Unmasking Italy
First of all: first entry here! Finally! Hooray! 
(Yes. That is a lot of exclamation marks. Which really just stresses the fact that I’ve been procrastinating writing entries here. 
)
Anyway, last February 9, 2012, my brother and I ate at my sister’s school (which is at the AKIC building of DLS-CSB). Her event management class requires them to organize an event so for the past few weeks (and a few succeeding more), their class has a lunch set-up every Thursday. The theme for this week is Italy and so my brother and I got to sample a few of the Italian food that my sister and their class prepared.
Minestrone Soup
We had a full course meal, consisting of the soup, salad, appetizer, main course, and dessert. The first item on the menu was the Minestrone soup. Minestrone soup is basically a vegetable stew, which usually also contains pasta or rice. I hate celery and considering that their soup quite had a lot of celery (in my opinion; I might be biased since I don’t like celery), it says a lot about how well the soup was made. I really liked the soup though I wish the chick peas were a bit more… soft. I like my veggies a bit overdone so that they’re really soft.
Mozarrella Salad and Margherita Pizette
For the appetizer, we had Margherita Pizettes which are basically small pizzas. It’s just the basic pizza margherita: tomato sauce, cheese, and basil. I liked that the crust was thin and crunchy and the blend of cheese and tomato sauce was perfect. I would’ve preferred the basil was chopped though so that I could’ve spread it on the pizza.
My favorite dish would have to be the mozzarella salad. I loved how the sauce wasn’t too overpowering but complemented the vegetables and cheese well. The onions were perfect; they gave the perfect blend of sweet and spice. The sauce had this sweet ingredient which I still can’t figure out. I know that I know that taste. The name just eludes me. Anyway, I can’t express how much I love this. I even asked my sister to give me the recipe just so that I can make it.
Osso Buco with Pasta
Of course, the main course comes next. The main course was Osso Buco with pasta. I’m not sure what the pasta was but if I had to guess, I think it’s aglio olio. That’s a really easy pasta to make; the ingredients are basil, olive oil, and garlic. Easy peasy noh? 
The Osso Buco was a delightful dish. Most Osso Buco’s I’ve tasted are very tangy. This one is sweet (a citrus-y sweet so I think they mixed orange extract) which was a welcome surprise to the taste buds. The meat was really tender; I loved how it simply melted on my tongue. It didn’t offer any resistance while I was cutting it with my fork, neither when I was chewing it.
Tiramisu
For the last dish, we come to the dessert. Of course, when we think of Italy the first dessert that comes to mind would be Tiramisu. And that is what was served. I definitely enjoyed the Tiramisu. The lady fingers were coated with just the right amount of liqour. I would’ve liked a bit more coffee in mine but I like coffee-tasting Tiramisu so that’s a biased preference. The cream on top was also to die for. The consistency was perfect: it wasn’t too light and it wasn’t too heavy. I liked that the second layer of lady fingers wasn’t dipped in liquor because it added a crunch to the Tiramisu and also helped tone down the taste of liqour.
Mystery Drink
We were also served a drink. I’m not sure what it is exactly so you’ll have to ask my sister. She told me that it was a mixture of different fruit juices; what fruits exactly, I don’t know. I really liked it though. I find that the sugar on the rim of the made the sweetness of the drink stick to the tongue so that was really cool.
Anyway, all of this cost P250 per head which I think was a pretty good cost considering that you were given a full course meal. There was also a bit of entertainment (a bit of dancing) and the ambiance was pretty relaxing.
Well, that’s it for today. I’ll try to make a write up for the other food establishments I’ve got lined up in my “to blog” queue. I’ve already finished uploading the pictures that I have so it’s really just the writing that I have left to do. Hope you’ll all watch out for that.
I’mma sign out now. Later! 
♥ Daal
