Food

There are some things that I knew would be different over here and food in general was one of them. But you know me; I had to try to make my favorite American dish in hopes that it would be just like back home. Ha. Wouldn’t that have been great? I tried to make cheesecake and it was so terrible. First, I had to look everywhere to find the right ingredients. I couldn’t find sour cream so I substituted it with Greek yogurt. It turned out so wrong. Then, I used a different recipe and it was slightly better but it was really thin. When I finally got it right it was because I bought a no-bake cheesecake mix at an over priced grocery store that sells American foods. I also bought a small jar of peanut butter that was a whopping 4 Euro, about $6. Yea for me. I then tried to make strawberry sauce for my cheesecake and I added way too much sugar and they came out really sweet. It was a mess. But it was pretty good at the same time.

Now, I have tried to be more Italian and eat their food and it hasn’t served me wrong yet. I tried something that we don’t really have in America, not that I am aware of anyway. It’s called a kabob but its not what we think of as a kabob. They take chicken and turkey and alternate it on a skewer and cut along the meat so that you get a mixture of chicken and turkey. Then they put it on a bun with some other crap and its really good. They also make pizza with potatoes on it and that had proven to be the best thing since sliced bread in my life. I love potatoes; what could be better than potatoes on a pizza? And of course the infamous gelato. I have tried a bunch all over town and I don’t really have a favorite. I used to but they started to suck and I started going to blue ice but I don’t like their lemon. Its hard to find a good lemon that isn’t too tart and also isn’t too sweet.

But above everything, or as they say sopratutto, my favorite piece of Italy I will be taking home is pumpkin sauce. I am going to give you all a recipe just because I am that nice but pay extra close attention to everything that I say or you will mess it up terribly.

Pumpkin Sauce
Ingredients:
Half a medium sized pumpkin
2 heads of garlic
Olive oil
Tomato sauce (8 oz. can Hunts, not diced or whole but sauce)
Salt, pepper, peperoncini (optional; can be substituted with chili powder)

Preparation of pumpkin:
Cut pumpkin in half, gut the inside, and cut off the skin. Cut the pumpkin into small cubs about 1’x1’x1’.

Directions:
Press both head of garlic and place in a pan of hot olive oil to sauté. After about 7 minutes add the pumpkin cubes and turn the heat down considerably, med-low should be perfect. Be sure to get the olive oil to cover the pumpkin cubes, add more if needed. Continue to stir and while you stir try mashing the pumpkin. It will be very tough at first but it will get easier. When it is mostly all mashed you will need to add a little tomato sauce. Only add enough to turn the sauce a pink color, not a red orange. Then add salt, pepper, and peperoncini (chili pepper) to taste. Peperoncini is optional, recommended for those that like things a little spicier. Can also add oregano but its not necessay. Goes well with freshly grated parmesan. Buon appetito.