Month: July 2017

Saturday we woke up with the thrill of a free day and nothing on the agenda. We were so excited to have a morning to sleep in and make breakfast in our little farm house studio apartment. We cobbled together what we had left in the refrigerator. Dana put together a really nice egg scramble that included fresh eggs, salami, what we had left of the cheese, and red onion from the garden. We also had toasted bread from the bakery we had bought in Siena and fresh raspberry jam to spread on the toast. This was a morning to treasure! The sunlight was coming in through the window and we were having a delicious breakfast that we had just made with supplies from the farm.

After breakfast, we decided to do the driving tour that Isabella recommended in her big book of ideas. It was a country drive in Val D’Orcia (which is basically the part of Tuscany that you think of when you think of Tuscany – endless rolling hills covered with grain or sunflowers, olive groves, vineyards, cypress trees leading up to farm houses, medieval hilltop towns and castles). Isabella provided amazing detailed directions to key highlights and recommended little villages worth visiting along the way.

It was a wonderful Saturday drive. We first stopped at an old Monastery named Monastero di Sant’Anna in Camprena. It was actually the site of where they partly filmed the movie the English Patient. It is now an agriturismo and you can stay there as they have rooms on site. The setting is beautiful and peaceful. The approach is wonderful with its line of cypresses and you really feel you are approaching a holy place – except for the fact that it is a one-lane road and you are a little freaked out that a car could be approaching you at any minute and you’d have to negotiate who gets to back up and who gets to pass. Lots of prayer happens in those moments! Ha, ha.

After we left there we headed to Castelmuzio, which is the hill town where we had dinner on the roof top on Tuesday. We hadn’t taken the time to walk around that village the night we had dinner. So it was fun to meander along the quiet and quaint little streets and take in the beautiful panoramic views at the edge of the village. We stopped for a cappuccino in the town square and marveled at how quiet this little village was – it was an amazing contrast to bustle and business of Siena.

Our next stop was Montisi, which was another endearing little village of only 400 residents but with four very competitive rival districts that has a horse competition similar to Siena once a year. We parked our car and hiked up the steeply perched almond-shaped town, admiring the flags hanging along the cobblestone streets, that represented the four districts of town. The flags were out as Montisi was getting ready for their horse competition in just a few weeks.

Isabella had recommended in her big book that if we went to a certain address, we could enter a big wooden door and bring ourselves into a courtyard. Once we were there, we could climb a set of stairs to the left and find a doorbell we could ring and the artist might be home and we could view her artwork or buy the notecards she sells with her artistry of Val D’Orcia. We thought this would be a nice way to support a local artist if we could make it happen. We also felt like this would be a total long shot in this sleepy village town that seemed to all be at siesta. It was the hottest part of the day and everything seemed closed down.

We found the address and pushed open the gate to enter a little courtyard. Dana said hesitantly and giggling, ‘Are you really going to walk up those steps and ring that door bell?’ I said, ‘Of course.’ This is where I feel like my JW upbringing really kicked into gear. I have the boldness of a lion when it comes to approaching strangers doors and ringing door bells. I don’t even think twice.

I marched right up those steps and rang the door bell and we waited. Again, I was so used to this scenario from my past, it seemed like second nature to just stand there and wait it out. Also, again we were giggling because it seemed so absurd that this woman would be there. But it also seemed like we had fallen into an Alice and Wonderland Adventure and anything could happen.

Before you know it, a sleepy little hot mess of an English woman opens the door. Think a female Benny Hill. It’s the artist. I explain to her why we are there and she peps up. She says, ‘Wow, nobody has stopped in like this in YEARS. This is a nice surprise.’ She had been napping and had just come from her ‘show’ in Pienza where all of her work was on display right now. She INVITED us in because she said she may have a few note cards there, we said ‘Okay, sure we’ll come in.’

Then she leads us into an area of her little medieval home that is all in disarray and keeps apologizing. We are like – ‘Don’t worry, you’re and artist, you weren’t expecting us, we understand.’ Meanwhile, it is so hot and humid in that little place – you can start to feel all of your clothes sticking to your body, and sweat forming on your back and you wonder how she lives in this little medieval home without central air – the romantic idea of it is surely better than the reality of it, at least on this hot summer day.

We end up giving her 20 Euro each and buy some of her note card sets. She is a water color painter and really had some beautiful note cards to sell. She is so touched that as we are leaving she says, ‘Here, let me come with you and give you a little tour of the town.’ She grabs her purse and walks us to the highest point of the village and starts pointing out things we would have never known. She was delightful and at the same time you wondered if she had any human contact in a while, as she was really excited to hang out with us and linger talking on just about any topic.

She then launched into impressions of Americans – she had an amazing accents from different parts of the country. The South, the East, the Bronx – it was surreal. I kept thinking – this IS a female Benny Hill. Then we start moving towards the exit of the town as we were hot and hungry and she says. ‘Yah, I think I’ll pop over to my friend’s house and go swimming now.’ And just like that she walked into another big wooden doorway and waved goodbye and was gone. We laughed all of the way to the car and thought – what just happened? Maybe this is really an Alice in Wonderland type of adventure and we just fell into a hole.

We decided to head back to Pienza and have lunch and explore that little town some more. It was too hot the previous few times, so we wanted to try it again today. We ended up going to the same place that we went to a few days prior with Maddie and Tony for lunch. It was about 2:30pm – an odd time for lunch in Italy, most places stop serving at 2pm. So we went with what we knew and ate there. It is a tiny place, with no air, and we were stuck in a middle table…but at least we were about to have some food and a little wine, always a little wine.

After lunch we stopped for gelatos, walked around the town a little more and then headed back to the farm for naps and packing. We were going to be leaving in the morning for Florence and had 8pm dinner reservations at a steakhouse, so wanted to be efficient with our time that afternoon and also be ready for the big steak dinner!

 

After the long rich meal of the cooking class and days on end of carbs and wine, we were in danger of not fitting into our clothes for the rest of the trip. We decided we wanted a good long sunset hike. Dana had been wanting to watch the sunset all week and we were always at dinner (except for the roof top dinner, where we could see the sunset while having dinner).

We found Carlo on the property and he pointed out a great hike that we could do that would take us about 2 hours and was 5-6 Kilometers. It had a few hills, but that is exactly what we needed.

We had no idea how beautiful this hike would be when we left. It was so quiet and you could see rolling hills for miles and hear only nature. The sunset was spectacular and we saw 8-10 deer on the hike just running in the meadow.

We were so happy we opted out of dinner this night and took a hike in glorious nature exploring and watching the sunset. It was one of the most beautiful and peaceful evenings of the trip. I know I will never forget that hike!

We got back around 9:00pm (the sun sets at about 8:45pm, so it was still pretty light). We both took showers and then we heard knocking at our door. Grandpa is known for knocking on doors to see who wants to come out and drink grappa with him at night.

They even made signs for each door so that he knows which door he can knock on and which door he cannot. The side that has two wine glasses clinking picture on it means, ‘it’s okay to knock.’ The side with the night scene means, ‘we are sleeping, do not disturb.’ We did have this sign up and now we know grandpa doesn’t read signs.

We sat in our room whispering and giggling knowing we weren’t going to open it as we were already in our PJs. Then we hear a ‘It’s Luciano’ being whispered. As if we didn’t know it was him. That made us laugh so much. In that moment, Dana and I could have been in high school again. Something about having to remain hidden and being quiet when you feel like you can’t takes you right back to high school. We had quite the abdominal work out that night from laughing about that, long after he left.

Between the hike and the ab work out, we just may have burned some decent calories on this night!

On Friday we had signed up for a 10am – 7pm drinking and NO driving tour which was supposed to be a Brunello wine tasting tour with a private driver and wine specialist. Sadly, our driver was in a motorcycle accident the day before so the tour was cancelled. But probably our livers were happy to know we wouldn’t be on an all day wine tour.

Instead we opted for a cooking class that a few other ladies staying on the farm were going to take. We were tempted with this option because of the chance to see cool Daria again and have her possibly teach the class. We asked Marta (one of the excellent helpers who works on the farm and makes or changes all of your reservations for you) to see if we could get into the class. She said – no problem!

We arrived early so we could enjoy 2 cappuccinos before class. Daria led us out to the patio overlooking the valley and brought us a fresh pastry and fresh jam and said, ‘Is this okay?’ Um, Yes!! It’s okay.

Soon enough it was time for our cooking course. We were led to another restaurant in the village where the main dining room was transformed into a big cooking class. They gave us aprons to put on, showed us where to wash our hands, and soon enough the cooking class had started.

Not even five minutes in, one of the hosts said ‘I will make you a cappuccino anytime you need one.’ Dana and I felt like we needed another one already. Nothing like five minutes into work and getting a coffee break.

The rest of the class we observed the chef (not Daria but a chef that work at the restaurant) work through the dishes we were going to make that day and we all helped at certain points. It was a very stress free cooking class. Basically, if you just wanted to observe and sip wine you could. Or if you really wanted to get in there and work on each dish, you could do that as well.

It was interesting to see how the dough was made for the ravioli and how that differed from the Pici pasta dough we made the night before. It was also interesting to see the way you roll out the ravioli (paper-thin) and they the filling in and fold, then cut each piece out. All the time you are working through this process you are thinking, I don’t see myself doing this at home, but it’s good to know how it is made. At least that is what I was thinking.

One new trick I observed in the cooking class that will stick with me is he had a spray bottle to use to coat his pan with olive oil. It is really a nice way to get an even coating of the oil on the pan with little waste.

After we prepped all of the dishes for cooking, the chef took them in the back and finished them off. We then sat down at a beautifully set table and would eat all of the courses we had started to make. It was the Aussie dad’s birthday, and the Aussie dad’s wife was in the class. So the whole family came and joined us for the lunch. The kids mostly just sat down to eat spaghetti they made just for the kids and the adults sat down to each course with a few paired wines.

The class started at 10am, and we left the restaurant at 3pm stuffed. We couldn’t imagine eating dinner that night. We wanted to do something active that didn’t include food. It was time to consult Isabella’s big book of suggested activities!

For our Tuscan dinner they cooked the Pici pasta we made and prepared it with a fabulous meat ragu prepared by Isabella.  We had suspicions that perhaps they tossed all of our amateur Pici, but we were assured that we were indeed eating all of the Pici that we made.

For our second course, Carlo served the grilled meats with delicious side dishes  (contorni) prepared by Isabella. When Carlo came around with the grilled meats we giggled like school girls as he served us with his Tuscan movie star looks.

Then, of course, Luciano came with his pecorino cheese, cold cuts, bread, Sangiovese wine, grappa, and vin santo. It was time to start working on an exit strategy for later as I wasn’t up for more dancing tonight. If anyone needed to take a turn with grandpa and dancing, it was Dana.

After they served dessert, I was ready to jet back to the room and crash. However it was such a festive night, Dana felt she needed to give grandpa just a little attention for the evening and all that he brought to the dinner. Meanwhile, me and a few others had a chance to talk to the grill master and wild horses couldn’t pull me away. Even Dana saying, “Lisa, come here! Come here!”  Hey, I already had my turn the night before, it was her turn with Grandpa.

It was fun to sit with him and a few others and talk to Carlo and find out that he was also turning 50 this year and that he recently lost 25 pounds. His secrets are: Pasta only one time per week, 7 kilometers per day of walking, a very light breakfast and lunch, and meat and salad for dinner.

When I wondered back over to Dana, I found her in Grandpa’s arms. He got his dance.

By Thursday we were wiped out and really needed a rest day. We cancelled all activities for the day except for the Pasta Making lesson and Tuscan dinner that occurred on the property and wouldn’t start until 5:30pm.

It was a great day to just stick around and enjoy the farm, rest, read, blog, and do laundry. They had great facilities there to wash your clothes and let them air dry in the Tuscan sun.

I think when you are traveling this long, it is important to just have a grounding day where you can rest and do grounding things…even laundry. Make breakfast and just sit and be.  So we skipped the 9am Art & Artisan Tour, the 1pm-3pm cheese tasting at a neighboring farm that makes 30 types of cheeses. I mean, how much cheese can you eat in three weeks without skyrocketing your cholesterol. Yes, this was a health choice on several levels.

We arrived at the “Pici” pasta making class on site, right on time to find Isabella there in a cool halter apron and white linen dress. She is the perfect match for Carlo – they are equally talented and Tuscan and you think ‘What? You know how to do that too?’

She walked us through how to make the dough from scratch. That process alone was a highlight of the trip. To hear her speak in her accent, mold the dough, and give us tips on making our own pasta at home.

Five important things we learned about pasta cooking alone, that made me realize my whole life I have been a pasta cooking train-wreck:

1. NEVER add your salt to the water until after it has started boiling, otherwise it will take too long to boil.
2. Be generous with the salt in the water, it really adds flavor to the pasta itself while it is cooking. A pinch isn’t enough. She adds a handful (my heart stopped and I wondered just how big her pasta pot is at home for a handful, she must be cooking for more than just one).
3. NEVER add oil to your water. She said, ‘Please, I beg you.’ She said if you make your pasta oily before adding the sauce, ‘your Ragu will slide right off the pasta.’
4. NEVER pull your pasta out of the boiling water to strain and add cold water to stop it from cooking. She said again, ‘Please I beg you. Why you gonna do that?’ She said you need to pull your pasta out 2 minutes before it’s done and then add your sauce immediately. It will cook in the sauce another two minutes.
5. She makes all of her dough on one board using flour dams to contain the liquid. At the end, all she has to wash is one board, but conceded, it may be ‘too dangerous’ for us to try at home so if we want to cheat and use a Kitchen Aid – she said, ‘It’s okay, shhh, I won’t say anything.’

Isabella was a MARVEL to watch make the dough for us before she gave us lessons on how to roll the ‘Pici’ pasta, which is basically a very thick and delicious spaghetti noodle. It was invented during war time when all that they had to make pasta with was flour and water. Family traditions add eggs now – depending on your family, it will dictate the number of eggs you use.

She approached her dough making with such gusto, flour on her face and arms and such enthusiasm for what she was doing. I only wish I could have video’d her whole lesson as it made me laugh so much to hear her ‘begging’ us not to do things and explaining the way to make the pasta.

Soon enough we all had our own little pile of dough that she gave us to knead ourselves until it was ready. She would come by and tell us when it was ready by pushing her finger in the dough and feeling the resistance and moisture level. She was like a Doctor of pasta coming around to check on us.

After that step, we began the rolling process, which, once you got going with it – you could get the hang of it. I think I could even host a ‘Pici Pasta’ making party when I get home and channel my inner Isabella. Who’s in?

Once we were done making all of the fresh pasta, they would take it away to another part of the farm to start boiling it and they also began the preparations for our outdoor Tuscan dinner at one long table. We’d eat the pasta, some side dishes, and Carlo would be grilling sausage and pork ribs (of course he knows how to grill meats as well, is there anything he can’t do?).

We rested a bit for dinner and opened the wine that was our replacement wine from the lake region to have with dinner (remember the brown wine we purchased and returned in Stresa?). The replacement wine was coincidentally a Brunello – which is the most famous wine of this region. It was going to be perfect with our Tuscan Dinner!

One of the perils of farm life was the fact that grandpa came to the farm every night with his home brew grappa and Vin Santo and he wanted to offer you some and chat. It didn’t phase him at all that no one spoke Italian except for him. He had a little iPad translator that barely worked but it was enough to communicate a few things.

When we got back to the farm, he was waiting for us so we decided to chat it up with grandpa – Tony, Maddie (who knows some Italian), Dana and me. He kept moving the conversation towards wanting to dance with the ladies. Before you knew it, he’d pulled up ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and I found myself in Grandpa’s arms. Thankfully Tony and Maddie were dancing at the same time and saved me  from being grandpa’s permanent dance partner. We did the ‘switch’ halfway through the song.

After a day in Siena, a ‘cankle’ scare, and the full 4 course wine tasting dinner – I was ready to head off to bed. No one wants to dance all night with grandpa. But it was fun to have more time with Tony and Maddie and it gave us much to laugh about that night..

They were leaving in the morning so it was our last chance to hang out with them some more. Overall a very fun night – dancing and all.

We made it back from Siena to the farm with about 15-20 minutes to get changed and ready to leave for the Wine Tasting Dinner. We ended up needing to call Daria to tell her to start without us as we would be 15-20 minutes late, as it was about a 20 minute drive. Then, of course, once you park, it’s a hike up to the hill town. So you need extra time to account for that little bit of extra cardio that makes a 1% dent in what you about to eat.

Daria was super gracious when we arrived, catching us up quickly on the first pour. She was fascinating to listen to and everything about this experience was superb and beautiful – including the tiny, gorgeous medieval hamlet of Monticchiello.

Throughout a specifically designed, four-course menu classy Daria (think an Italian Helen Mirren) explained each food and wine. She is a highly skilled sommelier – truly an expert for those who want to know more about Tuscan food and wine.

The restaurant ‘La Porta’ was small and charming, and very Tuscan in decor over looking the rolling hills of the region.

Eight of us from the farm went to this dinner and sat at one long table. It was great to have a taste of a wine that matched each course and listen to Daria’s explanations.

It was a wonderful experience in a beautiful setting and all the way back to the farm we kept talking about how cool Daria was and how she rocked her whole ‘I”m a wine expert’ look. It was a great end to the activities of the day.

Antonella has to be experienced to really get the full ‘flavor’ of this mix of a chic and fiery Italian woman/historian/drill sergeant/tour guide/wine and cheese expert. My first introduction to her was her knocking at our apartment door at 8:59am as we were heading out with a ‘It’s 9am, the tour starts a 9am.’  I reply, ‘Yes, got it, we are coming out right now.’

Let me just say, with the pace we have been maintaining, a 9am start with getting ready, making breakfast, coffee, collecting all of things you think you’ll want/need all day feels a little stressful. On this day I even skipped coffee and breakfast to simplify what I had to do that morning. And everything else at the farm has been a loose start – with about a 10 minute grace period. Not so much with Antonella.

Antonella introduces herself by saying, ‘I am not your typical Italian woman. 1. I do not like the sun, 2. I am always on time, 3. I hated the movie ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’- it was horrible.’ All of us going on the tour that day from the farm – about 12, were half awake and just kind of staring at her thinking, not sure she if she is insulting us or what but, here we go. Rough start.

We all drove there in a caravan (5 cars) following her on the 1-hour drive to Siena. She gave us rules before we departed and instruction on what to do in case we got separated on the drive. She also insisted we tailgate on the one lane roads so that we didn’t let any cars in between our caravan. My whole life I have been driving without tailgating – so trying to start undoing that probably wasn’t going to happen as she would hope.

Regardless, all went well on the drive, tailgating and all and soon enough we were in Siena in a secret parking garage that she led us into equipped with nice bathrooms. You had to pay .50 euro to use it, but it was worth it. About half of us didn’t have to go, but she said, ‘You all MUST go and try, this is your last chance for a bathroom for a while.’ I felt like I was in 2nd grade again being asked by the teacher to ‘try’ to go to the bathroom when recess was over before heading back into class. So I tried and was successful. What do you know, I did have to go. Maybe I need Antonella.

She actually turned out to be a great tour guide and knew so much of the history of Siena. It was fascinating to understand more about Siena beyond the stunning medieval architecture that sours up into the sky and seems frozen in time. Siena is a world heritage site, founded by the Etruscans in 900-400 BC. That is enough to blow your mind.They were a tribe of advanced people that changed the face of Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land and build their settlements in well defended hill forts. It is something to see!

In all of my trips to Italy, I had never been to Siena and this was spectacular to visit. At one time, Siena was medieval Florence’s archrival, but because Siena suffered from the Black Plague in the 1300’s, losing a third of their inhabitants, it never recovered. That led to it being pickled in time for centuries giving us the view that we have today.

Today Siena is well known for their medieval-inspired Palio horse race that has been held since the early 13th century. It takes place on two separate days of the year: July 2nd, and August 16th. Ten horses and jockeys compete in the race representing ten districts (out of the seventeen in which the city is divided). These districts are like little families, with their own animal symbol and flag and they take the competition VERY seriously! If your district wins you are considered ‘born again’ and become a ‘baby’ – with the honor to wear your district scarf and a pacifier around your neck for a year. Say what?

Antonella knew so much of this history of the Palio horse Race event, I am definitely inspired to watch it in August on TV this year. She also led us through the Duomo (Siena main cathedral) which is spectacular to see and completely massive.

Our time with Antonella ended at about 1pm and by then we were ready for a break from the Antonella regime. I will say she was very efficient, had funny stories, and was very well informed. It’s too bad she lost me at ‘I hated the movie – Under the Tuscan Sun’ so early in the day. We skipped the group lunch to explore on our own.

This is the day I looked down to tie my shoe and discovered I didn’t recognize my ankles. I now had ‘cankles.’ All of the heat, combined with lack of drinking enough water, and salty foods had taken its toll. I had never seen my ankles look like that, needless to say, I started downing the water! I laughed everytime I looked at my Fred Flinstone feet and suddenly was highly motivated to keep drinking water.

Regardless we pressed on and did our own tour of Siena with the Rick Steve’s audio guide. We actually preferred that tour to Antonella’s as we could do it at our own pace and he offers such a nice flavor of what you are experiencing on his audio walking tours and they are not overwhelming. We ran into Antonella leading another group (no wonder she was keeping us on such a tight schedule) and waived.

Soon enough we were a little hungry and stopped for a light lunch and we had a wine tasting dinner tour that evening and it was already 3pm. Dana found the cutest little place for us to have a small plate of mixed meats (more salt!), cheeses, and a glass of Prosecco. We so enjoyed our time there, oddly listening to 50’s diner music that was piped in while we enjoyed our snack and our free time in Siena.

We walked back to the parking garage and ran into Antonella again with yet another tour group! This woman is a touring machine around these parts. We waived again and she confirmed we were on the right path back to the parking garage. With that we bid a fond, ‘Arrivederci Antonella’ and headed back to the farm to get changed for our progressive wine tasting dinner.

On Tuesday night we signed up for the dinner on the rooftop terrace on top of a Medievel tower. We were told it would be like eating dinner up in a hot air balloon. That description was very accurate including the tight quarters that you might find yourself in – if you had 11 people eating in a hot air balloon!

By now I was so exhausted as we headed off to dinner for this adventure. I had even napped that afternoon, but still felt fatigued from all of the non-stop activity. Also, have I mentioned it is hot! Very hot, so that has a way of zapping your energy.

Regardless, dinner as it was described on a roof top felt like it was not to be missed (as did every activity they suggested this week – that was the problem). So we signed up for it and even hung in there when they told us two other families would be joining us that night that had a combined five children ages 11, 8, 8, 7, 7 We really liked the parents of the children (all staying on the farm at the same time as us) and figured they would keep the kids under control during dinner. While I do love children, dining out at fancy dinners in Italy with a group of them sounds like a recipe for an interesting evening.

As it turned out, they did a great job in keeping the children behaved when they were at the table and specifically eating. When they weren’t eating, the parents would say ‘go down and play’ and sent them down into the village to play at the park with the 11-year-old in charge.  Isabella, had said it was fine for them to play in the village and they seemed to enjoy their time adventuring around. You definitely feel in this part of Italy that it is very family oriented and the Italians take care of one another and that children are precious and protected by all.

Getting to this roof top was about 6 flights of stairs up, and then 2 sets of what we were calling ‘bunk bed’ ladders to climb onto the roof. It was hilarious! We couldn’t imagine how they would get all of our food up and down all of these stairs and ladders.

Amazingly, they did and did it very proficiently! The food ended up being just as spectacular as the view. Dana and I split a Tuscan soup and a spinach pici pasta with fried bacon. Believe me when I say it was outstanding and at this point I feel I am fast-tracking my way shutting down my arteries. Our only good choice at this point is we are now splitting dishes to cut our calories in half. Hey, you have to start somewhere!

It turned out to be very memorable evening and we are so glad that we went. We also enjoyed connecting with the other families. The location was unreal and indescribable. I am hoping that the pics picture here help to give an idea of what it was like to sit up there and watch the sunset and then dine under the stars. It was unforgettable and I am so grateful for the experience.

Did I mention Carlo is a professional olive oil taster? Well, he is. Just when we thought he couldn’t get any cooler, he drives up on antique Vespa and begins the tour letting us know he is also an official olive oil tester for the Province of Siena.

He started by showing us the vineyards and how they are suffering from the drought this year. Many of the leaves are burned as are the grapes because of the heat. The grapes also aren’t growing well, because they can’t get enough water. If they don’t get rain in the next 10 days they will lose a lot of their wine production this year. Carlo has said he has never seen a drought in Tuscany like they have had this year in all of his years of farming.

He then introduced us to the world of olive farming and olive oil production. We started in the orchard to learn about the trees, the pruning, and the harvest, and then it moved into a quick lesson to learn about olive oil, what to taste for, how to select a good olive oil to buy.

It all commenced in a ‘tasting game’ where we rated 4 different olive oils and they helped us to recognize defects in oils and those qualities that make a good oil. After tasting we judged the oils on several qualities (spicy, bitter, density, fruitiness, sweetness, balance, etc.) that make a good oil and then compared our ratings to Carlo’s ratings. Proud to say that I recognized the rancid oil…ha, ha.

The top 5 things I learned were:

1. Always buy extra virgin olive oil – it’s the best quality. Don’t bother with regular olive oil, the quality isn’t good.
2. The olive oil you buy for cooking should be different than the one you put on your salad that is important for taste. Your cooking oil should be mild so as not to interfere with the taste of your dish.
3. If you want Italian oil, look on the back label to make sure it is Italian olives, not just ‘bottled in Italy’ on the front label.
4. Store your oil in a dark bottle and don’t buy a quantity that you can’t go through in 90 days.
5. If you reuse a bottle to store your oil, make sure to clean it in the dishwasher each time you refill it including the stopper. If you don’t, the older oil on the rim will turn rancid and could turn your new oil rancid.