Cooking Heaven

Buonaserra!

So I've spent the last few days recovering from our adventures in Roma. Monday wasn't too productive. However, Tuesday is a different story.

Tuesday began with my soc class. We took a class picture outside of our Institute, which took me back to third grade. It was nice that our teacher wanted a picture to better learn our names. After soc, was Italian. I really am enjoying this class because I'm actually learning useful things to further assimilate into Italian culture. I like going to a cafe and ordering in Italian. They also seem to certainly appreciate it as well.

Later Tuesday night, Emily, Allie, and I went to our very first Italian cooking lesson. I was curious to know what we would be making and before I knew it, we arrived at the culinary school. There were about 12 of us, plus KMat from the Institute. Alessandro (similar to GaGa's song...but not quite) would be our teacher for the night. We washed our hands and began exploring Italian cuisine!

He told us that we would be making stuffed crepes, zucchini stuffed with meatballs, and for dessert...TIRAMISU. Wow, this is the best day ever. I almost had a heart attack when he said we'd be making tiramisu. Studying in Italy was 90% based on the fact that tiramisu is Italian cuisine. Alessandro divided the tasks amongst all of us. It was my job to separate eggs whites (easy...thanks to obsessive Funfetti* making) and then beat the eggs whites. Success. After all of the ingredients were beaten, whipped, folded, and scraped, we each grabbed a silver cupcake-like wrapper and made our own individual mini-tiramisu.

Next, we made the meatballs. I was lucky enough to crumb the bread with Allie. Easy. What's next chef? Allie offered me to mix the bread crumbs and seasonings into the ground beef...with my hands. I'd definitely never done that before but it was actually kind of fun. Do I like cooking? What? So meatballs complete and zucchinis were washed, halved, and scooped out. We each made meatballs and pushed them into the hollowed zucchinis then put them into the oven to cook.

Last thing: crepes stuffed with spinach and ricotta. This was definitely the most entertaining part of the cooking lesson. Why? To cook crepes, you must flip them on the pan. Alessandro made sure that each sou-chef made two crepes. I was actually extremely nervous to make one because I was scared of messing up or throwing up the crepe too high and not knowing where it went. Luckily, neither happened and I successfully flipped my very first crepe! Then the second one too! To make crepes, just evenly spread the batter out over a heated pan (just a ladle-full) and let it sit on the heat until bubbles form. Shake the pan and the crepe will move. Time to flip - FLIP - and voila! Home-made crepes! I can't wait to make these all the time. We put them in the oven to golden real fast.

We all sat down together and ate our 3 courses that we had just prepared. D-LICIOUS!!

For those of you reading this, just remind me of this post and I will personally make you this meal (as long as you don't have any weird allergies or whatever). Dinner devoured, Alessandro loving us, and pictures taken, the three of us headed home for an actually productive night.

All of the spring break roomies sat down and we got to work. SPRING BREAK IS GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. If you're in the States reading this, well, I'm sure your break will be great too. Just know, you can live vicariouly through me because...

The itinerary:

• Barcelona, Spain
• Dublin, Ireland
• Edinburgh, Scotland
• Brussels/Hasselt, Belgium (SENSATION WHITE - Google Image this)

I can't wait. We have all flights booked and it actually way way cheaper than I ever imagined. Next all we have to do is reserve hostels (which Jess has already found for us, woo!). Also, I plan on booking more trips in the upcoming days. I want to get most things booked so I can see how much spending money I'll have left over...I'm scared to find out!

So far, definite trips:

• London, England
• Amsterdam
• Spring Break (4 countries)

Ah fantastic! So Wednesday was interesting. Classes during day, then the girls all went out at night. Of course, Naima for Happy Hour. It was fun, although we got there at 10:55p so we had to act fast. Ended up going to Full Up, a club, for some late-night dancing. Definitely made for an interesting night (whoops Emily, my b!).

This morning was absolutely ridiculous. Had a fieldtrip to the Bargello Museum for art history. It was the longest hour and a half of my life...ever. Afterwards, apartment naptime (a.k.a. me, Joe, and Jess) took a nap between classes. Then Italian! My favorite! Eventually had my cultural literacy class with Barker. I love this class. We talked about how to appear more Italian and sidewalk etiquette. Italians, apparently, love to play "chicken" on the sidewalks. Good to know because now I can play. It's definitely turning out to be a useful class.

So Ari and Annie left today for Paris! Lucky girls. Too bad everyone else in the apartment has field trips tomorrow or else I'm sure we'd be eurotripping as well. So Amanda, Em, Jess, Rach, Nisha and I all went out to Dante's Pizzeria right across our bridge. Free bread & wine - what gets better than this? Exactly...nothing. So dinner was fantastic. Then we had to stop next door at what is rumored to actually be THE best gelato in all of Firenze. The gelateria is called La Carraia. The rumor is true. I ordered completely in Italiano and ordered 2 flavors - coffee & tiramisu - in a cone for 2 E. Fantastic.

I had a very productive day that went from horrid to happy. Tomorrow = field trip with Emily to Santa Brigida. No idea what we'll do there, but I'm sure there will be photo ops! Perhaps a night to Venice this weekend? Only time will tell.

Bedtime for Bonzo...Buonanotte!