"More to Love"

There have been many notable "Nice-isms" over the past week, including (in order from great to greatest):

1) "When you drink something please only drink very good wine." (normally Labrusco - sparkling red wine)
2) "Don't worry about notes [grades] because friends, food, and learning about this history is the best exam you could have."
3) "The more you eat, there more there is to love."

By this point, you probably know that Parmesan cheese and prosciutto come from my current "home" city of Parma. What you probably don't know is that we put Parmesan cheese on almost anything that's edible. Those of us in the "Nice famiglia" break off chunks of the several-kilo block of Parmesan while one person grates the cheese so we can sprinkle even more of it on top of the rest of our meal. I may have had a chunk of cheese and balsamic for dessert yesterday. I also had the pleasure of accompanying Nice to pick up a new block of cheese, which was close to a 40-minute pilgrimage in her car to the farmland outskirts of the city. I know the cheese has aged well because you can see the "eyes." I also know because it's delicious.

Given that my cheese intake is causing quite the unbalance in my ideal food pyramid, I can expect there to be "more" of me at the end of these four months. But I'm going to embrace it! Nice says that once BC students return to the U.S., they normally lose a lot of weight because they don't eat the same type of good food they did in Parma. I love your cooking, Mom, and I'll of course eat and enjoy it once I'm home, but when you get here you'll understand what I mean!

While I'm going to try to steer clear of eating pizza for lunch every day, I'm not opposed to living out that the more of this delicious, authentic Parmesan food I eat, the more of me there will be to love!