Southeast of Belgium: Pays de Herve

Nuno drove us to a small town called Pays de Herve, where one of the DOP cheese is produced. We first went to a cheese cellar where Herve cheese is made. Unfortunately, we found it is closed. At a local tourist office, we were told that there is no visit to show the process of making cheese.
Anyway, here is the product. Washed cheese, very strong smell and taste. The surface is very very sticky.



In the view of consumer perception, I think the producer should reconsider the packaging. Little childish. It is surely not targeted to children. McDonald hamberger can be wrapped with this paper.

Paper wrapping may not be appropriate for this type of cheese for another reason. As I mentioned the surface is sticky. It should be packed with a plastic package with sufficient room to breeze! This package suits for soft white mould cheese with dried surface such as Camembert de Normandie and Brie.



If you are interested in the cheese, more information is given:
http://www.herve-societe.be/

Belgium

On 26th of June, I left Modena for Brussels to see my friends: Nuno, Lu and David.
This time, Nuno and Lu took me to the South, a small village in the French-speaking region. On a hill, there is a restaurant.
As you can see in the pictures. The restaurant keeps animals. The food was excellent. The portion was a little too big for me.






On Sunday, we went to a large concert and there we met David and his friends.






-Lu's Chinese massage and therapy shop: Green Therapy in Brussels-


-Nuno with a Portuguese tailered suit-

Another trip to Italy (Part12): Frittata

On June 26, Friday, three students at Romanica is leaving, including me. So, at class, Yurika, a Japanese girl is going to bring Italian cakes for us. Jorge, a Spanish man from Zaragoza volunteered to make Spanish omelettes / Tortilla de patatas.
As I wanted to learn a correct way of making Tortilla, I asked him.
"If you make some tortilla, can I come to see how you do it? I can also help you."
"OK, we first go to the market to buy ingredients" Jorge answered."
After grocery shopping at the market, we went to Jorge's appartment to prepare it.
He said "Tortilla should be cooked a day before you serve."

OK, here is a recepe:
-Spanish Omelettes (EN) / Tortilla de patatas (ES) / Frittata (IT)-

Ingredients (4 - 5 persons)
- 4 or 5 large potatoes
- 4 eggs
- 1 midium size onion
- Salt
- Olive oil (for frying)

1. Slice potatoes and an onion. The thickness of potatoes should be around 4mm. If a slice is too thick, it takes more time to become soft. Beat eggs in a bowl and add some salt.

2. Pour olive oil on a large frying pan and heat it. It is advisable to use a tefron-coated pan in order to avoid the result that the ingredients stick to the bottom of a pan.
3. Add potato. Turn the potato every now and then.Add some salt.
4. Once potatoes become softer, then add slices of onion. Turn the potato every now and then. Once fried, break potatoes



5. Once the ingredients are cooked, remove extra oil. Do not forget to squeeze fried potato a bit so that oil can be removed. Then put the fried potato and onion into the bowl. Mix it well with the beaten egg.

6. The pan should be heated in a middium heat. Then add the mixture. Once the mixture starts to be cooked, Shake the pan slightly right and left so that the mixture starts to form a round omelletes.

7. Once one side is cooked, place a large plate over the pan. Turn the upside down. (This is the most difficult part.) From the plate, put back the half cooked omelettes onto the pan. Then cook the other side.



If you succeed, the omelettes should be like the picture above. You need a Spanish Mama or a Spanish man to explain how to cook. To cook the Spanish Omelettes for 4 or more people, you need to be a little macho.

Another trip to Italy (Part11): Balsamic vinegar

Julian, now I am going to write about my visit to the "acetaio (vinegar cellar)". In order to understand a balsamic vinegar, you must know it has different categories in this product.

The one is used for daily consumption, including a use of salad dressing, can be said "balsamic dressing". This is labelled "Aceto Balsamico". If you look at the label, it shows various ingredients: wine vinegar, sugar, calamel colouring etc. It is fabricated through a factory proces. It takes a few days to get a final product. Well, I would say it is a good vinegar: sweeter and denser than ordinary vinegars. As long as you choose the one labelled with the certificate of Aceto balsamico di modena.

Here we talk about an authenic product, which is called "Aceto Balsamico TRADIZIONALE di Modena". It is made with only "cooked grape malt". It is aged in 12 years at least. (There is a product of 6 years but it can not be called with the name.) It is dense like a syrup, sweeter and less acid. It is aged in barrel of six different types of wood: oak, cherry ect. Each wood contribute to the quality of Aceto Balsamico. The one with 24 years: You may not use as salad dressing as it is dense and sweet. Instead, it is recommended to use two or three drops on meat, table-cheese and fruit. The one aged 12 years costs 42 euro and the one aged 24 years costs 72 euro at the cellar.(It can be more expensive at retailing shops).






(left: called "Saporoso 6years") (centre: 12 years) (right: 24 years)



http://www.acetaiamalpighi.it

Another trip to Italy (Part10): making Pasta

Another interesting activity this week was a cooking lecture: making pasta. Our school invited a woman who makes fresh pasta and talks about tradition in this region.

I would say, making pasta is hard work. You need muscles in your arms! I like it more than working at gym to build up muscle on my arms. Unfortunately, I did not have enough chance to knead dough because this activity was most popular. Everyone wanted to try!

Here are some pictures how we got along!

Another trip to Italy (Part9): Market

When I stay somewhere in a few weeks on holidays, there is one thing I always do and enjoy: Go to a grocey market to find local products and prepare meals at an appartment.
When I was young, from 19 to 23, I used to challenge new activities and sport, for example, bamgee-jumping, water-skiing in Australia, river-rafting in Switzerland, horse-riding in Italy. Now, I have to think about consequences of these activities. So, now I tend to do more intellectual activities: visiting musemums and concerts. And exploring food culture.

In the first week, I was disappointed by products sold at supermarkets. In Spain, there is "Great" Corte Ingles and in UK, a "Super" waitrose where I can get high quality and gourmet foodstuff.
I first thought I would never make it to do grocery shopping at the market as lesson finishes at 13:00 and the market closes at 14:00. Because I usually enjoy just watching in first hour and then decide to buy which.
"Anyway, this is my last week in Modena. I can't go back without seeing a market" I thought.

Well, it was true that I had enough time to look around all shops but I was very satisfied what I bought. Shopkeepers are more knowledgeable than supermarkets and I enjoyed a little chat with them: Greengrocery, butcher's, cheesemanger's, fishmanger's and bakery etc. Those individual shops have already bunished in Japan. It is hard to negotiate prices or ask for recommendations. But in Italy, people often enjoy a conversation with shopkeepers. They know what they sell.

Here are the stuff I bought at the market:



Beppino Occelli is a cheese craftman from Piamonte who follows traditional recepes to produce cheese and butter.
http://www.occelli.it/inglese/azienda.asp
(I wanted to visit his cheese cellar in a small mountain village in Piamonte. But I did not have enough time to go there, this time.)


This is his fermented butter without salt. It is creamy and has some sweetness (as no salt is added. 2 euro for 125g at the Market in Modena (10 euro in Japan. Carrissimo!)


"Piadino" Romagnan speciality. They eat with ruccola, cheese, sausage or anything. Like sandwich.


"Ciliegie di Vignola" Cherry from Vignola. The consortium is formedI wonder if they try to get IGP (Indicazione Geographica Protetta)to to protect their Product Origin. Elena, do you know?


Washed cheese from Piamonte, milk (mixed: cow and goat)

Another trip to Italy (Part8): Marche

One of the most rewarding experiences in studying abroad can be making friends from different countries. Now, in addition to email, we can communicate through the internet. The thing in fashion is now facebook. It is very easy to make networking through this site. Great!

Oh, I've almost forgot what I want to say. Studying abroad is a fun: making friends internationally and you may visit those friends in their countries. I studied English in UK, 1999. Ten years ago and I got to know an Italian girl from Ancona. We were in group of 4 or 5: German, Italian, Korean, Japanese etc. I visited her two years after but then we lost contact for 7 years.

on the first week of my stay in Modena, I was surprised to receive an email from her. What a coincidence! She had no idea where I was. So, I returned an email. We arranged to meet in Ancona.
She took me to a small town near Ancona on Saturday and we enjoyed time.

Another trip to Italy (Part7):Parmigiano Reggiano

On Wednesday, I had to skip classes in order to visit a cheese factory where the famous Parmigiano Reggiano is made. Probably factory is not proper word to describe the place. In Italian, it is called "caseficio (cheese maker)". In this region, they argue that a Parmigiano Reggiano is not made by the process of factory automation but made by people: It means that it is made by craftmanship. Of course, total cheese making process is sensored and monitored by modern equipments. For instance, a room temperature is controlled by highly sophisticated monitoring system.
However, actual making process is done by skilled and long-trained craftmen.
This idea can be summarized by the phrase: "il Parmigiano Reggiano, non si fabbrica, si fa": They are probably proud of how they keep their tradition.

Anyway, I woke up at 6:00 to get ready and catch a bus to the suburb where an African lady at the Modena Information office had made a reservation for me to visit a caseficio at 8:30. I arrived at the bus station at 7:15 and bought a ticket and got on the bus.
According to the lady at the information, the bus takes me to the spot which is a 10-minute walk to the caseficio. However, the bus terminated at a hospital. So, I waited there, wondering when a driver starts an engine. 5 minutes passed. I finally asked him.
"No, this bus terminates here. If you want to get to this road on the map, you should go straight on. Walking."
"This is Italy. I have to accept people's mistake." I thought: What the African lady explained was not exactly correct but it is not important. She was very kind. That is what matters. (Most Japanese hate mistakes, criticizes people who give services if they do wrong as if they have all rights to complain. I hated those reactions. So, I am here. It happened. It is better to think this way. Everyone is happy.)

I walked to the caseficio and arrived in time. There were a group of employees of Swiss Insurance company, who were also waiting to see the cheese-making process. A guide was unfortunately in Italian. So, it was my morning lesson. I skipped school today. So, it is a chance to practise my listening skills.
















-Before the final check -


-After the final check: the wheel is certified to be called "Parmigiano Leggiano"



YOU CAN BOOK A VISIT at Modena Tourist Information. Visit is ONLY WEDESDAY at 8:30. Free but it is recommended to purchase some cheese!