Panini

Today Ali and her roommates had Roommate dinner. I normally cook for Ali and she is vegetarian so tonight since I wouldn't be eating with her I decided to make something a little different. 

This morning I went to the market and bought about 300 grams of Prosciutto (thin sliced ham) and Svitzzero cheese. Can you guess what Svitzzero is? It has holes in it and it's from a place known in America for their knives and chocolate.

I was wondering what to cook with it because for the past many nights I have just been cooking pizza and pasta and I had delicious Prosciuto pizza for lunch. Suddenly it dawned on me......

Panini!

I even put the bread in the oven to melt the cheese in and added some yummy mini tomatoes and spices. They were delicious. I also got a new bottle of wine at the market. I got

This wine. Maybe you can find it at a liquor store. It was about 7 euro here. Last time I got Chianti wine and that was good but strong tasting. Our teachers said to stay away from cheap wine and 1-2 glasses of wine is really all you need and it goes with food. The panini are great though. Cocina da portare via! Take out food! Finally I have something I can make pretty quick to go! Panini is actually plural and should only be used for referring to 2 or more sandwiches. The singular form is Panino. Remember that when you go to Panera Bread (I haven't seen one yet here in Italy (McDonalds, Subway and Burger King do exist however and were all avoiding them). Another thing that doesn't exist in Italy is Alfredo sauce. Alfredo sauce is an American creation and isn't found anywhere here.

I'm loving cooking for myself. I love going to the market and getting new things and taking them home and seeing what I can make with them. I think I'm getting better with each thing I make. The first pasta I made was horrible and Ali and I could hardly eat it! The markets are awesome and everything is very fresh. In Italy, Fresh is cheap. No frozen microwave dinners!

Morning Market

Morning market

I needed to get supplies for cooking at home so I decided to try this tuesday Market I heard about. People said it was about a half hour walk and I had class at 9:30 so I decided to get up at 6:30 to go check it out (Markets usually close around 1).

I love waking up early! The streets aren't crowded and things are slower. You get to see the city come alive and you get a few extra hours in the day with no one bugging you so you can just explore and go where ever you want! I took that photo when I was walking along the Arno.

People said the market was in this huge park that runs along the river so I crossed the river and walked along this path but eventually I ran into lots of traffic.

Even people in Florence play Basketball.

I finally arrived at the market with about 15 minutes to look around. They really didn't have much food but lots of clothes for really cheap (dresses for €1) and everything else. The vendors stretched for as far as I could see and I really didn't have time to see all of them. It was neat though. 

In Florence they have these "spaceship" trash cans and on my way back I saw one being taken out. Pretty neat!

I made it to the central market near my house then scurried on over to class. Then I was able to eat like an Italian from home!

I bought Motzerella cheese that came in big squishey cheese balls that were kept in water. It was really neat and very good cheese. It cooks really well and melts and is delicious. My first attempts at cooking weren't so good but I am getting better for sure and with each attempt and each trip to the market, I try more things and get better spices. Cooking in Italy is fun!