A Bite Of The Big Apple

Hello Darlings,

I have been home from Florence for a bit now and while I am ecstatic to be home with my family and friends, I miss living in the magic city horribly! All of the moments that I've shared with the city, some with friends, some by myself, will be the best memories that I can take away from my experience there. But now, I am back in New York! With the warm summer months ahead of me, I am looking forward to sipping cocktails by the beach in Cape Cod where some of my new friends live (legally! I turn 21 in June), interning at a NYC magazine, finding a second job (eh, not so excited about that one), getting ready to move into my new apartment off campus, and reading a lot of books. So, get ready for a terrific summer with me over here at EFL and get ready to soak up the sun!

It's T-Shirt Time

Ciao Lovelies,

Seeing as how it's all of the news, I'm sure most of you are informed that the Jersey Shore cast is filming their fourth season here in Florence. I'll admit that I have mixed views of the show as they do portray young Americans and Italian-Americans in a pretty negative light yet I can't deny how entertaining they are to watch, almost like a train wreck where you just can't look away. So when I got news that they were moving in on my final day in Florence, I sacrificed an hour in the middle of the day to watch them move in. And after our last nice dinner out, with the 6 new best friends that I made, we caught the cast walking around the city and followed them around.

I'm at the far right, in the middle of speaking.

I'm to the right of "The Situation's" head, with my friend Kate

I'll admit that I felt ashamed that I was caught up in the hysteria but it's a strange force that pulls you in. These people contribute nothing to society except entertainment and it's not even the quality entertainment that actors and singers provide you. Yet, because these people are on T.V. people, myself included, get wrapped in the thrill of being near someone "(in)famous" and will see what they're up to.

So what are your thoughts: Was it ridiculous that I spent several precious hours following the cast around with my group of friends? Can you understand the hysteria not only on reality T.V. stars but celebrities in general? What do you think about the Jersey Shore? Honesty is always appreciated :)

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

What I've Learned Thus Far

Ciao Darlings,

With mere days left until I return home to New York, here are some things that I have realized about myself and some discoveries I discovered while studying abroad in the beautiful country of Italy.

• You may think that it can't get worse than your home campus library, but it can. I had to e-mail any files I needed printed and then go to a separate building down the street to wait in line and then print. Awful.
• I love gardens. Borderline obsessed. 
• Edit group work projects yourself. (I learned this the hard way)

• When going into museums or any building for that matter, always look up. More often than not the ceiling will be painted or decorated.
• Invest in a camera that does not take blurry pictures when in motion. I have snapped beautiful pictures in transit and no longer have to run to catch up to my friends if they leave me behind while I stop to take a picture of something awesome.
• Be a traveler, not a tourist.
• Try, really try, hard to speak the language. The locals appreciate it more and you will feel more accomplished when they understand and answer you back in their language. 

• Plan ahead. Look up times days before leaving and don't book anything until details are concrete. The only exception to that is if you find a great deal and need to book it then. But be wary, as sometimes doing that will cost more in fees if you need to change something. 
• Create a budget and keep track of finances. Stick with that budget! 
• If your on the fence about buying something, ask yourself if you are going to regret it if you do/do not buy it. If you know you can't live without it, pick it up. Otherwise, leave it and go get a gelato. 
• Making lists are the best way to stay organized and see what you need to do and when. They are your ultimate friends. 
• Despite what people say, you can wear heels on cobblestone. But be prepared for your friends to leave you as it will take you 10 minutes to walk down the block because your looking down so as to avoid stumbling/ breaking your ankle. 

• Keep a journal every night. I bought one and wrote in it sporadically and regret not writing every night. 
• Bring your camera with you everywhere.
• Wander during the daytime and get lost. It's how you discover things. 
• Rick Steves guidebooks can be your best friend
• Trust your gut instinct. It's usually right. 

Any other tips you want to contribute, please leave them in the comment section and I will gladly add them to the above list!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

The Art Is In The Streets

Ciao Darlings,

As part of my final, my ballet class had to perform in our school's end of the semester program entitled, The Art Is In The Streets - a dance recital including the modern, flamenco, and ballet classes followed by a student-run fashion show. I've been in many dance recitals growing up and compete a couple of times for ballroom during the years, but this was my first ballet recital. Yes, at 20 years old, I had completed my first ballet class. It was a great evening and while the choreography was very basic, I was satisfied with my performance and was utterly sad that one of my favorite classes had come to an end. If it fits into my schedule, I just may take Ballet II next semester at Binghamton.

Special thanks to Lana for the beautiful photos and for being a such a great supporter by watching me dance, along with our fellow friends!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

14th Arrondissement

Paris, Je T'aime - 14th Arrondissement

Passport To Paris

Hello Darlings,

With visions in my head of me flouncing through the side streets of Paris with baguettes and croissants, I went to the train station early in the morning, ready to begin my Parisian adventure. The one problem was that the train leaving to the airport that would get my there on time didn't leave because apparently the first train was at 5:00am instead of the 4:30am train I needed. And so, I missed my flight and had to pay for the next day flight. Instead of watching the Royal Wedding in my hostel, I watched back home in my apartment and moped about for the rest of the day. While I was super bummed and annoyed at the situation, I was so grateful to have friends come over for dinner and help cheer me up.

Macaroons

Peek-a-boo

Arc de Triumph

The Medici Fountain  in Luxembourg Gardens

Moulin Rouge

Outside the Louvre

The next morning, I made it to the airport as scheduled and was ready to head over to my most desired destination. What everyone says is true- the entire city is magical. I would turn a corner and catch my breath because I caught site of the tip of the Eiffel Tower. I continuously risked getting run over by cars while zig-zagging across the Champs-de-Elysee so I could snap the perfect picture of the  Arc de Triumph and I lost myself while wandering through the hills of Montmarte. Some highlights of the trip include seeing the sunset behind the Eiffel Tower while lounging on the grass, then watching the light show when it got dark. eating nutella crepes on the go, sitting at a cafe outside the Luxembourg Gardens and people watching, and browsing through souvenir shops.

Before I left the city to return to Florence, I was already planning my next trip back, preferably with a group of friends or a significant other as wandering through the magical city became quite lonesome at times. But no matter, as I fell ever so deep in love with the city.

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

The Food Of Italy: Sicily and Sardinia

Ciao Darlings!

We have reached the end of our Italy tour of all of the foods of each region. I still have two more posts to do regarding previous regions, but as of today, this was my last cooking class. Next week is our written final and the week after that is our practical final. Tears! Sicily and Sardenia are two big islands of Italy and our menu today is Pane Carasau and Cannoli.

My cooking professor and I

Pane Carasau:

Ingredients 

400gr buffalo mozzarella

4 bell peppers

Rosemary

2 garlic cloves

4 green olives

4 black olives

4 slices pane carasa

Oil, salt, pepepr



Slice the buffalo mozzarella, and put it in a colander to drain for 20 minutes. Roast the bell pepper in the oven until soft and browned then remove the peppers from the oven, and put them in a ziplock bag for a few minutes to steam. Peel the peppers, take out the seeds, and cut the peppers into big strips. Salt them and add quite a bit of chopped rosemary, chopped garlic, and oil. Take out the seeds from the olives, and cut the olives in big pieces. Place two pieces of pane carasau on a big sheet of foil. Top it with about a third of the mozzarella, bell pepper, and olives. Place another piece of pane carasau on top, more toppings, then the last pane carasau, and the rest of the toppings. Close the edges of the dish with foil, and bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Before

After

Cannoli:

Ingredients

150gr flour

10gr sugar

1 egg white

2 tablespoons marsala liquor

Pinch of salt

30gr Crisco

250gr ricotta

100gr powdered sugar

30gr mini chocolate chips

Chopped pistachios

Powdered sugar

Carefully melt the Crisco in a pan over low heat, and immediately remove from heat to let cool. Place flour out on the table and make a hole in the middle for the sugar, salt, egg white, marsala liquor, and melted Crisco. Mix it all together with your hands until you've made a ball and leave to rest for an hour. Wipe the cannoli molds with crisco. Take a little piece of dough. Roll it very thin, as thin as possible and cut it in a circle. Roll the dough around the cannoli mold and make sure to close the edges very well, otherwise it'll open up when you fry it. Deep fry the cannoli forms in very hot oil. Dry them on paper towels. Take out the molds when cool. Be careful; they break easily. Mix ricotta with powdered sugar and chocolate chips (or candied fruit) until just mixed. Put it in a pastry bag and pipe the filling into the cannoli. Dip the ends into chopped pistacchios (or put a candied cherry on each end), and then sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve!

 

I'm off to my final destination of my weekends traveling. I'm going to the city I have dreamed about for forever: Paris! I'm extremely nervous about traveling by myself, but can't wait to explore the city :)

Eternally yours,
Stephanie

Photo Credit:
Katie S. blogspot 

Credit: By Me

Ciao Darlings, 

As promised, here are some pictures that I took of Christy when we visited the Boboli Gardens last week. I still have a lot to learn regarding photography, but I think I'm getting hooked! I especially love the sound of the clicking and feeling so professional.

For those with professional camera skills, do you have any helpful hints and tricks that I could learn?

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

Thicker Than Water

Ciao Lovelies,

In front of my mom's old house in the Italian mountains

Over Easter weekend, I traveled to Emilia-Romagna to visit cousins I haven't seen since 2007 and relatives that I haven't seen since I was eight years old. I was most excited for this weekend and was planning it since February, using my mom to help me translate e-mails since my Italian is very broken and my cousin, who I am staying with, speaks broken English. Stepping off the train, I was excited and nervous. Two hours into the visit, I was exhausted; my brain literally hurt from trying to translate the Italian into English, comping up with a response and then translating it from English to Italian. I was also extremely overwhelmed knowing that even though I haven't seen or spoken to my relatives in years, I was a welcomed guest and treated like royalty. This weekend was one for the memory books.

The town where my relatives live

Only in Italy would you find fresh ravioli pasta in an ice cream freezer

I remember this from when I was eight year old!

Mom's house :)

The view outside my mom's old house

I'm sorry for all of the scenic pictures. The one above was the only picture that did not have family members in it.

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

The Food of Italy: Calabria and Puglia

Ciao Darlings!

Today in cooking class, we explored Calabria and Puglia, two regions in the south of Italy where a Mediterranean diet is consumed. Our menu for the day was orecchiette con calamari e zucchine which translates to "little ears" pasta with calamari and zucchini and involtini di pesce spada ai carciofi  which ia swordfish rolls stuffed with artichokes.

Oecchiette con Clamari e Zucchine

Ingredients

500gr fresh "orecchette" pasta

500gr small calamari

250gr zucchini

1 shallot

Margoram

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Chop the shallot and the zucchini and saute the shallot in oil. Add the zucchini and cook for five minutes and add salt. Chop the body of the calamari into rings and cook the head first in a pan with oil for two minutes. Then add the body cut in rings. Cook for 3 minutes and add salt and the zucchini. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water and then drain the pasta. Saute it in the zucchini and calamari with some marjoram leaves, and serve!

Involtini di Pesce Spada ai Carciofi

Ingredients

5 slices of swordfish

2 fairly large potatoes

3 artichokes

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

Sugar

Wild fennel

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Chop the shallot and the wild fennel and place on top of the fish, with a pinch of salt, sugar and a drizzle of oil. Let it marinate in the fridge for an hour. Clean and slice the artichokes then saute in oil with a whole garlic clove. Peel and slice the potatoes and saute them with oil and salt in another pan until they are golden. Once the potatoes are done, place them in a baking pan. One at a time, place the fish fennel-side down on a plate. Put some artichokes on top at the bigger end, and roll up the fish. Place them on top of the potatoes and bake 15 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Buon Appetito!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

Photo Source: Katie S.

Croatian Craziness

Ciao Darlings,

This past weekend, the usual gang took a 12 hour bus ride through northern Italy, passed into Slovenia and arrived in the beautiful Split, Croatia! The weather was pretty chilly and not ideal for beach weather, but the city was filled with friendly locals, a brand new hostel, bustling markets and vendors (I bought so much fruit, some coral jewelery, and lavender satchels) and delicious seafood. The best part was that the kuno, the Croatian currency, was a lot cheaper than both the euro and the dollar so that everything was so much cheaper. I am both proud and ashamed to admit that myself and Christy were the only two champions who went to the evenings pub crawl and saw it through to the end.

Another fun part of any trip, especially this one, was the hostel. We stayed at Golly + Bossy which was a department store that was converted into a brand new hostel. It was so new that it was still being refurbished. The beds were not beds but pods, beds in the wall - I had a really difficult time climbing to the top bunk-pod. i met this cool kid who was literally backpacking through Europe through Help Exchange, a site where you can exchange work at farms, hostels, etc. in return for free accommodation. It's how kids these days are seeing the world.

Fish dish - including head and tail

Fresh strawberries and juicy kiwi

I bought some fresh smelling lavender fro myself and my mom

With a limited number of weeks left until I return home to New York, I'm starting to panic - I'm not ready to leave. I'm creating a bucket list of normal everyday things that I need to do while in Europe.  

Do you have any suggestions??

Eternally yours,

Stephanie