Susy and Gastronomic Ecstacy

Dinner tonight was probably one of the best things I've made so far in my life. It was simple but so good-- probably not because of my cooking skills but because of the ingredients. God bless Italy. (Just a little side note. If I ever hear of anyone I know even looking at a McDonalds etc while here I will hunt them down and introduce them to a pointy object. Though who would want to eat at a fast food joint while in this country I don't know. Unless its for the tiramasu milkshake at mickey ds. that can be forgiven). Anyway, back to the important stuff. My appetizer was tuscan bread (the kind with out salt) and goat cheese! I know what you're saying: "my oh my marissa, haven't your culinary horizons expanded." But wait, there's more.

Then came the dinner. I'm a big fan of lentils and that particular legume has come to form the basis of many of my meals here. I usually throw it in a pot with one or more vegetables and let it boil until everything is mushy. Today I switched it up a bit by adding... TOFU!!!! Yes, thats right, I found some blessed tofu. While my lentils were boiling, along with tomato and half a red potato (another great find) and some mozzerella, I threw some olive oil and thinly sliced tofu in a pan and did a little sautee/fry thingajig. Put it all in a bowl with rosemary and pepper (my favorite spices. If you haven't noticed I've developed a bit of an obsession with rosemary. I'll probably name my child that now. Well. If its a girl.) and you have an instant genius meal. But wait, there's more.

Lunch today encompassed another great find: BAGELS! I miss bagels so much here. Its one of the few foods that America triumphs over Italy on. It was only one euro and I brought it home, fried up an egg and experienced Heaven in carb form.

If this week couldn't have been any better culinary wise, I also had the best kebab yet. I went to my usual lunch place on Wednesday (as I frantically run from Via Faenza to Piazza Strozzi to make it to class on time) and ordered my usual falafel kebab. The kebabs there are generally good, not too spicy and just the right size. But this week the falafel was cooked perfectly, there was the exact balance of ingredients and an extra amount of fries. Best kebab ever. (If you are in Italy and must get food fast, please go to a kebab place or one of the million caffes, please. MUCH better options than silly old mcdonalds)

AND, if that wasn't enough, I also experienced sushi for the first time. Fake sushi of course, with veggies instead of fish. I didn't fall to my knees proclaiming gastronomic ecstacy (a phrase I really like so I think I'll make it my title) I but it was alright. By the way, I've always thought gastronomic was an awfully unappetizing word for its meaning. But maybe thats just me.

I should probably talk about something that doesn't involve food (though I do have to mention having yogurt and dark chocolate gelato the other day). I've been struggling to get my spring break plans in order. I know for sure I'm doing Ireland (!) and I've been thinking Pompeii or Hurculaneum if I can. I've spent too many nights with a book on Italy in my lap to be able to focus on just one place and I feel there's so much Europe out there. So if anyone has an extra million, or even a thousand dollars lying around don't hesitate to share!

Story time. This happened a little while ago but with Rome this story kinda fell by the wayside. Heading into Il Centro one day, innocently on a mission to buy cheese, I was stopped at the doorway by a Typical Italian Male. Usually one ignores their advances, like any Italian woman, but there was no way around them. Therefore, I was forced to speak. He asked me where I was from, why I was here, etc and I answered pretty honestly but without details. He wasn't a bad guy, just sketch, and, as I said, a Typical Italian Male (TIM). I beleive he was trying to offer to translate, or to "speak" for me but I couldn't really hear him so I just said no. Well, anyway, as I was edging into the store he asked me my name. Not wanting to give my real name I said the first thing that popped into my head. Susy. Yes, of all the names in the world I could have picked, I picked Susy. How uncreative. Therefore I have decided that I need to make up a story to tell forward TIMs with a far better name than "Susy". I do know that I will be British but that's as far as I've gotten. I'll let you know as inspiration strikes. Oh, I just thought of this. To his credit, this guy never once said "ciao bella".

For my goodbye picture we're going to take a trip down memory lane to Venice, to another lane... I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. The credit for this picture goes to Gillian. As you can see, Alaina is in the picture with me. I'm the one on the right.