Quick update, spring break edition

Ciao Bella's! I thought I would write a quick little something about my adventures so far. I'm doing it from my iPhone so please excuse the poor spelling and grammar mistakes (I know you do that on every one of my posts anyways so we're moving on...) I'm writing from the kitchen of our place in Santa Maria Navarrese in Sardinia. In front of me is fresh picked oranges that the owner's parents gave us the first day and a beautiful view of the rocky terrain and blue beaches from the window. We have so far:
-Seen all five towns of the Cinque Terre
-Hiked the high trail from Corniglia to Manorola
-Caught the sunset over the beautiful rainbow of the Manorola buildings
-hung out and ate gelato on the beach of Monterosso
-Saw the incredible reconstruction effort of Vernazza, the town that was destroyed by the October 25, 2011 storms
-walked, walked, and walked some more
- Ate too much pesto, yet not enough
- Saw about 100 dogs and even more cats
- Watched the sun set over the mediterranean with a bottle of wine and pesto pizza
- got caught in Spezia for 5 hours because of the train strike
- Had a 5 star candlelight dinner at the Pisa airport (just kidding... )
-Ate a microwaveable lasagna and salad inside of the Pisa airport
- Traveled by train, plane, bus, AND car (too much for my taste)
- Navigated around Sardinia without anyone knowing any English
- Explored around Santa Maria Navarrese
- Relaxed on the beach and tried to get as much sun as possible

I'll write more detailed posts of each day and place (get pumped) once I get back to Florence but its been a wonderful journey so far and I can't wait to see what the next few days bring!

Time for a break...

Sorry for the lack of updates. It was midterm week and time was spent trashing the house (because I couldn't have cared less), eating too many stress cookies (because I couldn't have cared less), and well... a lot of studying (because I actually had to start caring). Whoever told me that midterms were going to be a breeze must have been playing a joke on me, because I found them the exact opposite. However with a little more studying than usual, I feel pretty good about them. This morning I kissed my last short essay, last multiple choice question, and last fill in the blank answer goodbye for a wonderful relaxing 11 day(ish) break. Afterwards I rewarded myself with a cookie and cleaning up the mess in the kitchen that had accumulated over the week. Not my usual kind of reward, but the fact that you can see the kitchen counter is rewarding in itself.

Tomorrow I head out in the morning to see the beautiful Cinque Terre. We'll be staying there for two nights and if the weather permits, get as much vitamin d as possible, hopefully a few hikes too! Unfortunately, because of the floods of October 2011, most of the Cinque Terre 5 hour hike through the 5 towns is closed. But there are many side trails that are ready and open that I hope with give some amazing views and step into nature. Cinque Terre has been on my list for "a must visit someday" ever since I saw a picture of the beautiful, colorful homes lighting up the scenic cliffs. Its pretty unreal that I'll get to see them tomorrow! Also, the town of Vernazza (most hit by the floods) has made a tremendous effort to get everything back in shape for the summer season. With this, colorful murals and paintings have sprouted up around the town-- something that shows how wonderful a community these towns create. I hope to be able to look around at the murals and see how the town has progressed (from the devastating pictures I had seen on the internet). Last but not least, I can't wait to try the pesto. If I splurge on anything there-- it will be the pesto genovese with pasta (some priorities I have!). Liguria (the region of the Cinque Terre) is the birthplace of pesto, and well.. I'm basil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and olive oil's number one fan. (Number 2 is probably Austin... so look out Liguria!)

After cinque terre, we'll be headed to Sardinia for 4 nights. To be honest, most of this trip will probably be completely spontaneous as we won't have any form of private transportation. But were we are staying is only meters from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and only a few short kilometers from some of the most beautiful coastal mountains in the world! I couldn't be more excited to get out of the concrete (yet wonderful) jungle of Florence to a more natural setting. Hopefully, our days will be spent relaxing and hiking and enjoying the sun. I can't wait to see the off the beaten path parts of Italy and experience a side that I have yet to see.

For the last couple of nights, we'll fly back to tuscany and spend a night back in Lucca (I told you I liked it there). Then for the next two nights, I'll finally get to see the italian countryside I have been hoping to see. We'll be staying on a farm a little bit outside of Lucca and hopefully get to learn about the agriculture in tuscany! They also have a donkey that "likes to take walks" and the Apuane Alps are near by.

Just writing about everything, is getting me excited, I'm so incredibly thankful to be able to have all of these experiences that I have only dreamed about for years. Buon Viaggio!

* I don't take credit for any of these pictures, but I hope to take credit for some when I get back...

Hey, James

Tomorrow marks the 2 month point of being in Italy. Halfway through, I have gotten a little homesick. Until last night when I was able to head back home for at least 2 hours or so at the James Taylor concert in Lucca.

Thanks to my dad, we were able to get 3 tickets to the concert to see his childhood friend and neighbor play on stage in front of hundreds of smiling faces, from all different parts of the world. It made me so happy to see excitement on every Italian's face I passed... he really has made an impact on the world. Songs like Copperline and Carolina in my Mind took me straight back to my grandparents house "half a mile down Morgan Creek" and slowly my homesickness was washed away. The concert was great and James even said a few italian words himself (with half of the audience soon correcting his mistakes). He played all of my favorites and even one of my favorite Beatles song, Yesterday (Paul McCartney recently asked him to cover the song at the Grammy's and it was treat to hear it live). Most of his band members were there as well as a recording of his backup singers on a 1977 recorder (I think... he explained the importance of the recorder in italian...so...).

He sang 3 encore songs and the audience wouldn't stop clapping a long. By this time, many were up out of their seats dancing to the music. When the concert was finally over the whole audience lined up for autographs and pictures. And of course, James sat on the stage with a smile on his face taking pictures and signing autographs and looking at pictures of children who listen to him "tutti i giorni" and so on. It then came to our turn and I went up to him telling him my name saying that I was "David's daughter". Obviously I really was taken back to North Carolina because in hindsight Who the hell is this David guy in Italy? He stared at me and apologized asking for the last name. Perlmutt... That's when it clicked and he got excited about hearing the name of his old neighbors and jumped up to give me a big hug. Did he know my last name, or did he really remember me? I'd like to think it was the latter... but it's always my dad catching up with James, and me sitting next to them awing over their conversations. This time, I was without my dad, so after a short catching up and "How's the family doing, I was in Charlotte a couple weeks ago with Michelle Obama", Mary, Julia, and I took a picture and went on our way. I'm incredibly impressed that he was even awake at the end of the long line of faithful fans and long concert. He was even able to keep a conversation going (in italian) with many of the fans.

This lovely night was after a day of train rides through the countryside, a wonderful bike ride on Lucca's city walls, a walk back up to the walls for the sunset and quick dinner of homemade pasta with bread an wine.

 On the way back from the concert at Teatro di Giglio, we did as tourists do and got lost. Luckily, when Julia went into a pizza place for a bottle of water and then came out with a group of Lucca(-ians?). $ of them were nice enough to walk us back to the street our hostel was on. On the way, we got a few lessons in italian and they got a few lessons in english. One of the guys asked us about American football and he even knew about the Carolina Panthers and Cam "Newman". I told him I had gone to a game before; he told me he was jealous. I asked him if he had be to a futbol game before, he said yes; I told him that I was jealous. They were so incredibly friendly and funny describing their awful distant relatives from Kentucky and tried to distinguish the difference from escape and landscape. We were finally back to the hostel and talked to our new friends for a little while longer before they made one last joke and asked one last question about America. We said our goodbyes and "nice to meet you's" and that was the end of our wonderful day in Lucca. I will have to visit one more time before I head home, the town was too sweet for just one visit.

This week we have the dreadful midterms followed by (a MUCH needed) Spring Break. I just need to get past these couple of days and I will be Sardegna and Cinque Terre bound! Ah! Ciao for now...

2/9 Recipes

Gnocchi con Cioccolato alla Sorrentina

Serves 6

Gnocchi dough:

500 kg golden potatoes

1 tsp cocoa powder

150 gr flour

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese 

salt, pepper, nutmeg 

Wash the potatoes and cook them with the skin in a big pot with a lot of water until soft. Peel and mush. Let them cold, then add flour, cocoa, salt, egg, grated parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and an "american" pinch of nutmeg. Mix a little, until all ingredients are together, but do not mix to much or the pasta will turn out to be gummy. Make rolls (like a hotdog; 2 cm diameter) and cut in to rectangles.

Sauce:

500 gr roma tomatoes (sliced in half)

1 eggplant

100 gr parmesan cheese

200 gr mozzarella 

3 bunches of basil

sugar

1 clove of garlic

oil, salt, pepper

Slice the eggplants thin, place in a colander with rock salt and leave for 30 minutes (this will get all of the water out of the eggplant and give it more taste) *Put weight on top of the eggplants to help the process work. After 30 minutes dry the eggplants, flour them, and deep fry in olive oil. Save for later

Peel the garlic and saute in oil. Add the tomatoes, and some basil. Salt, add a half of teaspoon of sugar. Cook the sauce for ten minutes. Cut the mozzarella cheese in cubes. Cook the gnocchi in salty boiling water until the gnocchis rise to the top (couple of minutes). Saute the gnocchi with the sauce. Take the gnocchi out from the pot and mix with the tomatoes in the pan. Add the mozzarella cubes (they should then melt). Serve the gnocchi with grated cheese, fresh basil and fried eggplants.

Disclaimer: The cocoa powder didn't make it into this dish but another groups. It gave it a really interesting flavor but if it scares you--- the dish is delightful with out it as well!

Torta Morbida con Cioccolato e Mandorle

Serves 6

200 gr bitter chocolate

1/2 cup of coffee

150 gr butter

150 gr sugar

120 gr white sliced almonds

50 gr starch

3 eggs

powder sugar

powder cocoa

Toast the almonds in the oven in a baking pan for 5 minutes

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler

In a large bowl, mix the butter with the sugar until you get a smooth and creamy mixture

Blend the toasted almonds in a blender.

Add the eggs, one at a time, (still stirring in the butter and sugar), the starch, and 2/3 of the toasted and blended almonds. Add the melted chocolate and continue to mix. Add the half of cup of coffee as well. 

Butter and flour a baking cake pan. Put the chocolate mixture inside the pan and bake at 140 degrees (Celsius) for 30 minutes. 

Sprinkle the powdered sugar and cocoa powder on top. 

Enjoy!

2/6 Recipes

Our cooking class is set up so that we spend the first 30 minutes to 45 minutes learning about the history of food in Italy and then make a dish that corresponds with what we learned that day. On Tuesday of this week, we learned about the fairly new "Agriturismo" market that you can find in Italy. In the industrial age, much of Italy's beautiful countryside were wiped clean of people as they were looking for new opportunities in the city. Fortunately, today many people are moving back to the countryside and beginning farms again, this time making it work for the 20th Century. Italy has a huge Agritourism culture, where people (usually husband and wife) open up their homes and farms for tourists (or not tourists) to come and see how their food is made and the slow and simple life of living on a farm. (Its a kind of elegant WWOOFing). Then at night, as you stay in a B&B like place, you can enjoy the local food that was harvested not even a mile (or km) away. It's a great concept, and I really hope to see it gain more interest around the world. (yes, agritourism  has been going on for decades but I don't see it as prevalent in the US.) It was also fresh to hear that people are beginning to move back to a simple lifestyle away from the cities when everything else these days are just about moving forward, about the newest product, etc.

Usually the meals served at the B&B's are very simple, as the ingredients are simple. The meal we made, although very surprisingly simple to make, wasn't exactly what I would call "simple". However, it is a regional meal as well as in season (both characteristics of agriturismo). 

Our main course was a Homemade Ricotta and Pecorino cheese ravioli with a Pear Sauce. I had had the combination a few times in restaurants here... but never as good as this recipe. It is always a cheese and pear sauce-- making it much too rich and thick for my taste (but too good to pass up). This one however had the cheese on the inside of the ravioli, and the sauce was just purely pear--- a much lighter spin on the beloved italian dish. I couldn't get enough of it!

Ravioli di Pere e Pecorino

For the dough:

200 gr Flour

2 eggs

salt 

oil

Work the flour with the eggs, salt, and oil until smooth and elastic (10 to 15 minutes) Cover with saran wrap and leave to rest at room temperature. (If you have a pasta flattener--- you know what to do here, flatten pasta, cut in half, and add balls of cheese. Lay the other half of pasta over cheese and cut into squares)

                                                         

For the filling:

50 gr. dry pecorino cheese

150 gr. ricotta cheese

salt 

nutmeg

pepper

Mix the ricotta cheese with the grated pecorino cheese, add an "italian" pinch (big pinch) of salt, nutmeg, and pepper

If you are unable to make the pasta--- just buy ricotta ravioli and use this recipe for the sauce-- it will still taste delicious!

For the sauce:

3 pears

fresh thyme

1 shallot

fresh rosemary

1 tsp honey

1 dl balsamic vinegar

Dice the shallot and cook in a pan with olive oil, add two of the peeled and cubed pears. Add the dice rosemary and thyme. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook for about 10 minutes. The add the honey. 

Then, in a blender, blend the pear sauce (what you just cooked).

Cube the third pear, saute in a pan with butter for about 5 minutes.

Reduce the balsamic vinegar until you get a thick consistence. 

Cook ravioli in salty boiling water.

Place pear sauce on bottom of plate (or mix ravioli in the pan with blended pear sauce). Arrange ravioli on plate, adding some of the cooked cubes of pear on top. Then sprinkle a few drops of balsamic.

And for dessert...

Crema di Yogurt e Mirtilli

6 servings

100 gr blueberries

50 gr sugar

50 gr dry biscuits (graham crackers)

60 gr honey

300 gr white yogurt

6 gr gelatin

2 tbs Vodka

200 gr.

Make the blueberry sauce:

Put in a little pot: sugar, 4 tbs of water, and the blue berries. Cook for 10 minutes.

Soak the gelatin in cold water in a bowl.

Whip fresh cream (in separate bowl).

Mix the honey with yogurt until they are well mixed.

Squeeze out the water from the gelatin (after about 10-15 minutes) and melt in a pot with the vodka and 1 tbs of water. Mix into yogurt. Fold the whipped fresh cream into the yogurt mixture as well. Crumble the biscuits (graham crackers) and mix in the blueberry sauce.

Place in individual cups: cream on the bottom, then blueberry sauce, then cream (or whatever way you want it--- go crazy!) Put cups in the fridge for one hour before serving.

                                           

Rome (if you want to)

Last weekend, 40 or so other students and I waved farewell to Florence (at 5:45 in the morning) to head to Rome for a 2 day excursion. I chose Rome as one of the field trips because one, I felt the need to go, and two, I knew I couldn't navigate the city by myself, much less wait in the lines for all of the incredible, historical attractions. For these 2 days, we had 2 wonderful tour guides: Stefano and Franco (basically 2 older men who teach at LDM and fight and make up like they are married). I couldn't get enough of them! I'm excited to see them again when I go on the hiking in the Alps field trip (and even more excited to hike with them).

With a tour bus and fast passes to all of our visits, we packed in a week's worth of sights into the weekend. Most everything was above expectations. I was expecting to see a bold and generally cold environment of the Roman ages with concrete everywhere-- I was pleasantly surprised to find sunny weather, a lot of parks, and green everywhere! I didn't know much about Rome in general; just the few general facts I have learned in my Renaissance class and famous sights seen in movies. The ruins ended up being more incredible than I expected and the Roman cuisine was a delight!

We arrived in Rome around 9 in the morning, skies still grey and the weather a bit dreary. I guess it was appropriate, as our first stop was the Colosseum, where barbaric, deadly games took place. Once again, I couldn't believe that I was there... looking at something I had heard about since I was a little girl. We walked around and took pictures after leaning a bit of the history from Stefano and Franco. One of the interesting things we learned was that lions and other animals of that sort (the legendary animals that fought in the Colosseum) were not generally used as much as boars in the arena because they had to be imported to Rome and were much too expensive. I found the area to be much smaller than I thought, but still very extraordinary. A peaceful protest of different labor unions around the country gathered outside of the Colosseum, so to get to our next "activity" we had to weave in and out of different protestors with noise makers, signs, etc. Apparently there were a few protests happening that weekend, some even violent (against a train line that will ruin many small towns in Italy), but luckily (or not?) we only saw this peaceful one.

The next stop was the Roman ruins and the Forum. With the chanting and drums and crowds from the protest in the background, it was difficult to hear the history of this area. Nevertheless, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The tall trees and first blooms of the year created a pleasant walk around the ruins. The sun, by now, had also shown itself revealing a beautiful day! (Even thought may have given us all a little sun--- helloooo spring!)

After the ruins, we headed to Vatican City (which is actually a country?-- I told you I didn't know much about Rome...) We all went on a guided tour through the vatican museum and ended up at the Sistine Chapel, then to St. Peters Basilica (which was SO beautiful--- the windows let streams of light in that almost looked like they were apart of the architecture, not to mention the famous Pieta was there). Every room in the museum was a huge surprise. It was a long tour but I was glad that we got to go through the museum traveling through Roman history (and A TON of famous works of art and frescas). I will say at the end of it all as we were walking through the last bit of full decorated halls-- the suspense of the Sistine Chapel was killing me. When we finally arrived, it took a while for all of the colors to settle in. Then once my eyes had adjusted, I was quite blown away. However, it is not much of a chapel-- but rather a large rectangular box (this didn't really take away from the fact that every inch of the ceiling and wall was covered by beautiful works of art). We weren't allowed to take photos because the flash would ruin the artwork a Japanese company who restored the building didn't want anyone else to sell their priceless hard work without their permission. Lets just say, my Iphone came in handy for this one--- and no, no one would even want to buy this picture: my chin is in it, and the quality could be a little better, don't worry Japanese restorers.

Dead tired, we all headed to our hotel and had a lovely dinner near by. The rest of the night was history as I lay my head down on my pillow and....zzzzz.

Woken up by the sun, I quickly checked my phone to see who won the unc-dook game this time. And well rivalry wins it all, as we tied up this year's showdown with a complete blow out. Unfortunately I happened to wake up Mary and Kenan with my celebratory "yes!" Sorry guys.

Sunday was much more relaxed as we went on a walking tour with our Favorite guides, Stefano and Franco. We hit many of the big sights including (but not limited to) the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Me being a very superstitious kind of person, I made sure to throw my coin into the Trevi fountain and make a wish. (Unfortunately I did NOT find my pop star look alike and I'm not on stage right now singing to a million fans--- I guess its for the better considering I can't sing. at. all). What amazed me the most about what we saw on the tour was the contrast of old and new in Rome. Look right and you see the stereotypical, brightly colored italian buildings; look left and there is the Pantheon built in 126 AD. And then again: walk down streets of Louis Vitton and other high fashion stores only to end up with a view of the famous Colosseum.

We ended the day with a 5 COURSE lunch (I'm not kidding guys) and a trip to the catacombes... It was an interesting experience as 40 or so of us walked behind one another through an underground maze of different graves. But soon we were off on the bus again, heading back to the quainter, slower city of Florence. I still can't believe I was in Rome less that 36 hours ago... Some weekend!

Arrivals and Gardens

This has been another wonderful week in Florence. We are starting to prepare for midterms in classes, so the word stress possibly came up in a few conversations. It was quickly hidden by the fact that Austin was finally arriving to Italy on Thursday and I was headed to Rome on a class trip this weekend.

Wednesday night, Kenan and I spent some time making sweets for Austin's arrival. Since we have no oven in our apartment, we have to settle for no-bake (baked) goods. We made our own Reese's and they turned out to be pretty good-- but who knows, maybe it's just because we are deprived of the lovely chocolatey- peanut butter treat here in Italy.

Thursday morning, I came back from a run to hear the words "Train Strike" coming from Anna's mouth. Of. course. I became a bit worried that Austin wouldn't get here that day, but it turns out he made it here early and had not even heard of the strike until I brought it up. Really, only half (if that) of the trains were cancelled. The train station was pleasantly quiet as well-- so it all turned out for the best.


It was great to see him after 2 months of being here and even greater that I got to show him around the new city I had been living in and the new culture I had been experiencing. After dropping his stuff off at the apartment we headed our for a long walk around the city. Now, thinking back to how insanely tired I was when I arrived, I'm pretty impressed that he could walk at all or understand anything I was rambling on about for that matter. We decided to stay in that night because jet lag quickly overtook him, but the next day was completely jam packed with exploring the city. Many of the things we did, I had yet to see as well! We got up early to head to the Uffizi and see the greatest art of the Renaissance and earlier. I had really only seen about 4 rooms of work from the pre-session, so it was nice to continue the journey around the massive museum.


Afterwards, fog still rolling through the city, we set off to see the Boboli Gardens. Best idea. They were absolutely gorgeous and even with the cloudy skies, the pale green of the trees and water shone brilliantly through. We meandered through different parts of the garden, and as we headed to the far right gardens, the sun peaked through the clouds and the day was instantly beautiful. I had thought the gardens were nice, but boy did they sparkle as the sun broke through the canopy of trees we walked under. I had not been to the Boboli Gardens yet, and I now know I will definitely be back. Every turn was a different journey! After the gardens, stomaches grumbling, we headed to Gusta Pizza to try some of the best Pizza in Florence. Arriving right after school got out, we had to wait in line for a little while but the food was, as usual, very worth it.



That night for the sunset, we headed to my favorite place in Florence: Piazzale Michelangelo. People of all ages were there, some with wine, others with cameras, to press play and watch the sky turn to a deep pink and bright orange over the tuscan hills filled with olive trees. It was the best short film I had ever seen! Afterwards we headed to my favorite restaurant in town (so far), Baldovino (I told you it was a packed day). With a wonderful atmosphere and incredible food, it was a dinner well spent. Sleepy-eyed after a long day, we walked back to the apartment to hang out with everyone before Austin had to head to the hostel he was staying at that night. It was then time to say a quick goodbye again (this time only for a week and a half) as I was headed to Rome the next day at 5:45 am with the school and Austin is off to the northern region of Lombardia to WWOOF. We'll meet up again next week in Florence for my spring break and head to the Cinque Terre and Sardegna. Needless to say, I cant wait. My post about Rome will be up soon... definitely above expectations. Ciao for now!