A Night of Vino e Formaggio!

CIMBA does a great job at providing us with several different cultural activities throughout the semester. One that all the students thoroughly enjoy is the “Date with a Professor Night”, where we can all spend an evening with a professor making pasta at a local restaurant or go to a cheese tasting at their apartments. It’s a nice switch up from the cafeteria dinners. Last night I had the pleasure to attend a vino e formaggio, or wine and cheese tasting at Professor Morgan’s apartment. She had a man from the town of Paderno del Grappa named Mateo, come and teach us about all the various cheeses and wines from Italy. Some of the cheeses were from the local Veneto region and another was even from a farm right here on Mount Grappa. Mateo enthusiastically explained to us the significance of each cheese and how it was made before each sample. The first cheese we tasted was riccotta, a creamy soft cheese, which you have probably used to make several dishes such as lasagna or baked ziti.

They paired the cheeses with a glass of prosecco, an Italian sparkling white wine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecco) traditionally used during cheese tastings. Mateo had such a large variety of cheeses for us to try it seemed as though it never stopped coming! We sampled peccorino, bastardo, and my personal favorite, asiago. It was interesting to learn about the different types of hard and soft cheeses and to be able to compare them to one another. One of the things I found most enjoyable was how passionate Mateo was about his cheese practice. He even has a cheese truck that he stations around town to sell his cheeses to the locals. By the end of the evening I felt as though I was quite the cheese and wine connoisseur!

Obviously no night is complete without dessert and this night was no exception. Professor Morgan had prepared a dish of various dolci, or sweets, for us to try as well. She had everything for us from eclairs to chocolate biscotti cookies, each one better than the last. My personal favorite was an Italian classic originating from Milan, pannettone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panettone). It was definitely the hit of the night, all of it being gone within minutes. It is similar to a breakfast pastry with chestnuts baked into the crust and has been a delicacy dating back to the Roman Empire. Definitely a popular holiday treat!

Not only was it a night to enjoy delicious Italian cheeses, but we also had the opportunity to bond with one another and get to know our professor and her family better. They were all so excited we came over they even embellished their apartment with some Christmas decorations and played Christmas music to get us in the spirit. I love how close everyone at CIMBA has become since the beginning. It’s almost like one big family making a home here in Paderno del Grappa. It was so nice to take a night off from studying to enjoy quality time with friends. The cheese and wine tasting topped it all of!