No Longer Foreign

When you live in a foreign country, it stops feeling foreign after a while. I have decided to start writing about my experiences, important and banal, before they fade from my memory... since Italy is starting to feel like home and America is further away every day.
I no longer notice the strange odors (unless they're really bad), I am no longer enchanted by the oldness of things, the new colors and shapes and textures and light. I now take it for granted. Except for the food. I am wowed by the food on a daily basis. My senses will never tire of the variety of flavors, ingredients, expressions of Italy, that one could not fully experience in a single lifetime.
Hence the name of my blog: EATALIANA. I live here for the food, and I am grateful that it is not only socially acceptable to eat 3 meals a day- but it is common to talk about eating while you eat!
So, bare with me. I will have to tell some stories and chronicle some fond memories, but I will eventually get to the good stuff: the food. In the meantime, I will take you back to my first trip here in 1997... then to my studies in Florence... to 2003 as I experienced the dark side of life while in Italy... 2004 and my rebirth in Florence... 2006 and my "white water rafting" adventure in the Arno River... my annual habit of breaking off relationships just before the holidays... my adventures in the Chianti (coined "Toni Does Chianti" by a good friend)... and finally, my choice to take control of my fate and start my own company... TM