaciello Pizzeria , Florence | Food

I know, it’s another foodie one and it’s another pizza, but I mean I’m in Italy how could I not have pizza?!

I am so lucky to have my roommate Valeria because she know all the best places and is happy to take me wherever, she is a great person to go to restaurants with. A couple of weeks ago she took me to a very traditional Neapolitan Pizzeria. Now I know what you’re thinking, I’m not in Napoli so surely I should be going to more traditional places that are linked to Florence, well when the pizza is this good it doesn’t matter. I have never seen a place so busy in all my life, we had to book a table and the earliest we could get was 10PM, bloody 10PM! I’m normally in bed by that time, but I guess I have to start getting used to these European dining hours, but I do love that they make an entire night out of it starting with an aperitivo which is something I will go into in another post and moving onto dinner later.

O’Munaciello is an incredibly lovely Neapolitan restaurant just situated over the river with lots of quirky design pieces to try and make it as close to Napoli as possible, they even had a washing line going across it which is actually very typical of Napoli apparently. When it comes to service the place was fine, but we went on a Saturday night so it was completely rammed and the staff were just so incredibly busy so there was a little wait with our food but I didn’t mind so much because I got to see everyone elses delicious pizzas.

I was very fortunate to have Valeria take me through each pizza and what they had on them, there were some typical topping with meat and mushrooms but I settled for the ‘Nduja pizza which you can see above. This is quite a simplistic pizza but the dark red dots on the pizza you can see are actually Nduja meat which is like a very spicy pork sausage but it’s more of a spreadable type of meat kinda like a pate consistency. I love spicy things and I love meat so I was pretty damn happy. When the pizza arrived I literally couldn’t wait to dive in. Since being in Italy I  cannot get over how intense the flavours are here, I mean they are incredible even down to the pizza base, it’s much thinner but still very doughy. The tomato sauce on top, was very rich and you could taste how fresh the tomatoes are, the mozzarella...don’t even get me started, I have just become obsessed with cheese atm and the sausage was incredible. I’d say it was slightly spicier than expected but it wasn’t over powering, it was the perfect amount to create a delicious dish. The thing that amazes me is that the pizza was only like 10EUR which for the quality is amazing. I decided to keep it fairly traditional and had a light beer to wash it down with which went very well actually.

I’m not gonna lie, I couldn’t quite eat it all, I did however eat all of the cheese because...just wow! But I was very full and incredibly satisfied. In keeping with the theme we decided to end the meal with a Limoncello which I loved! O’Munaciello

What is your favourite pizza topping?

Australian Bodycare Body Lotion | Beauty

Today I am talking about a brand I'm actually very familiar with called Australian Bodycare and was one of the products I brought out to Italy. I have written a post about their lovely Cleansing Face Mask but my beautician actually used their After Wax and I bloody love the stuff. 

I get a lot of waxing done, once a month, I get everything. I'm pretty lucky because I have very fair hair my leg hair is almost impossible to see. I never get my legs out anyway but I just like to have them waxed as well. However if you get a lot of waxing done like myself you can't always escape the odd ingrown hair which is incredibly annoying. I went to a PR event a few months ago and Australian Bodycare was their discussing their wide range of products and the lovely lady advised that after waxing I should try out the lotion because of it'singredients it actually helps with keeping the skin soft and works as an antiseptic as well, which is always a good thing. 

What really stands out about Australian Bodycare is that every product has tea tree in it, in fact it's pretty strongly scented. So if you're not a fan of tea tree oil or that type of scent stay well away because it is strong but if you don't mind it you need to check this stuff out. I used this lotion after my wax and it kept my skin lovely and soft. But the thing I was really impressed with was the regrowth of my hair, because it kept my skin super soft it mean the hair could grow back my easier. 

For me, this is a brand I would definitely repurchase, even if it isn't something I would use every day, it's there for when I need it which is the most important thing really. The products are actually a pretty good price, the 100ml tube is on £8.99 so it's not that bad. 

Have you tried any Australian Bodycare products?