Baci!!!! Happy Valentine's Day!

i went to another factory on monday.
yes, another food factory.
but this one was a chocolate one in perugia. no willy wonka in sight. we did have free samples and a metrosexual tour guide named Niccola.
It was a Bacio factory, bacio means kiss in Italian. it was invented after the hershey's kiss. i was surprised by this because usually everything in europe is older than everything in america.
one time in italian class, we were talking about old churches and my prof asked me (in italian of course) if my town had any old churches. i said yes, some from 200 years ago. then she laughed and said that wasn't old.
200 is just a drop in the bucket!

and look >>>> they had easter egg molds as big as my face!

a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.

So I was walking home. From MeetLife, my hang out. And I was hankering for a slice a pizza. Me and a bunch of my friends are going to Venice for Carnavale this weekend. I didn’t want to waste time cooking so I decided to grab a pizza.
After ordering and saying my most articulate Caio ever, I paid, took my piece of pizza from the cashier and left. As I walked out of the door, o look a slanted stair walk. I seemed to have missed this detail while walking in and clearly missed it on the way out.
All I remember is all my body weight going to one side and rapidly pulling me ass first onto the streets of Siena. It was a blur, I went down so fast. Now looking back on it, it must’ve been so amusing for the two pizzeria employees - seeing a girl briskly walk out chowing on her pizza, only to see her wipe out – o I’m sorry – eat asphalt - immidiatelyt after. A blur of a purple coat falling violently and swing with pizza in the right hand all the way down.
Laying there, I saw the face of the pizza man above me. He was looking at me, the kind of look when you want to convey that you are really concerned for one’s health, but your giggling is steadfastly overshadowing your kind inclinations. I looked above. I had two choices. I could either laugh or cry. But big girls don’t cry. So I began to laugh hysterically, pizza still saved from the misfortune of this event. Surprisingly, although falling in the air, I managed to hang on to my slice of 1.70 euro pizza. I got up and kept making jokes, with the pizza man that I “really knew how to make an exit” and so on, even though he didn’t understand a word I was saying. I could see the girl employee behind the counter laughing her ass off. He was so sweet, trying to hold back the laughter, but once he saw I was ok, he definnitley let it out, full force.
I guffawed all the way home, despite my hair awry, having a scrapped hand and a scuffed up bloodied knee. I couldn’t help it. People must of thought I was a crazy person or something, but whatever. Crying is too messy and laughing works your abs, so it was the better route to take. Someone once told me that if you don’t make a fool out of yourself twice a week you are not living the human experience.
I’m counting this week’s as double.

p.s. – to my little brother joey: think about the time we went sledding at heritage and that one kid sent me flying vertically w/ his snow tube. Ok, you are probably laughing with tears in your eyes now. Now think about that same image, only me doing that on a cobblestreet road w/ a pizza in my hand. Funny, I know.

How you can get fat in Italy.

I have developed a bit of a tummy. I always wanted to become a yogi master and this is the best incentive. When I come back I suspect I will have the body of a god – and that god is Buddha. I am not working here or really stressing out – o wait – I am never stressing out – ever. So i am content and therefore I feel sort of bobulous like Winnie the Pooh. Here is an ode to food:

Here is a list of foods I like in Italy

All their yogurt – especially coffee flavored

Every single cheese ever produced here, mozzarella is #1

Bread.

NUTELLA.

Wine. Red wine, I hate white, that is universal, unless of course I must have it with my seafood.

Bellini

proscuitto

Here is a list of foods I miss from America

Peanut butter

Captain crunch

Teavana (ok technically not a food, but ya know)

Guacamole

Doritos

BAGELS & CREAM CHEESE.

Wow. looking at this list, I’ve realized it is all junk food (except for tea). O, ya know what I don’t miss? Starbucks. If Nutella is Jesus, Starbucks is Lucifer. I do not miss Starbucks. What crap. Eeewwww. Watered down warm sugar w/ nasty chalky whipped cream on top. I don’t think so.

Besides my ass expanding [I kid, I kid], I think some of my travel plans are expanding also. I am going to Greece in April and after that on to Dublin for Easter, which will be interesting. Any suggestions I will take!

ASSISI FOR ME SI.

This morning we got up and took a 2.5 hour bus ride to Assisi. This past week I had gotten multiple raves about this spiritual hot spot, so I decided to check it out. The first rave came from my Food & Culture Professor. She is Jewish and went to Assisi with her husband last weekend. She said for her Assisi was an extremely “spiritual experience”, even though she practices Judaism. I had to see for myself what this town was all about.

It was pretty overcast and drizzly all day, but the views were still beautiful. The town is on a bunch of high hilltops, so the views are vast. The concrete of all the buildings are colors of coral, light pink and sandy yellow.

The first sight we saw was Basilica di St. Francesco. This church is made of white marble and the view is spectacular. The mist was flowing all over the Tuscan countryside below and the clouds were parted just to enough to have rays of sun coming out from the sky. Very…celestial....

Once we got inside, it was an overwhelming church. There were things I expected - paintings, sculptures, ornate stained glass, pews and flowers. But on the sides were these sort of little rooms to pray/meditate in. I put a coin in the offertory box and a candle was automatically lit for me. lol. Nifty.

Downstairs was the tomb of St. Francis. His tomb is not visible. It is enshrined by ornate metalwork behind the altar. It was so quiet and everyone was in pews praying, so I did the same. Very peaceful actually. I went into the gift shop after that and got a Franciscan rosary. Supposedly there is a difference between the Franciscan rosary beads and regular rosary beads? The dude who was selling me the 5 euro beads was trying to explain in Italian, but he was too fast for me. Next was the “Basilica Superior”, the upper basilica. In here are more fabulous altars and pews and stain glass. The real highlight for me was the frescos done by Giotto, about 6 on each wall, depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi. These were truly awe inspiring. Also the ceilings. Yes. The ceilings. They were all covered in deep azure paint, with some of it chipping off, revealing a base of regal turquoise. Covering this were gold stars. The ceilings were soooo high! Standing alone in such a quite beautiful space can make anyone feel spiritual. I think this is because you feel super small while surrounded by so much overwhelming beauty. Then you start to think about all the people who made the place and all the people who have been there before you. And why, why are all these people coming here and what are they searching for? And that’s when you feel blessed to even be in such a special space and look up at the high rafters covered in blue and gold stars and say to yourself, “Somebody up there likes me.”

The Aperitivo is Imperative!

At European cafes, there are these certain complimentary snack times. Usually in the late afternoon/early evening, some select cafes or osterias (osterias are a step down from a restaurant, kinda like a really awesome sandwich & coffee place) offer aperitivo times. The idea is that you buy a drink for 2 – 7 euros and then you enjoy a spread of free food. Great sandwiches, bread and dip and pasta. So basically, you get more than what you pay for. And to money conscience college students everywhere - we flock like vultures.

My favorite café I have found so far is a place around the corner from my apartment. It was formerly the Walkabout Pub. They changed it from the Walkabout Pub to the Meet Life Café. What had happened was that the Walkabout became so popular that they got crowds and crowds of people (especially Americans and other English speakers) who got sloshed there and I guess that wasn’t the atmosphere they wanted. So they closed in November, and revamped the whole vibe and it became “Meetlife Café”.

I love this place. It is right down the street from my place and great for any atmosphere I want because it changes a lot. It doesn't hurt that the men who own/bartend it are two FLIPPIN' hot italian brothers - "Caio...yes...Fosters...Si, Thank you so very much." Thank you for your irradiating hotness on me! sometimes that's what I'd like to say in response. In America I would never do that, but here i wonder if they would understand if i said that to them? most likely not. Speaking of what makes sense, One thing i have learned is sarcasm does not translate over! that's a story for another time...

In the morning you can get amazing cappuccinos and a tasty pastry for 1.50 euros. At lunch time they have hot dogs and hamburgers….i have yet to try but I like that they have them, if I ever got the hankering. At night they have happy hour, all drinks 2 euros off. The cheapest they have is Fosters, so I usually get a hefty pint. It is my favorite café and bar in one.

Mi piace panforte!

Today we went to the Panforte Factory. Panforte is a Tuscan specialty. The best way I can explain it’s taste is a really good fruit cake. They come in all different flavors too – chocolate, the classic which is from the 13^th century, and the margherita one, named after one of the king of Italy’s wives.

The “boss” showed us the whole way around the factory all the different steps it takes to make this scrumptious sort of fruit cake thing. It smelled of Christmas in there!

In the 13^th Century, panforte was created because there were so many spices being traded in Siena from the east. The best way to describe it is a stiff fruit cake w/ almonds, but it also tastes like a pumpkin pie a bit. A fruit pumpkin pie cake basically….sort of…

After the tour we were brought the sampling room.

It was Cookie Monster Heaven. Then I got a cookie coma. But it was in the name of panforte, so it was a validated gluttony.

My favorite Sienese cookies are Ricciarelli ones. They are soft almond flavored cookies with powdered sugar all over. They also come in chocolate. numnumnumnum