Its hard to believe that we have already been here for 6 days. It seems like we just got here, yet the same feeling that its been forever.
This morning started off with a refreshingly hot shower followed by an amazing cappuccino (perfect temperature, incredible flavor) and a fresh crissoant.
Today was chocolate day in class. We made a chocolate glazed squab (peigon) with celery root, apple and a quinelle of squab pate along with fresh chocolate pasta topped with seafood (prawns, scampi, shrimp).
Squab is very duck like in texture and taste and classified as game. The birds that came in just had their feathers removed, still head on, guts, and feet intact. I got to butcher our bird and it was quite an experience. Unlike chicken that has light colored blood and juices, this bird was bloody, similar to beef or duck. We seared the breast bone-in in butter and olive oil to crisp the skin, covered with a crust made from chocolate and finished it in the oven and served it rare. It was accompanied with sauteed celery root and apple along with a pate made from squab liver.
The pasta dish was made with coca, which was unique with just a hint of coca when paired with the seafood. The seafood we had was incredible. We had fresh prawns, shrimp and scampi. Scampi are large shrimp like creatures that have small claws like a lobster and the shell of a mollusk the texture is like rock shrimp and lobster and they are very expensive due to extensive over fishing. They cost appox. $7 each (based on a per kg price) wholesale. To do some quick math, if a restaurant were to serve ONE Prawn in a dish on their menu based on a 30% food cost, which is on the high acceptable end, it would cost the customer $23 for one prawn (i'm pretty sure i did my math right (7/.3=23) and that's without any other seafood, pasta, etc. However, it was pretty incredible. The pasta was tossed in a bisque-like sauce made from the shells of the seafood along with tomatoes.
After lunch we did a wine tasting that focused on Northern Italy Wines. we got a crash course in the 20 different wine regions, 7 are in the North. From there we learned about the sub-division into further areas, the grape viratels, etc. We also talked about paring the two wines we tried.
The first wine we tried was a 2009 Barbera D' Alba (D.O.C.) (<-look it up, too much to explain here)
The second was a 2008 Barbaresco (DOCG)
Though made from the same grapes, it was interesting to see how different the two wines were in both color, taste, quality, etc, contributed mostly to the production processes.
During the lecture and discussion there were two quotes that stuck out. One by yours truly and the other by the instructor.
During the lecture and discussion there were two quotes that stuck out. One by yours truly and the other by the instructor.
"A glass of wine is a glass of love" -me (i could write a whole post on this and possibly will..)
"Food and Wine are not mathematical, yet a science and art that relies on sensory analysis... Sometimes 1+1 will equal 1.5 or even 3" instructor Mossismio
After class a small group of us decided to take a afternoon trip to Pisa, the only thing really to see in Pisa is the tower at the Dumo (Cathedral) there. The train ride was just over an hour and offered great views of the countryside and allowed for some of us to get to know each other better.
The tower is smaller than pictures make it look, however the city is quite nice. Smaller in size than Florence and alot more quiet and relaxing. The city is very picturesque. For dinner we went to a pizzarea. I had a pizza with fresh mushrooms and purshutto. It was pretty good, but quite touristy. Afterwards we headed back towards the train station, exploring more of the city and barging with the sketch seller selling knock off (or pick pocked) sunglasses and watches. I ended up buying 2 pairs of "raybans" for 15 Euro.
The train ride back to Florence was quite nice. Our car was mostly Americans, one of our group members pulled out his iPad and started playing music for our group. The group a few seats back started singing along with us and it was quite a nice experience, especially getting to conversate with someone who is from the US and speaks English well and also knows the culture shock of study abroad. They were law students that are here for 4 weeks and were on their 3rd week of their program. I even got the chance to talk Disney with some of them, somehow my life always leads me to bringing it up. (hopefully that's a sign of job placement in the near future (20 days until im eligible to be placed due to hiring processes)).
As the night turns to morning here, I am off to bed. We are off to do a vineyard tour and wine tasting tomorrow morning.
Unitl-
Love food, Love life, Love one another.
Matt
The train ride back to Florence was quite nice. Our car was mostly Americans, one of our group members pulled out his iPad and started playing music for our group. The group a few seats back started singing along with us and it was quite a nice experience, especially getting to conversate with someone who is from the US and speaks English well and also knows the culture shock of study abroad. They were law students that are here for 4 weeks and were on their 3rd week of their program. I even got the chance to talk Disney with some of them, somehow my life always leads me to bringing it up. (hopefully that's a sign of job placement in the near future (20 days until im eligible to be placed due to hiring processes)).
As the night turns to morning here, I am off to bed. We are off to do a vineyard tour and wine tasting tomorrow morning.
Unitl-
Love food, Love life, Love one another.
Matt
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