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