This week in Italy: I cook a variety of dishes in my Food of Italy class, and I cook a few things at home.

The Food of Italy

This class focuses on the different regions of Italy, and the specific products and recipes that come out of each one. We usually take notes for a short time, and then spend most of the class cooking the meals; one main course and a desert. And the best part about it is that we get to eat what we’ve cooked at the end, which serves as my lunch for the day. With many regions on the water, seafood is popular on the menu. One class we cooked a seafood stew with potatoes, tomatoes, mussels, clams, and toasted bread. At the end of prepping each meal, our teacher always designs one plate of food to look like it came right out of a restaurant. Our plates never come close to looking like hers.

Cooking at Home

Very early on, my roommates and I decided that each person would cook a meal for everyone for one day a week, excluding weekends. This would be cheaper for everyone, and you wouldn’t have to put in the time to cook your own meal every night. Getting the food is easy, since there is a supermarket and local market right down the street from us, but figuring out what each item is isn’t, since almost everything is in Italian. Still, after opening up a translator and writing down the items, you can usually find what you need Although there are a few things that are hard if not impossible to find here: root beer, cheddar cheese, sour cream, ranch dressing, and peanut butter to name a few.

See all of my photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddbrown/sets/72157640640691544/.