How to Put Yourself in a 3-Day Food Coma

Although I wasn't in the United States to partake in the traditional Thanksgiving feast, I had 3 amazing meals those Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

Meal #1: Thanksgiving. For Thursday, November 24th, the wonderful directors Maiju and Peggy for our UC Education Abroad Program organized a Thanksgiving dinner for all of us UC students. Since we were all missing our families and traditional cuisine, we were so grateful to be together and eat amazing food. We had a restaurant all to ourselves, and the Italian chef "reinterpreted" American Thanksgiving. Here were our courses:

1. Mushroom soup with croutons (Italian version of stuffing).

2. Sea urchin and pumpkin risotto (quite good, quite fishy--not quite enough pumpkin).

3. Turkey filled with a mascarpone sauce, topped with a blueberry sauce, and paired with mashed potatoes (BEST course!)

4. Dessert: Carrot/lemon pound cake type thing with mascarpone sauce and cranberries.

5. Dessert #2: Pear pie another student made and pumpkin pie that I made (there was no way I wasn't going to have some pumpkin pie this year)

Our directors even managed to get cranberry sauce!! Maia and I were excited to put it on our turkey.

Meal #2: Sushi! The following night, Allison, Maia, and I went out to a Japanese restaurant with cousin Matteo and some of his friends. For 22 euros, we could order as many plates as we wanted. Unfortunately, I forgot to document this eating experience. But in short, we had some very good sushi, sashimi, tempura, tuna and chicken teriyaki, and edamame! For that price and the fact that Bologna isn't exactly known for its marine-animal cuisine, it was all very good and we were in our 2nd food-coma within the last 24 hours.

Meal #3: Mexican! On Saturday, it was cousin Claudio's birthday, and so he kindly took the family out to Mexican food because Allison and I had mentioned that we missed it here and he knew of a place. So after a 30-minute drive (in which Allison and I were a little nervous at the speed we were taking on the narrow, dark, curvy roads), we arrived at a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and were greeted by a very nice Italian man and the sweetest Mexican woman. In her home (I think it doubles as a bed and breakfast), she cooked the most amazing meal for us: homemade corn and flour tortillas, avocado and tomato salad, rice with carrots and peas, ground beef, refried bean dip, tortilla chips with mildly spicy salsa, and this incredible meat that she cooked in tin foil, and when I tried to fork the meat to put it on my plate, it fell apart it was so tender. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I still daydream about the avocado and tomato salad. Then for dessert, she had made flan and a coconut cake (I would have eaten the whole thing if I hadn't been so full from dinner). To top it off, they brought out the alcohol: tequila, grappa, more tequila, and some other homemade liquor.  As a college student, the tequila I usually drink (cough, I mean have tried maybe a couple times in safe settings, cough) burns going down your throat--even after licking the salt, taking the shot, and biting the lime. But no, THIS tequila was in a fancy glass bottle and it went down sooo smoothly. Of course the last course of the dinner was an espresso (which the Italian cousins weren't impressed with, along with not enjoying all of the flavors of the rest of the meal, while Allison and I gobbled up everything put in front of us). This was one of the best Mexican meals I've ever had...and I had it in Italy. Imagine that! I wish the place was closer to me so I could go back every 2 weeks, and I wish that the woman was my best friend--she was so sweet and she appreciated that Allison and I loved everything and thanked her after every course.

The feast and the feast-ers (Matteo, Claudio, Luciana). 

Of course a sombrero was put on the head of the birthday-boy...

...and then we all wanted a turn. (Matteo)

My turn!

Allison with our tequila and a mini sombrero.

I hope everyone reading this didn't start off hungry...maybe I should have put a disclaimer at the beginning. Now I'm trying to avoid keeping my food-baby by going for runs and eating smaller meals.

And now my blog has officially caught up with my life. I'm currently writing this in procrastination from studying Dante (my exam is on December 5th--gahh!), but now that I have no more food stories, I better get back to studying. Arrivederci tutti!

A Graduation, a Chocolate Festival, and a Concert

The half-week of November 16th-19th was filled with food, chocolate (obviously its own food category), and a Fleet Foxes concert.

First up: Cousin Matteo graduated from Scienze della Comunicazione at the University of Bologna (which I believe is the equivalent of a Masters Degree). So of course there was a celebration dinner. For these dinners, Allison and I are picked up in Bologna's center by either Matteo or Claudio and taken to some restaurant out in the hills, from which we would never find our way home if it weren't for Matteo or Claudio giving us a ride home. We're always just along for the ride and enjoying the experience! And this graduation dinner was lovely. They had rented out a whole restaurant and one of Matteo's good friends, Daniele, is an up-and-coming chef and he cooked the entire meal for us. We arrived at the restaurant, we were handed a glass of wine and we saw a table filled with homemade bread, meats, cheeses, tomatoes, salads, more bread, and more cheese. That was the first, all-you-can-eat course. The second course was pasta with salmon, and then dessert consisted of 2 different types of cakes and a puff pastry. I only had room for part of a piece of one cake, one puff pastry, and a taste of the 2nd cake. Matteo had about 35 of his friends and family there, and of course toward the end of the evening, cousin Elio brought out his guitar and people were playing and singing all together. It was so wonderful to be included in the celebration!

The food.

Me, Matteo (with some kind of traditional hat?), and Allison

Second item of business: heaven on earth. Also known as a chocolate festival here in Bologna ("Ciocco-show"). It happens once a year, and for 5 days in Piazza Maggiore there are 2 huge tents plus many more rows of tents containing tables and tables covered in chocolates. As Tarn termed it when I told her about this mouth-watering event, it was a "glimpse of heaven." The first day I went with my friend Maia, and we were so overwhelmed by all the different types of chocolate and the fact that they were all in one place. We chose to buy a few select items (which were eaten immediately) and then to return in the following days because we needed to mull over what we wanted to buy. We decided that if calories weren't a problem in consuming massive amounts of chocolate, then the amount of money spent on this chocolate wouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately, these chocolates were fairly expensive and calories do add up. I ended up returning twice more to this paradise, but limited myself to buying only 1 or 2 small bags of chocolates at a time (and I didn't feel guilty about getting chocolate-covered strawberries).

Only one of the many, many tables of chocolate.

Last but not least: Fleet Foxes concert with Allison and Maia! We were joined by some other good girlfriends and we all took the bus out to the venue, just outside the center of Bologna. I hadn't listened to Fleet Foxes at all before a couple months ago when Maia and Allison introduced it to me. We all thoroughly enjoyed the concert, including the opening act (aside from the 10 minutes we spent dealing with a rude, drunk Italian woman trying to push her way to the front, elbowing us purposefully, thinking she could overpower me by leaning against me because I was standing my ground, slurping her empty drink in Maia's ear--into which Maia promptly flicked her hair--and calling us bitches in Italian when we wouldn't let her stand right in front of us). After the concert, we were able to catch the bus back into town after waiting for 30 minutes in the cold and thick fog for a taxi, but as soon as we saw our bus pass us and stop just down the street, about 20 of us stampeded toward it because we didn't want to miss it!

Allison, Maia, and me at the concert.

Another blog post coming soon! I'm almost caught up now... :)

England!

I apologize that it has taken me a solid month to update my blog. I'll be chain-blogging about everything that has happened between now and then!
Three weeks ago, I took a long weekend to visit England to see my good friend Phil, his city Canterbury, and that other semi-important city they have over there: London.

I left Bologna on Thursday,  Nov. 3rd, and as soon as I stepped onto the plane I was greeted by the English-speaking Easyjet staff. When I arrived at the London Gatwick airport, I had a little time to kill before Phil was able to pick me up. So I naturally went to the cafe in the arrivals section and ordered tea (and a mozzarella, tomato, and basil panino...I guess I have a natural tendency for Italian food). I thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by English (and so many interesting accents!) and being able to understand everyone around me without having to make my brain work extra hard. Within the first 10 minutes off the plane, I could feel my brain relax so much that I was afraid it would come out my ears. I hadn't realized how stressful it had been being constantly surrounded by a new language where I'm constantly translating from one language into the other and worrying about whether someone will understand me or whether they will look at me like I'm the dumbest person on earth.

The "beach" and the North Sea.

So once I had finished my first (cue British accent) pot of tea in England and Phil had arrived, he drove us past Canterbury so I could see the North Sea. As expected, it was drizzling, but I took a few pictures, breathed in the fresh air, we walked down the street a bit, and then returned to the car. That evening, we ate gnocchi for dinner (it's harder to get away from Italian food than I thought!) with his parents, sister, and grandmother. Phil had work that night, so the rest of us went to a pub and inadvertently walked into the quiz night. So we sat down, had a drink or two (I had my first cider), and joined in attempting to answer the quiz questions (which were mostly out of my age-group and about English soap operas, English history, and English athletes--good thing Phil's parents were able to carry our team).

The fields and orchards outside Phil's house.

The next day Phil gave me a tour of his city, Canterbury, which, as he told me, is officially a "city" instead of a "town" because it has a cathedral. Then we wandered around the streets and shops, stopped to have afternoon tea with scones, raspberry jam, and clotted cream, and I tried strawberry bonbons for the first time. One of the most important things Phil and I discussed aside from the places I should see (and what could be left for next time) was what new food I needed to try. As of Friday evening, I was able to check off from my list: a pot of tea, cider, clotted cream, bonbons, fish and chips (which we ate for dinner), and we had purchased mini minced pies (to be eaten the following day).

The gorgeous cathedral that makes Canterbury a city.

Saturday, we woke up and caught the train into London. We arrived at St. Pancras station, walked around the corner--while eating our minced pies--and there we were at Kings Cross Station. Of course, I took a picture at Platform 9 and 3/4. Then we got onto the "tube" and went to Westminster Abbey. Walking out of the tube station, we had a view straight up at Big Ben. While I was snapping a couple pictures of the London Eye across the Thames river, Big Ben struck noon. We wandered along the side of the Parliament building and then cut over to Westminster Abbey (the church where Kate Middleton and Prince William got married) and there were people setting up rows of crosses for the unknown soldiers for Veteran's Day. Next, we walked to Trafalgar Square and then over to Buckingham Palace. The walk from the Square to the Palace was one of my favorite parts because all the big trees lining the street were red, orange, and yellow with their Autumn leaves and were starting to lose them. I'm sure Phil got tired of hearing me say "Wow, it's so pretty!" Then he got to hear me say it more when we walked through a park from the Palace to another tube station, which we took to find the Chipotle for lunch. I was so happy to have some familiar mexican food (aka a burrito). After a satisfying lunch, we walked to Piccadilly Circus and saw a 19th century car show--complete with the drivers dressing for the part--and we checked out the shops on Carnaby Street.

Obligatory picture with Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Big Ben strikes noon.

My first picture with a red telephone booth (and Big Ben in the background).

Phil and me outside Buckingham Palace.

The "really pretty" park with the trees that I couldn't stop commenting on.

After seeing the main tourist sites of London, Phil and I caught the tube out to a soccer (sorry, "football") stadium to meet his dad to watch a Manchester City match (this is the Premier League team that Phil's family is loyal to). Despite our view of the field being halfway obscured, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the match (and seeing Manchester City win) and laughing at the adorable, hyperactive boy waving his arms for the full 90 minutes in front of me.

Mother of the boy to the father: "YOU'RE the one who gave him the sugar..."

Me with the "football pitch" after the match.

The following morning, I packed up my backpack, Phil made us a typical English breakfast (fried egg, english muffin, sausage, bacon, potatoes, toast, and of course tea), and he drove me to the airport. It felt like such a short trip, and it unfortunately was, but I plan to visit again at least one more time this Spring. Phil's family was so generous to let me stay with them, and it felt amazing to be in a home and to be in a country where I knew I could say exactly what I wanted to say (without reducing my thoughts into sentences a 5-year-old would say) and it would be understood exactly how I meant it. It was also wonderful to see the countryside and all the green fields and to breathe the fresh air outside a smoggy city. I wish it could be a once-a-month vacation! But alas, time and money are required for that--both of which I'm trying to meticulously manage.

More updates on the last 3 weeks coming soon! Much love to all.