Yesterday:
- took a walk North of the house for the first time
- dinner with the family
I love family dinners; they are one of the main comforts I miss most when away at school. So being in Italian family is really wonderful. Plus it is the perfect way to be completely immersed in Italian language and food. Seeing the dynamic of my host family is so fun: Andrea and Gali argue and pick on each other consistently, and Manuela is such a jewish mother--always serving more food! Last night Andrea was making fun of Gali's facebook photos he takes of himself and Gali retaliated by passing around embarrassing photos of Andrea taken on his iPhone.
After dinner I sat around talking with Manuela and Alyssa (the other American student living here) and looking through the book from my class.
Today:There was another woman in the class today from Perth, Australia. We learned the four water-based foundations: broth, bisque, stock and quick stock, as well as the two different types of tomato sauce: velvety and fried.
We made 4 dishes and 2 sauces that we tasted on bread (photos above titles):
Gamberi al vapore in Salsa di Gamberi (Steamed shrimp with shrimp sauce)
Minestra di Gafioli Borlotti
(Red Bean Soup with Taglierini)
Risotto al Gamberi (Risotto with shrimp)
Chicken soup with Croutons
(where are the matzo balls?)Velvety Tomato Sauce and Fried Tomato Sauce
We also made another broth that will be used tomorrow for our ravioli!
Definitely the most hilarious 30 minutes of my day. I went to the phone store (vodaphone) to add data to my phone so I can use google maps, etc. when wandering around the city. The last time I went to this store, the clerk spoke English...this time, not so fortunate...or maybe more fortunate because we had no idea what the other was saying and it was hysterical. Luckily I had a wireless connection in the store and apps are awesome. I was able to use both Google Translator (type in one language, get text in another language) and "Communicate" (an app my friend, Andrew, designed in one of his classes in which the user speaks in one language, and the program returns both text and speech in another). Even so, there was quite a bit of struggling. Communicate had trouble translating his Italian back to English ... come on Andrew! ... and the questions I was trying to ask had about a 60% success rate in both Google and Andrew's app. Moral of the story: language barriers are hilarious; technology is amazing, and at the end of the day...I think I got all the phone stuff figured out... I wanted to put a 5 Euro calling/texting credit on it, and then pay 3 Euro for a weeks worth of data...but he only made me pay 5 Euro...a 2 Euro call/text credit and 3 Euro for data. By this point, I gave up. I'll just add more calling/texting when I need it. Throughout the entire encounter we were both cracking up and when we had finally finished the "conversation" and transaction, he let out a big sigh and started fanning himself off. Made my day.
Went to the city center, intending on visiting Gallerie de l'Academia and The Uffizi Gallery. I was pretty exhausted though so I just wandered around, sat in the Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza della Signoria, then walked over to The Uffizi. It was nice to see places and streets I hadn't explored yet. The line was long at the Uffizi though, and I was impatient so I continued walking and happened upon the Piazza di Santa Croce (again). Seeing no line at the Basilica di Santa Croce, I went inside.
- Inside the Basilica di Santa Croce
Church, garden, opera house.
- Gelato at RivaReno Gelateria
Gelato time! White chocolate with rice krispies and hazelnut and almond with amaretto. Note to self: I prefer fruity gelato.
Got poured on walking home.
I am exhausted and my feet may fall off.
Lesson of the Day: To get the most flavorful risotto, cook it in a broth of sorts--don't just cover it in a sauce. Whatever liquid you cook it in, the rice will absorb: if you just cook it in water, you add no flavor...use a broth, and not the cubes!
Photo(s) of the day:
Happy Camper(s)
To see all my (completely raw) photos, visit: https://picasaweb.google.com/europeanbanana2011
The Count
Glasses of wine drinken: 9
Pasta dishes eaten: 5.5
Churches toured: 2
Gelatos eaten: 2
-->Flavors tried: 7
Photos taken: 560
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