kitchen math.

What do you get when you add together...

+

+


+

+

= ?

The always-popular, ever-delicious....

Eggplant parmesan!

Fresh from the oven.

Om nom nom nom...

It was a rainy one here in Florence, so I decided to spend the day cooking! I headed to the market this morning to pick up my ingredients fresh, then lazily chopped, boiled, peeled, fried, and baked, until I got the above result! It was a big hit with the roomies...you're welcome, guys!

I don't really want to stay in tonight, since I've already been "in" all day, but I don't really feel like getting dressed up to go to a bar, either. Days like this really make me miss things like movie theathers, putt-putt golf, bowling, or even board games...gahh.

What to do...what to do?

my apologies.

I'm sorry for the less-than-stellar and enthusiasm-free posts this week. I have been loaded with schoolwork, and as a result, totally tired and not feeling like myself. I think I just need a stress-free weekend (and maybe a Skype date with some family/friends? I feel like I haven't talked to anyone in ages. Maybe I'm a little homesick.)

Anyway, my life this week has felt fairly routine anyway, so despite the lack of real postage, you haven't missed much. Today we went on a "Making Gelato" tour through a Discovering Florence program that is run by the international school, Lorenzo de'Medici, that I attend here. I was expecting...more from this tour, I guess, but the little bit that we did see was entertaining.

A group of about 11 or so went to a gelateria near the Santa Maria Novella church where they produce their own gelato. The man who was supposed to give the tour was apparently not there and hadn't called to cancel, so the man's father, who speaks no English, gave the tour instead with one of the LdM advisors translating for us.

He showed us how to make a sorbetto gelato, which is fruit based and lacks the cream and milk that make the other flavors (like chocolate, hazelnut, coffee, etc.) creamier. Into the sorbetto went just water, sugar (um...a LOT of sugar), and frozen fruit. He blended it with a giant mixer, giving us all a taste of the sugary fruit syrup, then threw it into a gelato-making machine, where it took about 10 minutes to thicken and become delicious.

The old man was adorable, and I was surpised that I understood the majority of what he said even before the advisor translated for us. That is not to say that I necessarily understood every word that he told us, but I got the gist of what he was saying, which was an interesting feeling.

It was creamy and delicious coming out of the machine.

And we all got a free cone at the end! Mmmm, strawberry!

Anyway, Sam and I are off to pub crawl with a group of API kids and one of her friends from back home. I'm not feeling super social tonight, so I think I'm going to take it easy on the drinks...wish me luck!

I miss you all.

sleepy stomach.

I think the mere title of this post says more about my current state of tiredness than anything else. For some reason, since I got home from cooking class, I have just been beat. Unfortunately, with a research paper to write, bedtime will likely not be until some unmentionable hour past midnight. Yuck.

Cooking class was somewhat uninspiring again tonight, but I thought I'd share the fruits of my labor with you anyway.

We started with a stereotypical Italian antipasto (deja vu?), bruschetta al pomodoro. The usual went into the tomato mixture: chopped tomato, olive oil, salt, fresh garlic, oregano, and fresh basil. Toss, let sit, then top toasted Tuscan bread with tomato-y goodness. Add a little red pepper to spice up your life.

I was REALLY excited about our primi piatti when I first read the recipe today, but the end result was less than impressive. Orchiette al cime di rapa is an ear-shaped pasta made with turnip greens and anchovies. Of course, everyone in the class freaked out at the idea of anchovies, but in the end, you honestly could not taste them. The dish ended up being bland, boring, and sadly without any real flavor or identity. I liked the pasta shape, but ended up topping it with anything and everything I could get my paws on (salt, pepper, red pepper...more salt...and parmesan).

Parmesan cheese makes everything better.

Again, reading the recipe for this next dish, flan di zucchine, excited me much more than the actual food. I personally sliced enough zucchini to feed Ethiopia, then we blanched it. Layer the slices in the bottom of a pan and top with a mixture of egg yolk, parmesan cheese, beaten egg whites, and a dash of nutmeg. Top with more zucchini slices and bake.

Blah.

I did, however, love our main course, pesce al spada di marinara. We baked fillets of swordfish topped with chopped tomato, olive oil, chopped black olive, capers, breadcrumbs, and an array of spices. Simple, delicious...and hot. I may have burned my tongue wolfing it down.



Aaaaaand the finale! The dessert we made was actually not on the syllabus, but since we weren't scheduled to make one today, our very kind cooking teacher showed us the "proper" way to make a tiramisu! (Briana, tell Matt that I'll make him some when I get home.)

In case you were wondering, the proper way to make it is sans liquer, with straight espresso, lady fingers, eggs, sugar, and marscapone. Boom. Using a 100 g marscapone to one egg to one tablespoon of sugar ratio (depending on how much you want to make), separate the eggs, mixing the sugar into the yolk and beating the white until VERY VERY stiff. Add marscapone to the egg yolk mixture then mix in the whites. Prepare the espresso, then quickly dip the lady fingers in the coffee (do NOT leave them there to soak or they will be too soggy). Place a small amount of the marscapone mixture in the bottom of a pan, topping with the coffee-soaked lady fingers. Top with the rest of the marscapone. Refrigerate. Serve topped with cocoa.

Boom. Delicious. Simple. Italian.

Now I'm off to...procrastinate a teensy bit more before I finally settle down to write about Caterina and Marie de'Medici, Queens of France. You'd think they would be more interesting than they actually are.

Buona notte!

exotic.

It's been a fairly uninteresting day thus far, so I'll share a short piece we worked on in writing class today. We had to go out and find something about Florence that we consider "exotic" or different. Of course, I focused on food.

[I have to polish this up more for class next week, so any suggestions are welcome! But also keep in mind that it is a work in progress...]

In the middle of the largest outdoor market in Florence, and therefore the largest collection of tourists in Florence, there is a single stall that attracts none of them. An obviously Italian mob crowds at the open window of the tiny stand, which is ironically adorned with both the Florentine coat of arms and the highly recognizable red logo of Coca Cola.

My objective today is to search out the exotic parts of Florence, and even without traditionally exotic displays as colorfully plumed birds, bejeweled belly dancers or tasty tropical fruit, this minute stand has captured my attention, and mine alone.

The woman running the show is small, much smaller than the young man working with her, who is likely her son. She smiles the entire time I am watching, even as the grabby hands of the crowd snatch the white paper-covered plastic bags she is patiently handing to customer after customer, who devour the contents, leaning against the stainless steel of the bar before disappearing into the mass of tourists.

These Italians obviously know something that the tourists do not. No English signs are visible; there is no way for an American to discern precisely what is in these mystery sandwiches that the smiling woman is selling, yet somehow, they seem to understand that the advertised lampredotto is something to be avoided. They likely make no connection between the appetizing smell of cooking meat that wafts through the open window of the cart and the mounds of intimidating fleecy white meat piled indelicately in the displays of butchers less than 20 yards away in il Mercato Centrale. If they did, even the most gung-ho of tourists, sporting backpacks, aluminum water bottles, and Rick Steves’ guide to Florence, would be daunted by the answer to the question that no one will ask the woman running the stand: What exactly is lampredotto?
For the answer to this question would be likely to ruin any appetite: what you’d be putting in your stomach is cow stomach.

my life encapsulated.

I just had to share the kind of beauty that my days are made of:

Tell me that is not one of the prettiest things you've ever seen.

No gelato left behind. That's my motto.

Now I'm off to work on something less beautiful...a writing assignment that's due tomorrow. Whoopee!

under the tuscan clouds (and the umbrian sun).

API really outdid themselves this weekend. We all agreed that this excursion was the best of the three overnight trips we went on, full of languid relaxation, wine, and enough chocolate to chill out even the most stressed out college student (though it is difficult to be stressed when you are living in one of the most beautiful cities in one of the most beautiful countries in the world).

We departed at 8:30 AM on Saturday, headed for the city of Siena, located smack in the middle of the Chianti region of Italy, obviously well known for its wine and oil production. We started the day, as usual, with a two hour tour.

Siena is a part of the UNESCO Heritage project, meaning that all buildings must be built in the medeival style (on the outside; of course, the insides are allowed modern amenities). This means that the entire city retains a realistically ancient look.

Our tour guide was incredibly energetic and funny. She explained to us about the contrade, or "quarters" of Siena. The different neighborhoods are like teams, which compete in a horse race that takes place twice every year, on July 2 and August 16, called the palio. The contrada that wins essentially just gets bragging rights, but they take the whole team thing very seriously. You are inducted into a contrada at birth, and you can never change, unless you want to switch to your husband's contrada when you marry.

Siena's baptistery, which actually looks a lot like Florence's, as far as colors go.


The cathedral.

Here, you can see how the cathedral was actually built, by covering a plain brick facade with the beautiful marble. Building the entire thing of marble would be incredibly difficult because of the weight of the material as well as the cost.

Wells were a sign of wealth in the old days, not because they were expensive to build, but because only the wealthy had the connetions to get a permit from the government to build them.

The main square, Piazza di Campo, where the palio race is actually held. They do three laps around the piazza in about 75 seconds.

The "square" is actually seashell shaped, which our guide said had something to do with the immigrants that came to Siena, washing up on the shore like seashells.

After the tour, we had some free time for lunch. We got a recommendation from the guide, but after wandering around and looking for it, we gave up and settled for the first place that looked decent.

I wasn't super impressed with my picci all'amatriciana. I have been making the amatriciana in my kitchen for the past couple weeks and I personally thing mine is much better. Plus, the restaurant charged a 15% gratuity on top of the cover charge! WHAT?

I bought the banner of one of the contrada, the lupa, or she-wolf, which is also the symbol of the entire city of Siena. It was also the contrada of our tour guide, and she spoke so passionately about it, I couldn't help but be sucked in.

Siena is also known for a treat known as panforte, which literally translates to "strong bread." It has been around since the Crusades, when it was made as a kind of trail mix for the soldiers.

It's a kind of mixture of nuts, honey, different spices, and dried fruits all crammed together to make a kind of ancient, chewy granola bar. I got a grassato al cioccolato (or something like that) which had a layer of chocolate ganoche on the outside. Yummyyy. I snacked on it while we rode the bus to and from the thermal baths that afternoon.

More from Piazza di Campo.

After lunch, we boarded the buses and headed to one of Italy's famous thermal baths. These are actually fueled by heated water that comes from a kind of spring that results from all of the volcanic activity in the area. The water is infused with all kinds of awesome minerals that are good for different systems of your body, depending on what baths you go to. The ones we visited smelled very strongly of sulphur (reminded me of home!), and were supposed to be excellent for your skin, liver, and kidneys.

We spent the afternoon lounging in these heated pools, which were like a warm bath more than hot tub, like I was expecting. It was so relaxing and it brought back all of my desires for a nice hot bath (or hot tub)....

The outside of the spa.

Our hotel for the night was actually not located in Siena, but in a small town called Chiancino, where I shared my room with Marissa and Gillian, while Sam was put in a different room because she signed up a bit late for the trip. We were served a four course meal at the hotel! While the food was...you know, hotel food, it was really nice to be waited on (for free!).

Obviously, we started with bread...

And the always-nececssary water and wine...

We were STARVING by the time our antipasto came out, so we may have overindulged a little at this point.

Cheese! And bread. We think the spreadable cheese was tomino, and then a hunk of mozzarella.

Followed by fried vegetables and rice balls...

Primi piatti was a vegetable soup, which I didn't like so much. Now that I've been spoiled by Mario's and Sergio's thick, delicious soups, brothy just doesn't do it for me anymore.

Vegetable lasagna (I didn't eat all of that...whoa). It was flavored with cheese sauce and nutmeg, which was an interesting combination. I wished I had foregone the soup so that I could have finished this.

Roasted chicken was our main course, or secondi piatti. They also served french fries, but I told them not to give me any. I was getting incredibly full by this point and needed to save room for dessert.

Tiramisu cake! It was good, but not astounding.

After dinner, we were all STUFFED and exhausted, so we pretty much just went back to our room and talked for awhile before passing out until morning. We boarded the buses at 9 AM, headed for the Umbrian city of Perugia.

The mandatory two-hour tour included some pretty spectacular views.

Perugia is also known as the "Green Heart of Italy." Pretty!

The city was originally founded by the Etruscans, but was later taken over by the Romans, who built the aqueduct you see here.

Etruscan arch.

More beautiful views.

Unfortunately, the city which is well known for its chocolate-making as well as its beauty, is also now famous for the Amanda Knox case. For those of you who don't know, she was the American study abroad student who murdered her British roommate in what she claimed was an accident during a weird sexual game. U-S-A!

A stop at the chocolate store was necessary.

After hanging in Perugia until around 2 PM, we boarded a bus bound for the Chianti region of Italy, much closer to Florence than Perugia. The ride was about 2 hours, and full of twists and turns...I felt bad for anyone who gets carsick, because that was an intense bus ride. And the driver seemed to have very little respect for the laws of physics.

We went to the Castle Verrazzano, which was owned at some point in the past by the man who actually discovered New York. The vineyard has been owned by the same family since the 7th century...and let me tell you, what a life this family has lived.

The entire property was gorgeous. When we arrived, we were greeted by the vineyard owner, who gave us a little talk about the history of the castle, as well as respecting the wine for its flavors and history, and not just thinking of it as alcohol to get you drunk because, as he put it, "even a baby can get drunk"...but not everyone can appreciate the subtleties of a good glass of wine.

We also took a quick walk through the wine cellar...

The oak of the barrels gives the wine an "oak-y" flavor.

Finally, the wine tasting began. We started with an inexpensive bottle of "table wine," after the owner explaned to us a bit about how to hold the glass and experience the wine with senses other than taste. I'm certainly no wine connoisseur, but I have learned a thing or two here in Italy.

They served us enough food throughout the tasting to constitute an entire meal, starting with salami, prosciutto, and Tuscan bread...and olive oil, of course.

Later, we sampled some pecorino cheese and salad...

The waiters poured us a second glass of wine, a Chianti Classico, which is one of the post popular wines in the world, even if it's not necessarily the best or most expensive. This was my favorite of the three we tried, and I ended up buying a bottle.

Finally, we sampled a sweet dessert wine, which was served with these little cookies...whose name I am blanking on at the moment. You are supposed to dip them in the wine, but after one bite of that, I was done with that little experiment, and enjoyed them separately.

Roommates and I enjoying our wine-tasting experience!

We boarded the bus one last time, full of wine and cheese, our skin softened, and our muscles relaxed. A fully successful weekend, capped by a quick and beautiful drive back to our home city...now who could ask for more?