If you know me you know that I like to eat and cook (but namely, eat). I’m not too choosy and I love trying new foods. [[Just a teaser, during my Europe trip I ate traditional “dutch herrings” in Amsterdam, aka a whole raw herring with onion bits for flavor. Sounds appetizing right? It was actually pretty good.]] I’m game for anything. So far what I’ve eaten when I’m out and about in Siena consisted of “fast food” and nothing really out of the ordinary: pastas, pizzas, panini, and the occasional gelato. Basically anything that’s affordable and made quickly is good by me. I ate dinner at the Via S. Agata 1 mense (canteen/dining hall) twice. It was an experience just to get there–my dorms is 20mins away from the Siena train station, and then it takes another 15-20 minutes to get to “downtown Siena” where the dining hall is located. There, you can choose either 1 or 2 main courses, and it includes a fruit/pudding and refillable drink. I’m not sure if the courses are Italian based or “international” cuisine to suit the tastes of foreign students!
The Pam supermarket at the Siena train station is where I stock up on food at the dorm. It has a great fruit section and I’ve been eating fresh peaches and apricots daily because it’s cheap to get a basket of them at a time. I also made some american-style ham and cheese sandwiches and pasta (a bag of fresh tagliatelle pasta is only 1euro and bolognese sauce is cheap by the cans— I don’t know if I can even think about paying $15 for a meal at Vapiano in NYC again!).
But the best part: being treated to really good homemade food with friends. On Sunday, I had authentic Italian pizza! Alex, who is from Napoli, is doing a medical internship at the Policlinico nearby the dorms and befriended my friend Matthew several nights ago. We ate on his balcony overlooking Siena and it was a nice breezy evening.
Plus Amy Tan, who is my -unofficially official- mentor here in Siena, makes great food! Before I came to Siena, we had emailed back and forth a few times through the scholarship authorities (AsianinNY & ILICA). It was great meeting her in person on Friday, and trying her pesto pasta. I love the fresh basil leaves from the plant she has–it’s soo good! Also just yesterday, she made 3 different styles of pizza and the dough was completely homemade. She told me that her Italian flatmates taught her how to make the pizzas! Maybe I’ll get some recipes to bring back to NYC 🙂
WOW! The food really looks good. Bring some of the recipes back and then you can make the pizza for us!!
For sure! If you supply the ingredients we can work something out lol.