Stracciatella Sundae

Right now, the most difficult part of blogging for me is not lack of material or inspiration, but deciding where to begin. I probably have at least one hundred potential posts from my trip - but which one do I start with? Should I start with what is freshest in my memory, what was the very best (how do I choose?), start with the prettiest pictures, or do some kind of order such as alphabetical? Chronological order likely makes the most sense. Therefore, today I am starting near the beginning. Not the very beginning, but early on anyways. That isn't to say I will go in order from now on though, I prefer random orders with some of my own posts thrown in between. 

This is a stacciatella ice cream sundae I got on a hot day at an ice café. The story behind it is a little funny. Of course when traveling to different places, depending on where you are going, often you are surrounded by an unfamiliar language. I had a little experience with the language, but not a lot. Luckily though, being the foodie that I am, a big part of my vocabulary consisted of food-related words, so navigating menus was not too difficult. Also helpful were my traveling companions, who were fluent in the language and happy to decipher anything I couldn't on my own. 

Stracciatella is an Italian word used on menus in many different languages, so I did know that word (I wasn't in Italy). Referring to ice cream, stracciatella means vanilla ice cream with chocolate streaks in it. So my sundae consisted of scoops of this vanilla, chocolate flake ice cream with some chocolate sauce, extra chocolate flakes, and chocolate filigree decorations on top. What I did not know when I ordered, was that the sundae also contained chocoalte liquer, poured in along with the sauce. The waitress came out to check if this was okay, or if  I was of age, but of course I didn't understand a word she was saying so my accompaniments answered for me. That was the first time I (inadvertently) ordered myself a drink at a restaurant. I must say the addition of a little bit of chocolate liquer really did add to the flavor of the chocolate sauce and paired nicely with the ice cream without being too bitter or overpowering. This was definitely one of the best ice creams I had during my trip, and really got my trip off to a great start.