It's 2 am Thursday morning. Two days before my trans-atlantic flight to Pisa Italy which will be the starting point of my adventure in a Tuscan cooking school and the subsequent three weeks I will be spending driving a little hatchback Italian Lancia Musa through the Italian countryside on my quest to learn... and, needless to say, I'm having trouble sleeping.
I chose the word "learn" for a reason. This is what I want to do.
Before I'm in the middle of having my hands covered in flour kneading ciabatta or explaining to a confused Italian waiter why I would like to know how the wild boar bolognese I'm eating is prepared, I should make my goals for this adventure and journey clear:
1. I am on a quest for the most incredible food and dining experiences to serve as inspiration for my future restaurant Lucera Trattoria & Pizzeria opening Fall 2009 (tentatively) in Austin, Texas. After an (albeit "short") lifetime of discovering my identity and purpose I have now found it in cooking great Italian food for myself and others. From the bottom of my heart I truly believe that eating is one of the few great pleasures in my life, and with all of my heart and soul, I want to be able to cook and serve food that will allow me to share this belief and experience with others.
2. Right now I have to admit I am quite cynical and upset about the state the world and humanity in general (perhaps this is why I find such comfort and beauty in things like fine food?). I believe, for my own sake, I need to rediscover what is beautiful in life, and I believe that I might just find exactly what I'm looking for in the kitchen of a rural Tuscan trattoria.
3. To prove that the best way to discover what is beautiful in humanity and also to discover one's SELF is not by removing oneself from civilization (re: the book and movie "Into the Wild" and the BS wannabe intellectual ideals it inspired - I hope to someday write a response to that book, and hopefully this trip will provide a lot of material), but by placing oneself into another civilization and the culture of another. I want to experience LIFE in Italy.
4. To have one hell of a time accomplishing these goals. I tam truly blesses to have such a wonderful family that has given me this opportunity, and from the bottom of my heart and I am so incredibly grateful and realize how fortunate I am. For this reason, I want to make the most of this experience I've been given and have the greatest time of my life, which, I know, is what my family wants for me, and I plan on doing just that.
I hope there's someone out there that maybe is interested in expl0ring these experiences and ideas with me. For this reason, I am going to try to update this blog as much as is physically possible, even if I have to go WAY out of my way to find an internet cafe while I'm in some of the more rural regions of my adventure through Italy. For the first week of my trip I'll be in the Toscana Saporita cooking school which has wireless internet, but after that, well, we will find out together.
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