Ganzo Dinner

 Last Friday I went to Ganzo with a friend.

"Ganzo is a non-profit cultural association created for and run by the students of Florence University of the Arts. It is a project meant to promote integration in Florence, and to encourage and facilitate the communication between students and the city. Ganzo's mission seeks to also share Italy's culinary traditions. The dishes on the menu are chosen and prepared by the students under the supervision of the culinary professors." (ganzoflorence.it)

All students are given three ticket vouchers with 10 stubs each. They can go eat at Ganzo whenever. Dinner costs two stubs though, compared to the one for lunch, but you get two dishes.
(9/23)
Ganzo
 Outdoor Area

 Menu

 Antipasti
Tartare di Salmone e Avocado, Panna Acida e Crostino di Pane Dorato
Salmon and Avocado Tartar with sour cream and Toasted Brioche

 I ate this one, tasted like cheese and bread.
 Piccola Fonduta di Pecorino di grotta con bigne al pepe nero
Aged cave pecorino fondue with black pepper bigne (sheep milk cheese with black pepper bigne)

 


 Secondi
This is what I got, the tomato was sweet, and when everything was eaten on the same fork it would taste insanely awesome.
Maialino da latte laccato al miele con rape e pomodoro confit
Milk pig rack served with broccoli rabe and confit tomatoes (tomato) (and mashed potatoes)

 

Filetto di sgombro all' isolana
Mackerel fillet with potatoes, tomatoes and olives

Dessert
 Zuccotto Toscano
Tuscan Ricotta and Sponge Cake

I ordered this treat. Thought the rasberry on top was a gummy, apparently it wasn't.
Bavarese di Vaniglia e Lampone
Vanilla and Rasberry Bavarese

Sandwiches: Donkey and Lampredotto

I got a donkey sandwich for $4.50 at Semel which is located at the Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti and a lampredotto sandwich at the stand which is located at the Piazza S. Ambrogio just down the street from where I live for $3. "Lampredotto is a typical Florentine peasant dish, made from the fourth and final stomach of a cow, the abomasum." (wikipedia.com)

9/15

 The donkey sandwich tastes pretty much like beef.

 Lampredotto

Basil Sauce (oily basil flavor)
Chili Sauce (salty spicy flavor)
Chili Powder? (to make more spicy)
The lampredotto actually tastes pretty bland, to describe it though, I guess it tastes like lampredotto which is why you're supposed to cook it with other ingredients, but this was all they had at the time.

Ethnographic Study

So this is to justify my previous post. As a sociology major I am going to do an ethnographic study.

So, the USD is crap compared to the Euro which sucks for those of us who have been brainwashed into thinking that US is the hegemon of the world. Because now things aren't so affordable and you have to try cooking with LIMITED ingredients. And guess what, you end up with a natural disaster like this:

Looks GROSS, right? Because it is, in taste, smell, and looks, even feel and hearing as it sputters.

Which leads us to the occasionally weird smells in Florence which makes me have to use a good-smelling candle: 

This one smells like vanillaish.

This actually brings me to the fact that there are no smoke detectors at all in the apartments. When the adjoining apartments smoke, some of the smoke enters my apartment and it smells like smog, which the candle is for. An ashtray:

Ignore what's in it.

The windows here don't have screens which makes it really annoying when the mosquitoes come strolling by. Six to ten mosquito bites per night is not a good night. So yesterday night I used a mosquito repellent and whaddya know, no more mosquitoes. The leftovers of the mosquito repellent:

The Screenless Window

The last post about the apartment. Florence is an old city with old buildings and apparently a city of old keys too. They cost around 50 euros to replace, which is currently around 75USD.

Awesome, huh?

Since Florence is the capital of Italian culture, it is also the wine capital of Italy. I think... wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, everywhere.

This isn't wine by the way. lol

Regarding liquids there are several different types of milk which is confusing, like alto qualita, parlizamente scrimato, etc.

Staying on the topic of food, I ordered from a Chinese take-out place yesterday. What is so amazing is the price which was 2,50 euros, and the quality of the food. They actually used white rice, not the yellow rice found in the USA. It was less greasy too.

The candy strip thing in the back came with it too. Apparently the place, Jian Jian is so cheap because it was established 20 years ago and the customers are just as old too, so to change the price would be to lose the customers.

What was also cool about Florence is that there are a few Farmer's Market thing that goes up almost every day. The food is a lot cheaper and more fresh than most other places in Florence.

A sample of vegetables, they also sell meat, nuts, fruits, and etc.

For the last study, the train station. The Florence train station is moderately sized. But the cool thing is that it's not all indoors, there are parts of the station that is outdoors too, such as where the actual trains are on standby. 

That's all of the ethnographic studies for now. More to come later. Possibly...

First Post

So, it's been a week and four days since my arrival here in Florence or as the Italians say it, Firenze. Though I know I shouldn't be doing this, I'll start off with several of the big differences I noticed between the US and Firenze, Italy. First is that the Internet is incredibly slow. Whenever I log on to my college profile, I get disconnected. Also the Internet availability usage is extremely limited, as is the facilities. Secondly there are no screens on the windows, so the mosquitoes fly in and out. Every night of sleeping I get like 6-10 new mosquito bites. But I got an ancient asian mosquito repellent which worked really well. The green spiral like thing which you light up and it smokes.

 The remains...

The keys are pretty different looking, looks much cooler. (reminds me of Kingdom Hearts)

There also isn't any smoke detectors in the apartment which can be partially indicated by the ash trays inside.
There are also several different types of milk, I'm assuming its like 2%, 0%, etc.

Also there is wine everywhere in every store, oh and there is no free water at the restaurants, which sucks.
And there are no public restrooms except at the bars, which sucks too.