The Case of "The Lasts"

Ugh, I hate this part. You know, the one where everything you do is "the last." Last load of laundry in our crazy machine [it secretly wishes it were a rocket ship - you should hear it on spin cycle). Last shopping trip in the market. Last time I have to climb the never-ending stairs to Italian class...ok, maybe I don't hate every part. Those stairs at 8 in the morning were not exactly a treat.

After I got my grade on my Italian final - all good :) - I came home for some overnight oats!

Before you go to bed, put oats in a bowl and pour an equal amount of liquid (I'm a fan of almond milk) over them, and maybe add a dash of cinnamon. Let them sleep in the refigerator and when you are both awake, the oats will have absorbed the liquid and be soft - voila, no-cook oatmeal!

(There are different ways of preparing them; some people add more stuff to it the night before. That's why they're so fun - lots of different ways to experiment!)

Before...

After: all mixed up with some vanilla yogurt.

This was exceptionally good today - it tasted like snickerdoodle cookie dough! The perfect way to prepare for my cooking practical, the second half of my final for that class where we actually have to cook for and be judged by our professor.

We set his table up all pretty:

We were split up into teams to tackle 3 courses of 4 dishes.

Course 1: BREAD

Not just bread - stuffed focaccia and pizza.

This was the focaccia we made a couple weeks ago for our "green class." It's amazing, and this time it was even better. The spinach is sauteed in a little olive oil and garlic to add flavor and it worked - the spinach-garlic combo sang through the bread. The mozzarella (use fresh buffala mozzarella - it's a little fattier but you can use less to get a powerful punch of flavor) was perfectly stretchy, and the dough was juuuust dense enough to hold up it's filling but fluffy enough to be like eating yummy, doughy, pillows. 

Another team made pizza margherita - tomatoes, mozzarella, basil. This was very probably the.best.pizza. I've ever had. The flavors was perfectly balanced and so fresh. The crust was the right thickness - not cracker like but not like you were getting more crust than ingredients in your mouth at once either. The sauteed the tomatoes in garlic and olive before topping the dough to bake - this is essential for non-soggy pizza, because if you just throw the raw ingredients on the top, the water (that makes up most of the veggie) will release and make your pizza WAY to heavy to eat. The cheese was golden but not gummy or too crispy and with the basil was SO good. Yup, will be making this when I come home.

Next course: Pear-filled ravioli in a walnut-herb sauce with pecorino.

PEAR!

This was very tasty. The pasta was a little undercooked, but I actually like overly-al dente pasta (yes, I'm odd). I wish the pear had been blended with the pecorino and then filled, the ravioli with just chopped pear felt a little sparse to me. But the walnut sauce was SO good - walnuts, parsley, and basil. You couldn't really taste the walnuts, at least not unless you looked for it, but that is actually kind of the goal. Like pesto - it's not ALL about the pine nuts that you add to it, but if you took them out you would know. It really did work well the sweetness of the pears. As my professor commented - "amazing".

Dessert: MY TEAM!

[Thanks again blogger for the sideways picture. It's not funny anymore.] 

Crema di amaretti - I also made it here.

Gosh, I love pretty food.

The filling is very similar to tiramisu - we used the double boiler method to kill any salmonella ickiness in the eggs as we beat the. Here's what we did: Separate the whites from the yolks of your eggs (it's one egg for every 2 people you are serving). Get your double -boiler going; when the water is simmering (NOT full-on boiling!), use a hand-mixer (or one of those fancy-schmancy Kitchen Aid mixers that I can only dream about owning) beat the yolks with cane sugar (tablespoons=number of eggs used) until it's nice and creamy. Set it aside to cool. Get your water a-simmerin' again, and repeat the process with egg whites (no sugar) until they form stiff peaks. Not sure what that means? I didn't either. Get them to the point where if you turn the bowl upside down, the egg whites don't move (and please use a second bowl underneath when testing this...). Let those cool as well. Fold in marscapone cheese with yolk-sugar mixture gently. Then add the egg whites. 

This is where I added a couple teaspoons of cinnamon. I remember thinking it would be good the first time we made it, and I wanted to do it for the final. My teacher loved it! Yay! Nothing like feeling innovative in the kitchen to make me smile:)

Now, look at the consistency you have. You want something tiramisu-filling-like, very light and creamy. We made the call to add a liiiiittle bit of whipping cream (whipped with a little lemon juice and a pinch of salt to get it fluffy!), and that really made a huge difference. We used about 125 grams of cream, and we were making for 14 people - so you really don't need much.

To plate, dip two amaretti cookies (they're like little almond biscuits, I will have to consciously search for them in the States when I come home - I'll keep you updated!) in strong coffee mixed with just a few drops of milk and sugar. Sprinkle the top with coffee (instant here is fine), chocolate chips and cocoa powder. Voila! better-than-tiramisu goodness.

Our professor's comment? "Delizioso!"

He gave me a big hug when I left and that was when this whole "I'm actually leaving" business hit me. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! DON'T MAKE ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.

SO, after class I wandered over to the Ponte Vecchio to do some window shopping. I have been searching for a necklace with the Florentine fleur-de-lis crest, and I knew if I would find it anywhere, that's where it would be. The Ponte Vecchio is known for its jewlery, specifically marble and gold. Honestly, I really can't stand gold, but I was still hopeful. It was looking pretty dim at first; all I could find were charms the size of my pinky fingernail at the low, low price of 122 euro - which is, what, maybe 150 dollars? Ugh. I was feeling like giving up, when I crossed to the other side and found it.

Yay! 6 euro, and I already have a chain :) Ain't it perty?

For the first time this week, the sun was out! I have been planning on returning to Piazzale Michelangiolo to get some better pictures because a) the day we went it was cloudy, b) I have a new camera!!, and c) the combination of my carberrific lunch + the joy of finding my jewelry left me with some newfound energy to burn!

The walk there is lovely.

[Ponte Vecchio]

Remember the funky trees?

It's quite a hike to get there...

And just when you think it's over...

But it's worth it.

Even though I've only been here for 4 teeny months, I still call it 'mine.' Not that it only belongs to me; more in the way that it has made such an impact on me. It's home.

Dinner tonight was long-anticipated. We planned to go to Cibreino - "the poor man's Cibreo." Cibreo is one of the most important (and most expensive) restaurants in Florence. The chef is world-reknowned for his take on Italian food. Simply put, it's a big deal.

Cibreino is a little trattoria around the corner from Cibreo that offers a limited menu for a MUCH smaller price. Same kitchen - fewer options.

I was excited.

We got there at 7, when it opens, and all breathed sighs of relief when there was a table for 4 ready and waiting. The trattoria is a very small room with only 8 or so tables, so we were a little worried. It was also mostly tourists - and we were treated as such, which was a little annoying but to be expected considering the fame of this place.

After much debate and some help from our very entertaining waiter, I ordered:

It was a veggie-fish soup. Very well spiced and I loved the fish that was in it - no idea what it was called, a kind of white fish that looked a little bit like tuna (different taste though). It was a little brothy for me, but it was so well-seasoned that it didn't hinder my enjoyment of it. They also brought us a "surprise" bowl of the minestra di pane - bread soup - that is very similar to ribollita. That was awesome - tasted just like Thanksgiving stuffing! Ah, the wonders of sage.

At the end of our class today, my cooking professor was talking about going to restaurants. He said the best way to judge a restaurant is by its appetizers and dessert - how they start and end a meal. He emphasized the great importance of dessert and ending a meal on a sweet note, because there's always room for sweet! (You understand now why I enjoyed this class so much?) I was feeling inspired and so Alaina and I split the flourless chocolate cake.

Best. Decision. Ever.

This was one of the best chocolate cakes EVER. Very thin but SO dense and moist. I could have eaten an entire cake's worth of it. But, aside from the phenomenal flavor, I also appreciated the portion size - it was a perfect dessert. Wonderful taste but not overwhelmingly huge so as to make you waddle out of the restaurant. Well done, Cibreino. Well done.

What fabulous plans do we have on our last day in Firenze? Pack, pack, pack - print boarding passes - and then pack some more. Ah, the glamour of life abroad.

And I loved every second.

~Namaste~

To Miss...and Not to Miss

I love watching the sky go from this...

to this.

I also love having a camera that can capture it. *insert heavenly choir here*

You know, I’m going to seriously miss Florence. The Duomo, Sergio’s, Mercato Centrale. The internet here, on the other hand…not so much. I promise regular updates will happen as soon as I have internet that stays connected for longer than 20 seconds. [And oh, how I wish that were an exaggeration.]

Not too much has been going on since Wednesday. That evening was the Farewell Dinner from our school, Scuola Lorenzo de’ Medici. Now, I’ll be honest, where food is concerned the words “free” and “high quality” do not often go hand in hand. But I thought, “hey, I’m in Italy, how bad can it be?” Whoops. Silly Gilly.

It didn’t help that we got stuck at the forgotten table. I had to get up and ask our advisor to remind them to bring us bread. (C’mon, it’s me – I was getting my bread.) They did, but it made me question what country I was in – what is usually a beautiful basket of soft, crusty Tuscan bread came as a couple of semi-stale pieces of unpleasantly chewy sourdough and some completely stale breadsticks. At this point, a waiter came over and poured us all very large glasses of wine, for which we were all incredibly grateful. Perhaps the culinary highlight of the evening.

The first course arrived and I was skeptical, but still hopeful – wine will do that.

Penne in tomato sauce and a square of veggie lasagna.

Hmm, where to begin. The penne was…perfectly edible. It was just in basic tomato sauce with a pathetic-looking piece of basil thrown in there and sprinkled with some subpar parmesan. I like simple, and this was certainly no culinary challenge, but I enjoyed it mostly. The lasagna, however, I’m quite sure could have been served in any school cafeteria or hospital tray without a second thought. First of all, there were peas. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before or not, but I hate peas. No, that is not too strong a word. They mushy and unattractive and I truly cannot stand their “flavor” (if you can even call it that). I know many people are of the opposite opinion, and that’s perfectly fine. All the less for me to eat. ANYway, this was not a welcome addition to this limp, lukewarm square of overcooked noodles and cheap cheese. I will say that it had a kidney-like bean in it and I liked that, but the two beans my portion had did not make up for the overwhelming mediocrity of the dish. NEXT.

Chicken with tomato sauce, potatoes, and…peas.

I won’t comment further on the peas; suffice it to say, this course was already taken down a notch by their presence on my plate.

Ok, once again – what country am I in again? Whoever decided that throwing the extra tomato sauce from the penne on top of the chicken and calling it “Italian” has no business in the kitchen. It was, again, edible – the chicken was only mildly rubbery and the completely underseasoned tomatoes at least gave it an ounce of flavor. The potatoes were…well, potatoes. If they had screwed up pan-fried potatoes, I might have just left; but these were fine. I like potatoes. That’s what these were, and no more.

So at this point, I was holding on by a thread and praying for a big, decadent dessert. And then reality was served. In a paper cup.

Do you remember Hoodsies, those little ice cream cups made by Hood that you ate with a wooden stick and were served at basically every school event ever? Well, apparently they’re an international phenomenon.

Actually, this wasn’t bad. The chocolate was nice and cocoa-y and the vanilla was suuuper creamy. A little artificial tasting, but really pretty good.

Ok, I bashed this dinner pretty harshly. It is important to consider that they were cooking for a LOT of kids that had completely taken over their restaurant and all wanted their food “NOW.” So to an extent, mediocrity in a meal is to be expected. But even this was low. I mean, we’re in Italy – even a big ball of fresh mozzarella with some tomato would have been fine. This meal was not Italian. In fact, it reminds me of eating at school…perhaps it was meant to make us nostalgic and prepare us to go home? Yes. We’ll go with that.

Thursday and Friday were more or less uneventful. Took the written portion of my cooking final, and while every last bit of knowledge my brain could hold about antioxidants, homocysteine, and bread-making spilled out off my pen as fast as it could go, our teacher made us post-test snacks. We’re not talking milk and cookies, people. Toast with goat cheese and fresh pear drizzled with balsamic and sprinkled with nutmeg, followed by the most amazing shortbread cookies I have ever tasted with a chocolate sauce and a strawberry sauce for dipping. Have I mentioned I love this class? A million times? Make it a million and one. I love this class!!! [Sorry, no pictures – it was an eat-and-keep-writing situation!]

To keep things interesting, we decided to go to Fiesole for dinner. Fiesole is a hill town above Florence that was a big deal in the Etruscan age – they were actually more powerful than Florence. It’s a charming little town with incredible views. We have been, but none of us had eaten there—and you haven’t really been somewhere if you haven’t dined there, no?

We went to Ristorante Perseus, right in the central piazza. If the garlic cloves adorning every doorway didn’t make me love it, the plates did the trick:

I love restaurants with funky dishes. It’s just more fun to eat off fun plates! Oh, and check out the size of this pepper mill:

Holy whoa, this baby was longer than my arm! More fun décor J

Aside from the inevitable bread basket, they also brought a plate of flat bread-cracker-looking things:

Basically very flat focaccia, sprinkled with oregano and salt on top. YUM! They made for handy spoons for my meal:

Zuppa di gran farro – Spelt Soup!

I have had this a couple times before and have really liked it – this was no exception! A lovely drizzle of good olive oil with bread for soaking made this an absolutely delicious dish. Very soul-satisfying J And perfect for this ugly, damp, cold, un-May weather we’ve been suffering. Florence, we have one week left – get it together.

Friday we had planned to go to the beach in Cinque Terre, but the combination of dangerous-looking overcast skies and a very late night made those plans float away. No matter, we’re in Florence – there is always something to do! We took advantage of a free day to do some serious shopping. I got assorted presents, some jewelry, souvenir stuff that’s been on my list for ages, a watercolor print that I adore from a street artist, and a Moka coffee-maker. Mokas are an Italian household staple – it’s quite similar to a French press. You put water in the bottom part, then put ground coffee (we’ve been using espresso and I love it!) in a filter over the bottom part, and then screw on the top and put it over the stove to boil the water. It makes an amazing cup of coffee, and they are really affordable. I got one with polka dots ;) I can’t wait to use it at home!

I put my chef hat on and made the roomies homemade bean burgers for dinner! The basic recipe is from Kath Eats Real Food, my favorite food blogger and an all-around cool chica;) Click here for her recipe page. Basically, you take beans (like kidney or cannellini – higher liquid content is better) with some whole wheat flour, mash them together and add whatever seasonings you want. For mine, I added chopped tomatoes, fresh garlic, sage, oregano, S + P, and a little olive oil. Form a patty with your hands (take your rings off!) and throw it on a pan. Leave it for a couple minutes—resist the urge to poke & prod!—and flip it when you shake the pan and the burger moves. They usually end up a little mushy but I adore them. I think they liked it ;) I was supposed to make “fries” with the burgers with roasted potatoes, but I of course forgot to buy potatoes at the store. That made it considerably more difficult to make them. Oh well, the burgers were yummy! I was not in presence of mind and LuLu did not make an appearance.

Yup, the new camera has been christened – and it’s a girl! LuLu did accompany me on my Saturday adventure – San Gimignano, take 2! World Champion Gelato? Where do I sign?!!!

~Namaste~

A Wonderful World

Pick a day of the week, any day, and I'll give an example of why I'd rather spend it in Florence. Wednesday, for instance:

Lunch at Sergio's. I think we are official regulars.

I got their ribollita for the second time because I wanted to re-try it after I had it at Mario's. For comparison's sake, of course. Sergio's version is chunkier, you can see the pieces of vegetables and soaked bread, whereas Mario's was smoother, almost like it was pureed. Sergio's uses better olive oil, but also tastes a bit more cabbage-y than Mario's (I'm not much for cabbage)...I think it's a toss-up. They are each amazingly delicious and soul-satisfying in their own right. This is one love triangle I hope is never resolved ;)

Unfortunately, a large part of my day was spent sleeping. One nap after Italian in the morning, and another in the late afternoon. Sleep and I have a very interesting, ever-changing relationship, and right now we are having some schedule difficulties. It will work itself out eventually; right now, I'm just taking it when I can get it and focusing on getting work done and erasing stress.

I started to get antsy after an all-too sedentary day last night while working and decided that a walk was just the medicine I needed. It was nice to just get out and get some air and do some thinking. And get gelato.

I walked by Carabe, one of the places nearby which seems to have mysterious opening hours that are always 'just wrong', and when I saw it open, I took it as a sign. Who am I to mess with fate?

I have gone once before and got the almond, but was a bit underwhelmed by it. My roommate went recently and raved about the tiramisu, so obviously I had to give them another chance! There was also kiwi on that cone - not because it's the perfect compliment to tiramisu, but really because it looked good and I wanted to try it. I gobbled it down before Frida came out, but it looked like what you might imagine kiwi gelato does - pale green with little black seeds. It was deeelicious. The tiramisu was a semifreddo, not gelato, which basically means it's a kind of cold mousse instead of frozen. It was heavy on the coffee flavor--but that's a good thing! It was good. Tiramisu gelato is one of the funnest flavors to try because you never know what it's going to be like; some are more coffee-y, some are more rum-y, some are blended smooth and others have actual pieces of tiramisu in them. It's a wonderful world.

The sky looked so cool, I couldn't resist taking Frida out again. She was in one of her moods and it's a little blurry, but doesn't this picture make it look like the bell tower is fake? Like one of those little models architects use. I swear it's real!

I didn't really sleep and have a neck/head ache that would stagger a horse, but I'm doing just fine because it's Thursday, and that means one thing...

COOKING CLASS!!!

Not until I've had my oats, of course:

Doesn't it look like the vanilla is giving the cocoats a big hug? ...Well, I thought so. I swear I'm not crazy...just, um, creative.

But back to the show.
Today's class was focused on cooking with FRUIT! Quite possibly my favorite food category. I don't take pictures of everything I eat, mostly because it's just not all that interesting or photogenic, but if I did - you would be very sick of apples and pears. I think I eat at least one of each a day. Can't wait for summer berries!!
NEEDless to say, I was quite excited about today. We started with a salad:

Spinach, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, red onion, pears, fresh buffalo mozzarella, dressed with lemon juice + olive oil + few drops of good aged balsamic vin.
Now, I grew up with the reigning queen of salads. My mother makes wonderful and creative salads not unlike this one, and I'm actually pretty envious of her ability to whip up the right dressing that complements the salad ingredients. That said, this salad blew my tastebuds away! The pears just made it. Although I would recommend using a more pungent cheese like a goat or bleu, would have been even better with the sweetness of the pear.
We also made some fresh rosemary focaccia to go with it (and by made, I mean actually hand-made it from ingredients-up, not just took it out of some plastic and threw it in the oven):

Oooh, this made me so happy. 

I've found I'm not such a fan of the oily, airy focaccia found in the bakeries here, but the focaccia we make in class (see our first here) is amazing. Dense and doughy but thin and chewy, with juuust the right saltiness. I had 4 small palm-sized pieces...I have no ability to resist when it comes to fresh bread. And yes, I know how to make it. Expect to see a lot of this rolling out of my kitchen when I'm home.

My 1st portion of salad + focaccia:

I had a large second helping of this stuff! I can't wait to make it again!

Next up was my team's dish:

Risotto alle fragole (strawberry risotto)!

Sounds weird, right? Well, it was. I have had it before, at a restaurant, and liked it a lot, but my tastebuds remained a bit confuzzled. It's something like mac & cheese in its creaminess, but then there is the surprising sweetness of the strawberry. We made parmesan crisps to top it and finished it with a drizzle of balsamic. The crisps could not be easier - literally take a palm-ful (or however much you like) of grated parmesan cheese, put it in little circular piles on a baking sheet, and bake it for 5-10 (just watch it, it will turn golden-brown when done). Easy and quite pretty! Added a nice extra kick of cheesy flavor, too. I enjoyed the dish as a whole, but I'm not hankering to have it again. To be honest though, I think that has a lot more to do with the fact that I really just don't like rice very much; it just does absolutely nothing for me. Perhaps I should try this with pasta? Hmm, experiment time...

Next dish:

Chicken with porcini mushrooms and green apple

This dish was fine. Acceptable. Perfectly edible. But I was unimpressed. We took a chicken breast and fried it in olive oil (about 5 minutes on each side), then covered it with the simmered porcini mushrooms and apples with some parsley and baked it for about 10 minutes covered with tin foil. It's not that it was bad, it just didn't appeal to me. I'm not a big meat eater anyway (fish, however, is a horse of a different color!), and the texture of the chicken was quite nice (not to chewy and slightly crispy), but overall...meh. Could have done without it happily. The mushroom-apple combo was not as striking as I expected, even with the saffron added (which I love!). Good, but not more than that.

I can't say the same for the dessert...

Chocolate souffle.
This is, I believe, my first-ever experience with a souffle...and now I am wondering why. This. was. so. good. It had the light, fluffy texture of mousse that I adore but was warm and moist like cake fresh out of the oven. The chocolate was dark but not too heavy and all in all, this was a little ramekin of heaven. We did not alter this recipe, and the only fruit added was that raspberry that you seeon top, but I think it makes an important statement nutrition-wise: it's perfectly healthy to eat indulgent foods! It's all about the portion size. And what better an end to a meal than chocolate? Especially in carb-form. I left perfectly satisfied.
This class was the first that I didn't go ga-ga over every single dish we made, but the salad, focaccia and dessert more than make up for the other two (which weren't even bad, just not something I personally enjoyed as much as the others).

The rest of the day was spent in a nearby piazza with a nap in the sun and bit of dog-watching. Lovely.

I am not sure that I have formally discussed this other than maybe some lines here or there, but I am as of now looking into culinary school after next year's graduation (aaah! senior year...how did this happen???). I have no idea what exact career I want--and by no idea, I mean I have about 30 different ones--but I do know that my passion for and fascination with food only seems to increase, and I'm following what I love. I would go for Baking/Pastry because that's really what I love and where I feel I'm more creative, and, well, I'd much rather deal with finicky pate a choux than learn how to de-bone a duck. It's something I've been putting off announcing mostly because whenever I 'announce' something like this, I end up going in a completely different direction. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, as long as I love it, but right now I'm so into the food world that the thought of me suddenly not going into it is too scary and sad for me to think of.
Just throwing it out there.

The British weekend is coming!

~Namaste~