Today we went on a field trip to the Italian centre - with our homeschooling friends.
We were met by one of the staff members, and at first we thought she was just going to show us around the store....but it turned in to sooooo much more! It really was an interesting and fun field trip for all of us!!
Last night we watched a dvd about Italy - the North of Italy....and it discussed Parmesan Cheese, olive oil and Truffles etc etc - this lead to Abigail having many questions about the foods...
We were shown the bakery and told about their cakes - and taught a few Italian words - and then the lady brought out a big tray of cookies for us to try!
Yummy! Then we moved on to the produce section and looked at all the different peppers etc - and yellow/ golden raspberries (sooooo good!!) and then they showed us 'Cactus pears' which we had never seen before - and they brought out a big bowl filled with chopped up Cactus pear for us to try! Very unusual fruit - reminded me of watermelon as its so juicy and filled with seeds! Yum!
We went behind the counter at the cheeses and saw them preparing the huge parmesan cheese slabs - they cut a chunk off and then sliced pieces off for us to try!
Then on to the meats section where they brought us out a huge platter with cheeses, meats, appetisers of cherry tomatoes, basil and mozzarella :) Mmmmmmm!!
We were shown all the aisles of oils and balsamic vinegars and even the locked cabinet that has truffles in it - and a bottle of balsamic vinegar for $249.00!!!!!!
After our tour we all did some shopping and then we all met up in the cafe where I had a cappuccino and a cake - we came home and watched the second part of the dvd about Southern Italy :) It was a really good day and I feel like I know quite a bit more about Italy than I did before - I think I have a new favourite store/ cafe now too :)
