Jess 1-26-08

Hello all!

Stealing a little internet in Bill's apartment after dinner... apparently there is one very weak signal that we can leech just enough to check emails. We have more pictures from today, but given the flimsiness of the connection I'll have to upload them on Monday.

Today Bill and I visited the Uffizi, it was really fun. I acted as tour guide best as I could from what I have learned in my classes. It's nice to know a little before you go before there are pretty much no explanations underneath the paintings and scuptures. There is an amazing collection of marble statues from the Roman Empire in the hallways, which so many people skip over and run past in order to get to the paintings, but really they are exquisite. There are a few Caravaggio's and Da Vinci's, and plenty of Boticelli paintings -- actually Uffizi has the largest collection of Boticelli works in one place in the world. Including, of course, the famous Birth of Venus and Primavera.

The Chianti trip yesterday was equally as fun, the vineyards were really beautiful... I think the owner said they owned 50 hectares of land, completely covered in grape vines and olive tree. I just realized today that I'd never seen an olive tree before, not even a picture of one. They're about the color of sage, making the landscape a gray-green color. It just seems to go on forever into the distant blue mountains. Apparently the villa was at one time purchased and owned by the Medici family, and despite its countryside beauty and gorgeous courtyard (even when not in bloom), they regarded it as their "ugly house". I'd kill for an ugly house like that any day. We visited the wine cellar, the big barrels, and the oil presses (evidently it isn't that hard to make extra virgin olive oil -- just squeeze and bottle.) Some of the terra cotta jars that were used to store wine before the steel drums were very old -- one said 1847 on it. Pretty neat.

They provided lunch for us, really tasty tuscan countryside food -- lasagna, all sorts of bread with paté (olive paste, chicken liver, wild boar), bruschetta with fresh olive oil, homemade wine (of course), salami, cheese (fresh and aged), and biscotti for dessert. Very tasty, Bill and I bought some of the wine to take home with us, and we played with their adorable dogs -- the dogs liked Bill more than me :( but it made me miss Echo. Bill, unfortunately, became very ill so he went straight to bed and developed a high fever by the end of the day, but after some hours of sleep and ibuprofen it broke. Today he was much better but we took it easy so that he could rest and not overexert himself. His fever hasn't yet come back but hopefully he'll sleep in tomorrow and we can both finally just be healthy people.

We visited a local church that was actually much older than many of the bigger churches -- built in the mid 1300s. It was very beautiful despite its smaller size, and felt more...what's the word? It felt more like a place of worship since Bill and I were it's only visiters, besides one flower arranger working near the altar. We sat quietly in the dimly lit church pews for a while, partially admiring the paintings in frames on the walls and on the ceiling above the altars, and partially taking a little time to think and to pray. I 'lit' a candle for prayer - they weren't actually candles, but candle shaped light bulbs, for fire hazards maybe? - and then we left for home. It was nice to take a few moments of quiet to ourselves.

Oh, and we finally found a mezzaluna! It works like a charm, and I can see why our cooking teacher said hers has lasted for a long time -- it doesn't really need to be sharp to look. If you press your finger against the blade, it doesn't cut you, I think it must work by pressure. Plus it's nearly impossible to cut yourself since using the mezzaluna requires two hands. Nonetheless, we minced some fresh parsley, rosemary, and garlic for potatoes and a marinade and it works like a charm! I was so excited. It only cost 10 euro, too! We found it at an outdoor market outside San Lorenzo. The setup was slightly disturbing, since the whole stand just sold big shiny knives (only slightly intimidating to walk up to in public). But the vendor was nice and showed us mezzalunas until we found the one we wanted. I'm very excited.

Speaking of food, of course Bill and I made another dinner we learned from Food Club. It was the turkey, stuffed with bacon, and cooked in lemon. It turned out a little more lemony than the hers, but nonetheless it was delicious. I think we will use up the rest of our turkey and make it again soon. For dessert, which we have not yet eaten, I made a crostata di more (blackberry tart). It basically tastes like a giant sugar cookie with jam on top. :) I forgot to take a picture of it the last time I made one, but I'll try to remember to take a picture of it this time.

Well, that's it for now. As soon as we get reliable internet we'll try to put up the photos we took of the Chianti and Uffizi trip (although there isn't much of the Uffizi besides the outside, due to strict camera rules). Ciao for now!