Blog Entries

Calcata Italy - A Quick Peek

michael@discoversoriano.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Calcata is an ancient hilltop village that is about 45 minutes from Soriano, near Rome. What makes this village so special is that in the 1930's, it was condemned, and became a ghost town. However, in the 60's hippies and artists began to squat here, and over time it developed into a thriving artist colony of sorts. There are currently about 60 local residents of the village, who have restored it over the years and opened restaurants, cafes, and art galleries.

Th [...]

Bruschetta - The truth and a unique recipe

michael@discoversoriano.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:00:00 +0100

It's not really what you think it is...

In the states, when you hear the word 'Bruschetta', you think about toasted Italian bread with a tomato spread. But to think that way would be like thinking the word 'Sandwich' means two pieces of bread with ham, cheese and mayo. It's actually a generic term, and there are all kinds of Bruschetta. [...]

The Life of a Pig Before Prosciutto

michael@discoversoriano.com — Sun, 10 May 2009 23:00:00 +0100

I’m a city boy. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, sheltered from certain realities of life. So when I ate that bacon, I never really considered that a pig grew up, got slaughtered, was cut up and shipped to my local supermarket. To me, the bacon was just bacon. It comes from the supermarket, wrapped in plastic. Of course I knew the process, but I never really had to think of it.

In 1984 I visited Soriano and met Paola. Her parents were ‘play farmers&rs [...]

Rotolo Rose Recipe

michael@discoversoriano.com — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0100

{mosimage} Rotolo Rose

An amazing rolled pasta with cheese, Besciamelle and prosciutto dish my mother-in-law in Italy used to make on Sundays every once in a while. When we knew Rotolo Rose was for lunch, nobody was ever late... period!

Translation

Rolled Pasta with Prosciutto, Besciamelle & Cheese

Ingredients

4 slices of lasagna dough 5 large slices of ham 12 kraft slices [...]

Tuscan Roasted Chicken & Potatoes Recipe

michael@discoversoriano.com — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0100

{mosimage}
Pollo Arrosto con Patate

Easily one of the most popular recipes we do in our cooking classes, I thought this would be a great recipe to share on the blog. Don't think this is like any roasted chicken you have had at home. It will certainly spoil you rotten. If you are cooking for others, this never fails to impress!

Translation

Tuscan Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

Ingredients

[...]

The FAMILY feeling of our cooking vacations explained

michael@discoversoriano.com — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Our future guests often ask me what our tours are going to be like, and I try to explain the feeling of �family�, and how it is so different than anything else out there. Oddly, it is a difficult thing to explain, especially since our future guests are little more than strangers on a phone line at first. But it is without question the number one reason for our success. After all, we get countless of word of mouth bookings. With all that is going on in the current economic meltdown and th [...]

Spoleto, Italy - A Quick Peek

michael@discoversoriano.com — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

I tried to shoot a good amount of video this year to give me a bunch of material for the blog, so I will have quite a few of the various cities we visited on our tours. Spoleto was a place that we visited fairly often, but I only shot video once while there for a few hours. Unfortunately, it was very early in the season, and I was still getting used to the new camera, so the shaking in this video is pretty obvious. Additionally, they were setting up for their world-famous jazz [...]

Cooking & Touring Tuscany, Umbria & Lazio in 2008, a look back

michael@discoversoriano.com — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

7 months, 17 tours, 56 cooking classes, 144 guests and over 35,000 miles of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio are behind us. That was the 2008 season for us at DiscoverSoriano. As with last year, after coming back to the US, I have gone into video mode. Here is the first video I have made since coming back, which essentially sums up the season:

What a wild ride it was. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work…. but al [...]

Recession-proof your vacation with DiscoverSoriano.com

michael@discoversoriano.com — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

With so much uncertainty ahead with the economy, skyrocketing fuel prices, and the drastic drop of the Dollar against the Euro over the past couple years; many people have been concerned about planning travel. In fact, during the 2008 season, most of Europe has seen a sharp drop in tourism for these very reasons.

We at DiscoverSoriano haven’t felt the negative impact. To the contrary, while many in the industry have reported a 60% or more decline in business, [...]

Where has the time gone?

michael@discoversoriano.com — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

So it has been an incredibly busy season for us this year… o the point that we sold out most of the tours this year. Not bad when you hear all over the news how Americans just aren’t travelling to Europe thanks to the weak dollar, right?

Anyhow, the consequence of being so incredibly busy is that I have had absolutely no time to contribute to this blog this season. I’ve hardly even had time to get a night of s [...]

Dances with Mozzarella

michael@discoversoriano.com — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:00:00 +0100

For my first video post in a while, I thought I would start with a cool little video compilation made of some of the video I shot during some of the cooking classes we had earlier in the season. This video concentrates on 3 groups we had in May and June of 2008 -- I’m not sure why I didn’t break out the video camera for more groups.

Featured in this video are:

Mary, Erica, Maka, Sue, Terry, Katie, Mary, Mark, Dav [...]

So Goes Our 1st Tour of 2008

michael@discoversoriano.com — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

{mosimage}16 days to go before I make my trek to Italy for 5 months this year, but our tours have started. Fortunately, so that I could get some last minute work done and finish coaching our son's baseball team, Paola went over ahead of me for our first tour of the year.

Scott & Michelle (from Texas), and Don & MaryAnn (from Washington) are our guests for this week that ends tomorrow. They have chosen to do a somewhat custom itinerary that more or less mi [...]

Tuscia in Jazz Festival 2008 - Schedule

michael@discoversoriano.com — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:00:00 +0100

DiscoverSoriano.com is a proud sponsor of this year's Jazz Festival in Soriano. We hope you will come and see us! We'll be filming a great deal of the festival this year in High Definition, as well as conducting numerous interviews.

This is the preliminary schedule for the 2008 Jazz festival in Soriano. Most performances begin around 9:00 PM in Soriano's main Piazza. Some performances will take place in the City Hall Courtyard. Keep in mind that more events are likely to be [...]

This Blog about Italy is about to go into Video Blogging Overdrive

michael@discoversoriano.com — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Let's face it... when I am in the US, this blog runs pretty dry. After all, a blog about Italy doesn't do too well when you are sitting at a computer in Florida. Well, that is soon to change.

On May 12, I'll be heading over again, and this time I will be there for 5 months straight. No back and [...]

The Blindfolded Chef - Ceci Soup Challenge

michael@discoversoriano.com — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Last week Paola wanted to teach Alyssa, our 18 year old daughter, how to make Ceci Soup. She was saying it was so easy that she could do it blindfolded. As we laughed at her, she insisted that she could, so I ended up betting her $100 that she couldn’t. What started out as a stupid little bet turned into an evening of intense laughter and family fun.

We found a sock, blindfolded Paola and she went to task as I film [...]

Italian... So lost in translation

michael@discoversoriano.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +0100

“My daughter speaks perfect English. After all, she spent a month in England with a native family”. That was the quote that caused me to simply give up, and it speaks volumes about Italian culture and the denial so many of them live in.

It happened this past October. I was in a local barber shop in Soriano nel Cimino. The barber was telling me of the frustrations he had been experiencing as he tried to communicate with the American tourists that t=started coming over the p [...]

Florida Italophiles Unite!

michael@discoversoriano.com — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:47:31 +0100

Wow… I’ve been away from Italy now for a total of 3 and a half months. That is the longest stretch in more than 2 years. When I am in the states, I’m not immersed in the wonders of Italian culture, so material for the blog is hard to come by.

Anyhow, the other day Paola and I had the great pleasure of meeting a g [...]

Why Italy is not known for modern music

michael@discoversoriano.com — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:08:21 +0100

You know, there is a really, really good reason that you don't see any Italian groups on the International rap scene. What could that reason be, you may ask... just click below and remember that Italians make great food and wine, ok?

Oh yeah, and promise you will keep watching it at least until you see the Michael-Jackson-esque moonwalk. Trust me, it is worth the wait.

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A little more Olive Gardening Laughter...

michael@discoversoriano.com — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:41:15 +0100

Face it, I'm back in the states for a few months, so I just don't have much material for the blog these days. I mean, when I am in Italy, I could write several posts a day, but I am sitting here in Florida, what to contribute to THIS blog?

That said, little things catch my attention here and there, and while I was clicking away on Youtube, I stumbled across another one that had me rolling on the floor.

If you have read deeper into my blog, you certainly know the disd [...]

Protected by the POWEHRRR RAYNGERRRZ

michael@discoversoriano.com — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:47:30 +0100

All I have to say can be said by this video.

I'm feeling safe now thanks to the POWEHRRR RAYNGERRRZ!
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