Il cibo é buonissimo!

I have been meaning to blog about my food for quite sometime and I'm afraid after the long delay I wont be able to express how amazing everything was. However, I am going to try and remember and then more frequently update with photos of my meals.

Il gelato- Grom is delicious. All of their flavors are amazing. The crema di Grom which is like a creamy ice cream with cookies in it, is their signature flavor and its simply perfection. The caffé which is espresso flavored is wonderful also I love that they have dark chocolate and dark, dark chocolate flavored. Luckily, there is a Grom in NYC, only one outside of Italy aside from the one in Paris and Tokyo. I have been to Grom in New York and it is the same, something about being just South of il Duomo and being Italy though makes it more enjoyable. Also, knowing we can get it when we get back is very reassuring.
There is also another place about 2 min from my apartment (finally something close) and its amazing. It was an event for our apartment building so it was paid for by NYU which made it even better. It's a really nice and adorable little place. The tiramisu gelato had a strange texture but the yogurt-nutella flavor was delicious absolutely amazing. We tried to go back last night but of course it was closed because nothing is ever open in this city.

La pizza- Lacasamia is a cute restaurant that has a lot of room; nice but casual. The best part is the pizza cost about 3.50 euro and they are really good. I got the spicy salami one I think and then they give you this spicy olive oil to drizzle on it. Pizza, in general here is a big personal size one thats flat with usually fresh (unevenly distributed) mozzarella cheese, a light tomato sauce and fresh basil.
Three words, La Gusta Pizza. So our RA, kept telling us about how amazing this place was but they like were on vacation the first week we got here. So finally it opened up last week and the restaurant doesn't actually open until 7 pm (i told you, nothing is ever open here). When we got there I should put in the disclaimer that we were absolutely starving, but anyway I got the caprese pizza which was the basic fresh mozzarella, basil, amazing fresh light tomato sauce with this AMAZING spicy salami. I cant even talk about it without getting super excited, it was sooooooooo amazing. Omg, honestly I would go all the time its another place just like a min from our apt but we are trying to live on a budget, sorta.

Il cappuccino- Thats all they drink here. Either a shot of espresso or a cappuccino. The man in the campus cafe I think makes them the best, I look forward to them everyday. I do love the cappuccinos, enough to drink them without sugar. BUT I really miss having a large caffeinated beverage in my hand walking into class. Just a regular coffee in hand is a very comforting feeling, especially for someone kinda addicted to coffee. However, one positive is that cappuccinos never cost more than one euro which is much cheaper than the typical $4.00 starbucks drink.

Nutella croissants-On campus they have fresh croissants filled with nutella, pretty self explanatory. It really isn't worth going a day without one. Elaine was right they are AMAZING.
However, I've yet to try or find the "amazing Italian pastries." If anyone has any suggestions on good places to get pastries here, please let me know. Everything seems to be plain cookie type things that are like jam-filled, not my thing. I want something with a lot of flavor and if I'm going to eat the calories it better be AMAZING and not filled with jam.

Teatro del Sale- So back to the restaurant I was talking about before with the screaming chefs from the window where we could see the kitchen. First off it was free so no matter what it tasted like we were excited. Little did I know it was going to be a 10 course delicious feast. So first we had our polenta, bread, hummus, meatballs (the meatballs were made with a different type of meat, definitely not beef and the sauce tasted like my aunt anns :-) ), and quiche-type thing. Then they brought out this amazing bread sliced thin like bread sticks drenched in olive oil, so delicious. Then there were these super wide rigatonis with an amazing cheesy tomato sauce and the pasta was cooked absolutely perfectly al dente. Instead of sprinkling cheese on top they just mixed it while cooking, omg it made a world of a difference it was SO amazing. Mmmm. I dont remember the exact order but also served was a swordfish over peas with this amazing oil based sauce. The sauce was really good but I'm not a big fish person so I was disappointed when I found out it wasn't chicken. There was also sausage over a broccoli, a boiled chicken dish (neither of which I tried, I wanted to save room for whatever else they had). The chicken and potatoes that they served last were sooo wonderful and literally melted in your mouth. Actually we aren't exactly sure if was chicken but it had been cooking rotisserie style the whole time we were eating and the potatoes were flavored PERFECTLY with rosemary, olive oil, and garlic. Honestly, I dont even like potatoes but these potatoes were cooked perfectly so that the outsides were crispy and they tasted delicious. Then for dessert was this amazing super rich cake type thing with a giant bowl of whip cream and those wafer type things that look like giant straws. Of course there was also amazing espresso to drink. Unfortunately I drank the espresso not realizing it was 9 pm already and was unable to sleep that night.

I Latini- So one of our friend is in a homestay and someone recommended to her we go to this place for dinner with a big group because its family style. So nine of us agreed to go, unaware for what was it in store. The waiter came over to us and told us that the student discount was 35 euro per person for a 4 course family style dinner, thats about $45-50. All of our faces were like oh no and we asked for a normal menu. But once we realized we werent going to get much on the normal menu for cheap we decided, we are in Florence, we are having fun, once in a lifetime lets do the family style deal. So all 9 of us gave in and it was totally worth it and so much fun. First off everyone got their own plate of prosciutto and then there were these mini salami things that were delicious! Then came out the pasta which included 3 types: penne bolognese, raviolis, and rigatoni with wild boar meat ( weird I know, it wasnt bad). Then there was this soup sorta thing too but it tasted too much like tomatoes so I didnt really like it. Then came out the meat dish, it was a large plate with prime rib, steak, chicken, rabbit and maybe lamb but I'm not sure. I ate one of the mysterious meats and it was good and also the chicken which was absolutely delicious. Also the potatoes were amazing, at the level of the ones from Teatro del Sale. For dessert was this huge plate of different things I only tried a bite of own or two I was so full at this point. But the biscotti I could not resist, they were the most amazing biscotti I have ever had, they were simple with just almonds in them but literally to die for. Mom and Rita, if I can bring them back for you I will, they were soooo amazing. The nine of us had an amazing evening and the italian owner and waiter treated us very well. It was definitely worth the 35 euro.

Il Gatto e La Volpe- Another good restaurant recommended by some people who came to Florence before. The balsamic sauce to dip with the bread in is out of this world and unlike any other balsamic dressing. Luckily this place is reasonably priced and my spinach and ricotta tortellini with truffle sauce were absolutely wonderful.

Sandwiches- Basically the only thing you eat for lunch here and everyone is really good at making them taste amazing! You already heard about my mortadella sandwich with the balsamic onions which I still cannot get over. Yesterday we went to Bar Lydia and this really old Italian man made our sandwiches that were wonderful. I got pesto, fresh mozzarella, salami and roasted peppers that I also cannot stop thinking about. He was adorable and reminded me of my grandparents from home. Side note, Italian old people aren't like little fat italian grandmothers like you picture that are warm and friendly that just want to feed you. Maybe they are in their own homes but when they walk down the street they are old, skinny italian women that usually have a cane and look scary and mean. In fact no one here is fat, everyone is skinny and petite. You can't fit down the streets if you are fat, like literally most Americans would not be able to walk on the side walk if a car was driving by. Anyway back to my sandwiches. Today I had amazing spicy salami with goat cheese, onions, bells peppers, fresh tomatoes and a spicy sauce on a really good bread. It also came with french fries and a bottle of water for 5 euro. Amazing deal and it seems to be the Florentine student hot spot because while I was in there about 30 people came in and out almost all of which were Americans and Im going to guess students. Another side note, aside from NYU, there are also hundreds, probably thousands of study abroad kids here. Florence is a really big study abroad location in general so the streets especially late at night are almost always filled with wandering, loud American college kids.

So that wraps up my amazing meals so far. Although it sounds like I eat out all the time and just gorge myself on Italian food, that's actually far from the truth. We cook dinner almost every night, some nights which tastes really good others not so much and I walk 2.6 miles each way to class so I'm always starving. We try to be creative with our cooking but we are kind of running out of ideas. Please send me cheap easy recipes on facebook if you know of any, I'd love that. Also, its hard to cook because they dont have the same ingredients here as they do in the US like shredded cheese in general. We wanted to make tacos but couldnt find any cheese that would be appropriate. But we are trying and cooking definitely says a lot of money to make way for all our traveling. Yes so much is booked now, post about that later.


CULTURE LESSON:
Ciao gli studenti di Signora Pasqualetti. Non lo so se Signor Benson ha permesso di vedere il mio blog ma qui una lezione su il cibo italiano.

Italians take forever to do everything and its most obvious in food. In New York City, they want you in and out as quickly as possible to make room for the next guests and to have a high turnover rate. Not the case for Italy, no one cares. First off they give you the menus and for some reason they let you sit there forever to look at it. I don't know if typically it takes Italians forever to decide what they want but they leave you with the menu for a very long time. Also, closing the menu to try and get the waiter's attention doesn't necessarily do the trick. To drink you always order bottled water either con gas (with bubbles, kind of like seltzer) or senza gas (without bubbles, what we typically drink in America). Also, wine is always an option and the house wine usually is priced cheaper than water. The water is served at room temperature and I've never seen anyone have a cup with ice. In fact most things are served at room temperature, I dont really get it. The food actually surprisingly comes out pretty quickly but is never like steaming hot. Both my pizza and my pasta dishes I noticed weren't like steaming hot, which is how I usually prefer my food but whatever. You usually order at least 2 plates but we are cheap and just order one to save money. However, i piatti primo usually consists of a pasta dish or risotto followed by a meat dish i piatti secondo. Although most people sit in the restaurant with friends its also not weird or socially unacceptable to eat alone. In America it always makes me sad to see people eat alone but I don't think it is a big deal here. Finally after you've finished your meal you can just sit and socialize in the restaurants for hours, literally hours. There is no pressure and no one rushes you out. When you want the bill, you ask the waiter for "il conto" and he'll bring it but not pressure. Every time I've gone out to eat except for one of the pizza places its taken at least 3 hours. Time means nothing and Italians relax, drink cappuccinos and enjoy. It kind of stressed me out at first to waste so much time but I'm starting to get really used to it. More culture lessons to follow! Also comment with questions!