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Goodbye, Summer!
Date: Sep. 21st 2008
Category: Flavour of the Month, Ice Cream
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It seems impossible but today is in fact the last day of summer.
As I’ve been telling so many people lately, I feel like I just blink and suddenly two or three months pass me by.
And to tell the truth, I still feel like I’m not fully back home, as though I’m straddling my time in Italy and my time since I’ve been back in Toronto. I feel a bit like I’m neither here nor there.
It’s unusual for me to be so reluctant to say goodbye to summer. It’s not my favourite season and the end of summer signals the beginning of my true seasonal love: the fall.
But these days my mind keeps replaying the three incredible weeks I spent in Italy and I’m just not ready to let go.
On my last night in Rome, I called my mother to go over my arrival time and flight information. I’m sure she sensed my reluctance to leave. Before we ended our conversation, she asked me to go out and have one last ice cream and to make it a lemon gelato, just for her (lemon gelato being her absolute favourite).
I stepped out into the hot Roman night and immediately veered off the beaten tourist path. I passed by countless gelaterias but couldn’t settle on which one to make the last one that I would visit before heading home.
And then quite by chance, I happened upon Il Gelato di San Crispino, a gelateria that I’d hoped to visit during my time in Rome but that had, up until that point, eluded me.
Without hesitating, I walked right in and ordered what is without question the very best lemon ice cream I have ever tasted.
It was so vibrant and so crisp that I felt like I was eating the most refreshing, cold lemon imagineable.
As I ate my gelato, leaning against the side of just another old, fading, beautiful Roman building, I silently thanked my mother for the best Roman goodbye that I could imagine.
Ciao!
Note: If you make it to Rome, you must visit Il Gelato di San Crispino, widely considered to be among Rome’s best gelaterias. The recipe for the lemon gelato that I made (pictured above) is from Olives & Oranges by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox. If you’d like to try making lemon gelato at home, here are some great recipes:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/articles/recipes/lemongelato.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_2058527_make-lemon-gelato.html
http://italianfood.about.com/od/gelatoandsherbet/r/blr0306.htm
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09/21/08 at 1:20 am
Yes, summer has definitely gone away! In many ways, it is sad, but I also love fall… A delicious looking gelato!
Cheers,
Rosa
09/21/08 at 2:53 am
Fabulous Ivonne. The gelato and the goodbye to summer.
Neither here nor there, I’d worry about you but I understand just what you mean.
09/21/08 at 6:03 am
I love lemon gelato, I really must get this book.
Let’s pray for a beautiful fall before the inevitable.
09/21/08 at 7:06 am
Ah yes, summer IS gone; but hooray for autumn, my FAVORITE season!!!
Looove your summery dessert, and reading about your last night with your mom in Rome.
09/21/08 at 7:37 am
I’d love to taste the gelato in Rome… and cream puffs in Venice…
Glad you had a memorable time in Italy.
Paz
09/21/08 at 8:00 am
Ivonne, I can relate to that last lemon gelato - I had one in Italy last year and I am still thinking about it!
I truly understand how you feel.
Thanks for the links. I must buy that book Oranges and Olives.
09/21/08 at 9:50 am
I’m going to miss summer as well! I ate a ton of gelato when I was in Rome, I’ll have to put this gelateria on my list when I return!
09/21/08 at 10:58 am
Il Gelato di San Crispino is a fabulous place to get gelato, now you’ve got me craving Rome again.
09/21/08 at 3:03 pm
Summer is having a last hurrah here, but I can definitely sense autumn waiting in the wings…
Fantastic post, Ivonne. Very evocative.
09/21/08 at 6:11 pm
Very beautiful. You made me just close my eyes and dream a little, thanks!
09/21/08 at 8:24 pm
I too am in denial about the end of summer, though truly Fall is my favorite time of year. It’s the summer foods I miss most.
09/22/08 at 1:06 am
Yes, Summer is indeed over…but the Flyers play tomorrow and the Flames play on Tuesday. Preseason hockey is here!
09/22/08 at 4:39 am
Sunshine in gelato. Sounds right to me.
09/22/08 at 5:21 am
Ah, that does look completely decadent. And just think… you’ll likely have these fond memories of your time in Italy every time you eat something rather lemony!
09/22/08 at 6:42 am
Oh man, that lemon gelatto looks amazing. If you get down to La Bruschetta on St. Clair and Lansdowne and talk to Sylvia (the owner), she’ll whip up an amazing gelatto. Total heaven. After having her lemon gelatto and sipping a chocolate grappa - oh my goodness - talk about heaven.
09/22/08 at 12:34 pm
I know what you mean..maybe because we had a pretty crappy Summer here in Toronto - I spent 3 amazing weeks in Italy, starting and finishing in Rome, and there were definitely tears as we pulled up to Fiumicino, I have been missing everything about Italy since. I went and bought the best of Eros cd and listening to that in the car on the drive home from the lovely subway takes me back to the drives down to the beaches of Sant’ Andrea (Calabria) day after day.
We’re going back to Milan in the Spring for my birthday but I’m counting down the days already to go back to the south next Summer…
Ciao! Glad you’re back safe and sound!
Kim
09/22/08 at 2:02 pm
That looks so incredibly wonderful and refreshing! It makes me long for the summer days that left us already too long ago.
09/22/08 at 3:11 pm
Great photos! I am sad summer is ending but I am excited for fall. Gelato is my absolute favorite. When we were in Italy we had it three times a day, at least!!
09/22/08 at 7:01 pm
[…] as I savoured my homemade lemon gelato, I’m also looking ahead to the best of the fall and for me that includes […]
09/23/08 at 1:29 pm
What a wonderful way to end summer, that looks incredible. Happy autumn!