Chef Casie says "I do."

It's sort of fun to wake up to vespas and men singing Italian outside my window. I packed my bags and ate breakfast before heading out for my cooking class. The hostel offered regular breakfast but then they had a little buffet with salad and spaghetti and cookies and breads. It was interesting.

I met up with my group at the Florencetown Office. Florencetown does a bunch of awesome tours...biking, walking, vespa-ing, and cooking. There was an American couple from DC and a group of three English ladies in my group. The tour guide was Andres...the finest Italian I have seen thus far. I know you're sick of hearing about the Italian guys, so I will try to make today the last day. I just couldn't believe that my tour guide was the best of all of them. We headed to the center market- the largest Italian leather market stands outside of it. We stopped at a shop to taste many different kinds of vinegars and oils. Weird, I know, but there are so many different types of balsamic vinegar. The Italians use balsamic vinegar on salads, pastas, fruits, vegetables, and even ice cream! I learned that it takes up to ten years and five different kinds of wood to make the vinegar. I also learned that the location of the vineyards has the biggest effect on the taste of the oil. I tasted two very different oils that were produced the exact same way by the exact same olives but tasted completely different.

We bought some ingredients there as well as at the butcher shop and bakery and headed to the ristorante we would be cooking in. There was a large table that we sat/stood around while we made pasta from scratch, bruschetta, boullianaise (sp?), and tiramisu while listening to Italian music and drinking Florentine wine (or water :) ). My tiramisu was the prettiest of all. I was a natural at the pasta-making because of my experience baking bread...I'm a good kneader. I learned how to hold things while cutting so you don't cut your fingers. Andres didn't believe I had never made pasta before. He kept saying "Bravo Casie!" Everything was so delicious! I hope my family is ready for a real Italian cooking lesson and meal. Spaghetti surprise will never be the same. Get your aprons on!! I asked Andres what the difference between bruschetta and pizzete is, and he said he's never heard of a pizzete. The pizzetes my family likes are actually suppose to be called bruschetta. He also said that Giada is not famous in Italy. He had never heard of her until an American told him about her during a lesson. Too bad. She's still legit I guess.

At the end of the course, we had a lottery drawing for an apron, and I WON!! Awesome huh?! Andres said I was his best student in the two years he's been working there. How awesome is that?! He probably says that to everyone. Then, we wed. See the picture of us with our marriage certificate below. ;)

Thank you to everyone who talked me into taking the class. I was really glad I did it until I got a €50 fine on the train to Rome for not writing the date on my Eurail pass before boarding. I did not have a pen and all the other train people have just been writing it in. When I told him that he said, "So buy a pen..they're cheap. Cash or credit?" I had a pen in my backpack that I would have gotten out and written the date in had I known that those two digits, 15/02, would cost me €50.This guy was a grump and a half and there was no way I was getting out of it. So...no dinner tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the next day. :( Way to ruin my week, ya big jerk. I'm still glad I did the cooking class. I'm just upset about the wasted $65. :(

I arrived in Rome and visited the TI to get some TI. They showed me where my hostel was on a map, and I headed there only to find that it was the wrong place. I stopped into a hotel to see if they could give me directions. After asking how much I was paying and offering me a room there, they printed me out a better map and told me how to get where I needed to be. They were so nice!

I hopped on the metro and went on my way. I found the hostel, no problem, and got settled in. This hostel is different than any others I've stayed in. Two brothers actually live here and run the place. They just turned the apartment into a bunk bed haven. Pretty crazy. My roommate is from Germany, studying medicine here in Rome. She's nice, and I really want to be a doctor someday.

Tomorrow, I see the best sights in Rome. I hope my little legs got enough rest today so that they can make it through a long day of walking tomorrow. My feet still hurt, and one of my toes has been bleeding. My socks have holes. I like it. I feel like that means I've really been going hard, you know? And I have. Everything has been so amazing, and it's going by so fast. I will be home before I know it.

Probably my favorite picture of the trip.

Tiramisu...pretty huh?!

Too bad he blinked.

Measuring cream cheese.

So yummy. Both him and the food.

The hot chef

The kitchen

The market

Graduating class of February 15, 2012

Homemade noodles

The Italians don't waste any part of the cow. Here you can see brains, legs, intestines, skin, and tongues.

YUM

Butcher

Making pasta

Bruschetta