Last Week in Short (by my standards atleast)

So the week in short. Monday, We had a test but I already wrote about that. We started the day out with everybody’s favorite: Microbiology, the wide world of Food Borne Illness. I tell you the Italian lady who was teaching the class knew what she was talking about but she wanted to make us feel as stupid as possible her questions were as broad as barn door. I am servesafe certified and like to think I know a thing or two about the science behind FBI’s. But every answer I gave was returned with a Yes but not always answer. After three mind-numbing hours we were done with the class and off to lunch then the test.

Tuesday, Italian lessons with Chef Simone follower by meat cookery for the rest of the morning We made Braised Rabbit, Simple peasant food from Liguria braised in red wine with tomato, Black Tajasche Olives, Olive oil, garlic and rosemary. It normally cooks for three to four hours but we only had it simmering for an hour and a half. WE cut the rabbit into small pieces which helped but with any game meat Time is your friend. The Next Dish was from Puglia in the south of Italy, It is traditionally made with Cavallo(horse) but we made ours with Pork. You Take thick slice of porklion and butterfly it so it is a flat sheet of porky goodness. You then fill it with parsley, garlic and Peccorino Cheese. Carefully roll it up and seal the ends. Sear the roll in smoking hot olive oil to preserve moisture, then you set it to the side, to the pan you add minced red onion, a few capers puree of roasted tomato and a touch of water or wine, cover it and let it cook through. Hit the plate with a bit of the sauce and Slice the roll so you get a pretty spiral and enjoy. The final Meaty dish we made Anata profumicata a Miele e Canella (Duck perfumed with honey and Cinnamon) In the interest of time we used Duck Breast only. You sear the duckbreast in extra virgin olive oil prefumed with sage rosemary and thymeremove most of the oil and pop it onto a hot oven remove when core temp reads 53 Degrees Celcius(if the health dept. comes do what we all do and lie about that core temp, the health dept. kills good cuisine). In a separate pan you heat a bit of butter, raw cane sugar and cinnamon. Caramelize a few slices of apple in the sugar and cinnamon. Remove and set aside the apples are just a garnish. To this caramelly pan you add a health tablespoon of Honey and the drippings from the roasted duck. You then toss the breast into this mix and make sure it gets good and covered with this sweet spicy sauce. Allow the breast to rest for a few minutes before slicing it into a few beautiful slices and plate up with the apples a drizzle of the sauce. After all of this delicious cooking we went to lunch which for obvious reasons I didn't touch.

The Afternoon was filled with three tasty Vegetarian dishes, by the way Vegetarians in Italy eat cheese and eggs, Vegans are SOL sorry guys. An Oldie but a goody, first up was Parmigiana Di Melanzana(Eggplant Parmesean). This one had a slightly different take from the breaded monstrosity we all know and love. We thinly (about 1/4 in.) the eggplant sprinkle with salt on both sides to extract the moisture within the fruit. While the Eggplant is sweating you prepare the sauce Minced onion, Tomatoes blanched and seeded, Whole clove of garlic Torn Basil. slowly saute the onion with the whole clove of garlic to perfume the oil. When the onions have sweated add the tomato and cook through, then add the basil and blend with a blender or pass through a sieve or food mill. With the sauce done Thoroughly wash the salt from the eggplant and press dry. Dredge in flour and deep fry the eggplant in Oilve oil until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Sauce plate, Place a slice of fried eggplant, a bit of sauce a slice of fresh Mozz, a bit pf grated parm and repeat a few times until you have the desired stack size, pop in a hot oven to melt the cheeses and make it look irresistable with it's melty cheese and just browned crust on the top and serve. The next was Gatto, not cat but a traditional street food of Campagna. Coat a timbale dish with buttter and white bread crumbs. Make Mashed potatoes with ground peccorino, small diced mozz, scamorza (alot like smoked gouda) Small dice of Prociutto cotto, beaten eggs and a very basic Bechamel (Butter, flour and cream 1:1:10) salt and pepper to taste adn a pinch of nutmeg, Mix up the mash place in the mold pop into a 180 deg. Celcius oven and bake off until golden brown. Turn out of the mold and serve. These were the stars of the lesson and because I said I would try to keep this short I shall move on to Wednesday.

Riso Gallo was the name of the morning, for those of you not in the know Riso Gallo is the largest rice producer in Italy and accounts for 23 percent of the world market. It has been family owned since about the time that Italy was unified. They produce about as many types of rice as they do pasta and for the most part they don't use rice for anything except Rissoto, and a few soups but they still supply the world with their rices. The Big three are; Arborio which we all know and love as the americans primary rice for the production of Rissoto, A grave mistake I am told, For the best rice for Rissoto is Carnarole, This is the highest quality rice for risotto because of it's starch quantity. The other rice that round out the top three sellers is called Vialone Nanno because it is a smaller grain and holds a good consistency over time when hot held, making it very popular for restaurants. Riso Gallo is available in the states but it goes under the moniker of Riso Bello because of a nasty lawsuit with the Gallo Family of Californian wine fame. The rest of the time at Riso Gallo was spent touring the factory and seeing the various stages of production, quality control, and packaging. The Highlight of this tour was the Meal that we ate afterward. We went to a small family style restaurant and sat downto a traditional Italian Family Feast which lasted about Nine Courses 3 Antipasti, Various deloicatessen and salumi, and bagna cauda a puree of anchovy garlic and olive oil served over roasted peppers. Next was two different types of Risotto, of course made from Riso Gallo Carnarole, followed by two more meat courses and a dessert course. We left fat and happy and everyone slept on the bu on the way home. We Finished the day with an Italian lesson where we learned about asking questions in Italian a good thing to know on this oddessy of mine.

Thursday, We started in the the morning with yet another Italian Lesson, I think think they are doing some good I am starting to understand what my teachers are saying and want me to do even though I don't feel quit comfortable trying to speak anymore than that of Tarzan but I am told that my pronunciation is very good. All those years of speaking in accents finally payoff and I can play the part of a pretty dull italian. After Italian we had another Installment of Micro Biology there was much rejoicing at the fact that this would be out last installment. Again the health dept of italy is strict as hell here but there are DOP laws on the side of the restaurateur and if you use quality products and have a proper HACCP plan they don't pose much of a threat. The afternoon was spent with Master Chef whose specialty was Salumi especially Pork. Gianni Necco was the fellas name from the village of Nizza della Paglia Monferrato. At 70 years old he has been in the business of Salumi for 56 years starting when he was 14 when working with his Uncle, a master, he lost half of his middle finger on his right hand to the machinery of his trade(not to worry about the sausage it was the belt drive that runs the grinder not the grinder itself). His Uncle taught him to love and make salumi from the tip to the tail of the pig. was butchered properlyHe can tell the age and weight of a pig by looking at the Lardo produced by the pig, and whether it. He can recite off the top of his head a recipe for each of the 265 types of Salumi produced in Italy from Pork. He loves sausage and cooking and has studied in minute detail all of the cuisines of Italy that marries the two. But, the reason he still lives here, he loves piemontese cuisine but especially the pig. As he told os the pig is the only animal in hte world that one can use every part of, for example the hairs of the back can be used for either a tooth brush it can clean teeth perfectly without the addition of toothpaste, or paintbrushes because it carries and distributes the paint evenly. Almost every part is edible down to the feet as our friends in the south have demonstrated in the states. Needless to say the man was absolutely fascinating and truely had a passion for his craft. It was an honor and a pleasure to hear him speak .

Friday, We had our Italian lesson which involved talking about professions and the titles that are given to those who work in each profession. Interesting to know that a Gelatario is someone who makes gelato in a gelateria. After this invigorating lession which did help to expand my vocabulary we went into the Pasticceria (the Bake shop) for a full day on bread. Over the course of the day we made sixty or so loaves of bread about a hundred rolls from various basic doughs. They were even kind enough to let Olesia sit in on the class because our group has been whittled down to five and would be whittled further because the girls were going to Barcelona that afternoon. A welcome change of pace from her daily routine, the loaned her a jacket and she was Luigi Caputo for the day. The first bread was the Pansemola, a bread made with a special blend of 65%bread and 35%semola flours, yeast, salt, water and a variety of ingredients including sauteed onion, pancetta, and peccorino cheese, The proportions of the ingredients were 1 kg., 30g., 20g, 650ml, respectively. The extra ingredients were added sparingly so we did not have to worry about recalibrating the recipes. The bread was great soft and flavorful it can be made in to bread rolls by simply weighing out 30 gram balls and baking them off but it makes great loaves at 300 grams. The next bread used a flour called panlatte and, you guessed it, it is a mix of bread flour and Dry milk using a Kilo of this combined with 40g yeast, and 470ml of water a bit more flour and honey and slivered almonds we had quite possibly the best breakfast bread you can imagine. the bread was great we measured it out into loaves and would be eating it for breakfast for the next week. After we returned for our afternoon class we were joined by a surprize guest Dominic from the short course. He had returned from his nightmare of an externship for reassignment in Sienna. But that's is another story. So for the rest of the afternoon we explored the various uses for focaccia dough. 2kg Bread Flour, 30g butter, 45g yeast, 25g Malt, and 1L of water, Another versitile dough which is indespensible for the Restaurant chefs Arsenal. I takes well to flavor and can be formed into make shapes and sizes. At the end of the day we horded a few loaves of bread to serve for a few meals for our weekend in Alassio. But this is a longer story for another entry...so ciao for now, stay tuned.

Sorry about the tardiness of this entry but I'll say it once and I'll say it again the internet sucks in Italy

IL ESAMEN

Italian for the test. It was our first exam this week and I have to say I am a little disappointed in myself I got a 26.75 out of 30. Why I am not sure because they only gave us a score and not any sort of comments from the judges. But I am told that I should not be worried this is a good score anything over 25 is a good score but I thought I still did better that what I got. I was the final course and was handed the recipe for a duo of, drum roll please, cookies. Even in this damn country I cannot escape the clutches of the pastry world. I have also been assured that i will not have to cook another dessert, Yay.


The Two cookies were Meringhe and Biscotti di Melinga. Both desserts are from the piemonte region and neither catches my interest much but according to my peers and even some of the teachers I did a really good job on my cookies. This bolstered my confidence but made my final score more disappointing.

The Meringhe is a Mirangue(Egg Whites, Sugar, and a touch of cornstarch for stability) Which I piped into little circles and baked at a low temperature for about and hour and a half until they become hardened and have a texture similar tho that of an after dinner mint. If it was available in the kitchen I would have added mint to it but there was no mint so I took too cookies and sandwiched a whipped cream flavored with a reduction of strawberries sugar and water and studded with a perfect brunois(16th of an inch by 16th of and inch cube, I measured for god sakes) of strawberry. This was about as many different skills as I could shove in this simple little cookie. The Whipcream was light and had a hit of strawberry which was intensified when the consumer encountered one of the carefully cut bits of strawberry. I thought it was pretty good.

The Biscoti di Melinga, is a cookie which is made with flour, softened butter, sugar, Polenta flour a whole egg, puls a bit of egg yolk and baking powder. It is formed like a lady finger and rolled in more polenta flour. Needless to say it is sweet but tastes a bit corny. For my bit of flare on this cookie I tempered chocolate, without a thermometer (not an easy feat), and stripped the cookie with bittersweet dark chocolate. The color contrast was pretty neat.

When I got to the Judging table. I served my dish to two chefs and two reporters. One of the chefs was quick to notice that the filling of the meringhe, was flavored with Fragole(strawberries) and seemed pleased with it. The rest of the conversation was led by one of the reporters who just asked me about where I was from and what kind of wines we are produced, if any, in Washington. So I told him that I lived north of Seattle, not Vancouver, and then gave him the rundown on the wines and producers I knew about from over 80 different vintages and 300 plus producers the state. The Geography and Climate differnces around the state a regurgitation of what I learned in school.

Afterwords we had a small celebration and the shortcourse was given their diplomas. At about 11:00pm we returned to Cascina (Cash-ee-na) our home away from home exhausted. Ciao for now, Stay tuned.

Lazy Weekend But FUN

This weekend was interesting to say the least. On Friday we were sitting in the breakfast room debating about whether of not we were going to go the a restaurant to have a last hurrah for the boys that leave on Tuesday but it was just pissin' down rain and for fear of melting I guess, Olesia and I went out by ourselves. We went to Cafe Roma, a picturesque little trattoria near the castle.
The menu was all in Italian but the waiter spoke English as he heard us fumble with our Tarzan Italian. I am happy to say that I could understand everything on the menu but speaking and reading are two different creatures.

So I had the ravioli riepieno stuffed with ricotta and spinach. Olesia had a tagliolini co salsicia sausage sauce. for the next course I had Carni Crudo Basically tar tar but the meat was so fresh and it was veal so it just melted in your mouth. I loved it, Olesia was put off by how much I loved it so she had Insalata Misticanza con verdure, a mixed spring greens salad with different vegetables; tomato, mushroom, fennel and a fresh cheese which they make in house. We washed it down with an '06 Barbera d'Asti(Olesia's new favorite wine). For dessert Ole had Tiramisu which was absolutely phenomenal and I had a Grappa di Moscato, a slightly sweet grappa the perfect digestivo. The rain had petered out and we were full and happy as we walked down the hill toward the Cascina we could hear the party had begun.


When we entered the breakfast room it was utter chaos. The "Crazy Japanese Boys" had invaded and were wasted a total transformation from the dreary scene before our dinner. We sat in the corner and enjoyed the spectacle. Then the Spanish returned from their test and were ready to cut loose the party was revived and crazier than before. As midnight rolled around I was ready for bed so we headed upstairs put on a movie and went to sleep.

The next day most everyone had gone to different towns about half of our group went to Turin to party with our Chef from school. Those of us that were left decided to have a BBQ. We got peppers to grill, sausage, veal, onions, potatoes it was fantastic. We sang songs, Diego one of the Brazilians played his guitar, we played music from around the world had wine and cheese and beer. A great time was had by all.

Today Ole and i rose early and headed into town for the Sunday market. We had a blast, there was fresh produce, A guy was working a rotisserie filled with chickens and pork loins. There was even Cloths, shoes and housewares for sale, We even saw the cheese producer C.Bianca that we had visited earlier this week. There was a man selling Grape Vines to start your own vineyard and a boatload of plants and flowers. Ole was sad because we cant have a Garden this year but we might get a pot of Basil that she can take care of so we'll have fresh basil when we need it. We picked up some other produce to cook for tonight and headed back to Cascina making sure to take the long way home because it is absolutely gorgeous outside today. So Ciao for now, Stay tuned

A day on the Farm then we ate the critters

We went to the "factory farm" of C. Bianca. They have a huge production staff of about six people. It was Great, they raise sheep and cows on the farm that we went to and cooperate with another farm which has Goats. Their main product is, of course, cheese. Robiola to be exact but the particular type of cheese that they produce in a given day is determined by the milk which is available to them. If they have milked sheep they make peccorino if they have goats milk they make goat cheese, they mix the milks and and make cheese out of that. It really was an interesting place. I'll leave out the technical process for the sake of sanity because honestly all cheese is made the same way. But interestingly enough their blue cheese is innoculated with penicillin and I discovered today that I am still allergic to penicillin. and the cheese that I ate ended up in the plumbing of the castle.

After lunch we went into the demonstration kitchen where we were learned about Meat. Our Guest Chef was the Executive Chef of La Bettula in Turin, Franco Giacomino. This is a man who knows his meat he was the first truly fat Italian that I have seen since I've been here but his food was so good I could not blame the man for his size. The first dish we started was Caprelle al Forno, Oven roasted Goat, With Lightning fast speed and eficiency that can only come from years of practice Franco broke down the goat from whole beast to the five essential cuts and reserving the offal into a neat pile on the side of the cutting board. The shanks Legs and Ribs were then seared off, draped with lardo(Italian Belly fat of a pig, a lot like Fatty Bacon), and placed into a roasting pan and into the oven 160 degrees C. for about an hour and a half. The end result was a moist and juicy meat that fell off the bone and melted in the mouth.

The Next dish was Guinea Fowl with a sauce made for Balsamic Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar, Honey, Butter and Green Peppercorns. The Guinea Fowl was nice and moist slightly more flavorful than chicken. But the true star of this dish is the Vinegar reduction sauce. It was amazing, a simple sauce that I will most surely take with me, I would use it on almost any meat it was balanced and the whole peppercorn would explode with spice to counter the sweetness that the balsamic takes on as it reduces with the honey. The sauce was nothing short of divine making Chef Franco in my eyes a Fat little angel sent down to satisfy our gustatory desires and enlighten us to the ways of meat cookery.

As the Goat and Fowl roasted slowly in the oven Franco put some stock on to boil with a little bit of cream, olive oil and salt. This would be the base for a Polenta that was taught to make in the first restaurant that he worked in where, in the traditional italian and therefore the best method, cooked the polenta in a steel lined copper pan over a wood fire. The flour was typical of the piedmont region,we learned that as you go from west to east the grain of the polenta flour gets finer and finer. The piemontese was like coarse sand which meant that the cooking time would be slow. When the polenta reached the desired thick pasty consistency Chef Franco added diced fontina and another sharp cheese the name of which eludes me at the moment. Another simple dish that was simply amazing.

The last dish we made was Filleto di Meiale, Pork lion which was covered with a mix of herbs and lardo finely minced into a paste. This paste waas spread on the seared pork loin and secured with Caul Fat, which is the lining of a cows stomach. It looks like a spider web of fat with windows in it. But when you bake the meat it keeps everything together and dissolves into the meat an amazing little natural tool that I hadn't seen employed since culinary school but Chef Franco uses it everyday in his restaurant. it's too bad his restaurant is in Turin or i might have tried for my extern there but he says he's already got a full boat with three Japanese and one Canadian. oh well. thats about all I got for this entry stay tuned

The Nugget Factory

On Wednesday we went to the nougat factory D. Barbero it is one of the top producers of Italian Nougat. It has been around and run by on family for an amazing 127 years. Their particular Nougat is made from some very simple ingredients: Honey, Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Egg Whites and Hazelnuts. First the honey is heated until it becomes very thin then sugar is stirred into the mix along with the glucose syrup to make a sweet warm liquid into which the egg whites are added. the whole mix is whipped until it triples in volume to from a huge mass that looks a lot like marshmallow cream. Once the "raw" nougat has reached the perfect texture twice roasted whole Piedmontese hazelnuts are added to the mix. The mix is then pulled from the mixer on to a floured table in batches which are rolled into logs and transferred to another table where a crew of guys are waiting to take chunks from this log and hand press it into wooden forms to make bricks of nougat. These bricks are then set aside to rest and cool until they can be cut into the desired portions for further production.

They are either cut into small sheets about 3x8 in, and packaged in bundles of six, or Bars 4x9 in. about 1 in thick. Both of these are meant to be eaten as you would Grana Padano cheese, broken into chunks and consumed with family and friends. These are the classic methods of preparation, in the 1930 one of the sons got it in their had that they should expand into the Chocolate market as well. Thus another production method was created chocolate covered Nougat. They sell this in 3X1/2X1/2 in. bars covered with Dark or Milk chocolate. These proved to be Olesia's favorite. They also offer a chocolate that comes from a recipe that was created in Turin. A mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate combined with Hazelnut butter(nutella). I am sure I an oversimplifying this process but the end product is nothing short of Divine.

Now most regions and towns in Italy claim that their product is the Best in all of Italy and the World but in the case of the Piedmontese Hazelnut I really have to side with David, the owner, of this one and the same goes for the Nougat. This is not the nougat that one finds in a Three Musketeers it has a crunch to it and it is dotted with big pieces of the Hazelnut. It melts in your mouth and leaves you craving for more, not overly sweet but just right. Unfortunately we forgot our camera for this field trip but I will try to get some pics from my compatriots. Though I have been having trouble uploading photos of any kind. So that about covers our Journey to the Nougat Factory. Ciao for now, stay tuned

This is the End...for the short course

So here in Costigliole there has been two section of English speaking students here at ICIF. There was the short course, an accelerated program that will end at the end of this week and the Master Course which I am enrolled in. So My brothers will be leaving and it will be me and my girls.


The short course consisted of Ido a chef from Israel, a very nice fella who confirmed for me that all of the Hebrew stereotypes in You Don't mess With the ZOHAN were in fact true. This guy has a passion for food and the photography of food. He takes a great picture, I have to say. Then there is Fernando, though he is in the English course he is from Brazil and his English ranks on a par with my Italian. But he has been in Italy for the last two years studying the language and speaks fluently the small conversations that we have had though let me know that he's alright by me.

There is also John, a guy from Cleveland who is direct and to the point he doesn't sugarcoat anything. But aside from his gruff facade he is a talented chef and a nice guy as well. He tells it like it is and doesn't take shit from anyone all great qualities in a chef. Last there is Dominic, the New Yorker who is fast to make friend with anybody, easy to laugh and also a caterer before he started this program. He knows his shit and amongst the short course the aside from Fernando speaks the best Italian. A funny guy to say the least.

But they will be gone to their externships by next Tuesday and our group of nine will pair down to five. Buon Viaggio amici.

As for the rest of us there is Alice, the blond haired blue eyed self admitted Klutz. Her passion is pastry, this was proven this week when we were in charge of preparing lunch for the school and she leaped at the opportunity to make the dessert, then with tears forming in her eyes she says, they want me to use this powdered vanilla to flavor the creme brulee, and they won't let me make a sugar cage to garnish said brulee. I had to laugh a little but it show gumption. Jessie, the self proclaimed former tomboy from Arizona is the greenest of the bunch but only because she hasn't been to Culinary school. She also is easy to laugh even at the crudest of the jokes in my repertoire. Thank God for that. But she know her stuff as well it's just the classical techniques that she needs to get down, a small step.

Rosa is a mother from California who also knows her way around the kitchen. She won't do her externship in Italy but has worked out a position in California that will work out for her. She is a nice lady and you can tell that, aside from coming half way around the world, she really like to cook. Rocio is the Peruvian she speaks fluent English, Spanish, and pretty spot on Italian too. She is our liaison when we don't have an interpreter, truly a stand up lady and a great chef. She reminds me of many of the great women chef I have come across in my life, full of piss and vinegar and knows how to cook great food.

So these are the chef I will be cooking with when my brothers in food take off for their various restaurants of externship. It's gonna be a smooth ride and it seems like the program is going to pick up a bit more for a true Masters Course. Cant Wait. Stay tuned

Genova The amazing port town with too little to do.

Caio Amici,
This last weekend I and a group of friends went to Genova on the Ligurian coast. It was an interesting Journey and one in which Rick Steves yet again failed us. In our copy of Rick Steves Italy 2010 there is nary a paragraph about this port town just north of the Cinque Terre. But as we walked around the whole of the town because we got off at the wrong stop on the train I realized that aside from the requisite Duomos, Chiesas and Museums that there was little happening in this town. There was shopping which to those on a budget holds little interest. But as we got closer to the port and saw the extravagant Yachts and Cruise ship in the harbor I was Vaguely reminded of Bellingham crossed with the piers of Seattle. There was some modern Art scattered here and there and a little shopping/Cineplex center that had, Que the angelic chorus, A BREWERY. In Italy I know like a needle in a haystack.

The Brewery was called Bicu. Unfortunately, in Italian Style, it was not the quaint Bistro that I used to work at Boundary Bay, but a chic restaruant. they had a Ginormous menu that had everything Italian on it. Many Pizzas and Pastas, a boatload of traditional dishes fused wiht modern cuisine. I convinced everyone that the best thing that we could do was to order the Gran Misto(Pictured), a starter plate fit for a King and his Court with four Pork Shanks four half chickens, a sellection of sausages all piled atop a more than generous portion of French fried pah-taters. It was protein heaven in this world which prides itself on the mastery of the carb. And I have to say the beer was not Bad either. I had a German Style Double malt which was so nice I had to try it twice, though it was touted as having a strong Hop Character I figure they haven't been to the northwest, but a good beer anyway. Olesia had a really interesting Greek style beer which was light on the pallet and made with Basil called Akiropita al Basilico. Akiropita is greek for "Created By God", I have to believe it because Olesia actually had two of them and it was a light beer I could see myself drinking on a hot day, which unfortunately it was not.

Filled with food and a beer or two we set out for the only other thing that caught our interest the Genova Aquarium. We are told that it is the largest aquarium in Europe and if this is true I am truly disappointed. I am a sucker for aquariums and I had a really great time walking around the different exhibits. The had sharks and seals and dolphins. There were Piranha, and a few display about the fish of the Mediterranean. The Billboards that explained the histories of the fish and urging the public to be more conscientious about our oceans and their creatures. Touch-tanks and weirder still and exhibit on reptiles and amphibians from the Amazon. I have been to many aquariums in my life and this one ranked about a 4 on a scale to ten but my favorite part of all was the Manatee they had a pair of them imported from Florida. God bless those little sea-cows they were asleep and they still fascinate me. My inner marine biologist satisfied we headed for the train station and back to our sleepy little town of Costigliole.

Sorry the internet in this town SUCKS!!! will upload photos ASAP