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The advantage to not staying at a hotel in a vacation destination like Positano is that accomodations like Villa Pimpinella often come pimped out with a wood fired oven, full kitchen, and grill. And great local markets and shops are mere steps away. So we had to cook, obvs! The restaurants were fine and we had a few really great meals, but with our killer terrace and access to stellar ingredients, it was hard to not want to chill out with a glass of wine while enjoying the view and some tasty treats.
Nearly every morning Chad and I would hike up the 123 steps to our main neighborhood drag and hit the local butcher, fish monger, fruit stand, and general grocery to pick up ingredients for dinner. We were simply inspired by what we saw and grilled everything from eggplant to steak to pork chops to baby octopi. We also made a few pasta concoctions from local ingredients like zucchini and lemon; tomato, mozzarella, and basil (alla Caprese); and tomato with pancetta and peperoncini. We would then use leftover ingredients in breakfast frittatas or for a pasta lunch after a rigorous (to us) morning hike. Check it!
The main drag at the top of the steps to our villa. Strangely calm...
The local butcher where we bought all sorts of meat products.
Ah, that's more like it. Traffic galore. The only thing that's missing is a bus coming at us from the opposite direction. And there's Chad coming out of the market. Hi, Chad!
Non Solo Frutta, our favorite shop just across from the market pictured above. Non solo frutta! They sold wine, pasta, coffee, and...gasp...vegetables too!
The appetizer portion of one of our meals: grilled romaine. We bought it one night to make a salad and then decided that salad was...bor-ing! A quick toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, then a few minutes on the grill, a squeeze of lemon and...ta-dah!
This local sausage accompanied the grilled romaine. We were just getting the grilled warmed up for the meat fest to come.
The nightly table setting.
The wood burning oven. We could have opened our own pizzeria. For realz.
Grill fest.
Grilling the eggplant.
Buona sera, Sr. Polpo!
Mmmm...wine.
The main local red grape variety is Aglianico and Taurasi is a specific wine region in Campania. We discovered another brand of Taurasi in a local restaurant and then tracked it down to a local wine shop. After two days of buying that particular wine, the shopkeeper turned us on to this particular bottle and it was spectacular. I think we bought them out.
Spiedini (meat skewers) made at the local butcher. Sausage, chicken, pork belly, lemon leaves...I have a feeling that they make them to sell the small pieces of meat that they wouldn't otherwise be able to sell. Well, it worked! 
The kitchen where all the magic happened. Note the glass of red wine, the key to all good cooking.
Bag 0' fresh pasta.
Our version of pasta all' amatriciana.
Cold leftover pasta...Caprese and zucchini lemon.
Newly invigorated leftover pasta.
Lunch!
Ahhh...
I just got back from a majah vacay in Positano, Italy, AKA the Amalfi coast, with some of my besties, Chad and Ken. Props to Chad for hooking us up with a fabulous villa with a kick ass terrace and an amazing view!! Full disclosure: I will be posting MANY photos over the course of the next week or so. I am not doing this to rub it in or to gloat (although it was fabulosity at it's finest), I just have a ton of excellent blog material! So let me present Positano: A Day in the Vacationing Life.
The entrance to our pad. Pimpinella is evidently a plant genus to which anise belongs.
Our villa and terrace is nestled in here. Find the fluffy pine tree and white arch in about the center of the photo (to the right of the massive bougainvillea) and you'll get the gist of where we were living it up.
The view of our terrace walking in from the front door.
Turning around to make sure that really is a hammock. Yep.
Our dining nook where we enjoyed some fabulous meals and a bit of wine. A bottle per person is normal, right?
Some of the floral and fauna of our terrace and surroundings. Actually the fauna mostly presented itself in the way of slugs.
Did I mention the steps? Yeah. No elevators here. The only way in and out of our villa, and the way into the center of town, or just to the beach, was to enjoy some stairmaster action au naturel. It was 123 steps from the villa just up to the street. I'm thinking about 10 times that to the beach. I could barely walk when I got out of bed in the morning.
The view on the way to the beach.
A local hotel sign that I dug.
La spiaggia! We went to the little beach, Il Fornillo, rather than the very crowded Spiaggia Grande.
Our daily beach seats.
Did I mention the "sand"? A person needs to get used to this grain size, unless you are a child in which case you can run around on these hot rocks in bare feet all day. We considered rolling around on them to give ourselves hot rock massages, but put on our flip flops and jumped in the Med instead.
The view walking back into town.
Check out the patch of orange next to the sea. That's Spiaggia Grande. Not so grande now...
More flora on our terraza.
Ah...dusk and the view from Villa Pimpinella.
Buona notte.
"Yo, seriously, she's like on a whole 'nother level on pickles." —Jenni "J-WOWW" Huh. Maybe this explains it: "That's why I don't eat frickin' lobster or anything like that. Because they're alive when you kill it." —Snooki
Did you watch Sunday night's double feature?? True Blood vs. Mad Men? It was fabulous. I got nervous when my train back from the beach started crawling along at 5 miles an hour because of "signal problems," but I still made it back with an hour to spare.
You might think that all I do is watch TV, good, bad, or really bad, but you'd be wrong! Mostly all I do is watch TV, particularly the really bad stuff. So what? It's not like I schedule my life around cable programming (except for, I guess, Sunday nights). That's why the DVR was invented. And tonight is no exception with the season two premiere of The Jersey Shore!!! GTL baby! You know that's going to be some quality entertainment right there, so make it legit with my Sleazeside inspired party ideas.
A little highbrow perhaps, but you can't go wrong with the colors of the I-talian flag. "I dance because it's something inside of me. I feel the beat, right? It might just so happen that my fist might pump in the air." —Vinny
"I feel like this is beneath me. I'm a bartender. I do great things." —Angelina "Jolie" Riiight.
"If you're hungry, try a Snickers." —Mike "The Situation" Nuff said.
Baked Ziti: in case you get excluded from other dinners. "You know what? You're excluded from dinner, then. You're excluded from Surf-and-Turf Night. You're excluded from Ravioli Night. You're excluded from Chicken-Cutlet Night." —Mike "The Situation"
Cannoli. Because you might need something sweet. Like Sammi. "Next thing you know, the grill is legit burnt. Smoke. Like flames." —Sammi "Sweetheart"
"I told him to put me down because I'm not trashy. Unless I drink too much." —"Snooki" That totally makes sense!
Snooki's Sucker Punch
1 part cranberry juice cocktail
1 part lemonade
1 part Triple Sec
2 parts vodka
Splash of ginger ale
Ice
Add the ingredients to a large red Solo cup in any order. Stir with your finger. Or don't. Repeat.
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