I returned home from the city this weekend and wasted no time preparing a brunch for a girlfriend of mine who just returned from Italy. I was eager to make her a small Italian inspired feast, but with minimal ingredients in the fridge leftover from the week, I could not get as authentic as I had wanted. I imagine polenta with fried eggs, crepes with chocolate and a cup of something that resembled cappuccino would get her feeling sentimental. Like the time I visited her in Florence and we had pancakes with Nutella sauce and foamy cappuccinos at the sophisticated La Menagere. She only returned a week ago, and although happy to be home, feels a bit out of sorts, just as I did when I returned home. It's another life away that almost feels non-existent when you come back to normalcy. It's a weaning away feeling, a process that is hard to overcome when you know you must go back to the routine life of school and work. So, I wanted to make her a few things she was accustomed to eating in Europe. I was trying not to burn the crepes as I juggled the steamer on the espresso machine ( I pulled that thing out of storage, only to find out that maybe it doesn't work after all) being attentive to her stories- what happens in Florence, stays in Florence! I was all for the exciting stories of what she did on the weekend while in the Amalfi Coast or on her second visit to Capri. After all of the adventures she endured, Florence is where she left her heart. As most people who have been to Italy would say, Florence is probably the best city in all of Italia and I only had a small peak of it when I was there, a return awaits...

I made savory polenta with parmesan cheese, fried eggs with a sauce of edible flowers, basil and olive oil,  and crepes with Nutella.  The polenta was firm enough to cut into, like butter- still soft and creamy- but toothsome. I added a parmesan rind to it as I quickly stirred. I will say, one of the worst parts of cooking polenta is when it spits steaming bubbles of cornmeal onto your bare skin. That's why you let polenta either do its magic from afar or you stand there stirring like crazy. Fried eggs have become my favorite, but only when made in a non-stick pan. I can't stand loading a stainless steel pan with oil, adding the eggs and watching them start to stick anyways. No matter what anyone thinks, although not the popular favorite, I love non-stick nonetheless.  

Crepes will never go away, they are a dainty delicacy that you can eat over and over without getting full. Pancakes are another story. Crepes are also something you want to make in a non-stick pan with lots of butter too. With all  of my friend's travel gossip from Berlin, Paris, Prague, and back to Florence each European weekend carried away another funny tidbit or exciting discovery. And so we sat hastily nibbling our brunch as she shared and I listened to her amazing stories.