Day 5

Today we have part 2 of our tour in and around Orvieto. Chef Polegri always has a few anecdotes about the history of the region and traditions of the city. We started out at the farmer's market again by popular request, but it was also a shopping trip. Chef had a huge list of things he needed for the restaurant and for the classes we will be starting Monday. It's funny how much bartering still works here, he can often haggle with the purveyor for a better price, or at least a discount. The vendors are all generous though, handing out samples to all of us. Chef bought us a 7 year old parmesan that is aged beneath the ground which we would sample with our lunch today. We were allowed a lot of time to wander around while the Chef found everything he needed. We found an awesome rotisserie booth where they were roasting whole chickens, ribs, even whole ducks. We bought a grilled stuffed chicken and some fresh french fries. It was incredibly good and the fries were fresh, perfectly cooked, we all joked about how excited we all were by french fries, but a lot of people are missing certain comforts of home. Someone else bought a duck and we all tried it. The skin was perfectly crispy. After we finished our shopping we went to a chocolate demonstration for an Orvietan chocolate festival. We have been seeing all over town the massive easter eggs made from chocolate they have here. Easter displays are everywhere. A pastry chef demonstrated how they create the eggs by using tempered chocolate and putting it in a mold and a turning machine to evenly distribute the chocolate around the mold and letting it cool and solidify. After the demo Chef showed us how to get to the train station, which is a pretty good hike, but not bad. Nearby is also a small pastry shop that a friend of his owns, where a few of us will be doing pastry internships. Afterwards we headed back to the restaurant for lunch which were some fresh artichokes, battered and deep fried with a lemon aoili. Then we got a fried pastry with spinach and cheese. We all got a break after lunch and the Chef decided to cancel the rest of the tour that day because a lot of us were missing. A got in a nap since I didn't get to sleep much the night before and then went and picked up a few things at the grocery store. Dinner we finally went out for pizza. Chef took us to a pizzaria owned by a friend of his. They gave us a variety of 4 different pizzas that we all got big slices of. We had a cheese, mushroom pizza, sausage and corn, and pepperoni. They were all very good, the crust is thin and crispy and the cheese is very fresh. They also gave us an appetizer of prosciutto with toasted breads with 3 different toppings, one with liver, one with artichoke, and one with a red pepper sauce. After dinner we all went out for a bit too, but I left early to go with some of the older girls just just hang out somewhere quiet. They had bought some meats and cheeses from the market including some wild boar, pecorino, bread, and apples. I came home around 2 am and tried to sleep, but once again didn't get much chance.