every good day ends with a good meal

For some reason, I just can't be down in the country no matter what happens. Okay, well maybe I was down when I had bedbugs for weeks on end.... but looking back on it I already don't feel any upset. As a matter of face, after finding out today that my lil' bro Filippo does indeed have swine flu..... (which in turn means that what I have is some form of swine flu.....) I actually just smiled and laughed about it because you know what? I am in Italy. And I am having a great time. And yes, I had bedbugs for a month. Yes, I had to move to a new house. Yes, my wallet was then stolen, and yes, I now seem to have some form of swine flu...... but regardless - I am here in Florence with a FANTASTIC family and everything somehow remains pretty gosh darn incredible.

Anyway. I had a good day. Read a book in Italian, read a fable in Italian, wrote a 2 page paper in Italian. Things are lookin' up. I didn't have a fever. My bros were super cute all day. Filippo seems to be better given that he and Lorenzo were chasing each other around all day. I drank lots of tea. I cleaned my room. I got to listen to adorable Lorenzo practice Spanish in an Italian accent all afternoon. I watched the soccer game and la Fiorentina won (3-1 against Catania..... oh yeahhhh!) And then, to top it off, we had a delicious dinner!

Ravioli filled with squash or pumpkin or something of the sort (same word in Italian so I am not totally sure which it really was....), followed by bread and cheese and those amazing brussels sprouts smothered in Béchamel sauce. Perfetto!

So thank you, Florence, for torturing me but allowing me to enjoy you just the same!

Baci e abbracci as usual!

The Menu for Sunday, September 20th, 2009

I have finally figured out why Italians eat their salad and vegetables after eating their pasta and meat....

The following was the menu for this evening, in order:

One large bowl of spaghetti carbonara (once we all had our full large bowls, Luciana realized that there was still some left in the pot so naturally, without asking, she dumped it into my bowl, making it the largest bowl of pasta I think I have ever seen).

Once we had all finished off every last bit of spaghetti (which took a bit since my bowl was about 1/3 of a pound of pasta...) we were presented with the most amazing veal I have ever had (although I have only had veal once or twice.... but non importa!).

Then came the salad and the eggplant - both very amazing, but really...... at that point, even iceberg lettuce was pushing my limit. Regardless, once we took our desired portions of eggplant there was, again, some leftover and, again, it was piled high on my plate.

To top it all off, we had not only fruit salad, but fruit salad and gelato.... Oddio!!!!

Anyway, back to my main point. Italians must eat their veggies after their pasta because the pasta is the heaviest, followed by white meats and fish and then the vegetables. Then usually there is a small break before i dolci (dessert) but for some reason it appears that we skip that much-needed break in this house....

.......

On a different note, tomorrow is the first day of orientation! We have Italian, conversation time with some young Italiani, history and cooking class at Giovanna's apartamento!

Fino a domani!! Baci e abbracci!