Mia Madre Italiana!

I have found that my favorite time of day here is at night when I come home from school and eat dinner with my Italian mother & brother (speaking solo in italiano). We always have the best conversations, and I have learned so much about the Italian culture just by sitting there and talking to them.  


One of the greatest things I have learned since I've been here is how to cook the Italian way.  Before I came here, the extent of my "cooking" was making mac and cheese out of the box.  Pretty sad, I know. The second I got here, I fell in love with how fresh the food is here, and now cooking seems fun if its with fresh ingredients straight from the backyard. Every night I sit at the table while my Italian mom cooks dinner, writing down recipes and tips.


This is what I ate last night ~
Trofie al pesto

• homemade pesto made with a little parmesan & pecorino cheese, basil, 1 clove of garlic, olive oil, and pine nuts (about 2 tablespoons)
• trofie noodles

the ingredients

  
    

The finished project. 
Trofie al pesto with my mother's homemade bread.

My mother started out by boiling water with "sale grosso" or coarse salt, and then adding the trofie noodles for about 5 minutes. After draining the noodles, she added the pesto and stirred it in. It was so quick and easy, but so delicious!  

She said every region in Italy cooks dishes a little bit differently, and in the summer, she cooks this dish the Legurian way (the region where Cinque Terre is located) by adding cubed potatoes (steamed) and string beans to the sauce.

After dinner, my mom and I talked about Italian music and she introduced me to a bunch of Italian artists of all different genres of music. I was surprised at how much I liked them all!  Today, she brought home some of her colleagues' CDs for me to listen to.


Here's a song that has been stuck inside my head all day! It is molto poetico! :)