party on

On Tuesday night, since Henk didn’t want to walk because he was sick and I didn’t want to cook again, we went to dinner at the trattoria next door, which was awesome, again. We got a platter of grilled meats and vegetables. The waitress, same one from the last two times, gave us complimentary aperitifs and digestifs this time. God, I love that place.

Wednesday was the usual: Food writing and Beginning Italian. My food writing class went out to dinner (since the day’s lesson was “restaurant reviewing”) at Buca Dell’ Orafo, which is right next to the famous Ponte Vecchio. I don't know if I've mentioned but I'm the only guy in that class. It's like swimming lessons in a pool of estrogen. The rose seller outside the restaurant glared at me because I didn't buy a single flower for "my fourteen dates." We had a seven-course family-style dinner. Chef Giordano, a character in his own right, kept plate after plate coming as well as bottle after bottle of red wine. Clearly I was sitting at the right end of the table since we cleaned all those plates. This was especially true of Sara, Samantha, and me.

"Pass that down here. We'll finish it."

Then I met up with some friends for the grand opening of Twenty One, a new venue owned by a promoter we’re acquainted with. It’s supposedly “the twilight zone between a bar and a club.” It was pretty fun. Every class I have here was well-represented by drinking, dancing people having a great time. The party was by invitation only, and I hadn't gotten mine from a friend because I was late due to aforementioned dinner. There were tons of people outside on phones calling others panicking or frantically searching pockets and purses for cards. I felt pretty lucky as I was walking to the front door and Fabio (the promoter, now club owner) shook my hand and waved me in. Of the people who regularly appear in my writing, only Jack, Giuseppe, Henk, and Anton (who part-times as a promoter) were there. The music was great. I didn't need any drinks since I was extremely drunk full from dinner.

A few hours later, I went to a Russian bar to meet up with Henk, Joe, and Juan and then we went to Twice to meet up with Anthony and his friends. Some drunk American girls followed us around and kept trying - inexplicably - to dance or to talk about sports stats.

The next morning I got great news. Guess who's not getting deported from Italy! I got a letter back from the government legalizing my stay in this country. Tight.

My food/culture/society class made two nearly-vegetarian dishes today. They were both filling and delicious. I thought of my parents because they would have loved them.

peperoni alla venezia (yellow bells sauteed with eggplant, tomato, garlic, wine, and of course, olive oil) and "risi e pisi" (pea risotto with parmesan and pancetta)

For my photography class, we were split up into groups and assigned different culinary aspects of the city to photograph ON-LOCATION. So we had to walk around the city and take pictures of various things. My group was assigned specific pastry, bakery, and chocolate stores. (The group that had first pick took gelato. Bitches.) But we had lots of fun and still stopped at Dei Neri for gelato anyway.

Henk and I grabbed dinner at the oil shoppe before he left for the train station to go to Paris. Then I took a long nap and got up when Jack and our friend Eddie came over. Somehow we were all hungry again - they'd gotten food on the way over - and went to "The House of Sizzle" to get one of their dozen burger selections. Mine was a BLT Burger. I'm pretty sure the bacon was actually pancetta but no complaints. That and the fries helped satisfy the American craving.

After that, we went to Salamanca and met up with a bunch of girls who I now know live on the same street as me. Eventually Juan, a bunch of other girls we know, Ross, Nick, Giuseppe, John, and more girls (in that order) showed up.

I love Salamanca because it's a Spanish tapas restaurant by day / Latin bar at night. And half the bar is a regular bar and other half is like a nightclub complete with green laser lights. After several pitchers of sangria, some of the girls, Juan, Ross, and I went to the dance floor to cut it loose and for a while even get up on the tables. Great times.

Okay, with all these new names, it's getting confusing again. Here's the second edition of the Andrew's-regular-friends-in-Italy cheat sheet, broken down by apartment:

l'auberge Italienne - gents: Giuseppe, Henk, myself
l'auberge Italienne - ladies: Liz, Aneet, Anna
the Girls Next Block: Mindy, Liane, Alison, Jess, Primavera
Donne interNazionale: Primavera, Marissa, Helen
across the Arno: Jack, Juan, Anton
designer district: Ross, John, Joe, Nick

Chi-Town got it goin' on

It's time for some reunions in the windy city.

Friday, May 30 - Monday, June 2

Monday, June 2 - Thursday, June 5

That is all. This is going to rule so hard.

long but eventful!

Saturday night started off great and didn’t end as well. After the delivery guy dropped off the booze (yeah, seriously) that Jack had ordered from the liquor store owner we’ve buddied up with, Giuseppe and I decided to go to aperitivo (happy hour with snacks) at the bar rather than sit around while waiting for the others to gather. A few rounds of rum and some tasty snacks later, I went over to the apartment of The Girls Next Block to have dinner. Mindy, who is queen of all things vegetable although not a vegetarian, cooked some and tortellini.

We came back to my apartment for cocktails, shots, and cake. And somehow the pre-game became the big game. And we lost. Badly. Some of us were team players but a few rookies handicapped us.

Happy birthday, Jessi shot!

Sunday, regardless of what they did for the weekend, pretty much everyone was recuperating. Spent the afternoon at my bar unsurprisingly. Grabbed dinner from the Cinese place down the block with Giuseppe, Henk, and Juan. Then we had a high-stakes game of poker and met up with Jack at Loch Ness. Pool. Mojitos. Foosball games. (Ghibellina 4 / San Freddiano 2.) Bloody Marys. Jack has been added to the ranks of Stephanie, Laura, and Ben as an official Andrew smoking buddy.

Our apartment is open 24 hours/never sleeps, loves hot moms, and has Brazilian soul.

Monday I thought would be busy, but it was surprisingly relaxed. My friend Jeremy, who also went to Tulane and lived in Butler freshman year (6th floor) had told me he would be in Florence for a few hours. I thought he meant the afternoon, but he called in the morning, so I got to see him before class. We just got coffee, pondered if it was too early for beer, and caught up on each other’s life. He teaches English in Tunisia now and is at the end of a month of vacation traveling. It was surreal to meet up at The Duomo with someone I associate with New Orleans, but it was amazing to talk with someone else who understands and misses that lifestyle. I walked with him to Santa Maria Novella since he wanted to check it out before catching a train to Bologna at the station next door.

the weary traveler

I was photo-finish just-barely in time for my Food Styling class. We had another chef as a substitute teacher today but used our actual teacher’s recipe.

Filet of sole wrapped around steamed mussels and topped with caviar, chives, and shrimp foam; served with a mussel shell stuffed with sole roe and diced zucchini flowers.

Delicious, which is not at all surprising. Our sub came up with the stuffed shell idea on-the-spot. Very cool.

After class Jack and I did a lot of walking. We went to get our new textbooks, made a stop at the chef apparel store, hung out at my apartment for a while, went to the bar, went to a sportswear store, and then went to dinner at the apartment of The Girls Next Block. After I hung out with them for a little while, including a gelato walk with Mindy and a balcony chat with Liane. When I got home, I just sat on the couch and watched Henk paint. It looked like he was starting a mural on our wall in his own blood, but it was cool. After I took the following picture, I noticed how much of our apartment is accented in red. From random papers and books scattered to our beer and wine bottles to the floor and pretty much the entire kitchen.

It looks like he's painting the wall with blood, but that's okay.

Tuesday morning I got up and went straight to our neighborhood market. It’s overwhelming at first, but after a stroll through you can figure out easily what and where you want to buy. Grocery shopping was never this fun. I came back here, cleaned the kitchen and did the basic prep work. Cutting the spinach off the roots, seasoning the meat, checking my frozen veal stock (from the osso bucco a million years ago), folding garlic and butter together, and making rosemary olive oil.

fresh produce at the market

I showed Liz where the gym was, so she could get her membership. We both opted for a quick workout even though it would mean an extra shower each. After said shower back here, I started cooking. Liz couldn’t come to lunch because she had class, but I happily fed my roommates, Jack, Mindy, and Aneet. I sautéed the spinach with olive oil, garlic, onion, veal stock, and lemon zest. And I pan-seared the steak (marinated in sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, and green onion) in the rosemary oil and garlic butter. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

bistecca all'Andrea (as in, "Italian for Andrew") over sauteed spinach

After lunch, people dispersed. The girls went back to their apartments. Giuseppe went to the computer lab, Henk took a nap, and Jack hung out for a while then went home. Now I’m at the bar, drinking a macchiato and trying to decide whether to stay for aperitivo.

By the way, I drink coffee now, but only one small shot a day unless it’s morning cappuccino. It’s so much better here than America... excluding of course any gifts from Tara or Alison when they worked at Café Luna.

the freakin' weekend, baby

Friday was laidback. I don't even remember what I did, just that I woke up after only five hours of sleep and couldn't fall asleep again. That was unacceptable. The afternoon flew by. I went to dinner with my roommates. Bread, olive oil and vinegar for dipping, pizzas, a bottle of Chianti. Good times. Henk and I went to get gelato at Grom, which might be my favorite gelateria in the world now. Then we went over to the apartment of The Girls Next Block to pre-game, and then to the apartment of the girls downstairs to pre-game, and then out with a bunch of people to Moyo. I didn't stay out too late because I got sleepy. I did manage to wait until midnight to buy Jess the requisite birthday drink.

Today I went to the hospital. They said the knee is healing well and to come back in two more weeks. After that, 'Seppe and I went to lunch. I love me some pasta arrabiata (the "angry" one... fresh tomato sauce spiced with red pepper and other things).

week closed out nicely

Food writing was lecture and discussion about various forms of food media as well as some new assignments for us to cover. We also got to meet the president and founder of the school because she was the original teacher of our course and our semester project is of particular interest to her. More on that in the future. She was nice and laidback though.

So Italian class was all about the Pink Floyd and as far as Italian, demonstrative adjectives and articles of both the definite and indefinite nature. When I got home, Henk suggested we give the Chinese carryout place down the block a a try. (Giuseppe had approved, noting it was "just a little salty.") So he and I went and got some dinner. I got roast duck and a chicken curry fried rice. Both were surprisingly good... unlike the last time I had Chinese food in Italy circa 2000.

Then I got a call from Aneet, so we went to go meet up with her and the other girls at Moyo. She and Alison left for a Yung Joc concert and due to a misunderstanding, some people wound up at another bar or calling it a night. Liane, Henk, and I went into Loch Ness to do a few quick shots. By the way, Liane forgot her membership card and any other form of ID. But the bouncer from the other night remembered her and accordingly us. "You guys were here last night, with the other girl, THE RUSSIAN." (Anna, if it's not obvious.) Eventually we wound up back at Moyo with Mindy, Jess, The "Russian," and Jack. I got a 7&7 and found Mindy a "bitch drink"(her phrase not mine) that tasted like the blended fruit ingredients rather than vodka. Lots of drinking. Lots of dancing.

semi-candid? "'cause I'm Mr. Brightside..."

Thursday was good too. In my cooking class, we had a substitute teacher. She prefers having one half the class work on the entrees and the other half work on the desserts. Our usual teacher just has everyone prepare one of each course. I was in the half of the room assigned desserts, so I lucked out. (I saw the pasta recipe, and I could've done it in my sleep.) We made zuccotto, a semi-frozen dessert, and decided to melt some leftover chocolate to cover it with. We did have lots of fun with all the chocolate and brandy at our disposal.

zuccotto, a Florentine dessert. it's brandy-dipped sponge cake wrapped around a rich filling made of whipped cream, chocolate, confectioner's sugar, and ricotta.

My photography class was less eventful. Since I missed last week's class, I didn't have as many photos to load, but I did get a few good ones in to contribute. We had another brief meeting with the president/founder. Deja vu.

When I was walking home, I got a call from Liz about having dinner at Prima's. I had completely forgotten I was supposed to hang out with her this week since she moved, but lucky for me my school is like two blocks from her new place. So I spent the afternoon with her drinking beer on her rooftop terrace, which has a great view of Florence. She also finally realized I went to college in New Orleans, and apparently its her family's favorite vacation spot in the states. In fact they call it their "home" in the states. That was awesome.

She and her new roommate Marissa, who is half-Mexican half-Icelandic, had made chilequiles for dinner, complete with the homemade tortilla, cheese, cream, and of course peppers. I personally loved the heat. Some thought it was too spicy. Their other roommate Helen sliced and fried some potato wedges with rosemary and sundried tomatoes. And Liz contributed a dessert I can't remember the name of it but they're Italian and little dough balls rolled in honey. Oh, and of course we all had nice helpings of authentic guacamole, chips, and beer right before dinner.

Angie's pub with Marissa, relatively early in the night

There were a good number of people at dinner, but that night only Prima, Marissa, Joe, his sister's boyfriend Anthony, and I ended up going out. And what a going out it was. We went to Angie's Pub and closed that down. So we went to Loch Ness and closed that down. And when we closed Twice down after four in the morning, we decided to go home. Great times. Probably the best night in Florence so far.

happy hump day

Tuesday was pretty laidback. I did laundry, tried to go shopping but didn’t like anything I saw except for the one sweater I bought, got some espresso, forgot to go to the market, and spent the afternoon in the FUA lab since my bar was rewiring and not internet capable. ‘Seppe made salad and pasta for dinner. I took a nap… that turned into going to bed for the rest of the night.

It's Wednesday. Although my classes start at noon, they go until 8:30. So it's my long day and most definitely the "hump" day. I'm at the bar again. The internet works again, which is the main reason I come here besides the friendliness of the staff and their knowledge I usually want a bottle of water instead of a shot of espresso. Henk thinks I'm here so often because I use it for a romantic rendezvous. I wish! I have my morning quickie here with Facebook and my afternoon delight with Blogger. That's about it.

Anyway, since this is such a boring entry and I'll be in class the rest of the day, I'll take this time to plug a video for those of you who haven't seen it yet. It's the ORIGINAL "Apologize" music video for the ORIGINAL OneRepublic song. It was made pro bono by a fan. It's so much better than the Timbaland remix and video, but at least he made it famous.

hilarity, agility, and nudity

If the title hasn't piqued your interest, you might as well stop reading this entry now. I'll warn any prudes this one is PG-13 rated.

So a bunch of us went to YAB for their anniversary dinner party. It's a dance club. Pretty cool looking. Dinner was decent and four course plus antipasti, waters, and wine. After dinner, they started clearing out all the tables and chairs to open up the dance floor. Liane and I meant to take a tough picture but wound up laughing at something instead. Alison skillfully captured the moment. The rest of our friends else had left at this point.

Hilarity

Then the night officially became awesome. Some breakdancers, who apparently are a staple at YAB on Monday nights, started showing off their moves. This went on for at least half an hour, but the crowd never seemed to tire of it. Here's about a minute for you to see. YAB seems all about the hip-hop, but I couldn't help film this one song.

Agility

The first guy was Liane's favorite, and she soon showed off her moves on him. (Dancing, I mean.) When she and Alison went to the bathroom, YAB unveiled its "big surprise" for the night. I thought it was going to be something or someone lame when they carried a huge birthday present to the center of the dance floor. It exploded open and "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce started playing. And the special guests were better than Beyonce and not lame at all.They were two nearly naked women. Platforms rose out of the floor and they started dancing. Awesome. They finished their number before Liane and Alison came back, and I'm not sure they believed me. But then the golden girls came back and proved I didn't make the story up. We stayed for another couple of hours until things got too hot and sweaty. Fantastic night.

Nudity

back to action

Sunday afternoon I spent at the café/bar, as usual. I went over to Liz’s for one of our tea sessions and ended up staying for Anna’s dinner. Fusilli with marinara sauce doctored with garlic, onions, and mushrooms and a nice salad. Liz, Alison, Henk, and I eventually went on a gelato run to Dei Neri for dessert. When we got back, Liane, Anna, Henk, and I were joined by Jack and Juan to go out. We’re now officially members of a cultural association. I was surprised by the foosball and pool tables, but it’s otherwise pretty sophisticated. A laidback but nice atmosphere. And it was comfortably crowded. You could move easily and wouldn’t have to wait for the bartender more than a minute. Liane and I nursed our bruises with some doses from the “pharmacy.” Henk and I faced off against Jack and Juan in foosball for the honor of our apartments. Then Henk and Liane played pool against the Italians who had previously been playing the neverending pool game. (Needless to say, Henk and Liane won.)

After all that, we wanted an early morning snack, so we got kebabs from a place nearby. It’s cheaper than the place downstairs from my apartment, which is good. But it’s definitely not next door, which is not so good. Then we all parted ways and crashed.

By the way, this was all after midnight, so my Monday-I-start-real-life-again rule still applied.

As far as actual Monday, I got up and made breakfast (standing!) for the first time in a while. Then I went to the Apicius offices and Mailboxes, Etc to pick up assorted paperwork that had accumulated over the past week. Then it was back to class. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to go to class... even including the first week.

Today’s theme in food styling class was salad. Just like everything else so far, it was taken to a whole new level than the simple chop-it-and-mix-it. Jack and I worked together and, using our chef's recipes, remade two classics, Caesar and Nicoise.

caesar salad with a bibb/butter, watercress, and arugula lettuces, croutons, anchovies, tomato concasse, balsamic reduction, and grated parmesan and grated egg yolk

salade nicoise with seared tuna, mozarella, a trio of lettuces, two kinds of olives, two kinds of caviar, smoked salt and orange zest

I actually got to try the chef's salad (no pun intended). I wanted to see if his plating technique - he had a certain order he wanted the flavors to proceed - worked its magic. And it did. Of course it tasted delicious. That part I'd never doubt.

After that it was on to Graphic Design. We had to play with textures and make a series of six. I just used a bunch of images from my camera. It's funny how so many parts of a picture can be ignored, but if you look at the texture of a background object and crop to it, it can becomes something new and independent.

During the break from class, I made my mandatory stop at the bar and threw back a shot of espresso to keep me going. Got online for a little bit and chatted with Ben. (Get well soon.) Now just this update and off to dinner and a club with some of the girls.

fine settimana all'italiana

Saturday after Giuseppe had gotten up and we’d showered and found our respective keys, we went to the café to check e-mail and get some espresso. (Which, by the way, even though is stronger here is so much better. I still only drink it when I need to wake up. Same goes for cappuccino.) We went to lunch at this panini place that Henk had found. Sadly the time he took me there it was closed. But it was open now and was great.

I spent the afternoon icing my knee and napping since I hadn’t gotten that much sleep the night before. ‘Seppe woke me up in time to go to aperitivo at the bar/cafe I live at. I’ve already befriended the baristas, now I just need to get in with the bartender. We caught the tail end of the Milan/Parma game, which ended in a tie. The aperitivo was good. Red wine. Finger sandwiches, Italian sliced meats, olives, bread. I was tempted to make an imitation muffuletta.

We also made a stop at a clothing store. The mannequins which are the Italian standard are ridiculous. They’re all two inches skinnier than Giuseppe (whose waist is 30, max) and two inches taller than me (5’10). I have seen no one in this country with those proportions and am pretty sure no such man exists. But the clothes, of course, were nice.

I spent part of the night watching Divorzio all'italiana, which is an Oscar winner, highly entertaining, and not too optimistic regarding marriage. Giuseppe’s longtime friend Laura is visiting. The two of them just stayed in to get ready for a busy day today, but Henk, Juan, and I went out. We started at Kikuya, which is a great bar that has an Italian location, a Japanese(?) name, Irish beers on tap, and Brazilian music. One of the baristas at my café/bar apparently works nights there, and she hooked us up with nachos. Those just made us hungry for more food, so we went to the Mediterranean place near the apartment for gyros and mirsarasemi (a Persian dip new to me, it involves grilled eggplant, garlic, onion, tomato, and egg). Then we adjourned to Salamaca, the Spanish-tapas-restaurant-by-day / Latin-club-bar-by-night next door. I didn’t stay very long to give my knee a rest, but it was more fun than the first time we went when it was too packed to breathe.

Now it’s almost noon on Sunday. I’m at the café/bar online of course. So here’s something kind of crazy. The “church” we’ve been going to for mass is actually a Franciscan basilica. AND I just realized it’s the burial place of Machiavelli, Galileo, and Michelangelo. I knew they were buried at a church here in Florence but not at my neighborhood church. Craziness.

second week closin' out

So my Valentine’s Day was pretty uneventful. I was thinking about asking one of the single girls (no one in particular) out to dinner just for convention’s sake, but when Anna offered us all a dinner at her apartment, that plan went away. Dinner was good. Layers of potatoes, onions, chicken, cheese, and a little mayonnaise. What’s not to like? Pretty much everyone was there. A few guys left early to go to an extracurricular meeting. Then after dinner, some went home because of an early morning or to get gelato just because. At one point, Anna and I were talking about the recipe, Liz was on the phone with her boyfriend, and Prima was on the phone with hers. Jack just looked up and said “I feel like I’m watching three TV channels: The Food Network (Anna and me), AMC (Liz), and Telemundo (Primavera).” Eventually, I just went upstairs to crash and rest my knee.

Friday was likewise unmemorable until the afternoon when Henk, John, and two of his friends joined me at the café I currently haunt. Eventually Liz called to ask if I wanted to help Prima move out of her apartment(!). She’s not going back to Mexico. She just moving closer to The Duomo. So much drama. Sadly I could only lift and not carry, but I did recruit the other guys here and lead them to the apartment of The Girls Next Block. Prima gave me a gift bag of delicious groceries which for some reason she didn’t want to take with her. After she and her packing entourage left, I just hung out with Jess while she waited for the other three to get home. The reactions ranged from disbelief to indifference. And someone was worried they’d get a “psycho crazy transvestite” as a new roommate.

Eventually since we were all hungry and hadn’t gone to the market, we went out to dinner at Trattoria Tirovino. I’m glad everyone likes it as much as I do. I’m not sure if it was the owner’s or Liane’s idea that she eventually meet his son, but as long as she doesn’t break his heart and get us banned from that place, it’s fine with me.

We went back Next Block and Jack came over, bringing with him Travel Scrabble. (Apparently Twister was also an option, but I certainly can’t play and would just spin. “Left hand, Liane’s ass.”) I always have the worst luck with hard letters at this game! I got stuck making words like squall, wax, and something I can’t recall that involved z.

Now it’s Saturday. Half of my friends are exploring the city of Siena. The other half are hiking through a Chianti vineyard and then wine-tasting. (‘Seppe declined both, so I’m expecting him to be fun when he wakes.)

So, I decided this morning that I will continue to rest my knee the rest of this weekend. But once Monday starts, I am obliterating the no-further-than-five-minutes-from-home rule and resuming life to the best of my dis/ability. This includes: Classes, marketplace, pedestrianism, photography, nightlife, weightlifting, drinking, and general shenanigans.

I live in a postcard.

I will celebrate that with or without my knee’s consent.

just booked my spring break

Winter 2006: New Orleans

Fall 2007: Washington DC

Spring 2008: LONDON

The Chad & Andrew Pub Crawl continues across the pond.

as Tara used to say...

Happy VD, everyone!

Once I can walk again, I promise to be less boring / to have more interesting things to write.

Wednesday

Laidback day. Pain killers, breakfast, café. (Today the café lady asked me why I was limping and if I was okay. It’s nice to feel like a regular already.) Journal entries, photos, lunch, home, nap. Painkillers. Italian class. (I couldn't sit around all day, and Italian is closer than any other class and probably the most necessary one.) Lisa, who I have a few classes with, told me she volunteered to be my partner in the food writing class I missed. We have to research friggitore, frying restaurants. As far as Italian goes, today we listened to The Eagles and learned aggetivi and verbi. Good times.

When I left the building that night, I found cold, frustrated Stonybrookers gathered in the courtyard. Apparently their advisor was late to meet them for an aperitivo (happy hour, including tapa-style snacks at the bar’s discretion). Pretty much everyone I’ve mentioned so far was there excluding Liz, Prima, and Anton. They convinced us non-Stonybrookers to tag along. We went to Moyo, a spiffy bar less than five minutes away – otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed. We’d stopped in there briefly a few times, but most of us had never spent a significant amount of time there. T’was fun. Prosecco. Caprese salad topped with a (pesto?) cream. When everyone else decided to go to the American bar or out of my five-minute radius, I just went home. I grabbed a gyro at the little place next door that Liz loves/lives at. It was tasty, but I’ve been forever spoiled of Lebanese/Mediterranean food by the restaurants both good and cheap in uptown New Orleans.

My mom called, so we caught up a little. And after that I tried calling Adrian for the ten millionth time, and he actually picked up. So we talked for a good while - That will be a nice phone bill, I'm sure. But it was great to hear all about his first "real" Mardi Gras.

sat Tuesday

I spent the morning at the café, uploading photos and journal entries and downloading the first two episodes of Lost season four. Liz stopped by to hang out a little on her way to class. For lunch, I found a Japanese restaurant a stone’s throw from my apartment. They have an offer for unlimited sushi for 10 Euro. Let’s see how many visits it takes before they ban me. Then I spent a few hours catching up with Lost.

Henk came home in the afternoon with market bags and announced he had invited the girls to dinner. His plan: Pasta and osso bucco. He graciously let me take over the osso bucco half of dinner, so I scoured our pantry for ingredients and did my first spontaneous cooking in a long time. It came with black pepper, fresh rosemary and fresh thyme. So all I had to do was salt it and dredge it with flour. Into the pot to brown. Then garlic, onions, and eventually mushrooms. Red wine to deglaze since our household doesn’t really stock white. Then just some water because we didn’t have broth. Osso bucco back in and simmer for a few hours. When the girls got here – some missing for late classes and a community service meeting – it was just a matter of plating and topping with chopped parsley, green cipollini, and lemon zest.

It turned out better than my expectations, which honestly were pretty low. Henk’s pasta was a slight variation on the one he made the other night, which translates into it being fantastic. Everyone seemed to enjoy both. Some of us hung out for a while, and when everyone else went to some bar to see a Beatles cover band (sounds awesome, but not walk-able), I went downstairs and just hung out with Liz for a while.

just another mangled knee Monday

So I went to my food styling class yesterday and upon getting there realized that the walk had not been the best idea for my knee and decided that I was definitely not walking all the way to my computer graphics class. Food styling rewarded me nicely for the walk though. Today was molecular gastronomy day. We made an amuse bouche (one those bite-size gifts that chefs send restaurant patrons with the menu) that was basically a spoonful of re-imagined shrimp scampi. The other dish was a not-quite Caprese Salad (buffalo mozzarella, San Marzano tomato, basil, and olive oil). Our fake-aprese, my term not the chef’s, was pureed-then-steamed cuttlefish (like a squid with a shell) shaped like a sphere of mozzarella, tomato confit, and of course basil and olive oil. We prepared all the ingredients together and watched the chef plate a serving, and he gave a few of us a chance to construct our own plates. This was mine:

After that, I walked back home with Jack, who was en route to his Italian class. Of course we stopped to grab slices of pizza at Sabrina. When I got home, I immediately took one of those prescribed painkillers and then ended up napping an hour or so.

Later on in the evening, I received a frantic phone call from Aneet and Jess.

Let me put a prologue to this story: The men here love Jess. We don’t know exactly why. Perhaps her warm complexion? Her dark hair? Her Cleopatra eyes? In the past week, I’ve personally seen no less than four complete strangers hit on her, only her, even with the other girls around. One even bought her chocolate (Twix) out of a vending machine.

Anyway, lately the attention has been getting less fun. Tonight Aneet and Jess were apparently being followed around by two shady strangers... who would even wait for them outside whatever store they would enter. Ah, the curse of beauty. (Aneet is Indian, the culture whose women I believe generally have the finest facial features of all. And I already explained Jess’s situation.) They called me from a store a few blocks away and asked me to walk them home. Which I gladly did of course. I limped over there as fast as I could, ready to take on any bad guys. At least this way, my damaged knee would be due than more to a drunk chick. Thankfully no such encounter happened.

I walked them to class after and then had a most pleasant surprise. A phone call from Chad! He’s in London and doing well, and naturally we’re planning visits and possibly spring breaks. This pretty much made up for any rottenness of the day so far.

So when I got home, I decided to give Trattoria Tirovino, the restaurant literally next door, a try. Although I do love standing, particularly while cooking in a kitchen, I decided the flights of stairs and any further kitchen work would make my knee hate me even more. Dinner was excellent, by the way. It’s dangerous having it so near my home.

I spent the rest of the night icing my knee in the living room and watching Giuseppe's Top Gun dvd. He was doing homework and on his computer. And Henk was being European and artistic enough for all of us by painting while drinking red wine.

¡Noche Mexicano!

To curb a craving for Japanese, Jess, Mindy, Primavera, and I went to Kome for lunch. Aftter a few errands, Prima and I started cooking dinner because she's Mexican and I'm very slightly Mexican. (By the way, the rumors going around that she is the heiress to the Corona fortune are completely false.) Our ethnic dish was red bell peppers stuffed with relleno (ground beef, ground pork, peaches, apples, onions, and garlic) and topped with a sauce made of cream, goat cheese, nuts, and raisins. Pretty much everyone came over. And I think we all enjoyed el sabor de mexico. After dinner, some of us went to Gelateria Dei Neri again for more gelato.

We spent the rest of the night doing tequila shots and then eventually wandered out to go barhopping. So much fun. But didn't end too well. See the next post for details. Let's focus on the good times. Here's a picture of me, Liz, and Ross.

Sunday, a great day

After being great Catholics, Liz, Prima, Giuseppe, and I planned our day over cappuccino. ‘Seppe went off to Arezzo with Henk and others. (Had I two functioning knees, I would’ve gone.) Liz hit up the train station to look at travel rates for spring break and other trips. Prima and I decided to grab lunch at our neighborhood theater’s restaurant. While walking, she got distracted by a leather jacket in a store’s window. So she bought it. But it is quite a beautiful jacket, it looks fantastic on her, and it even matched what she was wearing at the time.

Liz eventually joined us for lunch and after lasagna and gnocchi, we spent the afternoon studying in her apartment. Then the day got really good. A representative from the landlord’s office – Let’s just call her Mrs. Claus. – rang our doorbells and dropped off two giant sacks of apartment supplies for us: Bathroom rugs, new towels, two eight-piece sets of stainless steel pots.

Fusilli with marinara sauce doctored with tomatoes, garlic, onions, mushrooms, and Parmesan cheese. Breaded, fried, and baked chicken breasts covered in marinara and the freshest buffalo mozzarella.

The girls got so excited they made dinner for me. Prima accidentally made her nicknames. (Apparently “Primavera” as a first name confuses some of her roommates and sometimes she is referred to as “Primapasta” or “Parmigiana.”) So primapasta parmigiana was half our dinner. And Liz made chicken parm. Both were amazing. It was easily the nicest homemade meal I’ve had here so far. John came over eventually to hang out. He’d been invited to dinner but was fashionably trendsetting-ly late.

My roommates and I closed out the night by watching Half Baked, which Giuseppe found inexplicably on his flash drive. We were not baked at all.

ouch

So no trip is complete without a bump in the road, and my bump happened to be a drunk American girl. Her heel broke, and she fell quite unfortunately into my knee. It was dislocated, so I went to the hospital and got an X-ray. “No frattura.” Pressure bandage. The dottore advised me to stay off it for a week and a half.

I spent most of Saturday either at the hospital or sleeping and then got up just in time to go to The Girls Next Block’s apartment for dinner that Mindy had kindly made. Pasta with vegetables. Good stuff.


Liz had a headache, so I walked her home and then we had tea. Eventually I went to meet up with John, Ross, and their roommate Joe at a pub called Angie’s, less than a five minute walk from my apartment. Loud music but good DJ, so pretty awesome. Euro crowd too. Much more my scene than that American bar.

third day of class

Another class in another kitchen. Food, Culture, and Society in Italy. So it's mostly cooking but also with information about all things Italian. The professor isn't a professional chef but an architect (who specializes in renovation since there's no room to build in Florence), and he comes from a family of restaurant owners and managers. So he knows what he's doing.

Parthian chicken

The first lesson was all about classic and traditional Roman fare. We made a very rustic, very Tuscan chicken dish, which was very tasty. We didn't season the chicken at all. The sauce (involving parsley, celery, wine, and anchovies) made all the difference. Amazing, and a custard that involved honey and pine nuts.

My final class was Food Photography, which was pretty much the same thing as Food Writing but with everything applied to cameras and pictures. Our professor has worked photographing for National Geographic before, so he also knows his stuff.

When I got back home, we all went out to dinner at Trattoria Pallattino which is in our neighborhood and was brought to our attention by Alison's Frommers 2008 book. We also got a nice lesson in Italian meal scheduling because the place didn't open until 7:30, and we got there at 6:15. We followed Henk's suggestion and had an antipasto picnic in the tiny piazza next to it. We bought wine, cheese, bread, salami, and olives from a nearby shop. Some of us got gelato from Vivoli next door to have dessert first.

When the trattoria did open, we were not disappointed. The food was great.

After our rather long European dinner, we all split ways to our various apartments although not everyone went back to their own. I ended up falling asleep and did not wake up to go to the American bar - although it was kind of the leavers to ask - and had a nightmare where I was back in Maryland and wanted to be in Florence.

no internet in our apartment

Giuseppe: where r u?
Me: haha, I feel like it's been forever since we IMed each other.
Giuseppe: lol i know
Giuseppe: i thought you've lost the loving feeling
Me: haha, NEVER

second day of school

So I wasn't as excited for my "food writing" course as I was for "food styling," but it was awesome. I can't believe I actually get to study this sort of thing. It's pretty much an English (e.g. that subject which should have been my major) class focused on food. The professor is young - She could pass for a student - and very laidback. We were doing the around-the-room introductions and got sidetracked several times on food, whether it be obviously common interests or local restaurant recommendations. It is a lecture course, and there's no lab fee but apparently we are expected to do "field research." So we HAVE to go out and eat things, so we can write about it. Awesome. And I was happy to find out not all the students here are from Stonybrook like the clan that's set up in my neighborhood. The room was almost all-American but diverse in state geography. Small world time, one of the girls (I'm the only guy) is from Bethesda and went to Holy Child, so obviously we had a few mutual friends.

My Italian professor walked in wearing leather pants, sat on his desk, and turned on a little boombox that played “September” by Earth Wind & Fire. Already a cool class. Also, he never actually turned it off during the class. He just lowered the volume and put it on loop, so he could talk over it. He also picks up the whiteboard if the people in the back can’t read the bottom. He’s already yelled at me twice for using Spanish words when I don’t know the Italian ones, but he does seem nice. He also takes requests for our classroom soundtrack because of an extensive CD library.

When I got home, Henk was making dinner. (I might break this streak by noting it, but I haven't cooked a single meal at home since arriving here.) He made a red pasta with ground beef, peppers, olives, and of course tomatoes. Even Aneet - who has yet to take to the food here - was impressed. Chocolate and Nutella toast for dessert. And of course trusty house red to wash it all down.

The three of us and most of the group wound up at The Girls Next Block apartment, where the game of the night was Kings/Waterfall/Circle of Death. Of course, it took a few minutes of round table to settle on the rules. By far the best moments were when Liane made the rule that everyone had to assign the person to their right a character to stay in during the game. Going clockwise around the table.

• Jack: Snoop Dogg
• Primavera: George W. Bush
• Henrique: Speedy Gonzalez
• Giuseppe: A baby
• Me: A german
• Liane: Drunk Primavera

Good times. After all that, only Jess, Mindy, Henrique, and I stayed out at an Argentinian bar on our street. Henk and I continued our booze journey around the world while the two girls split French fries and a banana split. (They looked good. Thick, non-uniform fries and a split made with gelato.)

yup yup

Yesterday was busy and expensive. I filled out and mailed my Permesso Siggiorno (an application to live in Italy that involved lots of photocopying, application, tax, stampage, and resulting fees). Luckily I was able to see Jess’ filled out form and watch Liane’s step by-step process before me at the post office. I’m glad to be finished with all that. Much more fun was trying on chef pants and chef clogs at the store, but then those had to be purchased too. I bought groceries and random household supplies for the first time here at a combination of the central market, the neighborhood grocery store, the Euro store (like a dollar store), and the pharmacy. But when all those errands were finished and all that money was spent, the clouds parted and the afternoon was beautiful.

Lunch was a pleasant break and a taste of America because Liane had made pizza bagels and chicken tenders. She keeps making jokes about not knowing how to cook and not being able to feed her future children, but she took care of lunch just fine. And she was pretty much Jack’s sous-chef when he made dinner for us (breaded chicken cutlets and pasta). Anna made a salad and provided the food. It’s funny how these meal dynamics are working. Different people provide the extra ingredients, cooking utensils, kitchen, tableware, silverware, wine, and dining space. Between the dozen or so of us, we have a pretty respectable dinner party. Yes, teamwork.

After dinner, we went to Gelateria dei Neri to get dessert. We’ve actually gone there before, but I didn’t recall the name or the location. Some of us hung out at Anna’s and played Truth or Dare at Liane’s suggestion because we’re preteens at heart apparently. When that got old, everyone else called it a night but Henk and I went out. (We’re the two with afternoon classes today.) Nothing crazy, just splitting a pitcher at a Scottish pub with more Italians than most of the bars we’ve been to.

class??? hell yes!

This was the best first day of school ever. And maybe even the best Monday of school ever. Two classes. Food styling and intro graphic design.

Surprise, surprise. Food styling means we have to cook the food ourselves. I thought we would just plate something prepared for us.

Under the instruction and supervision of my professor, I made this:

Chianina beef tenderloin pan-seared rare topped with (left to right) truffle lard, gorgonzola/bleu-ish cheese and crisp parsley, and sautéed porcini mushroom.

Of course, I just had to taste the finished product. I am not patting myself on the back! My honest reaction was “Did I really cook that???”

Wouldn’t have been able to do it without my professor. To give you an idea of his credentials, he’s the executive chef of Apicius, director of their masters program, alum of a Michelin-starred restaurant, and currently executive chef of a five-star hotel here in Florence. And that’s just what I can remember. He seems really nice also.

Also if you think my plate is appetizing, you should have seen Jack’s. He works at the station next to mine and everything, down to the portions, was perfect.

My other class today was intro to graphic design. The teacher seemed nice. He didn’t mind at all that I showed up late. (First day plus first class running late plus new city.) He seems really chill and wants to make class more like “work” (a creative office) than like prison. And although he’s quite... talkative, he wants class – and field trips – to be fun and enjoyable. Got out of class early, which was nice.

During my break, I saw Mindy in the lab and she invited me to dinner at her place. Apparently “everyone” was invited, but – probably due to rain or people having eaten already – only she, her roommates (The Girls Next Block), and I showed up. She made Chicken Francaise with sautéed vegetables. Good stuff.

"Superbowl" Sunday

Sunday morning Liz, Giuseppe, John and I went to hear mass at Santa Croce, our neighborhood church. I can’t believe something so beautiful is so close to us. It’s all stone, stained glass, and sculpture and pretty much a museum the other days of the week. I could understand most of the service because catholic mass is so uniform and because of my limited knowledge of Italian and somewhat knowledge of Latin. John suggested we make this our home base but try to go to a different church every weekend. Well received idea.

Afterwards we went to the café. (By the way, I keep calling it a café but in actuality it’s a bar as we found out when we left the other day and the drink specials and free antipasti were out.) We did various internet stuff and sipped cappuccinos and mused at how incredible it is that this is our life now.

My roommates and I went off to Carnevale in Via Reggio. (Venezia was too far and too expensive.) Henk and I felt responsible to attend because of Brazil and New Orleans, respectively. ‘Seppe had never been before and took advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We were sure if more people knew what Carnevale entailed, they would have gone. We got on the train with literally four seconds to spare. It was awesome. The floats were crazy. EVERYTHING moved. Animatronics. Think "It's A Small World" at Disney but with larger than life puppets. Every single one blared music. It rained confetti instead of beads.

This time we got on the train with four minutes to spare, which is a little better. We got back just in time to go to the Welcome Party at Space Electronico, a club which (ironically) I’d been to years ago when I was on spring break with Gonzaga. The food was decent, certainly not catered by Apicius. The roast pig and the risotto both stood out as quite good, I thought. The American bar, naturally, was showing the Superbowl but none of my friends nor I made it all the way through. None of us had any invested interest in either of the teams and slowly realized we missed all the things associated with The Bowl (wings, beer, chips, commercials, halftime show) more than the actual game. Some of us just got more food at the gyro place underneath our apartment and then hung out at the girls’ place. Busy day but busy in a great way.

introducing... everyone

So I was supposed to show Aneet, one of the girls downstairs, the café I go to this morning. I woke up well past noon and was worried she’d been waiting for me. I called and accidentally woke her up. Anyway, I let her sleep in some more and just went to the café to get breakfast and cappuccino and post the last update. I also joined the neighborhood gym which may be closer to my apartment than Reily was to Aron.

On the way back into the apartment, I ran into Liz, one of her roommates, and decided to go with her to look for an outlet converter. We recruited Aneet, ‘Seppe, and Henrique –all of us had different things to look for – and had a successful and speedy hunt. Even with the brief window-shopping stops the girls made. On the way back, we ran into two of Aneet’s friends from Stonybrook/FUA, John and Ross. So we took them, the girls’ other roommate Anna, and the other girls, who live a few blocks away, to the café. (I know all these people suddenly are confusing, but bear with me.) The lady there seemed amused that I brought so many friends who wanted hot drinks and internet. Sadly not everyone was able to connect, but everyone got a chance to check on someone’s computer.

When we got home, Iron Chef Italian made vermicellini with marinara sauce for everyone. Iron Chef Brazilian made a lettuce, red cabbage, and tomato salad from scratch – not bagged – and I just played sous chef to ‘Seppe. We also had sliced bread, olive oil and vinegar for the salad, and of course salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan. And of course a selection of wine: House red and juice-box white (that the girls had left last night). We finally got to make use of our dining table and all those extra chairs. Worked out ridiculously well for a first meal. The three girls from downstairs, Jack, and Juan all came to dinner. We had a great time. I hope to repeat many more meals like this although other people are welcome to host/cook if they’d like. Everyone helped clean up though. I’m amazed at how genuinely nice everyone is my new friends are.

first meal in our apartment

After dinner we went to the other girls’ apartment: Liane, Jess, Mindy, and Alison. Giuseppe “no offense, guys” wanted to move into their spare room, but their final roommate, Primavera, showed up. She’s from Mexico and now replaces Jack as the baby of the group. (They’re only babies in age, not in maturity.)

We hung out at their apartment for half an hour, which is easily the homiest of all the ones I’ve seen so far. Clearly someone sublets. No student apartment is that nice. I still prefer ours, but I am jealous of their kitchen how well-equipped it is. We bummed around awhile and finally left when Alison began proving herself the mom of the group. Think I’ll-make-the-decision-if-no-one-else-will of Meredith minus the we’re-going-soon-but-not-really of Lizzie. Don’t get me wrong, she’s chill.

Almost all of us went to get gelato and then half of us went to meet Anton at the “American” bar. Jess, Mindy, myself, and the three Latins (Primavera/Mexico, Juan/Argentina, Henk/Brazil) went. Chad would be so proud. Having people there to practice my Spanish and Portuguese with somehow made the place more acceptable to me. And those welcome-to-Florenza Cuervo shots Prima and I did certainly helped.

Eventually the girls and I left to go back to first-floor L’Auberge Italienne (ours is third-floor) to hang out with those residents – Liz, Aneet, and Anna for those of you keeping track. Jack and ‘Seppe were both there. John had shown up too. He and Liz were in the kitchen eating rather fragrant and envy-inspiring “kebaps.” We just spent the rest of the night hanging out. I don’t know when we passed getting-to-know but not we’re all hanging out like we’ve always lived here.

So, a mini-guide to help for future entries:

L’Auberge Italienne 3rd floor: ‘Seppe (SUNY Stonybrook), Henk (Brazil), & myself
L’Auberge Italienne 1st floor: Liz, Aneet, & Anna (all SUNY)
Girls Next Block: Liane, Alison, Mindy (all SUNY), Jess (Chicago), & Prima (Mexico)
Guys Across River: Jack (Chicago), Juan (Argentina), & Anton (SUNY)
Guys In Designer Store Area: John & Ross (both SUNY)

In conclusion, there’s a lot of SUNY (10), although they didn’t all know each other before here, a smattering of Latino (3), a little Chicago (2), and I.

just settlin' in

So when I got back to my apartment after the walking tour, I saw semi-unpacked luggage in the living room and a guy asleep in the other bedroom. About ten minutes later, Giuseppe, my other roommate, had woken up from his nap and came in to officially meet me. (We’d been in contact in the states. He is a volunteer EMT and firefighter, so unless I’m really stupid, I’m not dying in Italy.) Really cool guy but very brief first impression since he ran off to go to registration. When he came back, Henk (who is teaching me Portuguese phrases) and I went with him to meet some friends from Stonybrook and their roommates.

We went out to dinner, where I had an insane “Fantasia” pizza that came out with peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, capers, ham, and hot dog. Which of these does not belong? But it was surprisingly good. And wine and bread that deserved each other. The wine was neither sweet nor dry and the bread had no taste. After dinner we got some delicious if overpriced gelato ($7.50 a cup) and went barhopping, but none of the bars were anything special. One was an “Irish pub” without any bear, another was completely geared toward American students, and the last was great but too packed to breathe. We did get free Spumante (Italian champagne) and free shots from a club promoter though. “Welcome to Florence!” But the night was still fun because I got to meet and get to know about a dozen people, some of them live a few blocks away from me. Some of them live downstairs – the girls we were looking for when we met the angry lady.


Yesterday was pretty good. I got up and watched LOST and then took a shower and went to school to pay some final fees. And to my surprise, I got a chef jacket and hat! Apparently I need them for some of courses. Now I just need to buy black pants to wear to classes with them. I was one of the several who showed up on time, so I got to leave pretty early. Jack, one of the guys from the night before and I left around the same time, so we went to run errands. (He’s my first non-roommate friend partly because he goes to Apicius, partly because he was the only person who knew his cell phone number, and mostly just because he’s a nice guy.) Sadly the central market was closed and the post office was out of the “permission slips” we needed to live here, but we still got a good walk around the city. We stopped by the grocery store to check prices and compare them to home and the market and then ended the afternoon at a café with sandwiches, and of course, espresso and cappuccino.

I came back just before ‘Seppe and Henrique arrived with groceries from the same supermarket I went to earlier. We were thinking about making dinner but then decided to go out with the girls from the night before for dinner, which was at I Ghibellini and amazing. It completely made up for the dinner the night before.

After dinner, we came back to our apartment to drink wine. Some of us opted for “Never Have I Ever” to get to know each other better. Then after some shots, we met up with the rest of the guys and girls last night at the same super-American bar but then left to taxi to a club. The club was fun but the cover and drinks were overpriced. Still a good night because of the people. I have everyone’s names straight now, and a few nicknames to match. I will introduce them into mi giornale soon I’m sure. ‘Seppe and I got home at four in the morning.

orientation sucks/rules!

So I got up the next morning and walked to my new school. Unsurprisingly, my path goes right by the piazza The Duomo is in. The school isn’t that big, but it’s really nice. Everything is Apple (the free-for-all computer lab is huge monitors and Mac minis) and wirelesss. The furniture is so sleek and European it would make Ikea jealous.

There were more students than I expected, around fifty, but everyone seems cool so far. At 22, I’m definitely on the higher end of the age scale. Most of them are juniors.

We settled into orientation – which by the way, I almost missed to spend a night in Amsterdam when I booked my tickets – and... not fun. All the advice you could get from reading the handbook and Breathing for Dummies. Don’t walk alone at night. If there’s a fire, leave the buildng. Etc. And then there were rules. For the kitchen and extra ones for the culinary students. (You can only taste your food, but you can’t eat it because you have to have it for your professor to critique!) It made me less jealous of the jackets and knives they would get. On the plus side, I did get a chance to be in the wine-tasting classroom (wine racks and marble counters with stools) – and a chance to meet with the school’s cell phone provider. I got my new SIM card set up in my RAZR, so I do have a phone now! Sweet disount too. Free incoming calls and free incoming texts. But unsurprisingly, all this scheduling ran late so we had less time for lunch than we were supposed to. I went to lunch with a few people I’d been around (since we got split into groups for things). Pizzeria Sabrina is a block away from the building we were in. I think I know where I’m getting lunch in between classes.

Now I was hoping having eaten – since I skipped breakfast because all we had in our apartment was wine and bottled water – would make the afternoon better. It did. And as lame as the morning was, the afternoon was AMAZING. We got broken into our categories and got to meet the director of each program. Only one girl and I were focusing on Food Communication, so we had a private meeting with one of our professors in the Photo Lab. (Also all Apples but with professional photo equipment.) After that, we were taken on a walking tour of Florence. It wasn’t the tourist stuff, more like the stuff we’d be need to familiar with:

It started with the other facilities a few blocks away. The first building had the reception area and our lockers. And then we were ushered into The Restaurant Room, which has tables and chairs and I guess is used for serving and hospitality simulation. (I’m naming all these places myself, btw.) Right next to that is The Restaurant Kitchen which has all the amenities and stations you’d associate with a gourmet restaurant. Then there’s a smaller “Household Kitchen” used for independent study. Then there’s where I’ll spend a lot of time, The Beginning Kitchen. Which, for any Bravo viewers, looks like the Top Chef kitchen except without studio lighting and all the Kenmore logos. On a related note, Season 2 winner Elan Hall is an alumnus of Apicius! Finally, we got to see The Bakery where the pastry students will study. Okay, now I was starting to get a little jealous of the cooking students again. Good news for me, apparently sometimes we have the chance to get together and watch a cooking show (either reality TV or Food network) in the Restaurant Room and then go raid the pantry and try to replicate the dish(es) in the Kitchens! The next building almost across the street had two more Beginning Kitchens and two Demo Kitchens (like an infomercial or cooking show) where all you do is watch.

The rest of the tour were the main market, the most comprehensive grocery store with the longest hours, kitchen supply and chef stores, random restaurants our guide recommended, and the language building of FUA where we’d take Italian classes in either the Leonardo, Michelangelo, or Rafael rooms. (I guess they’re named after The Ninja Turtles.) One of our last – and perhaps the best – stop was the chocolate shop owned by one of the professors. He’s won several international awards, and the place is beautiful. It looks like a jewelry store that happens to sell chocolate. He wasn’t there, but we got to meet his right-hand man, who let us into the kitchen and gave us fresh samples of a new confection they’re perfecting. I can’t write what it is, but if you ask me, I’ll tell you. I can tell you that it doesn’t involve dark chocolate (and I assumed I wouldn’t like it), but it was fantastic.)

L'Auberge Italienne

When I got here to Firenze, I called my parents to let them know I was alive. I went straight to the landlord’s office to get the keys for my apartment downtown. The apartment is awesome. It proves everyone who said I would live in a closet wrong. Our bathroom is bigger than my room in Aron. It’s even fully furnished and definitely nicer than any apartment I’ve ever lived in. (The only slight exception would be the kitchen of the Pine/Freret house.) When I was struggling to put the key in the door – since I refused to put down my baggage – it suddenly opened. Henrique, my new roommate, was already there. You may have heard that Giuseppe – my other roommate – and I were wondering his nationality/ies. He’s Brazilian. He offered to help me carry in my luggage. Very nice guy. He gave me a tour of the apartment. It’s bigger and nicer than I expected. I put the pictures on facebook if you’d like to see.

I unpacked some of my stuff, and then Henrique and I gave in to our hunger and went to dinner. I had ridden taxis to the landlord’s office and to my apartment, so it was my first walk in Florence in years. I love it here. It hasn’t changed a bit. The buildings are perpetually under renovation, and stores’ merchandise is perpetually on sale. Anyone who was on Marin EuroTrip 2000: I walked by Nuti and Hotel Fenice Palace. We walked past the central market and got dinner and wine at Bondi, a cozy restaurant a stone’s throw away. After dinner, we stopped by a liquor store and bought some wine. Henk had made friends with the owner, and he gave us a great, if completely arbitrary, “student discount.” We decided to just stay in for the night since Henk was tired and I had been up for over 30 hours and knew the wine would make me sleepy. So we just drank wine, listened to “good Brazilian music” (as opposed to the junk), and got to know each other. The lady at the landlord’s office had told me that there were other American students who just moved in downstairs, so we knocked on the door we thought was theirs to ask them up to get friendly and offer them wine. But we were answered in a loud, angry Italian voice. So we apologized and headed upstairs. (I’ll write about meeting the girls later. The lady was wrong about the move-in. They were next door and not there yet.)