Food!

I was looking at some of my posts through the first three weeks of being over here and I noticed that for someone who is in Italy, there isnt much mention of food. Considering how amazing everything has been, I was fairly surprised. This past weekend, My roommate and I were walking around Torino, headed back from a successful journey to the mall when we crossed paths with a ristorante hidden away from the hustle and bustle of Torino. We decided that it looked like a great place to get a good, authentic italian experience so we headed in...

Since I have gotten to Italy, one of the best things that has been different from the states has been food. Don't get me wrong, I love burgers; I miss breakfast (italians dont really do breakfast, they do a cressant and coffee) and all that stuff. But the food here has been so fresh! I had heard how good that was but it truly is something that needs to be experienced before you really know what I mean. Every day, we head to the open air market and get fresh meet, oranges so fresh, they still are attached to leaves, amazing bread and an assortment of other things. When we go out to eat, the food is so fresh and amazing; i have yet to have something i didn't love.

With this past experience in mind, we ventured into this side restaurant expecting nothing but awesomeness from the food. When we walked in, we were greeted and taken to a table which was ornately done, down to the fancy napkin setting. The Restaurant had just opened up so they hadnt turned on any music or anything yet.
 We ordered and as I have made customary, i just picked something fairly at random (while trying to keep it cheap of course). I knew what Chips pizza was and i didnt see it on the menu so i figured i was going to get somethign completely random and hoped for a good, authentic italian pizza that i could share with you guys. I was hoping for something fairly italian but also with something fun so I ordered Pizza Pai-Pai because it sounded cool and fun. I also got myself un quarto of house wine, which turned out to be a white wine, not that i know what kind of white wine it was.

 As we started drinking our wine, they turned on the radio. The radio was talking about the incoming snow storm and that it was due to start snowing in torino within the hour. This, though valuable information, left me with no clue as to what the music would be. I expected something along the lines of Andrea Bocelli or some other classy music to start playing when the first song started

That's right ladies and gentlemen, our entertainment for the night started with Ke$ha and that set the tone for the night of surprises. Hearing an American song was hardly a surprise. When we went to the Mall for the first time and walked into the store, they were blaring Born in the U.S.A which was pretty funny. I was surprised, however, that almost three weeks into living in Italy, i had yet to hear a true Italian song. In only moments my prayers were answered by this song:

I guess the phrase Be careful what you wish for has rarely rung more true. My roommate and I looked at each other and said this was the first italian song that we had heard, followed closely by, "well that was disappointing". This song is all over the place here too. i couldn't believe it. once we heard it, now its everywhere! We even heard it at the Juventes game several times.

My roommate had ordered a Wertzle pizza. neither of us knew what Wertzle was. When our pizzas came to us, the surprises just kept coming. This is his pizza:


Those little pink, round pieces of meat aren't meat that would be remotely typical on an American pizza. We now know that Wertzle is the equivalent of a hot dog. So my pizza was on its way but i couldnt help but make fun of my roommate for his fine italian dining experience. those were words i would soon eat.

When my pizza came out, to my surprise, Pizza Pai-Pai is another version of Chips pizza! This time I made sure to get some pictures for you guys

 In case you were wondering, this idea is awesome. French fries and Pizza pretty much belong together. This pizza is something I intend on making when we get back to the states (followed by a few mile run to help clear up the arteries). This Pizza wasn't quite as good as the one we had the first night at La Caprissiosca but it was still pretty tasty. Those of you who ask me to cook for you when we get back from the states, be warned, this is at the top of my list of things to make :)

After dinner, we made the trek home through a very cold snow storm but had gotten a tasty dinner that couldt help but remind me of home. I though to myself as we were eating dinner that these pizzas would be a hit at every 5 year olds birthday party. it consists of like 50% of a childs favorite foods- Pizza, French fries and Hot dogs. I now think if i could find a cheeseburger pizza and have fries on top of that, i would be set for life.

  I hope everybody is having a good week! We haven't figured out our plans for this weekend but we are thinking of going to Pisa or Genova or Bergamo, or finally making it to the Cinema Museum... who knows!