Home Sweet Home

I am back in America and can't even express how good it feels! I woke up this morning, stumbled down the stairs (as I am feeling the lovely effects of jet lag), and went straight to the coffee pot and coffee mate creamer. How I've missed you, coffee mate!!!

As happy as I am to be home, I already miss the lovely land of Italy and its smell, romantic views, gelato, and wonderful people.

Nothing is as sweet as home, but I love that I will always have a second home in Italia.

Happiness Is...

My first French crepe in France- banana and nutella!

With my favorite person in all of Europe!

Gelato Mission Accomplished

Hello Friends and Family and Other Blog Readers,

As many of you know, 4 weeks ago I set out on my exciting adventure to Florence. One of my goals before I left was to try as many flavors of gelato as possible during my time here. Now, as I approach my last 3 days of living in Firenze, I am proud to post that I have ordered 40 flavors of gelato. Yes, this does not include little taste tests (posso po= "may I try"? I think I've used that phrase over 100 times). I have eaten 40 whole scoopfuls of different flavored gelato without repeats. To reward myself for my successes, for 3 whole days I will allow myself to try whatever flavor of gelato I desire, even if I have tried it before.

Top 3 Favorite Flavors:

Biscotta (also referred to as "cookies")

Cafe e Stracciatella (coffee with chocolate chunks)

Yogurt (like our plain tart flavor)

Sincerely,

The Gelato Legend

Baking Queen

Apparently during the last month I've turned into an Italian baking fiend!

Flour "fountain", as they call it here!

Traditional Tuscan almond-orange biscotti.

Crust for our torta pasquillina.

I love baking!!

3 C's of Cappuccinos in Italy

In Italy, the saying goes that your cappuccino must meet the three C's standards:

It must be...

Caldo: hot

Carico: strong

Comodo: comfortable (please sit and enjoy- no standing&gulping like a "horse", as my teacher says)

When Mary Poppins Meets Enchanted

Once upon a time, I sang like the princess from Enchanted to charm little chipmunks into my hand. Let's just say I wasn't as lucky during my attempt with pigeons in Venice, Italy.

One Thing I Miss About America

The free and easy use of all public restrooms! In Venice, we had to pay 1,50 euro, which equals about 3 bucks!

Pasta Making in Action

Roma Roma Roma....

This weekend, we went on a little weekend getaway trip to the historical city of Rome. What epic things did we see?

--> The Coliseum (the place where thousands of gladiators were slaughtered for sport)

--> The Pantheon (the oldest building still standing in Rome)

--> The Roman Forum (the remains of the beginning of the Roman empire)

--> The Trevi Fountain (Salvi's breathtaking Baroque style fountain, and the place where wishes come true!)

--> The Sistine Chapel (the Pope's private chapel, and the location of some of the most ornate and famous Michelangelo frescoes)

--> St. Peter's Basilica (the incredible church in Vatican city)

--> The Pope speak! (we saw the Pope speak to 1,000's of people in 4 languages!)

There is only so much you can say with words when you have such a life changing experience.

John the Baptist Holiday in Firenze!

Yesterday was a city-wide holiday in Florence which celebrated "Saint Giovanni Baptista", or as we know him, John the Baptist. There was a "civil" soccer game (district team against district team), which was played in front of Santa Croce church. The game took place about 100 feet from our apartment, and therefore we were barricaded inside our street quadrant for most of the day. But, the most glorious fireworks show closed out our first and only Italian holiday in a lovely way.

The streets were jammed with people!

The breathtaking dusk-time view of Florence from the top of the city.

This is my roomie/latte drinking partner, Jessica!

And I thought I would miss out on 4th of July fireworks! Even better :)

The deserted soccer stadium after all the festivities finished- isn't it a little strange to see such a majestic church practically attached to the field?

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday to be had. I won't miss our Independence Day one bit! (okay, maybe that's a little white lie) =]

San Lorenzo Market Trip

As an alternative to our cooking class, Chef Vincent took us to the biggest market in Florence, San Lorenzo Market. Here are a couple of cool things we saw.

PS: Megs, I thought of you so much- you would have had a hay-day picking out veggies for your juice :)

What are these, you ask? Heaps and heaps of delicious sundried tomatoes.

These are red-shelled beans. Uncooked, the beans look like root beer jelly beans. Cooked, they become blood red.

Check out the size of that mushroom!

Beauuuutiful flowers! The roses smelled amazing, too. (Smelled them for Sarah!)

Typical Florentine tomatoes. The edges are always super bumpy- almost like a pumpkin.

Incredible squash blossoms. They are stuffed with goat cheese and deep fried here.

(We must make them at home, Mom and Dad)

REAL Parmigiano cheese from Parma, Italy. Chef Vincent said all other Parmesan cheeses (like the ones we have in the US), are like all bubbly claiming to be Champagne.

Wall of meat.

We also tasted balsamic vinegar (aged 5,10, and 20 years), honey with white truffle chunks, and nectarines with balsamic glaze. Beneissimo!

Non Si Fa...

Here are a couple of unspoken Italian food rules we've picked up on: (Non Si Fa= we don't do)

--> NEVER twirl your spaghetti in a spoon. It indicates lack of manners and motor skills. Children are the only exception to this rule.

--> Do not put parmesan cheese on everything you eat, especially something with a delicate flavor, like fish. This is highly frowned upon.

--> Cappuccinos are not to be consumed with food, other than at breakfast time. Order a cappuccino at lunch, and you'll get a weird stare from your waiter.

--> Drink your morning latte at a table before you pay, not when you order. Italians think it is dirty to handle money and food at the same time.

When in Rome....!

No Maps, No Plans

Our Venice day trip turned day trip to Siena today. I refused to allow a map in the hands of anyone who came within 2 feet of me (my theme of the day: no maps, no plans). We meandered aimlessly around Siena for 6 hrs, seeing castles, Italian weddings, villas, and forests. We ate yellow plums and figs in the rain storm, mused about Renaissance construction, drank cocktails at 11 am in a store that looked like the one from Chocolat, ate gelato several times, and discovered what manual escalators are. When an hour-long hailstorm rolled through, we sat inside a gelateria and I chatted in Spanish with a lovely couple from Madrid. We sang songs and laughed as we bonded and discovered the lovely little town of Siena. Hands down, the biggest and most wonderful adventure of my life.

Cobblestone streets of Siena mid thunderstorm.

Via della Brache

Via della Brache is the street I live on. Today in our language class, we learned that it means, "the street of old-fashioned underwear".

So, I live on Granny Pantie street! Not super glamorous for a romantic trip to Firenze.

Our Italian teacher, Nada, got a good giggle out of that one!

Gelato Update

Ciao Bellas!

I am keeping my promise and am attempting to try every flavor of gelato in Firenze. My progress as of day 3:

pistachio

cookies

coconut

extra fondant

caffe

nocciola (hazelnut, and my favorite so far)

Hellllllooooo Firenze!

The river near our apartment!

And my first Italian latte!

Florence, Here I Come!

Ciao! Incase you were curious as to exactly what I will be doing in Florence, here are the details....

I will be living in Florence, Italy for a month, studying at the Apicius Culinary Institute. I'll be living in an apartment there, taking classes, going on wine tours, and will pretty much be living in a kitchen. While there, I will be studying the following:

• Italian cooking
  
• Italian wine
  
• Italian language, art, and history
  

Sounds like it's exactly up my alley, doesn't it? I can't wait!!!!!!

Florence, here I come!

* the above picture will be my home/classroom for the month of June!