Blogs from Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe - page 7

This is becoming a familiar story but yet another flight cock up and as a result I ended up flying to a different airport in Milan, but it worked out well as it was nearer the centre and meant I caught an earlier train down to Bologna. After getting to the hotel which was in the outskirts of the city I changed and headed back out for the afternoon. The heat in Bologna was stifling as there is obviously no sea breeze as we are no where near the coast. The adventure began with the issue of trying to get a bus back into the city… in August apparently this particular route didn’t have any buses after 1pm!!! So I had to walk down to a different junction and got lost on the way trying to ... read more

Well, I'm back at Il Granello, the first farm I worked on on this trip. I think it's quite appropriate that I'm ending the trip in the same place I started it - consequently also my favorite farm. I find myself so well here - my energy is strong and stable, it's peaceful, beautiful. This is the place where I fell in love with organic agriculture. It's a really special place for me, a good place to reflect on trip and bring it to a close. Highlights since I've arrived on Il Granello: the birth of 7ducklings to a surrogate egg-sitter-hen-mother. They are hilarious and adorable. Elisa and Romano's first Slow Food market in Bologna - went great. Lorenzo's First Communion and the accompanying festa - the food was especially delicious and I got a nice ... read more

We are finally in Bologna and after a little over 1 month are starting to get settled. We found a great 1 bedroom apartment right in the historic center of the city so we’re a close 5 minute walk to the main piazza where many of the Bolognesi hang out—drinking coffee, eating gelato, and of course people-watching, which is especially fun in a highly fashion conscious city like Bologna. This city is also highly “food” conscious which has earned it the nickname “la grassa,” meaning “the fat one.” It’s a very appropriate nickname because Bologna is the culinary capital of Italy and the birthplace of Italian favorites like tortellini and tortelloni, lasagna, ravioli, and the ragu sauce (meat sauce). So as you can imagine, the food here is amazing! We are enjoying eating out once in ... read more

Hey everyone so here a few recipes. I put the pasta and ragu recipe a few blogs back...but i messed up the ragu one a little. so here it is again (correct): For the Ragu' (Bolognese Sauce) Ingredients: •30 grams of butter or 2 spoonfuls of il •200 grams of grinded beef •50 grams of pancetta (bacon) or prosciutto crudo (ham) • ¼ of an onion •½ of a carrot •1 leg celery (non too big) •1 clove of garlic •1 laurel leaf (a bay leaf also works interchangeably) •½ cup of wine •300 grams pureed tomatoes •1 spoon of concentrate •1 wooden spoon of broth (that’s what it says, I don’t know…) •Salt and pepper Preparation: •Mince (very fine) the carrot, the celery, and the onion •Put them in a pot with a high edge ... read more

So this week, my group had our second cooking lesson with the always amazing Rita. It's very sad that we only have one more cooking lesson left (and to make it worse, its the fish lesson...and considering how much i cant stand fish, its not the lesson I wanted to end with). For this lesson we made homemade tagliatelle con ragu (bolognese sauce)--a traditional bolognese dish. Other than the apple cake, this was probably my favorite dish Rita has made us so far. Pretty much because i absolutely adore tagliatelle con ragu anyway, and when rita makes it, it just gets that much better. What was awesome about this lesson, was that we actually got to physically make the pasta, too. It started off as a pile of flour and eggs, and we makes it together ... read more