Sunday 2/15/09
While I was at the bar publishing the last update, I couldn’t help but watch some girls have lunch. (That sounds creepy, but it will soon just sound gluttonous when I explain that) I then got a decidedly American craving for a bacon cheeseburger with fries. So I ordered them, and they were delicious.
When I got home, Emo and Miles were leaving to go to church – Adrian had gone to Viareggio for Carnevale. Apparently Emo is very religious. Who knew? Not I. I would’ve gone with them, but apparently it’s an about an hour away, so I passed. I spent the afternoon cleaning and napping. That worked out well for me because apparently they did a two-hour pilgrimage to sit through a 40-minute service and then walked another two hours back.
Monday 2/16/09
I got lunch from the Chinese takeout place near my first apartment. Roast duck and curry fried rice. Just as good as I remember if not better. I hung out at school with Francesca and Cristiano for a while. They want to know when we’re having another Borgasm-style sangria party. Bought groceries. We had another good dinner. Adrian cooked spicy tomato rotini, I made Diedre’s Jamaican curry chicken with fresh tomato (apparently the most important ingredient) and white rice, and Miles baked some sage and thyme biscuits. Had we only had potatoes, we could have had an even more carbalicious meal. We hung out at the bar for a little bit and came home hungry again so had some of the egg rolls (tandoori chicken, cabbage, pineapple, green onion) Miles and Adrian made and froze last week in case of such emergencies.
Tuesday 2/17/09
Professional cooking was all about stocks. Fish, chicken, and beef. It was the best smelling kitchen no actual food ever came out. Andrea also gave me a blindtaste scent test. Fresh herbs one a time. Rosemary, sage, thyme, and fennel. I got them all correct, which elicited a “grande!”
Miles had forgotten his lunch (an egg salad sandwich with tomato and olives) at home, so he told me to eat it for him. I gladly obliged. It was delicious and something I would probably never have made, which made it even more delicious.
That night was sushi night at the bar, and pretty much every girl I’d met in Florence up to that point was there. Sadly the not-too-plentiful sushi servings only led to a craving for a realistic serving size of sushi. So Miles and Jacky and I went to a nearby Japanese restaurant and got dinner, which included my first (personal!) boat and pork tonkatsu. Afterwards, as Jacky went on a walk across the river, Miles and I hit up some gelato. Affogato. (This means a scoop of gelato in a cup of hot chocolate.) I opted for hazelnut gelato in dark chocolate... which tastes like a really good Nutella but simmering hot and freezing cold simultaneously. Amazing.
Wednesday 2/18/09
As far as Viticulture and Enology II (aka wine class) goes, I’m in so over my head. Massimo, my former teacher, and his dog Sophie made an appearance and I was just waiting for them to both burst out laughing at how little I know. At any rate, Caterina, my new teacher, has planned lots of wine events for us for the semester, so it should be lots of fun. The actual class was all about grapes and acids and enzymes and structures. Now I wish I remembered more from high school chemistry.
I’ve decided that Tradition of Italian II with Marcella is the antithesis of my last class with her (Italian Vegetarian Cooking). The first two lessons were a mixed-meat stew and veal rolls. Wednesday’s was pork loin wrapped in lard. It’s much more delicious than it sounds and involves a lot of balsamic vinegar. Marcella actually had us do a tasting first of a 25-year-old 80-Euro bottle of it. (This bottle 100 milliliters… or 3.38 fluid ounces, or less than half a cup!)
Anyway, I should remember to bring my camera. I ended up partner-less and cooking by myself, which I enjoy. Marcella noted at the end that despite working alone I was cooking “for two” (America-sized portions, hell yeah) and that my plating was very “Tuscan.” Whatever. Despite being the last one done, my generously-composed plate was one of the first ones finished. (We all go around and sample each others food.) I think that speaks for itself.
That night, Adrian and I had some good brotherly bonding time. I love Sergio and Miles of course, but it was nice to just have some time for The Super Marin Bros. We tried out an affordable but not too substantial aperitivo near our house and then ended up going to another one. We spent the night trying to figure out what “polar depression” means (in terms of weather, I feel it’s something that Italians lost in translation) and drinking with British Tom and Michaela at yet another bar and then the Irish pub. On the way home I stopped at the vending machine and got a dark chocolate kit kat bar. Which was very good for the drunk craving I had at the time. Under the same vending machine, I found a blank membership card for a nearby cultural association. I’m having moral qualms about whether to fill it out or just return it.
Thursday 2/19/09
Thursday I had both my dessert classes. In Dessert Styling it was all about cheesecakes. Regular ones, lemon ones, pear and cinnamon ones, unbaked ones involving yogurt and gelatin, and strawberries, chocolate, and mint as garnishes. Good times. Italian Cakes (which should really be called Italian Pastries) was all about apples. Apple fritters, apple (and other fruit) strudel, apple filled doughtnut-like things, and apple jam.
Well despite that you think one would be full from a day full of sweets, you’d be surprised how much that leaves you craving savory food. Adrian and I hit up a bar for Mexican aperitivo and then went to a Hispanic restaurant for even more food. (Yes, I know I live in Italy but when you’ve been here over a year you really just can’t eat solely Italian food anymore.) We ended up going out that night too. A lot.
Friday 2/20/09
This means I was a bit sleepy on Friday morning. I went on a field trip for my wine class to the Consorzio Vino Chanti Classico, which is basically the consortium that decides which wines can be labeled DOCG and thus Chianti Classico. (The European Union has laws protecting the names of certain food products, and Italy has many of the oldest, most important ones.) We got to do a tasting and hear a brief presentation by the Technical Director/Inspector. I learned a lot of about wine. Obviously.
I stayed in Friday night after getting home because I had an even earlier trip to make on Saturday and didn’t want to be as miserable as Friday morning.
Saturday 2/21/09
Saturday we met before dawn to go to Parma to see the entire process of making Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (minus the aging of course). It’s also one of Italy’s protected products, and I agree that the yellow sand in the green shaker should NOT be called Parmesan (the French name for P-R). But yeah, we also got a tasting of 1 and 2 year old cheeses with sparkling wine. And for brunch, I got a Prosciutto di Parma sandwich. (Another delicious and protected product. Forgive me for all the random foodie information.)
This may have been a mistake, because we were then giving free time for a walk and lunch in Parma. Miles, Miki (who is also Alaskan and was here last semester), her friend Amanda, and I got lunch together and had some Risotto “Giuseppe Verdi” – the composer, Parma’s his hometown – and squash tortelli, a local specialty. They had a great Absolut vodka and mint sorbet on the menu. And there was a chocolate festival going on, so we got some mint tea and 4-spice chocolates after.
That afternoon we went to Modena to a balsamic vinegar vineyard. (Okay, last random foodie information I swear. REAL Balsamic vinegar is aged a minimum of 12 years and is made in Modena ONLY from grapes from Modena. That stuff you find at the supermarket is as inauthentic as the Parmesan cheese shakers. Obviously it’s also a protected Italian product.) We got to do a tasting of 5-year old white balsamic, 12-year-old balsamic, and a 25-year-old balsamic. We got some free balsamic candies too. I wanted to pay for a tasting of a 50 or 100 year old balsamic, but of course they don’t just have open bottles of that around. The stuff is obviously expensive. A cask of the stuff (just the cask, not even including the liquid inside) is worth over 20,000 euro. No duh, it’s delicious too.
Sunday 2/22/09
I woke up ridiculously early, went to church, came home, fell asleep, and woke up really late. Miles made “breakfast” for us. Sandwiches comprised of chicken fried steak, fried eggs, and sautéed onions. We were still hungry after, so we made breakfast #2. Potato pancakes. Sadly we didn’t have any applesauce, so ketchup and curry sauce had to suffice.
I believe we didn’t do anything the rest of the day but sit around and eat. (Sunday is a day of rest.) Since MTV is the only TV network that lets you watch shows online outside the country, Adrian and I had an America’s Best Dance Crew marathon.
I went out to get some ramen to flavor with the last of the curry sauce, and Adrian asked me to get him “the weirdest flavor available,” So I got him “miso.” (I know “Roast beef” flavor is available back home and I wasn’t sure about “seafood” since I think instant “shrimp” ramen kind of tastes like seawater.) This miso confirmed our desire for some sushi, so he, Miles, and I went to what we thought was a restaurant but was actually a carryout.
So we ended up at the Chinese restaurant down the block, which was surprisingly good: Warm, thick duck and tofu soup; “Chinese beans,” which turned out to be warm edamame; fried fish with sweet corn, which Adrian ordered and then described as “flavor fail” (the fish and the corn were both good, just terrible together); spicy fried rice on a sizzling place; Cantonese roast duck; pineapple fried rice with raisins in a hollowed out pineapple (Miles was surprised by the pineapple but I was more surprised by the raisins); sizzling duck with bamboo shoots on a hot plate; ho fun (spelling); spicy tofu; and some of the best Chinese roast pork I’ve ever had. You must remember the serving sizes here in Italy are smaller, but yes it was a huge meal.
Jacky was there at another table with one of her friends, so when they left, she gave me her kettle of jasmine tea, which was really soothing and a nice way to end the meal.
So after, the three of us had a craving for dessert. The only cash we had was a 50 euro bill, so we decided to not completely piss off the gelateria people and instead got a kilo of fior di latte “cream” gelato. (This prompted a call to Tanjila, or Tangelato.) We got home, and I deemed the gelato a worthy ingredient to pair the balsamic vinegar I bought in Modena with. Awesome but I can’t take any credit since it was two ridiculously-delicious things put together.
Monday/Yesterday 2/23/09
I spent the morning at the bookstore, unable to find a single book I wanted to read in neither English nor Italian. (Save for the Michelin Guide 2009, which I didn’t buy but probably will.) I looked at literally every English fiction book, and rescue came in the nonficition section. I bought two new books because our apartment came without any books and even without a bookshelf. Since I read really efficiently if it’s not for school, I finished the 300-page book in the afternoon. So I’ll need to take my time with the second one. After reading, I fell asleep and woke up to Michaela over for dinner and the smell of the dinner Miles and Adrian prepared: Chicken tenders and cottage potatoes with a generous amount of parlsey. Mmm, deep fried foods. They enlisted me to make a barbeque sauce, and it got finished, so I guess it went rather well despite not having vinegar or molasses. We had some more of the gelato for dessert and then Emo came out of his room, so a lengthy game of [Presdidents and] Asshole[s] ensued.
Ben: Happy BirthGras!
Everyone: Okay, I’m really sorry. I need to learn to just do updates everyday if possible and not let things pile up like this.
While I was at the bar publishing the last update, I couldn’t help but watch some girls have lunch. (That sounds creepy, but it will soon just sound gluttonous when I explain that) I then got a decidedly American craving for a bacon cheeseburger with fries. So I ordered them, and they were delicious.
When I got home, Emo and Miles were leaving to go to church – Adrian had gone to Viareggio for Carnevale. Apparently Emo is very religious. Who knew? Not I. I would’ve gone with them, but apparently it’s an about an hour away, so I passed. I spent the afternoon cleaning and napping. That worked out well for me because apparently they did a two-hour pilgrimage to sit through a 40-minute service and then walked another two hours back.
Monday 2/16/09
I got lunch from the Chinese takeout place near my first apartment. Roast duck and curry fried rice. Just as good as I remember if not better. I hung out at school with Francesca and Cristiano for a while. They want to know when we’re having another Borgasm-style sangria party. Bought groceries. We had another good dinner. Adrian cooked spicy tomato rotini, I made Diedre’s Jamaican curry chicken with fresh tomato (apparently the most important ingredient) and white rice, and Miles baked some sage and thyme biscuits. Had we only had potatoes, we could have had an even more carbalicious meal. We hung out at the bar for a little bit and came home hungry again so had some of the egg rolls (tandoori chicken, cabbage, pineapple, green onion) Miles and Adrian made and froze last week in case of such emergencies.
Tuesday 2/17/09
Professional cooking was all about stocks. Fish, chicken, and beef. It was the best smelling kitchen no actual food ever came out. Andrea also gave me a blind
Miles had forgotten his lunch (an egg salad sandwich with tomato and olives) at home, so he told me to eat it for him. I gladly obliged. It was delicious and something I would probably never have made, which made it even more delicious.
That night was sushi night at the bar, and pretty much every girl I’d met in Florence up to that point was there. Sadly the not-too-plentiful sushi servings only led to a craving for a realistic serving size of sushi. So Miles and Jacky and I went to a nearby Japanese restaurant and got dinner, which included my first (personal!) boat and pork tonkatsu. Afterwards, as Jacky went on a walk across the river, Miles and I hit up some gelato. Affogato. (This means a scoop of gelato in a cup of hot chocolate.) I opted for hazelnut gelato in dark chocolate... which tastes like a really good Nutella but simmering hot and freezing cold simultaneously. Amazing.
Wednesday 2/18/09
As far as Viticulture and Enology II (aka wine class) goes, I’m in so over my head. Massimo, my former teacher, and his dog Sophie made an appearance and I was just waiting for them to both burst out laughing at how little I know. At any rate, Caterina, my new teacher, has planned lots of wine events for us for the semester, so it should be lots of fun. The actual class was all about grapes and acids and enzymes and structures. Now I wish I remembered more from high school chemistry.
I’ve decided that Tradition of Italian II with Marcella is the antithesis of my last class with her (Italian Vegetarian Cooking). The first two lessons were a mixed-meat stew and veal rolls. Wednesday’s was pork loin wrapped in lard. It’s much more delicious than it sounds and involves a lot of balsamic vinegar. Marcella actually had us do a tasting first of a 25-year-old 80-Euro bottle of it. (This bottle 100 milliliters… or 3.38 fluid ounces, or less than half a cup!)
Anyway, I should remember to bring my camera. I ended up partner-less and cooking by myself, which I enjoy. Marcella noted at the end that despite working alone I was cooking “for two” (America-sized portions, hell yeah) and that my plating was very “Tuscan.” Whatever. Despite being the last one done, my generously-composed plate was one of the first ones finished. (We all go around and sample each others food.) I think that speaks for itself.
That night, Adrian and I had some good brotherly bonding time. I love Sergio and Miles of course, but it was nice to just have some time for The Super Marin Bros. We tried out an affordable but not too substantial aperitivo near our house and then ended up going to another one. We spent the night trying to figure out what “polar depression” means (in terms of weather, I feel it’s something that Italians lost in translation) and drinking with British Tom and Michaela at yet another bar and then the Irish pub. On the way home I stopped at the vending machine and got a dark chocolate kit kat bar. Which was very good for the drunk craving I had at the time. Under the same vending machine, I found a blank membership card for a nearby cultural association. I’m having moral qualms about whether to fill it out or just return it.
Thursday 2/19/09
Thursday I had both my dessert classes. In Dessert Styling it was all about cheesecakes. Regular ones, lemon ones, pear and cinnamon ones, unbaked ones involving yogurt and gelatin, and strawberries, chocolate, and mint as garnishes. Good times. Italian Cakes (which should really be called Italian Pastries) was all about apples. Apple fritters, apple (and other fruit) strudel, apple filled doughtnut-like things, and apple jam.
Well despite that you think one would be full from a day full of sweets, you’d be surprised how much that leaves you craving savory food. Adrian and I hit up a bar for Mexican aperitivo and then went to a Hispanic restaurant for even more food. (Yes, I know I live in Italy but when you’ve been here over a year you really just can’t eat solely Italian food anymore.) We ended up going out that night too. A lot.
Friday 2/20/09
This means I was a bit sleepy on Friday morning. I went on a field trip for my wine class to the Consorzio Vino Chanti Classico, which is basically the consortium that decides which wines can be labeled DOCG and thus Chianti Classico. (The European Union has laws protecting the names of certain food products, and Italy has many of the oldest, most important ones.) We got to do a tasting and hear a brief presentation by the Technical Director/Inspector. I learned a lot of about wine. Obviously.
I stayed in Friday night after getting home because I had an even earlier trip to make on Saturday and didn’t want to be as miserable as Friday morning.
Saturday 2/21/09
Saturday we met before dawn to go to Parma to see the entire process of making Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (minus the aging of course). It’s also one of Italy’s protected products, and I agree that the yellow sand in the green shaker should NOT be called Parmesan (the French name for P-R). But yeah, we also got a tasting of 1 and 2 year old cheeses with sparkling wine. And for brunch, I got a Prosciutto di Parma sandwich. (Another delicious and protected product. Forgive me for all the random foodie information.)
This may have been a mistake, because we were then giving free time for a walk and lunch in Parma. Miles, Miki (who is also Alaskan and was here last semester), her friend Amanda, and I got lunch together and had some Risotto “Giuseppe Verdi” – the composer, Parma’s his hometown – and squash tortelli, a local specialty. They had a great Absolut vodka and mint sorbet on the menu. And there was a chocolate festival going on, so we got some mint tea and 4-spice chocolates after.
That afternoon we went to Modena to a balsamic vinegar vineyard. (Okay, last random foodie information I swear. REAL Balsamic vinegar is aged a minimum of 12 years and is made in Modena ONLY from grapes from Modena. That stuff you find at the supermarket is as inauthentic as the Parmesan cheese shakers. Obviously it’s also a protected Italian product.) We got to do a tasting of 5-year old white balsamic, 12-year-old balsamic, and a 25-year-old balsamic. We got some free balsamic candies too. I wanted to pay for a tasting of a 50 or 100 year old balsamic, but of course they don’t just have open bottles of that around. The stuff is obviously expensive. A cask of the stuff (just the cask, not even including the liquid inside) is worth over 20,000 euro. No duh, it’s delicious too.
Sunday 2/22/09
I woke up ridiculously early, went to church, came home, fell asleep, and woke up really late. Miles made “breakfast” for us. Sandwiches comprised of chicken fried steak, fried eggs, and sautéed onions. We were still hungry after, so we made breakfast #2. Potato pancakes. Sadly we didn’t have any applesauce, so ketchup and curry sauce had to suffice.
I believe we didn’t do anything the rest of the day but sit around and eat. (Sunday is a day of rest.) Since MTV is the only TV network that lets you watch shows online outside the country, Adrian and I had an America’s Best Dance Crew marathon.
I went out to get some ramen to flavor with the last of the curry sauce, and Adrian asked me to get him “the weirdest flavor available,” So I got him “miso.” (I know “Roast beef” flavor is available back home and I wasn’t sure about “seafood” since I think instant “shrimp” ramen kind of tastes like seawater.) This miso confirmed our desire for some sushi, so he, Miles, and I went to what we thought was a restaurant but was actually a carryout.
So we ended up at the Chinese restaurant down the block, which was surprisingly good: Warm, thick duck and tofu soup; “Chinese beans,” which turned out to be warm edamame; fried fish with sweet corn, which Adrian ordered and then described as “flavor fail” (the fish and the corn were both good, just terrible together); spicy fried rice on a sizzling place; Cantonese roast duck; pineapple fried rice with raisins in a hollowed out pineapple (Miles was surprised by the pineapple but I was more surprised by the raisins); sizzling duck with bamboo shoots on a hot plate; ho fun (spelling); spicy tofu; and some of the best Chinese roast pork I’ve ever had. You must remember the serving sizes here in Italy are smaller, but yes it was a huge meal.
Jacky was there at another table with one of her friends, so when they left, she gave me her kettle of jasmine tea, which was really soothing and a nice way to end the meal.
So after, the three of us had a craving for dessert. The only cash we had was a 50 euro bill, so we decided to not completely piss off the gelateria people and instead got a kilo of fior di latte “cream” gelato. (This prompted a call to Tanjila, or Tangelato.) We got home, and I deemed the gelato a worthy ingredient to pair the balsamic vinegar I bought in Modena with. Awesome but I can’t take any credit since it was two ridiculously-delicious things put together.
Monday/Yesterday 2/23/09
I spent the morning at the bookstore, unable to find a single book I wanted to read in neither English nor Italian. (Save for the Michelin Guide 2009, which I didn’t buy but probably will.) I looked at literally every English fiction book, and rescue came in the nonficition section. I bought two new books because our apartment came without any books and even without a bookshelf. Since I read really efficiently if it’s not for school, I finished the 300-page book in the afternoon. So I’ll need to take my time with the second one. After reading, I fell asleep and woke up to Michaela over for dinner and the smell of the dinner Miles and Adrian prepared: Chicken tenders and cottage potatoes with a generous amount of parlsey. Mmm, deep fried foods. They enlisted me to make a barbeque sauce, and it got finished, so I guess it went rather well despite not having vinegar or molasses. We had some more of the gelato for dessert and then Emo came out of his room, so a lengthy game of [Presdidents and] Asshole[s] ensued.
Ben: Happy BirthGras!
Everyone: Okay, I’m really sorry. I need to learn to just do updates everyday if possible and not let things pile up like this.
1 comment:
I cant believe you're back in florence for a third semester! I am SOOO jealous as I sit at my desk-at work-and type this. Enjoy Apicius and life in Florence for me. Have a meal at Buca for me!
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