Pizza and Beer - The Italian Way

I mean, they do that shit right, yo.
You think pizza and beer, and you think Napoli's and maybe a Bud (don't get me wrong, I love Bud. No really, I actually drink Bud...). Well not here.
The pizzas were fresh - soft bubbly crusts, a little fresh mozzarella, this fantastic spicy grlled zucchini...
And the beers were Belgian. For anyone who's ever tasted Gulden Draak, that means something.

Now, not being a beer drinker, I picked the one that had a pink elephant on the label.
It was called Delirium Nocturnum.
The label on the back said "Strong Beer".
I suppose this would be reffering to it's 8.5% alcohol content.

Not bad over all. t was dark, with a smooth, tangy head of foam, bitter, dark chocolate after taste, and a bouquet that was reminiscent of a cheap red wine.

And again, not being a beer drinker, I'ma go ahead and make pretentious analyses of the beers my friends got, based on the single sip I had of each, okay? Okay.

Leffe Blonde
This strawberry blonde hails from the Abbey of Leffe, where presumably it's brewed by blind, arthritic monks as they practice their throat singing. (Presumably)
It has a light, floral taste that leaves with a lingering sense of the roasted hops.
The alcohol content was 6.6%

Riebedebie
Definitely the best of the bunch ( almost liked this one), Joya picked this out for the Hobo on the front who's wearing red socks and carrying his shoes as he walks away from a night of heavy drinking. I can only assume that this is in some way an allusion to the high 9% alcohol content (also maybe why I liked it so much...).
Another light beer, it was, but with the slightly cloudy cast to it that makes perfect sense when you taste the subtle (damn those monks are good) spices they've added to the light, peachy base.

*Just a side note, the descriptions of these beers come from notes I made with the help of the whole table between sessions of posed "candid" pictures with themes like "Soap Opera", "Christmas Morning", and "Wanton Strumpet". Check facebook for a complete listing, although they are still currently somewhere in the works.


After dinner, it was time to try what everyone really came over here for...
the Gelato.

I, after debating for several minutes at the counter, decided that I couldn't go worse than to pick the three weirdest flavors, and then at least would know. So I got a picolo cono with Fico, Marscapone, and Nutella i Pan. (Fico, for those of you who don't know, is fig). I mean, the nutella was great. Really. And the Fico was alright as a compliment. The marscapone... perhaps was too subtle a flavor for such a bold combination.
In any case, I learned that the good kind of gelato comes in silver tins, and that a girl in a short skirt and black pumps eating the gelato gets a lot of attention.

That should have been the perfect end to the evening, However, it was Jasmine's birthday, and everyone was going out, so I clickity-clacked back to our martini bar where I tried a Gin Fizz and the bartender asked where I was from and murmured something pleasant about Ohio he couldn't possibly have meant when I told him. And then, of course, people wanted to head off to Mr. Bloom's and the Communist bar (no really, I kid you not. You're supposed to be a party member to be able to get in, which apparently gets left by the wayside when it's crowded, but talk about sending off homeland security bells on the way home... "And what were you doing in Italy exactly? Ah, just step right over here for your cavity search please"...)
Thankfully, I came to my senses and went home once we got to the new bar.

A short 30 minutes later, we were back at the cantina, putting on pajamas so that we could head over to the Limonia* (our "24 hour student space" for a late night dish session before bed. I don't think I've laughed that unhesitatingly in a year.

*The Limonia would originally have been the family's Limoncello cellar. It's where we keep our alcohol - in the perfectly temperate WINE CELLAR that's provided for the students' convenience. Yeah, that's right. My program has a student wine cellar. What does yours have?