We spent yesterday morning preparing for the Condove Toma Cheese Festival. The preparation consisted of making two pounds of ghocchi (mashed potatoes, flour, etc...) by hand, so we could have a proper gnocchi and toma cheese dinner in the evening.
There was the usual range of stands selling various regional foods and crafts. There was also a lot of antiques, old books, etc. But, of course, the cheese is the coolest item and the star of the show. Stand after stand with great wheels of mountain and regional cheeses. This area is absolutely wonderful for exploring interesting cheese variants; mild and strong; fresh and highly aged. While there, we got our typical range of goodies... nearly four pounds of various mountain cheeses, yogurt, apples, a variety of hand made salami, honey, and bread. Some of the cheese went in the dinner, and the apples were baked for desert served with the honey and yogurt. All very good!
There was the usual range of stands selling various regional foods and crafts. There was also a lot of antiques, old books, etc. But, of course, the cheese is the coolest item and the star of the show. Stand after stand with great wheels of mountain and regional cheeses. This area is absolutely wonderful for exploring interesting cheese variants; mild and strong; fresh and highly aged. While there, we got our typical range of goodies... nearly four pounds of various mountain cheeses, yogurt, apples, a variety of hand made salami, honey, and bread. Some of the cheese went in the dinner, and the apples were baked for desert served with the honey and yogurt. All very good!
As well as picking up provisions, we ran across a lot of our friends from Condove (our former town). The cheese festival is sort of a Susa valley equivalent of the Plymouth (Michigan) Fall Festival. An opportunity to get out and see a lot of old familiar faces. It was very nice to be back in Condove for a few hours.
Queen Bee will be going to Venice on Monday for four days of Italian lessons with her cousin who is coming in from Switzerland. I guess that leaves me alone with the remains of our haul... not so bad.
