A number of years ago we came here with our kids and did the whole Roman touristy thing. It was amazing. In fact I have an older blog about it. Check it out. This time I thought wouldn’t it be fun to take a cooking class there. After some research I came across a company called Cesarine on line and was hooked up with an Italian family in Civitavecchia. http://www.cesarine.com Graziella and her husband Giovanni met us at a designated area right outside of the Port. They took us to the market to buy the ingredients for our meal and gave us a little tour of the area.
We purchased our ingredients for Mussels and homemade spaghetti and departed for their home. We were first greeted by her cats. One was taking a sun bath on the dining room table and the other one was peeking out from behind a chair.
We met their son Alessandro and he and his Dad starting making Aperitifs. We started cleaning mussels. You have to remove their beard…….who knew……and then thoroughly clean them. You might be wondering if they spoke English. Graziella spoke a good amount of English as did her husband and he also spoke some Spanish which helped as I speak some Spanish. Their son is deaf and uses sign language and some English. We all managed to communicate and had a great afternoon. We were slated to be there about three hours and we were there for six. But I digress…….Here are some photos of the mussels process.
We also made an appetizer and a dessert. The appetizer was a Tuna Pate. Briefly, you use about 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 can of tuna and a jar of Italian mix Giardiniera (marinated veggies) put it in a food processor and blend. We put in on crustless bread but I think I would put it on toasted french bread slices here. Anyway, it was delicious. The dessert was a Moka cake. Here is a partial recipe and its in Italian…..good luck.
I have been keeping in touch with Graziella over Instagram and hope to see she and her family again, whether it is Italy or California. If you are seeing this Graziella you and your family are always welcome here.
Cheers to a fabulous day of cooking, drinking and making new friends.
2 comments on “Civitavecchia – Port of Rome”
I am very happy to have offered you an experience that I see has thrilled you!
You were fantastic guests and time really flew by like when you are with friends.
In one way or another I really hope to be able to meet again.
P.S. In the meantime, I’m studying to improve my English😉
Hi : Your English is great. Again, thank you for a wonderful experience. Today Jon and I are making Lo-Mein and using our new Chitarra for the first time. Next weekend we are making the Mussels and Spaghetti per request from our friends. Thank you for commenting on my blog I appreciate it.
Ciao