To go meal #9 11/11/08

So I went to Da Rocco Trattoria this morning and I got some Lasagna, a side dish of mixed veggies, and a dish of eggplant with mozzarella. I had already eaten there and it was really good. I like how they make their food fresh everyday because I wanted some chicken but they didn't have any and they were pulling food out from the kitchen as they were setting up for the day.
The lasagna was just ricotta and mozzarella with tomato sauce of course. I liked the eggplant because it was cooked in tomato sauce topped with mozzarella. I used to never eat eggplant because I didn't know how to eat it but now I have a better idea of how to eat it. I finished my meal with some Vino Nuovo of this year. I am so happy that I am distinguish the smell the wine. It was butter/butterscotch and it has a sharp initial attack with a medium dryness and a smooth finish. It leaves my mouth watering and it has a very unique and smooth taste.
Overall this meal was very satisfying because it was considered light being that I didn't have any heavy proteins to digest.

Home cooked meal # 8 11/09/08

Today I cooked a simple but yet hearty meal. I had five eggs, a zucchini, a quarter red bell pepper, and Pecorino Toscano cheese. I topped everything off with black pepper and cooked everything with generous quantities of butter. I had a side of yoghurt and a carrot, the yoghurt over here is so different. I used to not really like yoghurt from the states but this one is very different because its not bitter and its more creamy, not to mention the fact that it actually tastes like the fruit that they say on the outside.
It's crazy I know but true. I doesn't taste like chemicals or preservatives. Then the bananas have this extra rich sweetness that I had never experienced before.
I used to not be able to eat eggs without ketchup but since there is no ketchup over here I learned to eat them with other stuff and I think I like it better this way. I can actually taste the chemicals and preservatives in the ketchup. I am so spoiled ahhh I don't know what I am going to do when I go back to the states and see and taste all the weak foods.
Oh the eggs are a thick orange color and they are sold at room temperature...which means that they are not injected with preservatives so that they last longer. I am also going to go on a limb and say that they don't force the chickens to lay eggs four times a day. They are smaller eggs actually so they are probably naturally squeezed out of the chicken.

Home cooked meal #7 11/08/08

So today I cooked up the tortellini that I got from the market and the half of a kilo of chicken. I prepared half of the chicken one way and then the other half another way. I then cut it up into pieces and served it all together. I had made a "contorni" side dish of grilled zucchini and bell peppers. I then topped it off with some parmesan cheese and ragu salsa. I am impressed with the chicken its so juicy, I don't know why. But anyways I served it all together and then added some Chianti Extra Virgin Olive Oil. My roommate ate it with balsamic vinegar and oil.
We never figured out what kind of tortellini it was but it was really tasty. It had a gritty texture kind of like tuna but I don't think it was tuna. Then it had spices and stuff, we think it was potatoes.
We ate it with Vino Nuovo and it was a nice compliment even though we were suppose to drink white wine with this dish. It wasn't too salty and there was enough of a mix in the dish that no one ingredient over powered any other ingredient. I was very satisfied and relaxed after eating this meal.

Home cooked meal #6 11/06/08

After going to the market I cooked up some fresh ravioli with spinach inside of them. I was careful to not all salt or any other ingredient that might give it salt. I cooked up the pasta and at the same time I cooked up some zucchini in butter with black pepper. When the pasta was done I put it all together and mixed it up. I served it on my plate and added some cold ragu sauce and sprinkled it with parmesan cheese.
I found it to be perfect with salt, but it lacked a certain kick. I forgot to add the olive oil, that might have been it.
I liked the ragu's meat it was evenly distributed and I really liked the melted cheese. I learned that more isn't necessarily better. A little bit of sauce goes a long way, in this manner I am able to actually taste the ingredients and enjoy the meal.
I really liked what the butter did for the dish it gave it enough salt and a nice smooth feel. I found the fresh zucchini to be very tasty and fresh which was

Pesto Spaghetti and Proscuito

Home cooked meal #5 11/04/08

These are my ingredients: Semi-Dolce proscuitto, spinach, parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes, butter, olive oil, pesto sauce, and spaghetti.

I cooked up some spaghetti and then heated up the proscuitto, parmesan, spinach, dried tomatoes, pesto sauce, and the butter. Half way through heating up I realized my mistake. It was going to be too salty.

So it was very simple: I put the spaghetti in the pan and mixed it all up. It was no surprise when I took the first bite. It was a bit too salty. I now want to learn how to balance out foods, I know that potatoes absorb salt but I don't know what else can do that too.

I figured I would eat it with some bread and that was good. It was a quick meal I made in about 30 minutes.

I think that the pesto sauce was too salty to begin with. I remember from a previous meal where I put too much pesto sauce and it was too salty.

But when your hungry you eat anything and I shared this meal with one of my roommates who cooks some good meals.
What I like the most of this meal was that the meat just melted in your mouth. It was semi-dolce so it wasn't too sweet or too salty.

Four home cooked meals!!

Home cooked meal #1 10/19/08

I heated up the ham slices then took them off the flame and set them aside. I had everything else chopped up. My ingredients were: red bell pepper, 1/4 white onion, a carrot, a tomato, and a tooth of garlic. I sprinkled some salt and some hot spices.

I cooked the potatoes first because they take longer then I added the carrots and covered it all up. I turned the heat down and allowed them to cook. Then I threw in the other denser ingredients like the bell pepper and onions. I let it all cook and then at the end put the ham and tomatoes in. Cooked it all together for a bit and wala.

The final result was that the potatoes were perfect but I think that I over powered the meal with the hot spices and let the tomatoes cook too long.

I combined the whole meal with rice which came out perfectly.
It took me about 2.5 hours to cook and eat all this.


Home cooked meal #2 10/20/08

I bought some fresh ravioli filled with spinach and cheese. I was told that they were good with just grated parmesan and olive oil. So I didn't buy any sauce.

I couldn't just eat pasta so I paired it with some grilled chicken that I threw some hot spices on and put it on the pan with butter on low heat.

So I cut up some small pieces of Pecorino Stagenato Toscano to go with my chicken but it didn't compliment the chicken too well.

The chicken was amazing, it tasted like the chicken I had at a restaurant. The ravioli was good I really like the spinach and cheese. The parmesan made for a great taste.

I then had half a cantaloupe that was very sweet and I was very satisfied with this meal. It took me about an hour to cook and eat this meal.

Home cooked meal #3 10/21/08
I grilled the chicken in butter and then put it on the side when it was done.

I made spaghetti and then put it on the side when it was done.

I then cut up 1/4 of a potato, 1/4 red bell pepper, 1/4 tomato, 1/4 onion, and a clove of garlic. I first put the potatoes and then after a while I put in the other ingredients. When they were getting done I put in the chicken pieces and spaghetti.
The potatoes are awesome because they absorb so much flavor that when you eat them with the other food it gives it a really great taste. They were slightly fried so that was a nice twist.

I had some wine rice to go with it and finished with some wine and grapes.

Home cooked meal #4 10/22/08

I went to the San Lorenzo Market and bought some fresh Gnocchi and pesto sauce. I marinated for one day the chicken in pink wine with salt.

So I cooked the Gnocchi and then I grilled the chicken, but before that I grilled a zucchini in butter with salt. I sprinkled fresh Parmesan Romano and it came out very soft and savory.

I then mixed the cold pesto sauce with the Gnocchi and added Olive oil and ate it with the zucchini. I then ate the chicken with melted Pecorino cheese on it separately with some left over rice.

I finished my meal with some Romaine lettuce salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Then had some sweet grapes afterwards.

This took me about 1 and a half hours to cook. I really got lost in my cooking and just enjoyed the whole experience while listening to some of my favorite latin dancing music. I was very satisfied and felt very fulfilled. The chicken needed some work and the Gnocchi was a little bit too salty I think I put too much salt in the water when I was boiling the water and it absorbed it. Next time I will not put any salt in the water and we'll see how it turns out.

This was some orange chicken with rice and a beer. I found the orange chicken very orangy it was crazy but I was able to taste the orange. I have been used to the American sugary artificial tasting orange chicken. The peppers used to give it flavor were very tasty and full of substance. The rice was nothing special just plain jane rice.

This was a Kabop it was my first one and it was alright. I am inclined to not like these Kabop thing because the meat on the spike thing is not very appealing but I must say when your hungry you'll eat a lot of things. I liked the sauce that they used and the tomato was very rich in texture and flavor. I got to say, I really don't want to know what kind of meat was used/or where it came from.

This was my first spaghetti meal and it was an experience in and of itself. I loved how much I could taste the tomatoes, It was amazing. The wine was really good and I think it complimented my meal very well. Then I walked out of the restaurant with it. As an American I was tripping out hardcore because that's illegal but over here its okay. I felt so wierd to be walking around with a bottle of wine. I felt like people saw me and thought I was a drunk or something. It was actually kind of uncomfortable and that's when I realized how much our society shapes us as a person. The spaghetti was good overall my favorite part was the tomato sauce.

This was my first pizza. It was sausage and mozzarella. The concept of supreme over here is completely foreign. They are very basic and simple with at most 3 ingredients. I have seen some weird combinations, but they pretty much all have mozzarella and its sooo tasty. I am slowly but surely getting convinced that the food over here really is better. At first I thought it was because I was hungry but now that I am not hungry it does have a rich taste. I enjoy eating meat because it fills me up for a while. I think its because there are no preservatives or chemicals that compromise the integrity of the meat. I didn't like the fact that this pizza was so thick. I was looking for the thin kind of pizza.

This was my sandwich or "panini" it had tomatoes, pecorino cheese, lettuce, and prociutto. It was very plain and I would have liked for it to have more juice. Perhaps some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was very fresh and fulfilling though, not to mention healthy. I can tell that the bread is not salted but it filled me up for a long time I remember thinking to myself "For just a sandwich I got pretty full."

I had this absolutely amazing meal at the Castello Verrazzano. It was penne pasta with tomato sauce and basil with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. I had like two plates it was so good. It had a good balance not too salty or dry. I felt like it was buttery and just overall really good. The wine that they paired it up with made the meal really savory. I never understood how wine could make your meal better but now I experienced it for myself.

This was officially the best pizza I have had yet. It was in Pisa and it was at a "Local's" pizzeria place. It was really something special and it was cheap compared to all the other tourist pizza place joints that I have seen. We got half ham and the other half sausage. It was very thin and cooked in a mesquite oven and it had a woody flavor that was really amazing. It tasted really really good the cheese just bursted with flavor.

I had this meal in Fiesole when I went on a bike tour through the countryside and these antipasti tasted so fresh and good that it was ridiculously good. I especially enjoyed the tomato bruchetta, but the carne bruchetta was good too. The Chianti wine was not too bad. The other bruchetta was made of veggies and spices. It was good but nothing special.



Okay so I had some awesome gnochi with the wide pasta. The gnochi was really good and buttery and creamy. I liked the pasta it was made with egg, I could just tell it had a great taste to it. I am convinced that the wine allows my taste buds to taste the flavor there is no other explanation to this phenomenon. The pasta had veggie tomato sauce and the gnochi was made with pesto.

This was a pork dish with a white sauce I had in Rome. Honestly I don't know what the white sauce was but it was good. It was wrapped around pasta and it was really soft and creamy. The red stuff was some kind of tomato sauce that gave it a twist in flavor.

Then this was the main dish and it was a simple pork steak with potatoes and rosemary. I remember that the pork was not all that great but complimented with the salty potatoes it made for a great combination. I had some red wine which was not the correct wine but I still drank it. Overall it was not that great of a meal though. I like the fruit dessert better.

This was our imperfect pasta that we made at an Italina cooking class I took. I found it to be plain. The tomato sauce was too diluted and watery but the real treat was the tortellini we made by hand. I thought it was great. The meat was soft and the pasta sauce was a little thicker. I liked the tortellini best because I felt like there was more substance to it while this "imperfect pasta" was too plain.

This was a Wurstol from when I went to Munich. It was really good I liked the sauce because it was tangy and somewhat sweet. It was accompanied by a piece of bread that was salted and brought balance to the sweet and tangy sausage. The yellow stuff on top gave each bite a bit of a dryness to it that was very nice.

So this was the only picture I had that had this really cool dish. It was coconut rice topped with all these veggies and 4 slices of lime. It was so good because I have never had coconut rice and it was so good and creamy. I had such an explosion of flavors and I didn't have wine with this. It was a vegitarian meal that the German girl on the far left cooked for me in Munich. It was simple yet fulfilling because it had veggies.

So this was my first "junk food" that tasted like a restaurant burger for me. I saw the meat and fries get cooked before my eyes and the fries were kind of sweet. The burger was simple and plain but savory. The juices just flowed through. Oh the bread was ciabatta and very salty. I liked it a lot because I could taste the different parts of the burger and then they combined in my mouth mmmm good!!