Non vedo l’ora. I can’t wait.

The best cheese comes from Italy. Visiting this year is out, and I got hungry,

So I searched on Amazon for Pecorino cheese. Sheep’s milk cheese. I found a great product and decided to order it,

It was shipped UPS Air and arrived in two days from Parma, Italy.

It was packed with a styrofoam inner container with cooling jej.

This is it. Just about 4 lbs.

It even includes a cutting knife.

It is a softer cheese than Parmesan with a wonderful aroma and taste. Pecorino Toscano is a PDO cheese made in the Tuscany region of Italy. You can order directly from them at the following web site

http://www.parmashop.com

For me all cheese that I have eaten in Italy is great, and now I can bring it home. My 2 kilo order cost $79 with UPS air shipping. That was a good price. See the photo below that show a shop window in the Trastevere section of Roma where the price for kilo was 63 Euro.

In Florida you can visit Doris Market in West Palm which specializes in Italian Foods.

June 6, 2020 4

I Never Forget A Meal

I am borrowing the title of a book by Michael Tucker who also fell in love with Italy and has always loved food. Italian food and Italian meals are to be savored and enjoyed. His book was great and you can find copies on Amazon. Also recommended is “Living in a Foreign Language” also by Michael Tucker which is similar to Under the Tuscan Son, but with more humor and a bit of attitude.

We are on the island of Ischia, a small island off the coast of Napoli. We stayed in a small hotel with great views of the area and had a pleasant lunch of Prosciuto e Melone.

We also hand Insalata Capresse with fresh mozzarella di buffala

At anolther ristorante in ischia we had frutti di mare. As fresh as you can get.

While staying on Lake Carda in the town of Brenzone we had a waterfront dinner of Cacio e Pepe

Lunch at a winery in Vicenza

Below is home made pasta in Milano, I took a pasta making class.

Felt is was time to lear how to do it, I had a pasta making machine at home that my bother bought about thirty years ago.

Nothing like your own fresh pasta

Pasta alla Norma

Mixed fruit that we bought at the market in Siracusa Sicily

Below is beefsteak Florentine

You start with aged meet. This is from Il Pandemonio, Florence Italy

It comes rare to medium rate, It is a think steak, about 1.5 to 2.0 inches.

There is nothing like it.

Back in Catania, Sicily

An entire meal of antipasti

My wife Angel and I after a wonderful meal.

Il Torre Del Mangia, Siena

Piazza del Campo

Insalata Capresse

There are more to come. This Brunello from 2011 met it Demis in 2020 as we reminisced about Italy.

May 31, 2020 1

The Markets of Italy

To me nothing is more beautiful than the way Italian markets display their food. The quality is overwhelming, the aromas intriguing, and the tastes are fantastico.

Fish Market In Catania, Sicily

Catania Fish Market

Stall in Amalfi

Catania

Fruit and Vegetables

Lemons, Catanzaro Calabria

Autogrill

A Pasticciera in Erice

Blood Oranges, Palermo

Garlic Aglio

Melenzanie – Eggplant

Mushrooms, Rome

Artichokes, Carciofi Roma

Fresh Bread, Roma

My banana harvest, Vero Beach, FL

Not Italy but this came from a Tree in our front yard.

Ciao

May 5, 2020 3

Dining on a dime in Rome. Lunch under 10 Euro in Trastevere.

Two delicious sandwiches, a bottle of beer and bottle of water cost 8 Euros and 20 cents. Bargains prevail as we hit a salumeria, not a ristorante.

October 13, 2019 0

I Love Pasta And It Is Easy To Make

I was raised to love pasta. All kinds. I have never lost my taste and when I found a email from Airbnb about a pasta making class in Milano, I jumped on it. It was a 3 hour exploration of Italian cooking and a chance to make fresh pasta. Gianfranco holds the class in his apartment and it was a very relaxing setting. This was the second of my Airbnb activities that I have engaged in and it will not be my last. Gianfrano is a “personal chef from Palermo, Sicily, and the traditional Italian and Sicilian food is my speciality. I like making genuine homemade food, pasta, street food and dessert”. He did not disappoint. Gianfranco served asiago and parmesan cheese with olives and some Italian bread while we drank some delicious white wine by Corvo. He went over the process of make the pasta and discussed the two types of meals we would eat with it.

This is an easy relaxed time with everyone taking part in the pasta making. Golden rule is 100 grams of flour and 1 egg. You want a dry dough, not sticky. When the dough is throughly mixed, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

Roll it a bit to make a flat sheet and divide it into 4 pieces, Then roll it out to fit the pasta maker. Insert at the widest opening and gradually decrease the thickness till you achieve the desired thickness of your pasta. After that we hang it to dry slightly.

Here is a link to the video of my experience.