Monday, October 13, 2008
Photos...Finally!
I'm working on putting my pictures online. You can check out some pictures of my trip to Rome at http://tiflyon.winkflash.com. The password is italianfun
Friday, October 10, 2008
False alarm
So it turns out after I finished my practice test and scored it, I actually increased my score by 210 points. That made me feel a bit better, but I am still a bit stressed out. :)
Frustrated
I suppose you could say that this blog post is the product of my frustration while studying for the GRE. I thought that I had been putting so much work into studying, but today when I took a practice verbal test, I only improved my score by 40 points! I am glad that my score is improving, but I am really feeling the stress of my entire educational and financial future riding on this test, and I don't feel ready yet!!!
In other news, relating to Italy, I have had a lot of fun experiences in the couple months. Gosh, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted!
About a month ago, I learned how to make and can real italian tomato sauce. You might be surprised to know that all we used to make the sauce was tomatoes and fresh basil. Evidently, the secret to making a good tomato sauce is all in the type of tomato you choose. I learned that the perfect tomato should be firm, and have a lot of flesh, and not very many juicy seeds. If you want to try, the process is pretty easy...
1. cut the tomatoes into quarters
2. place in a large pot with 5-6 fresh leaves of basil
3. stew the tomatoes and basil until the tomatoes are cooked through
4. use some kind of press/strainer contraption to separate the skin and seeds from the sauce.
5. Boil the sauce again for 5-7 minutes. Immediately pour into canning jars and seal well.
6. let the jars sit over night under a blanket for insulation to let the jars cool slowly.
That's it! The sauce is really good, and they use it all the time. Usually they will open a jar and add cooked vegetables or meat to it for a nice pasta.
In other news, I participated in a Vendemmia (grape harvest) which was a lot of fun. The family owns a vineyard about 1 hour outside of Torino which produces approxamately 750 liters of wine annualy. There were about 25 people who came to help out, so it only took about half a day to pick the vineyard clean. Interesting things I learned...
1. they don't wash the grapes before pressing them, because that dilutes the wine. That means that unless the pickers cut off the bad grapes, or the spiderwebs, etc. that it will all go into the wine! Nonno Amadeo said that in most commercial vineyards, all the grapes are thrown in, and so sometimes bugs and other unpleasant things get pressed with the grapes. Gross!
2. Their family hasn't smashed grapes by foot for a lot time. Even before they got an electric press, they used a wooden one that you turn by hand. I guess that when you do it by foot it takes a super long time, and you don't get as much wine.
3. Usually wines are made form one specfic kind of grape. There are a couple of wines that are made with two different types of grapes, but in the commercial process, the two types are made into wine separately and then combined. This family grows 4 different types of grapes in their vineyard. One is just for eating, but the other three are all combined together before the pressing, and then pressed together. Evidently, this makes the family's wine really special.
Well, that is enough for now. I really will try to get better about posting more often. :)
By the way, Happy Belated Birthday to Brent, and Happy Birthday to Grandma Jones. I love you both!
In other news, relating to Italy, I have had a lot of fun experiences in the couple months. Gosh, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted!
About a month ago, I learned how to make and can real italian tomato sauce. You might be surprised to know that all we used to make the sauce was tomatoes and fresh basil. Evidently, the secret to making a good tomato sauce is all in the type of tomato you choose. I learned that the perfect tomato should be firm, and have a lot of flesh, and not very many juicy seeds. If you want to try, the process is pretty easy...
1. cut the tomatoes into quarters
2. place in a large pot with 5-6 fresh leaves of basil
3. stew the tomatoes and basil until the tomatoes are cooked through
4. use some kind of press/strainer contraption to separate the skin and seeds from the sauce.
5. Boil the sauce again for 5-7 minutes. Immediately pour into canning jars and seal well.
6. let the jars sit over night under a blanket for insulation to let the jars cool slowly.
That's it! The sauce is really good, and they use it all the time. Usually they will open a jar and add cooked vegetables or meat to it for a nice pasta.
In other news, I participated in a Vendemmia (grape harvest) which was a lot of fun. The family owns a vineyard about 1 hour outside of Torino which produces approxamately 750 liters of wine annualy. There were about 25 people who came to help out, so it only took about half a day to pick the vineyard clean. Interesting things I learned...
1. they don't wash the grapes before pressing them, because that dilutes the wine. That means that unless the pickers cut off the bad grapes, or the spiderwebs, etc. that it will all go into the wine! Nonno Amadeo said that in most commercial vineyards, all the grapes are thrown in, and so sometimes bugs and other unpleasant things get pressed with the grapes. Gross!
2. Their family hasn't smashed grapes by foot for a lot time. Even before they got an electric press, they used a wooden one that you turn by hand. I guess that when you do it by foot it takes a super long time, and you don't get as much wine.
3. Usually wines are made form one specfic kind of grape. There are a couple of wines that are made with two different types of grapes, but in the commercial process, the two types are made into wine separately and then combined. This family grows 4 different types of grapes in their vineyard. One is just for eating, but the other three are all combined together before the pressing, and then pressed together. Evidently, this makes the family's wine really special.
Well, that is enough for now. I really will try to get better about posting more often. :)
By the way, Happy Belated Birthday to Brent, and Happy Birthday to Grandma Jones. I love you both!
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