The Study Of Trentino Alto-Adige

Where in the heck is Trentino Alto-Adige?! is what I thought to myself when I first saw this region on our schedule. I mean, talk about some crazy ass places that I've never heard of… This region is so far north that it borders Austria so no wonder I haven't really heard of it. It's also made up of 89% mountains and German was made an official language of the area in addition to Italian. I just find that so nuts! However, I love that these two cultures can come together in terms of cuisine because I truly do love some hearty German fare.

Trentino Alto-Adige has a unique mixture of customs, traditions, language and gastronomic legacy. I think anyone could gather that just reading the above-mentioned note on where it is! Polenta is the most famous part of the cuisine and it's often prepared as a bread. They also mix it with buckwheat, boiled potatoes, fried onions and lard as a meal.

The region is widely known for speck, specifically, and other cured meats. However, a sausage called brusti is very popular and it's actually not made of any meat! It consists of boiled onion, leek, lard and both pig and veal blood, eeek. When not eating cured meats, you'll find the people of the region eating game. 

Pasta dishes in Trentino Alto-Adige definitely favor the heavier Austrian and German influence. Turteln is a ravioli fried in pork fat and ravioli trentini is filled with roast meat cooked with onion, parsley and lard then served in butter. The most famous pasta dish is pasta di maccheroni which is cooked with a sauce of pigeon, sweetbreads and mushrooms then baked. Knodeln is basically like gnocchi but made of stale bread, not potato. You mix it with milk, butter, parsley, onions, salt, eggs and nutmeg and it's served in beef broth. How interesting are all these dishes?! 

Their most noted cheese is called trentrigrana and it sounds fabulous to me. It's a type of grana padano made with skimmed cow milk from the mountain pastures and it's aged a minimum of two years with no preservatives. It's rich, intense and considered the best grana padano you can find. 

Beer is a focus in this region which, again, ties in the Austrian influence. They aren't filtered or pasteurized (so you have to drink them within a week) and they're made with local malted barley, hops and good mountain water. I would go to town on some of these beers and I'd surely drink them right alongside some trentigrana. 

Since I've fallen in love lots here in Italy, I thought it was no coincidence that I'd keep that streak alive with Chef Herbert Hintner. People! This man is amaaaaaazing. He is by far the very best chef we've seen on a multitude of levels. Yes, even the sweet Antonia Klugmann that I loved so much takes a back seat to the vibrant Chef Hintner. 

I had zero idea what to expect from a chef from this region. I knew I was very interested in it but I didn't know what would really tickle my fancy in terms of the dishes. Hooooly moly, folks. Chef Herbert (how adorable is that name, too?!) BROUGHT it. The best part was that he was so engaging the entire demo. These days get very long and, when you have a chef that isn't talkative or really involved, they can be very tough to sit through. Chef Herbert was passionate and driven the entire afternoon and he kept all of us captivated and interested. He decided to base the dishes of the day out of his cookbook which I thought was really neat! He was able to describe each dish in a little more detail showing it to us in the book first and then he could wow us with the taste. Wow us, he did…

In this first plate, he'd made veal three ways but that didn't even matter because the mustard gelato stole the show:

Mustard. Gelato. For the love of god. I think all of us had heart attacks at the same time over how good it was. He mixed fresh mustard seeds with creme fraiche, dijon mustard and a few other things that escape me at the moment and it might've been the best thing I've ever had. My mind was going all over the place thinking of what I could slather it on. First, it was Chef Andrea's red pepper gelato and now this?! Heck, I might even mix both of those and eat them together. Honestly though, what a tremendous flavor that came out of something so simple.

Then, my friends, we move on to his trio of peppers soup. Again, a simple preparation of stewing down some peppers in olive oil and spices, basically, and blending them. That's it. Yet, somehow, the magnificence of this soup left me speechless:

The thing I don't get as I continue my education is I watch these chefs do things, including Chef Bruno, with sometimes as little as three ingredients and the flavor is so dynamic. I then replicate what's been done and mine just doesn't turn out the same a lot of the time. I'm very proud of some things I've done but this is an enigma to me. Anyway, throughout the demonstration, Chef Herbert was asking us questions and really involving all of us. Michele had told us he was his favorite chef so that alone made each of us look forward to seeing him. I think he's now our favorite, too!

I'm sad that I don't have all my notes with me to explain the rest of the dishes but they were just delicious:

That fried cheese and mushroom thing was like crack. I had to physically walk away from the portions he served or I would've bulldozed everyone over to claim them all. 

The heart of what made Chef Herbert so special is that he exemplifies how the crazy, grueling world of being a chef is really in you or not. It's a natural gift and love which should be treasured and nurtured. He was a very fun-loving, sweet man but he was also serious when he would speak to us about the amazing pleasure it is to be a chef when you truly feel inside that it's what you're meant to do. I think at this point in school, it was really good for me to hear that since I've entered the beginning stages of understanding just how tough it is. When I trailed in the kitchen at Hearth, I got a very good idea but it was nothing like what we've been doing now. So, him saying these things was refreshing and hit home for me in a really good way. 

At the end of the day, he told us all to please stay away from drugs in the restaurant scene. He said he's seen a good many of the young people he cares for "fall down" to drugs and it breaks his heart. I adored him for saying these things. I definitely felt something special about him and was so pleased to have had the experience of meeting him. I bought his cookbook and he signed it "with passion" and then his name. L-O-V-E! 

The Study Of Liguria

I think one thing when Liguria comes to mind: olive oil. I think this mainly because of pesto which is where it originated. Folks, I can eat pesto with a spoon, no joke. I love it that much. When you can find really good pesto too, it's like manna from heaven. 

Liguria is made up of hills and mountains only, no plains. 90% of the economy in Liguria is based on tourism due to the amazing climate and food. You may be most familiar with Cinque Terre which are the five towns that sit along the sea and are connected only by walking paths. This area has gotten hugely popular for tourism in the past few years and let me tell you, it's just beautiful. The area has been influenced mainly by latins, africans, arabs, spanish and austrians so you can imagine the interesting cuisine that comes from the region. The city of Genova is referred to as 'la superba' because the city intertwines commercial relationships with the orient due to large imports of spices. Back in the old days, spices meant luxury so things like nutmeg, pepper, sesame, ginger, cloves and cinnamon were considered as valuable as precious stones. Merchants during the Italian maritime republic in the middle age instituted the earliest forms of capitalism. They utilized gold coin and developed new accounting operations and that stimulated technological improvements. Maritime republics were then able to turn The Crusades into profitable business. Isn't it interesting to think of the beginning of how capitalism really began? It's not something many of us consider these days because we're just so used to the world we live in and what we have. 

Ligurian cusine is traced back to three origins: onboard, inland and coastline cuisine(s). 

With onboard cuisine, the galley on ships was not well equipped so provisions had to last a long time. They used things like crackers, tomato sauce, anchovies, tuna preserved in oil, oregano, thyme and garlic. Usually, there were a lot of soups and fish broth made due to the nature of being on a ship. Garlic was widely used as well because of its medicinal and antiseptic qualities which people thought could be used to fight the plague. Upper classes, however, abolished it totally because of the bad smell. Even though Liguria is hugely coastal, its fish cooking traditions aren't very distinguished as you could see in the use of fish like anchovies. 

The inland cuisine consisted of things like polenta and herbs of all kinds. Herbs are a serious matter there too because old Ligurians say that they should never be collected at night (who's out at night collecting herbs anyway, can I just ask?!) because the moon takes away from the plants' virtues. I'm not even sure what that means but it sounds all philosophical-like. Anyway, herbs are huge there, especially basil, because of the aforementioned famous Ligurian pesto. In some areas, the traditional pesto is actually made with walnuts (ew) instead of pine nuts. Also, the original pasta used for it is trenette which is soooo good. It has this very unique chewy texture that's addictive.

Lastly, there was the coastline cuisine which is characterized by fish, some meat and fresh veggies. The most famous coastline dish is called torta pasqualina which is a pie filled with boiled chard, milk and cheese in a puff pastry with one egg inside. It's supposed to be 33 layers to symbolize the age of Jesus when he died and the egg symbolizes new life with the resurrection. Focaccia is also huge in Liguria, two types in particular. You've got recco which is topped with cheese and sardenaira which is topped with anchovies, tomatoes, olives and olive oil. I'd take down either, that's for sure. 

One other thing to note about Ligurian cuisine is that, on Christmas Eve, a dish called cappon magro is served which is a "salad" of boiled fish, covered with veggies and dressed with garlic, chile, capers and parsley. How insane does this thing look:

I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to try it but I bet it's actually amazing. 

Chef Luca Baldin brought his quiet sensibilities in the kitchen to us on the day of our demo and I enjoyed him. He was seemingly quite shy but he conveyed himself through his food and it was all terrific. He brought a crazy fruit with him for us to try called chinotto which is a type of orange. It's so bitter that you actually cannot eat it on its own, it has to be candied. It's also the most expensive fruit you can find so it was that much more of a treat for him to share it with us. I normally don't start with dessert (he did a creme brûlée of sorts) photos but how cool is this before and after:

The flavor is strange so I wasn't a big fan but I also don't like candied fruit, either. That combo doesn't fare well for giving this fruit a chance, eh? 

Like all the chefs we've seen, they usually do a pasta dish native to their region or restaurant. Whenever there's a chance to help make the pasta, I like to jump in because I'd really love to get better at it. You wouldn't believe how delicate pasta making can be sometimes (look back at this guy's teeny-tiny tortellini) and it can get frustrating. This shape that seems so easy to make was giving me the hardest time so I literally got some hands on help, haha:

Gavino tried as well and he was definitely better than me:

Chef Luca's creations weren't as artful as some we've seen but man, did they taste good:

At the end of the demo, he threw together - and I literally mean in a few minutes flat - the absolute best focaccia I (we!) have ever eaten:

I thought Chef Antonella's was fabulous and this was absolutely to die for. He did plain and onion and both were so addictive that I had five big pieces. Yes, five and yes, they were big. I found my happy place, for sure. Thank you for sharing that with us, Chef Luca! That made the entire day and demo that much better.

Bragging On Bryan

I just had to take a break from all the formal entries for a minute and tell you how awesome I think my boyfriend is. No, not because of anything mushy or vomitous. Come on now, I'm not the "heeeey y'all, my boo sent me flowers today and he's the bestest boyfriend in the whooooole wooooorld" type who plasters ridiculous things like that on Facebook or whatever. What really gets me going isn't flowers or chocolates or fancy massage oils, anyway…it's the fact that my love can grow a damn garden. 

Before I left for Italy, Bryan had talked about building a couple of planter boxes for some simple herbs and tomatoes. He's got a really big backyard that he's been wondering what to do with for a while but he decided to build these boxes instead of plant in the yard. He did the tomatoes and then some herbs including 7 different kinds of basil! This is what it started as:

I was totally excited and impressed by that. I can't grow a damn thing so, as a hopeful chef, that really needs to change so I can have my own garden that I use stuff from to serve my tasty delights to faithful patrons. Anyway, as things started to grow, Bryan discovered how much he was loving it. He actually surprised himself with how interested he was in it and he got the itch to do something more with his backyard.

Before I knew it, I was getting texts and photos of the progress of his new garden. We're talking his whole yard here and, like I just said, it's big. Fast forward to today and this is what he's got going on:

Yeah, he's got corn and beans and lettuce and peppers and so many other things. I swear, if I ever thought he was sexy before, it's been topped big time. To me, there aren't too many things that really make me swoon when it comes to guys simply because it takes a lot to get me. No, I'm not a high maintenance bee-atch, I'm just a little picky. Honestly, I like two things - off the beaten path looks with tattoos or piercings (Johnny Depp, I'm in Lucca in case you're looking for me since splitting with ol' Vanessa Paradis) and a dude who loves food. Lucky for me, I got both with Bryan! Seriously though, my favorite part of being in culinary school, in Italy especially, is the way people care truly about the ingredients. They're like someone's child with the way they take care of and nurture them which is what Bryan is like with his. The guy was getting up at 5:30am just to water and check on the garden! That, my friends, is sexy.

I may be in Italy with lots of cool things going on but man, I'd really give anything to tear off some basil and tomatoes from the backyard and whip up a killer sauce in my own home. Bryan, I'll teach you to cook if you teach me to grow. Deal? Cider for you, wine for me and we've got ourselves a heck of an evening. (Can Johnny Depp come too if I throw in some homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie?)

The Study Of Lazio

Lazio, the region where literally all of my favorite pastas come from! Also the region where Rome, or 'La Citta Eterna', is which is the most famous city connected to it. I feel like a broken record but, once again, Lazio is a region I've known nothing about prior to school. 

Latium territory stretches over plains, hills, mountains, sea and lakes which makes for a varied and plentiful cuisine. Again, Rome is the most famous part of Lazio and honestly is treated as such in terms of reverence. All of the different monuments that we most often hear about and know of have such rich history and meaning. The Colisseum is the most important and the Romans actually say that "if the Colisseum falls, Rome falls". We honestly didn't get into much detail about Lazio because Michele said that it would take ages to focus on just the history of Rome but we did concentrate a great deal on the food. That's just fine by me!

In Lazio, there are three specific dishes that are served on certain days of the week: baked gnocchi with tomato sauce on Thursday, pasta ceci (pasta with chickpeas and sage) on Friday and tripe (stewed with mint and pecorino) on Saturday. In addition to those specific weekly dishes, there are several pastas well known in Lazio. This leads me to all the favorites I mentioned before! Spaghetti carbornara is probably at the top of the list but there's also cacio e pepe, potato gnocchi (what Americans know the best in terms of what gnocchi is), penne all'arrabbiata and spaghetti aglio e olio (garlic and oil). Allison and I once ate spaghetti aglio e olio for dessert - yes, you read that correctly - at Bar Italia in St. Louis because of how good they make it. I absolutely love it and, the best part of all of these pastas, is that there are so few ingredients in them so they end up being super cheap to make. However, what I've learned quickly in Italy is that the "easiest" recipes to make are actually the hardest. Perfecting simplicity in a dish is an art and one I'm trying very hard to learn as I keep mentioning if you follow along closely with my blog. 

While Lazio is the place to go for pasta, it's also known for a couple of meat dishes that are really terrific. Coda alla vaccinara is stewed oxtail cooked with celery, carrot, onion, raisin, pine nuts and dark chocolate. We actually made this back in New York and it's totally delicious. Definitely a winter dish but the flavors are outstanding and, when cooked for the right amount of time, the meat becomes melt-in-your-mouth tender. Saltimbocca is also super popular and something I've actually had in the US a few times. It's a meat roll made of prosciutto and veal that's sautéed in butter and seasoned with sage and white wine. It's so good, especially if you eat it with bread as a sandwich. 

Desserts in Lazio are primarily made with a ricotta base which I really love. The crostata di ricotta is a short crust pastry with a filling of ricotta, egg yolk, cinnamon, sugar and lemon zest. I could eat a whooole lot of that, especially because short crust isn't really sweet at all so it truly is more of a savory dessert. Right up my alley, folks.

Chef Andrea Fusco, from Giuda Ballerino, came to show us his view on Lazio and he made a couple of very interesting things! I didn't really connect with him at all but some of his food was innovative and different, particularly his black russian foie grois made with coke and vodka. It was very good, especially with the booze because it cut right into the fattiness of the foie grois:

We learned with Chef Valeria Piccini how vital it is to have balance in your dishes so this was a nice illustration of that. 

Another interesting dish he made was black truffle cacio e pepe risotto:

He topped it with culatello, which was a bit superfluous in my opinion, but the flavor of the risotto was delicious. I remain a purist, though. If I want cacio e pepe, I want the traditional, old school pasta dish so, while I enjoyed tasting this, I wouldn't order it. 

Keeping right along with the concept of being a purist, I just couldn't get on board with his "carbonara" dish. Hey, being innovative and different doesn't guarantee it's going to be awesome, you know. For the "carbonara", he made homemade tagliolini with chlorophyll, something I'll have to explain later because it's a process, and then created sort of a deconstructed carbonara but he added clams and mussels in addition to the guanciale (originally it's made with pancetta):

Now, I'm all about being different and standing out, but you honestly cannot call this carbonara. I mean, it's not even spaghetti, it's tagliolini! Let's just call it what it is, tagliolini with guanciale and seafood in cream sauce. I don't know, I guess I don't like when people take a good thing and turn it into something it's not. 

He did make a couple of other things that were to die for, specifically the red pepper gelato that accompanied his chicken dish:

It was incredible. I could smear it on anything and go to town. He also made a hazelnut semifreddo 'ice cream sandwich' that was fantastic: 

I don't like either semifreddo or hazelnut so, I was less than excited to try it, but he knocked my socks off with it. 

All in all, it was just an ok demo day for me. Perhaps if I had actually connected with his philosophies or vision more, I would've felt differently but it's certainly ok to have differing opinions. That's definitely what this profession boils down to more often than not so you must always have an open mind, that's the most important part of it all. 

The Study Of Puglia

Poo-lee-ya! Sorry for any poo reference, that's just how it's pronounced. Don't blame me. I've heard about Puglia strictly from Mo and Mo alone. I had no idea what this region was like, only that Mo wanted to go here for stage from day one. I now know why!

Puglia is the longest region of Italy with over 50% covered by mountains and the other half bordering the Adriatic Sea. The southernmost part is considered the "Italian Jamaica" where reggae is very popular. Bob Marley actually founded a reggae festival there that still goes strong to this day. Originally populated by the Illyrians and Greeks, Puglia was economically prosperous due to being close to the Orient and Rome for trading and agriculture. From 1264-1435, Puglia suffered the spread of anarchy and a reduction in trades which actually resulted in the creation of the mafia. I know, right?! 

In 1894, the Touring Club Italiano, a group of 57 cyclists, formed with the intent of spreading information on food and cycling around Italy. Hey Hoo-has, why don't we form a 2012 version of this in the US? We're good at eating and cycling so it makes sense to me. Out of this time, the first gastronomic guide of Italy was formed thus pushing the Michelin movement forward. In 1900, the Michelin Guide was formed as a means of giving truck drivers information on the best rest stops, fuel prices, and routes and was around for over 10 years before the office actually started getting paid. From 1921-1925, the travel office exploded going from 19,000 requests to 155,000. In 1926, the 'star' of a good table was created and in 1956, the actual Michelin Guide for restaurant rating was created. How cool is all that? I had no idea what the history was but you foodies out there will surely appreciate its notoriety and simplicity at the same time. 

Despite vast exposure to the sea, cuisine in Puglia is devoted to farming and agriculture. It's the most popular place in all of Italy for olive oil and its main crop is durum wheat for pasta and bread. Nearly every town in Puglia has its own signature bread, in fact! Pane di altamura is the most famous and it's a sourdough bread made of natural yeast and salt then cooked in a wood fire oven. Another cool bread that John actually brought us back from his dad's town is called friselle. It's whole grain bread that's baked twice and it gets so hard that you have to soak it in water before it's edible. I absolutely loved it. It's got this hearty, whole grain flavor and texture but it's super light when you eat it. Focaccia is also native to Puglia and I loooove me some focaccia. I can eat, um, a lot of it. I saved the best for last, though…taralli! Allison, these are the olive oil crackers we had going to Sicily and I've eaten my weight in them during my time in Italy, no lie. They are so good.

Orecchiette, or "little ears" is Puglia's main pasta, usually served spicy with sausage and broccoli rabe. These little buggers are a pain in the beeee-hind to make from scratch, let me tell you. We had to do it once in New York and it was a disaster. I prayed not to go to Puglia for stage simply to avoid this pasta. 

Due to Puglia's light and fresh cuisine, I looked forward to learning about more of the flavors from the lovely Chef Antonella Ricci. Chef Antonella comes from the restaurant, Al Fornello di Ricci, and she was just wonderful. She was spirited and sweet, much less aggressive than some of the other chefs we've had with an equal amount of passion. Out of the gate, I have to tell you that she whipped up the most incredible focaccia I've ever had. I'm not kidding or exaggerating:

People, this was slap your momma kind of good. I actually had to move the plate to the other end of our row so it wasn't near me. I think we all felt like we were in for a treat after trying that. She started with simple stuffed and fried zucchini flowers that were just gorgeous:

In the interim, she shared some regional peppers and eggplants with us that were fantastic:

Thennnn came the orecchiette. I KNEW that would be on the list but what I didn't realize was that she'd want us to help make them. Uh oh, heart starts beating fast and sweat beads on my forehead. Don't call on me, Michele, please! Of course he did. Since Michele isn't a chef, I decided to challenge him to an orecchiette dual as you can see by the awesome progression below:

I thought it best to not take closeups of my orecchiette outcome. Chef Antonella's, however, were scrumptious:

I realized I didn't have a photo of her on here so I had to at least put the only one in I managed to take so you can see how cute she is:

It was a fun day in the kitchen and I enjoyed Chef Antonella a lot. She reminded me of how I hope to be in my own kitchen one day and that was a really nice feeling.

Field Trip #3: Tuscany

Welp, I think it's safe to say that my last post illustrates my excitement about all things Tuscan. I really couldn't wait for our third field trip because we'd be going to watch butchering in action AND get to see the cows, too. Yes, I know it seems sacrilegious to actually want to see any form of butchering if I also wanted to see the cows alive but hey, it's totally fascinating. Plus, I'm not a vegetarian so I don't get that icky feeling when I see meat being broken down. Perhaps I'm just able to pretend those sweet cows really don't have anything to do with the meat I'm eating…

We started our day off with the butcher but first, we got to check out one of the craziest preparations of pork I'll probably ever see. I didn't mention porchetta in my last post but it's another popular thing in Tuscany. Pork meat is rolled up with garlic and spices and then tied together with a covering of the pig's skin again. It rests for a while and then you have a lovely 'marinated' pork especially fitting for sandwiches. Welp, bet you haven't seen this mental image before whilst eating a delicious porchetta sandwich:

That pig face has haunted me, much like the brined pig head we worked with back in New York. Tell me this wouldn't give you nightmares (or will now after seeing it):

Ok, moving right along… I couldn't believe my eyes when we got to see one of the guys take down a side of beef. He's been doing it for 57 years and it shows. I had to take a short video of it because I was honestly flabbergasted by his speed. Definitely worth watching if you have two minutes:

Do you have any idea how sharp that knife had to be? Day-UM! Of course, right after that is when they take us to see the cows and pigs. Like I said though, I just compartmentalize such things because, when I saw those cows, I just fell in love. Fortunately for us, these are the fantastic Chianina cows that I mentioned in my last post and they are just wonderful. This farm in particular raises them in such a loving fashion, too. The woman told me that they talk to them, name them, massage them and simply spend time with them. They're actually like dogs in a way because they would come over to her when she called them! I thought they were so beautiful and I felt such love for them. Just take a look at how awesome they are, both video and photos:

I cracked up because, in the photo of just me with them, one licked me right up the back of my whole leg! It was hilarious. I guess they took a liking to me, too! 

After the cows, we went to see the pigs and I just died all over again. Pigs aren't exactly the most fun to visit because they're very temperamental and skiddish. I actually feel kind of afraid of them, honestly. You guys ever seen 'Snatch'? Yeah, the hogs in that flick are pretty much what I envision all pigs being like, eeek. These pigs, however, were the adorable "Wilbur" pigs that are so cute, you just want to take them home. They all move around so fast so it's tough to snap photos but I really giggled at these:

How cute are they?! Cute and delicious, right Erica? 

The whole farm was so beautiful, I swear. Before we got ready to leave for lunch, Chef Bruno pointed out that wild chamomile was growing right where everyone was standing:

Italy truly is like a magical land with fresh herbs growing all around you. It's awesome. As we were going to get on the bus, the lovely folks who own the place had set out snacks and homemade wine for us. People are just so kind and full of love here.

Our day started super early so I was ready to gnaw on one of those pigs if we didn't get to the restaurant soon. Um, it was worth the wait. We went to this little town called Monte San Savino and settled in for a good old fashioned Italian feast. This is what we sat down to immediately:

Drool. I keep mentioning that we have wine on our school field trips which just makes Italy even cooler. Anyway, they served very traditional items for lunch such as panzanella, braised beef "stew" of sorts with the Chianina (at this point I'm in full denial for sure that they're the same cows that licked me), homemade porchetta with lentils and the addictive cantucci I mentioned before (with vin santo, of course):

The owner, like every other person we seem to meet in this magical land, loved Chef Bruno and having us there. 

After lunch, we were off to the Ferragamo wine estate. Now, if you're me, you have no idea who the hell Ferragamo is or why this was such a big deal. I mean really, people. You're talking to the gal who pronounced Hermes "her-meez" forever and who has no clue what the heck Diane Von Furster-whateverthehell is. I got a little schooling on this one before we walked in, haha. Let me just tell you, holy crapola…what a modern, cool place to see. I'm used to visiting super old vineyards that use age-old techniques but this place was so neat. Check it (Ami, how awesome is the dude's shirt?! I almost asked if I could buy it right off of him for you...):

After our tasting, they showed us the property outside which is a very exclusive resort. Yeah, I could sip my vino out here for a few months:

Oh, look! Wild caper berries growing:

Surprise surprise, right? Amazing…

I don't know if you can tell but man, did we have a good day. You really can't imagine how blissful and relaxed you can feel until you're lucky enough to do something like we have on these field trips. After an early morning, loads o' beef at lunch and vino to finish it all off, I took a nice nap on the way back home but not before I saw the sun starting to set: