The End.

Well, I have been home from my gastronomic excusion for about 3 weeks. I have been meaning to write and close this blog off but I have been absorbing and assimilating the surroundings of my original culture and trying to see how my recent time in Italy has affected my perception. I wont necessarily go into all that, but I will say I was quite happy to return home to amazing sushi and experimental American cuisine, such as Saffron Mussel Flan with fried shallots dancing on top. Thats right, Flan.

But no frets, my gastronomic excursions and studies continue to zip around, as I work in a gourmet restaurant that uses local organic ingredients as well as chefs who put their heart from the early hours to make everything from scratch, even their ginger huckleberry ale. And in addition to being a policy intern at the Washington Health Foundation.

At the end of the day, I feel very American. I am by no means nationalistic nor patriotic, but I do appreciate the little things, like dress-up speakeasy warehouse parties in honor of David Bowie. And the fact we have things like experimental vegetarian cuisine. Pomegranate Curry Sorbet and Birthday Cake Ice Cream Sundaes upon request at cutting edge corners of Seattle such as Molly Moon's. And that I can speak a language with complete ease.  But my heart strings will always be attached to Italy, for all its beauty and chaos, for all it has mastered to perfect (like gastronomy), for all the people who warmed my heart and showed me how humans should value each other, and, above all, in spite of all its dark skeletons. I can't imagine, and won't give up, wanting to be anywhere else. Ciao.