Early Morning Land

5/31

Monday was the first morning in what felt like FOREVER that we were allowed to sleep in a little. We did not have out first class, so Carmen and I got up around 9 and went shopping before AND after our culinary class. I turned out to buy 2 new dresses, a super cute top, some really cute shorts, a new headband, and tons of new hair clips. I had not bought any clothes yet and its all so cute here!
In cooking class, we learned about rice and how it is used in different dishes. Then we made two types of risotto. One with a cabbagey thing that isnt in the states and carrots, and the other with Porcini mushrooms. I actually loved the first one, but did not like the mushroom one.
For dinner, Alex, Emily, Carmen, Dale and I went to the culinary school's restaurant for a free dinner, but they were booked for an hour, so we turned out to go out to a wine bar to waste time. Dale bought us 2 bottles of wine! It was a lot of fun. We finally went to the restaurant later and ate way too much.
6/1
Its June! On Tuesday, we rode a city bus to a local elementary school to see the differences in school cafeterias compared to American ones. It was absolutely amazing. The stuff these kids eat AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL would cost like $30 at a italian restaurant in the US. They told us all about how the kid's food is one of the highest priorities to schools. They get 2-3 courses, water and usually fruit for dessert. The school starts making it from the moment school starts in the morning in order to get it all done in time. They make sure every meal fits nutritional needs, etc. They also had a completely separate kitchen to make lunches for kids with special needs, allergies, etc. It was so amazing to see how much they care. Our school cafeterias make me sick!In cooking class, we learned about vegetables. Then, we made cous cous and Falafel. The falafel was time consuming, but turned out absolutely amazing!! Even Guido said they were "outstanding!" The Cous Cous was interesting, not my favorite.
For dinner, Carmen and I went to a yummy restaurant we had never tried nearby. The tables were really weird and attached, so a couple sat down literally at our table. I thought it would be really awkward at first, but they turned out to be from Holland and talked to us for a long time. They were super nice. I ordered gnocchi (I want to try all kinds!) and some wine. Carmen got a lasagne which she ordered as LASAG-NE. She soon found out they say it the same way here hahaa. We shared a salad and got an AMAZING chocolate cake for dessert!!!
6/2

Wednesday was our BIG TRIP to Cinque Terre!!!!!!! This was the trip everyone had been looking forward to the whole time. We met at 6:30 in the morning and walked to the train station. Train ride was almost 3 hours long, which I slept the whole way. Right before we got to the stop we needed (Riomaggiore) there were tunnels for about 10 minutes. Finally, when we got out, the FIRST thing we saw was the mediterranean sea! It was SO BEAUTIFUL. The WHOLE train car said AHHH all together. It was pretty funny. We got off the train, got tickets for the trail and were off! The Cinque Terre is a hike between 5 coastal towns along the mediterranean sea. It was definitely the farthest I have pushed my body in a VERY long time. We were literally climbing straight up and straight down the side of a mountain in the wilderness. At one point, there were 380 steps going STRAIGHT up without stopping. Carmen and I were both literally pouring sweat, it was outrageous. The views of the ocean from the hike were breathtaking. All the cities on the ocean were unbelievable. It was like there were just colorful buildings clinging onto the cliffs. The last leg of the trail from town 4-5 was shut down due to a land slide, so we ended at the 4th town and ate lunch.
Since we were next to the sea, Carmen and I decided we had to get fish. So, we got white wine, salads, and their mixed grilled fish platter. It had mussels, octopus, calamari, swordfish, shrimp and prawn. It was definitely the most adventurous I've ever been. I ate all of it! Even Carmen was grossed out by a lot of it, but I thought a lot of it was great. The swordfish was amazing!






We took the train for about 5 minutes over to the final leg of the Cinque Terre where the BEACH is!!! We spent about 2-3 hours sun bathing, drinking frozen drinks and swimming in the Mediterranean Sea! A lot of people didnt want to get in because it was cold, but most did! It felt awesome! I swam around for a long time. Carmen and I got a kayak and did that for awhile. It was really fun but got kind of scary when we got too far out.
We finally got on the train home around 6 PM and rode for 3 hours home. We were completely exhausted. We got pizza to go and went straight to sleep when we got home. Definitely an AMAZING day.

"Dont make your risotta so thick that I could stucco my house with it"-Guido

Come to Cheeses!

5/27
On Thursday, our first class was pretty boring. A special guest lecturer came in named Alessandro Bosticco and spoke about the concept of "Slow Foods." The whole idea behind it is really cool, he just wasn't a good speaker. Not to mention he spoke for 2 hours straight. Slow Foods is a concept that started in Italy but has spread all over the world (there is a club in CoMO.) It reminds me of the organic/fair trade boom in the US. It is all about buying straight from farmers, eating healthy and enjoying food, not rushing it.
In our culinary class, we learned about mediterranean grains, etc. and made margherita pizza and foccacia covered in caramelized onions, olives and anchovies. It was delicious.
For dinner, Carmen and I went to an amazing asian/italian fusion restaurant. We shared a bottle of wine and I got sliced marinated duck. It was absolutely amazing. They had the funniest appetizers like potato soup in a shot glass.
Later that night, we made the mistake of going out with 10 other girls from the trip. Ha! We went to a really cool looking bar that gave us all 2 for 1 drinks. I had 2 cosmos and Carmen has too many of everything, hahaa. I came home after those 2 because I knew I was already way too far in. Carmen went to another dance club where she said every single italian man was sticking their hands in, up, and all around the girl's pants/skirts/dresses. She was not too happy the next morning.
5/28
Friday started with Terra Futura, a really cool festival that takes place once a year in Florence. Terra Futura mean Future Earth and the whole thing is like an Italian Hippie Fest. There was a huge warehouse filled with booths of all the local people from all over Italy selling their handmade stuff. I loved it. Everyone was hung over from the night before, so I pretty much walked around alone and took it all in. There were literally hundreds of things I would have bought, but lots of it was pretty expensive. I got a hand made peace scarf that is rainbow and super gorgeous. I also met the biggest animal rights group of Italy named LAV and got a really cute tank top from them. I'm a little worried they might be extremists like PETA, but whatever. I also bought a hand made incense holder shaped like a cat, hehehe.
In culinary class, we learned about pasta and how to make it! We made some dough from scratch! We made 5 different kinds of pasta and 3 different kinds of sauce. They were all delicious. For dinner, we went to the restaurant owned by the culinary school for a free dinner. Then we went to sleep SUPER early because A.) we were dumb the night before and B.) we had to be up at 4 AM the next morning for our huge trip to Parma!!!!
5/29

Saturday started at 4 AM. Disgusting. We walked 20 minutes to the huge tour bus we took and drove 2 hours down the Italian highway towards Parma. It was so early, we all slept through the whole drive. Our first stop was at a small family owned cheese farm that made Parmigiano Reggiano. We got to see the whole process of the cheese being made starting with the milk being mixed, being put in huge wheel forms, and then being aged for years. We had to wear really annoying and disgusting plastic gowns, booties, masks and hair nets. The whole process was really interesting. Lots of people couldnt bear the smell of curdling milk though. We all got to buy the cheese afterward right off the wheel! I got a kilo for only 12 euro! So amazing!!!!Next, we drove to a huge Parma Prosciutto factory. The factory was overlooking the Parma valley and it was so beautiful. They walked us through the whole process of aging the meat for something like 8 years, I cant really remember. LOTS of girls were completely grossed out. It was pretty overwhelming. There were literally THOUSANDS of huge pig meat hanging from wall to wall. We saw them when they were raw all the way until they were dry, salted, aged and stamped with the Parma symbol. It definitely smelled intense. I always think of the episode of Giada de Larentis telling the guy at a Parma factory to ship 2 whole ones to her house. What a bitch.
Afterward, they took us to their huge restaurant and served us a huge meal of all the prosciutto, bread, wine and salad we could ask for. It was delicious!
The last stop of the day was to an amazing balsamic vinegar factory in Modena. We learned about the process of aging the vinegar. All of the barrels are made of different types of wood and the vinegar is moved from one to the other every year to take in the different flavors of wood. The barrels are all in the attic of buildings. We got to taste all of their vinegars. They had some aged for 25 years, 12 years, 6 years, etc. They were all delicious. I turned out to buy the 6 year aged one and an apple balsamic vinegar to use on salads and chicken. I am so excited to use all my new Italian kitchen stuff.We drove 2 hours home and went to a quick dinner at a restaurant for gnocchi, salad, champagne and wine. It was a super full but fun day.
5/30

Sunday could have been a free day, but we decided to go to a small town called Lucca with 10 other people because we had heard such great things about it. The train tickets were only 5 euro! Lucca is a town that thought they would get attacked by cities surrounding them, like Florence, so built a huge wall all the way around the city for safety. They continued to make the wall thicker and thicker, but they NEVER got attacked. So now, there is an adorable, QUIET, and calming town that is all within a huge wall. The most interesting thing is that they have paved the top of the wall, which is wider than a street, and put grass on both sides so that people can bike on the wall! Carmen, Emily, Alex, Dale, and I all rented bikes and went around the 3 mile wall for an hour. There were so many dogs and it felt so good to bike.
Next, we went out for lunch at a great restaurant. We all got all kinds of bruschetta for appetizers and I got a pancetta and cheese foccacia sandwich. We also got an amazing white wine. We spent a long time just sitting around talking and by the time we were done, it was time to catch the train home. It was a super relaxing and fun time.
Once back in Florence, Carmen and I went out for drinks, then got "dinner". She got a salad and I got creme brulee for dinner. We had eaten such a huge lunch, I wasnt hungry! Dessert for dinner is totally OK for me.

"Dale, pose!"-Carmen
"COME TO CHEESES"-Dale

"You know why the cheese says DOP, right? Because its totally dope!"-Dale