Food: eating, making, sharing

I don't know if I have fully spoken of Italian food in a post.  If I have, then I will elaborate... if I haven't, here it is.

I LOVE food.  It's great that the food here is amazing.  Sometimes it helps you overlook the fact that I am almost living in the dark ages: no heat, no hot water, and no internet (I come to the school, which is only open M-F to take advantage of the internet).  I have not been disappointed in anything that I have eaten so far.  I have even made the plunge in saying that I will not swear off "four-legged" animals because it is just too difficult to make it in a place where meat is a prevalent part of their diet.  I really only plan on doing this here, once I arrive back in the States I will go back to my previous diet.  Food is a big part of the Sicilian culture.  Everyone (mother) has their own recipes for simple dishes and they keep the recipes close to their hearts and their homes. It is hard to fully describe all of the wonderful flavors that come out when eating the dishes, but it should be noted that you can absolutely taste the time that went into the dishes.  Time, as I am learning in my Mediterranean Diet course, is one of the most important aspects when it comes to cooking, especially Italian cooking.  Even if a recipe is fairly short and only calls for a few ingredients the time and effort that it took to actually prepare the food for you is evident.  This is one thing I wish to bring back with me.  At home I have a fairly healthy diet.  Fast and fatty foods are not really present in the meals that I eat, and I intend to keep practicing this when I have finished my adventure here.  However, the aspect of time will come back with me... I will take special care in each meal that I make because it will be the source of energy that my body needs.  Aimlessly stuffiing your face as many of us Americans do, simply to curb your grumbling stomach is probably one of the biggest down falls of our nation.  If we were able to take the time to sit and eat a well made, healthy, fresh (!) meal it makes all the difference.
I do know that sometimes ingredients are not easily accessible, especially during certain times of the year and for some people it is just too difficult to buy fresh all of the time.  We have seen this first hand here in Ortigia.  We volunteer delivering food to elderly women and other people who live in the Ortigian ghetto.  These women may have lost their husband and been forced to live in the ghetto due to monetary reasons, or they have moved there from their home towns because it is cheap.  Today we made our first delivery, and although we only deliver a few pounds of pasta and sauce we know that we are greatly helping each of the receivers.  It is remarkable how friendly and thankful they are to receive these "gifts" from us.  Sadly we delivered food to one woman who's own husband locks her in her home.  There is a giant iron fence in front of her door with a large lock on the outside.  Unfortunately she is not allowed out of the home and has been sequestered there from some time.  Giving her food was almost along the lines of smuggling drugs because her husband is a nasty man.  It was very sad to see someone have to actually be mistreated.

Birra, vino: Open container law

There is no open container law in Italy.  The first night we were out a few of the girls weren't finished their beer and we were late for our dinner reservations.  The bartender gave them to go cups so they could bring their beer with them.  Part of this is due to the fact that here in Sicily people do not drink to get drunk, they may spend all night at a bar but only have 1 or 2 drinks.  Along with that we are able to purchase a beer from a Panino shop or pizzeria and walk through the streets drinking from the bottle.  Here is a picture of one girl, Katie and I drinking (being a-holes of course) in front of the local police and police car.  Take that AMURRRICAH!

Photos

For those of you not connected to my fb profile where I am putting my pictures, here are a few:

Ortigia vive

Ortigia is absolutely beautiful, it’s hard to put into words.  I am trying to take as many pictures as possible, but sometimes pictures just won’t cut it.  The days are the best time here, this is mostly because it gets extremely cold at night.  I was told ( ;) ) that this is partly due to being on an island with very little cloud cover or any pollution to trap the heat.  This will become more helpful as the days get warmer.  I am also experiencing many second world problems… we use a small gas heater to heat our apartment, which we only turn on when we are sleeping so we don’t freeze! Our apartment is also without internet.  We have finally got the water heater working, but it isn’t the same, because the water pressure is so low.  I know it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m not… I am very grateful that I have been able to take a shower (even if it has only been once since I have been here), I’m just letting you all in the states know how lucky you are to have heat and a hot shower.  

Another note about the water: we aren’t allowed to drink it… frustrating because I brought a nalgene water bottle and at home/school I usually drink 2 of those each day.  We have to drink bottled water which isn’t terrible because bottled water is fairly cheap, however it will add up as the weeks continue.  For all of you environmentalists (C&R/Binckley) they don’t recycle here.  We can put the water bottles into the recycling, but it just gets thrown away… the recycling barrels are just to make people feel better.

Walking around Ortigia is magnificent.  The Mediterranean is so beautiful as are the streets and buildings.  I cannot wait until the ‘winter’ is over, the environment will be even more breathtaking.  It’s kind of strange walking around the town, there really aren’t sidewalks and all of the cars and motorized scooters go so fast.  The streets are so small they are more like alleys and you wouldn’t think that cars would be allowed to drive there.  Due to the closeness of the cars and the sides of buildings I have predicted that before I leave here I will be hit by at least one car.  If this happens I lose… if it doesn’t the first person to comment will receive a special gift from me (believe me, I don’t want to be hit by any of these Italian drivers!).

I have finally had at least one of each class.  I still can’t definitively say which classes I enjoy and which I may abhor (I learned this from my father… I either like something and if I don’t like it then I hate it… THANKS DAD!).  So far I am enjoying the Italian class.  The teacher is this adorable man who just loves to teach us.  It’s always great to learn from someone who loves what they do and teaching people about what they do.  As far as Italian goes I am picking up a great deal.  It is helpful to walk around and speak to local venders, especially at the open-air market (I’ll speak about this in a different post).  Most people are willing to speak with you, even in your broken Italian.

Classes

13... that's the number of students at the school.  13! In most classes there are only two students... it's really weird.  At the same time it is really neat because we all know each other and can easily go out as a group or to someone's apartment without excluding a party.
Classes have begun this week, which means we are finally in the swing of things.  I have yet to have every class because some of them only meet once per week.  We start M-W at 9 am with Italian, the professor Mario is a hoot.  We also all have to take a Sicily Core course where we will be learning about Sicily, Sicilian culture and history.  I am also enrolled in an archaeology class focusing on death, funeral practices, and warfare.  In this class we will be able to examine Corinthian and Athenian pottery as well as other archaeological practices.  Another class, the Mediterranean Diet we will explore the ins and outs of food as it relates to culture, diet, and personal practices.  In this class we will learn to make bread, ricotta among other dishes.  This class seems the most interesting as of yet.  I begin Volcanology tomorrow.
One neat thing about the school is that they take us on many field trips/excursions.  These will definitely be some of the most interesting parts of the classes.  The only thing that is annoying is they are usually on weekends, which will leave very little time for traveling.

What is hot water?

I haven't taken a shower since Wednesday (18.1.12), it is now Sunday (22.1.12).  In our apartment there is no hot water.  There should be, but our water heaters don't work.  My roommate and I have resorted to PHAT showers: washing just our hair standing/in the sink and using baby wipes (luckily I brought some with me).  To be honest we have decided that as long as we can wash our hair we don't feel gross... and it's true.  With that being said it is a little ridiculous that we don't have hot water, because we also don't have heat.

Day 1 - **** us

Day 1 (and really the only day) of orientation my roommate and I woke up late.  I had been up for who knows how long with very little sleep.  We both set alarms but quickly turned them off the second they rang.  Luckily she woke up at 9:39 am (orientation began at 9) and told me to wake up... my reaction "**** us!" Then we quickly dressed and got to the school within 15 minutes.
Orientation was fine... mostly instructors talking to us about Ortigia and the school.  We had a brief walking tour of places to eat and drink for little to no money (using our student ID's we can get many discounts) then went to a fancy place for dinner.  It was a  four course meal, and not eating meat I was the only one served a vegetarian meal:  antipasti (potatoes, salad, oranges with green onion and olive oil and olives), gnocci with red sauce (divine!!), a vegetarian ragou with fries, and pinapple crusted with powdered sugar.  DELICIOUS!
Afterwards a few of us went to a wine shop and drank wine before going to a bar, the Atrium, where we played pool, and enjoyed beers.  It was absolutely a great time, except for the fact that the three girls that went continued to be followed/hit on by another woman.
All in all it was a great day/night.

Pizza

There will never be a pizza that will taste as good as Sicilian pizza... this I am sure of!

Little Man

Milan - 11.30

Upon arrival at the airport in Milan I was 'greeted' by a young Italian man.  He spoke in Italian to me while I responded in broken Spanish.  A lovely conversation which was drowning in extreme body odor.  I made it through "customs" unscathed, and through security without being man handled.

My first transatlantic fight: holy turbulence/perks of a vegetarian diet

Heathrow - 5.30 am
I will be the first to admit that I am a pansy, flying for example.  I don't like that I can't see where I'm going and I have no control over anything.  Of course I should trust the pilot and copilot (Lavatop;)) because they are obviously well seasoned in flight but it's hard.  Every time the plane lists I think I am going to die, and sudden drops, albeit small, send my stomach rocketing into my mouth.
I now know what it feels like to die... turbulence.  I can honestly say that I would spend the day worshiping  the porcelain throne than to have to experience turbulence again.  It didn't help that I forgot to take Bonine (Dramamine) or the fact that we had just been served our meal.  Never before have I felt so out of control; not only was I not on the ground, but the fasten seatbelt light was on so if any food reversal happened it would have happened in the aisle.  Luckily I was able to keep down all foodstuff!
/
I am not entirely a vegetarian.  I enjoy chicken and seafood is great! To be on the safe side my mother requested a vegetarian/vegan meal for my flights.  Lucky me! I was one of the few served first and to be honest, from looking around I was given the better deal.  Yes I was a little jealous of the cake the non vegans received, while I enjoyed a nice fruit bowl... the trade off? My meal was on the healthy side.

Arriving at Heathrow was not as bad as some told me it would be.  As opposed to Logan whose security let me through with a pair of scissors, I was thoroughly felt up this time.  All because of a  zippered pocket on my yoga pants.  COOL! I survived my first "encounter" with a woman, and yes (JOE) she was wearing rubber (gloves)!  I hope that it is the last time too.

Logan Airport

Let me start by saying how much I hate to fly. Granted I can count how many times I've been on a plane on one hand. However it goes to show that I would rather drive 300+ miles to and from school by myself than board a plane. Now onto security at Logan... One would think in our post 911 society that airport security would be tighter than you know what, then how come I made it past five(!) TSA personnel with a pair of scissors in my bag. My bags were not checked, I was not rudely felt up by the large and in charge TSA woman even though I was/am harboring a pair of fugitive scissors. Maybe they were more concerned about the nearing menopausal woman and her confidante behind me? Who am I to teach these people how to do their jobs? I will post a picture of the fugitive when I'm on my computer... can't figure out how to do it from my phone.

I you find yourself reading this and have not left me your address and would like a personal postcard please do so! I'm here to share my adventure with all of you! (hopefully I keep it real enough so you feel as though you are with me

What I learned at the hair salon...

I went to get my hair trimmed a couple of days ago, and my hairdresser (who does a fabulous job with my long locks!) told another stylist that I was going to Italy.  He, being from Italy had all sorts of questions for me; where I was going, why, what I would be doing, for how long, etc.  He then gave me advice about how to blend a little more with the locals.  He said, blue jeans, and solid colors go a long way.  I was also told that not being a blonde gives me a greater advantage, score for brunettes!
I find that as most people tell me to be cautious of Italian men this was the least direct, but duly noted.

2 Weeks Until Liftoff

I have two weeks until I board the first of three planes ultimately landing me in Catania, Sicily.  Today I received some of the best advice, "Have fun on your adventure but remember, you are not in Kansas anymore.  Be safe!"