Va Bene!

Ciao my blog people!
I just took the most amazing cooking class ever and had to run back and share it with you:) It cost 8 euro which is steep, I could buy a whole weeks worth of dinner for 8 euro so our expectations were high. We got there a little late:/ oops but it was ok, she had brought a ton food that she already made and then explained all of it to us, which isnt exactly what I was thinking the class would be like but it was awesome. She made pasta with green beans and potatoes and pesto, it sounds weird, but it was incredible. She told us how to make everything and how to make pesto without a food processor. She had also made bruschetta and a cannellini bean dish which apparently is a common dish and also super cheap and easy. The bruschetta was insane, if i could eat one thing for the rest of my life it might be bruschetta. She explained everything to us and told us what kind of wine is the good kind, but also cheap. And how to buy good olive oil and what to look for. I love this woman. She looked kinda like my mom so I think the whole time I was just pretending she was, Im telling you im obsessed. I want to be adopted. Kidding mom:) (kinda) Then (drum role please) tiramisu, one of the most fantastic things I have ever tasted. I wish I had the vocabulary to properly describe this to you people. Im so full right now I feel like I could die but while I write this, my mouth is watering wanting more of the delicious tiramisu. She told us how to make it. Im going to the market tomorrow, I cant wait any longer:) Im telling you, this having to buy an extra plane seat on the way home for my big tiramisu rear end is really gonna be expensive. However, I did run today got back into my three and a half mile swing. It felt awesome. Running is such a comfort, no matter where I am knowing that I can always run is amazing.
   So I dont really have any other exciting updates besides the cooking class, oh and we were talking to her afterwards and she was telling us about how she had been married for 20 years but a friend of hers who also happens to be an ex-boyfriend haha  ("gorgeous I think, but he is a little younger"-thats how she described him) was driving her home after our class because he is a taxi driver now, but she was telling us how shes been faithful to her husband for 20 years and will always be faithful but how she still has a crush on this guy. It was just making me laugh, this woman is fantastic. Im not doing her any justice in this blog so you all should probably fly to Italy and meet her. Shes also 50 and looks about 30. Im now converted to eating free range chicken and only real extra virgin olive oil. I dont know that I will be able to handle the produce in America, it cant even compete with the produce here.
   She was also telling us about how different the family situation is here. In America you get out of college and if you dont move out of your parents house, thats weird. But here everyone lives together and the grandparents feel like their worth something and getting old is respected not dreaded. Every generation is so important in the raising process, teaching and passing down all the knowledge and history and wisdom. Its very montessori if you ask me, the old teaching the younger:)
   I dont wanna be that guy, rambling about how fantastic Italy is. I know there are things to hate, and also Ive only been here for 2 weeks so I havent fully experienced everything, but I really do like the lifestyle here. Our teacher said that in America, cooking is almost like a chore, its not enjoyed like it is here. Italians dont eat while they walk, or drive god forbid. Eating is an event, its a social time, not an inconvenience. All Italians cook, everyone knows how and its just what happens every day. You buy your food, you make dinner. Families dont really go out to eat. I love that. I want to be Italian. I dont think its too late...Michael Weller ;) *wink wink
   I like it here:) Im pretty sure Im gonna have lung cancer and also sound like a life-time smoker when I get home from all the second hand smoke I breathe in on a regular basis, but my hair and skin will be radiant from all the olive oil I eat so its ok:)
   Goodnight followers, I cant wait to come home and show you everything Ive learned:)

p.s. I miss my Michael