Italy Trip (Catch-Up): How To Make Pasta From Scratch

One of the highlights of my trip to Italy last summer was the cooking class through Food And Wine Academy of Florence! All cooking classes are expensive. But for the price, I picked this one compared to lots of others I researched for a few reasons: 

• It's a long course (about 6 hours) so it takes your whole day, BUT you get a huge meal out of that would cost some hefty Euros at a restaurant (plus drinks, seating charge, etc.).
• These classes have a 10% student discount, PLUS I was able to add in a Rick Steves travel guide code that was in his book. Bonus! 
• Class begins with a tour of the Central Market of Florence where you get your ingredients for the day, AND a cheese/balsamic vinegar tasting (food education + snacks!)
• You walk away with the recipes from the day PLUS some other ones to try at home

In this class, we made pasta and tiramisu, but I'll save the tiramisu for a separate post. Here's a shot from above of our work space for the day! This was after a couple hours at the Central Market (also saved for another post). 

Prep materials! 

Chef Giovanni taught us a lot, even though he was slightly condescending to American food culture (but hey, I'm not blaming him when we have McDonald's to be proud of...). He dispelled a lot of myths, like: 

• Fettuccine alfredo is NOT ITALIAN. Italians use smaller noodles with white sauces (angel hair, penne, etc.). 
• Spaghetti would also not be used with a meat sauce. Italians use the thicker pasta noodles (like the pappardelle we made that day) for hearty meat sauces because they can withstand it. 

He started by measuring out our individual flour portions. We used Tipo "00" flour, which is a finer type of flour. I can't seem to find it in the US except for on Amazon in huge portions, so I have semolina and all-purpose at home. 

Start out by making your pile in a neat circle, then using your thumb and first few fingers, create a well in the center. Plop your egg in, some olive oil, and pinch of salt. Take a fork and scramble the egg, and every so often add in some flour from the side of your well until fully incorporated. This is a messy step, so when I'm at home I do this inside of a mixing bowl then will put on a flat surface to knead. 

Speaking of kneading, do it for about 15 minutes. Yes, you will get tired if you're like me and incredibly out of shape. I also blame my height for not having enough leverage to use my body weight. You want to keep kneading it until it becomes smooth on the outside, and create a pretty ball. Then you're going to wrap it very tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes. This lets the dough soften for when you roll it out. 

In the meantime, Chef Giovanni took us to the stove to make the Bolognese sauce. It was in here I answered his quiz question that the sauce got its name because it originates in Bologna (go me!). 

Once the dough is finished sitting, roll out the dough. Put some flour on the counter and on top of the dough. Every now and then keep flipping the dough as you get it thinner and thinner. If you think the dough is thin enough, keep going. We were told to roll it until you can see the granite through the dough (if you look really hard you can see it in the picture). 

To make the pappardelle, lightly fold the dough and simply cut it to pappardelle thickness! The order of noodles from thinnest to widest are: Angel hair --> Spaghetti --> Fettuccine --> Tagliatelle --> Pappardelle 

We used half the dough to make pappardelle, and the other half to make ravioli. The filling is a simple ricotta and egg mixture. 

Similar to the pappardelle, fold the dough but this time to the thickness of your ravioli cutter (in this case, a glass!). In the first step, do NOT cut the pasta, just use the glass to get the correct width. Instead, first cut the dough in long ribbons with the correct width. Place the ricotta mixture in a small ball on one ribbon, and then place another on top. You may need to stretch the top layer slightly to make it over the ricotta. 

NOW you can cut the ravioli in pretty circles. Take a fork and crimp the edges to seal. Be careful not to puncture the cheese in the process! 

Here are the fruits of our labor for the day! 

 As we ate some bruschetta that was made for us, Chef Giovanni put the dishes together:

• Pappardelle with Bolognese sauce
• Ravioli with butter and sage sauce

I've already made these dishes multiple times at home. And although I can't re-create the exact flavors because the meat in Italy is fresher, I believe it still tastes good! I have also been able to teach family and friends how to make pasta as well, which is always fun! 

I highly recommend doing any cooking class of some sort if you're interested in that sort of thing. It was relatively basic, but I was still able to learn something from it and makes a great store. It's an experience you'll never forget! 

Review: Inferno (SPOILERS)

**If you haven't read the book and don't wish to know any plot, don't read any further!**

***Clearly, this post is coming months after I went to Italy but I felt was definitely worth sharing***

I was very excited when I heard that Dan Brown was going to have a newest installment of a Robert Langdon adventure. Two reasons for this: 1) love Robert Langdon 2) was disappointed in The Lost Symbol and wanted his story salvaged!

The coolest part was the timing because the book is set in Florence and Venice (along with a third main   location in Istanbul) and that's where Errol and I were headed! My roommate got me the book for my birthday, which arrived at my home just in time to be packed for travel. Throughout the plane ride and Rome and Greve days, I managed to finish in time to explore the book whilst in Florence and Venice!

Ceiling of the Hall of 500, where Vasari wrote "cerca trova" on one of the paintings. 

View of the Ponte Vecchio from the top floor of the Uffizi Gallery

Hall of 500: Unfortunately the room was not available to the public so we couldn't go down and search for "Cerca trova" 

Unassuming hallway containing Dante's mask

Supposed death mask of Dante Alighieri 

Hall of Geographical Maps, including the map of Armenia

Map of Armenia! You can see in the middle of the right side frame there's a small pin handle. 

We asked one of the staff if it opened, and she opened it for us! Going through is a separate paid tour. 

Baptistery of San Giovanni


Inside the Baptistery where the Dante's mask was found


The REAL Doors of Paradise are actually in a separate museum!

St. Mark's Basilica (Venice) was being cleaned, but you could still see the horses! 

The perfect timing of this book made the trip to Italy that much sweeter. And I'm lucky that I went with someone who was just as excited as I was! 

Overall, I felt that Inferno was a really great book that brings up some controversial topics in an entertaining way. It's highly unpredictable (or maybe I'm just bad at predicting things) and keeps you wanting more. 

How-To: Wine Taste Like a Pro

It's time to get classy! Rome was a great place - exhausting, but great. But it was time to take a vacation from the vacation and go to the no-free-wi-fi town of Greve in the Chianti Region of Tuscany. We went to Castello di Verrazzano for a wine tour, and it was a blast.

The tour started off with a history of the castle, which was actually quite interesting because Giovanni da Verrazzano the first explorer to sail to New York Harbor in 1524, but credit for discovery always went to the country who commissioned the voyages. Giovanni's quest was sponsored by the French, who were taken over by Spain and his history was lost for some time. But his accomplishment is starting to resurface in the classroom, and there is even a bridge in his name in New York: the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

After the brief history lesson, we went through different rooms. Some of the passageways could get pretty dark and narrow. Definitely had to watch our feet (and in Errol's case, his head).

They also make their own balsamic vinegar, which is aged for 10 years. The barrels at the back of the room are the youngest, and get moved every year to the next barrel. They get smaller because the vinegar reduces over time and you get a delicious, sweet, concentrated syrup (not quite that thick, but it's definitely thicker than what we get in our US grocery stores).



Finally, it was time to taste the wine! Accompanied with our tour was also a plate of food, perfectly timed for the meal to count for lunch.

So here's the steps to taste wine like a professional:

Step 1: Make sure you always hold the glass at the stem so you don't warm the wine with your fingers. Lean the glass over a white surface to make sure the wine is the proper color, with no foreign particles in it.

Step 2: Smell the wine. Make sure you really stick your nose in the glass!

Step 3: Swish the wine by moving the glass in a small circle with the bottom of the glass staying on the table. Do this for 10-15 seconds 

Step 4: Smell the wine again (with nose in!). It should smell different because more oxygen has incorporated into the liquid to bring out more scents. This was a really cool part to learn! The smell was always completely different from the first time.

Step 5: Finally get to taste! Take a sip, and swish it around in your mouth. 

Different parts of the tongue sense different tastes.

Step 6: Swallow and repeat again. Or in my case, have a bite of food. 

The food plate was amazing, filled with salami, wild boar, multiple cheeses, and lard right in the middle. We also got to have a tiny morsel of their balsamic vinegar, aka balsamic gold.

And they also make their own grappa, a grape-based brandy.
Not a huge fan, but it was definitely a first.

I would highly recommend everyone visit here while taking a trip to Italy. Just make sure you eat a big breakfast and leave some time after to sober up if you drive. Now I actually have a beginner's idea of what I'm looking at in the wine section of Harris Teeter.

And the views were absolutely spectacular.

Italy Trip: Food in Rome

Food is extremely important... especially in Italy! In Rome, I didn't necessarily learn as much about food history as I did in the Tuscan region, but as our first stop in Italy, Errol and I learned a lot of the "traditions" and restaurant etiquette. 

COLAZIONE:

I rarely ever eat breakfast... I prefer to sleep right up until I have just enough time to change and run to the bus for class. But when you're trying to have enough energy for the physical and mental toll that Rome takes out of you, carbo-loading is a must. And eventually, it became part of my stomach's food clock that has even rolled over to now! 

Of the three places we stayed in Rome (and in the other cities - more on those separately), the breakfast was the same: cappuccino, bread, pastries (filled with cream, nutella, etc.), and various spreads. Another benefit of breakfast was that it was always included in our hostel/B&B, so we saved Euros that way. 

PRANZO:
We always wanted to have light but filling (is that possible?) meals for lunch so we didn't get food coma. That usually meant pizza! Pizza in Italy is quite a delicacy, and made me forget the greasy dough I used to get from Little Caesar's for $5 for a quick college dinner. We had lots of different types of pizza, but all menus had generally the same kinds:

• Margherita - tomato + mozarella
• Napoli - 4 to 5 anchovies spread across the pizza; only need a little bit for the full effect! 
• Prosciutto - self-explanatory; delicious, melt-in-your-mouth slices 
• BIG TIP: "Pepperoni" in America is "salame piccante" in Italy, and is much better! 

My absolute favorite pizza was in Dar Poeta in Trastevere, a quaint area in southeast Rome. This pizza had the perfect combination of tart and savory, and I couldn't get enough of it:

buffalo mozzarella with artichokes topped with parmigiano reggiano

Just as a heads up, restaurants try to maximize tables in a small area, so every place has an outside area. We almost always chose to sit outside! Just keep a look out for the scooters and Smart cars that try to squeeze through; they get pretty close!

ANTIPASTI:
Probably one of the more expensive places we ate was at Enoteca Cavour 313, recommended by our Rick Steves guidebook. These pictures are what we had for dinner one night, but count as appetizers in my book. We got to have some delicious cheeses, and a first - beef carpaccio! As you can see it's raw beef sliced extremely thinly, topped with olive oil, red onion, capers, and a couple of anchovies. Surprisingly it was almost too salty for me (those who know me know that's a rarity!), but I still really liked it.

PRIMI e SECONDI PIATTI:

Another restaurant we went to was our first full meal with multiple courses, and we learned a lot.

1. Water is never free in a restaurant. You order one water for 2 people, and they bring out a 500 mL bottle that you ration on your own (generally 2-3 Euros a bottle!).
2. Sitting costs money. There's lots of standing eating, or getting food to-go and eating at a square. In fact, when I think back I think only tourists eat at restaurants because true Italians think a cover charge is ridiculous (which it is). It will cost 2-3 Euros per person tacked onto the bill. 
3. BIG TIP: If there's a cover charge, DON'T TIP. Really, don't. 
4. There's a charge for bread, and you get it no matter what. Most Italian restaurants in America give you bread with olive oil and herbs, or garlic breadsticks. In Italy, you get bread with olive oil and vinegar (balsamic or white wine). And that's normally 2-3 Euros. 

With that, you already have added at least 6 Euros to your bill before you've even had your meal. Crazy, right? As we progressed through the trip, we ate at restaurants less often simply due to all of the extra hidden costs. 

That being said, the food at this restaurant (whose name escapes me) was delicious! Top left is buffalo mozzarella (absolute fave), bottom left was spaghetti carbonara (on my food bucket list), and bottom right was Errol's veal. 

If you are sick of pasta - which you are bound to be no matter how much you love it - there are kebab places all over the place! Super cheap, super delicious, they're essentially the gyros you know of, but in wraps. Once we discovered these, we ate at one every couple of days. I wish we had more places like this to replace McDonald's! 

DOLCI:
Last but not least was the sweets! In Rome, I didn't have very much dessert. However, we did have plenty of gelato at any time of day! There are little window shops everywhere, where you can order your cone or cup and be on your merry way. There are tons of flavors, and some are quite interesting... but Errol's favorite was mango! Here he is holding one of the dozens of mango in a  "cono piccolo".

The only other dessert we had in a restaurant in Rome was the nutella calzone... I think you can guess if I liked it or not.

Another dessert on my food bucket list was panna cotta, a creamy dessert that is a mix between pudding and jello and is delicious! I grabbed one of these in a window shop for a couple of Euros.



Overall, the first city in Italy gave us a great introduction to food, and the best was yet to come! If you ever go to Italy, I hope you learn from our restaurant mistakes and try a lot of the things we did.

Italy Trip: Castel Sant'Angelo

To be honest, I didn't have high expectations of this place. I wasn't feeling well (I unfortunately caught a mild cold), the facade isn't pretty (compared to the art museums), and it was raining almost the entire time (as you can see from the gloomy pictures).

With that in mind, we got the audio guide. It wasn't very entertaining, but it helped. It takes you step by step through the fortress and also has separate numbers for the specific art pieces.

By the end, I came to have great respect for the monument. There is so much history here, as it was once the Pope's fortress! Originally commissioned as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian and his family, it was converted to a castle at the start of the 14th century.

Walking towards the Castel Sant'Angelo, we had our very first glimpse of St. Peter's Basilica! Even in the dark clouds it looked majestic, but we wouldn't be visiting there on this day.

As you start climbing up the stairs, you get amazing glimpses outside, such as the Ponte Sant'Angelo (Bridge of Holy Angels) that crosses the Tiber River with statues sculpted by Bernini. Each angel is different: with the column, whips, crown of thorns, nail, cross, etc. These beautiful sculptures seem to guard the fortress themselves!

At the top of the Castel, you get an even better view of Vatican City! On the righthand side of the picture, you can see what looks like a brick wall. If you look a bit closer, you will see that on top of that wall was a covered walkway that the pope used to get from Castel Sant'Angelo to the Vatican safely. 

The museum doesn't have the glamorous, Renaissance art that you see in the Vatican museums or other big-name places, but I definitely recommend it. It was a nice introduction of the history of Vatican City!  Plus, if you're into Assassin's Creed my sources tell me it's a big part in the game...

Italy Trip: Capitoline Museums

It was about this point on or first touring day that we became utterly exhausted. Jetlag was cajoling us with full force to ditch our schedule and take the Metro back to our hotel to sleep the rest of the day away. In fact, we found a nice sitting area within the museum and managed about 30 seconds of sound sleep before Errol woke me and I saw one of the staff staring at me. Not wanting to mean anymore disrespect to the artwork, we managed to carry on. YOCO, right?

TIP #1: There are 2 separate museums that comprise of the Capitoline. As you arrive at Capitoline Square, you have to enter through at the right hand building.

TIP#2: Be careful because when you go to the Cafe there, you have exited the museum (we learned this as a staff member asked for our ticket when we entered... And all we had to show was our Roma Passes and an explanation that we had just exited a few minutes prior without realizing it.

TIP #3: There is only ONE entrance to the museums. In order to get to the left side, there is an underground floor that connects two.

Yes, these tips are based on our own mistakes. We exited the museum twice and has to explain ourselves twice. The attempt to get to the left half of the museums must have been a common mistake because they just let us back in no problem. 

I would highly suggest the second part of the museums. Sounds bad, but they must make you go through the first part initially so that they are not skipped. The second half is where it's at.

Not only was it our first glimpse of the awe-inspiring sculptures of the Italian renaissance, but you also get an amazing view of the Roman Forum from a distance.

Elaborate busts

Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome

I swear I respected the art...

High-fiving Constantine

Overall this was a good museum. I'm sure we would have appreciated it more without the jetlag haze, so I would suggest not doing Colosseum + Roman Forum + Capitoline Museums not being done on the first day of your trip!