Lots and Lots of Pasta

Tuesday night I took a cooking class hosted by SU. We learned how to make fresh pasta from scratch. It was a lot of fun. The classes were taught by an Italian chef and his wife. He's retired from the restaurant business and they teach cooking classes throughout the city. Making my own pasta was a fun awesome. Making the dough is simple yet really challenging because you have to kneed the moisture out. Once the tedious business of preparing the dough was finished we got down to the serious business. Cutting the pasta and cooking it. We made 3 different types of pasta. Ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta (my favorite), tagliatelle in a pepper sauce, and spaghetti in tomato sauce. We also made tiramisu for desert. We started the cooking class at 5:30 and didn't finish eating until 9:30. Which is what I'd call a successful evening. Eating the pasta was amazing. We got a bottle of wine and then just kept eating plate, after plate, after plate of pasta. As soon as we'd finish one pasta another won was ready to eat. Then their was the tiramisu. There are no words to describe the food coma is was in by the end of that meal. I felt as round and a beach ball and as happy as a cat with a bowl of cream (or pasta in my case). I'm really mad because I forgot my camera otherwise there would be many awesome pictures featuring lots and lots of pasta.

Last night I went with some friends to an awesome bar. This bar had three things going for it. First of all the drinks were excellent, second the atmosphere was fun and relaxed, finally everyone was young and Italian. This bar will remain nameless because I don't want it to become flooded with Americans. Not that I flatter myself with thinking that every American in Florence reads this blog but still. The bar we went to also has live music at least once a week. Next Tuesday is a Beatles cover band, no I'm not talking about Be Bop. Am I going back for that? Yes.

I haven't really talked that much about fashion but this is Italy and there a lot of amazing style. I have to say that my Italian teacher Francesca has become my Italian style icon. She is always wearing terrific tailored suits, great knits, skinny jeans, and of course her shoes and accessories are impeccable. I'd take pictures of her outfits but I'm afraid she might find that a little bit creepy. Sandra my host mother also wears some wonderful pieces of clothing, including a fantastic leather pencil skirt. Cosimo, her son, works as a fashion designer. He naturally is always incredibly well put together. He wears basic pieces that always have really interesting details to them. I think my favorite fashion moment was the woman I saw riding an old beat-up bicycle and wearing a fur coat. The juxtaposition of the two was indescribably awesome.