16 July 2014

Up and at ‘em nice and early!  Left the lobby at about 7:20am so we could catch our train to Varenna-Esino for our day at Chef Moreno’s!  This is the third year we’ve been able to go there to have a cooking class.  It’s the single most expensive thing we do, but it is so much more than a cooking class.

One of the reasons I love going to Chef’s is that he doesn’t teach us only about cooking, he teaches us about Italian culture, people, traditions, and quirks.  He has a hilarious sense of humor and his English is excellent.  He seems to truly enjoy what he’s doing and he entertains us all day!  We learn so much about Italy in this one day, it’s awesome!

Chef Moreno tying the meat

Today’s menu was delicious…..we started off with a cappuccino or an espresso.  Then he taught us how to make pasta dough from scratch and explained the differences between northern and southern dough.  He told us how to make sure it becomes ready and chides people in general for rushing the food we’re trying to make.  Guilty, but I don’t always/usually have the luxury to let my pasta rest!

He made the pasta and then he brought out the veal and prosciutto and the vegetables and herbs that the meat would rest upon while cooking.  We have two vegetarians, and to make them feel better about the veal being prepared, he told a tall tale about how the cow had been a teenage boy cow that was stalking all the teenage girl cows and their dad finally said enough was enough and had the cow removed from the herd.  Hilarious!  Stalker cow for lunch, anyone?

Under the veal was a mixture of root vegetables and a little liquid for the future gravy.  A little salt and pepper to season too.  Then he took the meat and put the ham/bacon on top and after that, he showed us how to wrap the meat with string into two nice, neat packages.  He laid those on top of the veggies and to the back it went.  He said that you should let the meat rest for a minimum of 20 mins after it is cooked so it remains juicy.

Tortollone in the making

Then came the ricotta filling for the tortellone we were going to make.  In order to  make the filling taste a little like garlic, but so as not to overpower it, he rubbed the garlic clove around the inside of the bowl.  In this way, the ricotta would be infused, but good. He has a lovely garden and brought in fresh herbs and showed us how to mince them.  Never food process them, as it crushes them and they wind up not being as good. Everything got mixed together and then it was time for a snack of meat and cheese.  

After that, we took a little break to wander around outside.  A lot of photos were taken, as it was a beautiful day and the weather was cooperative with our desires to take a few hundred photos, haha!  We came back in and Chef taught us how to roll the pasta and then we all got an opportunity to help make the tortellone.  

Shelby (2nd from right) crying
she's so happy!

One of the funniest things through the whole day was Jordynn declaring her intentions to marry an Italian man and live in this cute little village and Chef insisting that she should marry a Scandinavian instead.  We were all laughing!  The other funny thing was that Shelby was a little overcome with emotion at one point when we were watching him make things.  She got a little teary and we were just cracking up!  It’s amazing what too little sleep will do to you :o)

Then it was time to eat our delicious food and head down to the ferry to Bellagio.  Some of the students went back to the dorms, but 14 of us went over to see what was there.  I wanted the fashion students to definitely go over there because the Como area is well-known for its silk products.  Meg found a gorgeous silk wrap for herself and we found Lisa (at work) a cute little something too.

our freshly made
tortolone!

The find of the day was when we walked into a shop that has one of my purse patterns!  It’s the one that shows da Vinci’s celestial pattern.  It was pretty much the least-expensive thing of that pattern, which was crazy because that was still very expensive!  It is a book bag.  I love bags….I have an obsession with them I think.  It’s a problem, haha.  Usually, my bags only cost a few dollars or euros.  Let’s just say that if I could earn overtime, I would need to do so :o)  But, it’s beautiful and I love it!!

We went back down to the ferry and we all managed to get back in time for the train to Milan.  Meg brought her fancy camera with her and managed to get some great shots!  When we got back to the station in Milan, Meg and I decided to try this place called W.O.K. (World oriented kitchen) because they had Pad Thai on the menu.  Italian Pad Thai tastes nothing like American Pad Thai (which probably doesn’t taste like real stuff anyway).  But, it was still good and a nice change from eating Italian all the time.

Came home, packed for the weekend (hard to believe it’s time already) and then went to bed.  Glad to have a new little phone, but looking forward to my own real phone again!