Hey! So I was sitting here thinking about how hungry I am and craving the dinner I had the other night. Me and my roommate Melissa were craving some red meat, so we decided to make some delicious steak and fried/breaded vegetables. So, we got some steak, and went across the street to the market to get zucchini, asparagus, and broccoli. Melissa decided that she was in a mood to make a rub for the steak that she makes at home in Mexico, so here is what we made:
Vegetables:
1 egg
4 cups vegetables (asparagus, zucchini, and broccoli, for example)
flour
oil
1. Crack the egg and whisk it until it is all mixed together.
2. Put flower in a separate bowl.
3. Boil water and veggies until they are cooked but still firm, and drain water out
4. Coat the veggies in the egg, then cover with flour
5. On a heated pan, coat bottom with oil. Cook the veggies in the oil until all brown.
Steak:
2 (or however many you want) pieces of steak
Mustard
Soy Sauce
Olive Oil
1. Mix equal parts mustard, soy sauce, and olive oil.
2. Before cooking, coat steaks in the rub, making sure to get the entire chunk of meat coated.
3. Cook meat on the stove in a pan until it stops moo-ing, or until it is cooked enough for your liking.
4. Remove from heat and eat!
I didn't take a picture, as the food didn't last long enough, but if (or when) we make it again, I'll be sure to document it! Enjoy!
xoxo Erica
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
A Day in Perugia.
This past Friday, I went on a school field trip to the region of Umbria, which is just north of the region Rome is in (Lazio), to the beautiful town of Perugia. While in Perugia, we got to experience many yummy things including a cooking lesson, eating, as well as infamous chocolate from Perugia.
We took a 2 hour bus to Umbria, and arrived at a Bed & Breakfast called Casale S. Bartolomeo just 20 minutes outside of Perugia. Upon getting there, we learned about the owner's life and the story of the B&B's creation. Him and his wife, along with their 2 young daughters, used to live in Rome. However, after the birth of their second daughter, they realized they were tired of the smog, traffic, hour-long drive to work, and their cramped apartment, so they went on to flip their lives upside down and move just outside of Perugia, in the middle of beautiful scenic landscape.
After a tour of their beautiful B&B, we got to cooking. The man was and still is a chef, so his kitchen was fully stocked with supplies and utensils for cooking a fabulous meal. First, it was me and 2 of my roommate's jobs to cook the lasagna noodles, then set them out to dry. After that difficult task, we took to walking around, and looking at the great jobs that our classmates' were doing. Some were rolling meatballs, cutting up cheese for our appetizer, cutting up Speck (thicker cut of prosciutto), and others I did not see. Our final menu was as follows:
The entire meal turned out great, especially with us making it ourselves! We felt very proud of ourselves for making such food masterpieces, that the food tasted that much better. the meatballs were covered in a red sauce, which complimented the soft, yummy spinach ball of flavor. The lasagna was a little to radicchio-y, but it was overall very delicious and extremely flavorful. We were surprised at the end of the mean when we were told that the owner's wife made us the chocolate mousse, which was utterly to die for. It was the perfect amount chocolaty and creamy, that was not too fluffy it would float away. A great surprise that was just as delicious as the rest of the meal was.
After helping clean up, we said our "grazie"'s and our "ciao"'s, and headed back on the bus for the 30 minute ride to Perugia. While there, we were able to walk up the the main city center, which was beautiful, with many store-lined streets, and a great over-look of amazing scenery. The most important shop, though, was Perugina. This fantastic chocolate shop had walls of chocolate, and enough to overwhelm even me. I ended up getting a Baccio bar (which Perugia is known for, the chocolate with nuts in it, much like the gelato also), raspberry chocolate bar, and a chocolate mousse bar. They all taste delicious! I have not yet finished all of them, but I am not sure how much longer they will last!
After the last of us made our difficult chocolate decisions, we piled on the bus for the 3 hour drive back to Rome!
Recipes/Ingredients:
(This is me sharing what I was given by the owner, and is the exact words of what he gave me. Sorry I don't have the steps for everything, as I was not there for every step of every part of the meal. Sorry!)
Lasagne al raxdicchio
250 gr lasagne noodles
200 gr smoked scamorza slice (beef)
80 gr Parmesan
3 heads/balls of radicchio
200 gr speck (prosciutto) slice
Cream, pepper, onion, butter, oil, salt
Besciamella sauce (50 gr butter, 50 gr flour, 500 gr milk; salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste)
Polpette aromatiche agli spinaci
Meat (Beef): 1.3 kg
Spinach: 1.3 kg
(cook spinach in a pot over the stove with some water)
tomato sauce 1.5 kg, prepared with fried onion, carrot and celery
bread: 7 slices (pancarre)
Eggs: 4
Nutmeg and salt to taste
Mousse al cioccolato
For 6 people
300 gr dark chocolate
6 eggs
Butter (just a bit)
Milk (just a bit, usually less than half a glass)
1. Melt the chocolate in a large saucepan with the butter and milk. When it becomes creamy, take it off the heat and let cool
2. Take two bowl; divide the eggs putting the yellow part in one and the white in the other.
3. Whisk the yellow part of the eggs in the first bowl
4. Add the melted chocolate to the eggs (chocolate must not be hot/warm)
5. Whip the egg whites until it looks like snow (a bit solid)
6. very slowly add the whipped egg whites to the yellow (already mixed withe chocolate), and mix using a wooden spoon, turning it on itself (as you would use a screwdriver turn off a screw)
7. When you finish mixing everything, put the mousse in the fridge. The longer the mousse stays in the fridge, the better it is (suggest prepare it the day before serving)
Hope you enjoyed!
xoxo Erica
We took a 2 hour bus to Umbria, and arrived at a Bed & Breakfast called Casale S. Bartolomeo just 20 minutes outside of Perugia. Upon getting there, we learned about the owner's life and the story of the B&B's creation. Him and his wife, along with their 2 young daughters, used to live in Rome. However, after the birth of their second daughter, they realized they were tired of the smog, traffic, hour-long drive to work, and their cramped apartment, so they went on to flip their lives upside down and move just outside of Perugia, in the middle of beautiful scenic landscape.
Side of the B&B with an old bike.
After a tour of their beautiful B&B, we got to cooking. The man was and still is a chef, so his kitchen was fully stocked with supplies and utensils for cooking a fabulous meal. First, it was me and 2 of my roommate's jobs to cook the lasagna noodles, then set them out to dry. After that difficult task, we took to walking around, and looking at the great jobs that our classmates' were doing. Some were rolling meatballs, cutting up cheese for our appetizer, cutting up Speck (thicker cut of prosciutto), and others I did not see. Our final menu was as follows:
Appetizer:
- Dried Sausage
- Cheese
- Bread
Delicious appetizer.
1st Course:
- Polpette aromatiche agli spinaci
(Spinach Meatballs)
2nd Course:
- Lasagne al radicchio
(Radicchio, Spek, and beef lasagna)
- Bread and Olive Oil
My roommate Jorgi putting the pasta in to cook!
My roommate Cindy setting the noodles out to dry.
Spinach for the meatballs, raddicchio for the lasagna.
All the ingredients for the delicious lasagna.
My roommates Melissa and Ashley cutting up the speck and cheese for the lasagna.
Speck=yum. Reminds me of bacon from home. :)
The innards of the lasagna (minus the speck).
Assembly line production of lasagna.
Before the lasagna was popped in the oven!
Lasagna all cooked and ready to eat!
Beverage:
- Vino Rossa
(Red Wine, of course)
Not pictured.
Dessert:
- Mousse al cioccolato
(Chocolate Mousse)
Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy.
The entire meal turned out great, especially with us making it ourselves! We felt very proud of ourselves for making such food masterpieces, that the food tasted that much better. the meatballs were covered in a red sauce, which complimented the soft, yummy spinach ball of flavor. The lasagna was a little to radicchio-y, but it was overall very delicious and extremely flavorful. We were surprised at the end of the mean when we were told that the owner's wife made us the chocolate mousse, which was utterly to die for. It was the perfect amount chocolaty and creamy, that was not too fluffy it would float away. A great surprise that was just as delicious as the rest of the meal was.
After helping clean up, we said our "grazie"'s and our "ciao"'s, and headed back on the bus for the 30 minute ride to Perugia. While there, we were able to walk up the the main city center, which was beautiful, with many store-lined streets, and a great over-look of amazing scenery. The most important shop, though, was Perugina. This fantastic chocolate shop had walls of chocolate, and enough to overwhelm even me. I ended up getting a Baccio bar (which Perugia is known for, the chocolate with nuts in it, much like the gelato also), raspberry chocolate bar, and a chocolate mousse bar. They all taste delicious! I have not yet finished all of them, but I am not sure how much longer they will last!
Music was being played in a park not too far from the main square.
Inside Perugina- chocolate galore!
Me with my chocolate in front of the shop!
Recipes/Ingredients:
(This is me sharing what I was given by the owner, and is the exact words of what he gave me. Sorry I don't have the steps for everything, as I was not there for every step of every part of the meal. Sorry!)
Lasagne al raxdicchio
250 gr lasagne noodles
200 gr smoked scamorza slice (beef)
80 gr Parmesan
3 heads/balls of radicchio
200 gr speck (prosciutto) slice
Cream, pepper, onion, butter, oil, salt
Besciamella sauce (50 gr butter, 50 gr flour, 500 gr milk; salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste)
Polpette aromatiche agli spinaci
Meat (Beef): 1.3 kg
Spinach: 1.3 kg
(cook spinach in a pot over the stove with some water)
tomato sauce 1.5 kg, prepared with fried onion, carrot and celery
bread: 7 slices (pancarre)
Eggs: 4
Nutmeg and salt to taste
Mousse al cioccolato
For 6 people
300 gr dark chocolate
6 eggs
Butter (just a bit)
Milk (just a bit, usually less than half a glass)
1. Melt the chocolate in a large saucepan with the butter and milk. When it becomes creamy, take it off the heat and let cool
2. Take two bowl; divide the eggs putting the yellow part in one and the white in the other.
3. Whisk the yellow part of the eggs in the first bowl
4. Add the melted chocolate to the eggs (chocolate must not be hot/warm)
5. Whip the egg whites until it looks like snow (a bit solid)
6. very slowly add the whipped egg whites to the yellow (already mixed withe chocolate), and mix using a wooden spoon, turning it on itself (as you would use a screwdriver turn off a screw)
7. When you finish mixing everything, put the mousse in the fridge. The longer the mousse stays in the fridge, the better it is (suggest prepare it the day before serving)
Hope you enjoyed!
xoxo Erica
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Temple of Tiramisu
TIRAMISU. It's just a word, but it's making your mouth water, isn't it?
Last Thursday night (the 3rd), when I was in Florence with my dad, everyone from my school went on a field trip to POMPI. No, I did not misspell the place Pompeii. Pompi is known as the Temple of Tiramisu, as you could probably guess why. I was severely upset that I missed this amazing food experience, so I went with a couple friends to this wondrous haven of desserts on Thursday afternoon. This place was so amazing. They had a wall of fridge/freezers for take-home treats, and an area where you can get some delectable gelato.
The day was perfect; warm temperature, the sun was shining, and a light breeze blew around. Because it was such a beautiful day, we chose to sit outside. We got the menu, and it was exactly like how my friends had told me; choose between strawberry, pistachio, Nutella and banana, or classic tiramisu. What a predicament!
I finally chose classic, and figured I could taste Cindy's strawberry! I also chose a cappuccino to accompany my dessert. The name of this restaurant is definitely accurate. This was the best tiramisu I had ever tasted (and that includes tiramisu from Clara's). I will just let you see for yourself what my experience was like.
Last Thursday night (the 3rd), when I was in Florence with my dad, everyone from my school went on a field trip to POMPI. No, I did not misspell the place Pompeii. Pompi is known as the Temple of Tiramisu, as you could probably guess why. I was severely upset that I missed this amazing food experience, so I went with a couple friends to this wondrous haven of desserts on Thursday afternoon. This place was so amazing. They had a wall of fridge/freezers for take-home treats, and an area where you can get some delectable gelato.
The day was perfect; warm temperature, the sun was shining, and a light breeze blew around. Because it was such a beautiful day, we chose to sit outside. We got the menu, and it was exactly like how my friends had told me; choose between strawberry, pistachio, Nutella and banana, or classic tiramisu. What a predicament!
I finally chose classic, and figured I could taste Cindy's strawberry! I also chose a cappuccino to accompany my dessert. The name of this restaurant is definitely accurate. This was the best tiramisu I had ever tasted (and that includes tiramisu from Clara's). I will just let you see for yourself what my experience was like.
My tiramisu.
Again.
Cappuccino.
Cindy's strawberry tiramisu and fancy coffee drink.
Me and yummy-ness.
Fine.
Now, go make some tiramisu.
xoxo Erica
Carnevale and Birthday Celebrations!
Hey! This week was pretty busy between classes, thinking about mid-terms, looking at all that I had to do for my writing class, etc. etc. What kind of teachers hold mid-terms in Rome? I definitely wouldn't...
Anyways, for the past week and a half, Rome was holding it's annual Carnevale celebration. The technical translation for Carnevale is "goodbye to meat", but it is the period of bad time and craziness before Lent begins, ending on our Fat Tuesday. So, as a school event, we were all invited to this Carnevale Celebration at a restaurant named MIKA. However, what our school didn't tell us was that it was 1920's themed, and that it was a huge party! We stayed for a bit, because we got free food that was delicious (pasta, rice, veggies). Just as we were about to leave, there was a crazy Burlesque-type show, with singing and dancing. It got late, so we left early to catch the bus back to our apartment, but we heard the show got very crazy so we were glad we left when we did!
The next day, Wednesday, was my roommate Cindy's birthday! We had planned a surprise for her when we got back from our Wine and Culture class that night, and we got her favorite Nutella-filled dessert pastries from down the street, candles (that we put in her dessert), and silly Tweety paper plates and cups. She was very surprised and happy! After dessert, we went to go to a wine bar, but it was closed, so we went to this tiny restaurant which turned out to have fantastic food and the ten of us that went had such a fun time eating and laughing and talking. Then after dinner, Cindy mentioned that she wanted to go salsa dancing, so we went to a place not too far away, and met a few other people from our school, and danced, and laughed, and watched some people that were really really good at dancing perform great numbers. It was such a great fun night, and a great way to celebrate a birthday!
Anyways, for the past week and a half, Rome was holding it's annual Carnevale celebration. The technical translation for Carnevale is "goodbye to meat", but it is the period of bad time and craziness before Lent begins, ending on our Fat Tuesday. So, as a school event, we were all invited to this Carnevale Celebration at a restaurant named MIKA. However, what our school didn't tell us was that it was 1920's themed, and that it was a huge party! We stayed for a bit, because we got free food that was delicious (pasta, rice, veggies). Just as we were about to leave, there was a crazy Burlesque-type show, with singing and dancing. It got late, so we left early to catch the bus back to our apartment, but we heard the show got very crazy so we were glad we left when we did!
The next day, Wednesday, was my roommate Cindy's birthday! We had planned a surprise for her when we got back from our Wine and Culture class that night, and we got her favorite Nutella-filled dessert pastries from down the street, candles (that we put in her dessert), and silly Tweety paper plates and cups. She was very surprised and happy! After dessert, we went to go to a wine bar, but it was closed, so we went to this tiny restaurant which turned out to have fantastic food and the ten of us that went had such a fun time eating and laughing and talking. Then after dinner, Cindy mentioned that she wanted to go salsa dancing, so we went to a place not too far away, and met a few other people from our school, and danced, and laughed, and watched some people that were really really good at dancing perform great numbers. It was such a great fun night, and a great way to celebrate a birthday!
Ashley (left) with Cindy (right) and the yummy Nutella desserts!
Hope everyone is doing well!
xoxo Erica
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Museums, Gelato, and Leather Markets: The Photo Experience
Ponte Vecchio bridge by day. This was the only bridge that was not captured in WWII.
Locks on a chain, names and hearts on all.
Ponte Vecchio by night.
Michaelangelo's David
Donatello's David.
Sections of the Florence Duomo Baptistry's doors
Me poking the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Me and Cara
A nicer picture!
Pisa Baptistery.
Me in my leather coat!! Throwing my green coat off the bridge!
Inside the Florence Duomo.
Fake Baptistry doors.
Atop Piazza Michaelangelo.
On the train ride back from Florence writing Emily a little note!
xoxo Erica
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