Ash's birthday

This was in no way my doing, but it was fabulous food related, and friend related- so I figured it was worth mentioning. It was my beautiful roommate Ashley's 20th birthday week and we had to celebrate, of course. Stephanie, her best friend forever and ever, teamed up with another one of our roommates (yes we have many) and created a MASTERPIECE of a cake. This cake-monster consisted of two layers of chocolate cake, glued together and frosted with a (semi) homemade nutella frosting (meaning they mixed nutella with vanilla frosting) and adorned with peanut m&ms and 21 candles. Feast your eyes:

you're gorgeous!!! happy birthday <3

Perugia

We decided to take a quick little day trip to the city of Perugia. This name might ring a bell for several reasons: for some, this is the birthplace of Perugina, a wonderful chocolate company that fames itself for their delicious bacci (kisses- and an Italian kiss is ALWAYS better than a Hershey's hehe). Still some may recognize the name because it is where the eery and brutal case of Amanda Knox recently took place- there is even a lifetime movie!!

We boarded our train bright and early, and arrived in the city lost and confused. Thankfully, we found an English speaker who (somewhat) directed us to the city's center. We unknowingly set for a long and tiring trek

The "shortcut" 

Just a little lost

Finally we reached the city center, where an antique market was in full play. On the countless tables lay old broaches, hair pins, pendants, earrings, hats, vintage you name it! Several tables stood with boxes full of old records- Beatles, Stones, and Italian artists that I could not remember for the life of me. For me, however, the most impressive part was the breathtaking view

We walked around the city for a bit, but what first seemed new and exciting, now was cold and frustrating. I was so hungry and freezing, I could not focus on ANYTHING! We had planned to go to a specific restaurant, Darmicocco to be exact, and we simply COULD NOT FIND IT! We roamed around the city for what seemed like ages, when we finally stumbled upon the correct street. You could not imagine my relief when we saw the sign for the restaurant!!

Once we sat, a whole new adventure ensued. Not a soul in the place spoke a word of English, and for 20 minutes we tried to understand how to order, what to order, and how much anything cost. At last, a woman with very broken English explained that we really had no choice, that the menu was fixed, and we simply order the 4 course meal for the table. OH! well that could have been very easy... Let the feast begin!

Appetizer, not pictured, was a variety of different spreads (like bruschetta, patte, tapenade, etc). First course: polenta with tomatoes and cheeeeese. Second course, macaroni (with tomatoes and cheese). I must admit, after that we were all pretty full- but the meal was only starting! Next came a plateful of meats- chicken, beef, and turkey, together with salad and (more) bread. Finally the dessert course arrived, with a delicious margarita cake served with a sweet wine. Mama mia what a meal.

After the feast, everything in Perugia instantly became more beautiful. The sun came out, and our spirits were lifted

Finally, we all know a trip cannot be complete with some sweet. We visited the famous Perugina store, as well as a few other scrumptious delicacies :)

sweeeeet

Tempering

Our chocolate class today was a sort of introduction into the world of chocolate crafting. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot simply melt a bar of chocolate, put it in a mold, and expect to stick. In order to make those wonderful pralines, eggs, chocolate bunnies, and even bars, you must first TEMPER the chocolate. Large chocolate factories, of course, now have machines that do this for them, but it is important to understand the process if one wishes to be a master chocolatier.


The first thing we must understand is that different chocolates follow different rules. White chocolate is tempered differently from milk chocolate, which is tempered differently from dark chocolate. In class we mainly work with the finest of dark chocolates, so I will focus on that. In case you were wondering by now, tempering is the process of cooling down melted chocolate on marble to the JUUUSTTT RIGHTT temperature. This allows whatever chocolate creation we decide to make shiny, bubble free, and the right amount of crunchy. The taste is also altered (for the better of course)

First, choose your chocolate and prepare it for melting- chop it up real nice so it doesn't take hours.

Chop Chop!

Yum!

After this is done, you are ready to melt. Two methods were relayed to us: the first, and the more traditional, is the bagno maria bath. Put a pot of water to boil, and place the bowl of chocolate on top of this pot. Constantly stir, and make sure not to overheat the chocolate, because you risk losing some taste. We normally stopped at about 45 degrees. Another, easier, method is to simply use the microwave. Place the MICROWAVABLE bowl in the microwave and heat for 15 seconds at a time- after each interval, take the bowl out and stir. Finally you will get wonderful, liquid gold:

As you can see, we poured some of the chocolate onto the marble. 2/3 of the chocolate to be precise. Then, we spread the chocolate and gathered, spread and gathered, until it formed little solid peaks- this means it is cool. At this point take the chocolate and mix it back together with the melted 1/3 in the bowl. If your chocolate is between 30 and 32 degrees, you got yourself some tempered chocolate!

This means you can now use this chocolate to make all kinds of wonderful things:

fun, decorative chocolate swirls

You don't even WANT to know what these were filled with

Hope your cravings aren't TOO bad right now ;)

Simply Lovely

Ah, another Monday of cooking...  As my loyal readers (hi dad!) probably know by now, I start the day with my Mediterranean diet class. Today we focused on two pretty simple (but very important!!!) recipe: The first, a "pasta di olive", or a black olive paste, aka tapenade.  I'm thinking I want to spice up this blog a bit, and make you guys a little more excited to read, so I will include the recipes!!! (using the ones given to us in class, to give proper credit) REJOICE!

So the following calls for the best quality brine-cured olives you can find, such as nicoise or gaeta olives. You should avoid using canned Spanish or California black olives- however, we ended up using precisely that in class because they were the only ones the teacher could find. The tapenade was still tasty!

Some high-quality, extra-virgin olive oil is a must!

Ingredients:
1 pound of pitted black olives
1/2 cup drained capers (I used less because I'm not crazy about them.)
1 clove of garlic, coarsely chopped
7 ounces (or 100 grams) salted anchovy, rinsed, boned, and finely minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste (holy moly, I know)
a few drops of fresh lemon juice

The rest is really very simple- just put all the ingredients in a blender/food processor and blend very briefly (you don't want to to be TOO paste-y, it should be a rather coarse texture.) You can make this up to a week in advance to your special potluck party (hehe) and store in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil poured over it, making sure to bring it to room temp and stir before serving, since olive oil kinda solidifies when it is too cold.

Taste and modify the above ingredients to taste... more lemon, less anchovy- w/e you want. Cooking is all about trial and error! We served it on crackers and with some julianne-cut veggies. Enjoy!

The first dish made- olive tapenade!

hmmmm wafting smells of olives!!

The next recipe was just as simple but essential to Italian life- Bruschetta! (and yes, it IS pronounces BRUS-KE-TA). If anyone is unfamiliar, this is an Italian garlic bread, and a "very good example of how the simplest food is often the best". To serve, you should use either Tuscan bread (which is hard and salt free), Pugliese bread, or  any other bread you find which as similar characteristics to those.

Ingredients:
1 large loaf of italian country white bread
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
olive oil (of course)
2 cups whole fresh tomatoes, cut in small, yet coarse pieces
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp finely chopped fresh basil

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the bread 1/2 -inch thick and grill both sides until golden and crispy (Don't burn it!!). This should probably take about 4 minutes on each side. While that's cookin, mix the tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil (or mooooore), salt to taste, the basil, and the oregano. Let the mixture stand for a few minutes.
Brush the warm bread with olive oil on one side and gently rub that side with garlic- don't overdo it because the bread cab turn bitter tasting. Finally, spread the tomato mix on the slices. Serve warm and Viola!!

yummers

The enthusiasts will know that after this class, I have my chocolate class. However, I will have to regale the tales of that adventure tomorrow. Till then!

The next day...

The next day, five of my roommates and I decided to finally make the hike to Fiesole, a small, beautiful town about a 30 min. bus ride from Florence. Us being young and ambitious, we chose to instead walk, a journey that was supposed to take about two hours. However, we soon got very lost, and the so-called short hike turned into a four hour trek. We had packed a very scrumptious picnic lunch, and our backpacks weighed us down the entire time- both with their heavy contents and the thoughts that those contents enticed. After walking for about 2 and a half hours, we found a grassy patch and laid out our feast- a colorful farmer's salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions drenched in olive oil; a very sizable triangle of brie cheese; apricot jam; juicy slices of green apple; gourmet pesto rosso and spicy salami bought from the fresh market; and finally, two baguettes to dip in the many deliciousness. We decided to save the grand finale- Sparkling white wine and biscotti- for when (if?) we made it to the top.

Of course, we made it to our final destination in order to pop our bubbly. And boy was it worth it...

If you look carefully, you can see the Duomo (where we live and started the journey) in the middle and to the left!

Being Fancy Shmancy

WHAT A DAY!

So I know I've been really horrible and lazy when it comes to updating this blog. I don't know what it is about diaries, but I've always found them so hard to keep up. Living it seems so much more fun! Much like my pictures, the words never seem to do the actual events justice. I will try my best to help you all understand:

So today, (Feb 18th, that is), I signed up for a wine-tasting tour in the Chianti region of Tuscany. We went to a beautiful estate of Castello il Palagio. Yes- a castle. First we toured the grounds, learning about the grape production in the area, the olive groves they take care of (fantastic olive oil!!!), and the types of wines they produce. I was so proud to have actually known most of the information the guide was giving us! Guess the wine classes are paying off.

Castello il Palagio estate

We continued on to the cellars, where rows and rows of barrels were waiting, slowly aging the wine we were about to drink. yummmmmy. Quick fact: the size of the wooden barrel matters! Wine is often aged in the small barrels (which have to be replaced every 3 years or so) for a while, and then transferred to the large barrels (and by large I mean about twice my size) to be aged for YEARS.

Some of the small barrels in the cellar

After a morning full of walking came the most anticipated part. THE TASTING. I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting much. After all, this was a free trip- how much could they possibly give us? BOY was I wrong! Our group was ushered into the reception room, where several tables were waiting for us, laden with bread, plates of cheese and meats, and bottles of wines. Everything was delicious!! We were given three types of wine, one of them a dessert wine. Finally, we finished off the wonderful meal with biscotti! again, WHAT A DAY.

my plate. My O MY

Our table. with plateful of CHEESE!

ciao a tutti!

�� Monday, Monday ��

Another wonderful monday full of cooking. I'm not going to lie, I was a little bitty disappointed with the first class (Mediterranean cooking). I was really looking forward to learn to cook something special. Instead, we were making two dips: Tzadiki and HUMMUS. REALLLY?!?! hummus?!? I'm a friggin expert on hummus making AND eating if there ever was one. No matter- I just focused on making the tzadiki, a Greek dish made with yogurt and cucumbers. And once the teacher heard that a true, living and breathing Israeli (aka living and breathing hummus expert) was in her class, she had me make sure the presentation was perfect ☺

Tzadiki... super garlicy :)

Hummus... Can't go wrong!

Chocolate class was also a little disappointing, but only because there was no actual chocolate to eat. Chef Ciaci screened the movie Chocolat for us, a food-lover's classic. I mean, who could resist Jonny!!?!? Not to worry, I got some gelato on the way home to fix my EXTREME craving (how can you watch Chocolat and NOT eat chocolate??). Great ending to another great Monday!

Un Bacio!

Venezia!

Ciao a tutti!

This past weekend, a few of my roommates and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Venice, Queen of the Adriatic. The trip was more about seeing than eating (unfortunately? fortunately?), so I don't have too many pictures of food. Plenty of friends though!!

Considering we took the train leaving at 4 in the morning, we were pretty tired when we first arrived on site. My mind was as foggy as the streets, but I was able to take a snapshot of my first steps:

Wait what? I mean I always knew Venice was  the city of canals, but it truly didn't hit me until I saw it with my own two eyes. There are ACTUALLY STREETS OF WATER! not a car or scooter in sight- only boats, canoes, and gondolas. We walked around, got a little caffeine (of course), and charged on for the day! During the last weeks in February, Venice partakes in a festival called Carnaval- filled with costumes, masked, and TONS of delicious fried goodies. Naturally, I had to try one of the most popular ones, a sort of donut-like pastry called Fritelle. The gang just got to know Venice, roamed the streets, and ended the day with a beautiful Gondola ride- a must to fulfill our touristy day :) At night, we decided to try out a highly-recommended restaurant, where I tried a Venician specialty- pasta with ink sauce. YUM!

The next day, the group went island hopping to visit the various little islands surrounding Venice. First stop was Murano, the Island of blown glass. I was nervous to even walk in fear that I would break something! Everything was so beautiful and delicate, and we even saw some of the art in the making! One of the factories had a little showing, and the maestro displayed his skills to make a tiny little glass horse in about 2 minutes.

the maestro hard at work

Some glass works

Next, we visited Burano, island of lace. When I first heard the island was known for lace-making, I imagined a very serene, dainty place. But Italy never ceases to amaze! This was my favorite island, because no two building were the same color. All around me was so vibrant and colorful, toned down only by the sweet and intricate lace masterpieces.

The last island was called Torcello, a perfect calm ending to a very hectic day. We almost whispered as we walked though it, because the atmosphere was so serene and quite. We headed back home for a well deserved power nap, and then spent the night at a fantastic Jazz club to listen to an A.C Jobim tribute. Simply wonderful!

Venice proved a truly lovely visit. I can't wait to explore more of what Italy can offer!

A piu tardi!

Sorbette

Mondays are great. Mondays are cookin days. I woke up early to make a run to the market and such, then headed to my first class, Mediterranean diet. Here we learned to make a Greek specialty- Moussaka. Unfortunately, I was too busy at the stovetop saute-ing onions and eggplants to take too many pictures, but I did snap my girl L slicing up some potatoes and my partner keeping and eye on her lamb

Next came chocolate!!! First we discussed the health benefits of chocolate and the importance of pairing it... specifically with wine!! The lecture was complemented with an elaborate, gourmet example of the perfect blending of wine and chocolate: Chocolate sorbet, served over caramelized pears cooked in wine and and drizzled with a sweet and spicy red wine glaze. Finally garnished with toasted bread covered with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt- very Italian and very delicious mix of sweet and salty. Feast you eyes:

the toasted-salted garnish

hazelnut brittle for the brave ones

Wine soaked pears

Serving platters- prepared with the wine glaze

Chocolate sorbet- straight out da freezer

Plating...

Finished! but not quite... the final flourish...

Must serve in a snazzy cocktail glass. Bon apetite!