Prego?

Santa Croce

Despite playing tourists for the first few days, we didn’t actually eat out until today. We began the morning on the lookout for a cafe, not the coffee shop/restaurant that we mean when we say ‘cafe’ at home, just a cup of coffee. Coffee can be found on nearly every corner, but not in a starbucks-esque location. Tabaccheries and Snack Bars are where most people grab there morning pick-me-ups. So we stopped at a Jolly Caffe Tabaccheria. We checked up in our phrase book before we left on how to say, “Coffee to go, please,” and successfully ordered our cappuccinos portar da via.

We then walked around and shopped for awhile. The outdoor market is nice. The shop owners aren’t too pushy and they all have pretty much the same wares so you can compare prices very easily. There was a leather store right next door that had some of the most beautiful jackets outside. We were looking for the price tag when the shop owner noticed our interest. He came out and with his few english phrases said, “You try it on?” Katie protested. “Come, try it on... just for fun, just for fun.” So we did. They took 50 euros off the price for us... but we’ll still wait on that purchase. It is a really beautiful jacket though. Another shop owner later called out for us to come look “just for fun” and I felt less impressed by the first owner. That must be one of the marketing phrases they all use. Oh well. We were meandering down streets without any particular directions but knowing generally where we were headed. This has been my favorite means of exploring/shopping thus far. We found a store that sold chef’s clothing which is exactly wheat I needed to find. I need a pair of chefs pants for class on Monday, which I now have.

After walking around and shopping and all that jazz, we went to the Yellow Cafe for lunch. We split a pizza vegetario. Yum! The only thing uncharacteristic about this pizza was that each of the vegetables had its own corner of the pizza with fairly strict boundaries. From our table we could see into the kitchen. The smoky taste of the crust and the sight of the giant brick oven told us that the pizza was actually cooked in the brick oven, something not mentioned on the menu (at least not in the English sections of it). I suppose that means advertising this little tidbit would be superfluous. Why wouldn’t our pizza be cooked in a brick oven? For the record, we did order entirely in Italian.. except when it came to asking for our check. We couldn’t remember that word. Conto per favore.

Boticelli's Primevera

After lunch, we walked down to the Uffizi Gallery (see the picture at the top of Katie’s blog for a good reference. There’s reconstruction going on now, so we couldn’t get a great shot) where we spent the rest of the afternoon until they kicked us out at 6:35. Not 6:30. Not 7. 6:35. We got through about 2/3 of it in over 4 hours. I can’t even describe this gallery. All those famous paintings you studied in art history? They’re here, all in the same building. The walls are covered in paintings with nameplates like Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Boticelli, Giotto, Michelangelo, Cimabue, Durer, and other less famous people. All the paintings are so close you could touch them. They’re so much cooler in person than in class.

Leonardo's Adoration of the Magi, unfinished (Katie's favorite that we saw)

For dinner we had planned to go to a certain trattoria that Katie had picked out. We wandered around and finally found it. Closed for two weeks. So we pulled out the Rick Steve’s book and started searching for another good dinner place. We didn’t notice at first that the next place we chose was only open for lunch. After walking around for awhile we realized this too would be unfruitful. Finally, we decided on La Trattoria Nella.We asked directions and kind of guessed at which way to go until we found the right little road. La Trattoria Nella is a very small restaurant and it wasn’t crowded (we were eating to early to encounter many Italians out for dinner... I mean it was only 7 o clock). The bruschetta we ordered for antipasti was really wonderful, but the pasta course. Oh my goodness gracious. We ordered spinach ravioli with a walnut cream sauce, and all I can say is: I love this country. It was everything we could do not to lick the plate. I will be going back for more of that. Before we left, the owners introduced themselves, Lorenzo and Frederico Fattorini. Frederico will actually be teaching a class on Tuscan cooking sometime in the next month or so. Yay! They’re my favorite people in Italy thus far.

P.S. I don't know how--I'm going to blame it on the jetlag and the frigid air-- but somehow I forgot to mention my favorite part of the day! Dessert! What better way to start off a stay in Italy than with Tiramisu? I can never go back to my old tiramisu recipe. Ever. I will learn how they make this. It is wonderful. The layers are smaller than tiramisus at home and the cream is more like a custard. It is so amazing.

In our phrase book there is a phrase in the paying for dinner section: "E se lavassi i piatti?" (What if I do the dishes?) We're hoping this will help us is in furthering our culinary experiences.