Day 1 of cooking

For my cooking internship here in Siena, I’m required to spend three hours a week cooking with my host family- in addition to the course at school. Luckily, Benjamin, my host “dad,” if you will, really likes to cook. All of his food is delicious. Last night I got to help him cook one of his own recipes- so I thought I would share it with you. It probably takes 15-20 min. max. SO easy and way good!

I give it five stars.

Benjamin’s Gnochetti with Arugula and Shrimp

(serves about six people)

Ingredients:

Gnochetti (or any small pasta will work- mini penne… fusilli…etc)

1 shallot

200g (2 1/2 cups? I don’t know the conversion..) frozen mini shrimp

2 cups chopped arugula

½ cup white wine

1-2 tbsp parsely

1. Start boiling the water for the pasta
2. Dice the shallot and start to sauté in a skillet with olive oil- 3-5 min
3. Add Frozen Shrimp and let simmer for a few minutes
4. Add pasta to boiling water
5. Pour ½ white wine into skillet- simmer for 2 min
6. Add chopped arugula to skillet and let simmer for another 2-3 min
7. Add about 2 teaspoons salt while shrimp is simmering (enough salt to taste)
8. Add parsley to the skillet
9. Drain the pasta when finished-combine into the skillet and add parmesan cheese

Dante Alighieri

I survived my first day of school! Not bad when you get to look out the window and see this….




The good thing: We only have ten weeks of school this semester. The bad thing: Classes are three hours long! But that also means we get three day weekends and free afternoons. Not a bad deal.

We're finally here!

After a week of touring Italy, we’re finally here with our host families in Siena- and so far, I’m loving it! Our host family is awesome. They live about ten minutes outside of the city on the top floor of an apartment. We have a great view of Tuscany out of our bedroom window! Benjamin, the Dad, speaks quite a bit of English as well as the little boys- Alberto, 14 and Guiseppe, 12. The mom, Anna, is so sweet and picks up a little English from the rest of her family. Emily have our own room with a T.v., internet, and bathroom- definitely luxuries for around here.

The view from our Kitchen

Alberto and Guiseppe

We went to church this morning at the branch in Siena. It has probably about six steady members and the a missionary is the branch president. They were really happy to have all of us there- their chapel was actually full for once! Haha.

After Church, our host family took us out to lunch with some of their friends at a Tuscan restaurant out in Chianti wine country- about a 30 min. drive from the city center. The scenery was SO beautiful.

We definitely had a “traditional” Tuscan meal. It started out with bread, then bruschetta, then cured meats and cheese. And that was just the appetizer- I was already full! Then they brought out the pasta dish- huge fettucini noodles with a pork sauce- yes, I ate wild boar today. I guess there’s a first for everything! After the pasta dish they brought a 1 kilo steak, roasted potatoes and mushrooms for all of us. I had about two bites of the steak and I was done… I’m not really one for rare beef- it was so rare I thought it was going to walk of my plate! And, I was so full I thought I was going to die. I don’ know how Italians eat so much! After the last course they brought out Biscotti and sweet wine- which, we’re still in the process of explaining to them why we don’t drink alcohol- a little difficult with the language barrier, and I’m not quite sure if they know what “Mormonis” are. We’ll have to work on that.

Anyway, three hours later, we were finally done eating and walked around the town for a while- which, apparently was built in the 1200s. All in all, it was a wonderful Sunday!

Capri

We had the whole day on Friday to basically do whatever we wanted. Most of the girls in our group took a boat to Amalfi, a small town a few miles up the coast. But three other girls and I decided it would be fun to do a day trip to Capri. It was about and 90 minute boat ride for 30 euro. It was great because we got to see all of the other small coastal towns on the way there. We had amazing views the entire way! Once we got there, it was another 11 euro to get on another boat to tour the island. Totally worth the money though!

Our second tour boat took us to the “blue grotto”- probably one of the coolest things we did that day! The only way into the cave is through a SMALL opening on canoes that fit four people- and you literally have to lay down in the boat so you don’t hit your head. Once you get inside the cave though, the water is the most amazing color of electric blue because of the way the light refracts. Pictures can’t really capture it, but it was AWESOME!

In the boat.. just before we went into the grotto

Inside the blue grottto

After the grotto, we finished our tour around the rest of the island. We saw a lot of cliffs… a lot of huge villas… and a lot of yachts. Loved it. After that we spent some time on the beach, sketched a little bit, and then got on the ferry to Minori. Probably one of the best weekend trips ever.

The famous rock off the coast of Capri

View of Capri from the boat

Positano... one of our stops on the way to Capri

Town of Amalfi

Minori

I think I have found my Italian paradise. This place is absolutely beautiful! It’s a small town along the Amalfi coast- about two hours south of Naples. We drove in to Minori on Wednesday evening and stayed at a small hotel probably less than five minutes from the beach. We had a great time just walking along the beach and enjoying the amazing view.

After our visit to Pompeii on Thursday we had the whole rest of the day to spend at the beach- we absolutely loved it! Only thing about the beaches here- they’re more like pebbles- actually, small stones. Not too pleasant to walk on. We all kept thinking how funny it was that everyone in Provo was sitting in class… and we were on the beach! Ha!

View of the Amalfi coastline

Our group at the beach

Emily and me on the beach

First night in Minori

Minori Harbor from the Pier

Technical difficulties

Sorry for the delay in blog posts- I have so many new pictures! But... unfortunately the wireless here at the Hotel in Minori isn't quite optimal...I'm lucky if I get two or three bars. Which means, uploading pictures to blogs definitely isn't happening until I get some decent internet. We get into Siena tomorrow night so hopefully I'll be able to give you updates soon enough.
Until then, Ciao!
Minori sends love
xoxo

Pompeii and Herculanium

If you ever feel like stepping back in time 2,000 years, this is definitely the place to do it. We spent two days touring Pompeii and Herculanium. The two ancient cities are pretty similar except for Herculanium was covered in volcanic mud while Pompeii was covered in ash- so the two have different aspects that are more well preserved. I've come to realize that life in these cities back in the day weren't too different than ours. Their civilization was a lot more advanced than I think we realize.

The forum at Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

The ancient government building

One of the main streets in Pompeii

Jo and I sketching- yes, we actually have assignments.

Okay- these really aren't toilets. They have these all over the cities and used the pots to store food... kind of like a store. We just decided to sit in them. haha.

Emily and I in front of a fresco. All of their walls were covered in frecoes like these!

A mosaic in Herculanium- amazing how intact it is

More things I love about Rome

Watching the Spanish steps while eating Cannelloni at my favorite restaurant.
(Look familiar Dad and Aaron?)

Trevi Fountain at Night

Infinite Gelato Flavors

The Pantheon

Rockin Prada Purses

Caravaggio paintings- love love love them

Bernini Sculptures

Playing in Fountains

Overlooking the Forum

Have you ever climbed a flight of wooden stairs ON YOUR KNEES? Well I definitely did. And yes, it hurts! Supposedly these stone stairs were brought from Jerusalem a few hundered years after Christ. They still believe that they are the stairs that Christ walked on up to Pilate’s palace. Oh yeah, and they only let you walk up them on your knees. Ouch! Totally worth it though.

When in Rome, do as the Romans

Eat their food...

(This one's for you, Mom)

drink their water....

... and enjoy their scenery

A few other things I have learned in these past two days:

Church in Italian + Jet lag is not a good combo. But we enjoyed it nonetheless.

I learned that I have a phobia of enclosed spaces. Especially the hot enclosed spaces leading to the top of St. Peters.

And no, my camera isn’t tilted- it’s the walls!

However, 600 steps later, the view was definitely worth it.
Even after going to St. Peter’s a few times, the sheer size of it still amazes me!

We even have a great view of it from our hotel

Another thing I’ve learned is that I think I like taking pictures of objects and buildings more than of people. So Marissa, these are for you.

at the Forum

at theVatican

The obelisk at St. Peter's square

Lampost at St. Peters