Exploring Paestum and cooking with the Baroness

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Our day started this morning with a visit to a local Buffalo Mozzarella factory. This place has about 25 people working on the production of this delicious cheese. All the buffalo were out the back, eating their morning meal after being milked for the day. The milk from that morning was already being processed into curd, then into the gooey stuff that forms the balls of Mozzarella. These balls are then dropped into a salt solution - when they are fresh they float but once they absorb the solution they sink, which means they are ready for packaging. The owner said that this cheese is best eaten within the first four days after production - last night we had some of this for our entree and I can honestly say I have never had such fresh, delicious Mozzarella in my life.

We then got to try the yoghurt or gelato - I had the yoghurt with honey. Delicious. I also had the best piccolo so far on the trip. From here we drove to the Archeological site of Paestum, which is another UNESCO World Heritage listed site. As with many of these sites we have seen, it was originally built by the Greeks - then the Romans came along, destroyed much of it but kept the temples as they suited their religious needs. We met our local guide and commenced our wander through these ruins.

The site has a 5 km wall built around it and has still not been fully excavated. As a matter of fact, there were people working on small sections while we were visiting. Our first stop was to see the Temple of Athena (also known as the temple of Ceres). So stunning - and it boggles your mind trying to understand how they were able to build these amazing monuments back in the day. We wandered amongst the ruins which showed how the town would have been set out. We saw the Ampitheatre, which also has a tunnel running under it in the similar manner to the Colosseum and the amphitheatre in Syracuse, and then approach the huge Temple of Neptune and also the Temple of Hera, which was located next door. I broke away from the group as I really wanted to spend more time just exploring the Temples on my own, as the local guide was telling lots of stories etc but this meant the tour moved very slowly. I'm glad I did this as the rest of the group didn't have enough time to explore both of these temples, whereas I did.

Next on our agenda was our cooking class, under the guidance of the Baroness! The Baroness owns the big buffalo farm and also has the kitchen set up to host these cooking classes. Whatever we cooked today would be our lunch! We started off by making a shortcrust pastry and then rolled it out and fitted it to a pie tin. We made the filling from ricotta and some oats and dried fruit then poured the mixture into the pie shell and placed it in the oven. Our next step was to make pizza bases so we set about making the dough, and then we let it rest. While it was resting we made pasta! It was going to be used to make ravioli. Next we set about making the filling for the ravioli, which was pretty easy as it was just ricotta cheese. Next we rolled out the dough for the pizza bases and set about topping our pizza's using a multitude of ingredients on offer. Our final step was to place the ricotta filling in blobs on the pasta sheets, placing another sheet over the top and then using the ravioli cutters to make the actual ravioli. Then Phil and I helped the Baroness to make these tasty snacks - soak a small square of bread in milk, toss it and a slice of mozzarella in flour, place the mozzarella on the bread, dip it in egg white then lightly fry it together, delicious! Then it was time to grab a glass of wine and sit at the long table and help ourselves to all the food we had made (with the help of the Baroness's helpers!). What a feast! And of course, no meal is complete in Italy without a glass of lemoncello and an espresso.

After we had all finished eating, one of the Baroness's friends took us for a walk around the Buffalo farm and he explained to us what each group of buffalo were. For instance, the young calf's who were newly born, the slightly older ones in another area, to the mature ones and then the pregnant ones. It was stinky, hot and dusty but a great experience to see all this first hand. I even had some of the buffalo smell my hand and managed to pat a few on the top of their head, even though the horns did worry me a bit!

After all the fun on the farm, it was time to head towards the Amalfi Coast! The drive along the way to the town we will be staying in, Minori, was absolutely stunning and beautiful. I was lucky enough to be sitting on the window on the side of the bus that had the best views. Our driver Andre did such a good job of negotiating the sometimes very narrow streets and maniacs drivers! It was certainly an entertaining drive. By the time we got back to our hotel, all I wanted to do was get my dirty dusty clothes off and jump in the shower - so thats what I did! I also spent some time sorting out all my clothes, as we will be staying in this wonderful hotel (Minori Palace) for the next five nights.

Tonight was a free night so after getting myself sorted I decided to head out and explore the town a little bit. The weather was perfect and a much more pleasant temperature so I walked along the seaside for a while, savouring the freshness and enjoying the atmosphere. Many people were out in restaurants and bars but it wasn't too busy which was nice. I really didn't need to eat anything as I was still full from lunch but I was keen to try one of the local wines - Falanghina. I stopped at a nice looking place near the seaside and the waiter, Marcelo, took me to a table. I thought I would just order a bruschetta as that was about the smallest thing on the menu, and some of the Falanghina. When they bought my bruschetta out my eyes nearly popped out of my head! It was about the same size as a pizza! I did my best to eat some of it but could really only eat about a quarter. Then two of the ladies from our tour, Judith and June from Canada, stopped to say Hi. As we were chatting I asked them if they had eaten. They hadn't so I asked them if they would like to have some of the bruschetta, which they did. I also shared some of my wine with Judith so I was quite pleased that the food didn't go to waste. It was nice getting to know them some more.

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