Cooking with Maria
Wednesday, May 17th
Last night from 5:30 to 7:30, we spent cooking with Maria, the grand ‘nona’ of Malvarina. Jim and Sunzanne from Melborne, Austrailia, were also in the cooking class with us. Claudio, Maria’s son, said that we would be ‘sempatico’. He was right; they were a great couple to share the experience with. The four of us put on our aprons and headed to the kitchen. Filipo, Maria’s grandson was the interpreter. Maria has been written up in Bon Appetite Magazine. Basically, we watched the preparation of an eight course dinner, sampled sampled some of the food, and drank some wine. Bottom line is that you need to use a lot of good olive oil! Although we didn’t see the entire dinner preparation, when we were observing, she used at least 2 quarts of olive oil. What were able to do was to make the gnoccietti (baby gnocci made without potatoes). At 7:30, we tourists were kicked out of the kitchen so that they could finish the real work! We returned at 8:30 for dinner and had the following courses (again all of these details are for our short memories): First, we had our choice of wines and water. Fried pasta with pecorino cheese and arugula, fried zuccini rolled with cheese and anchovies, soup, gnoccietti with a zuccini sauce, fettucinni with marinara sauce, lamb, salad and mushrooms, artichokes cooked in olive oil, and finally dessert........pana di Spagna (sponge cake topped with a cream and decorated with fresh fruit). Of course no Italian dinner would be complete without esspresso and an after dinner drink (grappa, limoncello, nicolni?) We headed back to our room about 11:30. While we are not cooking tonight, we are staying for dinner!
The wheel and the side of the road that we are driving on is the same as at home. The driving is much more aggressive and faster! He who is bravest goes first. The Itailans look at the speed limit signs as suggested speeds and igore them!
Dakota- We did not see Paige from Extreme Home Makeover here. Keep watching shows on Italy; you never know! We miss you.
Happy Birthday Mom. Love Ken and Sally
Last night from 5:30 to 7:30, we spent cooking with Maria, the grand ‘nona’ of Malvarina. Jim and Sunzanne from Melborne, Austrailia, were also in the cooking class with us. Claudio, Maria’s son, said that we would be ‘sempatico’. He was right; they were a great couple to share the experience with. The four of us put on our aprons and headed to the kitchen. Filipo, Maria’s grandson was the interpreter. Maria has been written up in Bon Appetite Magazine. Basically, we watched the preparation of an eight course dinner, sampled sampled some of the food, and drank some wine. Bottom line is that you need to use a lot of good olive oil! Although we didn’t see the entire dinner preparation, when we were observing, she used at least 2 quarts of olive oil. What were able to do was to make the gnoccietti (baby gnocci made without potatoes). At 7:30, we tourists were kicked out of the kitchen so that they could finish the real work! We returned at 8:30 for dinner and had the following courses (again all of these details are for our short memories): First, we had our choice of wines and water. Fried pasta with pecorino cheese and arugula, fried zuccini rolled with cheese and anchovies, soup, gnoccietti with a zuccini sauce, fettucinni with marinara sauce, lamb, salad and mushrooms, artichokes cooked in olive oil, and finally dessert........pana di Spagna (sponge cake topped with a cream and decorated with fresh fruit). Of course no Italian dinner would be complete without esspresso and an after dinner drink (grappa, limoncello, nicolni?) We headed back to our room about 11:30. While we are not cooking tonight, we are staying for dinner!
The wheel and the side of the road that we are driving on is the same as at home. The driving is much more aggressive and faster! He who is bravest goes first. The Itailans look at the speed limit signs as suggested speeds and igore them!
Dakota- We did not see Paige from Extreme Home Makeover here. Keep watching shows on Italy; you never know! We miss you.
Happy Birthday Mom. Love Ken and Sally
posted by Ken and Sally | 3:05 AM
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