To eat is to survive, But to taste is to live.

The first day we were in Asti I was talking to a brazilian student about how the lifestyle was and how the school went. He looked me straight in the eye and said "Nothing over here is given like it is in America. If you stay here for the four months and don't apply yourself the only thing youre going to learn is how to drink. If you do apply yourself to school and cooking then you'll walk away with an unbelievable amount of cooking knowledge, and you'll know how to drink."

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

As most of you probably know my tour and exploration in Italy is soon coming to an end and I will soon be back with friends and family in the states, but it is bitter-sweet. Over the past 4 months I have been all around this country, seizing every available opportunity I could while here to explore something new or try something I've yet to do. From learning a new language, to trying new food and from walking the quiet streets of a small town in the north of Italy to being in the biggest city in the entire country I've done almost everything I wanted to do here. I have gained knowledge that is completely un-accessible to anyone whom has never been to Italy, Along with ways of cooking and beliefs that only exist  in certain parts of Italy. Through all of this I only have one regret: Not updating this blog more. I've gotten dozens of E-mails from people thanking me for the blog and how great they say it is and I'm beyond thrilled that so many people have enjoyed it (3,700+ views), it's made keeping up on it worth the while, I just feel I could have done it a bit more. I wish I could have brought everyone who has supported me throughout the years with me, to show them what the have done. What their handwork to help teach and train someone has turned into, a lifetime experience. It was 3 years ago that I remember sitting in a financial aid office signing my life away to student loans when I knew that I was soon to be apart of something I'd never forget. 3 years later here I am, sitting across the world writing in a blog, for dozens of readers to enjoy and follow my experience, for the last time. I was never really good at good-byes but I always knew where thanks was due. (In no particular order) these are the people that have affected me in the past couple of years and helped me get to where I am right now: Roxanne Ballachino, Al Hovasse, Theresa DeSantos, Melonie Lamb, Greg Markowski, Gary Brown, Steve K, Jack Stierer, Trish Nanfito, Juan Cordova and Kenneth, All the goons that were with me through out the entire CCI/LCI schooling, Professor DePitro, Peppe Zullo, All the chefs here, My friends who had stuck with me, My extremely supportive extended family. And of course my greatest thanks go out to both of my parents, without you two and your support for my education, none of this would have been possible. For anyone that I may have forgotten, that has taken the time to teach me something or has given me a shot to prove myself thank you as well.


I was given a once in a life time opportunity and I seized it.

Forever and Always
Pace&Amore

-R

Beggars cant be Choosers.

EDITORS NOTE: If you are pro-animal, a vegetarian, vegan, or really just dont want to hear about the death of an animal skip to the second paragraph. Thank you.

Alright so I put in my last blog post how I wanted to slaughter an animal for the experience of killing it, cleaning it, cooking it, and eating it. I wanted to be able to say ive completely taken care of the process and enjoyed the rewards, follow me? Well the following day I went down to the kitchen earlier to see if anything needed to be cleaned or prepped seeing as we had no service and when I got to the courtyard I was face face with a rooster with its legs bound together loosely and I instantly had a real good idea where this guy was headed seeing as the farm animals are usually at the other complex, he was here for one reason. Sure enough my suspensions were correct and I got the opportunity to be the last thing this guy ever saw, and I took it. Now it wasn't a pig like I had hope for but beggars can't be choosers and it was an experience all the same. Remember how when you would run around wild as a kid and your parents would say you looked like you were running like a chicken with his head cut off? Yeah, that's not a lie. I had him held but he still was a feisty bugger. With the hard part now behind us we de-feathered him and cleaned him out, let him hang to bleed out and dry up and then later ate him the following day. Not really as hard as I had imagined it would be but it was as satisfying as I though being able to say I completely took car of this animal. Coming from a boy from the suburbs it means a lot to me.

Gold.

The past few days have kept us reasonably busy and out of trouble. We had a good 4 day span for parties, each over 60 people, and we handled them all smoothly with our now earned sense of responsibility theve given us to trust us prepping solo in the morning. We had 5 chefs from Tuscany come down to the complex and stay a few days and give a little cooking demo, unfortunately we had a service so Anthony and myself missed it but we did get to try Tuscon bread. Now having tried I can say ill never have it again and anybody that has had it will understand why. Tuscon bread is made with no salt so it basically taste a bit better than cardboard. BUT! in Tuscany, where it is normally served, it is served with Tuscan meats which are much saltier than the meats found in Orsara. This makes good sense but unless im in Tuscany with Tuscon meats I probably won't dine on this again. Sorry Tuscany. We also had a woman from Portland, Oregon spend a day in the complex learning about all the breads we make here in Orsara (Squash bread, Burnt Flour, our Version of Italian, and Foccia) So not only did we get a good re-view in all the breads but we also were able to hold a conversation with someone other than ourselves which a win win. And finally let me just say white truffles are going to be the end of me. We were fortunately able to get roughly a kilo of white truffles from a near by town. (Mind you that a pound of white truffles in the states goes for $1,000-$2,000) If you haven't had white truffles and ever have the opportunity to try them do not hesitate. If you've never had them then its almost impossible to explain how they taste and smell just that you really should at one point try it. Now I know when I get back to the states i'll probly never see them again but while im here im soaking them up.

Were within the final 2 weeks and it only felt like yesterday when I was sitting on the 3rd floor balcony in Asti giggling about every little thing I saw in Italy.

I'm going to miss this place.

Pace&Amore
-R

Whoops!

Looks Good Right?

Well that was my bad...didn't realize how longs its been since I've updated the blog.

The past week has been more or less the same ol' same. We've had a few more parties than the beginning of the month but still no major 100+ people. The chefs here are really starting to rely on myself and Anthony a bit more, we've been put on prep by ourseleves before the service now while the other chefs go down and set up the kitchen. Nothing we can't handle or things we havent done but it feels good to finally gain that trust, you know? Despite the weather change here (colder and more snow) we've still been able to get extremely fresh crops on a near daily basis and it hasn't affected our menu much if at all. I realized the other day when we went out to eat how different the menu is in italy compared to the states.  Usually when we go out we try and tell the chefs "The regular" which consists of whatever we got when we came in with someone who could actually speak Italian but last week I wanted to look at a menu to see what I may have been missing. When I was going over the menu I realized that you don't order a specific dish you order which courses you want.
I.E. Primi, Secondi, Anti Pasti, Dolce. And based on the amount of courses is what you pay. Now depending on whatever the chef has in stock, or freshest is what the course is, so you really don't know what your going to get unless to talk to the chef himself that day. It only took me 3 months but I finally got it. Peppe also gave Rinaldi and I a specific job, we need to create a Chick-Pea Hamburger. Basically he is trying to incorporate protein into the daily diet but without using meat at all so the second best source is legumes. Were now in charge of trial and error on making a Chick-Pea hamburger (I'll keep you posted on our progress but our intial trials have been positive)

ALSO: the 14th of Feb My father catches his plane to Rome and we'll be seeing him on the 16th when he comes to Orsara. Extremely excited to see another familiar face besides Rinaldi.

21 more days in the boot and thoughts of home are plaguing both of us but were enjoying our stay daily.

Pace&Amore
-R

p.s. Still havn't slaughtered any animal...losing hope of getting this experience.

Public Speaking 101

So that was an interesting past two days...

Nothing brings people together better than food.

We started on Thursday with a mound of prep work for the off-site catering event on Friday in Bari. and anyone whose done an off site event knows that there a pain in the ass. Mainly for the fact that you not only have to prep and cook the food, you then have to transfer it to the site your serving at and then use a completely unfamiliar kitchen to finish the job, but ill explain how that went later. On Thursday, besides the what was previously stated, myself and Ant went with the other Japanese chefs with Peppe to w meeting about the impact Mediterranean Diet has on Italy and the rest of the world. Now I have no problem sitting and smiling and acting like I know whats going one even though I haven't clue whats being said. But what if you got invited to speak on behalf of America in thus subject matter? And note: It would be televised via internet across all of Italy? Yeah I'm down with that. So without hesitation I sat up with some of the biggest names in southern cuisine and had Peppe translate my words, and I didn't do a half bad job if I do say so myself. From there we went with a few other people form the meeting and got food and talked about what was previously said in the meeting, networking at its finest. We unfortunately had to leave but made some solid friends while we were there.

The A-Team

On Friday we got together around 2 o'clock to make finally preparation for our off site catering gig in Bari. it was only a 6 course menu so we were able to fit everything we needed into two cars and at 3:30 we were on our way. When we got to the event in Bari we realized it was literally a 3 foot walk from the ocean, the banquet hall was in a cruise port. The entire event went off without a hitch and it really wasn't anything to different form what were used to in Orsara. At the end of the dinner though we were invited out front, the entire kitchen staff, to be introduced by the owner of the banquet hall. now once again I do not have a problem standing in front of roughly 140 people I've never met and smile and wave and seem like I'm having the time of my life but its really never that easy. Again, for the second night in a row, Peppe had me talk to the group of people as if they had a single clue what I was saying, and explain to them how much different Italian food was to American Italian food. I mean yes Peppe did translate for me so it wasn't a total waste, and from the round of applause I got when I was finished it made is seem like I said what they wanted to hear, but then agian how much of it was my words or Peppe translating to them what they wanted to hear? Either way I felt confident about it so theirs no need to dwell about it. After that we cleaned up, re-packed the cars, and heaed on our way back to Orsara a job well done.

So just 27 more days before I stand on American soil once again, Time fly's when you're have fun.

Pace&Amore
-R

Vacation. Or something like it...

So my dearest apology goes out to everyone who has been waiting for a update I know its been overdue but there is a reason behind it. we were planning to go to Rome and we did. The entire week we were in the kitchen and working around the complex as much as possible to get out hours up so we could take a 3 day vacation to Rome because the opportunity probly wont ever come again.

Brewed in Dublin, Not Canada.

Our work week was a normal one, nothing out of the ordinary, we did a-lot of prep work for making dried sausage which the made while we were away but we were still able to learn the basics. We we all set for hours come Saturday so we planned to take a train at 11:30 to Rome but we somehow missed it. We got our tickets pushed back to 3:30 so we walked around Foggia to burn time and found a kebab house which made probably the best falafal Ive ever had. After a quick, large, bite to eat we headed back to the train station making sure we didn't miss this train. We didn't, we were headed to Rome at 3:30 and finally got there at 6. Once we got off the train we instantly could see how small Orsara really was compared to the nations capital, we were in somewhat of awe that we really were in a town wich some much history as to the way the entire world had shaped itself. We found a hotel rather quickly, unpacked, and hit the town. We walked around just to mainly sight see a little before our day trip on sunday but we eneded up stumbleing upon the Roman Coliseum. Now knowing where that was ahead of time we had our day already mapped out as to where we would start. After a few quick pictures there we continued walking and found a reasturaunt to get some dinner. Now this really was an eye-opener to us that even in a nation so based upon fresh food and good ingredients we still managed to stumble upon a restaurant that used food product more likely found in a T.G.I.F from the states. Regardless of the quality of the food we were able to get a good pint of Guinness and we called it a night.


On Sunday we woke up early in order to try and beat the massive hoards of tourists in Rome (More than you would think) We headed straight for the Coliseum. We made it in a good time and just as we hoped before everyone else, we walked around snapped a bunch of photos and just tried to take in all the history that was around us, it was Somewhat surreal to us both. After a few laps of the Coliseum and taking photos from every possible angle we left and headed out to find our next destination. Not really sure where to go seeing as we didn't have a map and no tour guide it was pretty much our own luck to find everything we did. As we were walking we came across Julius Ceasers Palace Remains, as we were looking around we also saw a museum exhibit for Vincent Van Goh so we stopped in. Not exactly my cup of tea but it was interesting none the less, from there we continued walking mainly directed by our hunger and the tallest building we could find.
This strategy worked fairly well, when we finally reached whatever building structure we were walking to , snapping as many photos as humanly possible, we just looked for another tall building or the nearest place to get food. And believe it or not with only this strategy as our tour guide we ended up stumbling upon Vatican City. We both couldn't stop laughing at the fact we some how found it and decided that if we made it this far we might as well go inside and that was unbelievable. Ive been in a few large churches in Italy already with some drastic and elaborate designs inside but without a doubt the Vatican church was the most beautiful. Some of the church was roped off due to a mass being in session but what we were able to see was un-forgettable. We proceeded to take another 40 pictures inside and continue on our tour.
We came across a few more monuments on our journey but nothing as big as what we had previously seen and there for decided to call it a day and made it back to the hotel around 6. A solid day considering the circumstances of what we were working with and neither of us were complaining. After a few hours rest we went back on the town to find somewhere to get dinner, hopefully better than the night before. As we were walking around we ended up stumbling upon the Spanish steps, just our luck right? With camera in hand I took the photos needed for memories and the hunt was back on. Now we didn't exactly find a restaurant but we found a bar and decided that if it was our last night in Rome, and this probably would never happen again, we should celebrate. I really can't write up how the night went but lets say neither one of us will forget how it went and it was a great last night in Rome. We caught a cab back to the hotel and finally ended our day around 3 a.m.

On Monday we both needed time for recovery from the entire day before so we uploaded all the video and photos we took and just relaxed. We had to leave before 12 so we wouldn't get charged for another day so with our train coming at 2:45 we walked around the train station and just tried to soak up the fact that we really were in Rome. We finally had to leave and we got back on the train and said our good-byes to the capital city and thanked it for all the fun we had. We made it back to Foggia with roughly 30 minutes before the bus to Orsara so we grabbed another falafal and remembered how much we really did love the small towns, the food is just that much better.

It was easily one of the greatest experiences i've had and I have no problem going back if anyone needs a tour guide. Not sure what we have planned for this week but we are going to do a catering event in Bari on Friday so that's going to be good.


Until Then.
Pace&Amore
-R

United Nations

So here we are at week 6 of our journey and from here on out its all down hill till we leave.

Sliced roast stuffed with caciocavallo and squash

Sorry about the lack of post lately, its just the whole post-new year recession hasn't helped us pick up any large business but the smaller parties has become more frequent. I've come to find out a major difference between the service here compared to where I worked in the states is food preparation. In the states it would go: prep for the day, fill all your bays and any extra you had would be your head start for prep tomorrow. With the full bays cook per-order fresh every-time. As for here: Prep only what is expected for the day, no day lay away for any food. Semi cook all food at the start of service and finish cooking per order. Now mind you in that states dinner service would range any where from 150-390 people a night between the hours of 4 and 10 making it a necessity to cook per order, but here its much different. Being that peppe zullo is semi-private you must make reservations ahead so that we have an exact number as to how many people, along with every showing up at the same time the only thing throwing off timing between customers is how long it takes them to eat or how much they want to talk. Both methods work for there own situations but neither would work in the others. Get it? Hope so.

The United Nations?

Now I'm not trying to say one way of cooking is better than another, not at all. What I'm trying to say is that this experience has done more than taught me about Italian food and how fresh it is and where it comes from. This experience has shown me more than that, its shown me that the way I've done things my entire life isnt exactly the best or only way to do something. There so much more out there than what I've been shown already, and coming into this with the mind set of "Yeah I know how to cook I'm just here to learn about the food" is a huge mistake. I'm learning things almost daily that aren't entirely new things but just different ways of doing them. and for the cooks here its and experience to, I'm showing them things they've never seen or done before. (I made banana bread the other day and they were blown away.) This whole experience is becoming more than just a food experience it's becoming a cultural experience, and the Italians aren't the only culture I'm getting into. Peppes son was born in Mexico and he moved here roughly 5 months ago and every time we talk we compare things we've grown up with (him being 17) and its interesting to know how different life is when our countries are right next to each other. Also a few days ago 3 cooks that were students here last year returned from Japan to do another stage with Peppe because they feel they haven't learned everything they can about this place. So now i'm being exposed to Italian, Mexican, and Japanese cultures, (mind you I spent 3 weeks with Brazilians back in asti) The Complex is becoming a regular U.N. with the conversation were having and questions being bounced around in the kitchen. You have to come into this experience as it being more than food, its learning about a whole new life.

40 days and 40 nights.
Pace&Amore
-R

p.s. If you really want to start conversation at a bar with everyone. Pull out an American $20

Procrastinazione

I've been enjoying the semi-vacation we've gotten that I've found it hard to type lately but all good things must come to an end, so is life.

Our Sous Chef In the center. Play Hard Work Harder.

So! Since New years we've been slow is the afternoon but busy in the morning (Hence "Semi" vacation) not real complaints, were still learning daily but also getting much needed relaxation. We start going back to full days tomorow so I figured today would be as good as anyday to catch up with the little new "news". After New Years partying neiter of us really remember what happened, entirely, wich I previously stated but we got the full effect of our actions the following days when most of the town was greeting us in the streets asking how we were doing. Seems like we made a real good impression on them, somehow.We were laughing the other day thinking about how nervous we were the first fedw days to walk around getting strange stares from eveyone but you can't tell me that if two men from who knows where came to your town and walked around and laughed in a completely different lanugaue you wouldent stare either. Its also fairly funny how far weve come since then, from stares to hi-fives with the town folk. We also had a party at one of the local bars for one of the Sous chefs at our job, anthoer great bonding experience for all. Its really starting to sink in now, more than every before, that im really here. Theres no wake up tomorow in my little home town, go to school, grab a bite to eat, go to work, wash, repeat. Im over seas experiencing something that most people would kill for. Sadly this is coming to a realization later in my stay here but as they say, better late than never.

 45 more times ill be able to wake and embrace Italy. Those days arn't going to waste.

Pace&Amore
-R

New Year

So that was an experience in its self having new years in italy. People here are beyond friendly to us both and were making memories with them that were not soon to forget.

Last night we had a party of 360 split between the banquet hall and the restaurant. It was another 6 course menu regardless and we handled the smaller group flawlessly, and from what I understood the banquet hall had no problems either. We started service at 8 and kept serving food all the way till the clock rolled and then it was nothing but champagne for all. Once everyone had there fair share of bubbly and the final desserts were served anthony and I went out on the town to wish new years to all our buddies in town. We met numerous amounts of people in the street celebrating the new years and it was auguri auguri auguri to all. I'm not exactly sure what time we made it back to the casa, nor do I remember how we got back to the casa but what I do remember was beyond a good time. Now that the new year is over we should start to see more business here at the complex wich can only mean more fun for everyone.

We only have a month and a half left here in out little paradise so were both trying to cherish the time we have by doing as much as we can. And dont worry we look out for each other and shouldn't hit any problems along the way.

As always Pace&Amore
Auguri.
-R

Holiday Weekend

So this was my first Holiday away from the family and friends and i'm still getting over it. I know its only 4 months over here and I have the rest of my life to spend with them but I still miss them all.

So Friday was a lack-luster day being as we were closed for the Friday/Saturday holiday. We spent the beginning of the day doing a bit of prep for Sundays party and the rest was spent just relaxing and talking online with friends home from college and family. Around 22:00 Ant and I went out for some food and Christmas eve partying to celebrate the holiday and that was a good way to get the mind off of everyone back home. Were making some solid relationships with the town folk, I mean who doesn't want to be friends with someone who doesn't speak you language, agrees with everything you say, and drinks? I'm just saying I'd be friends with them. But all that aside its helping us become for familiar with the town and with the language by trying to converse so its really a win win. Saturday was a lot of the same but instead of going out we had dinner with Peppe, we had bacala lasagna and baked baramundi (and yes chef jack I cleaned it all by myself.) It was good to have a sit down family style dinner, make it easier to deal with missing the real deal. But as the life story goes Party Hard, Work Harder. Sunday we had a party of 120 and had no problems at all. Its really starting to get good when everyone know exactly what they have to do the moment we step into the kitchen, no more charades, I mean weve been here for a month now we should have the ability to. Right?

All in all it was a good holiday even without the friends and family. And we are now half way through our stay in Italy.
Scary thought.

Pace&Amore
-R

Just isnt really the same...

...This time of the year/trip really makes you remember how much you miss all your friends and family.

Thats me. (Photo Cred. AJR)

So this whole week we have been without reservation but we have a party coming in on the 26th so we've been steadily prepping all week for that. With the free time Anthony and I had the chance to go to Foggia and do a little Christmas shopping for ourselves. He ended up buying a new guitar because he's having withdrawals from not playing. There's just something about waking up, looking out the window to this small Italian town, eating breakfast, and listing to the subtle tunes of an acoustic guitar that just seems to fit nicely. I bout a few little things for myself, mainly a new jacket so I don't stand out like a sore thumb over here, as much. We also happened to run into a older man at a gelateria in Foggia that owns a very high end clothing store. His name, Anthony Lucian Rinaldi. Were finding numerous copies of our lovable Ant and each one with there own story, he starting to become a nice conversation piece. We also got to go and finally see one of the windmills, that are scattered around this area, up close. Now let me be the first to say that if you ever see one of these and get the opportunity to see it up close, go. It was...an experience, to see something that large moving in perfect harmony. Definitely got you thinking.

But in all a good week and now for the lonely holiday weekend.

Missing everyone back home.
Pace&Amore
-R

Feels like home

Nothing like a 24hr weekend to make you feel like your back in the states.

"Experiences"

 

So this weekend was as busy as I imagined it would be and seeing as it is December not all the cooks were here Ant and I were given a bit more to do, which is no problem with us. Saturday was the busier of the two days even tho is had less people, just alot of special orders and allergies that needed to be taken care of but no harm done, you get used to making sure everyone gets exactly what they need. We spent the entire time both days in the restaurant instead of the bigger banquet hall, a bit more congested in the kitchen but communication between cooks and waitresses was a lot smoother. And speaking of communication its been roughly a month but im just about fluent with in kitchen lingo as to who needs what or when something needs to get done. Still can't carry a conversation though but hey Rome wasn't built in a day. If I could make one thing clear to all students reading this or any person thinking of visiting the country, learn the language...seriously. Take it from a person who didn't, it sucks, you'll be a 100% better off meeting people and talking to people if you do. But then again Anthony and I have had a good time "Trying" to talk with the cooks and waitresses so there are different "experiences" either way, but id learn at least half if I could.



But anyway to the services, you're better off finding out on your own over here anyway, its more fun that way. Saturday as stated was "busier" as stated for a few reasons: There were more people, there were more send backs per allergies and don't wants, but mainly we were all out of rhythm. Not cooking mass food like this for a whole week will throw most off but the best recover fast. Not so say were the best but we wernt thrown through to much of a loop that Saturday. We had to get pointed in the right direction a few times regarding what needed to be done and such but nothing to serious. We pushed out the whole service without any major issues, all 9 courses. So when Sunday rolled around we were smooth sailing, every one knew what to do, we all remembered what went where and who did what and like a well oiled machine we rolled through service. A big part help was the fact that were not only learning more Italian but the cooks are picking up some English as well so meeting half way really keeps things moving. No standing around playing charades for 10 minutes trying to figure out who hid the olive oil. And as for the desserts I made on Friday they got cranked out, all 140 plates of them, on Sunday. And just a note for thought: When you're making espresso...make sure the coffee is tightly secure, don't want that bad boy blowing off and burning your hand...

Christmas is a week away now and ill be stoked if I get to learn how to slaughter an animal for Christmas, Just Saying.

Pace&Amore
-R

Like summer vacation...

...Remember way back when summer vacation really was time off. Before you had a job that you still had to work, were talking way back. Back when you would wake up and have no idea what day it was but you knew you were gonna have a good time regardless, Okay now imagine you're in Italy. Yeah that's about what i'm going through.

Raw tomatoes, arugula, and mozzarella.

So Wednesday night after our fall out party Me, Anthony, and a few of the cooks went out to see what was alive in the town. This would have been extremely helpful about a moth earlier but hey better late than never, right? Well we now know where the market is, the pharmacy, the best pizza shoppe, and all the bars...We started off by getting dropped off in the middle of main street, we then took a short walk to the pizza shoppe. (Now here's where I feel like I was getting played by some Italians) "Supposedly" This pizza shoppe got voted 2nd best in Europe two years ago, now I'm not going to sit here and call people liars, but im not sold just yet. Anyway we had a few rounds and some extremely good pizza so no real complaints. After that we left and hit the bar next door meeting more of the locals, making friends the whole way. Now what better way to start a friendship than over a few rounds of shots? The best part, they bought them all, so being the friendly American I'm not going to say no. After that we hit another bar to continue the bonding process, and let me tell you we bonded well. We ended up making it home but not until we made solid friends around the town, so all in all a well spent night.

Drying.

Thursday was a quiet day, no parties planned so we did a little prep for the big weekend coming. Today on the other hand was a different story, we prepped the whole day. We have 200 people parties on Saturday and Sunday so this is where the syaing "Its not the hours you put in but what you put in your hours" comes into play. We were in the kitchen from 8 until 17 doing as much as we could. I was assigned to prep the dessert for the next two days. I made 4 kilograms of sweet dough, 2 of which were flattened out like linguine, folded like a half pipe, pinched about an inch apart then rolled around, dried out, and finally fried, did around 300 of them. To me it was a fancier fried dough with a much better dough but there was a real Italian name for it, sadly can't think of it. The other 2 kilos were rolled out into logs about a quarter inch thick, sliced about 1/8 inch wide, I did about 600 of these little guys, they too were fried after drying slightly. Ant was helping prep all of the main courses, and we knocked out a good amount of food but we'll still be busy as all hell tomorrow.

So this will probably be the last post until Monday. I'll let you know how it goes.

'Tis the season...

10 Days 'till Christmas...

So the past few days have been without major parties so there really is no need to re-hash something ive told you a few times already. We've spent the majority of the time on Zullo grounds too due to the weather factor here. Its started to drop a few Celsius and snow almost daily, even though none of it is sticking, but between that and the wind chill being around 40+Mph there really is nothing we can do outside in such a southern town. So we wait untill those big parties to stretch our culinary legs here at the compound.

Prepping liver for the soufrette.

So tonight we had a party scheduled for 19:00, one of the sous chefs parents and family, only about 10 people but were always eager to cook around here when we can. This party was a bit different than most because usually we start at 9 and then serve at 14:00 but Peppe made an exception for this party because of the family aspect. also because it was a family party the menu was a bit changed, not a large but a bit more intricate. We had some of the freshest mozzarella I've ever tasted at the party, it was milked and curdled that day (hopefully we'll be able to do that while were here) We also had shocked fennel heads stuffed with bacalao, bread and cheese, they were then bake as a whole. We also made another pot of soufrette to serve as a main dish, fresh organ meat from a lamb slaughtered earlier this week. All of that among other things were all prepped and ready to go untill about 18:50 when we got a phone call saying there was so much snow in Foggia that the party wouldent be able to make it to dinner. So the food that wasent cooked yet was wrapped and the rest was served to the staff. It sounds like a bit of a wasted day but its the life of a cook, you gotta roll with the punches. But the night isnt a loss, were going out with the other chefs for some beer and pizza later, good bonding time even if we dont speak the same language. Its gonna be fun.


Hopefully later this week or the next we'll be able to learn how to slaughter an animal, that would be a story for the kids.

Pace&Amore
-R

Everyone can stay busy when its busy...

One of my bosses told me: "I don't care what you do when were busy as much as I care what you do when were slow."

So Peppe Zullos is closed for the entire month of December to the public but we still do constant private parties, but even with those a few times a week its still easy to get ahead of yourself and find your self looking for something else to do. When were not doing private parties we still cook on a regular basis for the staff themselves so its no real complete down-time. Make Sense? And even if were not cooking with Peppe he always has us out with one of his employees learning something different about restaurant life or slow foods itself.

1997 wine with our dinner.

Today we had a small party, roughly 15 people, it gave us a good opportunity to see every food. Start to finish, and inside and out how its made, most of the time we were off starting other things, making it easy to miss a step or two, but we got to push out all 8 courses slowly for a change and "imparere"   We started out with a basic fresh mozzarella and prosciutto on a bed of borage, followed by arugula and caciocavallo wrapped in sliced pancetta. We then served fried borage with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese and a Cantalini bean soup with potato and spinach. For pasta we served oricette with tomatoes and diced pancetta.
The main course consisted of the famous veal lasgana and roasted potates but also with baked chicken. For dessert we served the deseret platter and then we served a slice of blueberry pie, a bit out of the ordinary but delicious all the same. once service was finished we got to eat a little bit of everything for our meal, we were luckey enough to have a 14year old bottle of wine with dinner, just because.


the business is getting a bit busier in the next coming weeks seeing as Christmas is approaching, and the restaurant is opening back up in January so we'll be back in the full swing of things soon enough.



Pace&Amore
-R

Imparare...

So its either one of two extremes here, either we have nothing serious to do or were putting in a 15 hour day.



Photocredit goes to Rinadli. He's always got a good eye.



Monday was one of those quite days, we had no work of any kind planned, seeing as were closed tuesday, so we took the oppertunity to see the entire town. We eneded up walking around almost out of town, meeting some locals, and getting some absoluetly beautiful shots of the town. Its always fun to explore a new place and new things, try and find the smallerst spots and the biggest views. It was about an 3 hour walk around the town, and we covered most of it, but we'll most likely end up doing it again...just to find more.



That homade dream.



On tuesday even though we were closed we still did some solid work and learned a bunch. We went to the Zullo complex farm with Biaggio the farmer. He was showing us all the animals that he had to tend to Pigs, Chickens, Ducks, Guinea fowl, 2 Horses, Sheep, and 2 dogs. A good sized fam and we learned what each animal was fed, for a kid whos never been on a farm in his life I was learning a bunch. We also hit the field and picked some fresh veg for the party we had to host tomorow. No mind you neither of us had EVER done anything like this so we were completely stoked to be fully emerssed in something like this not to mention this was the living definiton of slow food, from the garden to the table. We then took the days grab, also including fresh eggs, and headed back to the casa to make a fresh lunch for our selves. After that we hit the kitchen and started prepping for the upcoming party. That night we made dinner with Peppe and a few of his friends with more fresh food, 2 day old lamb gizzards. Now I havent the slighest idea as how to spell it but it was a dish that my grandmother would make for thanksgiving using the kidneys and heart of the turkey, We did same except with lamb sized portions. I know some of you right now are shuttering but hear me out, you sautee the gizzards with onion untill soft, add tomato sauce, kantalini beans, some balsamic vinegar. Fantastico. That with a bottle or two of wine deff made me feel like I was home again.

Fish platter consisting of octopus, mussels, shrimp, and cold poached fish.
 120 count.

Today we had a 120 person party, not exactly what it was for but theres really no complaints as long as were cooking. We did the routine like before, up at 8:30, espresso, kitchen mass prep, lunch, reasturaunt, small prep, joke around, assemble massive amount of food to be sent out in a ridiculous pace, send out massive amounts of food at a ridiculous pace, breathe, espresso, assemble desserts to be sent out at a ridiculous pace, send out desserts at a ridiculous pace, food, esspresso, clean, beer, relax. Its a rough life but you get used to it, and mind you whatever breaks we get are 10mins at a max and there no real sitting so you deal with. Its not all bad tho, I mean were picking up more of the language little by little and now we can somewhat converse with the othe kitchen members...well at least find out where things go or what needs to be done. I know there talking about us they way they act sometimes im just trying to pick it up as fast I can so I can say something back! On the other hand ill be extremely good at charades when I get back to the states.

For the record christmas is celebrated over here as big as it is in the states. Maybe ill get something nice from someone over here :P

One can only hope...

Pace&Amore

-R

Just warming up...

So contrary to popular belief im not dead. Busy busy weekend thats all.

 Editors Note: I consider friday nights to be apart of the weekend shift because if the weekend starts for someone who works M-F when there shift is over friday then when I work friday night it starts my shift.

Friday:


Marchesi.

 So We worked 9-2 this friday, prepping food for the wedding on saturday.We then went with Peppe to meet Pietro Zito in his reasturaunt in Foggia. Now for those who don't know Zito is ranked in the top 10 chefs in italy and owns his own reasturaunt and olive oil field. www.pietrozito.it We met with him and the President of Slow Foods (Slowfood.com) Foggia to car-pool to a meeting involving the biggest names in olive-oil production in italy to speak about the spread of their industry. While we were there we had the oppertunity to meet the number one rated chef in italy Gualtiero Marchesi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gualtiero_Marchesi) We wernt able to sit and hold a solid conversation with him due to the amount of people that were trying to get his attention but the few wrods we had were something to be remembered. Once we had left we headed back to Zitos reastraunt for a late dinner. Now mind you dinner over seas is alot bigger than the states it started off with about 7 or 8 different primi dishes all of wich were a bite or two a piece, from there we had spagetti con cavllo wich was an experience in itself, had the chew of a filet of beef but a taste all its own. From that we had a 4oz steak cooked with caco to a perfect medium rare, also fantastic. And for dessert we had Bicotti, wine soaked apples, rum soaked pound cake, lemonchello, and a homemade herb liquor wich was quite interesting. Now mind you this whole time weve been drinking different wines and eating homemade bread with house made EVOO. After that 21:00 feast we headed back to the house to rest up before tomorow.


Saturday:

Half of the food for the wedding.

We woke up ay 8:45 grabbed an espresso and began the longest day yet. We Prepped all sorts of food for the wedding wich started at 2. We served bread and mini sandwiches for hors d'oeuvres after that we served a meat platter consisting of sliced prosciutto, capicola, and pancetta, followed by a cheese plate with 3 homemade cheeses. Then we served two different plates of pasta, followed by a serving of that veal lasgna I spoke of in a earlier post. Now about this time its 19:00 and all thats left is the dessert so we headed down to the reasutraunt to help prepare for the 18th birthday party starting at 21:00. Now the food was close to the same, sliced meat plates to start and cheese plates to follow, a pasta dish and then sliced pork roast served with roasted potatoes to follow, dessert was a birthday cake purchased by on of the party go-ers. So after serving all the food, a few relaxing brews, our family meal and clean up we finally got to sleep at roughly 2:30 the following day. A long but 'tis the life of a cook, and any other cook will back me up with that statement.


Sunday:

Good Company.

Now we were un-knowing at this point what was to happen today but we woke at 8:45 again, grabbed an espresson, and got down to buisness. Turns out that there was another wedding/giant party in the banquet hall and another small party in the reasturaunt, so all of a sudden we were up to our neck in prep again, the only difference from yesterday? Everything starts 2 hours sooner. So we dished out as much prep as we could for the party in the banquet hall before being sent down to the reasturaunt to help the kitchen down there. (Note: I forgot to mention that there is roughly 3-5 cooks working in the banquet hall and 1-3 down in the reastraunt including myself and rindaldi at any given time.) So back to the story, while we were down prepping for the small party in the restaurant Peppe came down to pay us a visit with a few of his friends. They were however no normal friends, One was the president for Slow Foods Italia the other? the mayor of Orsara, and we were about to cook for them along with this party. So after a quick photo-op we got back to the grind stone and needless to say it all went down without a hitch. Were served sliced capacole with fresh fromaggio and argula for starters, followed by crustini with sauteed mushrooms, cantalini and escarole, orecchiette for a pasta dish, followed by veal lasgna and roasted potatoes, the dessert was a platter of sweets. We then cleaned and went back to help the banquet hall finish there service and once we did finish we left, headed back to the dorms and here we are now. 

Its really starting to sink into the both of us that were away from home, and were not going back for a while still...no complaints.

Pace&Amore

-R

Now it begins...

Its starting to feel more and more like home here...



Mini Pints

 Last night we went out with Peppe, his son, and there web designer Little Richard. (Now little richard is 2m 4cm tall so its a bit of a joke in the town, Anyway) The pizza place was right in Orsara and the owner was once a student of peppes. We were greated instantly at the door, sat down just as fast and the pizza started coming. We had (between the 5 of us) 8 pizzas, all of wich were cooked perfectly and had different toppings everytime. It was another oppertunity to bond with Peppe himself and see how much of an impact this man has on the community around him. After we ate we said farewell to Richard and went home.

Pancetta, Prosciutto, Fungi, and Pumpkin with fresh pasta.

This morning was the day i'd been waiting for, kitchen time. We started the day we the regular eggs and esspresso then went to the main office to do quick paperwork for the schools then it was time to finally get our hands dirty. We did nothing but prep for the wedding on saturday, including making 35lbs of pumpkin puree, roasting off 50lbs of veal, and making 200 bread cups. Now it wasent a busy day by any means but between the joking around between us and the other chefs, music playing from my laptop, terrible dancing, family meal, and countless coffe breaks it was enough to last us the whole day. Its only our second day with the other chefs but already, despite an emense language barrier, were becoming pretty good friends.

Tomorow is the same routine, but in the afternoon were possible going to meet one of the premier chefs in all of italy. Gualtiero Marchesi.

Pace&Amore

-R

We only make beautiful things.

Im interested to see if Peppe Zullo can keep impressing us day after day, because these first two have been un-real.

Beautiful, isnt it?

We started out our day out at 9 with a quick coffe with peppe, he told us we had free range to the kitchen for breakfast. It was easily decided we would be making a home town favorite, something we havent had since we got here...An over easy egg sandwich. Now to those folk who havent visited the boot may think this is pointless but if you have you understand what were talking about. Breakfast here consists of a danish and juice...maybe some yougurt if your luckey, so the oppertuinty to make some SOLID food to start our day was great news. So a few over easy eggs, fresh bread, and fried pancetta meat, fantastico. And we were on our way.

The Reasturaunt/Banquet hall.

From there we meet up with peppe and his architect and got a chance to visit his other estate. Now this lovely piece of land includes, but isnt limited to, a school (with dorms), A guest house, A farm (includeing pigs, horses, ducks, chickens, other foul) a glass walled banquet hall (with a 50's something bentley inside) a full field (with a working six-top stove and oven), A Banquet hall for weddings, the largest of his kitchens (A full underground basement with a slaughter room, Cheese drying room, meat drying room, a pastry room, a fresh pasta room, 4 coolers, 2 freezers, and a loading and un-loading dock for shipments.) Another wine vineyard, Oh and he's mid build on another reasturaunt on site...Yeah that big.

Lunch

After we got the full tour of the second zullo complex we got to meet three of the chefs he employes. They were friendly folk, no english  but the hand signals here help alot. So even tho there was a massive language barrier we still managed to help clean all the new dish ware for the reasturaunt and clean up the kitchen. We then headed back to the main zullo complex to make a late afternoon dinner/lunch consisting of fresh pamadoro sauce (whole canned tomato from the complex, crushed tomato, red onion, EVOO, and salt. Keep it basic.) and cavatelli (Fresh from the town over) after that for a starter we then had a zullo special, Veal lasagna. It was thinly sliced veal layerd like a lasagna would be, with some other goodies inside (zullo secret Im not at liberty to say what) We also had more Zullo wine and talked with the entire family. (Peppe, His Son, and the three other chefs he employs full time) The rest of the afternoon we helped clean the kitchen and set-up for the week ahead.

 We have a wedding for roughly 120 people on saturday, we can't wait to really get our hands dirty.

As always Pace&Amore

-R

The New Family

Weve met peppe zullo less then a day ago and I can't put into words how friendly he's been.

But before we met the man we had to make the journey, wich wasent easy as it should have been. We got a lift from the school from our dorms to the bus stop, and with the hour we had left before the bus showed up we had a brew and remembered our short history toghther with some other students. When the bus showed up we said out final goodbyes and best wishes to each other and went our seperate ways.

When we reached the train station we encountered our first conflict, the ticket station was closed. So with the help of some extremely friendly and non-english speaking older italian gentlemen, 3 of them to be exact, we were finally able to figure out how to order our tickets through a machine. So for a 9hr train from Asti-Foggia we decided to get a sleeper car so we could make the trip as painless as possible, little did we know they would *almost* cost us each 180E. We re-looked our options and found a 4 car with beds for 70E each wich we were much happier with. We headed to the train platform and nervously awaited or train that would take us on our next adventure to italy.

When the train arrived we decided it would be best if we jumped in the first car and just walked down untill we found our seats, little did we know that those seats would be the LAST car in the train. So after jumping through 12 cars and squeezing by about 30 people we found our room and proceeded to fall asleep in our, smaller than twin sized, beds. (it was better than sitting in a chair for 9 hrs, neither of us disagreed that fact.) When we landed the language barrier really kicked in when we were trying to find our bus to osara, difficult and frustrating were not the words but we were lucky enough to meet a bus driver who spoke minimal english and he told us what bus we needed. He was also kind enough to tell us we needed to buy tickets ahead of time, something we wernt used to. So after almost missing our only bus out here at 6 a.m. we finally set sail on a 1hr and a half trip to our new home.

Peppes Award Winning Wine Cellar. All his wine dateing back to 2001

Once we landed we were dropped of in front of what seemed to be the local bake shoppe, we talked to them and they were kind enough to understand Peppe Zullo and call him to come pick us up. When he showed up the first words out of his mouth to myself and Anthony was, and I quote: "Welcome to the Family." Talk about being welcomed in fast. We then jammed our luggage into his car for a 2 min ride to the top of his complex, listening with careful ears to every word that this man spoke and it was instantly obvious that he was the real deal. He spoke of how he wants the freshest food possible, easy to understand when he has a 2,000 square meter farm...with a working stove top and oven set-up in the center. He was giving us the tour of the complex and showed where his grape wines comes from, all the fresh herbs, his wine cellar, and cheese ageing cellar are.

We were then shown to our dorms and allowed to catch up on some much needed rest. When we woke up we started cooking. We prepared lunch for us and his son, a roasted rabbit with potatoes. Now his philosophy on food is a well understood one, you should never over dress a food so much that it loses its natural flavour. Meaning there is really no need to put a bunch of herbs in the rabbit dish so all we used was olive oil (made in house), salt, and vino. While that was cooking we sauted up the rabbit liver with some fresh squeezed juice (Orange and lemons also in house. [see the pattern here?!?]) and brandy.. Ate that with some crusty bread and spilt the bottle of vino between us. We then were albe to finally taste some of the zullo wine he makes, two bottles of it to be exact, and its a simple wine, no intense flavors or aromas but a simple classic wine wich paired quite well with the rabbit and potatoes.

Me and Peppe

With all that in our system we sat around and talked, not like boss to employees, or co-worker to co-worker, we sat and talked like family. Like we had been sent to america when we were only children and this was the first meal we shared in 15 years. We talked about our past, where we had worked and what previous knowledge we had, we talked about our familes back home and our personal lives, and of course we talked about the food. All in all it was an extremely exciting first day and I can not wait to explore more of the Peppe Zullo world.




Untill next time. Pace&Amore

-R

And so begins a new chapter.

On thursday we took our final exam for our breve course in I.C.I.F. We pulled recipies out of a hat the day before, the recipies include everything weve gone over so far so if had missed a recipie it could really backfire. I pulled Semifreddo al Torrone Con salsa Al Cacao, a dessert dish. We started cooking at 9 and had to have 3 portions ready by the time the 3 judges were ready to taste your food. Everyone had a different time and the courses were all in order so being the dessert I was close to dead last to present. I finally did around 12:30 and all went quite well. I got a 24 out of 30 for a grade, 4th highest in class. The rest of the day went smoothly and we received our dipolmas at eh end of it all.

I also found out where ill be heading for the next 3 months on thursday. I decided to go to Foggia, Puglia to a...well im not sure what to call it. Its a farm with a wine vineyard, a reasturaunt, a hotel, and a school. Its huge and I cant wait to go. (Peppezullo.com) Im also going with a fellow student (Anthony John Rinaldi) so we'll be sure to keep in touch.

As always Be Happy. Ill update sooner than later.