Hail, Cremona, and Moving On

     I hope everyone's in the mood for a story, because this one's ripe for the picking, juicing, fermenting, and boozin. It all began three weeks ago when...

     HAIL fell onto my keyboard and put the poor beast to sleep for four days. Miraculously, the only thing negatively affected was the computer's sound card annnnd for some reason my ability to log onto this blog. Due to my inability to understand technology, it took me this entire time to realize I just had to add my other email as an administrator in order to edit. Look out, Harvard, I'm comin fur ya. 
     You're probably thinking, "Wow, what kind of a dumb biddy leaves their computer outside in a hail storm?" That would be a correct assessment of the information at hand, but that doesn't make for an excellent story. No no, my computer was in fact inside when this once every 2-3 year (as I'm told) hail storm occured. My potted vegetable garden, however, was outside. So I moved everything inside and my gracious tomato plant thanked me by dropping a gumball sized hail stone onto my keyboard. Fast-forward almost a month and we arrive here, back in the good ol' US of A. That's right, I'm back for the beautiful, fleeting summer. 

     CREMONA
    
     Cremona is aurguablly Italy's most important city for music, as some of the best stringed instruments in the world are made here. Although we were brought for the farms and food, the music did soothe this weary heart. I want to live there FOREVER. Jk, my Italian's rubbish. 

Milk during the first stages of cheese making

Pigs on an organic farm using a four-field grazing system

Fre$h to death ciabatta production

The freshest bread this side of the Atlantic 

The manly, pink beers at Birrificio Toccalmatto

Zucchini bread we made for the trip 

     Fun fact, zucchini bread doesn't really exist outside of North America. When my friends and I made this bread for the trip, everyone was a little wary of eating something that was sweet and also filled with organic vegetation. After some convincing, everyone dug in and the rest is history. I have to thank my good friend Kelly for providing the toddler sized zucchini from her beautiful garden that was used for this bread. 

    If you have a friend to help you make this bread, it can come together in a snap. I've hated grating ever since the great grating disaster of 2012. So, have a friend grate the zucchini and you are already halfway there! Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the oil with the sugar, vanilla, and eggs and beat until well incorporated. Introduce the dry to the wet and stir gently. Add the zucchini to the party and gently fold in, making sure not to over mix the batter. Pour said batter into two, greased 8x4 loaf pans, or, like we did, into one, greased 9x13 dish. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the top has browned nicely. 

     As an aside, the moving on portion of the title refers to a few things. You expect to come home and find everything as you left it. As we know, the only thing that's constant in our little, crazy world is change. As I begin to accept the changes being made at home, I begin to rethink my goals across the ocean. Although I was dead set on going to Dublin for my internship, I'm starting to think a new place, a change of pace, might be good for me. I'm looking at you, Scotland.

Recipe

Adapted from the blog The Kitchen McCabe

325 F 50-60 min

3 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp cinnamon 

3 eggs

1 c vegetable oil

2 1/4 c sugar

1 tbsp vanilla 

3 1/2 c grated zucchini (avoid the seeded section of mature plants)