Don't check my bags if you please
September 18th- Bologna
Cause I'm brining in a couple of Keys (of cheese). When we were at our Tortellini class the other day, we met a very nice older couple (well they were probably our age), and we were discussing what were were all doing next. They told us that they had a few more day's left in Bologna and then they were off to Milan to go to "La Scalla" to see one of Puccini's operas there at the most famous opera house in the world. When they asked where we were going Linda say's yea that's nice, Matt's taking me to the Prosciutto Festival in Parma. She doesn't really like opera anyway but La Scalla does sound much better. So today we were headed off to Parma to find the Prosciutto festivals. How many cities do you know of that have a "ham festival". My defense is that Prosciutto de Parma is probably more well know world wide than is La Scalla. We catch the train from Bologna to Parma. A very easy proposition, as we are getting pretty good at navigating the trains here in Italy by now. I've noticed something very interesting here. Since we've been here we have ridden public transportation at least 12 times. Never once have I seen anyone on either the busses or the trains check a ticket. The seats have been pretty full but no one seems to check if anyone is paying. I think it's a Communist plot for the foreign tourists and travelers to subsidize the travel of Italians. It seems the only ones that are paying is the tourists. Oh well, it's just a form of tourist tax, which I know the City of San Diego is complicit in frequently.
We arrive in Parma, with no idea about where this Prosciutto Festival is taking place. So we start walking. Could not see any tourist information office anywhere. Now we spy a couple that looks like they might be looking for the Prosciutto Festival so we decide to follow them. We followed them for about 20 minutes until they dive into a pastry shop and we have to abandon our plan. Eventually we come across a promising area. Ancient ruins with lots of people around. Still no signs for the Prosciutto Festival. Lot's of signs all over the place for Puccini, but no ham signs. We found a little old Italian man with a badge around his neck and ask him "dove la uffizi de touristico". He points us about a block and a half away and we find it. We go into the office and they give us a map and get us pointed in the right direction. Turns out is was only a couple of blocks away from where we were, and eventually we find it. Not quite the 5 acre site with bands playing and Prosciutto everywhere that I was hoping for but, we did find the main tent with the genuine goods. They had a big nice temporary tent setup in the large piazza, setup where the were selling plates of the heavenly ham. We que up and get a big plate of prosciutto with fresh figs, a couple of grissini with Procuitto wrapped around them and a plate of Parmesan cheese and 2 glasses of wine for less than 20 Euros. Linda was trying to snag a table while I was procuring the prosciutto so when I return to the table that she had with the 2 plates of prosciutto, she looks at me and say's "I'm not getting any lunch am I?". She knows me too well. She's a good sport. We happily slurp up all our wine, eat the procuitto and parmesan cheese. I enjoyed it immensely. She was right, that was lunch. By then the weather had turned pretty cool, the first time since we had been here that a jacket would have been nice, but we failed to bring them, so we decide to head back to Bologna. On our way back we pass a big salumeria and decide to have a look. One of my ulterior motives for the trip to parma was to try to bring back some Parmesan cheese. Originally I had hoped to find the UPS store here in Bologna and ship a bunch of my dirty clothes back so that there would be more room in the luggage for lots of Parmasan cheese. The address that I had for the UPS store here in Bologna turned out to by a parking lot??? So it seemed that this plan was foiled. Plan B was to bring back a modest amount of "the good stuff". In Parma they have a number of types of Parmesean cheese usually based on age. With the Italians keeping most of the good stuff for themselves. As we are looking through the selection that this store had to offer, I find "Vacca Rosso". This is a Parmesan made from Red Cows. This is a special breed of cattle, which makes particullarly delicious cheese. It is rarely seen in the US and it was close to 2 X's as expensive as the regular Parmesan. It's all vacuum packed and the lady tells us that it can stay unrefrigerated like this for 3 months. I pay for my $100 Euros worth of cheese and it's back to Bologna. Mission Accomplished.
Cause I'm brining in a couple of Keys (of cheese). When we were at our Tortellini class the other day, we met a very nice older couple (well they were probably our age), and we were discussing what were were all doing next. They told us that they had a few more day's left in Bologna and then they were off to Milan to go to "La Scalla" to see one of Puccini's operas there at the most famous opera house in the world. When they asked where we were going Linda say's yea that's nice, Matt's taking me to the Prosciutto Festival in Parma. She doesn't really like opera anyway but La Scalla does sound much better. So today we were headed off to Parma to find the Prosciutto festivals. How many cities do you know of that have a "ham festival". My defense is that Prosciutto de Parma is probably more well know world wide than is La Scalla. We catch the train from Bologna to Parma. A very easy proposition, as we are getting pretty good at navigating the trains here in Italy by now. I've noticed something very interesting here. Since we've been here we have ridden public transportation at least 12 times. Never once have I seen anyone on either the busses or the trains check a ticket. The seats have been pretty full but no one seems to check if anyone is paying. I think it's a Communist plot for the foreign tourists and travelers to subsidize the travel of Italians. It seems the only ones that are paying is the tourists. Oh well, it's just a form of tourist tax, which I know the City of San Diego is complicit in frequently.
We arrive in Parma, with no idea about where this Prosciutto Festival is taking place. So we start walking. Could not see any tourist information office anywhere. Now we spy a couple that looks like they might be looking for the Prosciutto Festival so we decide to follow them. We followed them for about 20 minutes until they dive into a pastry shop and we have to abandon our plan. Eventually we come across a promising area. Ancient ruins with lots of people around. Still no signs for the Prosciutto Festival. Lot's of signs all over the place for Puccini, but no ham signs. We found a little old Italian man with a badge around his neck and ask him "dove la uffizi de touristico". He points us about a block and a half away and we find it. We go into the office and they give us a map and get us pointed in the right direction. Turns out is was only a couple of blocks away from where we were, and eventually we find it. Not quite the 5 acre site with bands playing and Prosciutto everywhere that I was hoping for but, we did find the main tent with the genuine goods. They had a big nice temporary tent setup in the large piazza, setup where the were selling plates of the heavenly ham. We que up and get a big plate of prosciutto with fresh figs, a couple of grissini with Procuitto wrapped around them and a plate of Parmesan cheese and 2 glasses of wine for less than 20 Euros. Linda was trying to snag a table while I was procuring the prosciutto so when I return to the table that she had with the 2 plates of prosciutto, she looks at me and say's "I'm not getting any lunch am I?". She knows me too well. She's a good sport. We happily slurp up all our wine, eat the procuitto and parmesan cheese. I enjoyed it immensely. She was right, that was lunch. By then the weather had turned pretty cool, the first time since we had been here that a jacket would have been nice, but we failed to bring them, so we decide to head back to Bologna. On our way back we pass a big salumeria and decide to have a look. One of my ulterior motives for the trip to parma was to try to bring back some Parmesan cheese. Originally I had hoped to find the UPS store here in Bologna and ship a bunch of my dirty clothes back so that there would be more room in the luggage for lots of Parmasan cheese. The address that I had for the UPS store here in Bologna turned out to by a parking lot??? So it seemed that this plan was foiled. Plan B was to bring back a modest amount of "the good stuff". In Parma they have a number of types of Parmesean cheese usually based on age. With the Italians keeping most of the good stuff for themselves. As we are looking through the selection that this store had to offer, I find "Vacca Rosso". This is a Parmesan made from Red Cows. This is a special breed of cattle, which makes particullarly delicious cheese. It is rarely seen in the US and it was close to 2 X's as expensive as the regular Parmesan. It's all vacuum packed and the lady tells us that it can stay unrefrigerated like this for 3 months. I pay for my $100 Euros worth of cheese and it's back to Bologna. Mission Accomplished.
The Procuitto Booth
The wall of Procuitto...yumm, how can you make a pigs hind legs taste so good with only salt. I don't know but I'm glad the Italians have figured it out.
Procuiutto, figs, grissini and vino
The Parmesan
3 Key's of the good stuff
I almost forgot, on our way out of Parma we came accross the 12 Centruy Baptistry of Parma, the exterior was made of pink marble. This place was amazing. The fresco's inside were the most vivid I have ever seen. It also kind of saved my bacon with Linda as so far today she came all this way for ham and cheese. She loves this stuff.
Another fantastic day in Italy.
Comments
Post a Comment