When I started this whole project, I had great ideas of how I would make time to get on here and write a post for the blog.  How many have I done so far? 3.  I am terrible at this! I have basically scratched the Italian cooking after seeing Anchovy filets up close and personal and learning that it is quite difficult, if not impossible or illegal to even get Cow Brains! Since I’ve last posted, I have been adding more and more projects to my schedule – I’m back to crocheting, having dinners and craft parties at my house, planning a bridal brunch, going out of town for vacation, going out of town for work, successfully registering for grad school, opening at easy shop, oh- and working full time.  I still cook most days – so maybe I will just focus on those things that I cook up daily for myself and my husband.  I may be a  little better at that…

I finally made my first recipe.  I wanted to do something quick because I made this one night when time was limited, so I chose Chickpea soup.  I’ve never been a chickpea fan – the texture is odd, plus I was not brought up eating chickpeas.  This recipe brought me to buy my first entire head of garlic because it called for sautéing it into the olive oil as the flavor base for the soup.  I looked up several ways for how to peel garlic cloves…on Youtube.  The one I saw repeatedly said to put the cloves in a bowl, cover with another bowl, and shake vigorously for about 10 seconds.  Well, I did this, but it did not turn out like the video said it would.  I ended up peeling my little garlic cloves with my fingernails.  Not too bad.

This soup did have good flavor.  It was super quick for a soup because she allows use of canned chickpeas.  The herb of choice in this soup was rosemary.  I’ve always used rosemary for chicken, so it was strange using it in a soup.  She did say to crush the rosemary – I crushed as well as I could, but I wouldn’t have called it “crushed rosemary.”  Thankfully none speared into my gum as whole dried rosemary usually does.  I feel like an Italian cook already…well, maybe not yet.

As I’ve been doing some research and preparing myself for this project, I’ve learned a few interesting things.

1. I can’t buy my Parmesan Cheese in the green plastic jar anymore.  Ideally, Marcella recommends getting a wedge of parmesan cut in the deli and grating it yourself.  I can see how the taste would be far superior, but sometimes I just can’t help myself but eat spoonfuls of that yummy jarred cheese…
2. No more dried basil.  I’m definitely  not opposed to fresh herbs, but the convenience of a dried basil shake is incomparable. I’m starting to think that Italian cooks don’t have out of home jobs or do any sort of exercise.
3. No more jarred garlic.  I’m going to have to start peeling and chopping my own.  Drats. 
4. The land of Italy is so vast.  I’ve always just assumed that Italy was full of people sharing a bowlful of pasta and eating Tiramisu.  That could not be
   farther from the truth.  In fact, there may be a person in Tuscany eating on a wild boar w
   hile a person in Venice chews on stuffed squid. As we all learned in grade school, It
   aly is country shaped like a boot.  That boot juts out into the ocean giving many Italians a good amount of fresh seafood.  Simplicity is the choice when preparing seafood.  It is often prepared with the head still attached (gross).

These are just a few things that I’ve learned so far.  I’ll be rounding up my parmesan wedges, basil plants, and anchovies and will start soon on my first classic recipe!