Como se dice “yum” in italiano?

I’m sorry if I have been a little quiet the past week or two, I’ve been busy getting settled into my apartment in Florence. Yup, Florence as in Florence, Italy. I have officially started the second leg of my amazing semester abroad. I have already had some interesting experiences here, but I’ll save that for another post. This subject is much more pressing: the food.

Obviously Italy is known for its food, and for good reason. I have been here for exactly thirteen days and I have already had the best gelato, sandwich, and duck that I have ever tasted. Let’s start with the Italian classic: the gelato. The first gelato i had was dark chocolate and it was the creamiest, most chocolate-y thing I have ever eaten! However, that feat was quickly defeated by an amazing hot chocolate I tried that was more chocolate than liquid. (And that was from McDonald’s! Try finding such an amazing cup of hot chocolate anywhere in America, let alone any McDonald’s in America. Actually don’t try, you won’t) Then I realized that there is a great gelato place literally next to my building that has one euro gelato. Yup, one euro! I don’t know if you can tell by my use of italics but this is all very exciting for me.

For my birthday, my roommates and I went to a restaurant owned by a father and son duo that makes traditional Tuscan food. I asked the waiter (who was hilarious as a side note) what the best thing on the menu was and said “yeah that. I want that.” I didn’t know what it was but it smelled amazing when it came to the table (it turned out to be duck with really wide homemade noodles). I highly suggest this technique to anyone who finds themselves at a restaurant where you can’t read the menu. Or any restaurant for that matter – live a little!

Now, onto the best part. (Yeah, it’s getting better) I have had the official best sandwich in the world. I don’t care what you or anyone else has to say about some sandwich you ate who knows where that was “awesome”. No, I’m stopping you right there. This sandwich was the most delicious thing I have ever had the pleasure of eating. The bread was buttery and flaky and the prosciutto was salty but not too fatty and there was vegetables and this amazing buttery cheese spread thing that I don’t even know what it is but oh my goodness I couldn’t even find the words to describe it if I did. Plus it was HUGE and only five euros!! This place is also conveniently located right down the street from me (who knew I’d have such a prime location?) so I’ll definitely be eating more of their heart-stopping amazing bread and meats.

This post is getting a little long, and very self-indulgent. I’ll end with our greatest accomplishment – finding the secret bakery. It opens at 12 am and everything is fresh and…you know what we shouldn’t even be talking about this. It’s a secret! You will just have to come to Florence and ask for the secret bakery and see (I mean taste)  for yourself.

–Emily–