Day 24 - Half day Sunday!!!

After a late evening the night before, we were all glad to have just a half day on Sunday. A few folks for lunch, but not many, then clean up and home. Tyler went to Rome in the afternoon with his dad, as it was his last day in Italy. Francheso went to sleep, and I went home, changed, and back up to Orvieto. I was in need of a little mini vacation from my crap bed, so I booked a room at the Grand Hotel Italia. Very nice, close to the center of town, and booking on their website made it rather affordable. The rooms was a nice double and blazing hot which was a nice alternative to my apartment. It was pretty cool, you needed your key to access the power in the room, a great way to conserve power on their side.

I know it seems silly to get a hotel room for an evening, in the town I work, but, I needed a mental break from it all, best idea!!! I met up with Franchesco in the evening for some gelati, I just can’t get enough of the Black cherry! Then we met Tyler and his dad at the Beer House (the boys were hoping to meet up with the bama kids again. This time, I ordered a hot dog. Much better choice!!! Yes Fuel friends, in the land of carbs, I can still get my hands on a decent hot dog, so happy!

Some of the group showed, the boys were on their ‘A’ game, maybe more like ‘B’ game, but still. I headed back to my hotel around midnight, skyped with my mom and then tracked some of the Golden Globe happenings, since I missed throwing a party for you all this year, I was there in spirit. After a late night, the rest was welcomed in a comfy bed and warm space. One more day of work, then a day off!!!

Goodnight all!

Day 23 - Cooking Class with the Southerners - Part 2

After service and clean up of the first class, it was time for round number 2. The next group of students were a bit more lively, I blame it on the wine they had at lunch, and were ready and willing to work with any of the menu items. This menu consisted of fresh bread, Fried dough filled with spinach and ricotta, Black truffle risotto, Porchetta with wild fennel served with market zucchini, biscotti, and apple crostata. I was excited to work with both the risotto group and the zucchini gals. I started off with both groups working onions of course and showing the finer points of holding a knife properly. Happy to say I had no injuries occur. Then came the slicing of about 12 pounds of zucchini, but the gals just kept on working it, once cooked, they were really good and a nice green color. Then the black truffles, maybe $300 dollars worth went into the dish that they were preparing. It was pretty fun to watch them get excited over the ingredients.

After a bit of back and forth with the Chef, the risotto was started and we were off and running/cooking. The porchetta guys were told of the previous fire and how to hopefully avoid this, considering we upped the anti and had two in the oven this time, we did not want to have a fire happen! All was well, and the porchetta came out fully cooked, crispy skin, and delicious. Although, the winning dish of the day was the risotto.

Later that evening, the roommates and I met some of the students out for drinks at this place called the Beer House, rumor was they had a hamburger on the menu, so of course, I had to order it. Out it came with some half moon shaped patate fritti. It was good, but I am pretty sure it was a pork sausage patty. Nonetheless, it wasn’t half bad at 10:45 at night. The rest of the night was filled with watching my roommates try and infiltrate the group for a little girly action. However, to no avail, we all ended up walking home together at about 1:30 am that day. We took a shorter much more steep route though. But it was nice to be home a a more decent time than from NYE.

Language Lesson #

sceffio = Dirty

Bruto = Ugly

Grosso = Fat

Day 23 - Cooking Class with the Southerners - Part 1

Today was an early morning Saturday for us interns. Chef picked us up at our apartment at 7:35 am, we had a quick coffee at a gas station. And no, this is not your typical gas station coffee. Almost every gas station has a coffee/espresso bar in it along with a nice selection of pastries and sandwiches. Pretty interesting really. But the cappuccino I had was rather tasty after the addition of 2 sugar packets, yes Brian, I am drinking coffee regularly, usually in cappuccino form and once in a while an espresso. Considering when coming Italy even the smell of coffee made me want to gag a bit, this is a new thing.

Anyway, off the coffee rant. From here we went up to the restaurant, dropped off our stuff and met up with a contingent of students from the University of Alabama - Birmingham. 28 Southerners all in a row were going to be taking cooking classes from Chef today. But first, we hit the local market that happens twice a week. All sorts of fresh fruit and veg vendors. A cheese and meat truck, that’s right, a cheese and meat truck. Legs of prosciutto, wheels of cheese, baccala (salt cod), fresh buffalo mozzarella. Pretty much the greatest sight in Orvieto yet :) There was also a Porchetta truck. If you remember a week or so ago, the porchetta is what set the oven on fire at the restaurant last time. Well, Chef bought about 2 pounds of it to share with everyone right there on the street. So delicious!!! IT will be interesting to see how the one we make tonight turns out! After buying fresh cheese, veg, fruit, and the best pistachios I have ever eaten, it was off to open the restaurant and start the first cooking class. 14 students, 3 interns, 1 chef; yikes!

The morning class was pretty quiet, potentially because they were still sleeping or hungover. The menu consisted of: Individual foccaccia pizzas, Cauliflower veloutte with fresh buffalo mozzerella, Roast chicken with peppers and olives, salad, and Tiramisu.I helped two students with prepping the chicken, peppers, and chopping parsley. Some of the folks were really excited and others sort of tried to stay out of the fray. After showing a few tricks of slicing an onion to the crew, it was time to tackle the chicken legs, cutting the the leg away from the thigh. It was actually pretty funny to watch their faces as I put a raw leg on each of their cutting boards. But using the handy dandy trick from Chef Donna Kennedy, teaching them was a breeze. The chicken turned out pretty good, it was fall off the bone tender.

Francheso sliced into his thumb pretty good within the first 15 minutes of the class, so he was out of commission for a bit, but don’t worry, Tyler swooped in to help the twins out that Frankie was working with first. These boys were definitely trying to work any angle possible to hang with the ladies later in the evening.

Chef Kennedy’s Chicken Trick (Donna, you can use the slogan for future classes)

When cutting a chicken into 8 pieces, the leg quarters can sometimes be a little tricky. But this foolproof method will make you feel like a bona-fide butcher every time.

• Take the leg/thigh quarter and place it skin side down on your cutting board.
• If you need to, remove move any excess skin away from the meat/cutting side.
• With the leg portion in your left hand, hold it down towards you.
• You will see a white tissue line right where the leg and thigh bones meet.
• Take your knife and cut just to the left of this line.
• Presto Chango, 2 pieces, clearing both bones, no problemo!

Day 22 - Gno More Gnocchi, Gno More, Gno More...

So as expected, with Lorenzo in house, it was a chaotic shit show of a day. Pardon the language, but it is true. We started off by prepping some items that Carlo, the sous chef, made sure we were to take care of in his absence today. Boiling potatoes for gnocci, prepping ravioli filling (secretly from Chef), and making bread. It is a known fact, that chef has a tendency, when making items, to throw whatever is in arms reach into the mix. Hence, why Carlo wanted us to prep the ravioli filing on the sly, which we accomplished. However, as Carlo had expected, the gnocchi did not make it out so lucky. As we normally use a recipe that is very simple; flour, potatoes, eggs, and salt, the recipe today was changed by adding butter, parsley (stem and all), parmesan cheese and whole pink peppercorns. This all gets ran through the meat grinder and then mixed in with the flour and eggs to make a ‘dough’. Mind you, pink peppercorns are smaller than the grinder holes, so I am positive someone will get a whole peppercorn in their future dish and possibly some parsley stems too.

Well, after the 6 kilos (13.2 Lbs) of potatoes were mixed with all of that, I had 6 sheet pans of gnocchi that I spent the whole afternoon and lunch service rolling, cutting, and flouring. Che Palle!!!

Dinner service was interesting, considering, the only 2 customers again were Tylers Dad and grandpa. We also prepped for the cooking class chef is teaching tomorrow. The University of Alabama - Birmingham has a contingent of 28 students. 14 will cook in the morning and the other half in the evening. We basically prepped all the sheet pans for each course so they are ready to go in the morning.

I made family meal this lunch and finally got some praise for the dish; Penne pasta with pomadoro sauce with prosciutto and spicy pepper oil. Tasty! A schedule was also posted for the back of the house today. So it looks like my day off this week is Tuesday, although I am holding this as tentative at the moment. We will see how tomorrow goes, it should prove to be interesting.

Ciao - Ciao

Spicy Penne (Serves 8)

1 Kilo of Penne Pasta (2.2 lbs) - Boil till ready

3 hefty slices of prosciuttoo; sliced and diced

3 cups of prepared basic tomato sauce (ideally homemade)

3 tsp. Armageddon Oil (hot pepper oil) Can be adjusted to be as hot as you prefer.

1/2 cup Milk

12 leaves fresh Basil; chiffonade

Parmesan cheese to top

Add olive oil to hot pan, add prosciutto and cook for 2 minutes, add tomato sauce. Bring to simmer, add milk and hot pepper oil. Mix well and simmer a few minutes longer till your desired sauce consistency. Add basil. Add cooked pasta and stir all together. Plate and top with cheese.

Day 21 - A glint of hope...Nope

So after spending 2 days messing with WIFI, we came home for siesta and the Internet was working!!! A victory for us USA kids who want to connect with family, friends, and the rest of the world. I know I am to be out jet-setting and seeing Italy, but I can only really do that on days off, which keep getting canceled, or in Orvieto, which is smaller than my hometown.

The internet worked all afternoon and after dinner service, where we only served 2 people, again, we came home to find the internet not working, again. So frustrating to be promised something for 3 weeks with no positive outcome. Anywho, I did get to make some ravioli on the hot line today, so that was very fun. Otherwise, we had a very tasty family meal today, Pork Chops and french fries. So Tasty!!! Marcee, this chop was the size of your head, no lie. And really tender and not overcooked. It was a special treat for sure. And fries two days in a row was even better. But nonetheless, a slow Thursday for sure.

Chef Lorenzo will be in the kitchen all day tomorrow, so I can only imagine that it will be way chaotic and we will make a bunch of bullshit and mencia (men-key-a, spelling? This means ‘dick’ in Italian).

Miss you all!

Nikita

Day 19 - WIFI or Die?!?!

As my dear readers know, we have yet to have WIFI installed at the apartment. It was definitely promised to us when signing up for this gig. So after having a phone line installed at the place on Monday, we received a modem/router. After a 3 hour failed attempt to set it up during siesta, Tyler and I tried again in the evening, with nothing to show for it. So Frustrating!

At work last night we made two sheet trays of tiramisu, lots and lots of it as we have a party for 80 people coming up in a few days. And yes, after making them, they went straight into the freezer. I will keep you all posted on the WIFI issue. Once resolved, I will feel a bit more settled. And I should be receiving a package from the states, which I am very excited for. Mom, thank you for sending me warmth!!!

Ciao!

Day 18 - Slow Days

Hello Readers,

As I was supposed to have Monday night off, I had expected to look for some sightseeing and a little relaxation. However, after popping into the restaurant at 1 pm to have some risotto, turns our, we were all supposed to work that night. So much for a day off! After opening the restaurant to see if we would be busy, Lorenzo vacated the premises. Turns out, not a single person came into dine with us, not a single one. So hopefully, this means all day off on Mondays from now on!

I know I promised you all some hot Italian men, but alas, there are no prospects. I know that I should walk the walk after all the talk, but I am at a loss here. Staring at the 4 wall of the restaurant for 6 days a week is not necessarily the greatest way to catch a guy. But I will try and find some sort of story in the next few weeks.

Miss and love you all!