Parma- Cuisine Trip

I am basically a week behind in these posts right now, so I am writing about the cuisine trip from last weekend. We traveled south to visit a few different cities and experience the culture and cuisine of a different region of Italy. We left on a Friday (March 30th) and hopped on a bus to go to our first stop, Cremona. In Cremona, we had a tour of another Duomo (I have seen way too many of those) and then we had a really cool visit to a violin shop. Cremona is one of the most famous places for making violins in the world. We heard from a luthier (person who makes string instruments) about the long and complicated process that goes into making a violin and had the chance to see all of the stages of the process. We also took a small tour of a historic theater. After the stop in Cremona, we headed to our main destination-Parma. We arrived at our hotel, checked in to our rooms (they were quite nice) and then took a small tour of the city. We saw, of course, another Duomo and then a Baptisery. We then came back to the hostel to hang out for a bit before going to dinner. Dinner was at a place downtown that had incredible food. For the appetizers, we had plates filled with different kinds of meat, such as prosciutto, and along with that we had a type of fried pastry that I have always known as sopaipillas (http://www.eatnewmexican.com/2011/08/sopaipillas/). I am not sure what the Italian name for this type of food is, but for when I saw them, I was so excited. My father has been making the best sopaipillas for years and we only have the chance to eat them on certain occasions. For our first course we had a parmesan cheese risotto and butternut squash ravioli and for the second course we had a very delicious stewed beef. Dessert, of course, was tiramisu. The wine was also flowing that night. Everybody was having a great time. It was really fun going on a trip with a lot of people from our program. We went out that night after dinner and had a few drinks and sampled a little bit of the nighttime scene in Parma. It was interesting because there is a pretty big college there, so a lot of people our age were out and about. The following day, we spent some time in Parma, before heading off to a place called Mantova (Mantua in English). This city was very basic, mostly occupied by a big castle as the main attraction. We took a tour through the whole place and there was some really beautiful art, statues and gardens. Afterwards, we had some free time so a couple of us walked down to the waterside of a nearby lake and sat around at a little bar for a while. We then boarded the bus, heading for dinner, and ended up getting lost and losing about an hour or so. Once we finally made it to the restaurant, we were bombarded with another massive dinner. The type of meal was very similar to the restaurant in Parma (as is tradition within the whole region). The plates of meat and baskets of the sopaipilla-esqe pastries were first. There was another course with some kind of crab dish (delicious) and mushroom risotto. The third course was, again, a stewed beef (although this one was better than the night before) and some kind of pork chops. Dessert was some kind of cake. Pretty tasty, but not my favorite. We then left to go back to the hotel, before going out for the night. We hung out at the quad of the local college for a while. The next day we took a trip to a Parmegiano-Reggiano factory. I am sure many, if not all of you, have heard of this cheese. What you probably don't know is how they make/store it. It was a really interesting experience (and you can bet a very smelly one) to see this process. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HREBsvlKaI) They have cheese there that has been aging for years and they come in 40 kilo wheels. (about 88 pounds) We sampled a very large amount of cheese and some people bought blocks to take back to Milan. After the cheese factory, we boarded the bus and headed off to a town named Castell'Arquato. This was our last stop before coming home. We split into two groups once we arrived and one group went to a wine-tasting, while the other took a tour of the town/castle. My group was the first to do the wine-tasting. We sampled 3 different wines and each received a massive plate of meat and bread. It was a lot of fun, although wine is not my favorite choice of drink. The tour was also very fun because the tower that we visited had incredible views of the whole valley. Once we returned to the area where we sampled wine, some girl from the other group had passed out. She was fine, just didn't eat enough that day. We then all boarded the bus and finally headed home after an incredibly fun and magnificently delicous weekend. Now, for my spring break adventures, I might have to break them up into seperate posts. Needless to say, there is a lot to tell.

Luke