On Saturday night, I finally made it to highly recommended restaurant Acqua al Due. I made a reservation for 7:30pm and was accompanied by roommate David and new friends Ellie and Drew. The aura was very pleasant, and the walls had tons of plates with writing and drawings on them. Luckily, our waitress spoke very good English, though she was not able to comprehend “nutmeg,” which Ellie is allergic to and has yet to research the Italian word for in order to avoid unfortunate aftereffects. Drew, in his quest to master the language, spoke Italian with a flawless accent to the waitress the whole meal. He apologized to her at the end of the meal for not being fluent and she laughed at him, noting that he’s very proficient, especially compared to his tablemates. The menu was all in Italian, but it wasn’t too complicated. I ordered as an antipasto the maccheroni alla vodka. It wasn’t terribly big, but it was extremely hot and delicious. The moment we finished, the main course arrived. I very boldly ordered the bistecca al mirtillo (blueberry steak). I feared for the worst when I saw that my peculiar dish was not lightly cooked in but instead smothered with a monstrous flood of blueberry sauce. Upon tasting it, I discovered it was actually rather delicious and not quite as scarily exotic as I had initially thought it might be. Drew was delighted with his balsamic steak, and Ellie enjoyed the blueberry steak best out of her three steak selections that came with her sampler (blueberry, balsamic, and another one with rosemary). Non-meateaters will appreciate David’s meal, which was the pasta sampler. Five courses of four to seven pieces of pasta cooked in different vegetarian sauces, such as broccoli and cream, were served to him while the rest of us were eating our meals. It seemed small to me, but apparently it was more than filling. The bill was a tad expensive, to be sure, but it was an exciting experience and I’ll be happy to go back there perhaps once a month during my time here.
On Sunday, I went on the NYU-run trip to Lucca, a nearby city. We were given an hour and a half tour upon our arrival, and I was interested to learn that the small city once had 99 churches. I took several photos which you’ll find in the accompanying photos post. This was the first really sunny day we’ve had thus far, and everyone was constantly taking pictures of the blue sky, though of course we did photograph the sites as well. We went into two churches, though our tour bled into noontime and therefore mass was going on and we did not enter. The churches we did go into were rather nice. We had the opportunity to walk on top of the city walls and oversee the pleasant-looking, calm city. After our tour, we proceeded to find a restaurant, and Emily swiftly located a nice place call Osteria del Neni. The menu was available in English as well as Italian, which was fortunate, though I did attempt to compare the two to improve my knowledge of the language. I chose the spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and aromatic herbs, which turned out to be a bit small but certainly delicious. Emily put some olive oil on her copper underplate and it was quickly yanked out from under her and replaced sternly by the waitress with a side plate. I’ll be careful not to learn from her example and not make this mistake in the future. After the meal, we explored the city a bit and ended up in a nice piazza. We got some gelato and I found both the banana and tiramisu flavors to be excellent. We departed late in the afternoon, and upon our return headed straight to a chocolate festival which was intensely crowded. I sampled only some hot chocolate and some chocolate liqueur, both of which were fairly tasty. The evening was finished off with a nice dinner at Piazza D’Azeglio with Laura Krule.
My Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are booked up with classes until the evening. On Monday night, I once again ate dinner at the Ricasoli NYU apartment, and discovered a new talent that I will use as often as possible in the future: I’m an excellent pizza-cutter. It sounds simple, but I do a great job of it. I imagine that this weekly dinner will become a staple, and all of the residents are very nice and it’s actually quite close to Borgo Pinti. On Tuesday afternoon, I discovered that my immigration class has now dwindled to only five people, which should make for some interesting discussions. The following day, I attended the first Wednesday Mensday in Borgo Pinti, where chef Zach cooked everyone hamburgers. It was definitely a very manly event, and I may frequent it on occasion in the future. This afternoon I made a trip to the most supermarket-like supermarket I’ve seen so far here, and stocked up on some food.
I’m headed to Rome early tomorrow morning with Laura Krule and Alana for the weekend, and I’ll tell all about that next week. I’ve also booked a flight to Israel for Passover, so if you’ll be in Israel between April 8th and 13th, please let me know! Next weekend I presume I’ll start really exploring Florence and see all the sights I’m supposed to see while I’m here! Pictures from last weekend coming in the next post tonight, and then more adventures next week!
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