Players, Piazza Parties, Playdates, and Pizzas.

Hey lovers.

The Fiorentina v. Catania (town in Sicily) game was last Sunday. It was MAD fun. Granted, Johnna and I spent the whole time talking about hot guys and sports and hot sports and t.v. shows and so on...


Giant carton of milk? Yes please, and thank you. I'm into that.



Feisty Italian sports fans.
Oh. We won.

Dinner with my girrrrl Johnna.

Picnic up at the Piazza del Michelangelo!




This is my curse... I can never choose between 2 VERY slightly different photographs.


When I said picnic, I meant milk and cookies.



B-e-a-utiful. I'm going to miss this ridiculously. I can't wait to go back up like every day when it's nicer out.

Some medieval hangin' at Elise, Johnna, and Leslie's.

Medieval grilled cheese.

Medieval oven (WHICH IS WAY TOO SMALL but at least they have one!)

Window view of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Devyn's best friend from home, Jordan, came to visit her for almost a week. It's been great having her here, she's such a sweetheart!

We all had Gusta Pizza. Finally. I've heard so much about it. It's literally right down the street and I didn't have it until this past weekend. The bread was delicious- I think that's what made it amazing. Its oven-baked and I think they put salt or sugar on the bread before the sauce was put on.


+Love+

Firenze Classroom Settings.

Hey lovers.

For photography class, we went to the Bardnini Gardens (also connected to the Boboli Gardens and some other garden that I'll get to within the last couple of weeks here).




I hate how much saturation I lose uploading photos through Blogger.



We took a whole roll (VERY difficult for me with film because I'm just naturally stingy).


And then the next day, with Tomasso! <3 style="font-weight: bold;">Lasagnetta alle Melanzane, Quartirolo e Basilico.



Water pitchers

Contemporary lasagna. It's contemporary in the way that this is a totally different utilization of the lasagna format. Rather than being flat and layered with cooked tomato sauce, this is rolled up with vegetables like taquitos and placed on fresh tomato sauce (uncooked, but pureéd and saturated with extra virgin olive oil).


It was delicious, light, and beautifully colorful.

Recipe to follow soon, when I'm not supposed to be studying for midterms.

But as a parenthesis... I found this while randomly googling. I googled my street name here and found a photo of some delicious-looking ravioli. The ravioli is served in Quatro Leoni, a restaurant that is 8 steps to the left from my front door. It's a pear ravioli. That's all I needed to hear. But I kept researching to find that this restaurant used to be a brothel? Uhmmm cool? No sarcasm, seriously.

via behindtheburner

"Quatro Leoni's pear ravioli, or Fiocchetti di Pera in Salsa di Taleggio e Asparagi, as read on the menu, is truly out of this world (or just out of the United States). The delicious Italian taleggio cheese gives off a rich flavor with a fruity component that balances perfectly with the pear pasta. Topped with seasoned asparagus and loaded with fresh grated Parmesan, each bite of the ravioli bursts with pear sweetness and creamy cheese. The dish is yet another reminder of why Italy exceeds in the culinary world."

Danke-beaucoup.

+Love+

Beware, Vegetarians.

Hey lovers.

This is the prosciutto part of that day.



Basically, this factory was rows and rows of salted, preserved pig legs. In something like 9 months, the piglets are fattened up to 300 pounds. Or something like that. Sorry.


Oy, I didn't really feel terribly guilty about prosciutto until I got here.

But it was too delicious, even if it was the weird leftovers of the pig on that bread.

Red wine, cause it wasn't ISA hosted!

Endless pasta!


Before leaving Parma.


This is the balsamic vinegar vineyards in Modena. It's this cute, classy little house that houses barrels and barrels of balsamic vinegar harvested every year and left to ferment for years and years. Our guide/owner of the vineyards had this beautiful accent. She rolled her r's to the max and was the classic old-town young Italian woman.

Traditional balsamic vinegar is another D.O.P. product (see previous Parmigiano-Reggiano post) so there are strict regulations on the process. Basically, it must pass a taste-test and has to be fermented at least 12 years for the yellow label (around €40ish) and 25 years for the gold label (around €75). There were several other kinds that weren't as strict (and were cheaper) such as orange and apple balsamic vinegar. I got the apple, and Elise got the orange right below for her family. We got to taste them all.


Risotto rice dinner!

Cooking with wine.... that isn't cooking wine... but close enough.


Apple vinegar on my potatoes?

I tried the vinegar on pears and bananas because they're well-intended for fruits. It's DELICIOUS. It can also go on ice cream. So, when we get back from spring break, Elise is going to buy ice cream and she, Johnna, and I are going to have a fort-building, apple-vinegar topped ice cream, movie watching, medieval sleepover complete with invitations, hair-braiding, and pillow fights. Or something like that.

Ahhh, college life in Florence.

+Love+