it. was. perfection.

Before we left, I really couldn't have imagined that our trip to Tuscany would be what it was. How can one imagine the perfect trip? But that's what we were lucky enough to have. Most of it was due to this beautiful woman -- Evan Kleiman, our hostess, chef and caretaker for 10 days.

I've been stalled posting [we got home Friday afternoon] for two reasons. First, there's JUST TOO MUCH to get down all at once. So I'll be posting daily till I'm caught up. Second, I had to get the pictures ready. And they are, finally. Over 400 pictures. Here you go. I hope you like them. I'm really pleased.

A few highlights to get this started:
- the Canon SD550 was absolutely the best choice of a camera that I've ever made. tiny, pocketable, very easily adjusted for better pictures when it was too bright or too dark [i hope you'll agree] and fast like lightning.

- hub's Blackberry worked everywhere we were in Italy, including the smallest towns. that meant Jillian could send me updates on how BGK was doing in its first few days, and what people were saying. what a rush, getting news like that in a place like Italy!

- we've been to Europe together twice now [France both times], and this was, without question, the best trip we've ever been on, anywhere in the world.

- we weren't home 24 hours when we headed out to our little Italy to see what culinary yums had made it across the ocean, since we were going into withdrawal already. Grace Meat Market on College St [corner Grace] has an amazing selection, including some of the brands we sampled at the maker's stalls in the San Lorenzo market, like Conti balsamics. we stocked up on espresso, prosciutto, oil-cured olives and artichokes and felt content.

- we both, definitively, do not like truffles [the underground kind]. i wanted to like them, but really, really no.

- Tuscan olive oil tastes so freshly green, it's almost like sipping flowers. we brought two bottles home [all we could fit in our suitcase]

- thanks to Zib, my two first words of Italian [pura seta] were put to very good use.

There's more, but I'm gonna stop now. You'll see it's 6 am on Sunday. I'm up because I couldn't stay awake past 6pm last night, and even in our comfy bed, I can't sleep more than 12 hours. Jet lag is a bitch, but man, is it ever worth it.