Italy-Culinary and Historic Tour with CRazzzy Girls

Where does one start? We have traveled over 2000 kilometers from Ivrea, Italy (The Battle of the Oranges).  We went by car in the rain, in the day, in the night and sometimes in the sunshine from the Italians Alps to Monaco to Portofino on the Mediterranean, Rimini on the Adriatic, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Ravenna, Sulmona, San Marino, Herculaneum, Pompeii and ended in the great city of Rome. So many tastes to match the many miles. We dined in celebrated restaurants, went to cooking school in Bologna, and when the road was long we dived into the AutoGrill for gas station coffee. It was a whirlwind that quite frankly I have a little bit of trouble matching the right faces, places and courses, thank heavens for digital cameras.

Whirwind tour by car and I think we all still love each other, amazing.

Let me speak briefly of my touring team: Hubby, who we have talked about before as to not having an adventurous palate but willing to do his part at exploration of beer.  We will call him, Brew-haha; Jeffie the adventurous Vittle Viking who led the charge into the wonders that the internet can provide when willing to venture; Beanie (hey that’s how she pronounced her name when she was two) the Pour Panach-ie, the team’s expert at regional hard liquors always willing to try the unique drink. And last but not least me, Cautious Crumpet, emphasis on Cautious (we discussed before how my mind was willing but the tummy is weak). Well it is an interesting combination to satisfy for 12 days especially since the Vittle Viking and the Pour Panach-ie are kamikaze and crazy fierce travelers. Seriously, fierce.  We (Brew-haha and I) learned alot from our crazzzy girls and resting wasn't one of those things. They inspired us to tour as we have never toured before.

Our goals were to have the best (not the most expensive) of the regional wines, seasonal courses, fresh pasta until we didn’t want pasta anymore (and yes that can really happen), and to experience foods from rustic to fine dining. Oh yes, and to walk enough to not gain weight, get gout or have an immediate heart attack from the salt, carbs or the “dolce”. Some in our group of four, well all of them except me, also seemed to want to guzzle the very strong coffee (I just don’t get it.) 

I know the translation doesn't say their coffee is as black as ink but trust me it is.

 For some reason I do understand gelato. Who wouldn’t understand that poetry. Just as in poetry there are rhymes and there are sonnets. Most gelato, as one walks down the streets of Italy, is just a rhyme but I didn’t know that until I experienced Grom (Turino it’s birthplace) and Ci Gusta in Rome.  There are plenty of experts out there on the technicalities of the art of gelato, so I will just say there is a big difference in frozen artificially flavored milk, and a gelato sonnet. Gelato melts faster than ice cream so enjoy with gusto and purpose, always try more than one flavor at a time (it is like a symphony for your mouth) and finally, if the display is mounded high and covered with syrup beware your tastebuds will wonder what is the point.  It dawns on me that I don't have a picture of how gelato should be displayed, it was sublime, possibly another example of Foodie Failure?  

It is going to be hard to just focus on the "culinary"  portion of this whirlwind tour because there are so many stories to tell, I will save those for another post.  All this being said let me start with the picture that we all fought hard NOT to have happen. The dreaded FOODIE FAILURE pic.

Foodie Failure brought on by tourism "gladiator style" in Rome

The Pour Panach-ie was typically pretty good at preventing the team from a foodie 'loss' but this time even her good senses succumbed to the fried meatballs, fried artichokes (peak season) some incredible zucchini mousse with yummy creamy topping.  We were done with the regional wine and regional appetizers before we barely caught a breath.  However, the Pour Panach-ie also seemed to have the gift to quickly scope the menu and almost without fail pick something that was not available. The waiter would patiently say that is "finished", was it ever there?  Italian menus would seem to be suggestions of what the chef is capable of doing when he is in the mood, or perhaps had the ingredients that day that inspired.  It was quaint really, a part of learning about the culture.

Although the Vittle Viking was the true warrior of the menu, willing to take on the culinary challenge and always helping us with the Italian (good idea to have someone in the group that can wade through the language barrier with aplomb), our Brew-haha ordered the most beautiful dish, we all know that was accident.  He can spot the beer menu from a mile (or rather kilometers) away and always tried the regional birra, so we had all the bases covered by our team.

Fresh pasta with gamberetto (prawns) piled very high., the most elegant dish.

A little nice wine for a birthday dinner, Vittle Viking turned 29 (wink)

You can't have a proper celebration without a few bottles of wine, right?

One should have the right champagne with ones birthday Tiramisui

We had a tremendous amount of fun along the way as well as some tense moments (like when the Vittle Viking tried to give away our guy to the stranded gypsy girls). We saw things that will never get old no matter how many times you see them and of course we saw for the first time very ancient things that we had never seen before, like Pompeii.  The food was always a big driver for the day and part of the adventure.

The Fuzzy One sitting on the counter of an ancient Pompeii restaurant

For me the highlight of the trip was the cooking school in Bologna, CIBO.  The Vittle Viking and the Cautious Crumpet learned how to make homemade pasta, gnocchi and Bolognese sauce.  The flavor will now be the benchmark for all future pasta par-takings (I'll never be the same when it comes to pasta)  and the sauce was wonderfully simple and bursting with flavor.  We had fun making it, our Chef instructor Stephano was a master (favorite moments were him talking to the sauce to let it know he would be back in a bit because he had to work on the pasta, so sauce don't get worried he would be right back).  

Can't wait to get home and try it, Stephano says everything matters when making pasta but call him if we had trouble.  That's commitment to the art.