Day 78

For breakfast on Sunday, went to Cafe Zamboni for their buffet. Not exactly a brunch buffet like we think of in the U.S., but still good. Though I was craving some eggs, bacon and pancakes... and bagels... oh how I miss bagels.


Then, since it was one of the first beautiful spring days this year, some people organized a lovely picnic. Alex made some delicious deviled eggs, as well as a salad, olives, bread, etc... There was also a delicious, sugary, cinnamon-y Easter cake!



Later, had a little snack of bread, some leftover chickpeas, and bread.

Day 77

Went to Milano today to see Beauty and the Beast the musical in Italian. For lunch, Lia found a "food emporium" where we had some tasty sandwiches. Mine had speck, artichoke and taleggio cheese (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite cheeses, go get some right now and melt it on a sandwich it is out of this world!).


For dinner, Alessandra made some eggplant and tomato pasta, one of my favorites! Yum!

Day 76

Today we went to Ferrara with my Urban Studies class, a beautiful city near Bologna. For lunch, we went to a very, very old Osteria called al Brindisi (Via degli Adelardi, 11, Ferrara). We're talking 1435 A.D. And you thought your neighborhood diner from the '50s was old.


I ordered one of my favorite dishes from the area, capellaci (literally "little hats") di zucca (pumpkin). These were really good, topped with butter, sage and parmigiano. Delicioso!


It came with some bread that is common to Northern Italy that I thought I would show. Gotta love the twisty shape.


After a long day of walking through the city, we had to stop for some gelato. I got two flavors, lemon and also a ricotta and fig that was amazing (which you can't see in the photo because it's covered by the lemon).


For dinner, I made some croustini. Some with tomatoes and basil, and some with chickpeas, red onion, lemon and arugula.


Leah made so delicious pasta with zucchini, mushrooms and parmigiano.


Then, to top it all off, Mark provided some stroopwaffels straight from Amsterdam. Thank you, Mark.

Day 75

Today I made a salad with some of the leftover zucchini from Rita. I put it over arugula and added some lemon and oil - really good!


Then for dinner, just had some plain pasta with ricotta salata cheese.

Day 74

Today, we had another fantastic lesson with Rita. We are now on the "advanced" level with classes "part 2." We started off today with one of my favorite Italian dishes ever, potato gnocchi. It always surprises me how easy gnocchi really are to make. Here is part way through the process, right before we mix the riced potatoes with the flour (yep, it's a little like those play-dough hair maker things).


These ones were made with spinach and covered in a creamy, delicious gorgonzola cream sauce. I think I ate three bowls of these... oh well, when there is a big bowl of fresh, hand made, cream and cheese covered gnocchi sitting right in front of me, how can I not? It was just that good.


For secondi, we made a traditional B0lognese summer dish: stuffed zucchini. These were stuffed with a mixture of ground mortadella and prosciutto (I know, brilliant, right?) and then baked with a freshly made tomato sauce.


Also some delicious, whole grain bread.


For dessert, torta della nonna, what is cream pie, Italian style. This is amazing, thick cream in a buttery crust with pine nuts. I had this once with strawberry jam which was really good and which I would love to try making some time.

Days 69-73

Hi Everyone.

So I know I haven't been great about updating lately. Since I have so many pictures that I need to post from vacation and the week after, what I'm going to do is post all of the pictures here in this post so I'm all caught up and then start normally updating. Happy viewing.

Will

Greek salad at Osteria dell'Orsa:


Pasta with white beans, broccoli rabe and ricotta salata:



Bruschetta with mozzarella:


Ceci (chickpea salad) from Terra del Sole:

Vegetable panino from the kebab place:


Prochetta (meat from a whole roasted pig) in a mini-panini from a wonderful local farmers market that is part of the Slow Food Movement:


Pizza:


Aragosto, a southern Italian pastry filled with cream:


Salami sandwich from the local bakery:


Amazing food from a buffet in Modena:


Pastry stuffed with cheese that Tamar made for our picnic:


Our picnic!


Vanessa's stirfry noodles:


More picnic:


Some mini pizzas that Sarah and I made for our picnic:



Banana pancakes? Yes please, thank you Leah and Solveig.


Pasta with pancetta, cream and peas. Yum.

Day 68

For lunch, we just had some bread and cheese as well as some of the leftover soup. Yum!


For dinner, we ate with some other people and contributed some cheese tortellini with lemon cream sauce. It was supposed to be an artichoke-lemon cream sauce, but after cooking the artichokes we found out these ones were really bitter and couldn't use them. Oh well, it was still very tasty!


There was also a nice salad with baby greens, tomato and mozzarella as well as one with fennel and orange.

Day 67

Took Sarah to one of my favorite lunch places in the city, Terra del Sole, and picked up this tiny yet amazingly delicious sandwich of pecorino cheese, eggplant which is preserved in olive oil (melezane sott'olio) and red pepper. The bread was soft and chewy, the pecorino cheese fantastic, and overall a wonderful sandwich!


For dinner, more artichokes! We went back to the market and then made some very tasty fried artichokes.


Also made a really good soup with fresh vegetables from the market. It had carrot, leek, zucchini, beitola (a leafy green), white beans, and chicken sausage from my favorite butcher!

Day 66

For lunch today we went to Osteria dell'Orsa. I had a panino with turkey, mushrooms and cheese. And some delicious french fries, which you can see in the back.


For dinner, which was my last night with all three girls from Wesleyan, we made a great meal at my apartment. First we went to the market and got some produce, and then made orchiette (a type of pasta meaning "little ear") with artichokes and parmigiano, a tomato, mozzarella and arugula salad, and some bread. We had a really fun time cooking, and eating, the meal! This also started my and Sarah's trend of eating artichokes every night for the rest of the week, so get excited for lots of artichokes.

Day 65

We went to the island of Murano near Venice this afternoon to see the glass factories, which were very cool. Had a panino with salami and red peppers for lunch.


I finally returned to Bologna after taking the train home from Venice. For dinner, we went to Le Stanze for aperitivi, though it was so dark that I don't have pictures. Food was good as always, though, and still the best deal around.

Day 64

After walking around Venice a little more, we picked up some pizza and paninis at Antico Forno (Ruga Rilato 970, Venice). I had a panini (the bread made from fresh pizza dough) with speck, talleggio cheese and arugula, a really tasty combination.


For dinner we went to a restaurant near our hotel, where I had pasta with a shrimp cream sauce. The shrimp were meaty and flavorful and though this place seemed a little touristy, the food was quite good.

Day 63

After a morning in Milan, we traveled to our final destination before returning (at least for me) to Bologna: Venice! Though I don't usually think for Venice as much for it's food as for its other cultural attractions, we ate very well. Of course, as it is on the sea, Venice is known for its seafood. We found a little place for dinner that we had read about called Trattoria da Fiore (Santo Stefano 3461, Venezia) and sipped prosecco at only 2 euro/glass and ate a dinner of cicchetti, little appetizers of Venezia, that were fantastic. Probably the best seafood I have had in Italy. You just pointed to what you wanted from a wide selection of dishes behind the bar and this nice woman dished them up to you. We started with some vegetarian things, including little fritters, a pepper frittata, roasted potatoes, eggplant with mozzarella, and probably the best artichoke hearts I have ever had (they are crazy about artichokes in Venice, at the markets they sell all these different varieties in all these different preparations).


Then, those of us not vegetarian tried some of the fantastic seafood offerings. There was baccala (salt cod) spread on toast, mixed fried seafood, fish with tomato and pea sauce, fish fritters, whole shrimp, and an amazing seafood salad of octopus, squid, etc...



This restaurant was a truly a find and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Venice. Also, it is a place that is clearly appreciated by the locals and not packed with tourists (the woman behind the counter didn't even speak English, almost unheard of in Venice), which is difficult to find in Venice. The food, especially the seafood, was fresh and simply prepared, and that makes for some great eating.