20: Under the Tuscan Sun

The other day in my Italian class (which is full of characters summing up to never a dull moment), a few students asked our teacher if the weather would get warmer. Our teacher took a moment to compose herself, trying to find the right English words spoken in her hybrid English-Australian accent, the product of living in Sydney for several years.

"I don't understand why so many students think Italy is warm; Italy is not a warm country. Well, yes we have summer and it gets warm in June, July. August is the hottest, and September. But Italy isn't warm."

So thank you Frances Mayes for making me think the Tuscan Sun was an everyday occurrence...

In all honesty, it IS sunny out today and it has been for a few days. There's that Tuscan Sun I've been hoping for. And I'm quite surprised at how few tourists there are. Living right in the middle of the Uffizi Gallery and Ponte Vecchio, I'm used to a certain level of tourists meandering along in my way while I try to get to class, stopping to take pictures, being generally loud...most of them are Asian with those creepy medical masks on...*shudder* But today and yesterday, actually, it has been relatively not so touristy, mi piace questo.

Yesterday I went to the market and bought zucchini flowers; zucchini has become my new favorite vegetable. With the warm weather shining through my open window, and the added wafting smell of waffles from below (a perk of living on via Roma, the street that connects the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo), I decided that today I'd try my hand at something more advanced than salad-making. In fact, I've been eating too much salad. I think I average at least 3 Caprese salads a week... Anyway, I thought I'd try to make fried stuffed zucchini flowers. So, I mixed up a ricotta-based filling with lots of spices and pepper. Then I stuffed the flowers, which are more delicate than rice paper or a baby, I'm assuming. And then into the frying pan... To say that I was successful is a stretch, so let's just say; fried stuffed zucchini flowers-1, Peter-0.

I'll get you next round zucchini flowers...