Reminiscing & Cooking

During my college years, I had the privelege of spending a summer in Italy.  My school sent me over to do research at the University of Naples - Federico II.

It was a wonderful summer full of culture, adventure, and the most wonderful food I've ever tasted.  In Naples, pizza flowed like honey and there were pastry shops on nearly every street.  Bread, wine, and cheese...all like I had never tasted before.  It was a glorious city!...(save the crowdedness, overflowing trash dumpsters, and crime rate...but what city doesn't have its blemishes?)

Each weekend, I would travel somewhere or sightsee....trying to soak up everything Italian in the three short months I was there.  One of my favorite weekends involved a cooking class in Sorrento, a small town on the Amalfi Coast full of narrow streets, a variety of shops, and lots of lemoncello!

The cooking class was held at Mami Camilla, a bed and breakfast doubling as a cooking school, led by Chef Biagio Longo.

We made delicious Stuffed Tomatoes....

Pesto Pasta, made with basil we picked from his garden.

Meatloaf stuffed with hard-boiled eggs and, if I remember correctly, ham.

And the best tiramisu I have had in my life (and I've tried a lot of tiramisu)!

It was so much fun and definitely one of the top weekends in my lifetime!  

Want a little taste of my experience without flying to Italy?  Here is a video of Chef Biagio teaching at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, CA.  I love this guy! Watch him work his magic and learn how to make "Lamb Biagio Style".