Everything here is great. We been exploring the town and culture around us. Sampling local foods such as the wide variaties of pizza, pasta, the amazing fresh fruit, the salads, and of course porcheta (pronouced Porketa) wich is a entire pig roast on a spit flavored with spices and herbs. Ive been taking Italian classes and that has been going well since now the locals dont think were complete idiots. Yesterday we went up into the mountins to a large cheese making area and had a large lunch of handmade (literaly, you have to compact the cheese with your hands as we learned) parmesean, ricotta, assiago, gorganzola, and many other wonderful cheeses with home made bread. After we learned how cheese is made first of all the milk is mixed with renet. Renet is a powdery substance made of ground cow stoumach! Of course back in America they dont use real cow stomach that why your cheese is so flavorless. Because everyone in Italy knows that you cant have good cheese without ground cow stoamach. After this the cheese is compacted into a shape which is how it gets it italian name Formagio from the Latin word forma meaning shape. The cheese is then left to sit for several minutes until its solid. Fresh cheese can be eaten right away put if you want to age it it can be kept for up to several years. The first story of cheese is of a man carrying milk in a cows stoamch on his way to acity a month away to sell it. When he arrives he tries to pour it into a container but instead a big sloppy pile of cheese comes out mmm mmm yummy.
Also there has been a local festival called Quintana which is a celebration of the local history. There has been flag juggling(better than it sound) parades, tonight magicians and fire spitters, and this weekend jousting. All pretty amazing.
Ciao from Ascoli Italy
Chris
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