Week of food

This past week has marked the beginning of the holiday weight gain.  It was filled with food, friends and a lot of laughing.  

On Wednesday some friends and I went to St. James Church for an American thanksgiving dinner.  It was 5 Euro and completely worth it.  We got there to find antipasti of salame, brie, bread, olives and some spreads.  After a bit of snacking we headed into the chapel for a dance performance by the Florence Dance Troop.  They put on a great show and I, having never seen ballet in person, was blow away.  After the performance it was time to chow down!

Look at this awesome dinner.  Delicious!  This was followed by an apple tart and pumpkin pie.  Then a swing/jazz band, Petralana,  played for the small crowd that remained.  It didn't take long for us to get off our bums and watch the band.  The band had drums, a guitar, a stand up bass and a violin and they played upbeat music that just makes you want to dance/jog in place in a circle.  

The next day was the real thanksgiving.  After a long day of classes I headed over to my friend Alina's place for dinner.  We spent about 4 hours cooking and snacking and didn't eat until 11 PM.  We made an amazing feast.  Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, biscuits, pesto mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams, cranberry sauce, two pies, and apple cider - all made from scratch, even the cranberry sauce and cream of mushroom soup for the casserole.  

Here was the delicious pies that we basically forced ourselves to eat.  I really haven't eaten like that since probably last semester at an Indian buffet.  

This is my bud Enrique passed out after dinner.  I followed suit and passed out on the couch.  

Of course the next day we all got together and had cold left overs.  I really like cold left overs.  It is equally delicious but in such a different way.  

Even the birds got a feast this week.  I took this picture yesterday on my way to studio.  This guy was just throwing bread into the air and the birds would just swoop and catch it in the air.  He was having a blast!

Last night I had everyone over for dinner.  I made rosemary focaccia and linguine with arugola in a marscapone cream sauce.   They brought over wince and three types of chocolate ice cream for dessert.  We ended the night by watching The Grinch and Rudolph.  Tonight... turkey curry!

The moral of the story is that I'm going to do some yoga now and go for a run after!  Happy Thanksgiving and I hope that those brave enough to show on Black Friday made it out alive!

Italian phrase of the day: C'é solomente tre settimani piu di corsi quindi devo andare a lavolare! - There is only three more weeks of class so I need to get to work!