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! 

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: Ancient Rome

It seemed appropriate to begin our journey at the start of Rome's majestic history!

Colosseum: 

Started the trip off with a bang with this colossal (pun intended) structure of Ancient Rome. With this site, we used our first audio tour from the Rick Steves iPhone app. It is very normal for people to have audio guides (that look like old-school telephones) taking them around various locations, so us holding our phones with headphones in didn't look [more] touristy compared to everyone else.

The audio guide, though a little cheesy, is highly recommended (and free!). We started at the cross on the West entrance and were led around the first floor, second floor, and even great look off areas where you can clearly see the Arch of Constantine and Roman Forum.

With Rick Steves, you get about an hour's worth of information and site seeing, but you can definitely spend a lot more time here thanks to the exhibits - ours in particular was of Constantine's life. The timing was perfect, because right when we finished the audio tour, it started to thunderstorm. The exhibit proved to be a perfect way to pass the time as the God-like thunder resounded through the Colosseum's archways.

Our homemade itinerary originally had us spending a mere hour in the Colosseum, but it ended up being closer to 3 hours because of the rain, and consequently, the exhibit. By this time, we were extremely hungry but we tried to stick to the itinerary, which had us eating lunch after Roman Forum. What was the solution to holding off until then? Errol's first Italian gelato (pistachio)!

Palatine Hill and Roman Forum:

Honestly, after the Colosseum all I wanted to do was eat. But the first day we couldn't possibly veer from the itinerary so we chugged along with our snacks (beef jerky and trail mix from home) and took another couple of hours seeing the heart of Ancient Rome's government and activity.

We saw the Palatine Hill first. With a ticket to the Colosseum, you get combo tickets to Palatine and Roman Forum (which are both the same entrance, so technically you just get 2 entrances in one).

Maybe I was spoiled by Rick Steves who doesn't have an audio guide for the Palatine Hill, but I didn't find It that interesting. It could also have been the hunger and jet lag haze that prevented me from fully enjoying the experience. In general, it's difficult to imagine it in its hay day (palace upon palace of glory - in fact, the word "palace" comes from "Palatine". I guess I did learn something!).

The Roman Forum is a much more classic place. We've all seen the pictures of the few remaining columns, the grand arches, etc. on top of that, there's a Rick Steve's audio tour for it!

This first full day was quite exhausting, especially when we remembered we were not immune to jetlag. However, it was impossible not to awe at the massive structures carved with everlasting masterpieces of art. 

Italy Trip: Getting to Rome

Starting May 28th, the day after my little sister's 16th birthday, Errol and I embarked on the trip of a lifetime! After months of planning and saving up, I was excited for my FIRST trip to Europe: 2 weeks in Italy. We would spend it in four cities - Rome, Greve in Chianti, Florence, and Venice.

Errol's mom dropped us off at the airport very early (4AM!). Looking back at these pictures of the beginning of the trip, we look quite refreshed. While the trip was a dream, it was also pretty exhausting!

The schedule of events:
Orlando (MCO) --> New York City (JFK): 6AM-8:30AM
JFK --> Moscow (SVO): 2:20PM-7:45AM (Russian time, 9 hours total)
SVO --> Rome (FCO): 9AM (Russian time) - 10:45AM (Italy time), total 3 hours

First time on a Russian airline, and I must say we didn't like the plane food all that much. Sorry, Russia! I hope to someday have some of their true delicacies, and not through air travel.

BUT, they did have a TV for everyone with some good movie selections! Tried to sleep as much as possible, but still managed to watch The Hobbit, Tangled, and Pirates of the Caribbean :)

By the time we cleared customs, got our backpacks (which we gladly checked for free through Aeroflot), and figured out our next move it was around 1PM.

First step was to purchase a ticket from the airport to the Termini Train Station in order to walk to our hotel. There's lots of places to buy tickets (bigletti) so we just picked whatever looked most official (many tobacco [tabacchi] stores sell tickets too). 

It's a €19 ticket on the Leonardo Express train to the Termini. There are other trains with stops but we didn't want to take the risk, with our first time riding (more on train travel later... it's quite simple!). Even with no stops it's still about a 30 minute ride. 

Hotel Corallo was the first place! (I'll have a separate post about Rome housing)

We refused to let jetlag get to us, but 3 hours of napping later we felt quite refreshed. Not wanting to waste the entire day, we set off walking around. We found a place for dinner that was empty because it was only 6PM, and Italians eat a couple of hours later. There's one way to look like a tourist!

It was a Napoli pizza (mozzarella and anchovies) on for dinner along with 250 mL white wine and an Italian beer (birra). A lovely first day in this amazing city. 

Italy: Putting Together an Itinerary

The flights were booked and housing was determined. At this point we had the bare bones of an itinerary: 5 nights in Rome, 2 nights in Chianti region, 3 nights in Florence, and 4 nights in Venice. 

Now... what to do to fill the days? To figure this out it has taken days, hours, dozens of websites and blogs, and a Rick Steves guidebook. 

I had no idea how intricate planning each day would be. It's not like this was our first trip. But actually, it's the first one requiring multiple location changes in a different country. The trip to the Bahamas we stayed on a cruise ship, and in Cancun we stayed in a timeshare. So cheers to us, on our first completely independent vacation.

What makes it so complicated? It's a like a huge puzzle, where the pieces include: 

• Bucket list: The advice of so many travelers is to ditch the list and use your instincts to take you from one place to another. However, with such a financial investment I find I must ensure I create some sort of idea of what to do so as to not waste time. Again, this is probably going against Italian culture to plan to the point of placing "Get lost in Venice" in an itinerary but e' la vita. 
• Rome: 
• Ancient: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon
• South: Trastevere, Appian Way, Catacombs
• North: Borghese , Spanish steps, Trevi fountain
• Vatican City: Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica
• Chianti region:
• Wine tour, ride a Vespa along the hills
• Florence:
• Accademia (+David), Duomo, Bargello, Ufffizi
• Venice:
• Cruise along Grand Canal, Rialto Bridge, St. Mark's Square + Basilica, Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Murano island (glass making!)
• Transportation: According to Google maps, this trip is going to be nothing short of exhausting. We'll be getting from city to city by train. It was originally an automatic assumption we would use the Italy Eurail pass, which is $195 for 3 rides within 2 months. Using www.raileurope.com we discovered that a train from Rome --> Florence, Florence --> Venice was only ~$120. Money saving at its finest! Rome is quite large, and there are also metro and buses that can take you to different sites. I'm assuming there will be plenty of walking, however. Florence seems very walkable though. And Venice, you have water travel. 
• Entrance passes: The main culprit of the puzzle. Rome, Florence, and Venice have unique 72-hour passes that took a lot of research to be sure it was worth the cost AND arrange things covered by the passes within an itinerary that has more than 72 hours in each place. 
• Rome: Roma Pass (€30) - FREE entry to the first 2 sites, and DISCOUNTED thereafter. 
• Major advantage: SKIP THE LINE to all places and free public transportation.
• Florence: Firenze Card (€50) - FREE entry to ALL sites covered. 
• Major advantage: SKIP THE LINE to all places and free public transportation.
• Venice: Vaporetto Pass (€18 if you are <30 years old when you also by a Rolling Venice card for €4) - Unlimited vaporetto rides! Normally €7 per ride, and if >30 years old is €18/2 hours, €20/24 hours, €25/36 hours, €30/48 hours, €35/72 hours. Even if you are >30 years old, the vaporetto pass can pay for itself quickly with a day + night joyrides, to and from hotel, trip to lagoon, to train station, and when you don't want to walk anymore! 
• Major DISadvantage: Unfortunately nothing in Venice provides discounts to sites
• Downtime: Still trying to figure this one out... like will it exist?!

Once we've actually done the trip, I'll do a before/after comparison of what I've planned versus what actually happened! There's much more on the itinerary than from my Bucket List that have been added based on research. 

A little preview of our plan for a day in Ancient Rome:

Next up: Travel Essentials (Part 1)

Italy: Purchasing the Flight

This trip to Italy has morphed from a tag along trip with Errol and his mom, to a romantic two-week excursion with just him and myself. Unfortunately, his mom couldn't go anymore and gave us our blessing as well as funding for housing throughout the trip so we could still go. A wonderful gift that I will forever be grateful for!

Purchasing the flight took a lot of time. First step was to decide on dates! Took a lot of thought because we wanted it to be as early as possible in the summer but we couldn't finalize until I got my summer rotation schedule. I requested July for the rotation, which is likely why I got my first choice. No one wants July! 

Some things I learned in the process: 

1) It's cheaper (if not cheapest) to fly from JFK in NYC. We booked the cheapest possible to JFK and back, instead of using search engines from Orlando to Rome. 

2) Analyze your layover times, try something "off-label" (i.e., not Delta, AA, United, etc.) to get the cheapest flight. We picked a Russian airline that goes to Moscow then Rome. But because the arrival/departure dates were the best, we get to Rome at 10AM and leave Venice at 11PM giving us nearly a whole extra day! 

3) You must be patient to find the ticket that fits the best for your trip. However, once that moment comes, you must have the courage to make the leap! If you plan right, your credit card can handle it. Mine did... just barely!

Next step: Housing

How-To: Make a Towel Bunny

If you've ever been on a cruise (and even if you haven't, now you know), each time you enter your room, you will find a towel animal hanging out on your bed. This summer, one of the classes on the ship was how to make some! So I thought I would share with you all how to make one! I'm not as good as the staff on board, but I tried my best. It's hard to explain in words how to make these, but hopefully the pictures help. Please leave a comment if you have any questions! 

Things you'll need:

1 large towel

1 medium-sized towel

Step 1: Place your large towel in a landscape position and roll the left and right ends to the center.

Step 2: Fold towel in half so that the crease is on the outside

Step 3: Twist the ends out a little bit (this will be the feet of your bunny). 

Step 4: Take 2 legs into each hand and pull outward (this part is hard to explain, try to follow the picture!).

Step 5: Put large towel aside. Now take your medium-sized towel and fold in half, landscape-wise, and have the folded side facing away from you. 

Step 6: Put your finger in the center of the top of your towel, take the bottom right corner of the towel, and pull straight down. Do not fold, just pull. 

Step 7: Repeat on the right side, and you will have something that looks like a bat. 

Step 8: Fold the top corner underneath, a couple of inches. 

Step 9: Fold the sides of the "bat" towards the center, like you did with the large towel. 

Step 10: Flip over the towel, and it will look like this! 

Step 11: Pull the ears down a little bit, and you have your bunny head! Place it on top of the large towel. 

Step 12: Accessorize! 

The class was provided as part of a campaign to sell their how-to book, Towel Creations. The campaign is part of a larger effort for Carnival Cruiselines to raise $1,000,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital! I ended up buying it on the ship for $14.95, and 100% of the proceeds were donated.

Summer Travels: The Final Vacation - Wizarding World of Harry Potter (tips and pics)

As previously mentioned, I have been to Harry Potter World 3 times now. Each time, I have learned something new about taking advantage of all your time there. 

Tip #1: Get to the park right when it opens. It officially opens at 8AM, but you can park starting at 7:30AM. That way you can be some of the first to go to Harry Potter World. It's all the way at the back of the park, so it's quite a walk, but it's best to go from the back to the front of any park. Errol and I arrived at 8AM, not knowing about the 7:30AM trick yet. We went straight to the Hogwarts ride, and there was already a 30 minute line at 8:10AM! 

Tip #2: Enter Hogwarts line through the store connected to it. The real line begins outside of the ride, and it is a line to get to the locker rooms to temporarily store your bags before getting into the line for the ride. You can enter the locker room through the store, and it is so crowded no one would ever know that you came in that way. Bypassing the first part, you have now skipped half of the line! 

Tip #3: Take a separate tour of Hogwarts castle. There is a lot to see inside Hogwarts, but you may not be able to truly absorb it all while in line. You can walk through a separate aisle through the castle, with your bags (and thus, your camera), and at your own pace. 

Tip #4: Have an early lunch at Three Broomsticks. If you've followed Tip #1, you probably get hungry earlier too. Having lunch early, around 11AM, you will miss the long lunch line! 

Tip #5: Buy a Butterbeer with souvenir cup early. Turns out that if you buy a souvenir cup, you get discounts on Butterbeer refills and soda for the entire day. 

If you are an HP fan, you will love HP World. You enter the park, and you're in Hogsmeade. To your right, you'll see the Hogwarts Express. Every 30 minutes, there's a performance (Hogwarts choir, Beauxbatons danceres, Durmstrang dancers). You can have lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and Hogshead is also attached where you can get a pint. You can buy Every Flavour Beans at Honeydukes. And so much more! 

For anyone curious, Butterbeer tastes exactly how you might imagine. But no, it's not alcoholic. You can buy frozen or soda-style, and it is delicious. The best way to describe it is a butterscotch cream soda. The foam on top is the best part, and is actually added separately. 

If you're a Rockefeller, you can afford to buy all of the merchandise. But if you're a poor student, the next best thing is to take pictures with the clothing as if you did buy it all :)

Any of you who are planning to take a trip to Islands of Adventure, please let me know if you need any more tips! It's definitely worth the long lines. Next trip will hopefully be to England to see the actual sets!