Friday, June 3, 2011

Last day of class, Last day in Florence


Friday June 3, 2011

First, I would like say Happy 20th birthday to my brother Pat!

Today was the last day of class. It started out with a final that was made up of multiple-choice questions and a few short answer questions about the Italian culture and recipes we made in class.  There was also a cooking section of the final, as well.  Chef Tommaso chose the Risotto with Asparagus recipe we had made our first week of class, for our exam.  He measured all of the ingredients for us while we were finishing the written part of the final.  We had to make the risotto by memory (which was easy for me since I make risotto a few times a month at home!).

The other groups seemed to be finishing up their risotto very quickly, even those who had started after me, Liz, and Erica.  Chef Tommaso began to worry us saying that he thinks ours may be over-done.  We were a little nervous, but I kept reminding myself that he has been impressed with most, if not all, of our recipes. Plus-- I am Queen of risotto!!!

After about 25 minutes we finally finished up our risotto with asparagus and plated it!



Chef Tommaso was ready with fork in hand and immediately stuck his fork into our risotto dish, even though I was still setting up the plate.  He took a bite, said nothing.  Took another, mumbled something, and then took a third, and still said nothing.  No facial expression.  Nothing.  Our immediate thoughts were that we over cooked it, or there was not enough salt!



He went over to the group behind us and tried theirs.  When he finished trying their risotto he explained that he said nothing about ours because he wanted to get to the other groups while it was still hot.  And then he held up our plate, pointed, the great words “This is perfecto!!!”  We had made the best risotto out of the entire lab!  It was cooked to al dente and had a perfect creamy texture. AND the perfect amount of salt!!!! We had finally done it!!



At the end of class we said our goodbyes and took a class picture.  This was undoubtedly my favorite class I have ever taken.  Better than any undergrad and graduate level class, by far!  It was something different instead sitting in a lecture room.  I got to do one of my favorite things to do in the world, cook!  And what no other place to do it than Italy!



After class Becca, Erica, Liz and I went to a famous sandwich shop for lunch known as the Oil Shoppe.  I got a sandwich on wheat foccacia bread with turkey, roasted eggplant, roasted tomatoes, provolone cheese, and pesto.  It was DELISH!



After, Erica and I made one last loop around the leather market.  We each bought another purse—not planning on it.  BUT it was such a great deal!! Way too good to pass up!  Before heading back into the apartment Erica and I saw Ronnie from Jersey Shore!



I went on my last run around the city and now doing last minute packing and then off to our last dinner and gelato here in Florence!!  Our bus leaves at 10:15 PM from Florence and will arrive in Rome at 2:30 AM.  It’s going to be a loooong night.

One last Ciao from Florence!

Molly Jean


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