Food in Naples, Italy

     Food is a big deal in Italy. In fact, the pastor(Luigi-born in Tuscany) at the church we have been going to even mentioned that Italians believe their food to be the best and they have no reason to try any other cuisine or change theirs at all.  I agree that the food has been extremely good since we've been here.
     There has only been 1 time that we had some terrible food. It was at the Hyundai Cafe-it was connected to a Hyundai car dealership.  We stopped in for a snack. J ordered a sandwich and Race ordered a pastry.  We're not sure what kind of meat was on the sandwich and the pastry tasted like there was a layer of beach ball in it..ugh! It was bad! haha
     While we were living in the hotels, we had to go out almost every day to eat. I say almost everyday because we stashed some peanut butter, bread, nutella and fruit in our rooms so that sufficed for meals on some occasions. Since there are so many restauants around the hotels, we got to try several of them. They were mostly Italian cuisine, go figure! haha (it's a little joke around here that even Chinese, Mexican or other ethnic restaurants all taste like Italian around here-see my comment about how Italians feel about their food, above)
     It is expected that a person order Antipasti(appetizer), Primi(first dish), Secondi(2nd dish), and Dolci(dessert). A primi is usually pasta or pizza and the second dish is usually meat of some sort-around here, it's usually seafood-fresh, of course!  Most restaurants here do not allow you to take your left overs home after your meal.  It is expected, if you order all the above, that you will be at the table for A WHILE... We learned that it was best for me to order a salad, Aaron to order a primi and the kids would get pizza (and then Aaron and I ate their leftovers..haha)  You know me, I really do not like to waste food! ahhhhh!  :)

 We made nachos 1 night-they weren't bad :)

 Cooking class

 Sorry this picture is dark-roasted squash

 Action shot-please forgive the blur..:(

 Pasta and squash

 squash salad

 Da Michele pizzeria-#1 in Naples!

(this is technically in Belgium->

     We went to an authentic Italian cooking class this past week.  Our host, Fulvia, was also our teacher.  She taught us how to make Pasta w/squash, pasta w/tomatoes, roasted squash salad(my favorite!), and a cheese fritatta.  There were about 12 women and 3 men-Aaron, Race and Tim(husband to one of the women there) When Aaron and Race walked in, Tim sighed with gratitude..haha.  We spent quite a while in the kitchen watching, learning, participating and then we all got to 'sample' everything.  Delizioso!  Wow! What a treat to be there. We can't wait for the next class!  (Juliann wasn't there because she got invited to hang out with some girls around her age. She got enticed by the prospect of having hamburgers and Klondike bars with the girls so..)
   We will continue to post food pictures-especially for you, Mom! :)