Food Coma

This week has been a great week for food.

It began Tuesday with my first trip to Mama's Bakery. Mama's is our newer newest group obsession, closely following our discovery of the secret bakeries (which I still need to find; it will happen this weekend). We're all homesick for American food. All we've talked about since spring break is chocolate croissants (not technically American, but it's a good pastry, which is all we want right now) and cupcakes, which Italians don't do.

I'm not sure who of our group first discovered Mama's on the far side of the Arno, but it has been a turning point in our study abroad experience.

After hearing tales of cupcakes that taste like the very soil of America (not really), Yelena and I decided that we needed to find these glorious sweets from heaven asap. So after Francesca's class Tuesday, Yelena and I set off with Lindsay and Kristy (adopted members of the CCI family) in search of this baked goodness.

It was a far greater challenge than anticipated. We followed Francesca's directions to cross the bridge to the left of Ponte Vecchio and hang a right, but we didn't come across any bakeries in that whole neighborhood. We stopped every Italian we could find and asked directions, but not a soul had ever even heard of Mama's Bakery.

Without any written directions by which to go, Yelena made the executive decision to call Kevin, who I'm pretty certain has gone to Mama's almost every day since it's discovery. And he pointed us in the wrong direction. It may have had something to do with the fact that Yelena woke him up to ask, or that we can't follow directions, or maybe Kevin just doesn't know his way around that well, but we still couldn't find that mystical bakery.

After about an hour of searching, Lindsay decided to find somewhere we could get wi-fi on her phone and we Google Mapped the bakery.

What should have been a fifteen minute walk from school, turned into over an hour-long adventure, but we made it, and it was worth it.

Since we arrived shortly before closing time, Mama's selection was somewhat pitiful. I had my heart set on red velvet cupcakes, but all that were left were vanilla, chocolate, and one carrot cupcake that Yelena had her hearts set on. Instead of a cupcake, I got chocolate pie with homemade whipped cream, and I didn't regret a bite of it. We were all in cupcake heaven.

I've decided that, not only does Mama's really have the best pastries in Firenze, but it also has one of the best atmospheres. In other shops in Firenze, you stand at the counter to drink your coffee or eat your snack, or you pay, then get out. But Mama's has comfy seating areas with artwork and bookshelves and a lovely back garden. It's like Coffee Buddha in Firenze. I love everything about it.

Then there was Wednesday. No, I did not go back to Mama's, but I did seriously consider it.

Instead, Bethany, Erika, and I went to Lydia's parents' apartment (they're visiting for the week and staying in a crazy luxurious apartment owned by friends) to make cake balls.

I know cake balls are popular, but this was my first time making them. We used red velvet cake brought from America by Lydia's parents (so I got it after all!) to make the little desserts for Lydia and Bethany's Italian class (their professor had never heard of red velvet).

All you do to make cake balls is bake a cake, let it cool, smash it into teeny tiny pieces, mix it in a bowl with frosting, then roll the now sticky cake/icing mixture into little balls, which you chill, dip in melted chocolate, chill again, then eat.

We had a lot of fun making these (it made me homesick for Brownie Nights with my church friends at Kent) and even more fun licking the bowl and eating all the crumbs and "reject" cake balls. I didn't get to eat any of the finished project (damn Italian 2 kids), but from the few tastes I had and the reviews from the lucky ducks who did get to eat all of our hard work, I know they turned out really well.

Then last night, we (my apartment, Kate, and Kristy) returned to Lydia's temporary apartment (it sleeps eight, has a real kitchen and a rooftop terrace) to make dinner for her parents.

We used the same recipes we learned in January when we took a cooking class at In Tavola. Eggplant towers, salad, tomato pasta, and tiramisu, cushioned in lots and lots of wine, olive oil, and bread.

The whole process took about three hours and was a huge production, but we had so much fun. It was also thrilling to be in a kitchen owned and stocked by wealthy Americans. We had a stove! A microwave! Lids for the pots! Knives that cut things! There was an actual strainer for the pasta, a real whisk, mixing bowls, salad tongs, cutting boards, and a number of other cooking aids which none of us had seen of used since leaving America. There was actually a moment when we stood in awed silence of a drawer full of Tupperware and Ziplock bags. How American.

Once everything came together, we set the table and called Lydia's parents to come eat with us. Dinner was delicious and I think Lydia's parents were very impressed by our cooking abilities. After the main course was complete, we cleared the table, then took our tiramisu to the terrace where we sat on the wall and enjoyed a warm April evening high above Firenze. It was a perfect meal and a perfect evening.

Dessert was followed by the arrival of Kelsey and Yelena, who brought face masks to try out while we watched The Godfather. We didn't get far in that though since we were all so full and tired. Halfway through, we called it quits and everyone went home. Better luck another night.