Its thursday night at about 830. I just got done with my introduction to nutritions class and Im waiting for the meeting about the school newsmagazine (blender) to begin. Yesterday I had another cooking class, Italian regional cuisine. We made a quiche like pastry that was very good. The ingredients included 2 artichokes, ricotta cheese, parmigiano, swiss chard, garlic, flour, hardboiled eggs and olive oil. We started out by making dough out of flour and water. We mixed by hand until the dough no longer stuck to the table or our hands. After the dough was the right consistency we wrapped it in tinfoil and set it aside. We pulled off the outer layers of the artichokes and cut them in halff. We then cut out the inner center (the hairy area) and the top inch and a half. We heated olive oil and added garlic, then the artichokes and covered. We then brought water to a boil and added the swiss chard stems. While the artichokes and chard was cooking we mixed ricotta, some parmigiano, sale pepe and one egg yolk. 
When the chard was soft we chopped it into small pieces and added it to the ricotta mix. When the artickokes had become soft we minced them and added them as well. When everything was mixed together we rolled out the dough, adding flour if it stuck to the table. Make sure the dough is nice and thin, then cut out a piece of dough larger than whatever you are putting the food into. 
We used cupcake sized tins and used the ricotta lid to cut out the dough. Layer 3 layers of dough then some of the filling then another 2 layers of the thin pastry. When youve reached the second layer of pastry cut up the hard boiled egg and make a thin layer of egg. Lay down one more layer of pastry then fill to the top, with some of the cheese, artichoke, and chard filling rising over the top like a hill. Layer two pastry on top and make a roll of crust around the edge like a pizza. Put in the oven and cook until it looks done! After class I had a couple ours to waslk around before my italian class. Italian class is pretty dificult. Italian seems to be a much harder language to learn than spanish, which i took in high school. 
We wend over the articles (the prefixes of the nouns) and some of the many rules that you have to learn. Our teacher is good and thorough and challenges us each. After Italian class I wandered around nighttime Florence for a while. I love walking here in the dark at night as you dont have to deal with all the tourists and traffic. I had my camera with me and I hadnt used it at night so I wandered around taking pictures, trying to figure out the night time settings. Eventually I wandered to the Duomo, where there were lots of people sitting and hanging out. 
Young and old. The autobiography of michaelangelo that I just finished told about how he and his friends used to hang out there at night. 
Its cool to see an example of how thing may look different but they dont really change. After I had figured out my cameras settings I headed home, stopping at Brittany's for a while first. 
When the chard was soft we chopped it into small pieces and added it to the ricotta mix. When the artickokes had become soft we minced them and added them as well. When everything was mixed together we rolled out the dough, adding flour if it stuck to the table. Make sure the dough is nice and thin, then cut out a piece of dough larger than whatever you are putting the food into. We used cupcake sized tins and used the ricotta lid to cut out the dough. Layer 3 layers of dough then some of the filling then another 2 layers of the thin pastry. When youve reached the second layer of pastry cut up the hard boiled egg and make a thin layer of egg. Lay down one more layer of pastry then fill to the top, with some of the cheese, artichoke, and chard filling rising over the top like a hill. Layer two pastry on top and make a roll of crust around the edge like a pizza. Put in the oven and cook until it looks done! After class I had a couple ours to waslk around before my italian class. Italian class is pretty dificult. Italian seems to be a much harder language to learn than spanish, which i took in high school. 
We wend over the articles (the prefixes of the nouns) and some of the many rules that you have to learn. Our teacher is good and thorough and challenges us each. After Italian class I wandered around nighttime Florence for a while. I love walking here in the dark at night as you dont have to deal with all the tourists and traffic. I had my camera with me and I hadnt used it at night so I wandered around taking pictures, trying to figure out the night time settings. Eventually I wandered to the Duomo, where there were lots of people sitting and hanging out. 
Young and old. The autobiography of michaelangelo that I just finished told about how he and his friends used to hang out there at night. 
Its cool to see an example of how thing may look different but they dont really change. After I had figured out my cameras settings I headed home, stopping at Brittany's for a while first. 
Tomorrow Brittany and I are going to Cinque Terra, which is a chain of five villages that have beautiful beaches. I put on some links at the bottom so you can check it out if you like. I also have a field trip to Rome coming up at the end of the month which I am very excited for. Theyre closing down the computer lab so I'll try to add more pictures later.
