hathor

Great thread Paul! Certainly seems as if you are doing all the research and planning and organizing and etc. etc. etc. that needs to be done. The "to do" list must seem endless! I fall into the Suzuka camp, I like that name. For me, its interesting because I dont' have any associations with the word, so your restaurant defines the word gving it a unique identity, and as it has all the other conotations that Buckethead mentions, even better. Best of luck, and keep us informed! Warm regards, Hathor

Dear Bond Girl, I've been following this thread as I've got my own issues to work on (namely an albergho in Italy), but I thought I would throw my 2cents in for a moment. Its going to be extremely difficult to attract investors when you aren't putting up a significant portion of the money. Typically investors want to see that you are heavily staked to the project. I'm sure your accountant has your best interests at heart...but not even putting up 10% is a warning sign. Not to depress you.... honestly, I hope and pray everyday for a guardian angel or sugar daddy, and I'd be happy to include you in my prayers!

Buon compleano!! Auguri! Although I could say it was the fennel that me re-surface...its really acess to a hi-speed connection that enables me to visit! Yes, I'm still on my DeCecco soapbox. Reddi-whip....my, my. I also think that artichoke filling looks luscious! As well as the crepes. What about some lamb? That's what I remember most about from Abruzzo, and now that you've more less broken your wife in with lamb.... I'm not recommending lamb testa or anything, but something with bay leaves could be good. Ciao!!

Brodetto! Seafood/fish stew....lots of fun, you have the fish, everyone can get messy and you can't really screw it up. Want some local Marche recipes??

Ciao tutti!! Sorry about the long silence, but between being a hectic last week at school and graduation and moving out of Jesi and back home to Montone, etc. etc, not to mention losing my internet connection, I haven't been able to post anything on eG for awhile. Kellytree/Cinghiale: one of these days we will have to share a bottle of wine from the enoteca, ok? I'll PM you the next time I'm heading in your direction. I'm afraid I don't have the name of the cheese azienda that we went to, but it was right outside of Jesi. They are producing fior di latte, buffala mozzerella and bunch of other interesting cheeses. I'll post the name later when I find it. Very nice people, very passionate about their cheese. And I have to say, I'm not overly fond of cows (its a long story), but water buffalos are pretty cool, and apparently intelligent. Here's a real cutey, posing for me. It just seemed very strange to think of these beasts living in the Marche. The next big event before graduation was our 'final project'. We teamed up into pairs and had to prepare a dish for a panel of 6 judges. Luisa and I made an anchovy trio: marinated anchovy (Marche), a spicy fried anchovy (Calabria) and a double fried anchovy (Abruzzo). Did I mention that I've become addicted to fresh anchovies? They are just delicious, versatile and cheap. What more can you ask for?? Here's our final project Then it was time for graduation and making our gala graduation dinner. It was a bittersweet night, I'll tell you that. We had lots of fun making dinner for about 30 people, we got our diplomas, our gold snails and a lovely recipe book about the Marche. Why bittersweet? We have all become very close to each other, and I'm extremely lucky to have met and befriended my fellow classmates. Here's our "formal graduation" photo. And here is a very Happy Hathor surrounded by my husband, my son who flew over for the big event, our director Signor Mancini and the president of Ital.cook. This photo is far more representative of the gang! And now we are all spread out over Italy, the UK and NY. Luisa is back in the UK at her family business, Dario and I snuck in a quick trip to NY, Gordon and Roz are touring around a bit with family before heading to Puglia, Shozo went off to Sardinia for a little R&R before he reports for duty in Sicily, Masa is up in Genoa, Yoshi is in Piemonte (or about to go there, I know he's teaching a sushi course at school before going), Charlie has head back to the Philipines before coming back to stage, Satszuki is staging in Numana and hopefully can arrange for a little beach time, Gilberto is already staging in Sicily with Ciccho and Roberto snagged a stage in Tuscany at the last second. I'll be in NY for a week, and then I go back to Umbria and my Tower to start putting together a kitchen and a cantina and a menu and etc. and etc! The joke is that everyone can stage at my place, but you'll be staging with a shovel and cement mixer instead of a knife! But, hopefully, little by little it will all come together. My friends and family are all asking me, what did you come away with from this course. I came away with an incredible respect for regional ingredients and the people who produce them. There is so much passion for the food its staggering. The Slow Food organization and its mission is fundamentally important. We need to respect the earth and its bounty..and then of course, eat it! Yes, I came away with a treasure trove of recipes, but it was more about learning the properties of specific ingredients and what can be done with them. I also came away with a better understanding of the history of the traditional recipes. Currently is trendy to say that your cooking style is like 'la mamma' or 'contadine style' (see this month's Gambero Rosso), but its another thing to see 5 different uses for a bit of left over pasta dough. All in all, it was an exceptional experience and I'm very happy to be a part of Ital.cook. The next group doesn't check in until October, but hopefully someone else will pick up this thread so we can all stay in touch. Ciao and arrevederci!!!

Ciao Kevin!! I haven't had internet for a few weeks...but I do today! Abruzzo! Good food in Abruzzo!! The saffron that comes out of Abruzzo is simply the best tasting saffron I've ever had. Its a most intense red color when you steep it in water, think campari. OK, I'm gone for weeks, and now I'm going to pick on you: DeCecco is not an artisinal product. Its a very good pasta, but its an industrial product. DeCecco buys their wheat from all over the planet and is very, very proud of having a 'consistent' product. Oh, you should have bought the chitarra! We've been using ours a lot, its just a quick simple way to cut the pasta and its fun to use. I had our son using all last week while he was visiting us. OK, what's for dinner??

Ciao tutti! Alberto: yes, that's me choking Gordon. Every once in awhile it feels good to choke Gordon! But, all kidding aside, Gordon Finn is going to do interesting things with his life...he knows more about wine at 22 than a whole lot of other people of any age. Keep your eye on him. Still... an occassional chokehold is not necessarily a bad thing...! Friday night was exceptional! Kudos to Alessio, he chose some really stellar wines. Here's the lineup, in order of appearance: Ca'del Bosco Giulio Ferrari: knock out sparkling wine. Just incredible, long, long finish, minute bubbles that didn't quit. A favorite of most of us. If you have the bucks, treat yourself. Terre Alte, Livio Felluga 2001: beautiful, easy to drink, bit woody on the finish Kolbenhof Gewurztraminer Soll 2003: it was like drinking a rose garden, it was just too perfumey for me, and it was one of the few wines left in the glass at the end of the night Palari Faro 2001 from Sicilia: Alessio was very disappointed in this wine as he has had the 1998 and just thought this 2001 was not up to par Casanova di Neri, Tenuta Nuoava, Brunello di Monticello 1999: lived up to its name...Casanova...it was sex in a glass. This was the sexiest wine I've ever had in my mouth. I could make a fool of myself.... Cannubis Boschis, Sandrone, Barolo, 1999: could I have some more...please.... This wine just cried out for some food with it, it was huge and divine. The kind of wine where you just sort of melt into the glass along with it. Time for a palate cleanser: Moscato D'Asti, Degiorgis. Just plain delicious, not too sweet, clean, fresh. Finale: Martingana Moscato Passito di Pantelleria 1997. Now, I'm a fan of the passitos from Patelleria as it is, but this was unlike any I've ever tasted. It was deep amber in the glass, and was like a luscious bowl of ripe apricots. A fine finish. Can you tell we were having a good time? Sunday night was time for another festa! It was Satsuki's birthday! The party was out on the terrace and Gilberto and Masa brought out a feast of tapas, gazpacho, paellea, Yoshi made a sushi birthday cake... I kept saying, "Yoshi, are you sure a sushi birthday cake is a good idea?" Take a look, tell me what you think. But, once again, a very good time was had by all. Today we headed into Umbria and visited the Caprai cantina where we tasted some Grechette and Sagratino. Look, the grapes are starting to make their appearance! Then we headed to Foligno and went to the "Accademia del Salame Storico Fabrianese". Its an organization dedicated to preserving traditional salame production. (www.salamedifabriano.it) The salume are only available to members of the Accademia as they do not contain any preservatives and apparently cannot be sold in commercial retail shops. For the sum of 20euro I became a card carrying member, and got a welcome Soppressato. You can't beat that. Here are the salume hanging in all of their moldy glory and a beautiful salame being sliced for our tasting. Tommorow morning we head off to a mozzarella maker...and the last week of classes is rushing by us. This is a class of very dedicated and talented chefs, its going to be fun to watch to see what everyone does. No, Ore, I'm not staging. I'm going back to Umbria to start building a kitchen, and when I say from the ground up, I do mean from the dirt floor on up. And work on the menu, and the wine cellar, and what kind of plates do I want, and the forks? and what shape glasses?? Can you feel my anxiety?? My work is cut out for me in spades (and shovels...). But the rest of us are going on to stage and hopefully they'll keep the thread alive until the next class shows up in October. But...I'm not done yet!

Quick catch-up... here is a monster of a desert we made, from Puglia :"Cartellate". Basically you make an olive oil/wine pasta, cut it into strips, design the strips into any and every possible 'fantasia', fry and arrange on a platter, then dribble it with melted honey and cooked grape must. Wes and Thur were "Sicilia" with Chef Francesco Sultana of Il Duomo, or "Checo". I'm not sure I'm spelling his name correctly. He is a molto bravo chef and created an absolute whirlwind in the kitchen! Take a look at these gambero rosso that he brought along. These were served raw with a sauce made from the roe. Actually 2 sauces, one a crudo and one a cooked version. Both were delicious, but I preferred the crudo. They smelled and tasted incredibly sweet, and of course they are the most flamboyant and exotic color. We made an incredible variety of dishes: stuffed boned chicken, arancia (rice balls), really delicious Panelle (basically a chick pea mixture that is fried and eaten hot with salt), bucatini con le sarde, gnochhi stuffed with formaggio etc. etc. and then we hit the dolces... exceptional light crunchy canole made with a red wine pasta and whipped ricotta filling. Then we started whipping up the sorbetto, gelatto, almond milk, geli. We had lemon granita, mint gelato, almond gelato, a creamy strawberry confection, and an apple one that nobody like except for S. Mancini! And the chef generously shared with us some of his botarga which was simply orgasmic on some toast with a little parsley, garlic and oil. It was one of the most amazing flavors I've ever had in my mouth. And that brings an end to our formal classes! Its been an amazing adventure. Today we had a wine lesson on wine and food pairing, and an olive oil lesson complete with an olofactory quiz. Tonight is another wine tasting that Alessio has arranged ffor us...its a 'private' tasting as the students have all chipped in together to pay for these wines. We are all looking forward to this experience as Alessio is certainly passionate, knowledegeable and generous! Next week we go to Umbria for Wine, Fabriano for salumi, somewhere in the Marche for mozzarella and then...uh-oh...the dreaded final exam. Which includes making a final project dish. It occurs to me I've never posted a full on group shot. So, here we are, in all our glory.

Interesting. I made bigoli when I was doing the Veneto (here) and remarked at the time that I was under the impression that they were whole wheat only, then was upset when I got a "white flour" variation in Verona. So I wonder if it's a regional variation then? Still, that doesn't let Verona slide, since the pasta was plain ol' spaghetti noddles. ← We haven't really used much whole wheat flour...you see more variations between the tender and the durum wheat, and semolina. There are regional variations with next door neighbors so I can't vouch for anything in that department.

Ciao Kevin! Its fun to see what you are doing in Puglia, while we were studying it! Although I was underwhelmed by the tiella we made, here's a good tip: instead of steaming the mussels open, toss them in a pan with hot olive oil and a couple of crushed garlic cloves and take them out as soon as they open. There is a problem with this method....a lot less mussels make it into the tiella! As usual...it all looks good to me, especially the shrimp with the salt!

I don't care if you are on or off the plan...just share what you are cooking. I've missed you!

Gracias godito!! I'll give that a try and see how it goes! (Plan 1...Plan 2 sounds like it might separate..)

Sauce is softly boiled eggs, oil, salt, pepper and olive oil. Think of a loose egg salad. Personally, I think it needed some lemon juice. Secondo me. Bigoli: white flour. The flour ratio is: 125g grano tenero 00, 125g grano duro (durum) As far as competing Puglia threads...why the hell not!!??! P.S. I'll be in Sicila by Wednesay!

Ciao tutti! Yes, I will be based in Umbria, so it was really frustating for me. No lamb. No lentils. Yes, the chef brought some black truffles, one day we made a frittata, one day we made an omelette. It was rough to hold me tongue, but whatcha gonna do? Ore, thanks for the tip on Enea Barbanera, I'll ask Mancini about him. As far as a Tuscan - Umbrian rivalry. Uhm. Not so sure about that. My take on it is that Toscana had Firenze, and Firenze had aristocracy. So you have more of an 'international' take on cuisine. More use of seasonings, more attention to presentation. Life in Umbria was hard, their cusine is very contadini based. Put it on the stove in the morning, work the fields, come home and eat. That's not to say that Umbrian food is 'crude' or always rustico, its not. But it is very ingredient driven and preparation and presentation tend to be simple as the ingredients themselves are usually very, very good. But, the good news is that we had a very good time with the chef from the Veneto: Nino Baggio. Kevin, I think I went into a small rhapsody over "Sarde in saor" when you were cooking from the Veneto (the sardines marinated in lots of onions, raisins and pignoli). Well, I'm happy to say that I got to make this dish. Take a look at these sardines, they were such a lovely color! Even more amazing was the white asparagi the chef brought. Some of these were easily an inch in diameter, and they were not in the least bit stringy or tough, but soft, succulent and sweet. And here they are in a classic Veneto prepartion with an egg sauce. We made some lovely different polentas. One of the more interesting ones was a sort of 'toasted ricotta' topping. The fresh ricotta was put in a pan with some olive oil and sauteed and carmelized until it was a toasty brown pan of crumbles. The end result was a very nutty flavor, over the polenta, it was delicious. Then there was the bigoli pasta! A classic Veneto pasta, made with a ton of eggs, it is an extremely firm pasta dough. Its traditionally made by sitting on this contraption that looks like an old wooden horse with a screw handle for a head. The pasta is inserted into a cylinder and then 'screwed' thru a brass plate. There are a number of different plates, and one day we made classic spaghetti shaped bigoli, and the next day we made some rigatoni. Kevin, I need to go back and take a look at what you made in Friuli and the Veneto. All in all, we had a very good time studying the Veneto!! This week, its Puglia and Sicilia. However....we got off to a bit of a slow start this morning.... there was a great 'festa' at the Postale apartment last night. BBQ ribs, cole slaw, potato salad, grilled asparagus, margharitas....and a ton of wine. The food was outstanding, the ribs were succulent all thanks to the secret ingredient, I'm sure, the gelato was a great finish, and the yo-yo demonstration was simply staggering. So, we all were very quiet and drank a lot of water this morning. The breadth of products the chefs brought from Puglia was quite impressive. This fantastic 'buttara' cheese. Take a mozzerella skin, then its filled with shredded fior di latte mozzerlla and made into a ball or its filled with creamy ricotta cheese. Really milky, running, oozy delcious. Wacky round cucumbers that were excellent just dressed with some olive oil, salt, vinegar and oregano. We had some excellent chickory, served boiled and dressed at your plate with a little olive oil. Nice little green chili peppers (sweet) that were simply sauteed in olive oil with fresh cherry tomatoes. Really tasty food. Looking forward to tommorow. Ciao!

Thanks!! Its been bugging me..as well as entertaining us at it bubbles away. So...you're saying you can't use fresh fennel to infuse an oil? OK, fennel seed will give another flavor, which is not objectionable, but just not what I was aiming for. What about fresh pea infused oil?

Here's a link. I'm with Carolyn, fingerprints are a turnoff and its just not as easy to swirl a 'tumbler'. I think the word tumbler says it all...they are just too casual.

Judy: promise I'll let you know details on Marco's new restaurant. One of our fellow classmates will be staging there starting in June, so we'll be up to visit him there, and maybe we can finally meet! We've had a frustrating 2 days studying Umbria. Our chef was molto, molto simpatico, but he unfortunately just didn't have enogh dishes in his repetoire to keep us all entertained. He is a lovely man and brought all sorts of herbs from his gardens, his own home made wine to eat with our cinghiale, and his own olive oil for us to use. He is an excellent historian on the origins of the dishes, but I'm afraid this group needs a lot of dishes to keep us all moving. We also celebrated Luisa's birthday today with lots of wine and a gorgeous birthday cake made by Gordon and Roz. Tommorow we start studying the Veneto...polenta, polenta, polenta!! Ciao!

Ciao! We are studying Puglia next week...so, I'll report back. As far as Calabria goes, the way the chef explained it: its primarily a mountain based culture, not a sea culture. The Calabrians kept getting raided by the Greeks..and others, perhaps the Arabic countries, that they just moved upland and inland, so once in the mountains, you would have a vegetable/garden culture. And that's the very, very short Cliff Notes version of Calabrian cuisine!

ahem...just what exactly happened to your kitchen renovation???

Ciao! I don't think we are studying Puglia..but I could be wrong. I know Sicilia is up for next week, but I'm not sure what else. I know we are not studying Sardenia or Liguria which is too bad. The Calabrese chef brought a ton of vegetables with him, so I can't comment on there being less vegetables in Calabria. Nor would I want to get into the middle of that debate between a Calabrian and a Pugliese!! I was thinking of you in class today, our Umbrian chef brought in a load of herbs from his garden, and he kept refering to this one type of mint as "Roman mint". Turns out its peppermint! Normal "mentucia", Italian mint is very mild compared to "Roman mint". Eggs go in the cupboard here, not the refrigerator...although at school they go in the fridge... who knows! What more do you want to know about our "Friuli getaway"? I thought I gave plenty of details.... (as our threads merge....) So, anyway, what's for dinner??

My apologies for a very, very long entry. But, we’ve been busy and this is the first chance I’ve had to do some catching up. Ore, the Friuli trip was nothing short of magical!! Friuli, Apr 28-29 What an amazing trip we have had. The first word that comes to mind is hospitality, a most genuine, sincere, pleasure in sharing the wine, the food, and just the beautiful countryside. Thursday morning we were up at 6:00 a.m. ready to pile into the Pullman, which by no stretch of the imagination, is comfortable. I’m only 5”2” and my knees are up around my throat, but I’m getting smarter, I brought my pillow. At around 11:30, we rolled into our first stop in Friuli: Edi Keber. Now, picture this, after 5 ½ hours in the Pullman, after winding around and around on country roads that rolled over the spring countryside, we untangle ourselves out of the bus and have landed in a gorgeous vineyard. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and that yellow house right over there is the last house in Italy. We are literally a stones throw from the Slovenia border. Signor Kleber was kind enough to give us a brief history of the area, about how borders were laid down that put his brother in Slovenia and him in Italy. Even with my limited understanding of Italian, I’m sure we got the ‘sanitized’ version of what must have been a very difficult time for everyone. We started with a tour of the vineyard, where we were encouraged to feel the strange soil. It looks like shale until you pick it up and it literally crumbles in your hand. The stony consistency of the soil reminded me of the stones in Chateauneuf du Pape, and I’m sure they serve the same function keeping the grape roots warm. Then we moved on to his impressive cantina, part of which was an old stone potso. We also engaged in a long conversation about the ‘muffa’ (mold) and how he treasured the muffa he had growing and didn’t want to sterilize his cantina to meet international standards. Although I believe he does export and the bottle storage area was immaculate. But he had left much of the rock walls exposed and these dripped with moisture. Who can resist that yeasty smell of a dank cantina? Not I. Then a wine tasting lunch that was simple and wonderful. We started with the Tokai which is a light, fresh, summery wine. Then onto the more complex Collio which is a blended white wine. And along with this were home baked breads, cheeses, local salumi and a delicious barley based soup. All the traveling had certainly been worth it. After we finished the soup, and by the way, we cleaned the pot out, Signor Keber brought out a bottle of his personal stash. As he explained to us that he created this wine from the 2002 harvest, he never stopped stroking the bottle, as if it were a dear friend. This was an unfiltered wine, ‘turbido’, that he created only to please himself. If you do not like it, that is fine with him. If you do, then ‘piacere’. I thought it was lovely, you could practically taste summer in the glass. It was a complex blend of fresh peaches, and lemons and sea breezes and we were very honored that he chose to share this with us. And then it was time to move on. We looped around some roads, crossing right near the Slovenia border crossing, our cell phones picking up the Slovenia network, and headed to La Subida where the cooking part of our day would begin. La Subida calls itself a trattoria, but don’t be fooled, its very fine dining. Nestled down in the bosco, it is the definition of bucolic. As we shuffled ourselves into the front door, there was a large, welcome fire in the fireplace with a huge pot of boiling water. Within moments we were being given instructions on polenta making. The large cast iron pot had a metal paddle in it that was attached to a crank. The polenta was poured into the boiling water as the crank turned the paddle to keep stirring the polenta. Although this was very welcoming, and the coffee we were instantly served was delicious, we were quickly herded downstairs to begin our Fruiliano cooking lesson. It had been arranged to have 4 chefs come to demonstrate their cooking. As we settled into our chairs, the chef deftly boned a goose in under 3 minutes. The guy was an amazing goose boner! Think what you will, the guy was good! Chunks of goose were seared and a sauce begun. In the meantime, we had another polenta lesson. At some point, the fireplace version of the cooked polenta came downstairs, And as we gathered around a budding tree by an old table, we watched as he plopped this huge vat of polenta on a rickety round board that had seen many a polenta plop, he then ‘cut’ it into portions with a thick string and we tasted polenta that was chewy and fireplace smoky and delicious. A far, far cry from that stuff you get in plastic tubes in the ‘gourmet’ counter. By now, the goose was done in a luscious red sauce and we had our spoons all ready for him. The next chef is a streghe. A magician with herbs. And a more convivial, warm, lively guide to herbs and Friuli you could not find. Her restaurant is called “Sale e Pepe. La Cucina de Theresa”. She has an amazing way of balancing flavors. We had yet another polenta, this time a ‘black’ rough cut polenta that was served with butter toasted polenta, grated fresh horseradish and grated apple. It was superb. Then a tasty little herb frittata, savory version and a sweet version. Most of the dishes were sampled outdoors under the budding tree, overlooking the horse barn and the flowering rosemary, and the sun dappled tennis court. Oh, how we suffer. Then we were invited to dinner. Can you imagine after all we had tasted and sampled, it was now dinner time? And we were invited to dine in the private residence of the proprietor! So we trundled up the stairs, onto a magnificent outdoor porch overlooking this picture perfect countryside, and into a cocktail party! This was far beyond anyone’s expectations! Delicious ‘frico’, fried cheese treats were being passed, a huge proscuitto was being thinly sliced, large white asparagus with a spiral crust appeared and a delicious Collio wine was being poured. Truly, we had all died and gone to chef heaven. Then dinner began in earnest and I honestly lost count of the courses. Each course brought a new wine to our glass. It was an amazing, amazing feast. Culminating is some fantastic venison and then a roasted pork. Somewhere in all of this was a honeysuckle sorbetto intermezzo that was the embodiment of that delicate flower. There was a tortelli nut filled desert. And a sort of wanton, herb filled fried ravioli resting on a whipped honeysuckle cream. And 2 kinds of desert wine. We were all just stunned with the generosity of our hosts. And then the parting goody bags filled with grappa, and goose pate, goose prosciutto, cheeses. Just a stunning, stunning evening. Capped off with complete hilarity when 6 of the guys staying at our agrotourismo realized they were all sleeping in letto matromoniales! The next morning, by 9:00 we were watching Adriatic scampi and clams being pulverized into fragments the size of the risotto grains they were joining in the pan. We were shown the intricacies of making a particular pepper brodetto with orata that was completely and totally divine. We nearly licked the pot clean. The next chef made some more polenta, this time with a luscious rich sauce of local cheeses. And on and on it went… until it was time to leave our most generous host at La Subida (34017 Cormons, Gorizia Tel: 0481-60531) and go to taste some wine. My notes get a little fuzzy here after a few cantinas, and just when we were starting to groan that we were onto yet another cantina…we went to Skok. Here is a name to watch. The vineyard is run by a young couple who currently have a very small production, only 3,000 bottles. But. The wine is simply outstanding. I can honestly say that, for me, this was the best red wine of the trip, a lovely merlot. Their pinot grigo is also delicous. And again, our hosts were charming, with lovely ‘nibbles’ and sausages, adorable dogs and beautiful gardens. Then it was time to get back into the dreaded Pullman and head to Proseco land. We had dinner that night at a totally forgettable Slow Food recommended osteria. Oh well, you have to have some yin to balance our awesome yang. Next morning we went to Proseco mecca; the producer Bisol. After a most generous tour and tasting at the facility, we were invited to taste yet another Proseco, but in the vineyard that it came from. Does it get any better than this??? We were very honored to be invited to taste Cartizze, in the Cartizze vineyard. This is one of the world’s finest sparkling wines, and the grapes live in a most “bello posto”. And just in case, we were feeling a bit peckish before leave Bisol, we went to the agro-tourismo that they run, and had some salami, cheese and more Proseco before heading home on the Pullman. This was an amazing trip, from start to finish, and a part of the world worth exploring. Next up, on Monday morning was Toscana! Andrea Alimenti was the docente, and he brought along his friend, the very talented Marco, who will be opening a new restaurant in Florence in June, and an excellent time was had by all! We made breads, gorgeous tortellini, stunning trout, chicken liver mousse with vin santo gelatin, magnificent deserts etc. etc. And it was all done with a great sense of professionalism and love and fun. Wes morning…it was time to get back in the Pullman as we headed out for the very long drive to Vercelli, to visit the rice center of Italy. The highlight of Vercelli was going to an old rice mill: Antico Mulino-Riseria “San Giovanni”. If I’m translating correctly, the mill has been in existence since 1617. At that time, the whole rice grains were husked by pulverizing them by hand on a granite stone. Tough work. Again, if I’m reading this right, in 1699 they converted the mill to an ‘automated’ system that is run by a water turbine engine. The mill looks like a large warehouse, with enormous pulleys running thru thick stone walls. You can see how the pulleys would have developed over time, but at first it just looks like a maze of wheels and pulleys and chutes. We went outside to look at the old water engine, and it looked like something out of a Jules Verne novel. Then they filled it with water…and being polite enthusiasts we were all charmed just watching the water woosh into the engine, but then, there was a moment of pure magic when the entire mill came to life! The whole place still ‘works’! You could still run a rice mill just off the water power…and the sounds the mill made were just, plain, music. A reminder of by-gone times, but also a reminder that we can cleanly harness the energy of this river and be doing just fine. I should post more pictures of it, but somehow, they just don't grasp the scope of the mill. Then on to a multi-course rice tasting dinner, that was just not quite what it should have been. The morning was spent at the new Slow Food University for Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenza, which is next to Bra, the home of Slow Food. Yeah, yeah, and Bra is up the road from Panties…. Somebody had to say it..right, Dario??! Anyway, the University is…brand new. They’ve renovated this huge villa, (as in removed every possible bit of character and charm and made it look like Anywhere-Disneyland….secondo me…) The plan is to have a 5 year program, 3 years at the university and then 2 years specializing. Right now, they have the first class of 50 or 60 students studying there. The interesting part, or odd part, depending on your point of view, is that there isn’t a kitchen, or a pot or pan in the place. Its all theoretical knowledge. Alice Waters is on the board, and she was not allowed to put in a garden. Well, it’s the first year, so lets see how it evolves. After a quick stop in Bra, to say hello to Beppe, and a welcome grappa, we rode over to Barolo territory and visited a very slick, very commercial wine cooperative…and my notes on this cooperatve are back in Montone, at home, along with some of the wine that I brought home to by bachelored-hungry-lonely husband. They’ve done an impressive job of pooling their marketing and wine make resources. Not to mention impressive architecture…you visit the facility by walking on a flyway a full floor above all of the wine. Tasted some Barolo and then it was back into the Pullman for a very, very long ride home…we rolled in sometime after midnight But, by 9:30am, the next morning we were at wine class with our very dear docente, Alessio! I wish we had more classes with him than the curriculum calls for, as he is an excellent and charming and knowledgeable teacher. This week, we are studying Umbria and the Veneto, but this time Friuli is coming to us. Today we spent the morning analyzing and tasting salume and the afternoon in an intensive olive oil class. After tasting 11, count them, 11 olive oils, I was ready to put Windex on my palate to see if it would clear things out! And remember, you have to taste flawed oils as well as good oils. And that’s what we’ve been up to for the past few weeks!! Barely time to process it all! Now, bear in mind, its not all work, every once in awhile, Gordon entertains us.

Excellent fun as usual! You are 1000% right about the ingredients needing to be top notch when you back off and only have oil and lemon to rely on. Its scary business, if you ask me. You have some nice looking eggplants going on there! I also think subbing rhubarb because you have it in season is totally in keeping with contadini tradition. Use what's good now. Always. I fell in love with Calabrian cooking a few weeks ago, I love the piccante-ness of it all, but Puglia is looking pretty good right now. Any region that likes its vegetables is fine with me! (Random observation: Italians love raw meat...but generally speaking cook the life out of vegetables. They leave raw meat unrefrigerated, and practically freeze the vegetables in the refrigerator. It can be a funny country... )

I think your fine for mid-June at Il Postale.. I just made a reservation for next weekend. Uh-oh. Vegetarians in Umbria. Has anyone told you the translation of "Umbria" is land of meat and salt....(except in the bread, no salt there..)!!

I see an new source of side income: "Hathor's Infused Oils and Housemade Botox". Did you use the green part of the fennel, or the bulb? (I have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm just curious.) ← /quote] I don't know about botox, but it certainly is fermenting away. I used the bulb and a little bit of the green. I washed everything. I just don't know. One of life's mysteries.

How about this: I want to make fennel infused olive oil. So, I chopped up some raw fennel and thew it into the olive oil. The result is truly spectacular fermantation. Why? The lemon olive oil is fine. The aromatic herb oil is fine. The fennel oil is perculating away....