Food

We Came, We Harvested, We Made Olive Oil!

2 months ago

by Michael in Culinary, Culture, Food, Umbria

In November 2011, Culture Discovery Vacations brought a group of guests to a small traditional cold press olive mill. They harvested olives in Umbria, brought them to the mill, and operated the mill, making their own olive oil from start to finish.

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Italian Food You Won’t Find in Italy

1 year ago

by Michael in Coffee, Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Travel Tips

TweetAs we learned with Alfredo Sauce in the “Who is Alfredo Sauce, and Why do Americans Keep Asking About Him? ”, that which you believe to be Italian, very often is not. Since we do culinary vacations in Italy, you can imagine how many people come with certain expectations about [...]

You Want to Feed the Meal I Prepared… TO YOUR DOG?

1 year ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Travel Tips

TweetOn day one of every cooking vacation we offer, there is a little talk with all of the newly arriving guests. We go over the things that they can expect, and should not expect. We discus the plans for the days ahead, and we go over some of the more common cultural faux-pas that [...]

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Man Dies: Caught The Cold in Stomach

1 year ago

by Michael in Culture, Food, Let Me Vent, Things that make me scratch my head

TweetTraveling to Italy, some visitors notice various oddities about Italian culture that seem to defy explanation. Some are rooted in the socio-political history of the country, some are rooted in religious tradition, and others… the ones that are often the most seemingly nonsensical, [...]

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Who is Alfredo Sauce, and why do Americans keep asking about him?

1 year ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Travel Tips

TweetI’ve heard it time and time again. ”I can’t wait to have Fettuccine Alfredo in Italy”. Ummm, sorry friend… you won’t find it. It isn’t Italian. Well, that isn’t entirely true, actually. You can get it in Italy, but you will never find anything like it it on a menu, [...]

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Olive Garden cooking school in Tuscany?

1 year ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Food, Let Me Vent, Things that make me scratch my head, Tuscany

TweetUpdated 02/2010 Olive Garden is one of those places that really sets my blood to boil. Every time I hear the word ‘Hospitaliano’ I begin to cringe and twitch. When I hear them say ‘When you’re here, you’re family’, I can’t help but visualize the corporate offices of a chain with [...]

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Bruschetta – The Truth and a Unique Recipe

2 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Food, Recipes

TweetIt’s not really what you think it is… In the states, when you hear the word ‘Bruschetta’, you think about toasted Italian bread with a tomato spread. But to think that way would be like thinking the word ‘Sandwich’ means two pieces of bread with ham, cheese and mayo. It’s actually [...]

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The Life of a Pig Before Prosciutto

2 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Tours

Tweet I’m a city boy. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, sheltered from certain realities of life. So when I ate that bacon, I never really considered that a pig grew up, got slaughtered, was cut up and shipped to my local supermarket. To me, the bacon was just bacon. It comes from [...]

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The FAMILY feeling of our vacations explained

2 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Personal, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany

TweetOur future guests often ask me what our tours are going to be like, and I try to explain the feeling of ‘family’, and how it is so different than anything else out there. Oddly, it is a difficult thing to explain, especially since our future guests are little more than strangers on a [...]

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Cooking & Touring Tuscany, Umbria & Lazio Italy in 2008, a look back

3 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Festivals, Food, Lazio, Music, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany, Umbria, Wine

Tweet7 months, 17 tours, 56 cooking classes, 144 guests and over 35,000 miles of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio are behind us. That was the 2008 season for us at Culture Discovery. As with last year, after coming back to the US, I have gone into video mode. Here is the first video I have [...]

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Dances with Mozzarella

3 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Food, Tours

TweetFor my first video post in a while, I thought I would start with a cool little video compilation made of some of the video I shot during some of the cooking classes we had earlier in the season. This video concentrates on 3 groups we had in May and June of 2008 — I’m not sure why I [...]

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The Blindfolded Chef – Ceci Soup Challenge

3 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Food, Personal

Tweet Last week Paola wanted to teach Alyssa, our 18 year old daughter, how to make Ceci Soup. She was saying it was so easy that she could do it blindfolded. As we laughed at her, she insisted that she could, so I ended up betting her $100 that she couldn’t. What started out as a stupid [...]

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Florida Italophiles Unite!

4 years ago

by Michael in Culinary, Culture, Food, Personal, Wine

Tweet Wow… I’ve been away from Italy now for a total of 3 and a half months. That is the longest stretch in more than 2 years. When I am in the states, I’m not immersed in the wonders of Italian culture, so material for the blog is hard to come by. Anyhow, the other day Paola and I had [...]

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A little more Olive Gardening Laughter…

4 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Food, Let Me Vent, Things that make me scratch my head, Tuscany

TweetFace it, I’m back in the states for a few months, so I just don’t have much material for the blog these days. I mean, when I am in Italy, I could write several posts a day, but I am sitting here in Florida, what to contribute to THIS blog? That said, little things catch my [...]

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The Wine Harvest – Making wine in Italy

4 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Festivals, Food, Lazio, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany, Umbria, Wine

Tweet I remember my mother telling me about her move to Southern California, and how excited she was the first time she picked an orange off a tree and ate it right there. I was thinking, like… ok, big deal… you need to get out more! But then again, she was from New York, and I had [...]