Buon Appetito!

So I realize this is probably the blog you've all been waiting for - the one about cuisine! I think I'm asked more about the Italian food than anything by people back home, so I'll do my best to describe the delicious things I eat! Unfortunately, nothing can replace the actual exprience, I'm sad to say.

First, though, I have to let you know that we're having a problem with our Internet, which is why there are still no pictures uploaded to dropshots of Palermo. We also have two computers out of use (out of four), and they haven't been fixed since I got here, so I'm doubting the Internet will be fixed either. But, let's cross our fingers and hope that I can upload some pictures next week! :) If not, I guess I'll have to improve my writing skills and describe the sites in more detail.
So on to food. I'm very fortunate in that I live with Aurelio, who is an excellent cook! In fact, the school offers private cooking lessons (for a bunch of money) to students, and Aurelio is the teacher! We've only had three weeks of students at our house, cooking our dinner, and no worries - while they are students, Aurelio is always in command, so we don't end up with burned stuff! When we have the students at our house, we have longer meals, and more traditional Sicilian dishes; however, Aurelio teaches all the students the same dishes, usually, so for the first three weeks, I had only tasted about 10 different things total because we kept eating the same dishes (although they were all excellent). At the house, meals are similar to those back in America in some ways. For instance, while the food is good, it's not like I'm eating a 5 star meal every night. It's just like how back in the states you don't typically cook oustanding meals every single night. Some nights you have leftovers, some nights you cook something easier, and some nights you might go all out. It's the same here. We have some melt-in-you-mouth dishes maybe 2 times a week. The other days are reserved for leftovers and simpler things that are good, but not fall out of your chair good.

In a traditional Italian meal, there are several courses. The first course is always pasta (or sometimes risotto). Thankfully, I absolutely love pasta. Aurelio likes to pile my plate high with pasta, and I usually have to remember to save room for the other dishes. Once everyone is finished with the prima piatto (first course, or literally first plate), then we move on to the meat (carne) and side dishes (contorni - which I will never again confuse with the bill). When I first arrived, there were other American students staying with the Ferraris, and the three of us would put everything on our plate at once. Aurelio would always say that we Americans ruin his food by mixing everything together. Now, they usually keep the meat off the table and in the stove to stay warm, and I've adapted to eating only one thing at a time. I have discovered one negative about the two separate dishes. With the second course safely tucked away somewhere, I never know what dish is coming up, which makes it difficult to know whether I'm going to want more pasta or not. While are the dishes are good, there are some nights with really outstanding pasta or really outstanding carne. But because I don't know which is going to better, I can't fill up on thing. There have been several nights when I ate plenty of pasta, only to discover something better came out later! :(

That's a typical meal at the house. Restaurants operate the same way, but they are used to tourists coming in and only ordering one course, especially for lunch. It's not common to eat a huge lunch, so it's not weird at all to only order a pizza, a salad or just pasta for lunch. There are several different kinds of eating establishments here. There's a "hot table," which often doesn't have tables. Usually you walk up and order something from the display cases, and they'll heat it up for you (if it's not already warm). Then there are pizzerias and ristorantes, where you actually sit down and order. Interestingly enough, there isn't much different in the atmosphere between a really nice restaurant and a normal restaurant (of course, I haven't exactly gone into a really really nice restaurant). But, when I've gone to the pizzerias before, they've had nice tablecloths, cloth napkins, lots of silverware, two glasses, etc. The set-up looks about like a place back in the states where I would pay $15 to $20 just for an entree, but in reality, I'm only ordering a pizza for about 6 euro.

In the restaurants here, you don't tip, but a lot of resaurants include a "cover charge," which is often equal to what a tip would be back in the states. One thing that I really like about the restaurants here is that they post the menus outside. So before we enter somewhere and get stuck spending a bunch of money, we can see the menu and prices. One interesting thing about the restaurants is that the food often doesn't come out at the same time. If you're just dining with two people, then chances are good you'll start eating together. In groups larger than that, though, the food comes out whenever. In fact, I've gotten my food about 30 minutes before someone else did. Because of this, it's normal to begin eating when you've received your food, instead of waiting for everyone else. If you wait, your food may be cold. At the house, as well, we usually eat once Aurelio and Angela tell us to, even though they haven't sat down yet to eat. This was a bit hard to adjust to at first, as I always thought I was being rude by not waiting. But now I know it's more a practical thing than anything.

There are also cafes and bars, and they are very different from American bars. In a bar here, you can walk in and get an alcoholic drink, a coffee, a hot cholocate, and usually some sort of sweet snack. The bars are open from lunchtime to evening (but of course closed usually between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.). And the people here drink at any hour of the day. Another weird thing about the bars is that most people don't sit down at them, especially in the morning if they just want an espresso. They'll come in and order a drink, and then just stand at the bar, drink it, then leave. Many bars actually charge more if you sit down, so you have to be careful for the hidden charges!

There are also many many gelateria and pasticcerias, which are my favorites! These are just ice cream shops and places that sell sweets. Actually most of them also sell alcoholic beverages and coffee as well. I absolutely love ice cream, so I'm loving here where they eat ice cream all the time, even though they're wrapped up in parkas and scarfs. It's been too cold for me to have any the past two weeks. The Italians also like to order several flavors of gelato at once. I have yet to try this as I much prefer to concentrate and enjoy one flavor at a time, but one day I will have to try it. Clay and I usually order two different flavors, and then each try the other's cone. While I like all the flavors I've tried so far, somehow Clay always orders the better one!

In addition to gelato, another favorite of mine is granita. I'm not quite sure what to compare it to in the states, maybe a smoothie. I've only tried it once. For some reason, they think gelato can be eaten year round, but granita is definitely a summer thing. One of the few places that has it right now only has four flavors (they normally have about 20). It's also cold like ice cream, so I'm not quite sure why it's only for the summer, but gelato is OK for the winter. Anyways, both are absolutely wonderful!

I'm not a coffee drinker so I can't comment on the coffee. I have tried one or two cups along the way, and I about have to spit it out. No matter how much sugar or milk is in it, I just don't like that coffee taste. When we go out in the afternoons for coffee, I usually order a ciocolatto, which is kind of like hot chocolate. The quality is hit or miss, really. It's very thick and sometimes has to be eaten with a spoon. From what I can tell it's basically just melted chocolate, so it's way stronger than a hot chocolate back home. Some bars will offer it with latte, and then it's just like hot chocolate back home. But it's the only hot drink I'll get here, so I've tried it at several different places!

Another drink from here is limoncello. It is an after-dinner alcoholic drink. You are only supposed to drink a little, about half of a shot glass. Even that is too much. It is way to strong. The few times I've had it, it honestly tastes like pure liquor with some lemons squeezed into it. Yuck! I did like it once, and that was only because Aurelio had freezed it, so it was more like a slushie. Otherwise, it's troppo forte!!! (too strong).

We do have wine at the table with every meal. The Ferraris drink the same wine every night, and I'm not a huge fan of this particular brand, so I don't drink it a whole lot. Aurelio also waters it down in his glass, which I'm not quite sure why. But the wine I've had in other places has been exceptionally good. They do like to drink their wine!

The fruit here is also amazing. I was never much of a fruit eater, but I eat oranges several days a week because the oranges here are incredible. There are these special oranges, called blood red oranges. They are so sweet and incredibly good. I doubt I'll eat fruit when I return home, though. It just doesn't taste the same.

One other favorite food of mine is arancini. Essentially, they are rice balls. They can also be hit or miss. They take different kind of rice and put various things in it, shape it into a ball, and then bread it and fry it, I believe. All arancini look the same, so sometimes I order one and it's only cosi-cosi (so-so). Other times it's incredible!

Another very interesting thing here is the bottled water phenomenom. I always thought it was ridiculous how much bottled water American drink. I don't see what's wrong with the tap water (except at the beach), so why should we pay money for something we get for free?? Especially when they're practically the same. Well, we've got nothing on the Italians! They don't ever drink from the tap! I'm curious to know how many bottles of water they go through each day. At our dinner table alone, we usually finish off three or four liters! And the trash that generates! On top of that, when you go to a restaurant and order water, it's not any more economical than ordering a coke because you have to pay for bottled water! I'll be glad when I can go back to the states and get free water! I do only buy one water bottle a week, and then I just refill it from the tap, since there's no difference, and the tap water is safe to drink.

As far as my typical meal schedule, I do eat three meals a day. For breakfast, I eat cereal. They aren't big breakfast eaters, and most Italians usually only have coffee and tea with some bread. I think one of the first meals I'll want when I get home is a huge breakfast-for dinner. Clay and I go to the grocery store on Mondays and buy sandwich stuff for lunch to save money. We eat sandwiches, crackers and fruit for lunch. Then on the weekends, we go to pizzerias or restaurants and enjoy a sit-down place. The sandwich lunches are a great idea because I then have enough money for an afternoon snack! Dinner is very late here. We eat dinner at 8 p.m., which is actually early compared to my other friends. Typically the families begin to eat sometime between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., and dinner can last up to two hours, easily.

They are very lax during dinner, and because of the separate courses, we sometimes even have a break between the two. At restaurants, you actually have to flag down the waiter and ask for the bill, because otherwise they'll assume you're hanging around for another hour. There doesn't seem to be the American mentality of pushing people out the door, which I like, but at the same time, the waiter may disappear forever when we're ready to leave!

All in all, I eat pretty well here. I can't tell if I'm gaining weight, losing, or maintaining. My pants are looser, but that's probably because they haven't seen the inside of a dryer in awhile. I walk a lot, but then again, I eat a lot, and the things I eat are pasta and sweets. I'm going to guess I'm evening out! We actually have a scale in our bathroom, but it's in kilograms, so of course I think I'm lost weight!

I'm sure I'll think of more stuff later, so I'll add it in another blog. Enjoy your weekend! We don't have any big plans as I still feel a little under the weather, and I think it's best to rest this weekend. We may head into Messina or Catania on Sunday for some shopping and a nice lunch. We'll see. Until then, Ciao!