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.