Good food, good wine!

Ben and I were finally blessed to have the opportunity of exploring the real Napoli this past weekend!

We woke up on Saturday morning, determined to learn the ins and the outs of the public transportation system to navigate our way into town. After speaking with the Italian clerk at the front desk of the Navy lodge, he gave us the brief synopsis and sent us on our merry way. We had one problem: we were only able to withraw euros from the ATM in increments of either 20 or 50 and the three convenience stores/cafes we ran to in order to make it to our bus in time could not break the change. (?!). Note to self: things that seem very easy and convenient in other countries, specifically the US, are not possible in Naples.

Ben and I ran across the "street" which is basically a freeway exit (if you know me well then you know that I have a serious problem crossing streets, you can only imagine what it's like here) to get to the bus stop and figured that we'd finagle our way on to that bus somehow. We were approached by a military guy, also brand new to Naples, who wanted to know if we knew of the best way to get into town. We said we didn't and I knew that this experience was going to end up in a scenario of the blind leading the blind. It was our lucky day, though, because another military guy showed up at the bus stop and he seemed to know where he was going. We asked him several questions about the area and though he seemed quite shy at first, he finally opened up and made conversation with us. His answers led to conversations and pretty soon we ended up crashing his party and following him all the way to town. T63 bus to Aversa d'Gricignano transfer to Naples Garibaldi transfer to Cavour station. We never would have made it without the help of our new friend, Lorenzo! Along the way he pointed out sights, not your usual sights- the areas where the Camorra mafia base their "business"-you know, all the important stuff. He told us about his Italian girlfriend and how he's learned much about the culture from her and her family, about his experiences in Naples throughout he past year and a half since he's been here, etc. After three transfers, we finally parted ways at the last stop and Ben, Pat (that first military guy) and I decided that if none of us know where we were going we might as well be together so we went on our way in search of Neapolitan pizza.

I cannot tell you how many people I've heard from that have said that Naples is a dirty,crime ridden place that one must stay away from. I was extremely surprised to emerge from the train station into a lovely, historic city center, with people speaking Italian loudly with their hands and beautiful piazzas (city squares) and buildings that have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years. We visited the Castel d'Uovo, Galleria Umberto, and walked down a really long street that I cannot seem to remember the name of. We found a restaurant finally and experienced our first "Neapolitan pizza." I am not the biggest pizza fan in the world, or really Italian food fan for that matter (I know, what am I doing here) but I must say that the food was pretty darn good. They have a special kind of cheese here, Mozzarella di Bufala, which is like a ping pong ball made of amazing mozzarella. They scatter them throughout pizza, on a thin crust which is doughy yet thin and crunchy at the same time, and have a variety of toppings. The craziest part is that they serve these pies individually. When I saw the size of it I said no way Jose, I am not eating that entire thing. We proceeded to share our selections- Pat with an amazing calzone with marinara, me with toppings of mozzarella di bufala, prosciutto, and fresh tomatoes, and Ben with a greenish pesto looking (although it was not pesto) pizza with zucchini and ricotta cheese. His definitely did not win the prize but the other selections were YUMMY! And no, I did not eat the whole thing. I refuse to turn into an Italian mama.

After a long day of walking around, getting lost in the city, and seeing absolutely gorgeous piazzas (piazza, not pizza), I was thrilled that Ben had his first day in the "real" Europe and loved it! We found our way back to the metro (thank God for Iphones, and for Pat) and made it home in one piece..

The next day we met with our friends Dave, Cyndi, and their three boys. Ben went on his first deployment with Dave so Cyndi and I had gotten to know each other a few years ago. Their boys are darling and whenever they came to introduce themselves to me they would say "Mi chiamo Zachary" or "Mi chiamo Logan" etc... The best story is their youngest, Jake, whom I adore and was attached to me all day, who goes to a school where the teacher doesn't speak a lick of English. Apparently he has made two American friends who speak Italian fluently, also Navy children, who are his "interpreters" amongst the other kids and the teacher. What a fun way to spend kindergarten! He's having a blast. Anyway, they took us to Arbustum which is what they call an Agroturismo. It is a farm, but let's keep in mind that this is an "Italian farm" so picture the "farmers" wearing designer clothes and serving homemade Prosecco and red/white wine from their own vineyards. None of this overalls and tractors business. They literally grow and make everything they serve right onsite. And WOW was it a meal, or rather more of a production. It is a gorgeous converted house in the countryside where you can view their crops, vines, and yes, even their animals. Picture the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun"-that was the feel of this place. This was our meal:

-Aperitifs with a wonderful sparkling wine. Champagne is very me:)
-First course with bruschette, fragiole (ground beef with beans, absolutely deee-lish), dish with prosciutto, salami etc (and this is the real deal), grilled eggplant, croquettes, and cheese platter. It was ridiculously large.
-Second course with grilled pork cutlets and a side of mashed potatoes
-Dessert with a slice of lemon cake and a slice of chocolate cake
-Limoncello and espresso for an after lunch refreshment

Can you even believe it? I don't know where they put all of this food! The lunch lasted 5 hours!!! The best part is that it's all a surprise. They don't tell you what they're serving because it's all seasonal. If you ever have the opportunity to go to an Agroturismo, please please please do! Needless to say we did not have dinner that night.

Enough about food. The rest of the meals we've had since we've been here have been all my cooking which even I'm starting to get sick of. Although I must say that for those of you who have tried to take one of Athena's bones away from her, you'll notice that taking prosciutto away from Ben is eerily similiar.

On that note, we have a 7 AM field trip, so ladies and gentlemen, Buona Notte!