Thursday, March 3, 2011

Lessons In Noodles, Nap-taking, and Nausea

Well, dear readers, I wish I were writing under a little different circumstances.  I'm afraid I've come down with something rather discomforting and (at times) painful.  Stomach pains, nausea, headaches and fatigue has been the name of the game for the past couple of days for this foodie.  Consequently, that means a week of minimal (or in severe cases, no) culinary satisfaction. However, that did not stop me from helping create some wonderful dishes in my cooking class, and learning about when to NOT take naps in class.

On Tuesday, my class consisted of making some fried meat patty things (that were good, trust me, like a fried meatball), some garbanzo tomato spread, lasagna (my group!), and a cake.  Given my intolerance to any type of food that day, I didn't finish any of my sample-sized portions of wonder.  But all of it was delicious.  And apparently, ricotta is never used in lasagne! My professora was completely aghast at the thought of such a thing- which, given that reaction, one can only imagine her response to me stating my grandmother's use of sour cream.  Another little Italian cooking factoid- in Tuscany, they never (and I mean NEVER) cook with red wine, always white.  In the words of my professor "to drink, yes, to cook, no!".  Regardless of it's ricotta deficit, the lasagna was to die for, but very very VERY intensive.  That makes it the second week in a row that I've been on the sort of "cooking team" with the most challenging dish.  She overestimates my skill.

In Art History on Wednesday, this girl in front of me fell asleep.  She had been asleep for a while, and finally with about 30 minutes left of class, the professora glares at her. For a good two minutes.  Her friend nudges her, and my professora states simply : It is best that you leave. Right now.  No smile, no please, but she had a gaze that could pierce ears. Fiercest little Italian woman I have met thus far.  Oh, and a MLIAWKARD moment, I was walking home from class, feeling sickly.  To alleviate my discomfort, I (for some reason) decided to make faces in the window of the fancy wine bar on my street. Which is perfectly fine, as long as the bar is vacant.  I don't have that kind of luck, so the waitress saw me making fishy faces and puffing my cheeks out like a chimp.  Yeah, just your typical American neighbor, don't worry about it.

Which brings us to today.  I actually skipped a class, in a sense, because of how badly I felt.  I went to take the test today, and asked if I could leave because of my sickly nature.  He kindly understood, asking me to e-mail him when I felt better.  So since then, I've just been laying on my bed, watching movies and drinking my weight in gatorade.  By the way, there are different flavors of Gatorade over here, and powerade, and I like them better. My appetite is completely gone, so aside from the obvious bad feelings of simply being ill, I've also felt a great sense of loss not being able to eat my new groceries I bought on Monday.  Sorry, quinoa and bulgar wheat, you'll have to wait it out a little longer.

Going to a clinic tomorrow to get this checked out.  I'm sure that'll be an experience worth blogging about, so I'll keep updates coming.  It's 8:00 here, and I'm going to bed.  

Buon Appetito?
Rachael

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