I’ve tried making fresh mozzarella before but never really had much success. Since pizza making is kind of my thing I really wanted to learn so I could make the cheese fresh and top my pizzas with it. I did some research and found a local dairy farm that had cheese making classes and immediately signed up.

I rolled up on a warm April morning and waved to the cows thanking them for their contribution to the world of cheese – they didn’t wave back but I know they herd.  This class included fresh mozzarella as well as burrata – so… bonus cheese! The only drawback to that was they started with pressed curds as opposed to milk due to the time constraints. However – that being said the basic concept is the same (and I’ve made the curd before so it’s not that hard to make and you can buy it in 10lb bags that freeze really well).

The first step is to break the curds up into small crumbles in a large stainless steel bowl.   Once that is completed pour hot (under 170 degrees) water on top of the curds and wait a few minutes to let the hot water do it’s work. Put on a couple of pairs of plastic gloves (the water is really hot) and pull all the curds into a rough ball of cheese. Take this ball of cheese then stretch it out as much as you can then sprinkle it with some kosher salt fold it over itself, rotate, and repeat. Do this 5 or 6 times and you should have the makings of a ball of fresh mozzarella. If you can’t get it to seal right you can always pour some more hot water on the sides of the bowl and press the cheese against it to help seal the ball shut.

Take a deli takeout container and fill it with water – add a little more salt (to taste) and submerge the cheese in the water. If you are going to use it the same day leave it out to cool in the water. If you aren’t going to eat it that day you can put it in the fridge until you need it (make sure to change the water out daily to help keep it fresh)

For burrata you take some of the curds you broke up into small bits and mix them with heavy cream in a separate bowl. Once you stretch the cheese into a ball pull the edges of the ball to make a flat cheese square. Form a pocket in your hand and cup the cheese square in it – once that’s done fill it with the cream/curd mixture. Carefully fold up the edges of the cheese to cover the curds and seal the edges (using hot water on the steel bowl trick if it doesn’t seal correctly). Store it in the same deli container with salted water.

Overall I found the class very instructive and being able to stretch the cheese myself and understand how it’s supposed to look was the missing key for me. Last few times It tried it the cheese just didn’t stretch and I suspect it was the heat of the water wasn’t high enough. I haven’t tried to replicate at home yet but I’m eying a 10 pound Grande cheese bag of mozzarella curds that would make a LOT of cheese.

Like Ron says – I love scotch. I rarely drink anything else and have developed quite a taste for it. That being said – I’m not one of those scotch snobs who waves the glass around talking about tasting notes in an affected tone of voice. However – I can taste the difference of scotches based on the region and sometimes even the maker (Macallan is my favorite) and have in the past done tastings of 20 and 25 year old scotch (notably in Vegas on the rooftop bar of the Rio – that was a good time) so I have a baseline of what good aged scotch tastes like.

I’ve always wanted to try a 30 year scotch – I’ve never pulled the trigger over the years due to the cost and the uncertainty (is this REALLY 30 year scotch?) so I knew I’d have to go to a reputable scotch bar in order to ensure I’m getting what I paid for. I did some research and found a really sophisticated scotch bar in the village in NYC called ‘The brandy library’. When I walked in I realized it was called that because it has library shelves all along the walls but instead of books they were bottles of scotch, bourbon, brandy, and other spirits. We had our own table and scotch expert to help us out. I explained I’m looking for a 30 year scotch with a preference for Speyside whiskeys but could be convinced to go Islay if he thinks there’s a 30 year worth it (the smokiness might be a bit much)

After some back and forth and explaining that as much as I’d love to have a Macallan 30 – I’m not about to drop $1,000 for a dram of it we settled on a highly rated 30 year from a distillery called Benriach which he said won some awards and punches way above it’s price.

Here’s what the tasting notes he gave me were:

COLOR:Mahogany

NOSE: Stewed plum, baked orange, smoked walnut and cinnamon cocoa

PALATE: Dark fruit, manuka honey and chocolate raisin, with a long and complex smoked honey finish

SMOKE LEVEL: Complex

He gave me a small sample (I love this place – letting me have a sip to see if it’s agreeable before giving me the full dram) and I really liked it so we agreed this would be my scotch and he poured me a healthy dram and the color was so dark I just spend the first few minutes just looking at it

When I took that first whiff I didn’t get all the tasting notes but it smelled strongly of honey with an undercurrent of caramel and a back current of smoke pervading the whole thing. It smelled amazing and way more complex than my usual 12 year scotches. The first taste hit me in the face and I actually gasped at how strong of a liquor hit it was but then once that cleared the flavors were all there and the complexity was on full display. This was a great scotch – I savored it for over 40 minutes with small sips and great conversation with my friends in this super relaxed atmosphere.

I really enjoyed this 30 year scotch – but it’ll have to be a rare treat as the cost puts casual drinking of it out of my budget. That being said – I now have tried all the standard scotch years and I still think Macallan 15 is my gold star – and maybe one day I’ll win the lottery and can taste that Macallan 30!

(I did have a glass of Macallan 15 at the bar because I was just enjoying myself immensely and wanted to keep the quality scotch flowing)

This was a bucket list item for me. My family is from Torre Del Greco, a small town near Naples and the Volcano is ever present and I’m fascinated by the history of Pompeii and Herculaneum (well the Roman empire in general – yes, I do think of them several times a day!) and I’ve always wanted to climb the volcano and look over the bay of Naples.

This year I finally got my family aligned to go for a visit and it was an amazing week (to be told in another post) but the volcano itself really is omnipresent. Everywhere you look there’s lava rock and the rich volcanic soil that generate the famous San Marzano tomatoes.

We drove up to the summit and found out that you actually need a reservation to hike to the very top. Very disappointing. We tried to get some of the day-of spots but they sold out instantly once they dropped every 10 minutes. After two days of trying to score a ticket to the summit we pivoted and decided to hike the ‘River of Lava’ a trail created when the volcano last erupted. It was a winding trail that climbed up the side of the mountain with so many wildflowers and butterflies that it was like were were in another world.

At the end of the hike through the forest the trail opened up to the river of lava itself – a vast swath of black lava rock that showed the devastation the volcano brought when it erupted in the 1940s. As I walked along the lava rocks I was surrounded by so many wildflowers it was like out of a painting. I stood at the top of the trail on an outcropping of rock and overlooked the bay of Naples – and it was one of the most beautiful natural vistas I’ve ever seen.

So while I didn’t get to summit the volcano (next time – its easier if you reserve in advance and I bet my kids would love it) I still got to hike up the side of this historic volcano and hold 2000 year old lava rocks in my hands and achieve a dream I had for a very long time.

But Tony, you’re Italian! What are you doing? What about the pizza? The Pasta? The Bread?! There’s no way you can pull this off!

That’s what I thought when I started. Just two weeks, I told myself. You can do this! The first few days were absolute torture but I persevered and about four days in it was.. fine. It was compounded by my not eating sugar either so my dietary choices were somewhat limited as I don’t like seafood so I ate a lot of chicken, eggs, and beef. The funny thing about eating like a supposed ‘carnivore’ was that it was very filling and I found that my appetite was basically zeroed out and I had to force myself to eat sometimes as I just wasn’t hungry.

In fact the lack of variety ended up being a benefit as I just ate the same few things over and over making it easy to prepare and plan for – lots of scrambled eggs, burgers on almond buns, and sausage and peppers. In fact I went a bit stricter than what was called for as I also didn’t eat fruit to keep the sugars (even natural ones) low. It ended up being a low carb situation which is fine for managing hunger but it’s a real pain in the energy department. I tried playing basketball or hitting the gym and it was brutal. Since low carb means you shed water I ended up parched during workouts and guzzling water like a man who was lost in the desert for a week.

What did work? The weight loss. Now, I realize 50% of it was probably water but it still was pretty effective. So much so that I ended up doing it for 21 days preparing for my trip to Italy. That’s right baby I went low carb right before heading to the motherland of carbs.

So yeah,I gained 1/2 the weight back during my week in Italy but hey – la dolce vita, si? That being said, I really wasn’t doing it for weight loss only I wanted to see how I felt without grain in my diet and I will say that the biggest thing I noticed was my focus improved substantially. I was able to keep on task and keep things in my short term memory longer than before.

So overall I saw some benefits, but not enough to give up three of my favorite food groups (Pizzas, Pastas, Sandwiches). It was an interesting experiment and I’m glad I tried it but it’s really not something that is sustainable for me.