Apicius, Week Three

Benvenuto a Napoli!

I met my intercambio, Stefania, today! And subsequently, I was ten minutes late to my class…but it was worth it. I walked in and Vittoria said, “Oh, we thought we would be missing you today!”

Nope, I am never missing a cooking class. I got there just in time for pizza dough making.

This is my friend Tiffany, another FUA student. She is doing four weeks of class, so she'll be with me for another two after this lesson!

Right after I came in, Vittoria asked me, “Do you like anchovies and capers?”

“I like everything, Vittoria, you know that by now.”

"E vero, but what does everyone else like?”

“I don’t really care what the others like, I like a lot of capers and I'm puttin' em on my pizza.”

(DISCLAIMER: Vittoria and I joke around like that half in Italian half in English, and yes, the rest of the group liked capers too. I'm not just a crazy selfish food-hound!)

And let me just say, the capers and sardines, combined with the juicy tanginess of the fresh tomato sauce, was enough to nearly kill me. But I couldn't imagine the damage I was about to do to the melty, oozy, crunchy lemon cake coming my way.

Lemon cake preparation

for the Fried Mozzarella in bread

The menu:

Pizza alla Napoletana
Mozzarellain Carrozza
Torta al Limone

It’s a good thing la quaresima, lent, starts Wednesday, because I can’t wait to stop eating sweets. The lemon torta is SO GOOD I couldn’t help but eat not one, not two, but four slices. Oops. Diet = starting tomorrow. I just have to tell myself, “Sicilia. Sicilia. Sicilia.” I need my sister and my mommy here to remind me, “Is it worth it?” But the deliciously terrifying  thing is (at least for my waistline), it IS all worth it here.

After the lemon cake I went to the ISA office to check my email one more time that day. My face was so red from all the sugar that the directors were worried I was sick! I mean, look at that cake. It is literally crystallizing in the syrup it’s swimming in.

By the way, that man hand (finger) in one or two of the pictures is Vic, a new student in our class. Vic is from Hollywood. Vic knows that kid from 500 Days of Summer and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Vic has been traveling around Europe slash the world since he went to a wedding in Israel in November. Vic is kind of a fava, but he’s harmless and he is clueless when it comes to food.

At the end of the day, I was left with one burning question, that I couldn't help but pose to Vittoria.

"How do Campanians bare to eat such rich food if they live so close to the beach???"

"Small servings," Vittoria said, pointedly eyeing the syrupy remains of my fourth slice of lemon cake.