My Mommy and Daddy Are Here!

And so are my aunt Donna, family friend Toni, and her friend, Janet.

Just a quick side note on Donna: every year for Easter, she gives me, my brother, my sister, and my cousin an Easter Egg from Aunt Charlotte's, the greatest chocolate store in the world.

And guess what! She brought me one all the way from New Jersey!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was beyond excited.

Anyways, for our first meal, we headed to Stallo del Pomodoro for lunch--a restaurant that used to be a horse stable.

We got some salumi and prosciutto to start of course.

I got cheese tortelli with cinghiali ragu--more of that wild boar meat!

The next morning, we headed to one of my favorite cafes for a late breakfast.

Tiny espresso cups!

I LOVE the pastries at this place. This croissant is filled with a lemon cream and topped with fruits of the forrest.

Then I took my parents to Mercato Albinelli. They are in love.

They got to meet my salami guy (who first thought we were from England, and then, when I said we were American, thought we were from Minnesota. Interesting).

We got a bunch of food and had a delicious lunch of cheese, meat, and bread.

That night we went out for aperitivo. The sky was looking pretty cool.

Yesterday, we went to Genova.

Mostly because I wanted pesto.

Alright, we went there for the sole reason of getting me some pesto.

We had a fabulous lunch with prosciutto and melon...

and pasta with PESTO! It was incredible. Definitely worth the four-hour train ride.

However, if you can tell from this picture, it was pouring for a majority of the five hours we were there.

Luckily, we found an Eataly to pass the time in.

I could live in this place and never get bored.

An hour before we had to leave it finally stopped raining.

And now I really want to go back to Genova because it's a really cool town.

I just have to convince someone to go with me...

So I picked out four kinds of pesto while at Eataly. I find it much easier to get things when my parents are paying.

One is traditional Genovese pesto (basil and pine nuts), another is sun-dried tomato, another is pistachio, and the last is fennel.

Of course I got the giant jar of the Genovese and realized this morning that it has to be consumed within three days after opening.

This will be an interesting challenge.

-Meri

My First Cappuccino Came From a Vending Machine

In these past three days I've accomplished a few things. One was finding the Mercato Albinelli on Via Albinelli right by the university.

This is seriously the greatest place ever. It is like heaven in my eyes.

Every kind of produce, bread, cheese, pastry, literally ANYTHING you could possibly want, all in one place.

The traditional bread of Modena always comes in funny shapes. There's a hard crust but the inside is soft and fluffy.

I will probably come back here every day, at the least.

I bought this focaccia-style bread with roasted tomatoes and it was incredible.

I also returned to my favorite cafe as of right now: Mammolo.

I got a croissant with nutella and one with orange marmalade.

Today my italian immersion teacher took me to a little cafeteria run by the church for lunch. I got grapes, roasted zucchini, traditional Modena bread, and minestrone with grated parmigiano on top. Oh my god, the difference in the cheese alone was crazy. I never knew I could enjoy a garnish so much.

BUT, my greatest discovery was definitely the coffee vending machines. Of course, this sounds really stupid, but I'm serious. These things are great. On the walk back to my residence, I saw one and decided to try it (they're all over the place).

There are a thousand options and it makes you a coffee/hot chocolate/steamed milk/anything you want in a tiny plastic cup.

I just got a latte the first time. It was awesome.

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with this, but I am.

And so today I took a video of this vending machine making me my first ever cappuccino! I know, I'm a horrible italian. You can see it dispense the sugar, then the little stirring, then some steamed milk, and finally a shot of espresso. You should definitely watch this video because it took me FOREVER to load.

And here are so extra pictures I took while doing some sight-seeing on my own.

-Meri