Il Pane di Luca

Have you ever eaten focaccia?

Yes?

From il Pane di Luca?

No?

Then forget everything you know about focaccia, get on a plane, come to Milano, and go immediately to this place. And for my friends in Milan, let's go tomorrow! I have to thank Lodovica for letting us know that the BEST focaccia in Milan (or the world) is right around the corner from where I live. I can't describe the amazingness of this focaccia, but I'll try.

You walk in and, depending on the time of day, there's a huge assortment of all different kinds of pizza, and your basic focaccia. I simply point and ask for a piece of focaccia, then they cut off a piece, throw it on the scale, I pay, and off I go. Ordering a piece of the pizza is just as easy, but I like to keep it simple and not mess with a good thing.* The focaccia practically melts in your mouth. It's so soft and oily, but then you get a piece in the same bite that's also a little bit crispy on the top, and you just want to stop and thank whoever invented focaccia in the first place. Luckily I don't walk down this street on the way home from school, so I've been able to limit myself to one trip a week.

But, I'm available all week to take you if you want to go. Every day.

Oh and friends in North America, even if you think you've had good focaccia back home, you don't even know focaccia. Trust me on this. Even if it's from an Italian baker who just arrived in Vancouver a day ago with all of his baking supplies and ingredients. No comparison.

*Last week I messed with a good thing. I went for my weekly piece of focaccia, but they were out so I asked for a piece with tomatoes and olives. The lovely lady behind the counter confirmed (or so I thought/heard) that it was olive asciughe. I thought that this must be a way of saying "dried olives" and pictured those really salty olives and thought it sounded just fine. Well, I got home and realized that what she really said was olive e acciughe, which is actually olives and anchovies! Translation fail.

Cheese Rape?

Best. Translation. Ever.

Some history... I think I only picked up on this in conversation because recently a friend and I saw some cheese graters labeled in French as "Rape A Fromage". We're 5 years old, so "cheese rape" was really funny and it stuck in my mind.

A few weeks ago, during dinner, a friend was talking about a recipe that involved grated cheese. She's Italian, but also speaks French and English (and probably other languages!). So when she was talking away and mentioned "raped cheese" I had to stop her and correct her. Especially because she was on her way to the US for vacation! You can't just wander around the US talking about raped cheese.

Even more entertaining was trying to explain what raping the cheese would be... violating the cheese? 

Anyway, hopefully the next time you rape grate some cheese, you'll have a good chuckle!

Ashish and Bacon

I've told Google this, and now I'll tell you all. I am NOT missing an "H" at the beginning of the title of this post.

Part of my education is getting to know every single brand that exists: names, styles, history, and price ranges.

A few weeks ago, some homework had me searching for price ranges of various brands showing at London Fashion week. One brand in particular is Ashish. My first attempt at trying to research this brand ended up with Google telling me that it thought I messed up, and that I meant to type "hashish". It was even so kind as to automatically correct my mistake.

Nope.

Sorry, Google.

You're wrong.

My second "facepalm" moment happened just a few hours ago, when I tried to find some pictures of the style of a brand called Bacon. I lost a solid 5 minutes of my life trying to figure out what other key words would bring up the brand I was looking for, and not bacon on t-shirts, or photos of people wearing bacon wedding dresses, or just the different brands of bacon available. These are the photos I was looking for:

Bacon for men.

Bacon for women.

I guess this is just all part of my education, right?

#fashionschoolproblems

It's Sunday, and it's raining in Milano. After such a beautiful Friday (see photographic evidence below), the rain is really, really depressing.

Sunny Friday above, rainy Sunday below.

I have a ton of homework to do, but I can't really complain because my homework is to:
1. Analyze how a haute couture, demi-couture, ready to wear, and fast fashion brand have each interpreted the trends for the upcoming season.
2. Research a very cool multibrand store (Excelsior, should you feel the need to check it out).
3. Finish my ongoing assignment of analyzing the SS 2013 trends, and also analyze how they're being worn right now in street style photos.

These are all for our final projects, for our first term that finishes in three weeks. Cue panic.

But it's raining outside, and I'd much rather be curled up on the couch watching a movie. Instead, I'm stuck browsing WGSN, Style.com, and other fashion sites all day. And if I'm brave enough, I might just wander down to the shops to research the collections and clients of Excelsior. Or I might just wait until tomorrow when the sun is supposed to reappear. These are #fashionschoolproblems.*

*Even more trivial than #firstworldproblems.

My Italian Love Affair... With a Building

This will never get old. No matter how many times I see it. The Duomo is one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen. And in the afternoon when the square sits in the shade and the late sun hits the front of the Duomo? Well, you'll just have to come and visit me to see it in person. Oh, snap.

Venezia. YOLO!

FINALLY! I have been wanting to go to Venezia since I did a report on this magical city of canals and gondolas when I was just a little girl (I know, just a few years ago!).

True: I spent a whole year in Italy 10 years ago and never went to Venice. I was 18 and more focused on partying every weekend. Give a girl a break.

But the stars aligned this year, and one of my best friends (Chica!), was sent to Venice for work. Obviously, I had to go meet her, and we spent an awesome weekend riding crowded boats, eating amazing food, climbing many stairs, and getting lost in Venice. Her parents came with her, so I felt like I had a really important role and could play translator for the weekend. Totally unnecessary. EVERYONE speaks English in Venice. Even if you speak to them in Italian. And because I'm stubborn, I kept replying in Italian... and they kept replying in English. I'm nothing if not persistent.

I'm on a boat!

When I arrived on Saturday, I left the station for my first look at Venezia. Beaut. About 30 seconds after I took this photo, the skies opened and the square emptied out. Side bar - I'll admit that the weather here is much better than Vancouver in terms of how many days it rains, but on the other hand, the way it rains here is sometimes a bit of a shocker. One minute it's dry, and the next minute you're drenched if you're unlucky enough to be caught without cover. It only lasts for 10 minutes or so, but it happens all the time!

Pre-Rainstorm

Saturday was pretty rainy, but at least that meant fewer tourists. Sunday was a gorgeous day, but Piazza San Marco (please don't call it St. Mark's square) was PACKED. As was the Rialto bridge and market areas.

The Rialto bridge would be covered in graffiti...

The picture doesn't really capture the crowds, but they were there!

Oh, and it was high tide on Sunday! This helped us understand what we thought were runways all over the little alleys. In fact, they're elevated walkways for when the city really floods. I prefer to remember them as runways though. Here's the flooding that we saw, but the article shows it was much worse just a few days later!

Water, water, everywhere!

It was such a great weekend, but I'll definitely be trying to get back to Venice one weekend when the tourist crowds have died down a little bit. I fell in love with the little things, like narrow winding alleys, alleys that actually appear to get narrower at the top, and gems of buildings like the one on the middle left.

Word of the weekend: YOLO

Thanksgiving a Milano

I love Thanksgiving. What I don't love is that I have to read about the delicious turkey and pumpkin pie that all of you are eating back home, and how you get to sleep off your food comas the next day because of the holiday Monday.

In Italy, we don't get turkey. We don't get a holiday. We don't get pumpkin pie. (Although I have seen ads for the American Thanksgiving dinner put on by a local restaurant).

Luckily, I have an amazing roommate who isn't fazed by things such as cooking a 10 course meal, or what to do when she can't find the ingredients she needs. Thanks to her, we had Canadian Thanksgiving in Milano!!

Yep. See it, love it, drool, and be jealous. Two key substitutions were chicken instead of turkey (no huge deal), and grapes instead of cranberries (a pleasant surprise!).

Overall, I'm THANKFUL that I was able to post my own photo of Thanksgiving dinner, even if I did have to go to school the next day...