Recap

I'm slowly resurfacing from my death flu - I can sit up for longer than 5 minutes, good sign!! I knew I was sick when all I wanted to eat yesterday was white bread and mint chip ice cream, because the thought of spinach made me want to gag. Something is definitely wrong with that picture.

All semester long, I was trying to brainstorm how to solidify Gillianasana as a food blog - not just a short-term study abroad blog. It's too much fun to give up!!! But, of course, the best way to do that is to...uh, keep writing it? Doh! So yes, here I am--to stay.

But before I really step back into reality, let's recap my last day in Firenze!

Sunset from our kitchen. Aka, Florence telling us it loves us ;)

Last trip to Casa del Vino...

Tried a new gelato place, Gelateria dei Neri. Passion fruit and soy hazelnut. SO good! The passion fruit was creamy, not sorbetto, but the flavor was really strong. The hazelnut almost tasted cocoa-y?! Loved it.

Ciao ciao, Duomo!

For our arrivederci dinner, the 4 of us went across the street to our favorite place for aperitivo - 8 euro for a drink and buffet with really decent food. Not amazing, but really good (again, Italy = hard to eat badly). I normally get prosecco, but it was our last night, so I branched out--

My first cosmopolitan!

It was alright. I'm less of a liquor fan, I guess. But give me sparkling wine with my Italian buffet any day!

And then, the time had come. The air was filled with a mixture of sadness, anticipation, nostalgia. 

Our last gelato.

Perche No - the best of the best. Soy chocolate and coffee crunch. It was...bittersweet.

It's hard to gauge how I'm dealing with being home so far because this evil flu attacked me and threw me way off, but so far: the strawberries don't taste as good, the toilet seats are lower, and the people have funny accents. I'll keep you updated; I know you're on the edge of your seat.

I have some product reviews coming up, and will get to work on that restaurant page pronto!

~Namaste~

Stomaching It

There is nothing like walking the streets of Florence with a gelato in one hand and new shoes in the other. Not even the rain can bring me down.

Dark Chocolate + William Pear from Vestri.

Vestri's dark chocolate goes beyond just 'gelato'...it's like another dessert within itself, it's so good. 

I haven't posted in a while because, well, there hasn't been much to post about! I had two finals on Monday which I think went pretty well overall, I was pretty well-prepared and knew what to expect. To be honest, my semester here is about so much more than studying, I'm not too stressed. Don't get me wrong, I studied and read and took my classes seriously, but in the grand scheme of things, my classes were only an iota of my time here. SO MUCH has happened these past few months! It is sad that it's the end, but I am ready to start reflecting on it I think. It's a lot to take in, for sure.

Monday night I had a date (gasp!) and we went to Pepo, a place right by the market that was on the to-go-to list but we never made it.We've done pretty well getting through it, though!

I ordered:

Tagliatelle vegeteriane - just pasta and veggies. Keepin' it simple - hard to go wrong with that!

It was yummmmy (although it could have used a little parmesan). The pasta was perfectly al dente - mushy pasta is one of my biggest pet peeves. The veggies held up their texture as well. A little oily but overall very tasty!

Tuesday was a bit of a rough day. I spent most of the night swatting at the mosquito buzzing in my ear, but unfortunately my efforts did not keep the nasty little thing from eating me alive. I must have at least 8 bites in various places right now. Ick. I came home from Italian and went back to bed. Got up to eat something...and went back to sleep again. Whoops! I think I must have needed it though; my throat had been a little sore for a few days and I needed a little more rest to fight it off. I spent the remainder of the day staring out the window at the torrential monsoon-like downpour outside and telling myself to start packing...and then doing crossword puzzles instead. Just one of those days, I suppose. 

3 of us went to the farewell aperitivo API held for us at a nearby restaurant/bar. I wasn't expecting much, but...ouch. It was just sad. It really wasn't aperitivo - we had to pay for drinks if we wanted an alcoholic one. Diet Coke is not what you drink at aperitivo!!! The food was some over-oily pizza, which actually didn't totally suck, but it only came out every 10 minutes or so and the 50 students that were there jumped on them like hawks when they came out. There was a rice-veggie salad type thing that had what I swear was chopped up hot dog. Seriously, I understand cooking for a large group is hard...but it's not that hard. Fail.

Came back and attempted to study for Italian...aka, listened to Michael Buble and caught up on blogs & email. The final really wasn't bad, and I was right to not be concerned about it, we had basically done everything on the final at some point in class before. I only wish we had had more listening assignments; that's really my weakest point. Just don't have a big enough vocabulary yet. I'm going to keep working on it, though; it's such a pretty language and I'd love to be fully fluent!

After coming home and passing out - had another bad night sleep-wise - I woke up and got to the day's activity: shopping. I don't do much shopping at home (aside from food, of course), so I like to take advantage of having a city full of great shops while I can. Especially since the prices are usually so good - I can get birthdays and Christmas covered in a snap!

For lunch, Alaina and I had plans. Scary plans. What could be scary about lunch in Italy, you ask? One word: stomach. Cow stomach, to be precise. It's crazy popular in Florence; their "fast food" comes in the form of lampredotto, a sandwich of boiled stomach (not tripe - that's the 3rd stomach; lampredotto contains the cow's 4th stomach...you hungry yet?) and served with a green, herby sauce on a roll.

Looks totally and completely innocent, no?

Ok, here's my opinion: taste-wise, it was actually pretty good. Very much like roast beef, but the difference is really hard to explain. The texture, on the other hand...hmm. Slimy. Slimy, slick, and not at all pleasant. We both took two bites before giving up. We just couldn't stomach the stomach!

I was in desperate need of something to take the slimy-meat memory out of my mouth - and it just so happened that we were right by Casa del Vino! Considering I hadn't gone this week (Monday is my usual sandwich day but I had my last Sergio's date planned for then), it was perfect. I got the very first sandwich I ever tried, waaaaay back in February:

Anchovies in a parsley-olive oil-garlic mix with fresh pecorino. And the reason why I fell in love with this place came rushing back. It was gone too fast, but I enjoyed every last bite.

Packing is an overwhelming act. I think I'll go pour myself a glass of wine.

~Namaste~

Brain Food

Whoever said "absence makes the heart grow fonder" must have known what it's like to be without internet for 3 days. I never realized how much I love writing this blog until it was taken away! Which I suppose would be the cloud's silver lining. [I swear, I'm not trying to jam as many adages into one post as I can.]

Sunday was spent sleeping and studying. Yup, finals week in Italy ain't so different from finals week at home! Except for at Converse I don't walk by the Duomo on my way to take it or go to Sergio's for lunch afterwards...alright, so it's a little different.

All that studying required some serious brain food:

 Chocolate-orange yogoats

Arugula + cannellini beans + pecorino + balsamic.

My brain felt better.

My roommate Alaina's parents got here (on Mother's Day - che carina!) and generously invited all of us out to dinner with them! We went to Ristorante Aqua al 2, recommended by API and my roommate Sam who went here early on in the semester. They are known for their "samplers" - of salads, pastas, meats, and dessert. If you order a sampler, they bring you 3 different dishes, chosen at random. I split a salad sampler and a pasta sampler with my roommate. I snapped a picture of the salads, but even my beloved LuLu couldn't quite get a clear shot (stupid restaurant lighting...):

From left to right: corn with cherry tomatoes, mixed greens with tuna and capers, and fennel with chicken and radicchio. I think the fennel one was my favorite - I liked how it was hard to tell the chicken apart from the fennel, it made for an interesting presentation.

The pasta samplers were not in any way photogenic or pretty, and they were passed so quickly it wasn't worth the picture. The first pasta was fusilli (the spiral pasta) in a creamy green sauce (probably pesto) with what we think was tuna. It was good, probably my favorite of the 3. The second was farfalline (little bow ties) in a tomato sauce with mushrooms - good, but kind of blah and unimaginative. The third was a little hard to tell - it was rigatoni in a sauce that I thought was sun-dried tomatoes and eggplant but we couldn't tell if there was meat in it. I checked the menu again online and I'm pretty sure it was just veggies, but it's Italy - chi sa? (who knows?) Either way, it was very tasty - definitely had red wine in the sauce. You know that rich, deep flavor that you get when you cook with wine? Mmmm. Not just for drinking! There was a cannelloni (big tube pasta) stuffed with ricotta and spinach which was good, but again, nothing special. Not bad - but nothing I couldn't find at home pretty easily.

The meal itself was not fantabulous perse, but this was one of those instances where the atmosphere and company was so nice, it was a truly pleasant dining experience. Thank you Alaina's parents!!!

Afterwards, we went to Grom. No explanation necessary.

Melone + fiordilatte di menta (basically, creamy mint)

New May flavors!!!

I LOVED this combo!!! I've had melon with mint leaves sprinkled on top, and this was the perfect recreation of that in gelato form. I have no idea why they work so well - they are both really sweet, but I think it's something about the cool mint and the fruity melon that just...works.

Study, study, study...

~Namaste~

Happiness in a Cone

I’ve lived here for 3 months. You might think I’m sick of Tuscany and it’s rolling hills and vineyards and awe-inspiring landscapes…all that beauty must get overwhelming and old, right?

Nope. Loved every single second. And I’ll love all the seconds that are yet to come.

You might recall our first pilgrimage to San Gimignano, a medieval hill town in the Siena province. We went for one reason, and one reason only: gelato. And not just any gelato. Oh no. We’re talking the World Champion gelateria. Oh yes.

Our first trip in February was a huge disappointment when we, with tastebuds fully prepared for some cold, creamy amazingness, were met with a closed door and a sign that read: Closed until March 7^th. ‘Let down’ doesn’t even begin to describe what we felt. [It certainly didn’t stop us from having a great time anyway!]

Now obviously, having developed into full-blown gelato connoisseurs during our semester here, this was not something Alaina and I were missing out on. Armed with a restaurant recommendation for lunch and 3 euro umbrellas, we ventured off…and got on the wrong train. Whoops! That’s the first time this has happened, which is pretty darn good for 3 months, right? [Humor us.] We did not miss a beat, hopped off at the next stop, and got cappuccinos while awaiting the right train to come along. One [correct] train + bus ride later, we were back in San Gimignano:

We found the restaurant relatively quickly, which our stomachs were greatly appreciative of ;) It was a little fancy-schmancier than we expected - the guide book that recommended said it was a "local favorite" and it seemed more like a hotel restaurant with nice tablecloths and multiple forks and all that high class business, but hey, we were up for anything.

I ordered bruschette miste, mixed bruschettas (toasted Tuscan bread with different toppings):

From left to right: Prosciutto (a darker kind than usual?) and melted cheese -- I'm 90% sure it was pecorino, roasted pepper/zucchini on melted mozzarella, and the classic tomatoes with olive oil, garlic and basil. The prosciutto-pecorino one was my fave (I know, you're shocked). I really just love bruschette - it's like pizza but more fun :)

I also got a side dish of roasted veggies - I was feeling like some fiber, I guess ;)

A tad heavy on the oil, but it's Italy, so at least it's really good olive oil they're bathing in. Roasted eggplant is one of my favorite foods. If you haven't  tried it, you must! It's perfect in the summer - just throw some on the grill, drizzle with a little balsamic, S + P, and you're good to go. I especially like the burned pieces, which is BAD because (as I learned in my cooking class) burnt foods contain free radicals that can cause really icky stuff in your body. So, if you're like me, up your antioxidant intake - they pretty much kick free radicals' cancer-causing butts!

After a lovely lunch, it was time. You know what for.

GELATO.

On our first attempt, the gelateria looked like this:

Today:

Ah, the fruits of tourist season.

After we elbowed and kneed our way into the teeny tiny store, we tried our best to scope out all the flavors - and there were a lot! Typical ones, like nocciola (hazelnut) and fondente (dark chocolate), but fun creative ones too, like raspberry with rosemary and pink grapefruit-champagne! After much rushed internal debate, I made my selection. I was not disappointed.

Dark chocolate, mint, and zabaione al vin santo 

That last one was an egg nog flavor spiked with Vin Santo, the sweet Tuscan dessert wine traditionally served with little biscotti. I had a Vin Santo gelato before and really liked it, and when I saw the eggnog flavor added, my choice was made. Mint and chocolate for me are no-brainers; when I was little my hardest decision at the candy store was between Junior Mints and York Peppermint Patties. Definitely one of the most wonderful flavor combos ever.

Now, as for the gelato? It was good. Even great. One of the best I've had in my almost-4-months here. The cone itself was wonderful - made with almond extract that went perfectly with the eggnog flavor. Come to think of it, they make pumpkin egg nog - I think almond egg nog would be to die for! Culinary innovations aside, this was good, but I must say my gelato-lovin heart still belongs to Perche No. Vestri has by far the best dark chocolate - the rich flavor and creamy texture is exactly what gelato should be; but Perche No has more flavors, uses all-natural ingredients that you can taste, and have the best soy gelato ever. But, this vin santo-egg nog was definitely one of the best flavors I've tasted. We were happy, happy ragazze! 

We did some shopping - San Gimignano has some great pottery places that are perfect for gifts! We made it back a liiiittle later than planned due to finicky train schedules, but we're pretty used to that.

We made reservations at Trattoria 4 Leoni, a restaurant recommended to my mom by one of her real estate clients as their "favorite restaurant in Florence." (Clearly they have not been to Sergio's.) Because my parents were held hostage in America in April because of that evil Icelandic volcano, they took my roommates and I out to dinner from across the Atlantic! Being the good college kids we are and always up for free food, we were pretty excited.

The restaurant is on the other side of the Arno River (Oltrarno), where I almost wish I lived just because the minute you get to that side it becomes so much quieter. Fewer tourist attractions. 

4 Leoni was in a little piazza off a main road. The decor was very cute - teal stucco with uncovered bricks artistically placed. Very upscale, too. So far, so good!

We started with an antipasto plate of - what else? - mixed pecorino!

Pecorini misti

There were 3 different types of pecorino with a little bowl of honey for drizzling and pear slices. Pear and pecorino is another stellar flavor combo - and honey just puts it over the edge! The fruitiness works with the softness of the cheese and the honey accents the strong taste that I can only describe is cheesy - it's Finals week, give me a break :) All I have to say is, I better be able to find pecorino at home. I might cry...or just move back here.

And then, dinner was served...

Insalata 4 Leoni

This salad, served in a huge cabbage leaf, was arugula, emmenthal cheese (a kind of mild swiss), avocado, and pine nuts drizzled with arugula pesto. Yes, you read that right - pesto made with arugula instead of basil! I saw that and had to try it. I think I have mentioned my arugula obsession - I never tire of it. It just makes such a flavorful salad! It's got a very strong, peppery flavor that's perfect with balsamic vinegar. The pesto was good, but a little too salty - I wish they had offered a pasta dish with it, I think the fact that the salad itself was arugula-based made the pesto's flavor get a little lost. But really, I adored this - the pine nuts were a great addition, and the mild emmenthal matched the strong arugula really nicely. Might have to recreate this at home.

Since we had already had gelato, we went a different direction for dessert...

Tiramisu. Can't go wrong with a classic.

I think the best I've had was the one we made waaaaay back during our orientation week here (pre-blog - say what??), but really, tiramisu is hard to screw up. It's just such a good combo - coffee, cocoa, marscapone; creamy, cakey...mmm. Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts in general; it's hard to for me to speak badly of it, ever.

All in all, a very culinarily-satisfying day. Aren't those the best?

Thanks Mom & Dad!!!

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~

Wonderful Wednesday

Oh, Wednesday in Florence. I will miss you.

Mostly because Wednesday=Sergio's. The only man in my life. At least he can cook!

This was fresh pasta alla carrettiera, which really just means in a slightly spicy tomato sauce. It wasn't even that spicy, just well-seasoned, and it was delicious. There is just nothing like a bowl of fresh pasta. Italian soul food at its finest.

I had some errands to run today - like pay ridiculous import taxes for a package (wherein lies my NEW camera!!!!!) - and whaddyaknow, a trip to Vestri for some gelato just popped onto the list...

Tiramisu + caffe.

It was good, but not near as blissful as last time. The coffee was lovely, just strong enough, but the tiramisu was not very, um, tiramisu-y. I thought it actually had hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, oddly enough. Not to say it was bad - I had NO problem devouring this cone - but Perche No still wins the tiramisu gelato competition. I think the dark chocolate at Vestri is just the way to go. Can't be beat.

Tonight's dinner theme was "going to Barcelona for the weekend and have to use up all my veggies" night!

A TON of green goodness - arugula, spinach, red bell pepper, cannellini beans, pecorino.

But no, I can't possibly eat this ENTIRE pan of veggies....right?

Well, after some quality time in the oven...

 Oh yes I can. And did. Veggieriffic.

Dessert was multi-coursed, of course:

A small chocolate-hazelnut biscotti. Would have been better with actual chocolate chips, but still was quite tasty.

And...

My marzipan pear. Yumyumyum:)

Trying to get prepared for Barcelona this weekend - woohoo!! Although I'm rather sad that tomorrow is my last cooking class here (we have 2 finals). But I know what we're making, and it's exciting. Like, something I've been waiting for all semester. Are you on the edge of your seat yet?

Good.

A domani!

~Namaste~