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

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.