Cooking Class + Family Updates
Lots of things have been happening in between all of my recent trips . . .
I haven't been to a cooking class in a good long while, so it was fun to meet together with some friends in July and learn how to cook up a few new things.
Rachel McGovern, one of my first friends here in Vicenza, just moved up to Germany. But before she left, she coordinated with Francesca (her favorite cooking class instructor) to put together a menu of some things that she wanted to learn how to make.
The menu consisted of:
- Gnudi
- Tomato sauce
- Mushroom-bacon sauce
- 6-cheese sauce
- Fried zucchini flower blossoms
We met at my friend Emily Thompson's house, and she had already gone out early that morning to pick some of the squash flower blossoms from their garden.
We used some milk + pastry flour to make the batter . . .
Historically, vanilla was expensive or difficult to find in the supermarkets, so someone created a baking powder with the vanilla built right in! They are sold in packets, or "bustinas" here in Italy. Each packet contains 16 grams and is formulated to be the right amount for a standard Italian cake (made with 400-500 g of flour). Recipes will call for a "bustina" of Lievito Vaniglinato. And now you know . . .
Oil for the frying . . .
Prep for the flower blossoms . . . as Francesca explained how we would do the process.
Emily is explaining in this video how Francesca is flopping the blossom back and forth to coat it really well: (13 seconds) https://photos.app.goo.gl/aB86dhQ974Q4pBp59
Video of Emily giving it a try - Francesca verifies that the batter needs to be thick: (10 seconds)
Video of Leslie using chopsticks to roll the fried blossoms in a mixture of sugar and lemon zest to coat them after they are hot and fresh out of the pot: (12 seconds)
*If you're brave - you can just use your fingers to roll it around.
These were seriously SO GOOD. Not good for you . . . but oh so yummy. The kids all loved them too!! I forgot to mention that all the young moms that came for the class brought their children and they all played together while the moms cooked in the kitchen. Everyone got along fantastically, and there was a nice mix of older children to help keep an eye on the younger children.
Recipe for the Fried Sweet Zucchini Blossoms:
Next up: Gnudi
Gnudi are similar to gnocchi, but they do not use potatoes. Ricotta, eggs, and flour are the main ingredients, combined with pesto.
Francesca - adding in the first cup of flour to the mixture: (7 seconds)
Rolling out the Gnudi into little ball shapes, coating them with a dash of flour . . .
Gnudi rolling: (4 seconds) https://photos.app.goo.gl/sxWDAtND1MkL1fzS8
Again, very similar to gnocchi, when the dough is cooked, they float to the top of the boiling water.
Parmesano reggiano has to be specified, because another common version over here is Grana Padana. I prefer the taste of the Parmesano reggiano, personally.
Tomato Sauce recipe: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vUItC1hA1KPbPV9g-ikSl2DBzdM1ZPXV/view?usp=sharing
Red sauce + the mushroom & bacon sauce . . .
Let's rewind to see what took place leading up to this point . . .
Several varieties of frozen mushrooms are common in the local grocery stores here in Italy . . . They cook up nicely, too.
Video of the mushrooms after they've been heated up: (3 seconds)
Frozen chopped herbs are also very common here, especially Prezzemolo. (Parsley)
Addie Mae and I chopped up a tediously large slab of bacon . . .
Video of the bacon and diced onion in the pan: (5 seconds)
After the bacon/onion mix was paired with the mushrooms and parsley, then the entire mixture was combined with a large bowl of bowtie pasta. Parmesan was sprinkled on top to finish it off.
Video of the bowtie pasta & mushroom sauce ready to serve: (2 seconds)
Next up: 6 Cheese Sauce . . . Okay, so there's only 5 shown below, and there are only 5 listed in the recipe. It's possible that we also added some freshly grated Parmesan to make it "6".
Rachel has always been the scribe for the cooking classes, taking notes and compiling the recipes each time that Francesca is teaching. Here and there, she'll pause and help with one of the steps, too. But Francesca pointed out to us that someone is going to need to fill this slot when Rachel moves away . . .
I spent most of my time near Francesca over at the stove. I was the videographer and the documenter, at the same time as being a chopper, a stirrer, a dipper, a pourer, a coater, and a second set of hands for Francesca. I also spent a great deal of time washing dishes and keeping things clean. Francesca praised me up and down multiple times, thanking me profusely for staying closeby and being available for whenever she needed some assistance. She told me that too often the ladies get to talking and aren't really paying attention to what's happening on the stove. I was just glad she wasn't annoyed that I was hovering so much. ha ha
Video as I stirred the cheesy mixture, waiting for those last chunks to melt in: (6 seconds)
The finished product . . .
6 Cheese Sauce recipe: (Or 5 Cheese Sauce . . . whatever you want to call it)
Bekah (back left), Rachel, Leslie (black shirt in front), Lexi, Francesca, Addie Mae, Emily (in front), and Me.
The food was great. The experience was great. Hanging out with these ladies was fantastic. :)
One day as I was driving down the lane to Del Din to mail a package, I noticed some large fields of sunflowers all in bloom. True to form, I pulled over to take some photos and enjoy the moment.
Scott's coworkers convinced him to buy an air fryer a few months ago, and we have enjoyed using it several nights a week. It's been especially nice in the hot summer months because we don't have to heat up our kitchen, or slave over a gas stove.
Scott has become the master at prepping and setting up a whole chicken on the rotisserie spindle of the air fryer. Once it's fully cooked (about 40 minutes), I cut it up, or shred the chicken for various upcoming recipes. He also found that the cheapest chickens are at his favorite grocery store, Iper Tosano. The chickens are whole and already seasoned, with a long sprig of rosemary in the chest cavity. AND the ribcage is removed. They are only 2 euros and 76 cents!! As a comparison, we went to Emisfero yesterday for some groceries, and they had a whole chicken (UNseasoned and the full ribcage was intact) for 12 euros. Wow.
Amber sent me an Instagram video that showed me a new way to use a bobby pin to hold my hair in place, and it worked so well that I sent her an "after" photo. This was a good hair day. It's been so hot and humid most days, that I just end up pulling my hair up halfway through the day. No matter how cute or how awful my hair starts out in the morning, 90% of the time it just gets pulled up by early afternoon.
Scott and I rarely eat out at a restaurant, mostly because that's his preference. He likes being at home and preparing a meal together. He also doesn't like to spend money, so there's that. I like to eat out because it means I DON'T have to plan/prepare/clean up a meal. The one thing I don't like is that the best restaurants don't open until 7:00 or 7:30 p.m. here in Italy. When we find a restaurant (with good reviews) that opens BEFORE 7:00, we're more likely to go give it a try.
Like this one. It's called Tacos Bandidos, and it's run by a family who immigrated from Guatemala.
Something that we've been needing to do for many months is to perform a sort of "surgery" on this foam mattress topper so it would fit the single bed in the office. We bought the topper when we lived at our last house across town, and it fit a narrow double bed but was too wide for the newer twin bed. The mattress by itself was kind of hard and we wanted it to be more comfortable for our guests, so we decided to DIY.
While I was working in the kitchen preparing a gourmet meal for some guests, Scott measured, cut, and even moved the zipper on the outer cover. We ended up with a perfect new fit for the smaller mattress! Way to go, Scottie!!
It took me several days to narrow down what to actually make. I decided on a Seafood Salad, some mussels, pasta, crusty bread, and some fresh fruit.
Scott and I went to the grocery store late on a Friday night to get all the supplies. It felt like we had the entire store to ourselves.
Here is a video that I took of the many options available in the fish section: (25 seconds)
After watching YouTube videos and reading through several similar recipes for Seafood Salad, I enlisted the help of AI (Gemini) to help me craft a recipe using some standard basic ingredients that I had seen in so many of the other recipes. I told Gemini what ingredients I planned to use, and how much of each I had purchased. Then Gemini crafted a step-by-step process for me. (see below)
Seafood Salad recipe:
I shelled and cleaned all the clams and laid them on a paper towel to dry off . . .
Video of me scrubbing one of the mussels: (17 seconds)
Once they were clean, the rest of the dish came together really quickly . . .
Here is the recipe I used:
The Seafood Salad was the Star of the Show . . . I received many compliments for how delicious it was. On such a hot day, it was cold, refreshing, and light. Just perfect.
One of the boys even commented that they felt like they were eating in a Michelin-star restaurant . . . WOW. They were still raving about the meal at church the following day, too. I'm glad it all turned out as well as it did. It took a GREAT DEAL of research to hone in on what to do. I spent many hours researching and preparing for just ONE MEAL, ha ha. But now that I know how to put this all together, I feel more confident to build it again someday soon.
The crusty bread on the side was perfect for mopping up any leftover broth from the mussels. And the thin spaghetti was perfect as an extra filler for those hungry boys. They also had fun adding some mussels in with their spaghetti. I gave myself a break with what to serve for dessert. Scott talked me into just serving up some ice cream, so that's what we did. We played a couple rounds of Code Names before we took everyone home. It was a really fun evening.
Family Updates:
Amber and her family said goodbye to all their friends in Lake Oswego, Oregon a little over a week ago. These are some of the neighborhood children who got up EXTRA early on departure day to see them off. Gwen is standing in the middle of the front row, and Abby is in the back row.
The following morning, West's family (including his parents who just returned from a 2-year church mission) showed up to help unload their stuff. Scott had set up a local storage unit in advance, so now there is a place to store all the extra things that either don't fit in the house, or don't need to be there at all for a while. (Like a lot of our things, since we will be gone for a long, long time.)
The storage unit is big enough to where West was able to stack all of our living room furniture, several totes, and some additional furniture so far, and it hardly looks like anything is even in there!!
Both girls on Back to School Night (the night before school started on August 25th) . . .
So far, so good. The girls love their new school and the friends they are making. Amber shared that she is feeling a lot of joy and peace just oozing into her soul as she is settling into our home each day. West just finished his last few days of work up in Portland, and is preparing to drive another truck load of stuff down to Idaho Falls in the next day or so. This time, one of his best friends flew up there to help him drive back down. How nice.
Down in Missouri, Jack and Maisie have been brave to try some giant crab legs, ha ha . . .
Jake and Hannah are in the process of getting a waiver approved so that they can bring him to school closer to 8:00 on Jake's way to work. With Baby #3 on the way soon, it won't be easy for them to get Jack up and out the door as early as 7:00 a.m. Blech. That's when I set my alarm to wake up, not to be ready to go somewhere!! Gross.
He is enjoying school so far, though. So that's good!!
And up in Kaiserslautern, Germany, Miss Avery started Pre-K last week. She was a little nervous to go on her first day, but she's been super happy every day since. What a cutie!!
She wasn't able to start Kindergarten this fall because she doesn't turn 5 until November 19th. So she'll be in Pre-K this school year, and then she'll advance to regular Kindergarten next year.
Scott and I bought tickets to go up and spend Halloween weekend with her. I'm so excited!! We'll get to go trick-or-treating with her. It will be so fun!! I should probably start thinking about what we can dress up as . . .
Next blog post:
Our trip to Lisbon, Portugal to see the solar eclipse.
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