Days one and two

What's the old saying, "whatever can go wrong, will"? Yeah. After everything else, Alitalia lost my checked bag, with my knives and all my textbooks, not to mention clothing. My limited ability to speak Italian also made alerting them to this quite difficult. C'est la vie, things could always be worse, and who could really be sad someplace that is this... breathtaking?

This is the view from my window at the B & B. Nice, huh? I also have the greatest shower ever, it not only has an adjustable showerhead, but a ceiling mounted one as well, back massaging jets on the seat, a mirror, built in radio, and foot massager. Snazzy!

This is the main square in Orvieto, I've done a bit of walking, but haven't taken too many pictures, yet. We are going on a walking tour of the city tomorrow, so I will most definetly have quite a few images from that. I will say, this may be the most impressive city I've seen in my worldly travels thus far, as though someone plucked it straight from the middle ages and scattered patisseries, carnicerias, trattorias, wine shops, and boutique clothings stores liberally over it. I can't even begin to describe the cured meats on display here... I will get pictures, definetly.

This is the entrance to Ristorante Zeppelin, our home base for cooking classes and meals. The hospitality of Chef Pollegri is just unreal. The courtyard adjacent to the kitchen has a row of terracotta planters filled with parsley, sage, sweet basil, rosemary and nepatella, and four larger planters with bay (laurel) and kumquat trees, all the herbs are picked seconds before being added to the food. We will be planting more soon, as well, since primavera is upon us.

This is my roomie, Michelle, from North Carolina, and I couldn't have asked for a better person to share close quarters with. She's been beyond helpful with loaning me toiletries and pajamas in the absense of my bag! Actually, pretty much all the students on this trip are great, we all clicked almost instantaneously.

Mangia! This (phenominal) mushroom lasagne was our first course last night, the funghi here are quite delicioso! In fact, all the food here is... otherworldly, in an amazing way.

Last night's segundi, braised cabbage with local raisins, arugula, and braised then sauteed pork cheek. I can't get over how amazing arugula tastes in... pretty much everything. The pork cheek was super tender and flavorful, the Italians certainly love their porchetta!

Tiramisu, with fresh mascarpone. And, the wine and espresso flow freely at all hours of the day here, I really like this lifestyle! It pains me to think that upon my retun to the states this will be considered... unacceptable.

This morning for breakfast (at about 8 am, I couldn't sleep more than two hours last night, due to jetlag and my persistant insomnia) I had some fresh Taleggio cheese (a soft cheese similar to brie but a little more cheddary in flavor) I got from a shop about a block away, (where my limited Italian came in very handy), some crusty bread, and a slice or two of salumi, and of course, espresso, which it's customary to drink constantly, or at least when there's not a glass of wine in your hand.

For our Italian cuisine classes, we split into two groups. The morning group makes lunch for everyone, and the evening group (including myself) prepares dinner. And... yes, wine is drunk during classes. You all may have to just join me here in Italy, I'm not sure I'll be able to survive in America after this!! Above is pasta alla amatricana, hand made semolina noodles with tomato sauce, ground pork, onions, garlic, and red pepper, topped with parmesano cheese.

And speaking of porchetta, our second course for lunch today (I know, right?) Every meal here is multi-course, at least three. I... have been careful to pace myself and eat slowly, I'd really rather not roll off the airplane when I get home!

Anyway, above is the swine trifecta: braised pork belly (re: 90% fat... seriously) with chunks of super crispy pork skin, sliced fresh pork sausage and dried then stewed peppers, the veggies are a combination of peppers, squash, tomatoes, onions, olives, and mozzarella cheese. The skin was my favorite part, ooohhh, thinking about it makes me drool a little. I had to limit myself to eating the veggies and 1/8th of the belly (all the skin, though!) since that well exceeds my RDA of saturated fat!

The dessert at lunch, spongecake layered with chocolate and cream, soaked in cherry liquor. This was my least favorite thing so far, mostly because I'm not a fan of cherry liquor. After a bite I decided to save room for dinner. Not saying it wasn't good, just not my cup of tea. Quite pretty to look at, though.

I forgot to take pictures of our first two courses at dinner, (shame on me! This was my group's meal, anyway.) but they were: fried tortellini stuffed with spinach and ricotta, in a red pepper coulis drizzled with balsamic reduction, then a soup of local lentils, favas, and black beans with a huge chunk of gorganzola dolce in the center. Above is a stew of wild boar, with olives, mirepoix, garlic, sage, raisins, and lardo (cured pork fat), which is the dish I made in conjunction with another student. The greens are braised chicory, the starch in the background is a potato flan with carmelized red onions.

And another version of tiramisu, with rum and espresso, fresh mascarpone, ladyfingers, a hint of sambuca, and crumbled chocolate biscotti on top.

If you couldn't tell, this is food paradise, literally. I'm just overwhelmed by how amazing this trip is so far! Oh, and the street I'm living on is Via Paradiso, how appropriate is that?!?!

Ciao, ragazze!