Eurochocolate 2009

Ciao!

This morning, Andrea and I woke up at 6:30am and took the 8:00 train to Perugia for the Eurochocolate 2009 festival. We arrived in Perugia around 11:15 and then crammed into a bus at the station to get to the actual festival. It was quite a hike. Anyway, we arrived at the festival and met up with Maggie Wright and her parents, who are visiting from Chicago for the week. As soon as we ran into them, Maggie's mom and dad gave us both huge hugs! We had never met them before! They were such nice people and really fun to hang around with. It's great to have some parent figures visiting. Everyone's been getting a little lonely and homesick.

The Wright's helped us purchase Chococards for 5 euro a piece. These cards were pretty cool because they allowed us to go to a bunch of stands for free chocolate, drinks, etc. Our first stop was the Grand Marnier stand, where we each tried a shot and a Sicilian orange peel covered in dark chocolate. Soooo good. Next, we hit the hot chocolate stand-- and it was NOTHING like Swiss Miss in the states. This was literally melted chocolate with cream added to it. It was so rich and amazing. Our next stop was another hot chocolate stand. I got hot chocolate with pepperoncini. It was so perfect because it was doubly warming- the temperature and the spice! I loved it.

Next, the Wright's took us out for a wonderful lunch. We shared scrambled egg and truffle mushrooms crostini for an appetizer. I ordered paparadelle with pumpkin and pecorino cheese for my main course. We all shared a chocolate cake for dessert. Mr. and Mrs. Wright were so genuine and warm to us. We really appreciated that they wanted so badly to treat us to lunch. We all had a really nice time and the atmosphere in the restaurant was awesome (like a warm basement den with a fireplace).

After lunch, we went to another stand and I bought some chocolate souvenirs for people. Then, I bought a piece of a cake covered in chocolate and hazelnuts for everyone to try. I had to find a way to pay the Wright's back, even if it was just a little. It was delicious. Next, we bought large chocolate covered Sicilian orange peels. Then, we stopped at the Toblerone Swiss chocolate stand for a small sample. Last, but not least, we all shared a double layer brownie filled with apricot jam and topped with melted chocolate and whipped cream. It was out of this world!

Needless to say, we all had stomach aches and were ready to get going around 4. It was starting to get cold anyway. There was of course a mad rush to find seats on the train, but we all managed to sit together and we just about napped the whole way.

All in all, it was a great experience for us. We were probably the only Americans, which was a shock considering how celebrated this festival is. All I heard was Italian, which was great practice! The Wright's were such a great family and I'm pretty sure we all left each other very happy. The Wright's (Maggie's parents- from Chicago) and the Rossi's (the other Maggie's parents- from New York) are going to take all of us kids out to dinner on Tuesday night. I can't wait! It will be fun to hang with everyone again.

I have a very busy week ahead of me with lots of reading, and my ICIP to work on. I'm going to try to go into this one prepared for anything. I know Elisa is going to give us a hard time again this week, but I'm going to try to look at the bigger picture. I don't want to let her ruin my day again.

Now, I'm putting my sugar-comotose self into bed.

Buona notte!