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).