Abbott’s Preparation Week 25

This week concluded my stay in Italy as I have finished my month of culinary school.

It’s all been quite the experience, from learning a new language to seeing exquisite architecture and world famous art. I’ve enjoyed not only the culture and food, but also my education, and cherish the knowledge that I’ve gained.

In regards to my final week in Italy, I think it has been one of the most eventful yet. Monday started off with a pizza lesson at a kitchen near chef Julio’s house in Lastra a Signa. We learned how to form pizza dough from scratch and then made Napoli style margarita pizza. I’ll explain what Napoli style pizza is, mainly because everytime I tell someone about this style of pizza, the first follow up question asked is, “what’s the difference?” So, in Italy, there are two major types of pizza making: Romana and Napoli. Romana (from Rome obviously), is pizza made with a uniform surface and crust, often with less sauce, and a thicker bread. Napoli pizza, from Naples, is more uneven in its crust, which is larger than that of the Roman pizza, but the center is thinner, and the pie as a whole can afford more sauce with the bowl shape providing a natural “dam” for sauce and toppings. Additionally, we had an Italian lesson that day, but it wasn’t nearly as cool as the pizza lesson…

Tuesday was another typical day of Italian lessons in the morning and cooking class in the evening. The theme of the dishes was “food intolerances,” so we made some vegan dishes such as pichi pasta (similar to a fresh spaghetti pasta) with aglione sauce (sweet garlic and tomato), Culurgiones d’Oglistra (little stuffed pastas from Sardinia) that were stuffed dumpling-shaped pockets that had potato, thyme and garlic filling, and Tuscan vegetarian spelt salad that used pearl spelt and other summer vegetables to make a lovely, refreshing salad. We also made a gluten-free apple cake, which wasn’t that bad, all things considered.

Wednesday was a local holiday in Florence as it was the Feast of San Giovanni or St John the Baptist, as we know him. Since he is the patron saint of Florence, this is a major holiday that the people of Florence celebrate with feasting, as the name might suggest, fireworks, and a brutally violent championship of medieval soccer, a Florentine specialty.

Thursday I had my last Italian lesson which was, once again, a private lesson, because my other classmates skipped out after a long night of drinking and carousing. However, they did come to the wine tasting seminar at chef Julio’s where we learned all about being a sommelier, and also the process of growing wine grapes and making wine. We tried two different white wines: Famoso made in Rome and a Pinot Grigio. They were similar in the fact that they were both white wines, but they were also subtly very different. The Famoso was grown by the sea, and thus had a very salty, briney taste. It also had a fruity, aromatic smell with a hint of green, as there was sage in the musk. The Pinot Grigio was dryer in smell, with a much more bitter aroma and taste, but was shockingly refreshing on the pallet given the dry aroma. Personally, I liked the Famoso better, but they both were enjoyable, and having tasted the red wines at the agriturismo, so far I prefer white wines over the red wines, and would place dessert wines somewhere in the middle.

Friday was my last day of cooking class and it was about buffet cooking. This meant we had a lot of dishes to prepare, and the class was five hours long instead of four. Per normal, my classmates showed up an hour late, but it was fine as I got some one-on-one time with chef Francesco. We ended up making eggplant caponata which was a sweet and sour vegetable dish, fried mozzarella balls, two different batches of focaccia (one plain and one with olives, onions and rosemary), risotto with porcini mushrooms, caprese, and ciliegine di caprino, small balls of goat cheese covered in pistachios with a side of jam. We also broke out the pepper mustard and grape jelly we had made a few lessons back, pairing them with the plain focaccia, which was really tasty. Also, earlier in the day, I went to the Boboli Gardens next to the Medici’s Pitti Palace which was beautiful and refreshingly empty of tourists.

Lastly, on Saturday, I flew home to San Diego, a return trip that took about 20 hours in total.

It’s been an exciting adventure with every twist and turn, and I know it’s just the first of many to come. Overall, it has opened me up to the possibilities and opportunities that can only come with travel, and made me step past my comfort zone into a new land of change and self improvement. I think that the cooking experience was great, as not only did I get to meet wonderful people all along the way and learn valuable skills that improve my everyday life as well as put experience on my resumè, but the trip as a whole has made me see life in a whole new perspective. With learning old traditions of completely different cultures and the life that people across the world live, I’ve realized just how great, and also how fallen, America truly is. Interactions that would seem ordinary for any person living in Italy have completely opened my eyes to what a good society with a proud culture can look like, and also how debased that same political system can become in such a short period of time. I see examples of this in the histories of both America and Italy.

All the deep soul searching aside, it’s been a wonderful experience and I’ve grown to realize how lucky I am, as everyday seems to grant me with new blessings. Once again, I just want to thank so much everyone who reads my posts, and until next time,

• Abbott Springston