Updates...

In our last week here in Colorno!! Crazy how fast it has gone by. I know some of you must be wondering where i am headed next week......

ROMA!!!!

I will be doing my internship portion of school at this great restaurant in Rome. The restaurant is called Giuda Ballerino and the head chef is Andrea Fusco. I actually already got to meet him back in June because he was our guest chef when we did the region of Lazio which is the region Rome is in. I am very excited to go there and start working. Living in the "Eternal City" and being around all the history that surrounds Rome will be amazing. Hopefully i will do a better job of updating everyone when i am there.

The last 4 weeks have been a blur. First a couple of friends and myself went to the beautiful island of Elba (Isola d'Elba). The island is located off the coast of Tuscany heading towards Sardegna and Corsica. This little island is quite famous because it is where Napolean was exiled and he was king of the island for a little over a year. Beside that, it is also a major snorkling and scuba diving area, so if you love to dive this is one great place to come. It was also a great place to run, they have dirt trails that zig-zag all over the island, you could also hike and mountain bike. My only advice is that be prepared for some sketchy driving, some of the roads are pretty narrow and can be very steep but it makes for some fun driving experiences. I have pictures up of the trip in the slide show on my blog here and also on my facebook page.

The following weekend we had a class fieldtrip to Tuscany. We visited three different wineries, a butcher shop, and the best goat cheese farm on this planet. I kid you not, there is no where else that compares. The farm is called Santa Margarita (not to be confused with the wine) and is a great little place and must be checked out if you are a cheese head. We spent the night in Siena and then continued are journey around Tuscany. One of the wineries we visited, Il Boro, is owned by Salvatore Farragammo, of the fashion fame and we actually got to meet him which was pretty interesting and cool. From there a couple of us got dropped off in Florence saturday night. We spend saturday night and sunday exploring the great city. Definitely a must see for art and architecture fans. Also a shoppers paradise with all the famous european brands but also the unofficial italian leather capital with little leather carts every block. Myself, i picked up some nice italian leather shoes, so starting to blend in a little bit with these italians, although my red hair does tend to stand out.

This past week was my birthday and we had a great time celebrating italian style. Definitely one of the best birthday's to date. This past friday we had another field trip, this time we went to Piemonte, in the foothills of the alps. We visited another cheese farm and then went to a farm that was devoted entirely to bio-dynamic production. It was a beautiful day and it reminded me of being back home in colorado. Finally, on saturday and sunday i went with a couple of friends to the east coast of italy, the Adriatic Sea. We went to Pesaro and Ancona, two little cities on the coast. Both were very beautiful and the italians call it the california of italy.

In the last two weeks i have also had some very good eating experiences. When we came back from Florence we stopped in Parma and ate at a 1 star michelin rated restaurant that was excellent. I had this black angus ratetouille that was amazing and the desserts were excellent. We ended up being the last people in the restaurant, so the chef invited us to come see the kitchen and walk around. Excellenct dinning experience #1.
The second place was near Pesaro this past weekend. It was another 1 star michelin rated restaurant that sat on the cliffs overlooking the adriatic sea. Being by the sea everything was seafood and was some of the freshest seafood i have ever had. We had shrimp, scampi, swordfish, crab, flounder, all with fresh herbs, vegetables, fresh homemade pasta and breads....all with a couple bottles of wine = greatness!!
Again we spent almost 4 hours at the restaurant (so beware, if you come to italy and want a good meal, make sure you have some time, we sat at 8:30 and didn't leave until midnight) and again we were almost the last ones in the restaurant. There were two couples who were still there when we left. We didn't get to see the kitchen this time but spent some time talking to the chef and staff at the restaurant.

It is still hard to believe that i have been here for two and half months now but i am loving every moment of it and can't wait to move to Rome and spend another two and half months there. My only concern is my italian but i know after spending two and half months in a kitchen where only italian is going to be spoken, i imagine i might be pretty good at it by the end. Hopefully i will have another update for everyone next week sometime and let you know how Rome is.