Parma, Italy 2010

I have just returned from a business trip to Parma, Italy, home of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Parma ham and some of the best food and wine on earth. One of our colleagues and friends in Parma is Piervirgilio (P.V. for short), who always is a very wonderful host to us when we visit. We had only one night to eat in Parma and P.V. showed us a wonderful time.

We can't leave Parma without some cheese to take home, so P.V. first took us to a local shop to purchase some. They had cheeses that were all different ages and tastes, up to a 60 month old cheese that had a very strong flavor. After tasting a few, we chose a 34 month old cheese that had a really good taste, but not too strong.

This picture shows all of the cheeses (and P.V.)

This is the real stuff people. So far from the grated imitation stuff we see so often in the U.S.!!

This is Parma ham. We would love to bring this home too, but can't get it through customs. We were tempted to take a chance though and had a good debate about what the penalty would be if we got caught. In the end, we decided to play it safe.

After shopping we went to dinner to a place out in the country that serves traditional Parma food and wine.

First up, the wine. An award winning Lambrusco wine which is a sparkling red wine that is delicious and very easy to drink. At this restaurant they drank wine in traditional marble cups that enhance the flavor of the wine. We went through 4 bottles for 4 people.

Next came the Parma ham.

This is a picture of different kinds of Parma ham of different qualities.
We actually had 2 platters of these. They were all very good, but I could tell that some were much better than others.

I wish I knew what the Italian name was for these, but they are like a savory (not sweet) doughnut type bread that we ate with the ham and cheese.

This is one platter of parmigiano cheese that we had, different ages and with different additions. One had unsweetened chocolate, one had pistachios. The chocolate one was very interesting and unlike anything I've ever had before, for sure!

These are chunks of Parmigiano cheese. We took these and dipped them in honey and then in ground coffee. It was a very interesting flavor combination!

The honey and coffee.

One of my plates that was refilled many times!

Just when we thought we couldn't eat any more, they brought out the main course, pasta! Actually 4 different kinds of tortelli, what we would call ravioli, but ravioli is actually a smaller version of tortelli. The 4 versions of tortelli were: 1. Truffles 2. Herb 3. what they said was an onion but not really an onion, I'm thinking shallot? 4. cheese. They were all good!

More pasta. At this point I had to go to a happy place.

Desert. A type of merangue. It was delicious. Had to go to an even happier place!

I didn't get any pictures of what they brought next, and I so wish I had, because I will never forget it. They set a shot glass in front of us with a sugar cube in it. They called it "burning sugar". The sugar cubes soak in a vase with 80 proof alcohol and lemon. By some chemistry magic they don't dissolve. When you eat them, they burn, burn, burn. I managed to eat mine in 2 bites with lots of water, but it was tough, I'm not going to lie to you. I know why they call it "burning sugar"!

And then as if that was not enough, they brought out shots of lemoncello next as a digestif, which just about finished me off for the night.

It was a wonderful night though and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to experience such great food and wine in a wonderful place!

Next post, Milan, Italy!

Jurassic Brownies

Tomorrow JW turns 7 so tonight I am making some treats for his birthday snack at school. I decided to make dinosaur shaped brownies using my favorite way to make brownies adapted from a recipe I found in Southern Living. Peanut butter streusal brownies... they are awesome!


Here's how to make them:

Make the batter for a 13x9" pan of brownies according to package directions (I like Duncan Hines, but Pillsbury is good too). Pour the batter into a greased 13x9" pan.

In a small bowl mix until crumbly:

1/2 cup flour
2 T brown sugar
2 T granulated sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 T melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt

Sprinkle mixture over brownies. Bake according to package directions, maybe slightly longer. Cut into whatever shape you prefer but we recommend dinosaurs!

All it's Cracked Up to Be

About every 3 months or so I take my barrel horse Pacman and any other horse who needs it to see an equine chiropractor, Dr. Lisa Baucom, to make sure everything is aligned and to check their accupressure points. The accupressure points are a great way to diagnose any soreness issues in a horse that otherwise can't be identified.

Dr. Baucom travels from Winston Salem (about 2-3 hours away) to a farm close by of some friends of ours, Valentine Farm, to spend a day working on horses.

Pacman says I recognize that pretty barn!

Pacman is 17 hands which is a really tall horse. Lisa has a block that she stands on.
Above she is checking Pacman's pelvis.

Adjusting his back and withers.

Adjusting his knee.

Pacman loves having his poll adjusted (which is right behind his ears).
It's like a big hug.

We are so lucky to have access to Dr. Baucom in our neck of the woods. A huge thank you to Leslie and Valentine Farms for organizing her visits.

Time to Plant: Broccoli, Onions, Peas

We are so excited to get our 2010 garden going. We went last week to our local hardware store to buy some broccoli plants, onion sets and peas, which are all frost hardy garden plants. We haven't had time to get them put in until today. Despite a cold rain and the threat of snow, we were out there planting. I would not call us expert gardeners, we are very much still learning as we go. Each year we get better. I will post our progress,planting schedule, successes/failures as we go this year.

We prepared our 2nd raised bed similar to what we did when we planted garlic last fall, this time I will spare you from a picture of our manure pile. You can read about it here. We planted an entire lengthwise row of peas and one row of onions. The peas are called Alaskan Early Peas and the onions are Texas Supersweets.

We planted 6 peas per square (though can plant 9-12 per square). 3 on either side of a trellis that they can climb. It helps to get the peas going, if they are soaked first to soften them up before they are planted. They should be ready in 50 to 60 days, end of April, beginning of May.

The onions were actually onion plants which are different than the onions I planted last year because they still have the green part and the roots. Last year my onions weren't too successful because I think I didn't plant them deep enough (they were popping out of the ground before they were ready) but the instructions on these onions said plant no deeper than 1". So we will see. Also I'm not too good with underground plants because I am not patient enough and pull them before they are ready. So this year I am planting about 50% more than I would think I need. I planted 9 per square. They should be ready in 100 to 120 days, or 3-4 months, or sometime in May or June. I need to remember this.


I learned my lesson last year and decided not to plant any broccoli in the raised beds. They just take up too much room and they are not done producing when I'm ready to plant my summer veggies. Last year I had moments of standing over the broccoli plants saying "Come on! Be done already!!" I felt kind of bad rushing them along, only to yank them out when I just couldn't wait any longer.

We have a conventional garden next to the raised beds. This is where the broccoli is going this year, so it will have plenty of room and plenty of time to live life to the fullest. Which should be 50-70 days, Mid April - May.


The raised beds are planted with the square foot gardening method for high yield. The pros to this are the lack of weeds, high yield and ease of planting (can till easily by hand since no one ever walks in the garden) The cons are that I felt last year everything got so crowded it was hard to tell what was what and if you don't plan correctly smaller plants can get pushed out by the larger ones.

I have a better game plan this year. I planted small underground plants in the first row of each bed (onions, garlic) and I will plant medium size plants in the middle row and then climbing plants on the 3rd row with the trellis. I have one trellis row open. I will plant cucumbers in that row early, then by the time the peas are done in the other box, I will plant more cucumbers so I can extend my cucumber growing season for maximum pickle production. That's the plan anyway. Last year the cucumbers were coming faster than I could make pickles. It was a lot of pressure!

The conventional garden pros are there is more room (but it does take up more space) and we used garden fabric to keep the weeds and grass out last year that seemed to work well. The cons are that you need a tractor or tiller to get the dirt ready in the spring and dogs and other critters have free access to the garden. Nickel wandered into the garden as we were planting the broccoli lookin' a good "spot" if you know what I'm talkin' about.

I'll keep you posted on our progress, now I'm going to get back to browsing my seed catalog.

Bagels and Bagel Dogs

A few years ago I found a good recipe for homemade bagels in Light & Tasty magazine. They are really not hard to make, a little time consuming (waiting for them to rise) but each step is easy. And the waiting for them to rise part, just means the recipe comes with built in rest breaks. So that's nice, isn't it? Kids can help too, they can put their play dough snake making skills to good use.

When I was growing up, we used to get "Bagel Dogs" at a local bagel shop. I used to love them so I decided to make them myself. This recipe makes the Bagel Dogs plus some extra bagels for breakfast the next day. Even my husband likes these bagels and he usually thinks eating bagels are like chewing on a spare tire.

Before I begin, I must warn you that this recipe requires parchment paper. Parchment paper has always been the Achilles heal of my cooking. I have a bad habit of not reading through a recipe completely before I dive into making something. I check the ingredients, if they seem reasonable, I get them and off I go. That's how the parchment paper gets me every time. It's never listed in the ingredients. They sneak it in, usually toward the end of the recipe, when I'm in too deep to turn back and I usually do not have it on hand. I think there should be some sort of recipe rule to list parchment paper in the ingredients. Because parchment paper has gotten me so many times, I'm obviously too set in my ways to change MY behavior.

Anyway, I've got some unresolved issues to work out, but here's how to make them.

First dissolve 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast in 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

Add 3 tablespoons canola oil, 3 tablespoons sugar, 3 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 egg. Stir to combine.

I modify the original recipe by using 1 cup whole wheat and 3-4 cups bread flour.

Add enough flour to make a dough.

Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth. This is a great way to de-stress.

Cover with a dish towel and let it and yourself rest for 10 minutes.
After you've rested, divide the dough in half. Divide one half of the dough into 5-6 sections.
Roll each section into a 10" long rope and form into a circle. Pinch to seal the ends together.

Divide the other half of the dough into 4 sections.
Flatten each section and wrap around a hot dog.

Cover and let them and yourself rest for 20 minutes.

(Sorry to disturb you but after about 10 minutes put a large pot of water on to boil and turn the oven on to 425 degrees)

Place the bagels and bagel dogs into the boiling water 2-3 at a time. Boil for 45 seconds, and then turn them over and boil for 45 more seconds. Use a spoon to make sure they don't stick to the bottom. Note: it's really hard to get a picture of boiling water!

Remove them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, 2" apart. Sprinkle with toppings such as sesame seeds, minced onion, kosher salt, poppy seeds, etc. I'm not a fan of poppy seeds, but I used all of the others.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 12 minutes.

Then turn over and bake for 5 minutes more.

Some pictures of the final products. Yum!

These pigs are really toasty in their blankets.

30 Minute Mozzarella

Did you know that in 30 minutes you can make homemade fresh mozzarella in your own kitchen? It is great fun for kids and they finally get to see what these "curds and whey" are that they keep reading about.

I ordered my supplies from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company CheeseMaking.com They have a homemade mozzarella kit that has everything you need to make mozzarella (and other cheeses as well).

Here are the steps that are provided with the kit.

Dissolve 1/4 rennet tablet in 1/4 cup cool, chlorine free water.

Dissolve 1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid into 1 cup cool chlorine free water.


Make sure your milk is not ultra pasteurized.
It can be skim or whole or a mixture.
I also like to use hormone free milk because only very rarely can I find mozzarella in the stores that states that it is hormone free.

Pour 1 gallon of milk into a large pot.

Stir constantly as you add the citric acid solution.

Stir constantly and heat to 90 degrees F.

Pretend like this says 90 degrees. Oops. This is where I start saying things like my thermometer must be at least 4 degrees off.

Remove the pot from the burner and slowly stir in the rennet solution with an up and down motion for approximately 30 seconds.

Cover the pot and leave it undisturbed for 5 minutes.

The curd should look like custard and clearly separate from the whey.
If the curd is soft or the whey is milky let sit for a few more minutes.

Cut the curd with a knife (I don't have a picture of this).
Place the pot back on the stove and heat to 105 degrees F while slowly moving the curds with a spoon.

Take off the burner and continue to slowly stir for 2-5 minutes.

Ladle the curds into a large microwaveable bowl, draining off as much of the whey as you can without pressing the curds too much.

Microwave for 1 minute.
Put on rubber gloves. The first time I tried this I didn't have rubber gloves, and used latex instead. This is not recommended. It is very hot!! Gently fold the curds into one piece.
Add cheese salt to taste. So far I've tried 1 Tablespoon which was too much and 1 teaspoon was too little.

Microwave for another 30 seconds. Drain again and stretch the curd. It must be 135 degrees to stretch properly. If not hot enough, microwave for another 30 seconds.

Stretch the cheese by pulling like taffy until it is smooth and shiny.
The more you work the firmer it will be.
Shape into your desired shape (ball, log, braid, string cheese, etc)

Submerge in ice water.
This step protects the silky texture and keeps it from becoming grainy.

The final product. Slice or shred and Enjoy!