I haven't written much about my living situation yet. As I said before, I share a room with Kristen and we live with our host mother, Graziella, and her live-in partner/boyfriend, Vivaldo. They both have children who are grown up, some with kids of their own. We also have some other students living with us: 4 girls who go to James Madison University, which has their own program in Florence. So, there are 6 girls living together, and Graziella and Vivaldo cook for 8 people (8 HUNGRY people because they always give us so much food) Monday through Thursday. The other girls don't get dinner on Fridays because of the way their university does the homestay contract, but we do.
On one such Friday, Graziella and Vivaldo spent a good bit of time complimenting us on our table etiquette. Like how we eat the primo piatto (first course, usually pasta) then the secondo (meat or fish and usually potatoes). It really bothers Vivaldo how the other girls usually mix the 2 dishes together, but Kristen and I have adopted the "when in Rome, do what the Romans do" phrase and follow Graziella and Vivaldo's lead. We also finish all of the food we are given (99% of the time). Believe it or not, we eat more than any of the other girls. Now, Graziella does give out huge portions and we don't eat a ton for lunch so we are nice and hungry for dinner, but still. This also makes Vivaldo a bit angry because when the other girls don't clean off their plates, it makes him believe they don't really like the food (even though they repeatedly tell him they do).
Vivaldo has very strong opinions about this subject. He said that they could meet anyone, even a prince and it would be bad to have dinner with him with their manners. They have seen this in almost all of the other American students they've hosted, and they have been doing this for a little while. So, they complimented us and told us that we aren't Americans, but we are really Italians. I'll take that.
If you haven't noticed, I put up a recipe for fried zucchini flowers Graziella made for us yesterday. They were so good, and the recipe is pretty easy. You should take a look!
Ciao!
Caitlin
Does Vivaldo like grappa? Post a picture of Graziella and Vivaldo sometime.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely take and post a picture of them. Just haven't had a chance to catch Graziella when she is picture worthy.
ReplyDeleteI asked Vivaldo last night if he likes grappa and he doesn't. He drinks wine with his meal and usually a minty coctail afterwards. He doesn't like sweet liquors either.