May 30, 2008

I made dinner again tonight. This time a made a chicken in red wine sauce and roasted potatoes. One of my roommates, Amanda, made green beans. I was really surprised at how good everything came out. Here are the recipes for the chicken and the potatoes:

Chicken in red wine sauce

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon paprika
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup red wine
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook garlic in oil until tender. Place chicken in the skillet, and cook about 10 minutes on each side
Drain oil from skillet. Sprinkle chicken with paprika and 1 cup sugar. Pour red wine around chicken. Cover, and simmer about 10 minutes; Uncover and continue to let simmer for 10 minutes, lightly baste chicken with wine sauce while cooking. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roasted Potatoes

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4
5 medium sized potatoes quartered Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put the potatoes, olive oil and salt and pepper in to a bowl. Toss the potatoes to coat them. Pour the potatoes onto a baking sheet. Roast in the oven, until golden and crispy on the outside, tender and cooked through on the inside, about 30 minutes.

May 29, 2008

Today I ate at the University for the first time. I got pasta and bread, but it was really good considering it was from a cafeteria. For dinner a big group of us went to a café in the square near the whale bone. I got roasted chicken, potatoes and zucchini. Everything was very delicious. The chicken and the zucchini were very tender and they were seasoned with many different things; I could only name the rosemary and the garlic, but there were a lot of other spices in there. For dessert, I tried tiramisu for the first time. I do not really like espresso, but it was very good in the tiramisu. It was not an overwhelming flavor, and it worked well with the cake and the filling parts.

May 28, 2008

I noticed that since I have been here I have been eating a lot more fruit than I do at home. I think it is because it is so much fresher here than it is at home. I had fruit for breakfast and for a snack after my classes. Tonight my roommates and I had dinner with Professor Diakite. She made us two kinds of fresh ravioli, one had artichokes and the other had mushrooms. I have never had artichokes and I do not really like mushrooms, but I tried both of them and the artichoke ravioli was pretty good. The mushroom one was a little strong and I did not really like it. We also had some fresh spaghetti which was very good. After dinner we went out for gelato and watched the fashion show.

May 27, 2008

While I was in Venice I stopped at a nice restaurant in a little square. I decided to get a real panini, since the only other ones I have had were from Dunkin Donuts when they were selling them. I got mine with ham and cheese and it was very delicious. I went across the street and tried some lemon gelato. It was pretty good, it reminded me of the Italian ice that I buy at home.

May 25, 2008

We went to the Pam again today and we actually got things so we could make dinner. Amanda and I made dinner for everyone. We made chicken parmesan and pasta. I was a little afraid to cook for people outside of my family, but I did it. I made the sauce and the pasta and Amanda made the chicken parmesan. It came out a lot better than I expected it to. We also went to the Verra Fruita and I got some strawberries, peaches and kiwi. The strawberries were amazing.

May 23, 2008

Today was pretty interesting. It was our first day in Verona and we went on a tour of the city that ended with going to the Pam; which is the supermarket here. It was a little overwhelming at first because I was really tired and it was pretty busy. It was a lot smaller than the supermarkets I am used to back in the United States. There are about 7 aisles compared to the 12 or more aisles in the stores back home. I did not really know what to buy because my roommates and I did not know what we wanted to make for dinner. I just got wafer crackers and water. For dinner a bunch of us went to the Trattoria near the school and got pizza. The pizza was really good.