Giovanni's Pizza!

According to Cole, one of the main things he and his coworkers discuss is food! They talk about it all.. ingredients, American versus Italian methods, whether or not McDonald's tastes the same here as in the U.S., what "real" pizza is like, etc. That seems appropriate for a country like Italy, where fresh ingredients are plentiful. So everyday at lunch, their conversations center around food... The result? Most of my Italian food knowledge is now second-hand information Cole has learned at work. For example: Cole once told his co-workers at lunch that I made fantastic (I may be embellishing here, but I'm sure he told them it was fantastic) chicken alfredo for dinner. They all laughed. Cold chicken? Is your wife trying to give you food poisoning? Mamma mia! Evidently a creamy sauce like alfredo is just not true Italian food... it's too complicated to be an authentic Italian dish - with too many ingredients. Much of the food here has a small list of ingredients, with simple, classic recipes. We were really excited when Cole's office-mate, Giovanni, who is known for making excellent home-made pizza, invited us over - for pizza! Hooray!

Giovanni and his sweet wife, Anna, may have thought I was a little crazy for bringing my camera and taking photos of him making our dinner, but they were very kind and let me capture the evening. I'm so glad I did! We had a wonderful evening. The pizza was truly fantastic - and Giovanni has even given Cole his recipe. I may get lucky and have a cooking husband by the time this year is over. Maybe we'll even have an Italian pizza party when we return... but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We haven't even attempted Giovanni's recipe yet!

Giovanni added fresh basil from his garden and used homemade olive oil! 

So, you're probably wondering if pizza in Italy is better than pizza in the U.S.A.? You'll just have to come visit and find out for yourself! ;)