Three nights a week on Abbey Road’s Florence program, students and staff split up into their cooking groups and cook dinner with each other. Whether it’s Italian salads or traditional Italian pasta, we cook our own dinner in preparation for the Iron Chef competition. Students have to create two dishes for the judges (staff) and are graded based on creativity, plating, and of course, taste. Halfway into preparing our meal, there was a secret ingredient (zucchini flower) presented to each group. My group made fried zucchini flowers, traditional Italian salad, and chocolate mousse. Other groups made pasta and tiramisu.
The tension was high during presentations; each team wanted so badly to win and each knew there could only be one. The judges are still tallying up the scores, and the winners have yet to be announced, but each team seems pretty confident. All of the food looked delicious, so may the truly best man win!
Unfortunately, I am approaching my last week of classes, and I have to start creating my final project for my major class, which is fashion. The whole objective of the class is to “remake” clothing, like taking a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to create a dress. I also have to create a final line of clothing with a common mood or theme. I thought it would be more than appropriate to make my theme the Renaissance since I’m basically living in the core of that time period. Thanks to my art history class, the vision of my fashion line is being made very clear. I have visited so many breathtaking churches and baptisteries that have not only inspired me for my fashion class but have also impacted me in such a unique way. The fact that it took a thousand years to create the baptistery right in front of the Duomo and seeing the intricate mosaics of gold squares on the ceiling is just mind-boggling.
I am so lucky to be experiencing all of this with Abbey Road Programs and this amazing group of people!
-Brittany