First Meal in Ireland.

So after living, eating and drinking my way through Italy for the last year, what did I have as my first meal in Ireland? Rose Petal Risotta, brought from Italy

 as well as some 24 and 30 month old Parmigiano Reggiano from the farm in Colorno as well as some slices of Culatello di Zibello from Al Vedel.

Still not sick of it. 

Biking like a local and Parmigiano Reggiano, one last time.

Before leaving Colorno, I wanted to take Mum to see where the local parmigiano reggiano was made and where we bought our fresh ricotta. We didn't have a car, so off we went on our bikes. At first, Mum was a little wobbly - she said she couldn't remember the last time she rode a bike, but I'm pretty sure it was just her shaking in fear as the huge trucks wooshed by us as we tried to share the single lane road that gave us about 3 inches until the grass sloped into the little river along the side of the road where the muscats scamper and splash about. We survived though, mum was a trooper, and we got two chunks of parmigiano reggiano to bring home. With Arina's innate-Dutch-bike-riding confidence, I gained my own bike-riding-slash-owning-the-road-confidence on the little country roads around Parma. I think Mum too felt like a local riding around the Italian countryside.

like a pro. like a local. 

Unfortunately, Caseificio San Salvatore was robbed a couple weeks ago. I don't know how they managed, but according to the Gazzetta di Parma newspaper, about 6 or 7 people stole 350 wheels of parmigiano reggiano that are worth....150,000 euros!! I could not lift or carry one of those if I had worked out for months to train for a body building competition. Apparently these people arrived at 9:30 at night, disassembled the security system and covered the camera, then proceeded to pass the wheels through a back window where they transferred them to a truck. It may seem a bit early to carry out a robbery, but the cheesemakers have to start working by 5am so they are asleep early.

made it back to Colorno safely.
am I a creepy photographer?

If you could see the look in the cheese maker's eyes, you could feel his heartfelt pain in his loss. It was so incredibly sad, even unfathomable what happened. According to Alberto, he has insurance and the wheels have traceability, so hopefully he will get them back, or some money, but that doesn't return the time and effort of the last past years he put into making these cheeses every morning.  You'd think for such a regional, traditional, and artisanal product that people would have a little more respect. It's disgusting.

local. 

Mum Comes to Italy: Modena (aka Osteria Francescana)

Massimo explained to us how UNISG appreciates food and likes to teach us whereas if he taught at ALMA, he would take their money from teaching the class, but they wouldn't get anything out of it. Teaching and living should be two-sided, giving and taking - learning together. 

By the time we arrived in Modena, everything was closed for lunch. We wandered and wandered until we headed back to the main piazza. I don't know if it was because it was Monday and everything was closed, but I didn't like Modena as much as the other cities of Emilia Romagna. It is much smaller and definitely does not cater to as many visitors as Verona or Bologna. The main reason we went there, ok the only reason we went there, was to have dinner at Osteria Francescana - rated #6 in the world and #1 in Italy - my UNISG graduation gift. Chef Mossimo Bottura came to teach us one afternoon and inspired many of us with not only his food, but his philosophy towards cooking and life.

After ringing the doorbell to enter, we stood in the front room until we were brought to our table. Each of our coats were taken and the two girls stood there with them, in silence, until we sat down. Awkward. Massimo came out and talked to every tables and would come to explain what each of the dishes were. Servers would bring the dishes to the tables out together, so that everyone was served at the same time. Glasses of water were never empty, never even half full, as they were constantly refilled as though the servers couldn't walk by without pouring some water. The wine list was incredibly heavy, with mostly Italian wines but ranging in an enormous stretch of prices. 

11,500 euros for a bottle of wine. no big deal. happy graduation.  jk.

Mum had the traditional tasting menu and I had the classic. I thought everything was perfect. It was a lot of food although I wasn't completely stuffed by the end of it. It was very meat heavy though and would have been nice to have another vegetable dish in between, but that's not very typical Italian. Everything was "typical" but reinvented very creatively. 

Massimo's take on spuma di mortadella - served with fluffy, salty focaccia, pistachio and I think mayo?

top 10 dishes that changed cuisine: foie gras popsicle covered in hazelnuts and almonds with aged balsamic in the middle

my non-nut foie gras served with aged balsamic, freshly ground black pepper, course salt and greens

my leeks with black truffles - can actually smell the truffles when they were placed on the table. and they tasted like truffles. take that ristorante diana. and your armpit.

my parmigiano reggiano 5 ways.

mum's tortellini en brodo

my "soup" - Massimo's take on pasta e fagioli - foie gras, rosemary foam, parmigiano crisp that tastes like the "pasta"....amazing. maybe my favourite. 

mum's bolognese

my ravioli - Massimo's take on cotecchino e lentiche - typical italian dish served on New Years Eve, but now in pasta. 

mum's short ribs served with truffled jerusalem artichoke and creamy potato

my bollito misto...non bollito - head, tongue, cheek, belly, tail, and cotechino. 

"orange salad" shot with Massimo in the background

vanilla ice cream with warm cherry sauce.

chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and a fruity film. 

another dessert tray. profiteroles, fruity gel, chocolate truffles, cream cake, and chocolate with pop rocks!

Delicious and perfect. We even got a book of the restaurants in "Les Grandes Tables du Monde."I think this was once in a lifetime though. I loved it. 

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food." — George Bernard Shaw

One of the best things about living in Italy, Emilia Romagna, Parma, Colorno is the ability to drive, or even bike ride, to the local farm and buy fresh cheese. The other day, Brittany, Arina and I drove to Caseificio San Salvatore where we previously saw the making of Parmigiano Reggiano and bought freshly made ricotta. Ricotta is technically a whey cheese, made from the leftover liquid from the Parmigiano Reggiano production. The previous evening's part-skim milk is mixed with the morning's whole milk with rennet (stomach lining from the slaughtered cow which is washed, dried and chopped into a powder and preserved with sea salt) which causes the milk to coagulate - changing the structure from liquid to jelly-like. As the temperatures rise, curds form which will become the Parmigiano Reggiano. The heavy curds sink to the bottom of the copper cauldron and the whey on top will weigh down on the curds for about an hour until it has cooled. Then, the Parmigiano Reggiano curds are lifted out to be molded and the whey is vacuumed out. The whey is then recooked (the literal meaning of ricotta) until it creates its own cheese curd. 

The fresh ricotta is so moist and soft in the mouth, it delicately melts on the tongue. It exudes evocations of the country land and tastes distinctly of the cow. As much as it reminds me of the farm just down the road, I can't help but taste something sweetly ethereal, almost like a home-made marshmallow. It is delicious on bread, stuffed in zucchini flowers, eaten as a herby dip with celery, or just plain irresistible to eat it straight out of the tub with a spoon - if my fingers can grab a spoon fast enough before delving in...

I don't know why I haven't gone to S. Salvatore more throughout the year given it's locality, convenience, and deliciousness....damn. But I feel spoiled already, almost undeserving, just having this opportunity. 

My 15 Minutes of Fame.

or shame. I'm not sure. I blacked out. I couldn't tell you what I said. 

When we were organizing the Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto weekend, we were asked to sign up for our preferences on which meeting we wanted to attend to write a report about. We were also offered the opportunity to pick three different Taste Workshops or Meetings with the Makers in which we were asked to help out. For each of the three, if any, we had to write a little excerpt on why we wanted to participate and what we could contribute to it. I requested Hot! Hot! Hot! (I love spicy food), The Master of Barbaresco: Alberto di Gresy (I love Barbaresco), Luciano Pedettris 257,235 Cheeses (I love cheese).  Apparently I had done complimentarily well on our cheese exam and may or may not have been an influential factor in being chosen by our cheese professor, Cristiano de Riccardis for the Luciano cheese-maker one.  I was thrilled, but I was informed that the meeting was on Sunday at 7pm and the bus was leaving to go back to Colorno at 6:30. An opportunity not to be missed, I decided to stay. A couple days later, I received a hieroglyphic email from de Riccardis, but from what I could decode from the Italglish was that I had to speak in front of the attending audience for 15 minutes. 15 minutes?! me talk in front of people?! about parmigiano reggiano?! holy crap. not only did I have to pay for an extra night in Torino and find my own way home, I had to present in front of people? I thought I would be helping pass out cheese samples and pour some wine. Elbow scratching and hair pulling ensued as I made my way to the library to do some cheesey research. 

Eventually, Sunday arrived. 7pm arrived. I sat up on the little platform stage next to our professor, the cheese-maker and his wife, and a head guy from the Parmigiano Reggiano Consorzio. The crowd trickled in, maybe about 20 or 30 people, mostly middle-aged. As I read over my scribbled notes from the paper I had written in preparation, I laughed at the absurdity of it all.  de Riccardis introduced the cheese maker, who has been making cheese every day for 47 years, except for 6 days when he was sick, and Sunday, his 7th day to attend this meeting. He was so nervous and he's hilarious in his quirkiness, however, it wasn't quite so communicated through the translator.  He also appointed Naama as official photographer and would beckon her over to pose for pictures. Luciano talked about dedication to, pride in, and love of cheese making, then his wife chatted away about how such dedication to cheese making has had its hardships on personal and family life, and then the guy from the Consorzio took over and unfortunately described the tasting session, which is de Riccardis forte - he's the king of cheese and describing what he tastes and smells. Then it was my turn. I remember apologizing for being so nervous and then describing how my opinion of Parmigiano Reggiano has changed since living in Italy. But I don't have a clue what I said. I thought that I was going to go first and was ready to chat away, but going last and watching the audience throughout the hour, I felt as though I had to gage what they wanted to hear from me - regardless of what I had prepared. So, I think I tried to wrap it all together, to make sense of why we were listening to someone talk about his long dedication to cheese making and why I was even invited as a speaker.  de Riccardis was nervous throughout though because many head-of-the-department important people from the Consorzio were there and they wanted the cheese to be portrayed in a certain way so we had to be careful about what we said. I don't know if I said the wrong or right thing - I don't even know what that means in Consorzio terms - but Luciano beamed at me afterwards and invited me to visit his farm. 

being introduced.

Cristiano de Riccardis: Cheese Expert.

Posing.

Luciano Pedrettis: Cheese Maker.
such admirable dedication.

Parmigiano Reggiano and
wines from Camillo Donati in Arola, also near Parma.

hoping the audience is looking at the slide show behind me.
and hoping the translator is reading my paper instead of
translating what i'm blabbering about.

trying to remember to say parmigiano reggiano instead
of parmesan b/c the consorzio wouldn't approve.

Tortelli d'Italia: a Colorno event not to be Missed

Whenever there's a town event in Colorno, it has proved to be a day not to be missed. For being a small town, and for being an Italian town, the events are extremely well organized and put together with impressive turn outs. Colorno comes alive and I can never understand where all the people who fill the cobblestoned Piazza Garibaldi come from. This past Saturday, 10 October, was no such exception with Terzo Gran Gala del Tortel Dols, the Third Grand Gala of Tortel Dols. We learned about it the previous week from pamphlets when we returned from Spain and despite ambitious plans to visit Sienna for the weekend, timing-wise I knew the trip wouldn't work out, but I also knew I didn't want to miss this all-day dedication to sweet tortelli's. Even the students that live in Parma came for it. 

chestnut, creme, ricotta filled pastries

Market stalls selling Parma area-typical cured meats, cheeses, preserved foods in jars, pastries and knick-knack home goods lined the streets leading to the piazza in the center of town which was bombarded with more stalls and giant tents covering lectured conferences led by food-industry chefs and critics, pasta-making demonstrations, and tables to sit and eat the area's specialty foods being prepared by resident volunteers. 

il famoso chef Massimo Bottura dell’Osteria Francescana e il giornalista e critico Enzo Vizzari, delle Guide de L’Espresso

busy Piazza Garibaldi in Colorno

The event was not only sponsored by neighborhood businesses but by the Brotherhood of Tortel Dols - the pasta has it's own fraternity! As we sat down under the tent to encounter the over-priced pasta so apparently typical of the region it has its own festival and brotherhood, yet having never tasted in the last eight months of living here (I guess that's the whole point of it's rediscovery and promotion) we sat at a round table next to one reserved for one of the Brotherhood "sects." Decked out in velvet robes, medallions, badges, and even tortelli-shaped hats, these men and women must have an incredibly strong affinity for this traditional pasta, rich in quirky history and cultural curiosities. 

As these costumes became more frequent within the crowd, we were able to divert our attention back to the guest of honour: tortel dols. A pile of just under a dozen ragged-edged stuffed pasta sat on a flimsy plastic plate, in a light tomato based sauce and sprinkled with Parmigiano Reggiano, some melted into the sauce while thicker clumps contrasted white like freshly powdered snow.  Biting into it was unexpectedly sweet, despite the name Tortel Dols, sweet tortelli, the prune and fig fruit flavors we distinguished are not typical pasta fillings one is accustomed to. The light tomato-based sauce doused in butter and parmesan was a savory and complimentary contrast to the firm pasta (the Italians know al dente to a tee) which enveloped the jammy filling.

culinary kudos.

Of course no meal highlighting the gastronomic specialities of Parma would be complete without some cured meat and the infamously crusty, potentially lethal Parma bread roll. Maybe not the best accompanying dish to sweet tortelli, but with bottles of Ceci lambrusco and Malvasia popping around us, some good friends who bought enough cheese and epicurean delights for the night's dinner together, along with a sunny early-fall Sunday to enjoy with no class the next morning, it was all together the perfect combination. 

Once again, Colorno out did itself, by bringing people together and reinforcing its pride in its local culture, history, and traditions seamlessly entwined in gastronomy.

According to legendary folklore, Maria Luiga, Napolean's wife who lived in the regal palace which is our University, would make tortel dols for Po River boatmen and the sweet filling represented it being made from the heart, for her sweet hearts. I think. At least this is my won interpretation. Google Translate sucks. and my Italian is embarrassingly bad.

According the website's recipe, the reason why we couldn't pinpoint the flavours or ingredients makes complete sense:

The original recipe Tortel DOLS FILED WITH THE FELLOWSHIP 
INGREDIENTS FOR 100 TORTELLI 

MUSTARD (Home-made): 
1.50 kg perry noble (a type of pear...)
1.50 kg pumpkin mustard (white cucumber) (how are these related)
1 kg of quinces 
2 lemons sliced 
3 cups of sugar for every kilo of fresh fruit 

Clean and slice the fruit. 
Allow to marinate overnight with the sugar. 
The next day, pour the sauce that has formed and boil for 
a few minutes to discover the pot and then pour it over the whole fruit. 
Continue with this for three days. 
On the fourth day boil the whole pot in discovery for two hours. 
Allow to cool and add 1 g of mustard (you buy in 
pharmacy) per kg of fruit. 
Pot. (just pot.)
The chutney will be ready after two months. (woah)

FILLING: 

6 hg mustard 
1.5 gr of breadcrumbs. 
1 liter of boiled wine (made by boiling grape juice fermented 24 hours, so it remains one of three parts) as needed 
if you prefer less sweet filling add two tablespoons of plum jam. 
Good mulled wine to warm (not boiling), and scorching the bread. 
When it is cool add the mustard, finely chopped (Including the slices of lemon). 
Mix all handmade. 
It must be a mixture too dry but rather soft, so, if necessary, add more mustard. 
Let stand a couple of days. 
To make the pastry as usual.

John & Sheelagh come to Italy! Emilia Romagna.

so after 6 weeks of summer holidays and 2 days of school learning all about parmigiano reggiano and one morning learning about food economics, came the much anticipated arrival of my parents. i couldn't wait to show them around my life in Colorno - in three minutes flat - "well, this is all of it," - to reintroduce mum to team zinzani after the initial awkwardness back in March when none of us knew each other, to see Dad again as there was a slight possibility work would hold him up, and for the itinerary I planned over the summer as tour guide extraordinaire to finally come to fruition. unfortunately i had forgotten all of my italian over the summer holidays but hopefully they wouldn't mind.

first stop: a quick tour around the University and gardens, an introduction to friends, a hello to the tutors, and then lunch in piazza garibaldi. obligatory: the cured meat plate. pasta. and wine. unfortunately, our favourite local friend and waiter, san daniele, had moved to parma and there was a new guy. how was i supposed to impress my parents know with knowing the locals and speaking the language? so instead of one cured meat plate enough for 3 - we got 3 cured meat plates. i looked at it in horror, having had enough cured meat over the last seven months, but then, of course, ate it anyways. my wonderful italian skills and lack of communication with the new guy also lead us to only having one pasta dish instead of the two regional dishes I wanted my parents to try, but that turned out in our favour as it was way too much food anyways. typical. a perfect introduction for john and sheelagh to life in italy!

a walk around beautiful parma filled the sunny afternoon and then we rushed back in the bigger than an-IQ rental car to Colorno to meet some of the students at where else, but the pub! it was so nice for everyone to come and meet my parents although i'm sure when drinks are involved it doesn't take much convincing. we sat outside drinking bubbly prosecco's and bright orange spritz's while mauro spoiled us with large platters of more cured meat. a typical wednesday afternoon in Colorno. bliss.

then it was off to Antica Corte Pallavicina to show my parents where we all fell in love on our first stage. it's a beautiful old castle estate and farm in the countryside - found only by taking the windy yet extremely flat scenic route of emilia romagna - complete with its own large garden of vegetables and a courtyard fluttered with peacocks. we had a lovely apartment-style room that I could have easily moved into with views of the cows munching on muddy grass outside and the roosters that would wake us up in the morning. 

wedding destination #1

dressed up and ready for dinner, we started with some aged parmesan cheese ("how old is this parmigiano reggiano? 32 months. and where is it from? from our mountain cows' milk.") along with some extremely soft melt in your mouth homemade sausage, freshly made bread, and fizzy house lambrusco. we then had a tour of Massimo Spigaroli's famous culatello-curing cellar where I'm not sure if Arina and I impressed or embarrassed the tour guide with our extensive knowledge of cured meats when she wasn't able to answer the other guests' questions. future cured meat tour-guide job? possibly. my parents gasped, breathed in the intoxicating meaty smell, and laughed in amazement at all the round cured meat wrapped in bladder, tied in twine, and individually labeled, which hung from the ceiling and along the walls but by now, this was a pretty standard sight for us.

the dampness (from the proximity of the po river) of the cellar is crucial for the culatello curing process and the Spigaroli's know exactly when to open and close the windows - unlike many climate-controlled prosciutto di parma facilities. it keeps the meat soft and ensures it's unique characteristic. culatello is a boneless chunk of meat from the largest muscle from the rear of the pig. it is a PDO product made only in 8 villages within a restricted area as anywhere else doesn't have the knowledge or the specific terroir-ic conditions to make it. it is cured only in the winter months, from october to march, for a minimum of 12 months in which the winter humidity and the po river-low valley fog ensure a long and slow drying process. 

breathing in the damp cellar's lovely yet unforgettable aromas of cured meats and the nearby po river humid winds blowing through the windows.

"no, you can't make prosciutto di parma and culatello because culatello comes from this upper part but with all the leftover meat you can make finocco and salami's......"

"and over here is prince charles' culatello, and here is armani's and marchesi over here"

the tour ended with seeing the parmigiano reggiano storage and where they used to pack ice outside. dinner then followed as we entered into the dimly-lit restaurant built with two large glass walls on either side - one overlooking the vine-draped courtyard and the other into the dark countryside which was occasionally being lit up by a fantastic lightening storm in the distance. the restaurant uses local and home grown fruits, vegetables and animals. Arina and I chose the two different eight-course tasting menus, recommended by friends, while my parents chose two dishes each, overwhelmed by the amount of food they had already eaten that day.

?

Il Podio dei Culatelli di suino bianco 18 mesi e 27
del presidio Slow Food, di "Nera Parmigiana" di 37 mesi e giardiniera di Corte

Gli gnocchi di rana con ortaggi verdi e fiori di zucchine

I tortelli di erbette alla parmigiana

I ravioli di lumache fondenti in sfoglia di granoturco
con foglie di rapa rossa e fiori 

I soffici ai tre parmigiani in minestra tiepida di verdure

Il filetto di rombo in ristretto di gamberi rossi,
tortino di fagiolini e acciughette

La faraona ricoperta di culatello cotta nella creta del Po
accompagnata dai nostri ortaggi

Il petto d'anatra pezzata nera in crosta di aromatiche e le sue verdure 

La selezione dei Parmigiani: dalle cantine: i parmigiani di pianura , collina, montagna, 

vacche rosse, vacche brune, vacche bianche

lesson learned, years later repeated from a bad reaction in paris, i am still allergic to frog legs.