Wednesday, September 2, 2009

And I thought eating was supposed to be fun

Now, let me preface this post by saying that dinner last night was delicious, but we were all so jet-lagged that we were practically falling asleep at the table. We also didn't think we'd be getting so much food, so we all ate too much early and by the end of the meal, we could barely eat any of the good food they put in front of us. Any other day, this dinner would have been awesome...but the fact that we were so tired kind of made it a chore! Haha, the tough life I have here. :)

So part of our schedule from the people from ISA (the study abroad program that I'm here with) was a pizza welcome dinner. Last night they took us out to a a restaurant called Bruno's which was about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. We all thought we were getting just pizza, but we were wrong...it was a multi course meal!

I actually didn't take pictures of anything (crazy, I know...what's gotten into me??) but I was too tired to care. I'm going to try to find pictures online of what they served us though.

First they started us off with water and soda, and bread drizzled with olive oil. Afterwards came a little dish of eggplant parmigiana, which looked like this:



They they brought us a big plate with rice balls (soo good, they had marinara sauce in them), potato croquettes, and little pieces of fried dough with a mushroom in the middle. The plate looked like this:



Next was little mini panini - a spinach mixture between focaccia bread. They kind of looked like this, but they only had spinach:



One thing I noticed is that it's true what everyone says about eating in Italy...Italians definitely do take their time. Each course was left out for what seemed for a long time, and we'd be finished with it really quickly. We definitely need to learn to pace ourselves better so we can enjoy everything. Italians also eat dinner very late...the restaurant really started to fill up between 9:30 and 10:00pm.

Next they brought out a potato mixture...I wish I knew what it was called but we didn't get menus because everything was picked out for us. If I had to explain it it was like potato salad but without mayonnaise...it tasted like there was vinegar in it and the potatoes were almost shaved. They were mixed with fresh tomatoes. It sort of looked like this:



By this time we were wondering where the pizza was? After all, pizza was all we thought we'd be getting. Well now is when they brought out the pizza, and it was sooo good. It was paper thin like this:



After the pizza, we thought we were finished. We were stuffed and ready to go home. But nope...they gave us new clean plates and served us pasta. It was mixed with basil, tomatoes, olives and tuna. Needless to say, I didn't eat it (I hate seafood) but I did try a bite so I could say that I tried it haha. It was very salty...



Next was probably my favorite dish of the night, even though I ate only a couple bites of it. I can't find anything online that looks like it though -- it was a string bean lasagna. It looked like regular lasagna but without sauce -- just the noodles, whole string beans and cheese. It was soooo good.

The last thing they brought out was fresh fruit. It was a mixture of melon and other fruits...none of us ate it though because we were still so full.

So our dinner was really delicious, definitely a great way to start off the trip...but next time we'll have to go back when we're not tired...and now we know how much food they serve, so we're prepared haha. The meal was definitely a lesson in moderation...here it's not necessary to finish all the food on your plate. I am curious to see how much it cost per person though...since our program paid for it, we didn't get to see the cost.

After we were finished the program leaders gave us maps which showed us all how to get back to our apartments. This program is definitely into independence -- the leaders will tell you how to get places, but from the beginning it's been up to us to utilize the bus, taxis, and walking ourselves. My roommates and I have luckily been able to walk everywhere so far because we live only five minutes away from school, but that will change tomorrow because we all have to meet our program leaders at the Arc of Constantine at 10am so we can all take a guided tour of the Colosseum afterwards.

3 comments:

linanne said...

The eggplant sure looks different, but so good! Looks like you won't go hungry there. Aunt LindaXXX

Anonymous said...

Have fun at dinner tonight. TTYL. Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

Okay seriously Danielle...you need to be a food critic and please please come cook this for me or make your mom cook this for me lol. Keep posting I'm living vicariously through your posts lol.
Smiles,
Kristen