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l’avrei: mangiamo gelato!
    ee -oh ooh-nee- deh -ah cheh lah- vreh -ee: mahn- jah -moh jeh- lah -toh!
    I have an idea: Let’s eat some ice cream!
    Alex: Quanto gelato si potrà mangiare in 180 minuti? Boh, lo sapremo presto. Mi piace; ci sto!
    kwahn -toh jeh- lah -toh see poh- trah mahn- jah -reh een chen -toht- tahn -tah mee- nooh -tee? boh, loh sah- preh -moh preh -stoh. mee pyah -cheh; chee stoh!
    How much ice cream can we eat in 180 minutes? Well, we’ll find it out soon. I like it; I’m in!
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    Familiarizing Yourself with the Metric System
    If you’re like most Americans, the metric system quite simply defeats you. The decimal system is practically hard-wired into U.S. residents. It’s used almost exclusively, outside of scientific fields. So what do you really need to know about the metric system? The temperature would be nice. So would knowing how much of something to buy in the food market or at the gas station. If you’re cooking, being able to convert oven temperatures may be useful. Likewise, knowing how to figure out the body’s temperature is helpful.
    Converting the temperature to/from Celsius
    To convert Fahrenheit to Centigrade, or Celsius, degrees, and Celsius to Fahrenheit, the following formula will suffice:

    So, for example, say you want to figure out how many Celsius degrees 100 degrees Fahrenheit is. Just plug the numbers into the formula to find the answer:

    Then to convert Celsius degrees to Fahrenheit, you use this formula:

    Using the result of the earlier example, you can convert the Celsius degrees back to Fahrenheit like this:

    This conversion works for oven temperatures (it’s probably useful to know that the ever popular 350-degree Fahrenheit is about 180 degrees Celsius), for body temperatures (an Italian thermometer is normal when it reads 37 degrees Celsius), and for discussing the weather (38 degrees Celsius is hot; –20 degrees Celsius is way too cold to be out and walking about).
    Measuring in metric units
    A dual scale (in grams and ounces) and dual measuring cups are invaluable as you try to cook with metric measures. As for weights and measures, a kilogram is about 2.2 pounds.
    When you go to the market, you’ll want to be familiar with these metric conversions:
    If you’re buying meats, fish, or cheeses and want about a pound, a mezzo chilo ( mehdz -dzoh kee -loh) ( half kilo ) should be about right. Loaves of bread tend to weigh about the same, a mezzo chilo.
    Vegetables are a little harder to measure, so you may want to use the old standbys: una manciata ( ooh -nah mahn- chah -tah) ( a handful ), due manciate (dweh mahn- chah -teh) ( two handfuls ), un ciuffo (oohn choohf -foh) ( a tuft ), due ciuffi (dweh choohf -fee) ( two tufts ), un cespo (oohn cheh -spoh) ( a head ), due cespi (dweh cheh -spee) ( two heads ), un mazzo (oohn mahts -tsoh) ( a bunch ), due mazzi (dweh mahts -tsee) ( two bunches ). Use ciuffo/ciuffi for herbs, like parsley and basil, and cespo/cespi for heads of lettuce and other green-leaf vegetables. Remember that you’re not the one picking out the vegetables and fruits; that is, you’re not handling them — that’s the greengrocer’s job. You simply do not touch the fruit and vegetables on offer.
    For cold cuts, knowing that un etto (oohn eht -toh) equals 100 grams, or about 3.5 ounces, should be sufficient information. If you’re especially hungry, due etti di prosciutto crudo (dweh eht -tee dee proh- shooht -toh crooh -doh) ( 200 grams, or 7 ounces, of prosciutto ) is about right.
    Here are a few other situations where knowing the metric system will come in handy:
    If you need to buy gasoline for your car ( benzina [behn- dzee -nah], not gasolio [gah- soh -lyoh] which refers to diesel fuel ), you need to know how to convert liters to gallons. One liter multiplied by 0.26420 equals about a quarter of a gallon. So four liters are a little more than a gallon. Close enough?
    To convert