I'm practically an Italian now

Buona Sera!

Sorry to those of you who have been waiting for this blog post…I've gotten some complaints. I've either been busy or lazy since then…usually a little of both. 

Now for an overview of the past week!

Let's see…two weekends ago, on the 4th and 5th, we started our classes. Wow, that seems so long ago. Anyways, enameling and art history classes started for me and both were awesome. I think we all just needed to get started on something productive after months of vacationing and then constantly moving in Rome. Getting settled in in Certaldo was amazing. 

experiencing "fried bread" at A Casa Tua with our favorite restaurant owner, Giovanni 

I can't remember what this was called, but it was beautiful and spicy

This past week and a half has seemed like such a long time and I definitely feel like a semi-local now.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first weekend in Certaldo was hardly a weekend because we had classes everyday and then the weather was still too bad on Monday so we were unable to go to Florence that day, therefore, classes continued. I do have to say, though, that I love my classes. First of all, I have almost al studio classes, so I'm working on awesome metal projects half my days and then while class is going on we have the freedom to listen to music, go grab a cappuccino/espresso/coffee, and snack when we necessary. 

I can't get enough cappuccinos or espressos

obviously.

I seriously cannot complain about this arrangement. Plus, my apartment is right above the studio, so I have an extremely short trip if i happen to need anything. PLUS (again) I can walk outside and view the beautiful Tuscan landscapes!  I can definitely live with this arrangement. 

So last week we continued with classes until thursday, the 9th, when we went to FLORENCE! Finally.

It was wonderful!!  Linda basically gave us a brief overview of how to navigate through the important places and how to get back to Certaldo via train. After that, we shopped! I didn't take many pictures because we're going back as an overnight trip this weekend and touring the whole city with a guide, so there will be plenty of photo ops then. After we split into small groups for lunch and shopping, I went with some Marissa, her friend Fabrizio that we met up with, and some others to have a delicious lunch. We almost went to Fabrizio's uncle's silversmithing factory, but we decided to postpone that trip until a later day. Lunch was great, but the artisan chocolate shop that we went to after lunch was FANTASTIC! 

All homemade chocolate and gelato with sooooo many flavors. I was a happy camper. The rest of the day and night were pretty fantastic as well.  I've said this a few times to people before, but I think that Florence will be my second Italian home. 

I need to backtrack for a second because I forgot to mention that last Tuesday, the 7th, me and a few other students we given the opportunity to appear as students on an italian cooking show that debuted Cucina Giuseppina (an Italian cooking school in Certaldo Alto).

The show was called Ti ci porto io (I'll take you there) and it was hosted by famous Italian chef, Gianfranco Vissani and his cohost, Michela Rocco. It was a really strange experience but extremely awesome at the same time because…we were on an Italian cooking show! I found one of the episodes on youtube (not our episode, but an earlier one) so I need to post that…it's hilariously strange. I think it's supposed to be funny so I don't feel bad laughing at it. 

here's a video of one of their shows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIuDtHWhG8g

I'll have to watch out for our episode online!

Group photo with Giuseppina's sons, Simone and Luca

Ok, back to Thursday, after our Florence day. It was Taylor Lawless's birthday! So we had a nice celebrated after dinner with NUTELLA PIZZA!!! And attempted to sing Happy Birthday in Italian…it was interesting. But fun! 

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

We were supposed to go to Siena on Saturday BUT of course, the weather was too bad so we had to postpone that travel day.  I love the snow and winter weather as much as the next person, but when it interferes with my plans, we've got problems. It was extremely windy and chilly on Saturday anyways, though, so it's a good thing we didn't go. INSTEAD, we got to sleep in (thank goodness) and then had a potluck in the studio that night where each apartment made their own dish or dessert to share.

It was alllll amazingly delicious

Then we watched another Medici movie. I don't think I've mentioned Medici movies, but they're movies in a documentary series about the history of the Medici family.  They're so dramatic that they're hilarious, so it's always a good laugh. Not to mention, we get art history credit for watching them. Not too shabby. 

SUNDAY, yesterday, eight students were able to take a cooking class at Cucina Giuseppina!! We also took it was two other girls who were from Canada but who had been living in Ireland for the past five years. Dream life? Cooking class was the coolest thing ever!!  

We arrived at 10:30am, ate "a typical Tuscan breakfast," so says Giuseppina, of bread, preserves (apple, orange, onion, and pepper), chianti, sausage meat, and cheese. Basically what we consider finger foods in America. After everyone got there, Giuseppina told us the menu for the day: zuppa di cipolla(onion soup), ravioli burro e salvia (butter and sage ravioli), filetto di maiale (pork tenderloin filet), and tiramisu (tiramisu). We started off with the tiramisu because it needed to be refrigerated for a few hours. Next, we made an onion soup for the antipasto that ended up being more like a topping for some bread.  Giuseppina said that we could add broth to make it more of a soup if we wanted to.  

with famous Certaldo onions

After that delicious dish, we started making the pasta!!! Homemade pasta is really not that hard to make. It's all a 1 to 1 ratio between flour and eggs and you have to take into account the number of people eating…I have it all written down if anyone has any questions. 

We made ravioli, fettuccine, and a bit of gnocchi with the dough scraps.  Each had a slightly different sauce and each was amazing.   

Probably even more amazing because we were all so proud to have just made our own pasta

Fettuccine and gnocchi

After pasta we watched Giuseppina and Simone (her son) make pork tenderloin and a bean and sausage soup. 

We didn't help much with that dish so it was made much faster than all the others. Both were delicious, of course. All of us agreed that we didn't want our piece of pork to end! We tried to savor ever juicy bite. After the meat dish, we ate our tiramisu which was creamy and the best tiramisu I've ever had. So yummy.

We finished the day with a caffe (espresso), relaxing (i.e. digestion), and group photos. 

We ended up walking home at about 4pm, so it was a 6hr feast of amazingness. 

pages of messily written recipes

If THAT wasn't enough, Sunday night was when Emily and I planned to have our gnocchi mac 'n cheese dinner with Marissa and Chris (and Paige and Caitlyn…and then Charlotte and Sarah).  I was still extremely full from our lunch feast, but that gnocchi was delicious.  Marissa also brought over pears to eat with goat cheese and honey. YUMMMMMMMM. 

I basically just ate my life away yesterday.  No regrets, though.

Ok. Finally caught up. 

Today in enameling we made earrings as a filler project since Linda had a meeting in Florence, but I will definitely be making more earrings as side projects, it was really fun, although I wanted to throw one of the kilns because it was not firing my piece in a timely manner. It's ok. Practice for patience :)

BIG NEWS! During the past couple of days, me and a group of people have been planning our Spring break trip….to SICILY! Plans are almost final, we're still looking at which villa will be the best price for the most people and in close proximity to the beach. Can't wait!!! 

Florence overnight trip this weekend! Lots to see!

Wow. That was a lot…I'll try to be more regular about these posts. We'll see how that goes. 

Ciao!