snowy friday

in just one day, started at lunchtime, and still hasn't stopped, it's up to foot and going...

MEAT IS MURDER. Tasty, tasty murder.

And so i made pate, a terrine, a wild game terrine, with juniper, wild duck, guinea fowl, and sausage. Cooked ina bains marie for an hour and a half, left for three hours to cool with books on top, then fridgerated overnight with dumbels on top.
Tuscan bread baked this morning. Check.
Freshly made pate with jelly all around it.Check.
Hot pear chutney. Check.
Saliva? Check.
It is christmas fare at its best, and if you haven't ever made one, i suggets you take some time this festive season to make one, you can make vegetarian ones too.. They're easy, and look a bloody mazing.
Christmas tree is up, lights are on, christmas carols a la king's college choir are being blasted out all hours of the day. Christmas is here. Its also dropped below freezing, which is lovely for making things feel even christmassier.. I heard a joke the other day..
I came home today to find all my windows and doors wide open, and the buggers even ate all my chocolates too.. :)
We had a visit to Panzano on the weekend, the best butcher in all the land, and ate a dario burger, which is not really a burger, and chips, which are not really chips... and we all shared a acollienza, four different types of pork, one is pork sushi... you have to try it to believe it could be this nice...
This week i have been mostly eating vegetables at home, as i've eaten so much meat elsewhere.. roasted courgettes, peppers, aubergines, leeks, with a crispy jacket potato with olive oil and salt in it.. and roasted artichokes are beautiful and a lot more buttery than boiled artichokes (globe not jerusalem)..
I tried panettone yesterday, i tried it from the bakery, i had an eighth, it was incredible, and cost 16 euros, and somehow, esselungha (the berlusconi owned supermarket) do it for 3 euros. i hope its not as nice, but on some accounts it is. My jury is out on that one..
We also trekked across town to Hemingways on the weekend, the chocolatier cafe, i had white chocolate asnd orange cake which is TOO TASTY FOR WORDS, and i tried some 70% hot chocolate...
oh and some carrot cake too... hopefully i'll add a photo of the christmas tree by the duomo, its almost too bright to look at...

just a food blog

ha ha, so i finally went to the fabled damario's which is just near centaral market, you have to get there before 12:30 because it gets so booked up, and with good reason, it is a traditional style trattoria, and serves really simple, but incredible food, meat mainly.. there are some signs up on the walls, such as, don't dare ask for ketchup, and its is prohibited to drink coca cola! and one of my favourites, you are more than welcome to eat the bones with your fingers..
we had ribollita to start, a wintry soup, basic but lovely, then for main i had roast rabbit, and G had peposa, beef in a red wine and pepper sauce, both were amazing, the peposa was probably nicer as it had such a lot of sauce.. and i had chips too (obviously)
The next day i cooked for us a vongole (clam) pasta, very simple, but ever so lovely and so much fun to eat!
And then, on saturday, (having put it in marinade on friday) we had a rick stein recipe, which was wild boar, chorizo, and porcini mushroom stew....
It was probably the nicest thing i've ever cooked with my fair hand.. it had red wine, gin and vermouth in it! as well as 8 garlic cloves, whole pepper corns, bay and cloves... it was fanny tantastic.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/wildboarstewwithwild_86762) in case you want to try it...
we had it again on tuesday, and it was even betterm we ate it with roast mediterranean vegetables, and salty jacket potatoes... mmmmmmmmmm
since then, all food has been eclipsed and i can't really remember eating much!
i did go to an italian friend's for dinner last night, and i met a woman who is a clown for children in hospital. What a job! and she doesn't even get paid... My italian is coming along, but i still got lost when she was telling stories about her clowning around...

cake cake cake

so i now work for a doctor, graham had his defense of his thesis on monday, it was semi interesting, i followed most of it, and then the head of the committee turned around to see if we had any questions, so up went my hand like a little schoolboy, and i promptly found out what "pointyness" of a resource is... due to the fact it was grahams defense, a few of his friends were over and his mum, we all went for dinner on monday night, had lots of antipasto, lots, sun dried tomatoes, pickled garlics, every type of cured meat, bread, olives.. and then for main i had Stinco, a shin of pork, it came on a wooden platter with roast potatoes, and was bootiful, i then had strawberries, which were out of season and a bit weird... everyone grappered themselves up, and then every conversation i had, all i could smell was grappa, it was time for me to leave...
the next day we went to riffaioli, and i had a nice but nothing special veal, with lots of veg, but pudding came, and i was once again left speechless by what i ate, i describe it as a apple souffle cake, it was crispy caramelised and toffee like on the outside, like a burnt sponge, and then inside it was bits of sponge apple and custard, never in my life had i tasted such a beautiful cake, i have dreams about it, and although it was only yesterday, i'm thinking of going back today...
i opened my advent calendar! S sent me a lovely lindt one from snowy wales, and as i leave on the 23rd i started a day early, but i ate the 24th on the 30/11, and it was a huge santa! but it was delicious, i haven't eaten much cholcolate since i've been here, so its quite a treat..
christmas decorations are well and truly up in florence, there are trees, lights everywhere, and soon to be starting christmas markets, very happy about that...
i'm hankering for a tree already... maybe be next week i'll be able to convince graham...