Crazy Train, Italian style!

Wood-fired pizza at Cosimo's the other night inspired another memorable pizza moment... the Crazy Train in Italy.

While staying at our truly awesome villa outside of Florence, we'd have to pass through the little town of Compiobbi everyday. Along the way was a little dive called the Crazy Train pizzeria right next to the train tracks. We'd all joke about how we HAD to eat there, though one of us was not keen on the idea. "We didn't travel all this way to eat at some dive pizzeria." Remember those fateful words...

Finally, majority ruled and we descended upon the Crazy Train. Individual pizzas abounded and we each ordered our own. Wanting to try different things, we all swapped slices and enjoyed a piece of everyone else's pie. Fantastic! Every bite of every pizza was amazing. Even better was the fact that 7 of us each ordered a pizza, drinks and several of us ordered desserts and the bill came to well under $100!!

Later that week, seeking inspiration for our last dinner together, someone had the idea to get food to bring back to the villa rather than shopping and cooking. Why not revisit the Crazy Train? That we did. And no, we did not travel all that way to eat at some dive pizzeria. We traveled all that way to eat there twice! :)

Not the Crazy Train, but the view from our villa fabuloso!

Limonata

What's another name for a can of quenching, lemony goodness? Limonata. Lemon soda. Made by the San Pellegrino company (of bottled water fame), we first discovered this tasty drink while on vacation in Italy.

One day we took a ferry boat from Varenna and upon setting foot on land in Bellagio, Don decided he needed something cold and refreshing to drink. As luck would have it there was a drink cart stationed right off the dock. Wanting to go for something a little more exotic than a Coke, he opted for a Limonata. From that moment we've been hooked. Not long after that we hiked up to Castello di Vezio, a centuries-old castle perched high on a hill overlooking beautiful Lake Como. What did we find at the top at the entrance to the castle grounds? A bar! Seriously, these Italians know what it's all about. Well, it was a bit early for the heavy stuff so we decided on a cold can of our new favorite soft drink.

After returning home, we longed for the bubbly, citrusy drink we had in Italy. Lo and behold it existed here in the States! We also discovered Limonata's sister: Aranciata (orange flavored) It's not cheap ($4-5 per 6-pack), but every once in a while we indulge and take ourselves back to Lake Como even if for a brief moment.