I’ll try to keep this brief.

Thursday 3/12

After the last update I got home to Miles making ribollita for himself and his friend Alexis. After a rather unsuccessful (if childish) game of Go Fish after struggling with the rules and having to google them, we taught her Rummy500. Then she and Miles left, and Emo and I played two more games. I won the first, and he won the second, which was definitely more intense and enjoyable.

Friday 3/13

I feel like I’ll be writing about my wine vineyard adventures at the end of all of them because I keep putting them off. I went to dinner with Sergio, Gina, and Anita. I got some penne alle carretiera, my favorite vegetarian pasta dish. It’s a spicy tomato sauce. Johnson was there also with a bunch of people including Alexis From The Night Before. Then we hung out at a bar for a while.

Saturday 3/14

Adrian and I spent the entire day cooking and the afternoon playing rummy. He’d invited Sergio over for dinner and picked a menu. Shrimps wrapped in potato and bacon, spinach lasagne with pork Bolognese and ricotta cheese, and veal liver and onions. We took the rummy to the bar for the evening and taught Michaela and Nicole how to play. Then due to all the dance music that had been playing all night, the girls and I were convinced into going clubbing with Cristian, Marissa, and company. We got back to the bar around four in the morning and stayed after-hours for some quality time with Sergio and Adrian.

Fuori di Taste 3/15

This did not stop us from waking up the next morning and going to Fuori di Taste, a food festival that was taking here in Florence. Unsurprisingly, we ate a lot of food... tons of cheese, balsamic vinegar tasting, truffles both real and chocolate, prosciuttos, sausages, flourless egg/less chocolate cake, pastries etc. They had a little food court thing, so I got salmon carpaccio with grapefruit and arugula. But for me, the highlight was a chocolate with Darjeeling tea flavored filling.

It was a good eating day. Afterwards, on the way home, I introduced the girls to Kebab Lady. So we got more food, and then went back to their apartment to play rummy on the patio. And then we got gelato and chilled at our apartment with Adrian, Miles, and Emo. Magic tricks and mind teasers. And then I had the impulse (or rather, the encouragement) to bake a chocolate cake, which we topped with more gelato. So yeah, it was a great day.

Monday 3/16

Michaela, Adrian, and I went to a wine tasting for Antinori. It was led by their very skilled enologist Mr. Cotorella. The wines were amazing and his story and wisdom were pretty ridiculously inspiring. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at the trattoria and then hung out with Sergio the rest of the night.

Tuesday 3/17

I had my professional cooking midterm, then Andrea took us a visit to the Market, where he introduced us to the stands he shops and cautioned us against certain less-reputable salesmen. The evening was pretty chilled out. Rummy with the roommates. And then, since both Emo and Miles are from foreign countries that aren’t the United States, I introduced them to the Saturday Night Live music videos for "Dick In A Box" and "Jizz In My Pants."

Wednesday 3/18

I had my Enology and Viticulture (aka Wine) and then my Tradition of Italian Food II midterms. The former I somehow miraculously passed and the second was pretty smooth sailing. That night Adrian was playing guitar for an aperitivo at a cultural association that we usually frequent later at night.

Thursday 3/19

Dessert Styling and Italian Pastry midterms. Nothing too notable except for that Dessert Styling was maybe half questions we reviewed and half questions we hadn’t prepared for at all. Not surprising. Thursday was more dessert-heavy than ever because I arrived to school to the pleasant surprise of carrot cake (from Bonnie) and cinnamon gelato (from the Advanced Pastry girls). And then on top of that, those were the only classes I had that held class after the exam. Styling was dedicated to sugar paste and royal icing. (Yeah, a lot of sugar.) And Italian pastries was dedicated to Rice cakes (not the light American fluffy kind) and Salame Dolce, a chocolate dessert. I needed real food, so I went to aperitivo and hung out with Johnson and Tommy The Bartender.

Friday 3/20

Another wine trip which wasn’t as eventual as the other one, but we went to a really big castle and then had an amazing lunch in Chianti at a butcher’s restaurant. That night, after a LOST viewing, I finally made it to one of Marissa’s dinner parties. She and Victoria pulled out all the stops: Orrechiete with a spicy seafood sauce, Sicilian-style Roasted peppers and eggplant, and flourless chocolate cake with strawberries.

Saturday 3/21

I made brunch for Adrian using some ingredients I’d picked up at the butcher shop in Chianti. Steak tartare to start with and then scrambled eggs, garlic sage potato wedges, sautéed beef, and red pepper jelly.

I don’t remember what we did all afternoon because all of a sudden, Adrian was making dinner. Roasted tomato, goat cheese, and onion frittatini. We had some extra buttered molds, so I made molten chocolate cake for dessert. We played rummy until Marissa came over for sangria. Barhopping. We wound up at Tommy's Goodbye Party, where I ran into Anita which was kind of awkward since I’d “stood her up” on our weekly dinner double date with SerGina.

Sunday 3/22

Adrian is taking advantage of the empty apartment by cooking all the time. An All-American Lunch was fettucini alfredo, pan-fried chicken with pan gravy, and some leftover salami biscuits that Emo and Miles had made.

Claudio, one of my former professors, had invited me to the post-renovation reopening of a sushi restaurant. Adrian and I went, but the event was so well-attended that despite the free wine and buffet, we didn’t stay. We got sandwiches from Kebab Lady and went home.

Later in the evening, anticipating hunger we went and had sushi at the new sushi place near our place. Then we played a game of rummy and tried to decipher LA Fattoria, the nonsensical but sexy game show that was on TV.

Monday/Yesterday 3/23

It was a very relaxed day. Adrian and I went to the grocery and restocked the fridge. I went to dinner with Bonnie, one of my Pastry classmates, and her mother at Mario’s restaurant. Dinner was amazing, particularly the breads and dessert which of course is what we were most interested in since we knew he was the source of them.

Tuesday/Today 3/24

I updated my journal and tried to keep it brief.

TARADISE

Wednesday
I had just gotten out from the shower when the doorbell rang. Tara had arrived! Lots of joy. Lots of catching up. Then off to the wine bar to celebrate with a few glasses of red. Promptly followed by a nap. When we got up, I made curried carrot cous cous (lots of Cs) for dinner, and we had that with a bottle of wine while accompanying The Wives – aka Diedre and Marlene – at the dining table and watching Italian Wheel of Fortune – aka the best show ever. Barhopping then bed.

Thursday
Tara and I went on the mandatory scenic walk. Ponte Vecchio. Uffizi and all its exhibits. School. Santa Croce. We stopped by the cultural association for the Food & Art Aperitivo before going to Baccarossa for a delicious seafood dinner. We hit up the bar for espresso and then back home for a couple of drinking games with the roomies. Then everyone went to karaoke at the usual Irish pub.

Friday
We somehow miraculously slept ALL DAY, probably because the windows and shutters were both closed, locking the room into perpetual dawn. Imagine the opposite effect of when you’re in a basement with no windows at night and suddenly it’s morning. So we took our “morning” walk to Piazza Michelangelo to see it at sunset. Then we had “brunch” (or aperitivo) before going barhopping with Tom and Alex.

Saturday
We went out to get pizza for lunch and then hit up the Mercato Centrale, The Duomo, the archeological crypt underneath, and of course gelato. Followed by shopping for clothes and shoes. Then the wine bar for aperitivo at yet another bar followed by Italian hot chocolate, Tara’s dark with Aztec spices, mine white with raspberries. After a quick stop at the station for train tickets for the next day, we continued barhopping.

Sunday
We actually got up in the morning to go to The Cinque Terre. We stopped in Monterosso and had a long leisurely seafood lunch at Il Belvedere. On to Vernazza for food and wine shopping. Corniglia for a Schiacchetra (dessert wine) tasting. Then we “hiked” from Manarola to Riomaggiore. While waiting for the train transfer at La Spezia, we got McDonalds(!) for dinner and dark chocolate for dessert while waiting.

Monday
The train strike postponed our trip to Lucca, so we went back to Mercato Centrale for the beginning of Tara’s gift-shopping spree. I showed her the culinary school’s campus and then we hit up Amon for a porto-via lunch. We took chicken kebabs with moussaka and falafels with hummus back home to eat with a bottle of white wine. And who could resist the three kinds of dessert Amon offers – semolina cake, rice pudding, and of course baklava. Then it was more gift-shopping spree, cosmetics, perfumes, clothes. We had our daily coffee on a department store rooftop overlooking Piazza della Republica then spent some time admiring the whimsical European houshold objects and trinkets inside. Aperitivo, a catnap, and then a dance club with Aerie, Diedre, Marlene, and Tanjila.

Tuesday
We took our postponed trip to Lucca and after lunch immediately headed to Palazzo Mansi. (Unfortunately we didn’t see the Hot Naked Mansi Countess Ghost who supposedly rides her chariot around at night.) But the Palazzo was beautiful and made us want one someday. Museums, churches, a famous local café all done in dark woods and perfect for rainy afternoon coffee, and Tara buying Tuscan lotions and soaps for gifts. And definitely the highlight of the trip was an amazing, perfect Tuscan dinner at Buca di Sant’Antonio. One art store was selling journals with appropriate quotes embroidered on the cover and this one caught our eyes:

Il mondo è un libro, e chi non viaggia ne legge solo una pagina.
[“The world's a book, and one who doesn't travel only reads a page.”]

Wednesday
I left Tara to her own devices for her last-minute souvenir and gift-shopping while I went to do a photo shoot (!) with my class for a local organic fashion designer. Real cameras, real studio, real on-location shooting in Florence. It was awesome. Tara and I just spent the afternoon chilling and enjoying each other’s company while we still could. We went to the wine bar and split a bottle of wine and then had a splendid dinner at Alle Murate, which was definitely the most expensive meal we’ve ever paid for ourselves but definitely one of the most delicious ever as well. Lots of food. Lots of wine. When we got home, the apartment was a shitshow, to say the least, as everyone else had decided to do the “lots of wine” part also. Great times.

Thursday
Tara left in the early morning, so after seeing her ride away in her taxi, I went back to bed and woke up late. Adrian had left for Prague but left me an impromptu gift, a Florence Moleskine. Meaning its tailored to the city with maps and a great layout for notes, addresses, memories, etc. So awesome. I’ve been using it since. I spent the rest of the “day” (afternoon) online at the wine bar and beginning a post-Tara detox. I stayed there into Swedish aperitivo for the “Mamma Mia” party. Hampus as the DJ. Christian at the bar. (I asked for a Swedish drink and he made me a mandarin daiquiri.) Swedish meatballs on the table. Abba blaring in the bar.

a day of rest

Yesterday was very chill. Giuseppe and I went to Mesopotamia Kebap. It’s not my favorite, but I do love that they make their kebaps extra spicy. We spent the afternoon chilling out in Piazza Santa Croce. Early in the evening, he made a crema di asparagi soup that was awesome although he thought it was cream of scallions. I was still hungry after that, so I went to La Mucca sul Tetto for dinner. Delicious. After that, I went to the cultural association to meet up with Jack for some gin and tonics. On the walk home, Kadir of Istanbul Doner Kebap invited me to have a ciggy with him. I was drunk enough from the wine, limoncetta, grappa, (all at dinner) and gin and tonics to agree. I chilled there for a while talking to some other American students: Jordan, Amy, and Gar.

the freakin' weekend

Friday was a lazy day, mostly due to the rain. Eventually I found my umbrella and went to an aperitivo with Southern Anna and Payton, her friend visiting from Spain. The aperitivo had a huge buffet, so it was more meal-with-drinks than drinks-with-snacks. Good times. After that, we went back to SA’s apartment and played rook with her roommate Sarah At midnight it was Payton’s birthday, so Anna brought out one of the many surprises she’s planned for her visit: A “Charlie Cake.” It’s a box-mix chocolate cake drenched in a sauce made of butter, evaporated milk, and sugar. It’s the kind of dish where you look at the ingredients and wonder how it can possibly go wrong. Decadent.

The rest of Saturday I slept until going to the apartment of The Girls Next Block to hang out. On the way home, I realized I was hungry so grabbed dinner at Baccarossa. (If you ever click any “where’d ya eat?” link, make it this one. Best meal I’ve had in Italy, easily in the top four meals I’ve had ever.) Even though dinner involved a number of ingredients that aren’t among my favorites, it was one of my favorite meals ever. After that, and the numerous glasses of wine with the courses, I stumbled off to The Cultural Association to meet up with ‘Seppe, Alison, and Jess. When they went home, I hit up Tijuana with the Girls Next Floor and their friends. In the street outside, we had a reunion of sorts with all their friends from Thursday night and from dinner the other week. A bus almost hit the twelve of us. That was cool, I guess. I closed out the night having a tea party at Rex with John, Tia, and Aneesha, friends of his visiting from Rome. John makes a proper cup of tea.

new best week ever?

I’m really sorry that these weeks are flying by and I’m behind on updates.

Saturday ended in a nice and relaxed way. Giuseppe prepared veal cutlets and pesto pasta for dinner. I convinced him to go out with the girls and me since he was sitting on the couch with a book open on his lap staring into space. Do not confuse that with actual studying for midterms. He said he would “only have one drink.” Famous last words. We played Kings with the girls and Liane’s visiting friend before heading out to a few bars. Fun and chill night.

Palm Sunday was fantastic and even more relaxed. I got up early, went to mass, and then went back to bed. When I got up again, Henk and I went to lunch at a self-service restaurant both cheap and delicious. We walked around the city for a while and met up with Juan on the bridge north of Ponte Vecchio to drink some yerba mate. Using Henk’s tripod and Juan’s camera, I self-timed the picture of the three of us in the previous post. After that, we went to the Irish-pub-owned-by-Japanese-people to catch the second half of the Fiorentina/Genoa game and get some pre-St.-Paddy’s-Day beer. Henk and I stopped by Grom on the way home for some gelato. I went upstairs to borrow a book from The Girls Next Floor that ‘Seppe and I had befriended the other night, and they invited me to go to dinner with them and meet some of their friends. Dinner at Rubaconte. Gelateria Dei Neri after. I read half of Next by Michael Crichton, which I borrowed from the aforementioned girls upstairs.

Monday one of my teachers took us to the restaurant in the five star hotel by our house. Sadly it wasn’t an eating visit, just a viewing. He recently resigned as their executive chef. It’s a beautiful hotel. Rooms range from 700 to 3000 Euro a night. And they boast the biggest hotel suite in all of Europe. (I can’t remember the metric measurements.)

After that we took our midterm for food styling, and I handed in my portfolio for graphic design. I went to aperitivo with Sergio, my one Italian friend, Liane, her friend Robyn, and Giuseppe. We went bar hopping for St. Patrick’s Day but never actually made it to an Irish pub. Is it ridiculous that my drunkest Italian night was for an Irish holiday? Well, just goes to show that what an Irish bartender said when my friends and I pub-crawled in Ireland a few years ago: “Once you’re drunk in Ireland, you’re honorary Irish for life. Salinte!”

Tuesday was my day off. I spent it running errands. “You know what would make dinner better? Wine.” So my friends and I went to aperitivo. After that, we watched L’Auberge Espagnole. I had bought a copy since I told so many people about it. It was a fun experiment because the film is mostly in French, but the only subtitles were Italian. “You know what would make the film better? Wine.” So we bought a few bottles on the walk back to my apartment. After the movie, we wanted to go out but nothing too crazy. We decided to go sit on the bridge. “You know what would make the bridge better? Wine.” [I’m really not kidding about people saying these things all night.] Unfortunately we couldn’t find any wine en route to the bridge, so we just brought beer instead.
Marissa, Helen, Henrique, Juan, and I also formed a new clique. We realized while sitting on the bridge that we have quite the international mix. We’re the new Planeteers. Juan is North America/wind, Henrique is South America/fire, Marissa is Europe/heart, Helen is Africa/earth, and yours truly is Asia/water. Yeah, we’re cool.

Wednesday I had my Food Writing and Italian midterms. They were both pretty straightforward and, I thought, easy. That night, Marissa and Helen brought me to an aperitivo across the river at a bar where they hate Americans. “Speak only Spanish or Italian tonight. They will serve us faster.” I don’t mind that they hate Americans because certain college students aren’t good ambassadors. Plus I love being in bar with mostly Italians. It feels more genuine.

We were still hungry when aperitivo ended, so a bunch of us – Yes, a lot of our friends showed up. – got panini and pizze from Pan Pergo a stone’s throw away. Then we decided to go to Jack and Juan’s house to figure out the rest of the night. Marissa, Prima, Ross, and I decided to sing the entire walk, probably to the annoyance of the rest of the group. Here’s a copy of our quartet’s set list:

• In the Jungle
• Hakuna Matata
• Love Today
• New York, New York
• It’s All Coming Back To Me Now
• Total Eclipse of the Heart

Quite eclectic.

We ended up spending most of the night at Jack and Juan’s. Marissa and I reenacted our favorite Disaronno commercial. And then the game of touch cup started. And that was the beginning of the end. We ran out of wine and then probably out of rum. By then, everyone seemed appropriately “pinted” (Helen’s Zimbabwean slang). In the course of all this, we took over fifty photos, which I’ll upload eventually. A few of us left and went to a few bars, but that didn’t last very long.

Thursday AKA yesterday I had my Food & Society midterm. All the essay questions could be answered in one sentence, if not one word. We made arancini (fried rice balls, as in balls made of rice and then deep-fried, not balls made of fried rice). We shot a few more recipes and then turned in our portfolios for Food Photography. Check my facebook “what’d ya eat?” album if you want to see those glossy pictures. I had a chill night: Napping, getting online at a bar, catching up with David, hitting the sack again.

Today is Good Friday, and I've been running the errands I’ve put off all week. Laundry, cleaning, travel arrangements for spring break, etc.

Is it still a Lenten sacrifice if you love what you’re eating? For lunch I made a tuna salad out of yellowtail/yellowfin (AKA hamachi), cannelini bean, red onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and freshly ground black and cayenne peppers. An original Andrew creation: “Insalate di tonno all’ Andrea.”

Tonight is a little going-away dinner for Prima, and then who knows what will happen the rest of the weekend. I leave for London and more importantly Chad on (Easter) Sunday, so I can’t promise another update anytime soon. I’ll try though. Buona Pascua!

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

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).

fine settimana all'italiana

Saturday after Giuseppe had gotten up and we’d showered and found our respective keys, we went to the café to check e-mail and get some espresso. (Which, by the way, even though is stronger here is so much better. I still only drink it when I need to wake up. Same goes for cappuccino.) We went to lunch at this panini place that Henk had found. Sadly the time he took me there it was closed. But it was open now and was great.

I spent the afternoon icing my knee and napping since I hadn’t gotten that much sleep the night before. ‘Seppe woke me up in time to go to aperitivo at the bar/cafe I live at. I’ve already befriended the baristas, now I just need to get in with the bartender. We caught the tail end of the Milan/Parma game, which ended in a tie. The aperitivo was good. Red wine. Finger sandwiches, Italian sliced meats, olives, bread. I was tempted to make an imitation muffuletta.

We also made a stop at a clothing store. The mannequins which are the Italian standard are ridiculous. They’re all two inches skinnier than Giuseppe (whose waist is 30, max) and two inches taller than me (5’10). I have seen no one in this country with those proportions and am pretty sure no such man exists. But the clothes, of course, were nice.

I spent part of the night watching Divorzio all'italiana, which is an Oscar winner, highly entertaining, and not too optimistic regarding marriage. Giuseppe’s longtime friend Laura is visiting. The two of them just stayed in to get ready for a busy day today, but Henk, Juan, and I went out. We started at Kikuya, which is a great bar that has an Italian location, a Japanese(?) name, Irish beers on tap, and Brazilian music. One of the baristas at my café/bar apparently works nights there, and she hooked us up with nachos. Those just made us hungry for more food, so we went to the Mediterranean place near the apartment for gyros and mirsarasemi (a Persian dip new to me, it involves grilled eggplant, garlic, onion, tomato, and egg). Then we adjourned to Salamaca, the Spanish-tapas-restaurant-by-day / Latin-club-bar-by-night next door. I didn’t stay very long to give my knee a rest, but it was more fun than the first time we went when it was too packed to breathe.

Now it’s almost noon on Sunday. I’m at the café/bar online of course. So here’s something kind of crazy. The “church” we’ve been going to for mass is actually a Franciscan basilica. AND I just realized it’s the burial place of Machiavelli, Galileo, and Michelangelo. I knew they were buried at a church here in Florence but not at my neighborhood church. Craziness.

second week closin' out

So my Valentine’s Day was pretty uneventful. I was thinking about asking one of the single girls (no one in particular) out to dinner just for convention’s sake, but when Anna offered us all a dinner at her apartment, that plan went away. Dinner was good. Layers of potatoes, onions, chicken, cheese, and a little mayonnaise. What’s not to like? Pretty much everyone was there. A few guys left early to go to an extracurricular meeting. Then after dinner, some went home because of an early morning or to get gelato just because. At one point, Anna and I were talking about the recipe, Liz was on the phone with her boyfriend, and Prima was on the phone with hers. Jack just looked up and said “I feel like I’m watching three TV channels: The Food Network (Anna and me), AMC (Liz), and Telemundo (Primavera).” Eventually, I just went upstairs to crash and rest my knee.

Friday was likewise unmemorable until the afternoon when Henk, John, and two of his friends joined me at the café I currently haunt. Eventually Liz called to ask if I wanted to help Prima move out of her apartment(!). She’s not going back to Mexico. She just moving closer to The Duomo. So much drama. Sadly I could only lift and not carry, but I did recruit the other guys here and lead them to the apartment of The Girls Next Block. Prima gave me a gift bag of delicious groceries which for some reason she didn’t want to take with her. After she and her packing entourage left, I just hung out with Jess while she waited for the other three to get home. The reactions ranged from disbelief to indifference. And someone was worried they’d get a “psycho crazy transvestite” as a new roommate.

Eventually since we were all hungry and hadn’t gone to the market, we went out to dinner at Trattoria Tirovino. I’m glad everyone likes it as much as I do. I’m not sure if it was the owner’s or Liane’s idea that she eventually meet his son, but as long as she doesn’t break his heart and get us banned from that place, it’s fine with me.

We went back Next Block and Jack came over, bringing with him Travel Scrabble. (Apparently Twister was also an option, but I certainly can’t play and would just spin. “Left hand, Liane’s ass.”) I always have the worst luck with hard letters at this game! I got stuck making words like squall, wax, and something I can’t recall that involved z.

Now it’s Saturday. Half of my friends are exploring the city of Siena. The other half are hiking through a Chianti vineyard and then wine-tasting. (‘Seppe declined both, so I’m expecting him to be fun when he wakes.)

So, I decided this morning that I will continue to rest my knee the rest of this weekend. But once Monday starts, I am obliterating the no-further-than-five-minutes-from-home rule and resuming life to the best of my dis/ability. This includes: Classes, marketplace, pedestrianism, photography, nightlife, weightlifting, drinking, and general shenanigans.

I live in a postcard.

I will celebrate that with or without my knee’s consent.

just another mangled knee Monday

So I went to my food styling class yesterday and upon getting there realized that the walk had not been the best idea for my knee and decided that I was definitely not walking all the way to my computer graphics class. Food styling rewarded me nicely for the walk though. Today was molecular gastronomy day. We made an amuse bouche (one those bite-size gifts that chefs send restaurant patrons with the menu) that was basically a spoonful of re-imagined shrimp scampi. The other dish was a not-quite Caprese Salad (buffalo mozzarella, San Marzano tomato, basil, and olive oil). Our fake-aprese, my term not the chef’s, was pureed-then-steamed cuttlefish (like a squid with a shell) shaped like a sphere of mozzarella, tomato confit, and of course basil and olive oil. We prepared all the ingredients together and watched the chef plate a serving, and he gave a few of us a chance to construct our own plates. This was mine:

After that, I walked back home with Jack, who was en route to his Italian class. Of course we stopped to grab slices of pizza at Sabrina. When I got home, I immediately took one of those prescribed painkillers and then ended up napping an hour or so.

Later on in the evening, I received a frantic phone call from Aneet and Jess.

Let me put a prologue to this story: The men here love Jess. We don’t know exactly why. Perhaps her warm complexion? Her dark hair? Her Cleopatra eyes? In the past week, I’ve personally seen no less than four complete strangers hit on her, only her, even with the other girls around. One even bought her chocolate (Twix) out of a vending machine.

Anyway, lately the attention has been getting less fun. Tonight Aneet and Jess were apparently being followed around by two shady strangers... who would even wait for them outside whatever store they would enter. Ah, the curse of beauty. (Aneet is Indian, the culture whose women I believe generally have the finest facial features of all. And I already explained Jess’s situation.) They called me from a store a few blocks away and asked me to walk them home. Which I gladly did of course. I limped over there as fast as I could, ready to take on any bad guys. At least this way, my damaged knee would be due than more to a drunk chick. Thankfully no such encounter happened.

I walked them to class after and then had a most pleasant surprise. A phone call from Chad! He’s in London and doing well, and naturally we’re planning visits and possibly spring breaks. This pretty much made up for any rottenness of the day so far.

So when I got home, I decided to give Trattoria Tirovino, the restaurant literally next door, a try. Although I do love standing, particularly while cooking in a kitchen, I decided the flights of stairs and any further kitchen work would make my knee hate me even more. Dinner was excellent, by the way. It’s dangerous having it so near my home.

I spent the rest of the night icing my knee in the living room and watching Giuseppe's Top Gun dvd. He was doing homework and on his computer. And Henk was being European and artistic enough for all of us by painting while drinking red wine.

¡Noche Mexicano!

To curb a craving for Japanese, Jess, Mindy, Primavera, and I went to Kome for lunch. Aftter a few errands, Prima and I started cooking dinner because she's Mexican and I'm very slightly Mexican. (By the way, the rumors going around that she is the heiress to the Corona fortune are completely false.) Our ethnic dish was red bell peppers stuffed with relleno (ground beef, ground pork, peaches, apples, onions, and garlic) and topped with a sauce made of cream, goat cheese, nuts, and raisins. Pretty much everyone came over. And I think we all enjoyed el sabor de mexico. After dinner, some of us went to Gelateria Dei Neri again for more gelato.

We spent the rest of the night doing tequila shots and then eventually wandered out to go barhopping. So much fun. But didn't end too well. See the next post for details. Let's focus on the good times. Here's a picture of me, Liz, and Ross.

third day of class

Another class in another kitchen. Food, Culture, and Society in Italy. So it's mostly cooking but also with information about all things Italian. The professor isn't a professional chef but an architect (who specializes in renovation since there's no room to build in Florence), and he comes from a family of restaurant owners and managers. So he knows what he's doing.

Parthian chicken

The first lesson was all about classic and traditional Roman fare. We made a very rustic, very Tuscan chicken dish, which was very tasty. We didn't season the chicken at all. The sauce (involving parsley, celery, wine, and anchovies) made all the difference. Amazing, and a custard that involved honey and pine nuts.

My final class was Food Photography, which was pretty much the same thing as Food Writing but with everything applied to cameras and pictures. Our professor has worked photographing for National Geographic before, so he also knows his stuff.

When I got back home, we all went out to dinner at Trattoria Pallattino which is in our neighborhood and was brought to our attention by Alison's Frommers 2008 book. We also got a nice lesson in Italian meal scheduling because the place didn't open until 7:30, and we got there at 6:15. We followed Henk's suggestion and had an antipasto picnic in the tiny piazza next to it. We bought wine, cheese, bread, salami, and olives from a nearby shop. Some of us got gelato from Vivoli next door to have dessert first.

When the trattoria did open, we were not disappointed. The food was great.

After our rather long European dinner, we all split ways to our various apartments although not everyone went back to their own. I ended up falling asleep and did not wake up to go to the American bar - although it was kind of the leavers to ask - and had a nightmare where I was back in Maryland and wanted to be in Florence.

yup yup

Yesterday was busy and expensive. I filled out and mailed my Permesso Siggiorno (an application to live in Italy that involved lots of photocopying, application, tax, stampage, and resulting fees). Luckily I was able to see Jess’ filled out form and watch Liane’s step by-step process before me at the post office. I’m glad to be finished with all that. Much more fun was trying on chef pants and chef clogs at the store, but then those had to be purchased too. I bought groceries and random household supplies for the first time here at a combination of the central market, the neighborhood grocery store, the Euro store (like a dollar store), and the pharmacy. But when all those errands were finished and all that money was spent, the clouds parted and the afternoon was beautiful.

Lunch was a pleasant break and a taste of America because Liane had made pizza bagels and chicken tenders. She keeps making jokes about not knowing how to cook and not being able to feed her future children, but she took care of lunch just fine. And she was pretty much Jack’s sous-chef when he made dinner for us (breaded chicken cutlets and pasta). Anna made a salad and provided the food. It’s funny how these meal dynamics are working. Different people provide the extra ingredients, cooking utensils, kitchen, tableware, silverware, wine, and dining space. Between the dozen or so of us, we have a pretty respectable dinner party. Yes, teamwork.

After dinner, we went to Gelateria dei Neri to get dessert. We’ve actually gone there before, but I didn’t recall the name or the location. Some of us hung out at Anna’s and played Truth or Dare at Liane’s suggestion because we’re preteens at heart apparently. When that got old, everyone else called it a night but Henk and I went out. (We’re the two with afternoon classes today.) Nothing crazy, just splitting a pitcher at a Scottish pub with more Italians than most of the bars we’ve been to.

just settlin' in

So when I got back to my apartment after the walking tour, I saw semi-unpacked luggage in the living room and a guy asleep in the other bedroom. About ten minutes later, Giuseppe, my other roommate, had woken up from his nap and came in to officially meet me. (We’d been in contact in the states. He is a volunteer EMT and firefighter, so unless I’m really stupid, I’m not dying in Italy.) Really cool guy but very brief first impression since he ran off to go to registration. When he came back, Henk (who is teaching me Portuguese phrases) and I went with him to meet some friends from Stonybrook and their roommates.

We went out to dinner, where I had an insane “Fantasia” pizza that came out with peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, capers, ham, and hot dog. Which of these does not belong? But it was surprisingly good. And wine and bread that deserved each other. The wine was neither sweet nor dry and the bread had no taste. After dinner we got some delicious if overpriced gelato ($7.50 a cup) and went barhopping, but none of the bars were anything special. One was an “Irish pub” without any bear, another was completely geared toward American students, and the last was great but too packed to breathe. We did get free Spumante (Italian champagne) and free shots from a club promoter though. “Welcome to Florence!” But the night was still fun because I got to meet and get to know about a dozen people, some of them live a few blocks away from me. Some of them live downstairs – the girls we were looking for when we met the angry lady.


Yesterday was pretty good. I got up and watched LOST and then took a shower and went to school to pay some final fees. And to my surprise, I got a chef jacket and hat! Apparently I need them for some of courses. Now I just need to buy black pants to wear to classes with them. I was one of the several who showed up on time, so I got to leave pretty early. Jack, one of the guys from the night before and I left around the same time, so we went to run errands. (He’s my first non-roommate friend partly because he goes to Apicius, partly because he was the only person who knew his cell phone number, and mostly just because he’s a nice guy.) Sadly the central market was closed and the post office was out of the “permission slips” we needed to live here, but we still got a good walk around the city. We stopped by the grocery store to check prices and compare them to home and the market and then ended the afternoon at a café with sandwiches, and of course, espresso and cappuccino.

I came back just before ‘Seppe and Henrique arrived with groceries from the same supermarket I went to earlier. We were thinking about making dinner but then decided to go out with the girls from the night before for dinner, which was at I Ghibellini and amazing. It completely made up for the dinner the night before.

After dinner, we came back to our apartment to drink wine. Some of us opted for “Never Have I Ever” to get to know each other better. Then after some shots, we met up with the rest of the guys and girls last night at the same super-American bar but then left to taxi to a club. The club was fun but the cover and drinks were overpriced. Still a good night because of the people. I have everyone’s names straight now, and a few nicknames to match. I will introduce them into mi giornale soon I’m sure. ‘Seppe and I got home at four in the morning.

orientation sucks/rules!

So I got up the next morning and walked to my new school. Unsurprisingly, my path goes right by the piazza The Duomo is in. The school isn’t that big, but it’s really nice. Everything is Apple (the free-for-all computer lab is huge monitors and Mac minis) and wirelesss. The furniture is so sleek and European it would make Ikea jealous.

There were more students than I expected, around fifty, but everyone seems cool so far. At 22, I’m definitely on the higher end of the age scale. Most of them are juniors.

We settled into orientation – which by the way, I almost missed to spend a night in Amsterdam when I booked my tickets – and... not fun. All the advice you could get from reading the handbook and Breathing for Dummies. Don’t walk alone at night. If there’s a fire, leave the buildng. Etc. And then there were rules. For the kitchen and extra ones for the culinary students. (You can only taste your food, but you can’t eat it because you have to have it for your professor to critique!) It made me less jealous of the jackets and knives they would get. On the plus side, I did get a chance to be in the wine-tasting classroom (wine racks and marble counters with stools) – and a chance to meet with the school’s cell phone provider. I got my new SIM card set up in my RAZR, so I do have a phone now! Sweet disount too. Free incoming calls and free incoming texts. But unsurprisingly, all this scheduling ran late so we had less time for lunch than we were supposed to. I went to lunch with a few people I’d been around (since we got split into groups for things). Pizzeria Sabrina is a block away from the building we were in. I think I know where I’m getting lunch in between classes.

Now I was hoping having eaten – since I skipped breakfast because all we had in our apartment was wine and bottled water – would make the afternoon better. It did. And as lame as the morning was, the afternoon was AMAZING. We got broken into our categories and got to meet the director of each program. Only one girl and I were focusing on Food Communication, so we had a private meeting with one of our professors in the Photo Lab. (Also all Apples but with professional photo equipment.) After that, we were taken on a walking tour of Florence. It wasn’t the tourist stuff, more like the stuff we’d be need to familiar with:

It started with the other facilities a few blocks away. The first building had the reception area and our lockers. And then we were ushered into The Restaurant Room, which has tables and chairs and I guess is used for serving and hospitality simulation. (I’m naming all these places myself, btw.) Right next to that is The Restaurant Kitchen which has all the amenities and stations you’d associate with a gourmet restaurant. Then there’s a smaller “Household Kitchen” used for independent study. Then there’s where I’ll spend a lot of time, The Beginning Kitchen. Which, for any Bravo viewers, looks like the Top Chef kitchen except without studio lighting and all the Kenmore logos. On a related note, Season 2 winner Elan Hall is an alumnus of Apicius! Finally, we got to see The Bakery where the pastry students will study. Okay, now I was starting to get a little jealous of the cooking students again. Good news for me, apparently sometimes we have the chance to get together and watch a cooking show (either reality TV or Food network) in the Restaurant Room and then go raid the pantry and try to replicate the dish(es) in the Kitchens! The next building almost across the street had two more Beginning Kitchens and two Demo Kitchens (like an infomercial or cooking show) where all you do is watch.

The rest of the tour were the main market, the most comprehensive grocery store with the longest hours, kitchen supply and chef stores, random restaurants our guide recommended, and the language building of FUA where we’d take Italian classes in either the Leonardo, Michelangelo, or Rafael rooms. (I guess they’re named after The Ninja Turtles.) One of our last – and perhaps the best – stop was the chocolate shop owned by one of the professors. He’s won several international awards, and the place is beautiful. It looks like a jewelry store that happens to sell chocolate. He wasn’t there, but we got to meet his right-hand man, who let us into the kitchen and gave us fresh samples of a new confection they’re perfecting. I can’t write what it is, but if you ask me, I’ll tell you. I can tell you that it doesn’t involve dark chocolate (and I assumed I wouldn’t like it), but it was fantastic.)

L'Auberge Italienne

When I got here to Firenze, I called my parents to let them know I was alive. I went straight to the landlord’s office to get the keys for my apartment downtown. The apartment is awesome. It proves everyone who said I would live in a closet wrong. Our bathroom is bigger than my room in Aron. It’s even fully furnished and definitely nicer than any apartment I’ve ever lived in. (The only slight exception would be the kitchen of the Pine/Freret house.) When I was struggling to put the key in the door – since I refused to put down my baggage – it suddenly opened. Henrique, my new roommate, was already there. You may have heard that Giuseppe – my other roommate – and I were wondering his nationality/ies. He’s Brazilian. He offered to help me carry in my luggage. Very nice guy. He gave me a tour of the apartment. It’s bigger and nicer than I expected. I put the pictures on facebook if you’d like to see.

I unpacked some of my stuff, and then Henrique and I gave in to our hunger and went to dinner. I had ridden taxis to the landlord’s office and to my apartment, so it was my first walk in Florence in years. I love it here. It hasn’t changed a bit. The buildings are perpetually under renovation, and stores’ merchandise is perpetually on sale. Anyone who was on Marin EuroTrip 2000: I walked by Nuti and Hotel Fenice Palace. We walked past the central market and got dinner and wine at Bondi, a cozy restaurant a stone’s throw away. After dinner, we stopped by a liquor store and bought some wine. Henk had made friends with the owner, and he gave us a great, if completely arbitrary, “student discount.” We decided to just stay in for the night since Henk was tired and I had been up for over 30 hours and knew the wine would make me sleepy. So we just drank wine, listened to “good Brazilian music” (as opposed to the junk), and got to know each other. The lady at the landlord’s office had told me that there were other American students who just moved in downstairs, so we knocked on the door we thought was theirs to ask them up to get friendly and offer them wine. But we were answered in a loud, angry Italian voice. So we apologized and headed upstairs. (I’ll write about meeting the girls later. The lady was wrong about the move-in. They were next door and not there yet.)

no longer stateside

So despite comfortably cuddling with my crazy, wonderful ex-puppy Bella, I didn’t get much sleep the night before my flight building. Very different from the eve of leaving for undergrad. Not sentimental or anxious. The excitement just started building. Isn’t it funny the way you view places you’re leaving and arriving the same way? You notice everything... the buildings, anything on the road, the color of the sky. I looked fondly on my once-small-town, now suburban, soon-to-be-harbor-side neighborhood.

My mother took the afternoon off work and my father the morning to see me off. We got to Dulles Airport with enough time to spare between check-in and boarding for the three of us to have a late lunch at Harry’s Tap Room. Nothing compared to the real place but not bad for airport food.

After that and a teary-eyed farewell, which was nowhere near the waterpark of them leaving me at Tulane for the first time, I went through the security checkpoint and waved ciao. I got a chance to talk on the phone with Adrian, fresh out of class and excited for his first non-pledge Mardi Gras.

My flight to Munich was awesome. Eight hours is nothing after you fly from Minneapolis to Tokyo. I picked “The Ultimate Gift” (so good) from the surprisingly decent movie selection. Before take off, the gentleman assigned to the window seat next to mine went off in search of his own aisle seat, so after dinner at 7:30 EST I slept until breakfast at 6:15 Europe time.

I got to Munich’s Strauss Airport for another eight hours, my layover. (Better that than rushed multiple plane changes.) I had hoped to spend a night in Amsterdam en route to Florence, but the scheduling and pricing didn’t work out. The airport was beautiful and had all sorts of expensive amenities: A gym, a spa, “gambles” (for Lauren and Chad), and a discotheque.

Sadly like Dulles to DC, Strauss is about an hour away from Munich, so there wasn’t enough time for a visit. But another town was only a fifteen-minute ride away.