Cooking Class!

Saturday 21 at 8 am was my cooking class!  Our group of 30 is split into three groups for the three sessions which take place on market day (Sat and Thurs).  I was excited to be in the first group.  The day started with a cappuchino at Zeppelin (The restaurant owned by Chef Lorenzo which happens to be very close to our apartment).   We then headed to the market with Chef Lorenzo.  On the way we stopped at a candy/wine store and sampled a light liquor which was poured into shot-like glasses.  Lorenzo seemed very surprised when we all took it like a shot, I think we were supposed to just sip it...cultural differences I guess.  When we got to the market we sampled some pork, bought ornages from a man Lorenzo described as crazy, amd bought artichokes, broccoli, peppers, hot cherry peppers, and a few other veggies.  We went into the cafe next to the market and had another cappuchino and an orange pastry soaked in a cherry liquor filled with cream and sprinkled with sugar.  Lorenzo also took us into the kitchen where a cute old man and a few other bakers were making more delicious pastries.  Next we headed back to Zeppelin. 
Lorenzo wrote up a quick menu and we split into small groups and were assigned a menu item.  I got to make gnocci!!  It's a potato based pasta that we were going to used in a carbonara sauce.  The first step was to peel potatoes that were boiled.  We sent the peeled potatoes through a meat grinder and then added 1 part flour to two parts potatoes and two eggs (1egg per kg of potato).  Next we kneeded it until it was all combined into a large ball.  Lorenzo showed us how to roll chunks of dough into snakes, cut them into little nuggets and roll them on a fork to make the common gnocci shape.  There was a mountain of dough so we enlisted a few others to help make the gnocci.  When we finished all the dough, we had two large cookie sheets full of gnocci which was chilled before we put it in boiling water until it floated to the top indicating us that it was done cooking.  Lornzo made the carbonara sauce and added the gnocci and our job was complete!  The other students made pork loin suffed with herbs and some veggies, froccacia dough for pizza, greens, and tangerine gelato.  The whole meal was delicious!  We also got a wine tasting/lesson which was very informative.  We ended the class with a group photo in our aprons with our diplomas and book of recipes, and then a shot of grappa!  After class Natalie and I came home and I took a 2.5hr nap :) 

When the rest of the roommates came home we decided to go for a walk along the main corso at 6 when the whole town comes out to take a stroll and see their friends and do a little shopping.  I bought a couple disney books in Italian (guess which ones....Pocahontas and Mulan!)  I was able to read most of it, but I guess it helps that I pretty much know both those movies by heart.  After out stoll, we went to dinner and ended up going to a pretty fancy restaurant.  I shared aa gnocci dish with Caitlin which was good, but not as good as the one we made in class!  Next we met up with some friends at a bar to have a few drinks and people watch.  It was a great end to an amazing day!