This last week has been pretty relaxed, but having 2 days of holiday helps with that. I spent the weekend hanging out, having a movie marathon with a couple of friends, and snuggling under blankets for warmth since we weren’t allowed to turn our heat on until November 1st. It was fantastic. Monday, my roommates got back from Paris, and it was nice to have some company around the apartment again. It was incredibly quiet bouncing around here by myself.
Tuesday, November 1, is a national holiday in Italy, all saints day. Everything is closed. (with the exception of a few tabacchi shops, which is basically like 7-11, but with a little less selection…) Now I knew that there was a holiday weekend coming, so I bought a little extra food, and had enough to make it through the day, not in any way that was grandiose, but I did have some sources of nourishment. Erin and Carlye had very little… so we stood around in the kitchen taking inventory of what was there, and how we could possibly spin it into something edible. We also had not figured out HOW to turn our heat on yet… so with inventory taken we came to the obvious conclusion that instead of making lunch, which would have been: pasta, olive oil and a little bit of fresh grated parmesean… we should make cookies!
Erin in Carlye had stayed in a house of family friend’s in France, and so had access to a real kitchen (complete with measuring cups, a vital tool ours lacks) and they made soft, chewy cookies, which we wanted to try to make because our last batch was a bit crunchier than we would have liked. But… we didn’t have all the ingredients, and actually, we didn’t really have all the ingredients for my family’s chocolate chip cookies… so what did we decide to do? Cut our losses and make egg free cookie dough. Brilliant. This process took much of lunch time, and then we ate it… and so lunch was just kind of glossed over in sugary goodness for the day. But it was a holiday, so obviously this was just fine.
Wednesday we finally started classes again! It was great to see everyone and hear about their adventures. And Wednesday night we had another cooking class “Taglietelli con cavolfiore e fughi” Which is a pasta with cauliflower and mushrooms, and it was delicious. Yes, I did just admit that a dish with mushrooms was delicious. Ironically, Marc does not like cauliflower, and this is the only recipe he has found where he can tolerate it, and I do not like mushrooms and this is one of the first recipes I have ever tasted where I found them palatable. Incredible. But I didn’t really get to eat much, just a little sample because I had to run to dance class. I am actually starting to understand many of the dance words in Italian, and I am loving class. We are learning a bit of choreography to a fun song called “Betty” by Brooke Fraser. There are 2 other girls from my program in the class, and we work on the dance together outside of class sometimes as well.
Thursday, we had our professors, Marc and Gina, over to our house for dinner. It was a little intimidating because Marc is such a good cook, but it turned out great! Carlye and Erin made a risotto all Milanese, which is a risotto flavored with saffron, and lots of parmesean. We also had some broccoli and carrots, a little caprese salad (cherry tomatoes cut in half with apiece of mozzerella and some fresh basil, I like it because it looks like the Italian flag…) And then we served some clementines for dessert. It was lots of fun to sit around and chat with them over delicious food.
Friday, we had a three hour Italian class to make up for the holiday earlier in the week… and then there was an excursion to Tolentino, a small town near here. However, Thursday I was feeling the precursors to a cold… and by Friday, I definitely had one. Although I never checked it, I am fairly certain in hindsight I was also running a bit of a fever. After Italian class, I came home, made a little soup, and was going to lay down for a little while. I asked my roommates to check on me a little bit before it was time to go on the excursion. When they came in I decided it would be best if I just stayed home. I proceeded to sleep for 4.5-5 hours. I continued to mainline clementines, Emergen-C, and I boiled the Clementine peels to make a tea that is also high in vitamin C for the next couple days, and today I feel much better.
Sunday, Lisa, Lindsay and I walked to a church that is outside the city walls a ways, and I loved it. It is the first church I have been to where there is actually music. A couple of the songs had some nice easy "Alleluia" and "Hosanna" type choruses that I could actually catch on to. Also, there were lots of families with adorable young children, and the priest spoke clearly and slowly enough that I could actually understand every 4th word or so. I am planning to go to that one more now, it is about a 20 minute walk, but its an easy walk (until I get back to the walls and have to climb back to the top of the hill) but it’s worth it.
Counting down the days until I get to show my mom the Italian Experience!!! 11.
Also, here is the link to the pictures of my trip. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150906521470705.751729.703125704&type=1&l=ca089c223c
Buonagiornata and Stay Healthy!
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