Settling in

One week since I left home; almost one week since I arrived and I am finally settling in.  I ran the kitchen solo for both lunch and dinner toady and quite enjoyed the chance to cook Italian food for Italians and get kudos. Perhaps my techniques are not 100% authentic, but I hope that I can surprise a few folks with some cool new things. I am also learning some great ideas that I hope to bring home with me - absolutely loving zucchini carpacchio and discovered a beautiful tuna packed in olive oil that I hope to land in my suitcase before the end of the trip.

My Italian has improved immensely; I have spent the last several days working along side their cleaner/kitchen helper Inez. She understands just enough English to help me along, but not enough that we can communicate without using Italian. Of course food is the universal language and Italians speak with many gestures and much expression.

I was finally able to get into the cheesery to help out with the cheese making on Tuesday. I only had a brief introduction to the process and hope to get deeper immersed on Friday on the next day we go back. Cheese making is a process of patience and an amazing amount of cleaning after the process is done. I hope to share more once I better understand what is happening.

Ciao for now . . . .