An International Food Affair

In agreement with this past weekend's cooking adventure, I'll be (hopefully) taking pictures of each dinner course throughout this week. I say hopefully because even though my camera may be present... sometimes I get SO excited to eat that I forget to take a picture until halfway through. So you'll understand if some pictures are incomplete. I'll post these pictures next weekend. In the meantime, I thought I'd give you a little sampling of some of my favourite things:

• Bread and Olive Oil. The BEST olive oil in the world is made right here in Tuscany, and it is served on just about everything.
• Pasta, pasta and more pasta! Every meal consists of three courses: prima, secondo, and dessert. Prima is always pasta (although sometimes we'll get garlic toast beforehand), secondo is always salad with a meat dish, or sometimes a Caprese salad. Dessert is.. well absolutely amazing.
• A favourite prima dish: Penne with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and olive oil. Who knew amazing food could be so simple? I think the key here is FRESH tomatoes, FRESH mozzarella, and TUSCAN olive oil. Regardless, I may have to try making this at home sometime.
• Fresh mozzarella - in salads, in pasta, in sandwiches. LOVE! Caprese salad is just salad with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella slices. When I say fresh mozzarella, I mean something way better than those bricks you buy at Extra Foods. Fresh mozzarella is unbelievable.
• Dessert... tiramisu, panne cotta, gelato... need I say more?
• Pizza. Again, need I say more? One of my favourites is actually a Pizza Bianca - meaning white pizza. It has mozzarella, fresh arugula, tomatoes and parmesan cheese... but NO pizza sauce. YUM!
• It is January, but the fruit here is still fresh. I often stop at the fruit cave and grab a snack after class... Things really do just taste better in Italy.
• We've found a little restaurant that we like to go to for birthdays. Probably because it can hold a large group of people (surprisingly difficult to find around here), and the food is good. Something I'm going to need to try the next time we go... veal with rosemary. Again with the simplicity: medium rare, seared with salt, pepper, olive oil, and rosemary. (Try THAT with a Caprese salad on the side)
• Chocolate... a wise Cortona Alumni once said "Don't get your parents to send you chocolate from home. Rather, get them to send you money to BUY chocolate. An Aero bar is still an Aero bar 1000s of miles from home. Besides, the BEST chocolate is made in Europe." He was right.

Well if I don't have you drooling at this point, I think maybe you should go to the doctor for a checkup. I'm drooling as I type this. I'm also thankful for that hill I have to hike every day to and from class.....