Six Week Project: Day Nine

"It's my observation that when Italian genes are present, all others duck and cover."

This sentence by Barabara Kingsolver reminded me immediately of myself upon reading it. I am American by birth, and half Italian-half Slovenian by blood and heritage. As many people observe of me and others like me, our Italian sides seem to be so over developed that they have a tendency to smother and conquer any other hint of ethnic heritage found within us. My Italian pride is infalted, period.

Saturday night, my girlfriend was privy to a feast of great proportions, accompanied by Italian Folk Songs (Finiculi, Finicula and Santa Lucia and the like), fantastic organic wine, and my Italian charm and ego. My own personal version of machismo has a tendency to shine in such instances, and this past Saturday, while my house might be situated in South Eastern Ohio, we were dining in Tuscany.

I even eat like Italians, as Barbara later describes in the same chapter as the quote above. She says of Italians, "Watching Italians eat (especially men, I have to say) is a form of tourism the books don't tell you about. They close their eyes, raise their eyebrows into accent marks, and make sounds of acute appreciation." After reading this chapter about a month long tour of Italy, about courses, agritourismos and pasta, I decided we needed to bring Firenze to Morgan County. I decided to make one of the four courses of traditional Italian meals: the antipasto. This is what became of that ambition:

Marinated Chickpeas in vinegar, oil and herbs
Mediterranean olives
Kalamata olives
Slices of rolled capicola
Norwood Cheese from Kenny's in Kentucky (it tastes similar to parmesan)
Betty's Favorite Cheese from Laurel Valley Creamery
Roasted Red Peppers
Black Figs stuffed with Chevre (from Integration Acres) and wrapped with prosciutto
A steamed artichoke with roasted garlic, lemon, and dijon mustard dipping sauce
Roasted cherry tomato, rosemary and goat feta (from Integration Acres) crostini
Marinated, pickled eggplant and arugula (Green Edge Organics) crostini with Norwood Cheese
Grilled slices of French Gallette from the Village Bakery

An organic sauvignon blanc, by Neuvo Mundo in Chile ($14.99 @ the Village Bakery)
(This wine was fabulous!)