Bon Appetito!

We're back again, after another adventure filled weekend in Rome! We kicked off the weekend on Thursday night with our first ever "Italian" cooking class.... Mamma Mia! We were in for quite a treat! After drawing class we headed across the Ponte Vecchio towards "In Tavola", the place where we would be learning Italian cuisine for the next 3 hours.

The night kicked off with us being welcomed by Ricardo, our fabulous chef for the night. As soon as we arrived Jennifer asked where the "water closet" was.. Ricardo was oh so confused and finally responded "ooooohhhh, the W.C.". Needless to say Jennifer's name for the rest of the night was W.C.. After everyone arrived we began preparing our dinner. First duty: making dough... that is, without a blender. Whisking the eggs with two varieties of flour created a fabulous dough which we would use to create our ravioli. I should probably note our meal for the evening: First Course- Gnudi di Ricotta e Spinaci (they referred to this as "naked" ravioli... a Spinach and Ricotta cheese blend without the surrounding pasta shell). Second Course- Eggplant & Ricotta Ravioli (a magnificent Ravioli stuffed with eggplant). And for the Final Course/ Dessert- Panna Cotta (much like Flan, the Mexican style dessert). The pic shows Roberto helping us out with the Gnudi di Ricotta e Spinaci... Theodora took most of the photos for the night and will be e-mailing us the pics soon. We apologize for the lack of photos but hope you enjoy!

Our group for the evening consisted of Hannah, Joannah, Colleen, Jennifer, and Theodora (our new friend from Bulgaria!). Our first challenge of the night was making the dough for the ravioli. Somehow we were able to make the ravioli dough, without a blender! After an hour and a half of rolling and working the dough through the pasta maker, we were able to stuff the dough with delicious eggplant. Next up, our "naked" ravioli. This was an extremely easy recipe which we highly recommend to everyone. A little egg, spinach, ricotta and parmesan cheese, nutmeg, flour (to bind everything) and vegetable broth and within minutes this course was completed. Magnifico!!! Our final course was simply too easy to make and full of nutritional value (cream and sugar were the main ingredients... yowzaa!). After two hours our meal was complete.... bon appetito! We dined in the lower level of the building and enjoyed getting to know Theodora and learning about the country she grew up in. The picture below shows us all with Roberto in front of our restaurant, he was such a classic example of an Italian chef.

After dinner we strolled through Florence and made a stop by the famous Italian pig in the Straw Market. As legend has it, rubbing the pig's nose after placing a coin in the pig's mouth promises a return to Florence. We shall see about this... The night soon came to a close as we began preparing for our 7:00 a.m. train ride to Rome the following morning.



We'd like to continue sharing a few more of the things Italians do quite differently in this country... here we go.
- When you order french fries from McDonalds in Europe, do NOT expect to receive any kind of condiment. Ordering Ketchup is somewhat of a hassle, and on top of that an additional cost.

- In Italy, tax is already included in the price of the product you are purchasing... Doesn't this make since??? You get to pay the actual price on the "price" tag.

- Ice does NOT exist in this country. No ice, no air conditioning... it's a wonder how these people stay cool in this country.

Excerpts from our journals:
" We can speak six languages: American, British, Irish, Scottish, Australian, and Canadian." (Our response to Theodora, our Bulgarian friend who was fluent in about seven languages.)

" Oh Happy Birthday to meeeee!" "Oh my gosh, this is why I'm hot" "Excuse me, you dropped something... my heart" (These are just a few of the things we here strolling through San Lorenzo market searching for the best buys on Italian leather).


After our trip to Rome we have quite a bit to post... look forward to the upcoming blogs! The World Cup has begun and Italy is a whole new country. We are currently watching Italy vs. Paraguay and this town is a wee bit out of control. Continue leaving us comments, we love hearing from everyone and until our next blog,

Molto Amare,

Jack and Jenn

CIAO!!!!

The link to In Tavola:
http://www.intavola.org/index.html?Pagina=/news/primapagina.asp?idLingua=2&PrimaPagina=X&idSito=1