Crudo

No, I don't mean crudo as in crude. What I am talking about is the Italian version of Japanese sashimi. It's pretty interesting, and I've never heard about it before. Raw fish with a delicate balance of fat (olive oil), acid (lemon juice or vinegar), salt and spices. Another chef, B. Becht, even invented Italian Sushi, which is different because it is little, artistic versions of any traditional Italian dishes. However, this trend never really caught on in Italy, but apparently it is popular in Japan (John?).

These concepts work so well because Italian and Japanese cuisine are actually similar, despite being so different. They both focus on the taste of natural ingredients in dishes, and Italians are extremely particular about their ingredients. They get the freshest fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses because having good ingredients is 80% of the cooking (at least). The dishes we have for dinner are all homemade (check out the album Kristen put up on Facebook: A tavola) and simple, but delicious because the tomatoes, for starters, are amazing! That is why there are so many markets around here, for people to get local-grown produce so often. Italians generally do their grocery shopping pretty often. Milk is sold in much smaller containers than I'm used to, only 1 liter. At the supermarkets, the milk sometimes isn't even kept refrigerated because they go through them so fast, which still seems bizarre to me.

Well, I put up 4 more recipes from cooking class on Monday as usual, but I also added a rating for each dish so you can see what I thought about it. I hope you find it helpful!

Caitlin
  

Hiking in the Florentine Hills

I was exhausted yesterday because Kristen and I did a 10 mile hike through the Florentine Hills that afternoon in about 4 hours. Definitely worth it. We saw some beautiful views that we wouldn't have otherwise and got an awesome workout (I'm a bit sore today). Luckily, it did not rain during our hike because up until the day before, the forecast was rain all day. It did rain before the hike some though, so our shoes got caked in mud at one point. They felt like weights.

We took a bus up north to get to the starting point (Piazzale Michelangelo is on the other side of Florence for reference). Then, we walked up some roads and started on the trails. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:

We are not Americans

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.

Parco delle Cascine

Today, after our Italian class we went to the Parco delle Cascine, since Italian is our only class of the day and so we get done by 9 on Tuesdays!

It was a bit of a walk to the park, but well worth it. In the center, there are almost no trees and greenery in general. So spending some time in a park was very nice. We followed the Arno a majority of the way there too, so we had a lovely stroll.

The Mediterranean Diet

Today in my cooking class, we learned about the Mediterranean Diet. However, it really shouldn't be called "Diet", but "Lifestyle". Because, although there are various foods that are common to the 16 Mediterranean countries, it also includes a general attitude towards food and life. I think that it would be good for everyone to incorporate some of these aspects for a healthier lifestyle.