It’s great how the small reminders of familiarity can change an entire day. I spent the first part of the day getting a lot done. A little reading here and there adds up. Then came the familiar: Mike’s cooking lessons. These are turning into the highlights of my weeks. I know this is going to be shocking, but classes and living in a tourist-trap don’t match up to learning how to cook. The only thing that made this one extra-special: two of my TCU friends from before I arrived in Florence enjoying it with me.
Natalie Mattern and Brooks Zitzmann are two friends from back in Ft. Worth who are studying in London. Natalie, one of the co-directors of Awakening last Fall, is graduating in December (with me and so many other friends that I have). Brooks, graduated my first year at TCU, but has just finished her Masters degree at Oxford. She’s been working on it for 12 months straight and is now done! So what do they do on their short break? They come to Italy!
Nat and I had been playing e-mail tag for the past week exchanging info. They spent yesterday and the first part of today in Cinque Terre, a gorgeous (or so I hear) place over on the coast. I’m planning on going, but not until November. In the end, they rode the train directly into Florence and met me at Mike’s. They didn’t know what they were getting into! The hostel they’re staying at turns out to only be a block from the apartment, so luckily it worked out as well.
OK, now for the menu for the best meal the girls had in a long time: Cipollata, Petto Di Polli Alla Fiorentina, Tiramasu and a Vino Rosso. In English: Onion Soup, Chicken Florentine, Tiramasu (don’t know an English one for that) and a Red Wine. That still doesn’t do it justice.
Cipollata:
A soup made of onions, sausage and cubed bacon all based on a broth Mike had been prepping for the afternoon. The broth ended up being the key: he’d been boiling all kinds of veggies in it. This was served on garlic toast. Topping the soup: a lot of parmesan cheese – a lot! Imagine French Onion but Italian style.
Petto Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina:
Chicken breasts stuffed with a mixture of spinach, parmesan, pine nuts and salt and paper. The chicken is then browned in olive oil and baked the rest of the way. Who knew that chicken was supposed to have melted cheese, nuts and green stuff inside of it?!?
Tiramasu:
Like nothing I’ve ever had. This one even topped the kind we learned at the cooking school. Chocolate and coffee mixture isn’t good enough for this one; instead, it takes Kahlua. I’m not going to even describe the rest since I’ll probably make it a lot. Just one more hint: the not-so-secret ingredient is Mascarpone Cheese (not the Kahlua)!
The cooking crew — with Brooks holding the Tiramasu
After we got done at Mike’s (4 hours after we started), we walked around and enjoyed the Florence night. We did the Edison’s (bookstore) thing, but I think I’m out-growing Edisons. The atmosphere is great, but it’s just not enough. Bookstores are great because there’s SO much there; but, they’re also my escape. In Cambridge, the Coop was a social thing for me to do with classmates. Here, Edisons was kind of social since I was with Nat and Brooks. I’m naturally a recluse in bookstores. I’ll just have to avoid them and order all of my books online. Oh wait, that’s even worse!
Seeing Natalie and Brooks was great! Familiar things are nice … now for something I’m rarely too familiar with: sleep. Tomorrow morning I’m getting up and going to EuroChocolate.
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