Siena, Italy - Medieval Life and Horse Racing

Italy has many well-known travel destinations such as Rome. Less publicized destinations such as Siena are even better.

Sienna

Located roughly an hour outside of Florence, Siena is one of my favorite places in Italy. When you think gothic architecture and medieval town, you think of Siena. Built as a fortified city behind large, thick walls on a small mountain, Siena oozes history. Cars are barred from much of the city, so you can meander down ancient brick alleyways below towering wall-to-wall residences.

In Siena, youll find a relaxed way of life, two music schools and just a general feel of what Italy must have been like in the past. Head to the Piazza del Campo in the heart of the city and grab a seat in a caf. As you gaze across the city, you can view the Duomo Cathedral that towers over the city. Unlike other cities, the cathedral does not contrast with the buildings around it. All of Siena retains the gothic medieval architectural style and youll be hard pressed to find a better gothic example in Europe.

The best way to experience Siena is to simply stay there. Like wine, Siena improves the longer you stay. Daily explorations lead to surprising little shops, incredibly friendly people and a general feeling of peace.

Il Palio

If you prefer a little action on your trip, Siena has an event that rivals any in Europe. The Il Palio bareback horse race around the Piazza del Campo is a sight to be seen. The fun starts well before the race when various neighborhoods challenge each other. The challenge comes in the form of bands walking through enemy neighborhoods in the middle of the night and making an unholy racket. Eventually, each neighborhood produces a horse and rider for the day of the race. Bareback, the riders race for neighborhood pride among an absolutely screaming crowd of people. The running of the bulls has nothing on this event.

If you visit Florence while in Italy, take the time to spend a couple days in Siena. In fact, blow past Florence and go immediately to Siena.

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of writing journals. Travel journals are great travel accessories and travel gifts for student travel, family vacations and adventure travel. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more travel articles, travelogues and travel stories.

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How to Cook Summer Squash

The delights of summer must surely include the wondrous varieties of summer squash, including the ubiquitous zucchini, which seem to flourish even when grown by those of us who always manage to kill everything else in our gardens.

The term "summer squash" refers to several different squashes that are grown between frosts and deliberately harvested before their rinds harden. They grow on bush-like plants rather than on the spreading vines more typical of winter squash or pumpkins.

Summer squash comes in many different colors and shapes, often varying so greatly from one another that you might not know they were related unless you had been told.

I mentioned zucchini, perhaps the most familiar of the summer squashes. Its green color and club-like shape are typical of a class of summer squash that also includes caserta and cocozelle. While green is the predominant color among such this category of squashes, you will sometimes see yellow or white ones as well.

A second class of summer squash contains varieties bearing fruit in which the "neck" of one end is narrower than the other. Additional terms to further classify them include "crookneck" and "straightneck," which are self-explanatory. The color of these squashes is typically yellow.

Finally, there's patty pan squash. Also sometimes called scalloped squash, the fruit is round and flattened; some have described it as flying saucer-shaped. The color is typically white but green or yellow is sometimes seen.

Despite their differing appearances, all varieties of summer squash can be used interchangeably in the kitchen. So, anytime you come across a recipe for one type, and you have a different type on hand--no problem. Go ahead and cook!

Here's a recipe for one of the most popular summer squash dishes, zucchini croquettes.

Ingredients
2 large zucchinis
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 eggs
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 onion
Cooking oil

Directions

1. Grate the zucchini into a bowl. Add salt, mix, and let stand for 45 minutes. Drain off the excess liquid that will have been sweated out of the zucchini.

2. Crush the garlic gloves. Lightly beat the eggs. Dice the onion. Add these, with the other remaining ingredients (except for the cooking oil) to the bowl. Mix well.

3. Heat a non-stick skillet and drop the zucchini batter into it by spoonfuls. Cook until croquettes are well-browned on bottom, then flip and brown the other side. You may need to cook just a few croquettes at a time until you have used up all of your batter.

4. Let croquettes cool a bit, then serve and enjoy.

Here is a super-simple recipe for roasting any kind of summer squash in the oven:

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. of squash
3 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Trim off the skin of the squashes. Cut each squash into bite-size pieces.

2. Mix olive oil and salt in a large bowl and coat the squash pieces in the mixture.

3. Place squash pieces on a baking sheet. Roast on the top rack of an oven preheated to 420 degrees until tender (test with a fork or knife). Roasting time should be between 12 and 16 minutes.

Sarah Sandori is the food and entertaining columnist for the Solid Gold Info Writers Consortium. Have you ever wanted to be able to exactly duplicate a favorite dish from a favorite restaurant? Check out Sarah's article where she reveals her source for the most mouth-watering secret restaurant recipes in America: http://www.solid-gold.info/most-wanted-recipes.html

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