June 2+3

On Monday the Italian language class went to the Brek, a self-service franchise restaurant, at piazza bra for class. All I had was an espresso, but that seemed to tide me over for hours until I made dinner, I made pasta with a simple cream sauce and a side dish of beef with peppers and mushrooms. It was simple but tasty, and served to help use some of the mushrooms we picked up. Plus since I cooked for my classmate, she agreed to do the dishes, win-win, I get to cook and I don’t have to clean. The next day was an interesting culinary mix, first I had a lemon gelato during my break. I was pleasantly surprised, it tasted exactly the same as the Italian ices I would get back at home. For lunch I had another kebab, only downside was the mayo and ketchup they put on it but whatever still good. And I then picked up an apple from Verra Frutta for a snack, I had bruscheta for dinner at the Cappa, nothing fancy but still a decent meal.

May 31 +June 1

Saturday was pretty dull, I kept to myself the majority of the day, making for myself pasta with a pre-made pesto sauce, and in the evening pasta with olive oil. That’s it, sound boring? Well it was. But, the next day completely made up for Saturday. I, one of my classmates and two of the professors decided to go to a local rice festival, the train we took consisted of a single car which I found funny as hell, I just kept thinking up jokes as to how we were on the train equivalent to a short bus, I kept it to myself but that thought kept bouncing about my brain. After we arrived it took us a little bit to get ourselves oriented and determine were the festival was, once we were righted and semi-certain of our head we stopped into a café to pick-up treats, I picked up a nice chocolate pastry, it was small but tasty and held me over well while we walked, I can’t think of much more to say about it, mostly I believe because it paled in comparison to that which followed. The rice festival was quite a sight, they had a decent selection of foods and drinks to choose from. Also upon our arrival it was made clear that this festival was not just rice but meats from the region. My classmate and I split a risotto and a steak, both were simple but top notch. The risotto was made, as near as we were collectively able to determine, with beef broth and ground beef, the texture was perfect have the creamy al dente quality that one expects from a risotto, and the savory beef flavor was a perfect coupling with the steak that we go. The steak was not particularly thick and perhaps cooked a little more well than I would like, however it still remained extremely tender and was very simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil. After all that we all split a pair of rice crispy treats made with caramel. Afterwards we hung around to take a tour of an industrial mushroom growing facility, the worst of it was the stage were in the produce the growing medium, rotting straw. This is the stage were in the stench of rot is strongest, the stages that follow were all carefully controlled in temperature and humidity, so at most it carries a musky stench, but not unbearable by any means. Each of the four of us were given a small container of mushrooms, a sizeable amount for each person, had no idea how I was going to finish them all.

May 28,29+30

Wednesday was sort of a dull day as far as food went, I had lunch at the university cafeteria, where I had a pasta tomato, ham, and an oil dressing and a banana for dessert. Later that night I went back to Creative hot dog for dinner and due to a miscommunication I walked off with two hotdogs, both with onions cheese and french fries, only one of which I ate that night. The next day I had the remaining dog for breakfast, which meant I was full when the food culture class decided to do field work exploring kebabs, which didn’t bother me much since I had already had a kebab. However that evening was interesting, since I had to observe Italian hand gestures for my language class I went to a bar where I could do just that. I order an aperitif the exact details about which I have forgotten, if recall correctly it included orange juice, white wine, and some bitter that I am not familiar with. I was able to finish both the drink and the assignment and decided to head back to the apartment and I was certain I knew where I was going…I fucking hate when I feel certain of something, I found myself at the Cappa Café about 7 blocks up river from where I expected to be, However the photo professor had spoken highly of the Cappa so I decided to check it out. I was not disappointed, in fact it was much nicer than the exterior would suggest, in the interior the tables all had candle light. The place seemed to me to have a nice beatnik feel to it has if it belonged to or was a determining factor to a small slice of fifties Americana. Anyway, I ended up having a midori spritzer and bruscheta. The next day a group of us joined the Italian professor in heading to Lake Garda, at the train station I again picked up a sandwich, this time the bughy made with mushroom, cheese, and prosciutto, wasn’t too much mushroom which can sometimes be an issue for me, it was pretty good. When we got to the lake we all had lunch at this nice german franchise where I got melon and prosciutto with a nice glass of beer, probably not the best fitted match up but no regrets. In the evening we went to see a free concert that was being but on for charity, we ate at a restaurant near the concert, I had their veggie pizza made with tomatoes, spinach, and eggplant. The pizza was fantastic and the music was great, however the last tune they play is one I best associate with the Blues Brothers, not only were the two singers mediocre but they choose this song to make all the announcements during. So they would start singing just long enough for me to accept their voices for what the were and appreciate the big band pumping out the melody, then all of a sudden they would stop add the band was stuck looping the chorus like elevator music.

May 26+27

At the start of the new week I continued on exploring the various foodstuffs of Verona. While on the bus that lead us to our apartments one of the students who had come last year pointed out this little hole in the wall shop called Creative Hotdog, and spoke highly of the food there. Well, after my classes Monday, having not eaten breakfast (see a pattern yet), I was quite famished and decided to give them a try… Holy Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ! If ever in Verona, come to Creative Hotdog. On my dog I got a tomato sauce, onions, sauerkraut, and mustard, the entire assembly is rather sizable with a large but delicious bun and a decent sized hot dog cut in half length-wise and then placed to fill the bun. The toppings, appearing to be rather fresh, are piled atop the bun and dog and thrown into and oven to heat, the overall effect is quite amazing. After that I went to Verra Frutta, the produce shop near my place, and pick-ed up an apple, this thing was nearly as big as my head. For dinner I ate once again at the pizzeria across from San Fermo and had a “Verona” which was a cheese pizza with rugla, or as the translation called it “rocket lettuce”. It wasn’t bad and I enjoyed it, however after awhile the texture from the lettuce got to me, but that’s just me. I did however learn a lesson in the Italian restaurant culture, I.E. they will not bring you the check, you must ask for it, I spent at least half an hour learning that lesson. The next day we went to Venice, at the train station I picked up a caprese sandwich and Mikado to have on the train, Mikado is pretty much the same thing as Pocky. On the train I picked up a cup of espresso to have with my Mikado, worst choice I could make since I didn’t ask the cost first it ended up being four Euros for this really foul tasting coffee with only the recourse that the Mikado still tasted delicious. Later in the day a friend and I find a quiet pizzeria on the main canal where I got this great pizza with spicy salami red, pepper flakes, and Tabasco sauce.

May 24+25

After finally get the sleep that we all desperately needed our professors knew that our sleep deprived minds were unable or unwilling to absorb the information given to us the day before and so we went on another walk throughout the city to absorb the sights and get some of the history. However having not had breakfast most of us to the opportunity to pick up a fruit cup from the stands at piazza erbe. Saturday’s tour ended near castel vechio near which some of us grab food from a decent little shop, in order to enjoy our food within the castle courtyard. I grabbed wurstel in camicia, essentially a hotdog wrapped & cooked in dough, it was very tasty with mild flavor. After that remembering that I could recall nothing of importance from the previous day I went off in search of the university and most importantly the computer lab associated with them. I failed quite miserably in that regard, eventually walking in a large circle without being aware of it. I did however discover doner kebabs, my R.A. had previously gone on this trip and swore by them. They are in essence what we would call a gyro back in the states with slight differences in topping selection, but I was in no way disappointed by what I found and since they can be found in a number of shops throughout the city they make for a great fast food treat. The next day we took another trip through the other half of the city we did not cover on Saturday, I was certain that here too we would stop at some point and I would be able to grab a bite… We didn’t. It wasn’t till much later that I was able to grab a bite, before attempting to head to the top of the hill that over looked the city. What I was able to find was a sandwich made up of crustless white bread, meat and mayo, it was a plain sandwich to be sure, but I was in no mood to be picky. Despite its small portions I found it held me over quite well, for afterwards I walked for some hours with a couple of friends, eventually preparing for ourselves a small dinner consisting of various meats and cheeses as well as a pleasant after dinner wine.