Chocolate Anyone?

A couple weeks ago I was able to experience the Chocolate Festival in Perugia (sound familiar, yes that is where Amanda Knox was studying).

I went with a couple of my roommates and I think we were drooling the whole time.

Let's just say, as a woman, I absolutely love chocolate.

We arrived in Perugia mid morning and headed straight the the festival. Once we got there we got our "choco cards" so that we would be able to have free tastings at different chocolate tents.

With our card, we got to try hot chocolate (which was more like hot pudding that is how thick it was), a chocolate yogurt milk that had a fruit flavoring (this was really interesting), different generic chocolates and were able to receive a picture frame made of chocolate (unfortunately it was dark chocolate so I gave it to my roommate who wasn't able to attend).

I have never bought so much chocolate in my entire life at one time. Let's just say it is almost all gone. I had the most delicious chocolate covered banana when I first got there.

While in Perugia we had a nice lunch at a hidden restaurant. It was a little pizzeria and it was so good. We all order pizza (of course) and realized when we got them we probably could have shared between the three of us. It was gigantic.

After that I went on a chocolate binge and bought tons of chocolate. My favorite was these little bars of milk chocolate with different dried fruits in them. I got banana, orange and strawberry (banana, arancia and fragola for translation). I liked the orange the best. I also got a giant bar of mint chocolate, and yes it is the color of mint you would think of. It is a beautiful green and I kind of don't want to eat it, but it is delicious :].

After being in a chocolate coma we headed back to Florence taking a nice long nap on the bus. Everyone was sleeping, out cold. So asleep that one of the guys had a great time taking pictures of everyone sleeping. Fun Times.

Yummmmy!

"Hot Chocolate"

LOADS AND LOADS OF CHOCOLATE!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Life on the Farm....

A couple of weeks ago I went on a field trip for my Food History class. We were taking to a "slow food" farm out in the country side.

This farm was absolutely organic. They made wine, honey, various breads, meats and different fruits and vegetables.

While at the farm we learned about all the animals that were raised there. They believe that the animal should live a great life and not have to suffer in order to be eaten. These animals had a luxurious way of living. They were able to run around in the fields of Tuscany and live with their families until it was time for them to go. The animals included pigs and cows.

Touring the farm and the wine cellars we were able to taste the experience we just had. We had a tasting of 4 different wines. Their fine olive oil, pancetta (bacon), salami, tomatoes and honey, all on their fresh made bread. It was absolutely delicious.

After going to the farm we were taken to a typical "slow food" restaurant.

Background: Slow Food is an organization promoting the production of a slower way to eat. It is the total opposite of fast food. They want to promote the way of cooking at a slow pace and from all organic and healthy raised animals, fruits and vegetables.

This food was amazing. I have never tasted anything like it. We first had an antipasti (appetizer) of various meats and pates to put on bread, for the primi piatti (first plate) we had penne with a meat sauce, and for dolce (dessert) we had apple crumble made with fresh apples, raisins and pie crust.

Little Piggy's

Yummy Pancetta and Salami

Red Wine All Around!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Oktoberfest: Betcha can't have just one beer....

This past weekend I ventured north to Germany for the one and only Oktoberfest. It was held in Munich and it was absolutely amazing.

The adventure went a little like this....

Thursday night we started off with some predeparture cocktails, which was possibly the best idea ever because we had a 9 hour bus ride a head of us. So we leave Florence around 11:30 p.m. I slept the ENTIRE way to Munich.

After arriving in Germany around 9 in the morning we went and settled in at our hostel and got ready for what was a head of us that day.

I don't think any of us really knew what we had gotten ourselves into. We finally got to Oktoberfest and the first thing we did was go to a beer tent, possibly the biggest one called Hofbrauhaus (HB). This one, according to our tour guide, is known to be the one where all the foreigners go for beer and a good time.

Each tent (a total of 10) has only one type of beer, being their own beer because each tent represents famous breweries in Germany.

In the HB tent we quickly found a table. We were there from about 10:30 till 2:00 hanging out and drinking beer. I am usually not a beer drinker but since I was there I had to try it. You were able to get a half beer and half lemonade which was actually quite good. I ended up drinking two beers each being one liter. After two beers I was definitely in my happy place. The beers themselves were 10 euro, but so worth it.

In the tent it was absolute craziness. Beer mugs clinking everywhere, a million different languages being spoken, drinking songs being sung, people standing on the tables and chugging while everyone would cheer them on, and of course there was not a soul who was having a bad time.

I really wish I could have bought an outfit to wear there. Everyone was dressed up. The girls would wear a Dirndl which is a dress that the German girls wear, the guys would wear lederhosen which are leather trousers, and everyone would have a Gingerbread hanging around their neck (also called a Lebkuchen) shaped like a heart with different sayings on them. I did buy a Gingerbread that said Oktoberfest and wore it around for a while.

I also had some of the best food there. I was able to have a bratwurst which they usually put on a hoagie roll, corn on the cob, crepes with nutella, and their potatoes were delicious. I was amazed at how good the food was. Definitely different than Italy, but reminded me more of home.

After our first day there we were extremely tired and ended up sleeping in the next day and then going back to Oktoberfest at night. This was the last weekend of Beerfest and so Saturday and Sunday are generally a lot busier. We were not able to get into a tent again, especially in the evening because people have reservations for lunch and dinner. At night it was beautiful. It is basically a huge carnival with rides and game booths and lights. I felt like a little kid. I was able to ride the Farris wheel and look down on the thousands of people that were attending Oktoberfest that evening. We ended up later being able to get into one of the beer gardens (which is like an outside tent) of the HB tent and met up with some people we had met from the day before. That is where I ended up getting my most prized souvenir, an HB beer mug. Let's just say I'm glad I brought my backpack :]

On our last day there, we got up early and headed to Dachau where the first concentration camp of Germany was. This camp was the first of all of the camps in Europe. It started as a prisoner camp for people who threatened the government when Hitler became chancellor.

This day had to have been the most eery day. When we got off the train in Dachau it was very foggy and dreary. We arrived at the camp and started walking around and it was just very creepy. I have been to a holocaust museum and it really doesn't compare to seeing some of the real things that went on there. We were able to go into a barrack where they slept, walk through a gas chamber and see the brick crematories where the dead bodies were burned. It was a very moving experience and definitely one of the things I have always wanted to do in my life. I have always been interest in the Holocaust and just trying to understand how anything like that could happen and this by far taught me a lot more than I had ever known.

So my trip to Germany was a complete success. I really did love it there and hope to go back again some day!

BEERS ALL AROUND!

Me with my cookie :]

Best Picture Ever

Great weekend!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn