Roman eating habits

Hello everybody,

In my second blog post I’d like to talk about culture-bound misunderstandings concerning food. Who would’ve expected any of them to happen in Italy, the paradise for food lovers? On my trip to the amazing capital city during the Easter Break I had to find out that there was still a lot about Italian eating habits that I hadn’t heard of before.

Who cares about breakfast?

The first problems already came up when we were looking for breakfast. We were staying in a very nice B&B and since the word ‘breakfast’ is mentioned in the name we’d of course expected to get a filling breakfast there. Well, they offered breakfast, but because it only consisted of a Croissant and coffee, we decided to look elsewhere. The B&B was located in the center of the city in an area with many little, charming cafes and bakeries. After having looked for paninis or any other kind of bread in almost all of them without any success, we had to accept the fact that it is simply not common in Italy to have a proper breakfast. You could see people everywhere in cafes standing at the counter sipping their ‘espressi’. The only food some of them would have to go with the coffee was a croissant.

I’m not the kind of person for whom a croissant is a filling breakfast. Anyway, the ones you get in Rome are heavenly. I’d never noticed that this type of pastry was so popular among Italians. You can get them in all variations. The ones I liked best were those with pistachio filling. Even at McCafe offers at least five different types.

Red or white?

Not only the search for breakfast but also getting dinner sometimes was challenging for us. The first problem we had was that at the time we started looking for a nice restaurants where we could get the pizza and pasta we’d been waiting for, all of them were still closed. Well, that’s something we could’ve known. Unlike Austrians Italians simply don’t eat dinner before 9 o’clock.

Once we were sitting in a restaurant, ordering wine and starters went surprisingly well. Also when I ordered my pizza Frutti di Mare I thought there could be nothing wrong about my order. I was a bit disappointed when I got it because the only seafood on it were a few shrimps. Well, no reason to complain. Only when I took the first bites of my dish I thought it didn’t really taste like a pizza. It didn’t look like one either. It was too light. Then I realized that the chef must’ve forgotten to put tomato sauce on it! Since I’m not a person who likes sending back dishes, especially not in a foreign country because you can never be sure about local eating habits, I continued with my bread and cheese. When the waiter came to clear away the plates I asked him whether the tomato sauce had been forgotten. He burst out laughing and told us that you don’t get a pizza with tomato sauce unless you order a ‘red pizza’. Otherwise you get it ‘white’, the way my pizza looked like.

These were only two examples for a lot of facts that surprised me about Italian eating habits. Anyway, Italy is a country where you just can’t stay hungry.

I speak food in different languages.

Hey guys :)

I love food. 

And wine.

And food.

I'm still trying to figure out whether my personality or my cultural background made me a foodie. I'll probably never know. But then again what's the big deal about the reason behind that anyway? ;)

I'm Italian and Italians love food. They enjoy the whole act of this get-together with friends or family, consuming delicious and delicate dishes. The very thought of it makes my mouth watering. And let's be honest, every food tastes at least three times better when eaten in good company. And this time I don't intend the wine with company but the people. 

I almost never take pictures of my food. Quite unusual nowadays, huh? I think it's more important to eat the food, with that perfect consistence and taste at the moment it is served. Don't just think of meals as ingestion but as something independent. Take your time to eat. Be receptive for new things, at least most of the time, but more about that later.

I speak food in different languages.

I love the Italian cuisine as much as I love the (South)Tyrolean cuisine. But I also really enjoy Indian, Japanese, Spanish, etc. dishes. I may not know all the different languages and actually never will, but in terms of food my language is international. I fancy trying out new things, new recipes and new tastes. Cooking is definitely a passion of mine. Whilst reading new recipes I mostly just skim the text and almost never stick to the recipe or at least not to the measurements. I often experiment with different foods, sometimes already having a final result on my mind and sometimes trying something without even having an idea of the outcome. You always should be open to new things, textures or tastes but there are also some things that just shouldn't be changed. This reminds me of the Easter break. I was at home and my mum and me made some delicious spinach dumplings (the best I ever had). Typically you serve them with some melted, brown butter and some Parmesan cheese. And here was the problem. We didn't have any butter at home and my mum tried to convince me to eat them with olive oil instead. It actually didn't sound that bad, (and actually also didn't taste that bad, I tried some of my mums plate), Still it just sounded horrible in my ears. It's just such a classical dish, also connected with quite a few memories and being on holidays at home it just had to be the classical combination, everything else would have been wrong. This is probably one of these moments I was talking about earlier, where you don't have to be too open for new things. Same goes for all these so-called pizzas in America. I don't doubt that they are good with all that cheese overload and stuff but do me a favour and stop calling it pizza. Call it I don't know what, but something else. It may be delicious but it isn’t pizza. But that's a whole other topic.

So I had a lot of dishes on my mind that I wanted to present you, but none of them came in line for posting them here, because I haven't got exact recipes for them. Except for one: Pizza. It's not a classical thin Italian pizza but it's still an Italian recipe. The dough is a bit fluffier then you may know it from a pizzeria but it tastes really delicious and it's a good alternative to the classical pizza. And if you are feeling fancy, you could also add some Buffalo Mozzarella or just substitute the normal one with it.

So here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Base

·      250g flour

·      1/4 litre water (lukewarm)

·      1 yeast cube

·      1 tbsp. salt

·      a few drops olive oil

Topping

·      Tomato sauce

·      Mozzarella

·      Toppings you like

1.   Crumble the yeast and add it to the water. Then mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. The dough is supposed to be sticky. If needed you can add some additional water or flour.

2.    Put a dish towel or the like over the bowl

3.    Let it rest in a warm(!!) place for at least 30 minutes

4.    Preheat the oven at about 180°C

5.    Now the dough will have risen. First put some olive oil on the oven tray then the dough. Pour a little bit more of the oil on the dough this will prevent the dough from sticking to you fingers and the tray.

6.    Spread the dough on the oven tray. This may take a few minutes, as the dough is a bit elastic. Try to avoid making holes.

7.    Add the tomato sauce and sprinkle some salt and herbs on it. Add the toppings you like. You can put the Mozzarella cheese either before or after the toppings on the pizza.

8.    Put it in the oven. It takes about 15-25 minutes depending on your oven, so keep an eye on it from times to times.

Enjoy :)

Who am I?

 That’s a tough question to ask!

I am Gandini: I am a little bit crazy, creative (at least I hope so), sociable and, sometimes, hard piece of work. I am active and lazy, and I often fall asleep when I am going out.

The name Gandini sounds Italian, doesn’t it? Sorry to disappoint you,  but I am “only” Austrian and my real name is Barbara. After school I moved to Italy to study International Communications and Advertising, and since then the nickname stuck with me. Since 1 ½ year I am back to Graz again and studying at the Transcultural Communication Department and I am also enrolled in a Master’s degree named “Global Studies”.

 

I love experiencing new cities and countries, and I love living somewhere else even more than travelling. If you are travelling you just get a glimpse on the culture, but if you live somewhere you dive into it! That’s probably the reason why living in Italy wasn’t enough, and I did an Erasmus semester in Izmir, Turkey, too.

 

Once you get to know me better, you’ll notice I have many quirks. For example: I hate to take decisions. Instead, I toss a coin or ask my Magic 8 Ball so fate can tell me what to do. It’s not that I really believe in fate, it’s just that sometimes it’s easier to realize what you really want by singling out one’s options. Actually, I decided like this to move to Italy: I tossed a coin, it told me to stay but I was so unhappy, I just knew I have to go anyway. (I told my mum about that last year – it almost gave her a heart attack!). 

What more is there to tell about me? I love to “waste” a lot of time chatting away with my friends, flat mates and people I just met. I am easily enthusiastic about new projects, so my schedule is always exploding. That’s probably why I am always dazing away when I am going out. If it ever happens while I am in a pub with you, please don’t take it personally! : ) In contrast to that, I sometimes just want to lie around in bed eating pizza and watching stupid series for days (btw, my favourite is My Name is Earl).

 

If you’re wondering what I do in my free time, I can’t really give you an answer. Most of the time I am just so swamped with my everyday life, I don’t have any time to take up hobbies right now. In Italy, however, I used to participate in a cross cultural theatre workshop named “Human Beings”. This kind of acting immediately put a spell on me and I would love to join a workshop here in Graz too! So if you happen to know a similar workshop, tell me please!

Well, that's enough about me. Let’s read your blogs!

Who am I?

Hello everyone, my name's Evi. 

Some of you may know me already, but some of you don't. So who am I? 

Born and raised in Italy, I decided to come to Graz for my studies, which I did a year and a half ago. My real name is Evi. Yes, really it's no abbreviation. Not the most typical Italian name, actually not the most typical name at all. Despite being Italian, my mother tongue is German. This is due to living in the north of Italy, in South Tyrol. It used to be a part of Austria not even 100 years ago. But as I am here to tell you something about me and not about the history of my country, let's go on. My father was born in Germany and my mother in Italy. I haven't got any siblings, but two cats called Trixi and Indie. I've got Austrian, German, Italian and Hungarian roots. Even my surname is Hungarian, but unfortunately no one was ever willing to teach me the language.

The view from the old flat in Tyrol

Trixi loves to sleep on my shoulders

Alex and I in Maribor

When I was 17, I was a year abroad, as an Exchange student and it was probably one of my best times so far. I stayed in Bournemouth (UK) with the most awesome host family one could wish for. After that year, I had to come back to Italy to finish school. I spent a year in Innsbruck with my best friend  Alex and in September 2013 I finally moved to Graz.  When I came here, I joined the Red Cross and I'm doing night shifts almost every Saturday night. Since a few months, before the night shifts I am also working in a shop during the day. It's quite a busy weekend, but it's really fun.

Yes, I do love languages, but I think or hope every one of you does so; otherwise we would be quite wrong at the ITAT. Most of my leisure time I spend with my friends doing all kinds of activities. I like painting a lot, but since I am in Graz I almost never find the time to do so. Normally I'm a rather extrovert person, still I can be really calm and thoughtful at times. I enjoy the little things in life. A gobsmacking sunset, the mountains, a good laugh, that's pure heart-balm. Also I'll probably never say no to a glass of wine,

especially not if I can enjoy it with friends or family while admiring the landscape. I always try to involve some dolcevita in my life, as I truly believe that otherwise you get depressed. Cooking with friends, having delicious, mouth-watering food and a drink, feeling sunbeams on your face, just enjoying these little things, embracing the moments, laughing a lot, these things will make you a happier person. At least that's what makes my friends and me happy, balanced people. 

Hiking

I also do love to travel, but who doesn't? So at the moment I'm saving my money to go to Japan within the next few years. I will go with a friend and we would like to stay there about at least a month. We still don't know when we will go, but our goal is to have the money together before we are both 26. 

Now you know a little more about me, I hope you enjoyed it.