Learning how to make Eggplant Parmesan (Melanzane alla Parmigiana) in Italian

Last Thursday we traded an Italian language course with our teacher for a cooking lesson in Italian making Eggplant Parmesan.  Truly I am not a big fan of eggplant parmesan when I had it previously, but I am always game to try a new recipe and oh boy was I rewarded!  I think I just never had a great one before, because this was spectacular!  There are a few tricks she does to make sure it isn't watery and the flavors are just right. 

First thing is to simmer your sauce with garlic until no water remains with the sauce.  When you cut the garlic, make sure you take the "soul" out of the garlic (when you cut it in half, there is a 1/2 moon shape that you pull out).

Cut the skin off of the eggplant and cut into very thin slices.  Add salt to each piece and place them in a strainer on top of a plate. 

Add something heavy on top of the eggplant.  The point here is to push all of the water out of the eggplant.

 Meanwhile start cutting up the parsley, basil and mozzarella.

After an hour or so, take each piece of eggplant out of the strainer and wipe them off with a towel to dry them. 

 Roll each piece of eggplant in flour.

 Heat your oil in a pan. 

Place each piece of oil and lightly fry it.

Add a little olive oil to the bottom of your baking dish.

 And start layering!  Eggplant, sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan, and repeat.

 Put it in the oven at 180C for 30 minutes and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Jerry, Matt, Me, and Cristina

And now you have an awesome, healthy eggplant parmesan! Buon Appetito!!

In Love with London!

Well, lads and lassies, we spent the 4th of July weekend in London and I loved London!!  But I am not sure if Matt loved it.....what do you think?

I don't know if it was the comfort of an English speaking country or that the insanely busy city was crowded with bicyclists and tourists, but it had a great feel and energy to it!

We started out our vacation with a morning bicycle tour around London.  We were just a small group of 4 so we had more individual attention and may or may not have had the opportunity to stop for a pint along the way!

Ian, Matt, and Stephanie in the cab going to the bike tour

Our guide David showing us around

Ian, Matt, me, and Stephanie

Every 18 months this square gets a new piece of art and a German Feminist won the position to put a piece of artwork here.  She though the square was too masculine so she put up a blue.....rooster.....

A little English Cyder

I love how polite Brits are

Saturday afternoon we took in a musical at the Prince of Wales Theater.

I found this quote in the Kings Arms English pub we went to on Saturday night.

On Sunday Matt and I were up early so we grabbed a breakfast (yes a real breakfast with eggs Benedict)!

Then we took off for the London Bridge and attempted to see the crown jewels (I thought the line at the Colosseum in Rome was long). 

And naturally we took in a spot of tea under London Bridge!

We met up with our friends Jen, Lloyd, Barry, and his sister (all currently living in London - Jamie, we missed you, but glad your dissertation is finished!) for a traditional Sunday Roast at a pub outside of London.  It was awesome!

On Monday morning we woke up and rode our bicycles over to Buckingham palace, because that is where the finish line for stage 2 of the Tour De France was.  London has a nice bicycle share program where you just put your credit card in and take a bike out of the stall and return it when you are done.

Sadly it was time to return our bicycles and head to the airport.  When we tried to return our bicycles to the stall we rented them from, all of the stations were full so we moved to the next bicycle return around the corner and that was full, too.  Ok, no need to panic we have extra time built into our schedule. Well, about 50 minutes later we finally found a spot to return our bikes!  LOL I sitll love London!