50 Shades of Delicious: 2 Chewsy for the Catwalk

Cecilia-- the real deal! One of the highlights of our stay in Umbria was a night of cooking school with our hostess/instructor Cecilia. We (the group of fourteen women who had traveled from the United States to spend a week in an Umbrian villa on the grounds of Le Velette winery) all gathered around the kitchen table to absorb her cooking wisdom and try to learn how to make an authentic Italian dinner from scratch.  The first dish we learned about roughly translates to turkey meatloaf.  This wasn't your school lunch meatloaf.   We would later confirm after eating the fruits of our cooking endeavors, this was the best meatloaf any of us had ever had. Polpettone (Turkey Meatloaf) The recipe was taught using grams and ratios. To quote Cecilia, our cooking instructor, "It's a more or less thing." Ingredients: Betsy and Gabi 2/3 turkey or 500 grams (approx 2 pounds) 1/3 ricotta cheese or 300 grams (approx 1 pound) 3 TBS of nutmeg or to taste (Cecilia wa...

Close your eyes and imagine you are in a large manufacturing plant surrounded by the whir of machinery and the clatter of bottles as they rush down the production line.  You get your bearings by gazing around and seeing numerous people in coveralls intently shepherding what appears to be beer bottles going down a production line.  You notice one employee standing next to you.  She’s a tall woman and you take note, this kid is not like the others.  She has made her coveralls very unique by putting a large cursive “L” on the shoulder.  This triggers deep-seeded memories of childhood TV watching and you are  kinderstruck .  Wait a second….it’s coming back…..is that  Shotz Beer? and am I in the Shotz Brewery ?  You suddenly realize you’ve somehow time traveled back to 1970’s Milwaukee (funny how the attire is not that far off from how 2012 Seattle hipsters dress). Many of you may be too young to remember Laverne & Shirley (worth c...