Snow and Homemade Pasta

As I mentioned in my last post, yesterday we had a bit of snow here! It was cooooold but really fun to walk around and take pictures. Unfortunately, most people were supposed to leave this morning, as today is the end of the program. Buuut flights were canceled due to all the snow (it snowed pretty much non-stop yesterday). So, they have to stay a few more days. It's partly sunny today and is supposed to be for the rest of the weekend BUT on Monday it's supposed to snow again...when we leave. I hope we can get out of here alright...

Our street

Sewing Final Project

In our sewing class we learned how to do many different things on the sewing machine (seams, finishings, pockets, a collar, and more). For our final project, we went to a vintage boutique and bought items to change for a final fashion photo shoot. All of the fashion classes participated in this and were assigned either 60's or Hippie Chic. We got 60's and here are our before pictures:

Mine - a little girl's dress

...and a huge, plain black dress

Kristen - a really huge shapeless dress

Keep on reading to see the amazing results!!

Coffee

Alright here we go...

Coffee made it's first appearance in Italy in Venice around 1570. It was very expensive, so only rich people could buy it and it was sold in chemist's shops. Then, in 1640 the first coffee shop opened in the same city and expanded to other cities including Turin, Genoa, Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples. And the rest is history!

The coffee beans are not grown here, but they are blended here in famous Italian torrefazioni. There are two main types of coffee: Arabica, from Coffea Arabica, and Robusto, from Coffea Canephora, generally stronger. Each coffee is different, with a different mixture of types and beans from different countries. It's really like wine in that way, there are even such things as coffee tastings.

Here's a list of the different types of coffee you can get in Italy (I'm pretty sure this is not a complete list, but I think I got most of them):

• Caffè - espresso, a small cup of very strong coffee
• Caffè Macchiato - espresso "stained" with a drop of milk
• Caffè Corretto - espresso "corrected" with a shot of liquor
• Caffè di Orzo - espresso with Barley, no caffeine
• Caffè Freddo - iced coffee (not very common here)
• Caffè Latte - half espresso, half hot milk
• Latte Macchiato - hot milk "stained" with a small shot of espresso
• Cappuccino - espresso with hot milk and steamed milk froth on top

I'm not a coffee drinker, so I haven't tried most of these (I think an espresso would be way to strong for me). We do have a coffee vending machine in school buildings though and I tried a cappuccino with ginseng once, it was good (I think because the sugar was set higher).

Oh! I also added another recipe for Pasta al Ragu that we ate for dinner tonight. Vivaldo told me how to make it, and it was amazing :D

Caitlin

     

Italian Laws

Thanks to John, who gave me the idea of writing this post, here are some interesting laws in Italy!

• There are regulations for the number of hours in a day the heater can be turned on. And I wonder why I'm so cold a lot... But seriously, this really conserves energy.
• In Lucca kebab shops are banned within the city walls. Other cities only allow these shops if they also sell traditional northern food, such as polenta. This law was put in place by the Lega Nord party, who have been linked to political remarks against southerners and immigrants. Interestingly, the Italian Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia, of the Lega Nord party has partnered with McDonalds to create a McItaly burger. His reasoning is to help Italian farmers, who will provide the ingredients for this burger. But what happened to preserving local foods? It seems that American and Japanese restaurants are safe while African and Middle-Eastern ones are not. There is a line between preserving biodiversity (such as with the Slow Food movement) and practicing gastronomic racism.
• I've read about other crazy Italian laws too, such as it being illegal for men to wear skirts (but what about kilts??), in Rome eating or drinking outside in the historic center is not allowed, and some cities banning the feeding of pigeons in the center to preserve the buildings (I like this one, they are so annoying!).

Through conversations with my 2nd conversation partner, Valentina, (due to personal reasons, I had to get a new one) in the school cafeteria, I learned more about certain "rules" Italians have towards food. She thought it was so strange that Americans drink a cappuccino in the afternoon. For her, it didn't make any sense, and she didn't even understand HOW they could do it. Valentina said that the milk is too heavy for after breakfast, so she almost flipped when I told her kids in the US drink milk with their lunch. Another time she commented that another girl was eating her fruit before her sandwich for lunch. Valentina also found this very weird. I have noticed that Italians are very particular about food. This includes the order as well. I believe I've mentioned before that Vivaldo didn't understand how the Americans they've hosted could mix the primo (pasta) and secondo (meat) dishes because they are supposed to be eaten separately.

Speaking of cappuccino, I think today or tomorrow I will do a coffee post for you all.

Until then,

Caitlin