Friday, April 09, 2010
Dedicated to my Rock Band Friends & Anyone with a Sentimental Bone in their Body...
I heard this song tonight in the bar and it took me back to our Rock Band jam sessions. Upon logging into Facebook, I see the fantastic news about the newest (youngest/littlest) member of J-Force!!! Congrats, Christine & Matt!!!!!
Thinking about all of you guys!
A German, Turk, American and Two Swedes Walk into an Irish Bar.......
Sorry, not the beginning of a funny joke, but this describes the fun night I just had! How cool to get to know people from all over the world and compare our countries, the good, bad and our philosophies on why we all ended up here, in Italy. The evening lasted a little longer as a liter of (decent) red vino, coupled with a cheese and prosciutto plate cost a mere 10 euros. There were far more people on the streets just now (2 am here) than at 9 pm when we met up.
Just after class let out today, a lot of us hung out...gelato was on the menu for the group. I found the best pistachio gelato that I have had to date. If you want some, you'll have to come visit me. I'll buy you one or even two, if you give me a lick.
Mikael says this is a good combo--beer and gelato.
Just chillin' with some of my classmates. The new class of the day was a language lab. It's where we get to put on headphones and say stuff in Italian to the microphone...the teacher can listen to any student whenever he chooses to. It's a great exercise in actually speaking the language properly, but I found it stressful to figure out how to talk, out loud, over the din of the rest of the class doing the same thing. By the end of the class, I was fairly used to it. However, by the end of the day today, I was ready for a break.
There are lots of words and concepts to review this weekend, but I'll be splitting time between being studious and visiting family. Yes, family!!! Ciao!
There are lots of words and concepts to review this weekend, but I'll be splitting time between being studious and visiting family. Yes, family!!! Ciao!
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Andare in Bicicletta
Found some cool new roads today...and I almost made it to a very cool little hilltown. Note to self: when going to a hilltown, expect to go up. 2 1/2 hrs on the bike, 3,200 feet of climbing. It was so toasty warm and the sky was blue. The time on the bike was spent talking to myself in Italiano. I'm a boring conversationalist at this point with my tiny Italian vocab. Good practice, but I notice that when I try to speak with anyone else, everything I was going to say comes out all wrong.
The teacher has been enjoying putting students on the hot seat in front of the class. The student answers (in Italian) any question the class poses. It was my turn today to field questions.
Question: Tu hai marito? (Do you have a husband?)
Answer: No, perche preferisco andare in bicicletta. (No, I prefer to ride a bike.)
It was the only thing I could figure out how to say in Italian that made some sort of logical sense. There were many other questions. One involved where my grandparents are from. I mentioned Bevagna and after class, one of the guys (from Germany) told me all about his visit there a few days ago. He couldn't say enough good things about it and showed me all of the pictures he took of it. I learned a lot about some new places to check out next time I'm there.
Today we learned verbs...and I have to go study now since it's a lot to know. Here are some shots from school:
Not something you'll find in many schools. With that, time to hit the books!
Question: Tu hai marito? (Do you have a husband?)
Answer: No, perche preferisco andare in bicicletta. (No, I prefer to ride a bike.)
It was the only thing I could figure out how to say in Italian that made some sort of logical sense. There were many other questions. One involved where my grandparents are from. I mentioned Bevagna and after class, one of the guys (from Germany) told me all about his visit there a few days ago. He couldn't say enough good things about it and showed me all of the pictures he took of it. I learned a lot about some new places to check out next time I'm there.
Today we learned verbs...and I have to go study now since it's a lot to know. Here are some shots from school:
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Head First
Immersion is the true sink-or-swim method of learning. From experience, I think it's a style I like, though it's always uncomfortable to some degree. Typically, discomfort (in the sense of you're not growing or moving in any direction in life if you're not being stretched) is a place I prefer. Same ol' same ol' isn't in my vocabulary. That is how I ended up in Italia, now this is the true test...can I do this?
Here's what I see of language immersion simply from judging by Day 1. The class is a grand total of ~23 students. No one else is from the U.S., a couple are older (34 and 40), most are much, much younger (like 20). I'm the only one with Italian blood. It pleases me greatly when teachers all know immediately how to spell and pronounce my name--and they all want to know about my family roots. Other countries represented: China, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Siberia, Australia, Holland, Uganda and a few I couldn't figure out because I couldn't understand them.
No one so far has a compelling reason to be here (I believe this is what Elizabeth Gilbert discovered as she was studying Italian in Rome, when she was writing "Eat, Pray, Love.") Reasons I've heard so far: the language is beautiful, love Italy, love wine, don't want to look stupid by only knowing a single language, fulfilling a requirement for school and it's something to do... I'm definitely not saying these aren't good reasons, it's just not the same typical reasons one would give for learning Spanish or English.
When I was looking for the classroom, I met some Swedish classmates so I ended up sitting with them. They all speak excellent English (they're raised with the language there) and are very friendly.
The day began with our warm and friendly instructor speaking all Italian (as is to be expected). The most important skill I can see that one needs to handle this kind of instruction is being able to see the patterns and how things fit in the puzzle. The teacher says (all in Italian, of course): My name is Maria. Then she asks a student what his name is. He knows to respond similarly. She starts counting, she wants us to count to 80 as we go around the room. She asks each of us our names, how to spell them and where we're from, thus we learn the alphabet. She plays a tape of native speakers telling where they're from, how old they are, that sort of thing. They speak fast, she plays the tape a couple of times. We write answers to verbal questions. We're expected to know it now. Moving along to the next thing: masculine and feminine and how to make words plural. She doesn't need to use any language but Italian and handouts with examples (a few pictures) to get the point across. Session 1 is two hours long with a break. Lunchtime is spent running around town taking care of business.
I'm very glad I've spent some time here already, I am catching a lot more of the words when people speak than I used to. Since Italian words are so easy to spell, I know when I'm hearing words I don't know--I write them down and look them up later. Easy. I feel quite sorry for people trying to learn English since there's no way this is possible.
Session 2 is a male instructor--he comes across immediately as a tough teacher. Gulp, big difference from this morning. Wrong-o! He's got a great sense of humor and is very personable. He starts off, however, much, much faster than the morning session--he expects that for us to be in this class, we know quite a bit of the Italian basics, including how to conjugate basic verbs (grazie to my Italian friends, your lessons really came in handy!) At first I was having trouble understanding him, but by the end of class (3 hours later), I was feeling much more comfortable (he hadn't slowed down). The other students felt similarly. Coming here without knowing any of the language would have been scary.
The school is exquisitely beautiful (especially compared with the Engineering Center at CU). The weather today was blue sky and bike-ride perfect (which I did as soon as class let out). I took some pics of school, will post them when there's time. Social stuff is starting up soon--would have gone out tonight if there hadn't been a Facebook snafu. I'll try to put up short updates (maybe not even sentences during the week) and have a bit more on weekends. Arrividerci!
Here's what I see of language immersion simply from judging by Day 1. The class is a grand total of ~23 students. No one else is from the U.S., a couple are older (34 and 40), most are much, much younger (like 20). I'm the only one with Italian blood. It pleases me greatly when teachers all know immediately how to spell and pronounce my name--and they all want to know about my family roots. Other countries represented: China, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Siberia, Australia, Holland, Uganda and a few I couldn't figure out because I couldn't understand them.
No one so far has a compelling reason to be here (I believe this is what Elizabeth Gilbert discovered as she was studying Italian in Rome, when she was writing "Eat, Pray, Love.") Reasons I've heard so far: the language is beautiful, love Italy, love wine, don't want to look stupid by only knowing a single language, fulfilling a requirement for school and it's something to do... I'm definitely not saying these aren't good reasons, it's just not the same typical reasons one would give for learning Spanish or English.
When I was looking for the classroom, I met some Swedish classmates so I ended up sitting with them. They all speak excellent English (they're raised with the language there) and are very friendly.
The day began with our warm and friendly instructor speaking all Italian (as is to be expected). The most important skill I can see that one needs to handle this kind of instruction is being able to see the patterns and how things fit in the puzzle. The teacher says (all in Italian, of course): My name is Maria. Then she asks a student what his name is. He knows to respond similarly. She starts counting, she wants us to count to 80 as we go around the room. She asks each of us our names, how to spell them and where we're from, thus we learn the alphabet. She plays a tape of native speakers telling where they're from, how old they are, that sort of thing. They speak fast, she plays the tape a couple of times. We write answers to verbal questions. We're expected to know it now. Moving along to the next thing: masculine and feminine and how to make words plural. She doesn't need to use any language but Italian and handouts with examples (a few pictures) to get the point across. Session 1 is two hours long with a break. Lunchtime is spent running around town taking care of business.
I'm very glad I've spent some time here already, I am catching a lot more of the words when people speak than I used to. Since Italian words are so easy to spell, I know when I'm hearing words I don't know--I write them down and look them up later. Easy. I feel quite sorry for people trying to learn English since there's no way this is possible.
Session 2 is a male instructor--he comes across immediately as a tough teacher. Gulp, big difference from this morning. Wrong-o! He's got a great sense of humor and is very personable.
The school is exquisitely beautiful (especially compared with the Engineering Center at CU). The weather today was blue sky and bike-ride perfect (which I did as soon as class let out). I took some pics of school, will post them when there's time. Social stuff is starting up soon--would have gone out tonight if there hadn't been a Facebook snafu. I'll try to put up short updates (maybe not even sentences during the week) and have a bit more on weekends. Arrividerci!
Monday, April 05, 2010
Art - Inside and Out!
Turns out not everything was closed today...so I ended up spending the late afternoon at an incredible art museum in town (and it's nearly free after the student discount).
The rain finally let up and the sun poured down making for a picture-perfect sunset!
It's back to school time and I'm sooo excited to be a student again. Amazingly enough, I was able to buy a pair of shoes that are fashionable enough for my new clothes (I was sure they were, again, going to not have my size and I refuse to go too small in shoes...the first store didn't have a single pair of shoes big enough, I got lucky at the second one).
On that note, time to switch into school mode!
The rain finally let up and the sun poured down making for a picture-perfect sunset!
It's back to school time and I'm sooo excited to be a student again. Amazingly enough, I was able to buy a pair of shoes that are fashionable enough for my new clothes (I was sure they were, again, going to not have my size and I refuse to go too small in shoes...the first store didn't have a single pair of shoes big enough, I got lucky at the second one).
On that note, time to switch into school mode!
What to do on rainy day: Techie Challenge
Not that I exactly know what the rest of the day entails, but I do have a very nice poncho and will be going out after posting this. Please, if any geeks are reading this and have ideas, I need to hear them!
Here's the challenge: I can see from Google maps what roads I want to take to go places, but to be able to follow the directions and have a pleasant bike ride, it involves needing to turn the directions/map created by Google Maps into a course route that can be uploaded into my Garmin GPS. (As I've said before, street names are worthless along with Google route directions.)
From what I've found in researching today: Garmin's courses are XML and so long as you have latitude and longitude points, it's not difficult to simply create one's own XML course file.
The problem boils down to this, then: I want a listing of all of the necessary latitude/longitude points to create a reasonable course to follow. With these data points, all is well. In Google maps, one can right-click on a point and the lat/long coordinates are shown to the user. At this point, I just copy/paste into Excel & have formulas there take care of creating the XML file. Great--but I don't love the time that has to be spent clicking on the map and pulling off the lat/long data.
If any of you have ideas as to anything out there to solve this problem, I'll give you a virtual pat on the back. From my Google searches, I'm surprised to not find much of anything available.
I'm pleased, however, to report that this is (though time-consuming) entirely possible as I now have a course uploaded on GPS waiting for me to get to a very cool town! I'll post the ride after I successfully do it on the bike.
Here's the challenge: I can see from Google maps what roads I want to take to go places, but to be able to follow the directions and have a pleasant bike ride, it involves needing to turn the directions/map created by Google Maps into a course route that can be uploaded into my Garmin GPS. (As I've said before, street names are worthless along with Google route directions.)
From what I've found in researching today: Garmin's courses are XML and so long as you have latitude and longitude points, it's not difficult to simply create one's own XML course file.
The problem boils down to this, then: I want a listing of all of the necessary latitude/longitude points to create a reasonable course to follow. With these data points, all is well. In Google maps, one can right-click on a point and the lat/long coordinates are shown to the user. At this point, I just copy/paste into Excel & have formulas there take care of creating the XML file. Great--but I don't love the time that has to be spent clicking on the map and pulling off the lat/long data.
If any of you have ideas as to anything out there to solve this problem, I'll give you a virtual pat on the back. From my Google searches, I'm surprised to not find much of anything available.
I'm pleased, however, to report that this is (though time-consuming) entirely possible as I now have a course uploaded on GPS waiting for me to get to a very cool town! I'll post the ride after I successfully do it on the bike.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Raining Gatti e Cani (Cats and Dogs) per Pasqua!
Yesterday was an absolutely lovely day, fairly opposite from the constant rain falling today. This is the first significant (like activity-stopping) weather since I've been in Italy. My plan was to go to church and then pedal to Bevagna and spend the afternoon there. Instead, I've stayed in since church and have watched Italian tv--cartoons, westerns (dubbed, it's strange in Italian) and now world news. Back to yesterday & I apologize, this isn't posted in chronological order:
Finally, here's Assisi as seen from the road yesterday:
(Click on the picture to see it bigger.)
Also seen on the road:
I have figured it out that reading maps & trying to figure out directions (including using Google map directions) is absolutely pointless. It's just important to know which towns are close to which other towns, what's north, south, east & west, follow town signs and do whatever intuition says is most right.
When I was walking around town yesterday morning (before it was warm enough to ride), it was so much fun to walk down new roads and see where they lead. Here's a nice vista.
That's how I ended up finding the shops where I picked up some cute, inexpensive clothes. At one store, I was talked into pants that are two sizes smaller than I typically wear--but, as the guy said, it's how the Italian girls wear clothes--small. They're black pants with gold stitching and gold zippers all over. I like them a lot (no, they aren't comfortable). Let me tell you, these pants are as effective as going on a diet. Clearly, I have no intention of starving myself in the happy land of amazing food.
I've found that I really enjoy conversing with shop owners and listening to others as they shop. The proprietors want to talk to me because I have money to spend in their stores (or they're just nice people), I don't care their intention. I try to buy one small thing everywhere I go (of course, it has to be something I need), and that buys me a full experience and social opportunity.
When I was at the market yesterday buying a couple of things, the line was pretty long. I find it interesting that even when someone is buying very few things (and everyone only pays in cash), each transaction seems to take a long time. I'm not sure why this is yet. There isn't an express lane. By the time I left, the line stretched to the back of the store. Definitely Easter shoppers, but lines tend to be long and slow from what I've found so far.
Same situation at the Post Office. I needed to send in some paperwork. Take a number. Read my Italian-English dictionary. Wait. Finally they take me and I find out that the special stamp I need can only be bought at certain other post offices. Hopefully they're open tomorrow. It surprised me that every business seemed to have normal hours Friday and Saturday before Easter.
Here are pictures taken from the street fair/market, whatever it's called:
Awesome, huge olives.
Sun-dried tomatoes.
Sweets.
Cannoli--I did the taste test & the one I'd had before (that I discussed on the blog) was the best, but I'm not complaining about these. The fair runs through tomorrow. One more cannolo only if the weather holds and I have 3+ hours to burn it off!
I liked this guy--he was very friendly and generous with samples. I bought some really tasty, soft cheese from him, I wish I knew what kind it is. Something that impressed me with the people selling their wares is that after weighing the food, they would round down as to how much I owed them and I always got proper change back (sometimes more than I expected). Considering they all know I'm American (maybe Italians don't wear pony tails?), I got a very good impression of their business ethic.
At the beginning of the Easter Vigil mass, everyone gathered in the courtyard (this is standard Catholic, if you're not familiar). There was a huge fire going in a big metal container.
Then with candles lit, everyone proceeded into the church. Not sure the significance of all of the people in the white robes (men and women).
Contrary to the way this picture looks, town was packed and loud at 1:20 am (when the Vigil mass was over). In fact, people were walking around all over with cups of beer, all ages were out. For that matter, all ages were in church, too.
Easter Sunday
This is the scene as taken from the steps of the cathedral.
Some quick observations about Sunday mass and Easter in general: I didn't see a lot of the Easter bunny in shops here, but there is some Easter bunny (particularly in chocolate form) and what's particularly popular here are these really large, hollow chocolate eggs (large like ~1 foot tall). I'd like to see what's in other towns. Here, the Perugina chocolate factory is extremely popular/famous around Italy and they produce these eggs. I'm looking forward to the free tour.
Easter colors as Easter merchandise in stores have been sterotypical pastel. However, in church, I saw almost all dark colors (blacks and browns, furs, boots). People are all very fashionable, but hair standards appear lower than clothing standards (possibly because this is a humid climate and Italian hair doesn't like humidity--I can tell you that from experience!)
The mass was beautiful, but no different in form/function from American Catholic Easter day mass. The choir was remarkably beautiful. The last song they sang was "Alleluia." Lots of people stuck around to hear the whole thing. Oh yeah, and when people wish each other Peace be with You, they often kiss on both cheeks and say "Pace." So this is very similar to the way it happens in the States except for the cheek kissing (this is commonly seen on the streets when friends greet each other, as well). The street fair is still going on today, don't know if there's anything out of the ordinary going on, I'd guess not as lots of food has been bought in the past few days, I'm sure huge feasts are being eaten!
And here's my mini-feast:
I even used the oven. I suppose the food here inspires me (ah, and I have time!) This is egg, pasta noodles, sun-dried tomatoes, bok choy, leftover rosemarino pizza with mozzarella bufala melted over it. You'll have to trust me that it was good.
Now to figure out what to do tomorrow if it continues to rain. Nice to have a day at home today! Hope you all had a very enjoyable Easter Sunday!!!
Finally, here's Assisi as seen from the road yesterday:
(Click on the picture to see it bigger.)
Also seen on the road:
When I was walking around town yesterday morning (before it was warm enough to ride), it was so much fun to walk down new roads and see where they lead. Here's a nice vista.
I've found that I really enjoy conversing with shop owners and listening to others as they shop. The proprietors want to talk to me because I have money to spend in their stores (or they're just nice people), I don't care their intention. I try to buy one small thing everywhere I go (of course, it has to be something I need), and that buys me a full experience and social opportunity.
When I was at the market yesterday buying a couple of things, the line was pretty long. I find it interesting that even when someone is buying very few things (and everyone only pays in cash), each transaction seems to take a long time. I'm not sure why this is yet. There isn't an express lane. By the time I left, the line stretched to the back of the store. Definitely Easter shoppers, but lines tend to be long and slow from what I've found so far.
Same situation at the Post Office. I needed to send in some paperwork. Take a number. Read my Italian-English dictionary. Wait. Finally they take me and I find out that the special stamp I need can only be bought at certain other post offices. Hopefully they're open tomorrow. It surprised me that every business seemed to have normal hours Friday and Saturday before Easter.
Here are pictures taken from the street fair/market, whatever it's called:
At the beginning of the Easter Vigil mass, everyone gathered in the courtyard (this is standard Catholic, if you're not familiar). There was a huge fire going in a big metal container.
Then with candles lit, everyone proceeded into the church. Not sure the significance of all of the people in the white robes (men and women).
Contrary to the way this picture looks, town was packed and loud at 1:20 am (when the Vigil mass was over). In fact, people were walking around all over with cups of beer, all ages were out. For that matter, all ages were in church, too.
Easter Sunday
Some quick observations about Sunday mass and Easter in general: I didn't see a lot of the Easter bunny in shops here, but there is some Easter bunny (particularly in chocolate form) and what's particularly popular here are these really large, hollow chocolate eggs (large like ~1 foot tall). I'd like to see what's in other towns. Here, the Perugina chocolate factory is extremely popular/famous around Italy and they produce these eggs. I'm looking forward to the free tour.
Easter colors as Easter merchandise in stores have been sterotypical pastel. However, in church, I saw almost all dark colors (blacks and browns, furs, boots). People are all very fashionable, but hair standards appear lower than clothing standards (possibly because this is a humid climate and Italian hair doesn't like humidity--I can tell you that from experience!)
The mass was beautiful, but no different in form/function from American Catholic Easter day mass. The choir was remarkably beautiful. The last song they sang was "Alleluia." Lots of people stuck around to hear the whole thing. Oh yeah, and when people wish each other Peace be with You, they often kiss on both cheeks and say "Pace." So this is very similar to the way it happens in the States except for the cheek kissing (this is commonly seen on the streets when friends greet each other, as well). The street fair is still going on today, don't know if there's anything out of the ordinary going on, I'd guess not as lots of food has been bought in the past few days, I'm sure huge feasts are being eaten!
And here's my mini-feast:
Now to figure out what to do tomorrow if it continues to rain. Nice to have a day at home today! Hope you all had a very enjoyable Easter Sunday!!!
Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter)!
Quick update on today: I got some new clothes & am officially allowed
to be seen on the streets in Italy. Went on 70km bike ride that was
simply wonderful with perfect temperatures, spring smelling, gorgeous
landscapes, birds chirping & I (finally) started to feel semi-fast
(had to be a tail wind).
to be seen on the streets in Italy. Went on 70km bike ride that was
simply wonderful with perfect temperatures, spring smelling, gorgeous
landscapes, birds chirping & I (finally) started to feel semi-fast
(had to be a tail wind).
Went to Easter Vigil mass (last year was in Princeton for it). Mass
started at 10pm, thought it felt a little long (didn't have time on
me), turns out it ended at 1:20am...pretty amazing how full the
cathedral was and how many people stuck it out to the end.
I hope every one of you has a very happy Easter and celebrate it's
true meaning.
Also, please pray hard for my teammate's brother who is fighting
leukemia and may not make it another day or two (his name is Dave).
Off to zzzzzzzzzz land!
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Friday, April 02, 2010
Good Friday
Why is Good Friday called "Good"? Doesn't seem good to me at all, at least I'm pretty sure Jesus wasn't calling it that. I'm pretty bummed that I missed mass tonight, but my bike broke on me (shifter cable snapped--when this happens, the gearing is very difficult and with the major climb home, there's no way I could have ridden it). Rode to Assisi again & apparently you're not meant to see it since the camera came with but the memory card did not. Sorry!!!
Fortunately, the bike shop is at the bottom of the climb (though many kilometers away from where I was when the cable broke) so I was able to make it there and they were awesome to help me out. The mechanics spoke enough English (though I was sort of hoping they would just try to speak Italian to me and I could try really hard to understand...I prefer it this way). I'd enjoy not hearing another word of English for the next 5 months, to be perfectly honest.
There's a street fair going on right now in the piazza with the most wonderful food (and some non-edible wares, too)--many of the vendors are from Sicily so I made sure to try a cannolo. It was, by far, the best one I've ever had--Dad, you'd agree with me, I'm sure. Shell wasn't flaky, but more solid and thick, the filling was creamy but with enough ricotta, it wasn't airy or too sweet. It didn't have the chopped chocolate or pistachios in it like the way I make them, but it didn't need the extra ingredients. There's another vendor out there selling cannoli as well, will try one of theirs tomorrow.
Picked up some super wonderful wine (Montefalco Rosso and Rossobastardo) -- two bottles, 12 euro. Can't beat that!
And here's the best part of my mini-food shopping extravaganza (besides the canolo): Mozzarella di bufala (1/2 kilogram for 4 euro, I don't know prices, but that has to be good)! (See how moist it is in the center?)
And huge olives! Guess it's not obvious in this picture how big they are, but trust me on this one. Huge (like the longest is a little over an inch long, I will measure later) and very, very meaty.
My version of the Mediterrean diet:
This is rosemarino (rosemary) pizza that I picked up from the local grocery store this morning, basilico (basil) and sun-dried pomodoro (tomatoes) with the mozzarella di bufala, drizzed with olive oil...what a treat!
Until I make friends, I'm trying to eat well at home since I'm going to want to go out a lot probably soon. Can't believe I'm in Italy living alone (basically), eating alone. This really stinks. The whole point of this was for me to get out of my "comfort" zone of living alone, doing my thing. And here I am, living similarly to how I did before. I will be moving in with Italians next month unless things pick up dramatically socially. On that note, I'm too tired to go out (wrong gear on hills ripped me up), though I know that I should. Tomorrow I will switch things up and start living more like an Italian! Buona notte!
Fortunately, the bike shop is at the bottom of the climb (though many kilometers away from where I was when the cable broke) so I was able to make it there and they were awesome to help me out. The mechanics spoke enough English (though I was sort of hoping they would just try to speak Italian to me and I could try really hard to understand...I prefer it this way). I'd enjoy not hearing another word of English for the next 5 months, to be perfectly honest.
There's a street fair going on right now in the piazza with the most wonderful food (and some non-edible wares, too)--many of the vendors are from Sicily so I made sure to try a cannolo. It was, by far, the best one I've ever had--Dad, you'd agree with me, I'm sure. Shell wasn't flaky, but more solid and thick, the filling was creamy but with enough ricotta, it wasn't airy or too sweet. It didn't have the chopped chocolate or pistachios in it like the way I make them, but it didn't need the extra ingredients. There's another vendor out there selling cannoli as well, will try one of theirs tomorrow.
Picked up some super wonderful wine (Montefalco Rosso and Rossobastardo) -- two bottles, 12 euro. Can't beat that!
And here's the best part of my mini-food shopping extravaganza (besides the canolo): Mozzarella di bufala (1/2 kilogram for 4 euro, I don't know prices, but that has to be good)! (See how moist it is in the center?)
And huge olives! Guess it's not obvious in this picture how big they are, but trust me on this one. Huge (like the longest is a little over an inch long, I will measure later) and very, very meaty.
My version of the Mediterrean diet:
Until I make friends, I'm trying to eat well at home since I'm going to want to go out a lot probably soon. Can't believe I'm in Italy living alone (basically), eating alone. This really stinks. The whole point of this was for me to get out of my "comfort" zone of living alone, doing my thing. And here I am, living similarly to how I did before. I will be moving in with Italians next month unless things pick up dramatically socially. On that note, I'm too tired to go out (wrong gear on hills ripped me up), though I know that I should. Tomorrow I will switch things up and start living more like an Italian! Buona notte!
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