Ciao From Rome...

Sonia’s Assignment

 For me, this picture represents food culture in Italy. Food and family play a huge role in an  Italian’s day. Italian’s try to create a pleasant atmosphere at the table by dining with their family and friends.with their family and firends.  This creates a an atmosphere that allows them to fully savor and appreciate the food.  In addition to  As a result, I choose this picture that portrays a family spending time having a pleasant dinner together to be symobolic of the role food plays in an Italian’s day.

Sicily… The Land of my Ancestors!

Since Jess and I didn’t have class on Thursday or Friday we decided to take a little trip to Catania, Sicily.  Our goal was to have an adventurous weekend and so we started it off by taking an overnight train that left Rome on Wednesday night.  The train ride really wasn’t that bad except that the person Jess had to sit next had bad body odor and that while the two of us were reading our cabin mates just decided to shut the lights off.  So much for studying.  We both instead ended up going to sleep of course with all of our valuables in our purses that we were sleeping on. 

We arrived in Catania around 8 in the morning and walked to our hostel.  The people working there were really nice and had us check in and chill in the lobby for an hour until they could put us in a room.  After an hour we dropped our stuff off in our room and headed for the beach.  The journey there was quite the adventure.  We didn’t know exactly where we were suppose to go the guy at the hostel just gave us a general direction and told us we would see it.  Well we started walking and ended up in a port. We continued walking through the port which was full of guys who kept on looking at us. They knew we were lost but none of them tried to steer us in the right direction.  We continued walking until we came to a building said travel information on it.  We went in there but the people working didn’t talk to us they just kept on working so we left and continued on the road we were on.  We then saw a sign for the Coast Guard and there was a ticket window nearby so we stopped there to ask how to get to the beach.  The guy pointed and told us to keep going in that direction.  Up until this point there were two guys in jumpsuits that happened to stop at all the same buildings as us which we thought was odd.  So we continued on down the road and once again they headed the same direction as us except this part of the port was a little more secluded.  At that point we started getting a little concerned so we kept changing the pace we were walking at.  No matter what pace we were going though they always stayed the same distance behind us.  We finally came to an area where a military man was standing outside that spoke English and we asked him for directions.  At this point the two guys who had been following us chatted with people there for a bit and then one of them turned to us and said, “Ciao” like we had been friends this whole time when really those guys had been making us anxious. The military guy told us to go on the left path and keep walking.

We thought we found it when we saw water and sand but the “beach” was covered in garbage and had tents and vans of people living there.  We decided not to stop and kept on walking because that could not be the beach. At last in the distance we spotted a beach with people laying out on it.  We had to drudge through this little river to get across to the side the beach was on.  After we walked about half of a mile we arrived at the area of the beach were other people were.  The almost hour long trek was worth it.  It was so nice to lay out, relax, and soak up the sun.  As an added bonus on our journey I saw a jellyfish for the first time in my life that was washed up on the shore.  Eventually, clouds started blocking our sun so we decided to head back to our hostel but to venture out and find a new route back instead of going through the creepy port.

We walked along the made road which was slightly less creepy and along the way we decided to stop at a bar to start sampling some Sicilian pastries.  Here we ordered a cannoli and a baba.  The cannoli was amazing! Definitely the best one I had ever had.  The baba was not something I would order again.  The cake part of was saturated with the rum it had been soaked it which made the cake soggy and the rum overpowered any other flavors present. 

We continued on our way back to the hostel noting how many times we were honked at or stared at by guys along the way.  I felt like I was in a freak show or something almost the entire time I was in Sicily because no matter how we were dressed or what we were doing people would still stair or make creepy noises at us.

We returned to the hostel and took a shower and started reading some packets for school.  We met 3 of our roommates who all seemed super nice and we chatted with each of them for a while.  One guy was from Boston, one was originally from the Netherlands but had moved to London, and the third was from Japan.  After a while we started getting hungry so we asked the lady at reception to recommend a place to eat and some places for us to buy some good pastries.  She told us some places to go and areas which we should try to avoid especially at night (naturally this was the area we had walked through on our return trip home from the beach). We could not find the place she recommended but we did see a dog that had recently had puppies and they were so adorable.  Nothing else was really open for dinner yet so we ended up just eating at a bar. We split an order of French fries and each had a Margherita pizza with a non-alcoholic cocktail.  The food was really good but we couldn’t finish it so we stuck it in a bag to give to all the stray dogs we had seen.

On the way back to the hostel we stopped at the bakery she had recommended, Tobbacco.  We got another cannoli and a cassata to go.  We brought them back to our hostel and ate them while we continued doing some studying.  The cannoli was not as good as it had been at the first place L  It was not very flavorful and the cream was kind of runny so we were both a little disappointed.  The cassata was not what I had expected it to be.  It was good but it was almost too sugary for me which is really hard to do because I love my sweets.  We were going to go out with Jess’s friend but he ended up having to work a double shift so he couldn’t meet up with us so we decided to just stay in and continue studying.  At one point we took a study break to go get some café.

The couple at the hostel gave us some places that would be open that late.  We went to the one the guy had strongly recommended called Lino’s.  The man had told us if we went there we needed to get this drink that had chocolate on the bottom, then espresso, then milk, and topped off with more chocolate.  We both bought one and they were phenomenal.  Then we each bought a cappuccino to go.  We headed back to the hostel and I worked on more homework until around 2 am. Then I went to bed.

We had to get up at 7 am so we could catch the bus to Mt. Etna by 8:15.  Before we left though we had to organize all of our stuff and check out of the hostel.  We were able to store out bags there still though which was helpful.  We arrived at the bus place at 7:55 and a man highly recommended if we could that we go back and get gym shoes.  We decided we probably should make the trip back so we power walked it back to our hostel and then back to the bus.  We both took a nap on the bus. 

When we arrived at the top of the Etna we realized we had both made a big mistake.  Having been at the beach the day before we were both looking forward to a nice sunny day and had not stopped think about how cold it would be at a higher elevation.  We must of looked like the biggest idiots every as we scurried to the souvenir shops to buy sweatshirts and sweatpants. We looked like the biggest tourists ever we had on matching sweatpants and Jess had an Italia sweatshirt and I had a Sicilia sweatshirt.  Our stupidity astonished us and we had a good chuckle about it all day long. We decided to not take the cable car to the top because it was going to cost us almost 30 euro each so instead we chilled at cafes all day reading and walking around to all the souvenir shops which we ended up doing at least 4 times. It was too cold for us to hike as we had planned on doing so the trip was pretty uneventful but still fun.  Surprise, Surprise we slept on the bus ride back down to Catania.  Then we returned to our hostel grabbed our bags and headed to the station to catch our 11 hour train back to Rome.

Overall, I really enjoyed travelling to Sicily because it was nice to see where my ancestors were from although they were from Palermo not Catania but still it was somewhat close.  I really enjoyed sampling the pastries especially the cannoli at the first place that was o amazing.  In the end Jess and I had wanted an adventurous trip and we definitely ended up with one.

Cinque Terre

This weekend about 3/4ths of our program went to Cinque Terre but we arrived in two different groups.  The group I went with left at 9 in the morning and arrived at the place we were staying at around 2 in the afternoon.  I went with Jess, Krista, Beth, Katie P., Christine, Claire, Claire, April, Sarah C., Katie Star, and Katie’s boyfriend.  We checked into our hostel and then they went to show us to our rooms.  The hiking started early than I had expected it to when we had to go up an insane amount of really steep stairs and we all had our backpacks on.  We were all huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top.  We dropped our stuff off in our room and put on our bathing suits and we all headed to the beach.  The beach ended up being a rock beach not a sand beach so it was really difficult to find a comfortable way to lay out for tanning.  After about 5 minutes Jess, Christine, and I were already frustrated with trying to find a comfortable spot so we decided to continue on down the beach.  There were boulders going the rest of the way down the beach so we started climbing on them looking for a big, flat rock we could all lay on to tan.  On our quest we ran into a guy heading the other direction who told us to keep going to the end because it was really cool when you were all the way down there.  He said he was going to go grab his friend and they would be over there.  We were laying out on a rock when they came.  They put their stuff down on a rock and his girlfriend just started climbing rocks and then suddenly just jumped into the water.  It looked like a lot of fun so we did the same.  After we were all in they, Scott and Candace, said there was a cave if u swam a bit so we headed over that way and went into the cave with them.  It was so sweet.  We didn’t want the rest of the people we came with to miss a chance to do this so we swam back toward the beach they were on.  When we got close we yelled at them to come down by where we were because it was really cool.  Almost everyone came either by swimming or climbing the rocks over.  Just about everyone made the effort to climb get up the rock so they could jump off then we all swam to the cave together and chilled in it for awhile.  Then it started getting a little cold and late so we headed back to our stuff to try off then went back to the hostel.  We changed for dinner and went to a place just down the road from our room.  I ordered lobster ravioli.  It was pretty descent but I didn’t think it was anything special.  Afterwards we were all so exhausted from the day and wanted to get an early start the next morning so when we returned to the hostel everyone just started getting ready for bed.  Beth had everyone in the second groups’ keys because they were arriving late and she needed to go meet up with them so Jess and I went with her.  Then we headed off to bed.

            The next morning we were up early and we lugged our bags all the way back down the stairs so we could check them while we went hiking.  I realized I had forgotten my cell phone so I hiked back up to the hostel to get it.  It turned out no one was there to take our bags so people had to hike back up with their bags. Jess was a trooper and carried mine and hers all the way back up so we could store them in people from the other group’s room. Then we headed back down and the group I came with began our hike.  The first area we came to was called Via dell Amore and there was a covered area that had a seat where the backs of it looked like a couple kissing.  On the rails around it there were locks couples had placed there.  It was really cute and made me miss Lee a little.  We made it to the third town in 2 hours and the hiking was pretty easy.  There was this one staircase that was the Lombard Street of staircases.  It seemed like it was going to be difficult to climb the steps weren’t steep and it was actually not all that tiring.  We decided to break for lunch.  We split up into 3 groups but we never met back up after lunch due to lack of cell phones.  I had lunch with Christine and Jess.  Then we went on a quest to use a bathroom before continuing on.  It was really hard to find one with toilet paper and first experience using one that is a hole in the ground.  Then we continued on our journey.  The first thing we came to was tons of stairs that were steep and uneven.  It was about half an hour straight of climbing these stairs to get to the top and it was pretty exhausting.  It is funny because they don’t label that staircase to warn you of all the stairs to come but the ones that were paved and not steep were labeled and even had a congratulatory sign at the top.  We took a lot of cool pictures on the rest of our hike though especially when we climbed out on this ancient, crumbling wall that had steep drop offs on each side.  We finally made it to the last town where there was a nice beach.  The hike to the last two towns was more of what I was expecting.  It was pretty tiring and it took us just under 3 hours to hike to the last town.  Katie, Krista, and Beth had already beaten us there so we went to lay out by them. Then Jess, Christine, and I went souvenir shopping and bought limon and strawberry gelato that really hit the spot after all that hiking as well as a bunch of fresh fruit for the train ride home.  We hopped on the train to take us back to the first town.  When we got off the train it was mass chaos at the station.  There were people shoving people to try to get on the train and others were screaming from being squashed from the pushing it was kind of scary.  It was also very pointless because there was another train coming in ten minutes.  It reminded me of the seen in Titanic with everyone trying to get on the lifeboats.  Then we grabbed our bags and hopped on the train to go back to Rome.  When we got back to Rome it took a long time to get home because of Labor Day and yet we ended up having one more long walk with our bags to finish off the day.  When we arrived at our apartment we were all really exhausted from all the hiking and we just went to sleep.

            Cinque Terre is probably my favorite place in Italy so far.  It was nice to get away from major city life to a more quiet area.  I also really enjoyed the array of outdoor activities that were available there.  I had never really done intense hiking and I really enjoyed getting to do that and the scenery was beautiful.  My favorite part was first day when we scaled the rocks and climbed up them (not that they were extremely tall but it was still challenging) and then jumped off into the water and getting to explore the cave.

Cooking Class!!!

Sadly, our cooking class came to an end this week with a final cooking exam over what we had learned.  From our first day of cooking till now I have learned tons about Italian Cooking and preparing food in general  It all started with our first day of class when we met our instructor Christina Bowerman who is the head chef and owner of Glass Restaurant in Trastevere.  We had four hands-on cooking classes with her during our time here.

            In our first class we picked our cooking partners for the semester and we received our “fancy” GLUB aprons so we could feel like real cooks.  I partnered with Jess which is awesome and I think we will have a lot of fun cooking together.  Christina told us about herself, her qualifications, and her cooking and work experience.  Then she started teaching us about the different types of pasta and risotto.  We learned that cooking good risotto is more than a recipe it is a technique that involves seasoning throughout the cooking time so the rice soaks up the flavor and constantly stirring to prevent it from getting overcooked.  I am not used to eating pasta that is suppose to be a little firm so it was hard to tell when it was done.  Our risotto turned out really pretty good, I liked it a lot, minus the texture wasnt right.  I think Jess and I worked well together.  We made sure we both got to try to do everything and we had good teamwork especially when it came to one of us constantly stirring while the other to added the broth. 

            Next we cooked carbonara which I thought was much easier to make.  We cooked the bacon in oil while the pasta was cooking in water.  When it was almost done we needed to mix the egg and cheese mixture.  When the pasta was done we coated it with the egg and cheese mixture.  I never would have thought that the proper way to cook carbonara was to poor the raw egg and cheese on the pasta and the heat from the pasta is what cooks it. Seasoning to taste was probably the most challenging part of cooking the carbonara because I am never sure exactly what to add and how much to achieve the right flavor.  In the end our carbonara turned out pretty good. We both liked it better than the carbonara they had served us at the welcome dinner.  I am not a huge fan of carbonara in general though because I don’t really like the taste of eggs.

            In our next cooking class, the focus was veal and mackerel.  The class was in the morning and it started off with us leaving our cooking location to walk through a down pour to the fresh fish market.  I thought it was really cool that Christina took us there because I had never been to a fresh fish market and it was an interesting sight.  I had never noticed all the different types of fish there were to eat.  Our class was quite surprised to see just how fresh the fish were.  So fresh that some of them were still flopping around you can’t beat that in terms of freshness.  The market also had other types of meat available there, fruit, and vegetables.  It was a lot bigger than I had imagined it to be.

            After Christina had purchased the veal and mackerel we needed for the day we headed back to our cooking area in Termini. For me the most interesting part of the class was learning how to fillet a fish.  I don’t really have any experience in cooking with fish so learning how to fillet one for cooking was definitely helpful.  Another key thing I learned about cooking fish was to make sure you cook it scale side down.  The recipes for the veal and mackerel were both pretty easy.  The only part Jess and I really had trouble with was knowing when it was done cooking. I tried both of ours and thought they were pretty good.  I was really surprised by the taste of the mackerel because I had expected it to have more of a fishy flavor.

            Our third cooking classes focus was on desserts.  We prepared tiramisu and pastry cream.  Jess was unable to come to class today because she was having her arm checked out by a doctor so I partnered up with Krista.  I was really excited about this class because I absolutely love tiramisu.  We started the tiramisu by mixing egg yolk , sugar, and marsala in a bowl that was placed in boiling water.  It was very important when doing this to make sure you constantly whisked otherwise the eggs would start clumping and cooking. Another key part of making the tiramisu was to make sure that you just dipped not soaked your lady fingers in the coffee mixture otherwise the flavor would be overpowering.  Unfortunately neither Krista nor I were going directly home after class so that we could put our tiramisu in the refrigerator.  As a result, we never were able to try it but I did get to try some of the other groups at school and it was delicious.  I can only imagine ours would have turned out just as good.  The pastry cream was super easy.  We just measured out ingredients, put them in a pot on low heat, and had to make sure we whisked the entire time to keep the cream clump free.  It tasted super good though. Man do I love my sweets!

            Our last class was held at Glass.  Christina had a guest speaker come in to talk to us about pizza.  The speaker filled us in on the history of pizza making and the techniques involved.  He also talked to us about the ingredients used in pizza and which ingredients should be used in what combinations to produce the best pizza.  During class we kept hearing a man screaming something in Italian.  Christina informed us that it was a knife sharpener who rides around on his bike yelling that he is coming so people know to bring their knifes out to him if they want them sharpened.  Yet another unique thing to know about Italy. 

            After the speaker finished lecturing we went into the kitchen where he showed us how to cut dough and properly form it into loafs of bread.  About half the class was able to try doing this. Our speaker was really funny and he would add sound affects while people were trying to cut the dough.  They had a pizza cooking while we were being taught so afterwards we were able to try it and it was delicious! We also got to try the bread loafs people had made.  They were pretty darn good.  You got to love fresh baked bread.

            Our final class was our cooking exam. We were asked to prepare risotto and pastry cream.  It was pretty nerve racking because Federico was walking around with a notebook making comments and we had to bring our dish up to present to a “panel” of judges.  It was a lot of fun though and it felt like we were on a cooking show.  Jess and I started by cutting up our vegetables to boil to make our broth.  Since the vegetables have to boil for a long time we measured everything we needed for risotto and put it off to the side so we could start our pastry cream. 

We added everything and began whisking it to thicken it.  When we thought it was thick enough we started brainstorming on how to present it.  Christina said our pastry cream turned out really good because it was very smooth.  To create a dessert we put a layer of lady fingers and then dumped half of our pastry cream (vanilla flavored) over it.  Then we added another layer of lady fingers and dumped the rest of our pastry cream over it (chocolate flavored).  It looked so good with the contrasting colors we wanted to dig in but had to refrain and bring it up to be judged.  

            We returned to our work area and returned our focus to our risotto.  Jess and I worked well together to make sure one of us was constantly stirring while the other added the broth.  We made sure to keep on adding salt throughout the entire cooking time since to make sure the rice had enough time to soak up the flavor.  We also tried to make sure we added our ingredients like the saffron early enough that the rice could soak up the flavor.  We had problems telling exactly when it was done but we did our best.   When it was all done we brought it up to the judges an went to clean up our work station. 

            After every one had turned in their dishes the judges were ready to give their results.  Much to our disappointment ours did not place in the top 3 for desserts.  We thought it tasted awesome and looked really cool.  Our risotto however tied another team for first.  We did not have the texture right but the judges all agreed ours tasted phenomenal.  We were both pretty excited about that news.

            The cooking classes were one of my favorite parts of the entire program. My only complaint about it would be that there weren’t enough of them. I enjoyed every class we had and learned how to cook something new or a new technique in every single class.  I can’t wait to go home and try preparing some of these recipes for my family and friends.