"I'm Sorry. This Is Way of Life"

Today most definitely deserves a post. It has for sure been a long day, and though I should be asleep right now, I am here. Writing on my blog. Hmm.... Well anyway! We had our first cooking class today - oh my word, I LOVE it! It was so so much fun to work with a professional Italian chef, in a big kitchen, cooking a 4 course meal. The chef's name is Redondo, though they call him "Dondo" for short. He is quite an attractive man and very talented. So that only adds to the fun of the class :D So this was our menu today, and yes we made everything from scratch:

Insalata Catarina - mixed greens with dry ricotta cheese, picorino cheese, baked bread pieces, and a vinegarette
Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Tomatoes - exactly what it sounds like
Veal in Lemon - breaded veal cooked in a lemon sauce served with grilled pumpkin
Biscotti - almond and pine nut biscotti with vanilla and lemon and orange zest

The first 2 hours we all got to go around the kitchen and pitch in with all the different recipes - which was nice, because if we were assigned to one recipe, we would have no idea how to do the other things. And then the 3rd hour, we got to eat everything we made. And I'm just going to go ahead and say it - it was delicious! Especially the ravioli. That was my favorite one. It was a lot of fun. If my internet wasn't a little challenged, there would be some pictures up on this post.

When we got home from school, we saw that our host dad Benny had come back from his business trip. We knew this because he went down to Southern Italy and there was TONS of fish in the kitchen (the South is pretty well known for their fish). We have already discovered that he likes to bring lots of things back home from his trip. So we had 2 huge boxes of fish that were according to him "just swimming in the sea this morning," 1 box of clams, 1 box of another clam-like thing, and 2 boxes full of mozzarella cheese. I was very displeased to find out that all the nasty shellfish, or whatever you call it that was sitting on the table was still alive. I was... ok when I thought it was dead, but then I got a little freaked out. And of course Benny loved it that I was afraid of the fish, so he was definitely making the most out of that. I got a little closer to a dead fish's eye than I ever wanted to. And he just got out the scissors and de-gutted them right there in the kitchen sink. So he looks at me with this disgusted look on my face, smiles and says to me, "I'm sorry. This is way of life." We all just laughed for a minute and he kept cutting up those fish.

Ok so holy cow, do they love their cheese! Well, it's more like they love the mozzarella cheese from the south. They refuse to buy it here, so that's why it must all be eaten at dinner. There is no option. You must eat an entire ball of mozzarella cheese, because "it will not be here for very much longer." Marie and I tried to share one and they just ended cutting another one in half and giving them to us. There's no telling Italians no. It's not a word they understand in this situation. They also don't understand the word "full." After Marie and I shoveled this food into our mouths and we were about ready to explode, they bring out the dolce. I'm talking huge pastries. There were 7 of them and they cut 3 of them in half and give them to Marie and I. We told them that we weren't hungry for dessert. But again - no is not an answer. So then we said we would share. But that wasn't an option either. So with quivering lips once more, I open my mouth and stick this sugary substance in my mouth. And what do I think I taste? Oh yeah, I'm 98% sure that it's soaked in alcohol. So I try the other one, and yup. I think that one's got it too, and oh, yup! That one too! So here Marie and I are sitting in front of a plate full of alcoholic pastries that they INSIST we eat. I tried giving it back about 17 times, but didn't so much work out. So I'm thinking, ok... maybe this isn't alcohol and it's just some taste I've never had before. So I take another bite of one of them and I literally gag. I really almost threw up at the dinner table. Because not only was I STUFFED, but it was nasty alcohol! I took one more bite of another one and almost gagged again. It's so hard because if you don't eat what they give you, it is very offensive to them. So I'm trying to figure out how not to eat this and not to offend them. But those 2 things don't go together. But I thought that throwing up at the dinner table was a little bit more offensive than giving back dessert. So I just put the plate in front of Benny, and for the next minute and a half, he's waving the pastry in front of my face telling me to eat it. I just covered my mouth with my hand and politely declined. They gave me a look, but oh well. I was literally sick.

So the plans of hanging out with some of our friends from the program kind of died. We ended up just playing Wii with the family and having a great time with them. Which I would have rather done anyways. So feeling sick ended up working out really well for Marie and I! Always an adventure, and I love it :D