Allora oggi . . . it’s about the food.  My host family is amazing and Dina is molto molto stupendo cucina.  That’s Italian for wonderful cook.  Tonight she prepared for us zucchini stuffed with goat cheese, zucchini pulp, and all sorts of other yummy things that I don’t remember right now.  We also had roasted tomatoes that were CRAZY awesome, three different kinds of Italian chesses, olives from Genoa and of course bread.  For dessert each night we have a variety of fresh fruit and did I mention everything Dina makes and serves is organic?  Dina also blogs and shares her recipes online.   http://cucinadidina.tumblr.com/

Last night Dina experimented with a new recipe – two actually.  I LOVE being a guinea pig!  She made a pesto that was out of this world . . . seriously!  Sometimes the basil in pesto can be over powering or too oily.  Not Dina’s pesto.  She brightens up the pesto with celery offering a slight taste of celery and a subtle hint of basil.  Then there was the involtini and thanks to the Food Network and Chopped, I know what an involtini is.  Actually involtini is a method for preparing different foods eggplant is often fixed this way.  Anyway, Dina used pieces of thinly sliced beef dredged in breadcrumbs and rolled before being cooked.  Not sure if she sautéed the meat or baked it in the oven but it was fantastic.  I’ve also included a YouTube demonstration of Dina crafting orecchiette.  By the way, the tool that she uses in the video is called a spatola and was given to Dina by her grandmother.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOdA8y3q7zA  Tomorrow I will blog about my trip to the salon for a haircut and color.