Day 4

After an amazing dinner the previous night, I wasn't very hungry so I had pancetta and formaggio panini for lunch which was exceptionally good. I also had a glass of sangiovese. What's great about Italians, as opposed to say the Irish, is the implicit moderation. My wine class had a line on it marking off 10ml (see photo). So, if you have a little wine with lunch you only have a little wine with lunch. It's so civilized. Perhaps this is how we should reduce binge drinking in the United States. We could encourage norms in which we drink 10ml glasses of wine slowly during lunch. That way, we might learn to enjoy life a bit more.

The cafe that I ate at was just around the corner from one of the fish markets. The fish are all cleaned up and out of the street by noon. I thought about buying some of the more interesting looking ones and cooking them at home (with ham I guess), but (alas) people keep inviting me out to dinner.

I took a wrong turn while running today and ended up on a five mile jaunt this afternoon. so I was good and hungry by dinner time (which is 9pm) Earlier I had asked the manager of the apartment I'm renting where to go for pizza when the boys and Jenna get to town (Jenna being big on pizza!) He told me this place that's down the alley, then down another alley, then down an alley. Sounded promising. I meet up with Elena, a visiting professsor from Spain, who lived in Florence for four years while studying at the EUI who wanted to get a quick, early dinner because she was taking the train out early the next morning. We get there at 8:30 and it's EMPTY. So we look for another place. The only other pizza places look like the Italian version of Ann Arbor's New York Pizza Depot. Great pizza, but no ambiance. So, we return to the original place. It's now 9:15 and we cannot sit on the ground floor because the place is so crowded. We're shuttled upstairs and I'm given a menu in English without being asked. Must be the button that says "I don't speak Italian" that I'm wearing.

Elena gets tagliatelle in bolognese. Thick, al dente pasta that's almost mustard yellow with a very meaty sauce. She's extremely happy with the dish. I try one bite and would feel regret were I not eating the most amazing pizza I've ever had. Fabulous thin crust. Light sauce. Parmesan cheese, finished off with a "rocket" salad with cherry tomatoes on top. And, if that's not enough, they bring me a bottle of olive oil infused with red chiles that I drizzle over the pizza.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention the deep fried squash blossom, sardine, and eggplant antipasto. It was not unlike something you'd have at say Olive Garden (ha!)

For the record, I have been told that the only sushi place here is lousy.

Day 3

More alpine strawberries for breakfast (note the pattern).

I was going to go for pizza for lunch but then spotted a bakery in the student section with spinich calzones and apple tarts. Calzone was fine -- nothing special. Tart -- I'll let the picture do the talking.

For dinner, Carlo, a colleague and his wife had a party. She made a baked rice dish with olives and zucchini that was fabulous. We then had tuna sausage, spinich salad, and tomatoes which we dipped in freakishly good mayo. You just wonder why we eat Miracle Whip at home when home made mayo is so fantastic. We then have a home made almond torte. Ground almonds, flour, marscapone, and more ground almonds. It's about an inch thick and the size of a dinner plate.

We complement that with chocolate, vanilla, and coconut gelato. I was going to hold off on having any gelato until the boys and Jenna arrive, but now I'm off the wagon. Look out!!!

We finish with grappa, whiskey, and chocolates. It's midnight. I stay up until 4am digesting food.

Day 2

For breakfast, I go to the street market and buy some fresh alpine strawberries (and some bananas). The strawberries are amazing. They'll be a daily treat.

I have pesto at a bar for lunch with homemade tagliatelle. Fabulous. They seem to use more basil and less olive oil than I would have expected and if there are nuts in there, I'm not tasting them.

For dinner, I go to Pappagallo, a very old and famous restaurant. I was surrounded by pictures of long dead opera stars on the wall who'd eaten there. Need I say more? I have their classic green lasagna which is elegant but simple. It consists of layers of green pasta, a simple ground beef ragu, very similar to the Marcella Hazen Cardinal's ragu but not as much cinnamon, some bechamel that's really good (must be the cream) and then fabulous parmesan, which they come and scrape over the lasagna as well. The waiters at this place have straight spines and grate cheese with an elegance that's hard to describe.

For the main course (that's right a lasagna appetizer - hey, I'm in Bologna), I have a grilled pork chop wrapped in filo dough and tied with a bow. It sits in the center of the plate and to the north, south, east, and west lie dollops of spinach gnocchi. (I resist the urge to quote Auden here.) Drizzled in a spiral pattern on the edge of the plate is the classic port reduction. Nothing fancy here. No foam. Same food they've cooked at this location for more than a hundred years. It took a lot of will power not to lick the reduction after I'd finished off the pork chop. By the way, the chop was thin, pink, and firm. Perfecto!

Day 1

I arrive late and Daniella, the department chair, takes me to a bookstore for dinner. That's right a bookstore. Daniella has tortellini filled with ricotta in a balsamic vinegar reduction that's so ridiculously good that she gives me half. I have a special bolognese sauce that they made that day that's got carrots, tomatoes, pork, and onions. Outrageous.

Just in case you missed the reference above. This was a bookstore!! I can't wait to see what they serve at the shoe store down the street.

No dessert because it's 11pm.