Little Miss Muffet

I went on a field trip for my History of Food and Culture in Italy class to an organic agrotourismo about 20 minutes outside of Perugia. It was fun, funny, and we ate lots of good food. Seems to be the general theme of Italy...


We were greeted by a bunch of adorable bleating sheep. They just wouldn't shut up! Baaa Baaa Baaa, the owner of the farm said they were "showing off" for us and that they normally didn't make this much noise. It sure was a funny sound to hear!



Then we went inside to see how the sheep are fed and milked etc... The main export of this farm is cheese, so milking is a very important part of the average farm day.



I felt bad. I ate one later at lunch. But it was so good!


On a more humane note... we then saw how they make cheese! This was so cool, but also very very very stinky. I think it was the enzyme that they add to the cheese, or something, but the room smelled terrible. Not for someone who is feeling queasy, that's for sure! Here is the farm owner checking the temperature of the whey. He had to first heat it up to body temperature, cover it, and then let it sit for 25 minutes. And let me tell you, it was quite a loooong 25 minutes since it was such a stinky room!


In any event, this was a very cool process to watch. I didn't understand the process entirely as it was very early in the morning and I just couldn't seem to wake up today! Also... it was translated by Peter Fischer, my glorious amazing fantastic smelly German teacher! He is definitely my favorite teacher here and this field trip was great. That's him in the left hand corner in the picture below. Although English is obviously not his first language, he still manages to speak it faster than I can. He also adds big words into his sentences when he really doesn't need to. It's not a pretentious thing though, I think it's more like he really just loves these few words. His favorites are definitely "intensely" "immediately" "expediently" "ultimately" "tremendously" just to name a few.


So here we are listening in awe to Peter Fischer and waiting for the cheese to get chunky.


After the 25 minute wait, he heated the pot back up again and stirred stirred stirred vigorously. Then, all of the sudden, he turns the heat off and reaches into the pot with his bare hands and grabs the chunk of cheese that had formed in the middle! Now, keep in mind that this is still very very hot- I couldn't believe he just stuck his hands in there with no protection at all. I did notice that his arms didn't have any hair on them- possibly burned off at this point? That's just a theory but geeze you can see how hot the cheese still is at this point! I think it's a possibility.



So this first cheese (the one in the really big form) was a Peccorino, which is a hard cheese with a very pungent, strong flavor. It's really good and a specialty of the Umbrian region (where Perugia is.) The littler cheese molds you see are a different kind of cheese we saw being made- ricotta. After making the Peccorino, he heated the leftover liquid stuff up and did the same thing again. This time though, since it was cooked twice, it is ricotta. It all makes sense when you look at the Italian- "ricotta" literally means "cooked twice!"


We had a great "tasting experience" where we sampled "the intense flavors of the goat cheese with a common local food pairing" according to Peter Fischer. You guys should all try really good ricotta with honey or fig spread. It is absolutely amazing! After our apperatifs we went outside since it was such a gorgeous day and wandered around exploring the farm. It was quite the climb to the top of the hill but it was worth it- the view of the surrounding countryside was amazing.



Spring is finally arriving! Birds were singing and we could actually take off our jackets! A first since I've been here.


Sarah and Alyssa and I on a log enjoying the weather




So I know this is a funny picture but I wanted to sit in this olive tree- got me a better view of the place :)

Pictures for Rachel

Hey Re! These are the rings I've bought here for me. I really don't know what kind of ring you want, but I really like these 2. Let me know what you think, and find out what size ring you are! Just google "ring sizing" and you can figure it out. Love you!

Magical Venezia!

This city was just completely unlike anything I've ever seen before. Incredibly neat and unique- where else am I going to go a big city that doesn't have cars, has a million languages being spoken everyday, more tourists than residents, nice nice nice nice nice people, beautiful glass, pretty water (I didn't say clean....!) bright colors and art everywhere, and desserts galore.?I give it an A+!

View of the Rialto Bridge from one of the vaporettos, or water taxis. This is how people get around. There really are no cars in Venice (maybe the occasional bus) and I loved it! But, needless to say, this leaves the water pretty dirty. I couldn't tell it was dirty, but I've heard it kind of smells in the summer.



Standing on the Rialto Bridge overlooking the grand canal. It was beautiful, crisp, and sunny for our first day in Venice, and a little more overcast the second day. Sunny, but cold still!


Up close of the gondola activity on the grand canal.


Our hostel was right around the corner. If you click on the picture, you can zoom in and see the nice german shepard sleeping on the nearest boat. I thought of Rebecca and Banta and Bently for sure!


One of the many many many brightly colored stores tucked away in the winding narrow streets. The streets were narrow enough sometimes to reach out and touch both sides- reminded me a lot of Greece!


Wow, ok so I know I write about food every time I post on here but it's ridiculously amazing wherever I go. Actually, we had really bad seafood and pizza in Venice, but the chocolate was top-notch. Clearly I was impressed. Please note the hand-painted chocolate in the foreground and melting chocolate waterfall in the background. It was 10am and I had to have some of that waterfall. It was so worth it!

Wow, this guy is the ultimate girl magnet. He actually makes chocolate, and beautiful artsy chocolate at that. If only Chaz could learn to make chocolate like this...



Sarah was easily persuaded to get some too. We asked this nice lady in perfect Italian if she could take our picture, and she looked confused. Turns out, she spoke English. This was often the case in Venice! We heard so many languages this weekend. Venice receives something like 7 million tourists a year- and only has 60,000 residents. Wow.



Window shopping at night was so much fun! I can't believe how expensive everything was here- even a pizza was at least 9 euro. (They're normally 4 or 5 in other cities.) So needless to say, it was hard to go into most stores to buy anything. But we sure had fun outside :) This is me showing off my luxurious cotton gloves next to the fancshy smchancy leather gloves.

This is a pair of shoes made for Camp Irvine


No explanation needed. Having fun!


Shoes! Shaped like barefeet! I love them!


The next day, we went to the nearby island of Murano, where all the glass is made.


One of the Murano glass "masters" (that's what they're called) demonstrating how to make a vase. It was so cool to watch them!



Tiny glass orchestra


Wow! Big blue spiky glass sculpture. We should take a picture in front of it



Ok so to explain my weird pose... This little guy reminded me of Seymour, from "Little Shop of Horrors." Use your imagination...doesn't it kind of look like it could be a man-eating plant?


Back on the mainland, in an amazing market! They had fresh fruit and nuts and all sorts of goodies for sale so it was great to walk though. And then they had a million little shops selling glass and candles and masks masks masks.



The masks are amazing. So many different kinds! Most are pretty, but some are kind of scary too. I am glad I didn't go to Venice during Carnivale- a lot of Umbra Students did. But, since I don't like big crowds like that, and the masks sometimes creep me out, I think this weekend in Venice was much more my-pace. I liked this mask though!

The artist hard at work.


The famous gondalas! I thought about going on one...but it was really cold and overpriced. It's the kind of thing I might do if Chaz were here, but Sarah and I had fun running around doing other things. Sarah's roomate Jen, and her boyfriend Dwight, also came with us and they opted for the gondola experience. I didn't have the heart to tell them that they got ripped off- 100 Euro for a half hour! I read in the travel books that they always ask that much at the beginning and that you have to haggle them down. Looks like Dwight and Jen didn't know that.... They said it was really nice though so it was worth it to them :)



If I were a pigeon.... I would be a San Marco pigeon! Dang, these guys have the right idea. There's thousands of them, EVERYWHERE in this square, and people selling pigeon food to the tourists (yes, i know how this sounds) to throw in the air. Really an amazing site. Plus, then you look up and San Marco church is right there. Awesome! Just watch out for flying pigeon poo...



Sarah enjoying the new at sunset

Tower in the San Marco Square


This clock has taken something like 20 years longer than planned to re-furbish and clean. There's Italy for ya..

Pretty Pretty Picture Posting

I thought I'd add some more pictures to this, just some of my favorites. I can't write about all of them because that would take too long, but at least they give you all a glimpse into what I'm doing and seeing here!



This one is for Rebecca. It's from the Sunday all-organic market. It and some of the other stuff for sale reminded me of our fun felt hats we tried on in Turkey! Plus I thought you would like this bag :)




Siena. Beautiful.







Gelato. My love. Seriously, it's an art form here!






This is right on the corner of one of the buildings in a main piazza of town. Dates back to a medieval straw market (this is the "sign"). How cool is that? Left over sign from the 14th century? Just stuck on the side of a building that managed to survive WWII bombing? Awesome in my book. Oh, for those who are wondering, they used the straw to stuff their mattresses. (And as far as I'm concerned, Italians still stuff their mattresses with straw. I miss my comfortable bed at home!

Look ma, I can cook!

Mom! Guess what? I can cook, and I like it! I decided it would be a good experiment to see if I could make lasanga (which I had never made before) by inviting 9 girls over to the house and making them dinner.


It turned out surprisingly well and was a lot of fun! The lasagna was devoured, so I'm assuming it was a hit :) Everybody pitched in and brought a different part of the meal, and we sat and enjoyed each other's company. Good times for sure, and as always, dessert was amazing. Monica and Metra thought so too!




And to catch up...Last weekend I went to the once a month all-organic market. It was a little cold and rainy, but the market itself was great. Very laid back and friendly people to talk to and buy things from! I wish I had bought some fresh fig butter but I wasn't sure I would like. I tried Metra's a few days ago and immediately fell in love. Next month I'm splurging! Too good to pass up!

I did get some home-made goat cheese though, which is delicious on toast with jam. There was a big table with lots of other cheeses too, but some of them were a little to moldy and exotic for me to try just then. Maybe next time...I thought this one with the purple mold was especially interesting! The peccorino cheese here is to die for, and the stinkier it is the better!!

In addition to food, there were a number of homeapathy tents etc... I especially liked the soap tent! We walked up to it sniffing and smiling, and the lady just smiled and encouraged us to continue. She probably guessed we would fall in love with her soaps and buy some- I definitely did. She made all of them herself, and each one is supposed to help with some ailment or another. I especially liked the orange scented ones, with actual orange peels in the bar of soap. Just heavenly, as were the lavender, cinnamon-mint, and anice. I didn't think i would like the anice-scented soap, but it was actually really nice. She also had some chocolate soaps, but I thought that was kind of weird to wash your hands with chocolate scented stuff. Plus, it would make me want chocolate even more than I already crave it!

Lovely Siena

Some observations on Italian culture in Perugia: Maybe it’s just the younger generations here, but it seems to me that everyone is always “out” and about at night. I don’t think they sleep here! Piazza Novembre is always packed at night, even if the weather is bad. Raining? Foggy? (it always is) no problem. We’ll just bundle up and hang out in the piazza. Oh, and they start their nights late. Parties don’t even start here until midnight at the earliest, and usually really get going around 2. I can’t handle it! Too late for me!


Now, Siena:This weekend I visited Siena with Elyse, another girl from DePauw, to see a friend of mine (also goes to DePauw) who is studying abroad there. It was so much fun! Siena was just gorgeous, and we had really nice weather for it. I love the public transportation system here- you just hop on a bus, wait an hour and a half, and you’re in Tuscany. Love it! Going there, we didn’t get to see much of what was around us because we left Saturday evening around 5:30 and it gets dark about then. But, coming back Sunday afternoon, we got a good look at the countryside and it was just beautiful! I love Umbria (the region Perugia is in) but Tuscany definitely has a different sort of beauty. More rolling hills and those really tall trees you always see in calendar pictures. It was greener for some reason, which is nice. I keep expecting it to be nice weather all the time, but I need to keep in mind that it is winter here, same as it is at home! Except that it is a lot nicer and not as cold. J


So Siena- a lot like Perugia, city-wise. It’s got the same kind of winding cobblestone streets with red tile roofs, green shutters, laundry hanging out the windows, people walking around dressed incredibly well etc… but it had a different “feel” to it, and I almost liked it better. Siena is still a “big city” by Italian standards (about 70,000 people) but I thought it had a small-town feel, which I liked. Perugia is nice, but sometimes stresses me out with the crowds. Moments like that make me extra glad I didn’t pick a place like Florence or Rome to study abroad in- big cities are just not for me.



So we got off at the wrong bus stop in Siena but managed to find Dan just fine. I had never seen pictures of Siena’s main piazza, which they call “the campo,” so it was amazing to come upon it for the first time at night. It is huge and very unique- I have never seen an Italian piazza like this! It slopes downhill and focuses on a huge palace with a giant tower. It is shell shaped , red brick and people just come to sit outside on the campo and enjoy picnics, drinks, and company. It’s just great. I can’t imagine anyone not liking it.


Sunday morning, Dan was nice enough to give us a tour of the city. Wandering around was a lot of fun, and the main Duomo, basically in his backyard, was very pretty and again, unique.


I was amazed at how much this little city had to offer. Sometimes things in Italy get to be all the same (churches etc…) but Siena surprised me. It was also nice that Dan’s roommate is actually Italian, so he had a lot to offer discussion-wise about the city and life there in general.

We read in a travel book that this spot in the steps of the Duomo is where St. Catherine was apparently tripped by the devil. Since Elyse's middle name is Catherine, and Dan is diabolic to begin with, we re-enacted. Note the cross they have since added to the steps!

We also saw St. Catherine's shrunken head, which is housed in one of the churches and prominently displayed. I thought it was gross, Elyse thought it was neat. We'll agree to disagree. I don't personally understand the Catholic need for body parts to be considered holy relics etc... but if it helps someone in someway then I guess it's OK. I just don't get a kick out of seeing 100 year old body parts!

We tried a medieval dessert the other day in my Food and Culture class called panforte. It was delicious (probably why it’s still around) and it is hard to find in Perugia so I got some in Siena. It is incredibly overpriced but totally worth it. I got the margherita kind, with candied fruits and nuts etc.. in it, and also a chocolate kind. Mmmm yummy.

I think I'm going to Venice next weekend- 2 of my roomates went there this weekend and they loved it! Excited about it already, especially since it's going to be my last big trip before spring break and midterms. Time is just flying by, and since I haven't been doing much studying thus far.... I think I should maybe look at my books before I take the midterm tests. Don't worry mom- I'll be just fine.