A Real Italian Meal

I have been in Italy for a little over a month and a half now (geez, has it really been that long?) and last night I had the opportunity to experience my first true, Italian, or at least Bolognese, meal. I have obviously eaten out before, as you all of seen the pictures of my food, but this was my first dining experience.

This particular place that myself and 6 friends dined at is a true hole in the wall. It is down a side street, with no sign out front or anything. You just have to know it's there. Anyway, we go inside, sit down, order our vino di casa and acqua naturale (house wine and water), and then the food starts coming.

The food is served family style, which is Italy means bringing to the table large plates of food containing more cuisine than 7 people could ever hope to finish. First, they serve an antipasti course, which really amounted to 10-12 different kinds of appetizers. Then there was the pasta course, with 3 different kinds of pasta. And then they brought out the dessert. Oh, the desert.

The person on the right in the above picture is Gene and he is being handed a giant bowl of chocolate. And on the left is Natalie, who is handing Shay the plate of pastry puffs that you are supposed to put the chocolate on.This is a group shot, obviously, and you can see the variety and quantity of desserts spread around the table. From left, that is Gene with a bowl of chocolate mousse, Shay with a creme torte, Me with an apple tort, Mark with something that I can't see, Courtney, Natalie, and Jeanette with a chocolate torte, a bowl of creme brulee, and a nutella cake in front of her. The idea is that our table would take what we wanted from these desserts and then they would be passed to the next table. And then after dessert came the grappa (a liquor made from the leftovers of the wine-fermenting process). They just set a whole bottle of grappa on the table, trusting that we would not drink the whole thing.

Needless to say, everyone was pretty full by the end of the night. Did I mention the whole meal took about 3 hours? We did it in true Italian fashion, getting there at 9 PM and leaving at 12 AM. In all fairness, we had an important gathering with the mayor of Bologna before dinner and that pushed it back a bit. Here are some photos from before everyone was too full and when people still looked happy:

Courtney (who lives next door to me in Natalie's apartment building) and Natalie

Mark and Me (Do I look albino or what?)

Jeanette and Gene (both Iraq War vets)

Shay (he was next to me and for some reason didn't want to pose for a decent photo)

And now Natalie and I are off to join the gym!