Week Three
Day 15, June 12: I found an iced coffee (American style) !!! I noticed that Shake Cafe had a vanilla iced coffee on my first day here and tried it today. I was delicious and exactly what I needed.
We had lectures all day and have an early morning tomorrow. I have tried to limit my walking because my wound is wounding.
**Gross warning**
It is about a 1.5" mound on my thigh. It is painful, but it is trying to heal, slowly. I've been trying to overcompensate to protect myself and it, but our classes/day trips keep coming so I am pushing through (with the help of ibuprofen)!
Day 16, June 13: Woke up at 5am to make the bus to visit a Parmesan factory and then a balsamic vinegar factory. Our first stop was Caseficio Reggiani since the cheese process begins early in the morning. The tour started with hair nets and giant vats of milk being heated, stirred, and formed into parmesan cheese wheels. I had always wondered how cheese received its markings and its all in the plastic mold! The tour was informative and delicious. Afterwards, we had the chance to pet a day old cow!!!
We then headed towards Modena to Acetaia San Matteo, where Sandra and her husband gave us a rundown of her families ties to the business and a tour of their balsamic vinegar factory. I tried balsamic aged from 7 years to 101 years and I can't handle how delicious they all were. Her husband gave us a tour of the attic where they had the older samples. They make special batches when people are born and they have some for his son, his wife, her father, and her great grandfather. He was so nice and let us taste his wife's and her grandfather's special balsamic.
There is a week left in the program. There is a lot of work left to do and a lot of adventures to be had!
Day 17, June 14: GELATO TOUR DAY!! Today we had lecture, a gelato tour, and a cooking class. The gelato tour was meant to show us the difference between the "good" gelato from the "tourist" gelato, but they all tasted good to me.
Cooking class was incredible. We were put into teams on 5-6 and our chef, Greta, kept us on time. We cranked out two pastas, a potato soufflé, and a panna cotta for desert in a little over an hour.
Our cooking class was held at Chefactory.
Passionfruit and melon gelato
Stracciatella and caffe
Stracciatella and caramel
Tomato sauce and hand made pasta. I missed a photo of the ragu pasta as it was too good to stop eating.
These were surprisingly easy and declious. I would make these at home.
We put gelatin in these which weirded me out, but was delicious.
Day 18, June 15: Day trip to Chianti and two wineries! While I was excited for the day, I knew i'd be limited since I was still taking antibiotics. The first winery was Savignola Paolina and it was a smaller wine producer. The Tuscan hills were stunning and I couldn't stop taking photos. After, we had a pit stop in Greve where I bought a gnoochi board (!!!) and had some wild boar ragu pasta. I know, i'm surprised I ordered it too, but its a typical dish in these parts and was surprisingly good! The secondary winery, Castello di Verrazzano, was at a castle and had a larger production. Every corner we turned, there were more wine barrels. I had our TA Katie stand next to the largest one for scale. The cellars are astounding. Oh, and there were two locked areas where the family kept their personal wine collection that we had the chance to scope out. INSANE amounts of wine.
Day 19, June 16: Today was supposed to be our coffee lecture, but it was cancelled due to a family emergency. Instead, in the middle of lecture, Dr. Cohen took us to a coffee shop to make it up to us since we were unable to reschedule the lecture. I have been obsessed with sfoglia's since being here so I grabbed one of those and an espresso.
After class ended, I headed to the leather market and the Porcellino market to see if I needed any last minute things.
Then I headed to the Gucci Museo to check that out. It was only 8 euro but I was underwhelmed by it. After the msueum, I returned home and did some more work. For dinner, I grabbed Mexican food from Tijuana's and then all the roommates went to Piazzale Michaelangelo to watch the sunset. I loved the piazzale! The views of Florence were wonderful and the piazzale becomes lively after the sunsets. My roommate Sarah and I decided to grab gelato before walking home.
Note: I really need to find a place that makes sfoglia's back home. I love these so much.
Day 20, June 17: Day trip to Bologna for class. We had a three hour walking tour of the city where we saw the University of Bologna and its surgery theater as well as it's ancient library, a market, and a gorgeous church. After the walking tour, we had a few hours of free time which I spent eating and doing homework in the library since my leg hurt. Bologna is known for tortellini and ragu, so I made sure to order their ragu. Obviously, it was incredible!
Day 21, June 18: I am a zombie at this point. We've done so much (which is great), but I slept in and decided to walk to the Badia Fiorentina to catch the monks and nuns sing mass in Italian. It was such a unique experience! I have already begun packing and am excited to return home.
Edit: apparently I attended the wrong mass and I was supposed to attend the vespers. I went back at 6pm, but the doors werre closed. They're closed on Monday's so I won't be able to experience it before I leave. However, it has been added to the agenda for next time!
Continue to week four.