Food & more funny things

So last Thursday we had our first cooking class in the kitchen and it was soooo cool.  We went to Teatro 7, which is a cooking school about a three minute walk from my apartment.  Of course I got lost on the way there (a common theme of my daily life here) but so did another group of students in my class so we all strolled in a few minutes late.  No problem of course, we hung up our coats and put on our aprons.  I felt like I was on Top Chef while we were cooking there!  It was so cool cooking in such a nice, big kitchen and having the guidance of chef but still being allowed to help out and make Italian food.  The chef was so friendly and patient and I think we'll have him for all of our cooking lessons.  We made risotto with peas, these little fried balls of different kinds of meat mixed with fennel (I can't remember the name of them but our teacher said they were a common food from Milan a while back; essentially, we cut up different kinds of meat, added chopped fennel, and put the mixture into something similar to a food processor; then, we rolled the mixture into balls, dropped the balls into an egg mixture, dipped them in bread crumbs, and fried them up).  For dessert, we made panna cotta which is like vanilla pudding but lighter and fluffier- panna is whipped cream.  The food was delicious and we ate at a pre-set table next to where we did the cooking.  It was such a unique experience and I'm so excited that we have four more of these types of classes!  Here are some pictures I took with my phone- didn't think to bring my camera!

The kitchen after the cooking was mostly done; you can see the meat mixtures rolled in bread crumbs on a pan to the center and left of the picture before we fried them

Our table, enjoying our risotto

View of the kitchen/table from the back, looking towards the street/entrance

One of the two pots of risotto we polished off :)

Our main man, the chef, frying up the meat balls (I'll find out the actual name tomorrow in class when we will get the recipes of all the food we made!)

Second course :) 

Panna cotta

This particular class is called Italian Conversation: Italian Culture and Cuisine of Northern Italy.  It's all in Italian, which is hard but it's better for me and I can't wait to learn about the culture and cuisine of Italy.  I hope to come back to the U.S. knowing a lot more about Italian food and how to make it.  I haven't referred to a single recipe I brought here with me and it's kind of fun to make it up as you go along.  If you know the basics, you're fine and  you can only build on it from there.  Our CA, Maria, is always making something that smells delicious... on Sunday she didn't feel like going to the grocery store for bread so she made some of course.  

I'm going to miss the food here the most I think.  Everything is so fresh, amazing, and authentic and you never have a bad meal.  Food is something people take pride in and truly enjoy; dinners last for a good two hours, there are appetizers, first courses, second courses, dolci, and of course caffe's to top it all off.  Of course if you don't want to indulge in a two hour meal ordeal, you can always go out for aperitivo and pay for a drink and get all you can eat appetizers, which is what we did tonight for one of our friends' birthdays.  We went to this place called Yguana (pronounced iguana) which has topped our favorites list so far.  The drinks come in eclectic glasses, the appetizers are as diverse as they are tasty (they have everything from focaccia breads, to rices and risotto, to polenta, to vegetables, to assortments of different pastas, to potatoes, and everything in between!), the atmosphere is very cool, and the people that go there are our age range.  There are so many places in Milan that we want to try - like the mozzarella bar called Obika- so we're slowly stepping through the list :)  I love how big Milan is, I really don't think I could ever get bored here.  There's always a metro stop I've never gotten off at, a street or district I've never been in, or a restaurant or cafe I've never tried.  I feel like there's so much to discover here and I'm so excited for the weather to get nicer and for people to be outside all the time!

It's funny all the little day to day things that happen to us here, especially with the language.  I'm still learning a lot but sometimes, I have a "brain fart" and completely forget what to say.  For example, to say thank you, you say "grazie" and they say "prego".  For some reason, I feel weird saying prego so I rarely say it or I'll say something else like "grazie a te".  You can also say "grazie mille" which means thanks very much/a lot.  Well, I was unlocking the door to our apartment complex and there was a guy also entering the apartment and he said grazie and I said mille, which was basically like someone saying thank you and the other person saying a million instead of you're welcome... haha I'm not sure he heard because as I was saying it, I realized how ridiculous I sounded and immediately mumbled the rest of the word while wishing I could grab the words right out of the air and take them back.  One time, we were taking a cab home (the day the metro workers went on strike) and Linds was in the front seat and said "grazie" to the cab driver, he said "prego," and a few seconds later she said "si......".  It was too funny, it was like you saying thank you to a cab driver, him saying your welcome, a long pause, and you saying yep.  She said she didn't know why she said it, she just felt like she needed to say something else to end the conversation.  

I've had many a funny experience while grocery store shopping as well, it's always an adventure going into the Punto near our apartment.  I first encounter the security guard, I guess you could call him, dressed in a suit, monitoring the obviously suspicious and crime-ridden crowd of old ladies and now me.  He usually strolls between the front of the store near the cash registers and the aisles, watching me and the other potential criminals like a hawk.  I feel bad for this man because I tend to spend unnecessary amounts of time staring at the assortment of cheeses, meats, vegetables, crackers, pastas, and whatever else I think I need to pick up.  The cheese aisle is the worst, I can never decide what to get-- do I go with the kind I always get or do I want to branch out and try something new?  I once branched out and picked provolone piccante, brought it home, and Linds goes I thought you didn't like spicy things?  I now know that piccante means spicy, who would have thought...

Haha so back to me in the store... I make multiple trips up and down aisles, in between 10 minute pauses staring at the food on the shelves.  The security guy must think I'm either crazy, the most indecisive person he's ever seen, or both.  It's okay, I'm probably his amusement for the day, as I'm sure a day watching customers shop at Punto may be as exciting as it gets.  Anyway, grocery shopping is such a process and I think I make it through the Walmart at school quicker than I make it through the Punto, even though the Punto is about the size of the pharmacy area of Walmart.  I also struggle through Punto because I never get a basket because I only go in "for a few things".  Half an hour later, my arms are loaded down and I'm sweating from the stress of deciding what to buy, thinking about how to get everything onto the conveyor belt without causing a scene, and waiting in line... I should get a basket next time, I tell myself.  It's finally my turn at the register and the stress of paying has now replaced the stress of deciding what to buy and how to fit it all in my arms.  

I forget who told me but a native Italian said that Italian workers will hound you for exact change simply because they are lazy and don't want to have to give you change.  I've experienced this first hand and yesterday I was lucky enough to have been checked out by the notoriously disgruntled Punto worker.  So, I am EXTRA careful to watch the total to see if I have exact change.  The total comes to 20.15 euro and I don't happen to have 15 euro cents so I hand her a 20 and tell her I don't have change, completely forgetting that a 20 euro bill isn't even enough to cover the bill!  She's obviously confused and wanting more money so I dump out the change I have into my hand to show her that I don't have exactly 15 euro cents and she asks for the 1 euro coin.  I give it to her and as I'm walking out of the store, I realize my mistake and that I was essentially saying "here's a 20, that's all I have but I'd like to keep all the food thank you."  I can only imagine what was going through the minds of the people behind me in line and the woman checking me out!  I felt so silly!!

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We didn't travel this weekend so it was a relatively lazy weekend but those are nice once in a while.  On Saturday, I ran to Parco Sempione, the park between Castello Sforzesco and Arco della Pace and I got lost on the way there (again, a recurring theme).  Not too lost but definitely went a little bit out of my way.  It was a beautiful, cloudless day so the park was crawling with people of all ages doing all sorts of activities.  There were other runners there, yes they do exist in Milan, which was cool and it was so nice to run around the park.  There were steps in a semi circle shape near Arco della Pace so after a few laps, I took a rest on them and just laid out.  It was so nice just to listen to music and soak up the sun, especially after my run.  I'm definitely looking forward to going there when it warms up more and reading or just hanging out.   Here's a picture from Google images of Arco della Pace, I didn't have my camera again but I definitely will when I'm not running there.

The park is to the lower right of the picture and continues to the Castello; you can see the semi circle steps to the lower right of the picture, they sit between the park and the Arco della Pace.

I walked back to our apartment and did not get lost; when I got back, I looked at a map and realized where I went wrong on my way to the park... I'll get it right next time :)

Sunday it rained so we all mostly hung around the apartment, doing homework (kind of).  I was watching the live webcast of THON for most of the day- Penn State's 46-hour no sleep, no sit dance marathon that raises money for kids with pediatric cancer.  It's the largest student-run philanthropy in the world and this year we raised an AMAZING $9.56 million dollars for kids with cancer, about a $1.8 million increase from last year which is huge.  It was truly amazing to watch and I wished I could have been there so bad, I can only imagine the energy in the Bryce Jordan Center (where it's held) when they revealed the total.  It was so bittersweet to watch... I loved feeling connected, like I knew what was going on and how THON was going, but it also made me miss Penn State and THON so much.  As hard as it was, though, it got me all the more excited for my last THON as a Penn State student next February!!

We have four days of classes this week, a step up from the three days of classes we had last week because of our ski field trip.  It's going to be hard to manage but I think we can do it ;)  I'm heading to Geneva, Switzerland this weekend to visit two of my friends from when we lived there!  I couldn't be more excited- it's been 11 years since I've been back to Geneva and since I've seen them.  I can't wait to see Geneva and see where we used to live and where I used to go to school but I'm a little scared, too.  I was 7-9 years old when we lived there and the world looks so different when you're that age... I have this memory of what it was like to live there and it will be weird to reconcile that memory with what I'll see this weekend.  Things I'm sure have changed, just as I and my perspective have changed, so I'm nervous about what emotions I'll feel.  I'm looking forward to this weekend as a getaway and a trip down memory lane for sure, though, and it's crazy to think that I'm actually doing it and that it's working out, schedule-wise.  Who would have thought that 11 years after we move back to the U.S., I'd be taking a train on my own from Milan to Geneva to visit my friends there?  Crazy crazy stuff, so excited for it though, I'll be sure to take as many pictures as I possibly can!  The weather doesn't look too great for Saturday and Sunday so I'll try to make the most out of Friday :)

That's all for now, ciao ciao!

Steph