Italian Coffee Shops

This is for all of you hard core espresso drinkers.  Running into a bar for a quick caffe is a whole different experience than what you get back in the States.  No flavors, no promotions, no overly friendly barista trying to up-sell some product (no offense, I was that very barista for years) you just walk up to the bar and order your drink.  Seconds later you are sipping down that wonderful elixir feeling better with every drop that touches your lips.

After spending my college years refining my skills behind the espresso machine you might be able to imagine my excitement to come to the holy land and see where it all began.  From the moment you enter into a bar you know that you're in store for a whole different experience from that offered at an American coffee shop.  There's no line waiting with a bunch of impatient customers to be rung up (unless of course fresh bombolini have just come out of the back, but that is completely worth the wait).  Why is that you ask to yourself?  Its simple, the caffe is prepared their way.  There are no major modifications, no milk choices, no flavors to be added, no sizes, you may ask for it to go from some places but you get a funny look from the barista if you do.  When you don't have to make a large, extra foam, nonfat, no sugar added 4 pump vanilla cappuccino its easy to make drinks fast, so there's no line.  You simply chose from one of a few simple variations of an espresso and that's it.

For those of you who have spent time behind the espresso machine you know how annoying it can be when a customer is always trying to reduce the price of their drink by having the barista add something extra after they've paid.  Is the extra 50 cents or so really worth constantly aggravating the person who is serving you?  Absolutely not!  They have solved that problem here in Italy.  First get rid of all size.  Now there is no possible way that the customer could "accidentally" order a small when they really meant a large, I don't even want to get into tall versus grande.  Next get rid of all additions to the coffee, and you'll never have to hear "whoops, I forgot to tell them that I want chocolate in that, can you add some for me?" again.  Finally, when getting a caffe here you pay after you have ordered and enjoyed your drink.  I particularly enjoy this part.  Now even if there were things to change about your drink, it wouldn't matter because you'll pay for whatever you order.  Additionally, I think its nice that they trust their customers to pay their bill after getting their drink.  Its a very respectful way of conducting business in my opinion.

Now if you like your coffee with all the frills that is absolutely fine.  I have no qualms with that, but when you get rid of them the prices of coffee drops dramatically.  While you're paying 4.50 each time you need a drink I have yet to pay over 2 euro, and that was even a bit of a rip off.

From a barista's perspective I think that this is the environment that we all hope for.  Where the customer is not always right, and where people who don't like coffee don't try and cover it up with all kinds of flavors and gallons of milk.  Its a place where the barista isn't challenged.  Ahh, wouldn't that be nice.

Rachael has found what she is calling best coffee she has had just yesterday.  Hopefully I'll be investigating this claim soon and I'll be able to give my professional opinion on its quality by the end of next week.  Check back soon to find out.

Photo of the Week: Dec. 14, 2009

The Ponte Vecchio at night. Not my favorite of photographs, but currently my camera is down until another battery can be found.

A Quick Word of Warning

To all men thinking about visiting this city with their significant other consider this your warning.  Florence is infested with small adorable babies.  I don't know where all this talk of Italy having a declining population is coming from.  This census clearly did not happen here in Florence.  The people here are doing more than their part to make up for the deficit.  Don't quote me on this just yet, but I'm fairly certain that this city has more babies per capita than any other city I have ever been to.

The first few weeks here Rachael and I were too preoccupied with the course to notice the unusual trend, but it didn't take long for her to pick up on the peculiar abundance of these cute little things that are over running the city.  Via del Corso is a virtual baby parade.  Mom's and Dad's are constantly meandering along this street pushing their babies in their tricked out strollers.  You may want to do some additional hand strengthening exercise before coming as you will be enduring plenty of hand squeezing because the one you are with will be constantly falling in love with another cute baby every few minutes, and frustrated at not having one of her own.

Europeans definitely got the strollers right though.   I'm not sure how they afford babies in this country.  They seem to purchase strollers for very specific periods of the babies life, periods that they will grow out of in a matter of days.  For the very small ones the only stroller that will seem to do is one where they can lie down in a bed then be zipped into a sleeping bag and then have the cover of the stroller zipped and snapped up so that the baby does not even have to know that its outside, sounds like a great way to travel. I would like to be pushed around in one of these strollers.

As of yet I haven't attributed a cause to this abundance of small children in the city.  It may be something in the water, more likely though it is something in the wine.  It could also be a combination of the beauty and history of this city, Florence is undoubtedly a mecca for anyone who loves food, wine, art, history, shopping, and everything else that makes Italy such an alluring country.  For those of you wishing to hold off the discussion of 'why don't we have kids yet,' you may want to consider holding off your visit until you are prepared.  You will have to give up a lot to avoid that, so its up to you to decide.  Consider yourselves warned.

Where to Eat: Restaurants - Part 1 of Many

Florence has some delicious restaurants.  Any guide book could tell you that.  What they won't tell you is that its really overpriced.  This place is expensive when you want to eat out.  None-the-less it is nice after a light apertivo to go out and have a tasty dinner. 

For the most part we have been eating mostly street food that you can find every few steps, there are some delicious find out there.  The only problem is after a month panini become rather dull.  To combat this we have been trying to adventure out here and there to explore the food options at our finger tips.  While living on a budget we have also been making an effort to find affordable eateries.  Two places have stood out in my mind thus far.

The first is I Ghibellini.  We stumbled upon this place a few weeks ago and were delightfully surprised with the results.  The restaurant has a welcoming charm and a friendly staff.  What earned this place the honor of being mentioned in this first edition of 'Where to Eat' in Florence was the table bread.  Straight from their wood fire oven, they brought out what might best be described as the Italian version of a soft tortilla chip.  Imagine the tastiest thin crust of a pizza you have ever had now kick that up several notches and you would be in the ball park as far as flavor.  From there I enjoyed their gnocchi which was everything I was hoping for.  On our second trip back Rachael and I decided to try out some of the pizzas they had to offer.  Sticking with my go-to pizza diavola I was not disappointed.  Rachael adventured into newer territory with a pizza topped with prosciutto cotto, mascarpone, e mozzarella.  Can I say delicious?  Absolutely.

Next up is Pizzeria Toto'.  This place some amazing pizza.  Like AMAZING!  For any of you in the know, this is vera pizza.  For those of you not informed this is a very precise way of making pizza (the best way.)  To see exactly what I'm talking about you can read what it takes here just to be qualified.  The have the best pizza the I have had since being back in Italy.  The crust is perfectly cooked with that combination of almost chewy/slightly burnt.  The sauce is simple yet delicious, and then they top it off with a showering of olive oil.  All of this for a reasonable price as well.  Definately worth visiting the next time you are in the neighborhood.

A map for the establishments, and all others reviewed by "Where to Eat," can be found by clicking here.  More editions coming soon...

Photo of the Week: Dec. 7, 2009

During our third week in school we went to school early to get ready for our classes and this is what welcomed us from the balcony.

The Battle is Won.

Do any of you know what the national bird is of Italy?

It is in fact the mosquito.  The shear number of them surprised me, as we were well into November when we moved here.  Yet still these little buggers were all over the place.  Luckily, we've moved into a new apartment that has proper seals on the windows and this has dramatically changed the outlook of the war against the mosquitoes.  The recent drop in temperature has also helped to reduce their numbers, but I've been trying to do my part as well.  While in our last apartment my one day record was 11 kills.  Over the month my total was around 30, the exact numbers are hard to say because some of the fighting went on at an indecent hour of the night.  It seems that with my help an the inevitable coming of winter we will be able to make it through with some reprieve from their incessant buzzing.

Next year I'll be ready for them.

Finito!

We have just finished the last component for the CTEFL course, and I'm super excited!  We were both offered jobs teaching at the American Language Center which we just accpeted yesterday.  The contracts officially starts in January.  Until then we are going to be doing some training in test preparation and in the materials they use at the school, also doing some substitutions and private lessons until our contract start with the next trimester. 

Its a little surreal still at the moment.  One month ago we were talking about moving here and would jokingly say that we want to both do really well in the course so that they will just hire us and we can stay living in Florence.  And here we are!  Its weird how well this has all turned out.

We are going to have at least the next week off from doing anything related to teaching.  Hopefully we'll find ourselves in a few of the museums with our free time.  The last month hasn't left many opportunities to explore all that Florence has to offer. 

Even walking around here is amazing.  The city is getting set for the Christmas season.  The streets are draped in white twinkling lights.  In the piazza where we went to school and where we're going to begin teaching they are setting up a Christmas trees and stringing up even more lights.  This city is absolutely gorgeous this time of year.  Its fun to call it home.

Ciao from Florence.