So, cool story. After the fishing adventure we actually went to a restaurant and ate the fish we had caught. Therefore, this is a picture of the fried white bait fish stacked on top of each other with a szechuan cream sauce beneath it. For the first time ever I ate the head of the fish and it’s like eating the fatty end of bacon..yummy!

Fishing in the Family Gene Pool…

I am going to tell a little story. Once upon a time there was a fisherman in Sicily. He decided to make his move down to New Orleans and continue his fishing career as an oyster fisherman. After some time in New Orleans he decided to move once again to Pittsburgh California where there was a large Italian community and the river fishing was said to be very similar to the fishing in Sicily. So he fished and he fished until he decided to be a fishing broker, being the first person in the area to have a motor launch, he was able to go directly to the fisherman, buy the fish and then sell it to the markets. From there he opened up his own fish market which was then passed on to his wife and then his children. This ladies and gentleman is the very short tale of my Great Great Grandfather and his journey to America, but more importantly a tale of how fishing is a genetic trait flowing deep within my blood…

France was an incredible experience, I think I addressed that well, however there was one night in particular that will forever be one of the most amazing nights of my life. We met up with a professional fisherman of the Loire river, Philippe and his sidekick Nicola. Philippe is a marine biologist turned fisherman and works incredibly hard to preserve the notion of fishing in a sustainable way. We waited with him until the sun went down and we were told we would watch the fishing action happen. As we went through all the different nets and he explained what they were going to do he mentioned he had 2 extra waders and offered them to two students who would want to walk into the Loire river, dragging the net in a half circle through the river and back to the beach. He explained this would be quite the experience and immediately my body rushed with the eagerness to participate. We picked numbers out of  hat and BAM! I won! I joined my fellow classmate and friend Kerstin and we jumped into our suits ready for action. The best part about the attire, I was wearing a leopard print blouse with giant waders on…fashion never stops….

So we grabbed onto the net and very quietly stepped into the water. I quickly felt the water rising and with every inch that rose onto my wading attire I was filled with even more excitement as I realized what exactly was going on…I was fishing in the Loire river, in France, with an amazing Castle in the background, how could this actually be happening?

We made it to the beach and without a moment of hesitation, I was in the sand pulling in the nets, making sure both sides were being pulled evenly and at the same speed so eager to see what we had caught. We all had lamps on our forehead and within a few minutes time all you could see were the silver scales of the Smelt or White Bait(little fish that are deep fried whole and are delicious) that we had caught. Immediately I crouched to the ground frantically grabbing these flopping fish. Classmates of mine were in shock to see how instantaneous this transformation of girl from the leopard blouse to girl in the sand grabbing fish has been. I was pulling them through the nets by their heads so their bodies wouldn’t break and most importantly, not seeing these fish as slimy creatures but as an incredible lively hood for Philippe and Nicola.

Something magical happened that night, and I don’t quite know how to explain it, but I felt as if I had been doing this my whole life. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning so giddy with joy to see what the nets were bringing in. It was exciting and exhilarating and after a long talk with my grandmother, I am certain it was my family blood line coming out in the best form possible. This was a first hand experience and most importantly a first hand appreciation for where I come from and the amazing people I am so blessed to call my family.

The Loire river will be a night I never forget….

A little Tour of Tours….

I just got back from a week long stage in Tours, France. Tours just so happens to be the second largest city in France and is located in the  Northwestern part of France not too far away from Paris. This was an incredible trip and my first time really getting to know France. People always talk about how rude French people are but the people I had the pleasure of meeting were very kind, poised, and incredibly educated. They seemed to understand food, locality, and sustainability on a whole different level. If the product is treated well and fed well the consumer is going to eat something that tastes good and is good for you was the motto most producers lived by and it was so true in the food items we got to taste. Among some of the amazing things we did on this trip: Apple Juice making association where people pay only 21 euros a year and you bring your apples, most of which are the apples that have fallen on the ground, and this association will make and bottle the most incredible apple juice. Their main goal is to promote the natural biodiversity of their apples and showing people that you can use all your apples for  purpose and waste doesn’t need to be an option. We then went to a local apple orchard to see organic growth and production on its best.

Next on the list…GOATS! We went to two goat farms where these farmers are working hard to create organic goat cheeses. Now, I hate goat cheese, like i really really do not like to eat it at all but I will say one thing…I LOVE the goats. They were the friendliest, sweetest animals. Yes, they eat everything and by everything I mean your shirt, purse, hair…whatever, but they were cuddly sweet animals living a free ranged lifestyle which was even better to see.

We went to a mushroom cave where 5 varieties of mushrooms are being grown at 12 degrees centigrade with a humidity of 93% and are being sold to chefs all over France who search for high quality mushrooms that actually have taste and structure because come to find out most mushrooms we buy from the store are just all water and no flavor…which explains alot.

Next on the agenda was a tour of a kitchen garden at a chateau where we met the countess herself whom does all the gardening of fruits and vegetables taking up 1 whole hectar of land…it was pretty incredible. We then went night fishing in the Loire river, had a professional wine tasting of the regional wines of the Loire and ate endless amounts of butter and rilletes until my belt buckle was about to burst!

After two 13 hour bus rides, I am happy to be back in Bra but so happy for the experience I had and the people I met along the way. I definitely hold a special place in my heart for France!

Now that summer break is over, we have been busier than ever with school which is nice but also a bit overwhelming. We recently had a film editing class where we had 1 day to film and edit a 30 second spot advertising the crunchiness and freshness of fruits and vegetables for a supermarket. My group decided to take a bit of  food porn twist, but we were very very pleased with how it turned out!

Here is a little recap of our Trip to Trentino…thanks again to Catherine who makes these incredible memories for us to share!

Stage 3-Trentino!!

Tomorrow at 7:00 am sharp I depart for another week long adventure in the beautiful, very northeastern region of Italy…Trentino. We will be high within the Alpine range viewing some of the most beautiful landscapes you could ever imagine. It is said that Trentino will be a completely different from Puglia where you can see the defined division of the North and the South on just about every cultural level, but in my case specifically food. 

Some of the things we will be doing include: visiting a grappa production plant, learning about the promotional strategies of products from Trentino, having local food tastings, visiting an apple farm, an olive oil production site(which is very interesting because Puglia is known for the largest production of Olive Oil and its not often you think of the North when you think about Italian Olive Oil) and the best part of the trip is when we hike to Tovel Lake at 5:30am to visit an alpine farm hut and watch and learn about their cheese making process! We will be staying in Trento at a hotel that has wi-fi woohoo! so hopefully I can be better about posting on this adventure, if not…I return in a week!

Ciao Ciao!

And here is another one! This was again, on my Piemonte stage but during our visit to the Acquerello rice farm. If you are eating risotto at a restaurant of a higher quality, you are most likely eating Acquerello rice! Yummmy!

This is a video put together by my very talented classmate Catherine Desforges during our Piemonte Stage. Yes, our stage was at the very beginning of my travels, but better late than never!

Love you Cass! All my thoughts are with you, and hell yea on 7 or 8! I am including myself in this mix! haha love you ladies!! xoxo

westendgirls:

I have loved her since 1984, they have loved her since 1950. This has been a hard week for myself and my family, but this photo reminds me so much of my grandmother and her best friends that I can’t help but smile. Ladies, one decade down…5 more to go. -cass

I say 7 or 8 at least.  Let’s grow old together.  Two glasses of wine a day, we will live to be 106.  I’m so sorry for you loss Cass, love you dearly.

(Mel)

Puglia has come and gone and what an adventure it was! 6 days and 5 nights in the heel of Italy seems like a blur of a dream where I ate like a queen and was a part of an incredible culture, and then I realized…it was real, and I did eat like royalty and was welcomed like family in the beautiful region of Puglia. This region is located in the heel of Italy and is consumed by beautiful coastlines with many natural reserves that we got to visit. And although the land was beautiful, what was memorizing, were the meals we ate, the kindness of the restaurant owners, and the gracious wineries that paired every meal with the perfect taste of Puglia and their wines.

Meals lasted from 8 in the evening until 1 or 2 in the morning and there was laughter, dancing, and hugs with the Nonnas of each restaurant as a side dish for every meal. Our meals started out with a few rounds of antipasti that consisted of roasted onions, Lampanscioni(a bulb from a wild plant found in Puglia), toasted bread with olive oil, burrata cheeses, cured meats, lots of bean dishes, and so much more. Our first courses were always of the pasta and bean family and usually came in 2. Then for the main course it was meat and seafood galore: donkey, glands, lamb liver, meat balls, steak, sausages all grilled to perfection and just a fabulous natural taste. The seafood consisted of anchovies, octopus(which is incredible and probably one of my new favorite things to eat) local fish cooked in their entirety, eyes and all and of course some prawns that were so sweet in their taste. After these heavy servings of food and often times before the main course, big bowls of fresh vegetables would come out as a saving grace for a break of savory foods. There were fresh fennel, cucumbers, radishes and celery and it was such a cleaning of the palate treat. Then of course, just when you thought you couldn’t possibly eat or drink anything else, there was dessert! Every dessert started out with bowls of fresh fruit and candied nuts, then would come the walnut grappa and limon cello, followed by bottles and bottles of moscato. For dessert there was a buffet of 3-4 desserts where you didn’t even know where to start, but you just stuck your fork in anything trying the deliciousness that was Puglia. This was a constant theme for the whole trip and it only got better.

Yes, I saw some amazing places, learned a lot about wine, cheese, and olive oil, but experiencing these meals and the hardwork these people put into the restaurants they call home and are so proud of…those will be the memories I hold with me forever, and the pounds I will be working hard to get rid of… :)

Salute Pulgia, thank you for a great trip!