Italians Do It (lunch) Better

by the italians at Opera

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And the winners were...

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The evaluating jury has unanimously (!) decided the winners of the challenging quiz launched during the Italian Day at Opera.

The brave and fortunate souls who won were: Catherine, Eddy, Marianne and Walter, and the price was an italian dinner, of course cooked by the Italians at Opera. chef

Read more...

Something about the event

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Hi,
some materials about the lunch have been posted.
You can find:
- Video broadcasted during the lunch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6DrkXS1jbw
- Presentation about Italy bradcasted during lunch: accessible only to Opera's employees
- Menu and info about the lunch

Menu.pdf

- Quiz to win an italian dinner: accessible only to Opera's employees
- Facebook event and comments: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=11939679147

- Recipes Recipes.pdf


Soon we'll post pictures!
Have fun smile
Chiara

After cooking summary

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Hi all,
this is what you (or could get) got today:
- Bruschetta
- Tuna cream
- Parma cheese
- Salad with olive oil, salt and balsamic vinegar

- Crespelle with beef
- Vegetarian crespelle

- Rice cake (4 cakes)
- Mars and Rice cake (4 cakes)
- Almonds cake
- Almonds and Orange cake
- Strudhel (3 cakes)
- Lemon Sorbet (2 big )
- Mascarpone cream
- Zabaione
- Honeyed Figs

2nd day of official cooking

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Today it is the second day of "official" cooking. It is 12:30 am right now and I am just back from the canteen.
We have been very well coordinated today and the team work went out well neverthless the late hour. Some of us worked to the preparation untill 3 am during the last period and we are pretty tired, but we are having lots of fun being gathered together.
We just hope that we did not provoke too many expectations...
After all we are not professionals and we had to reduce lots of our "food dreams" due to budget, time, and number of people who are going to attend the "event".
Anyway, today, we set high volume on the HI FI and started listening very cool music in the canteen while mixing food, warming it up, waiting for the boiling point, cutting things and using the ovens.
Nevertheless so many tasks we still felt very cool, and kept joking about each other! smile
Alessandro, yesterday, was the 1st to do a mistake (but I did not manage to know which), while, of course, it belongs to me the guinness of the most clumsy person spreading a secret ingredient all around the kitchen (even 10 m. distances from the incident point! p ).
None of us have been harmed, and that's already a big success.

A special thanks to Edoardo and Rosario who worked hard for sooooo long!
Tomorrow it will be the clue day for the preparations... Wish us luck!
Bed time for me now
'night 'nigth
Chiara

Italians can be tired

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Hi,
I am back from India with not much spices and lots of the ideas...
I've developped some of them.
The result is variable. Not always everything came out perfect, but at the italian lunch we'll do some filtering and only the best of the best will be presented wink
I'm currently tired together with my adventure fellows and thinkig that the real cooking will not start before tomorrow, really frigthen me...
Wish me best of luck! I have even strange spots on my left hand p
But I'm sure...
everything will do be perfect because.... Italians do it better!
Chiara
P.S. We are testing everything and we did not find any bug dead or alive. We belive that is a good sign

Italians in India

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After a not very successfull try of crescentine, we decided to spice up the lunch.
But finding special food items in Oslo is not that easy, so I've been sent to India to retrieve the best of best.
It is the only way after all to do an international italian lunch for 300 people! wink
Wish me luck in my 10 days research! wink
CHiara almost living

A salted choice

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After the sweet test we are going to do the salted test...
In my city, when it's hot outside and the dark is coming, me and my friends take a car and go to the nearest very unformal, family driven restaurant to have crescentine (see picture).
Crescentine is flour based and very softy fried. They are served hot (so be carefull to handle them: you have to grab with your hands!) and you can use it as a "panino": you put ham or cheese or other meat based stuff (as Mortadella, salami....) in the middle and then you fold in 2.
After that, open your mouth ans put into it as much as you can! p
And, of course, close your eyes to enjoy it better!
The dish must be served with a nice red wine, a Lambrusco!!!!
With my friends at the end of this nice meal, we usually start singing the Top Ten "taverna" song "Brindisino" (a sort of local "Libiamo") and, in case of birthdays, a really special month based song (during both of them you need to drink wine) that we never managed to end! p

Of course you need several bocce (as we locally call the bottles of wine) before ending the meal. Coffee must be served with Limoncello (a limon based liquor) or Nocino (a walnut based liquor) or Grappa (pure alchool).

Drivers, of course, should wait far away from the drinking table to avoid temptations....


Tonight we are going to prepare crescentine. Wish us luck.
Based on the result you could have some at the italian lunch!

Sweet project continues

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While we prepare the "event", I can see lots off line requests...Those are becoming higher and higher expectations! :O Someone who is not italian would be worried or even scared. But we are italians and we do it better, so no problem with us p
We are finding some difficulties finding the finest ingredients however we are doing our very best bigsmile
Have a great week end from the italian lunch cometee.
And remember, if you meet one of us, smile and hug p

La mamma e' sempre la mamma....

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Do you want to taste an italian sweet done by an italian mum?
Stay tuned...
The cake is almost in Symbian room!Come if you like to taste
Perche' la mamma e' sempre la mamma wink
Chiara

Ouch! 30 days only!

Only 30 days to the italian lunch... We have to harry up!! :O
And nothing concrete is really ready...
Probably we'll have to move the lunch to the 1st of April due to some canteen problems sad
THis means we have even less days!!
I've added a poll... Someone said we should provide pre-tasting of italian food (as a trial or also to aquite more sympathy in case of no success...).
I wonder if we should really do it....
Please provide advise!
Takk, Thanks, Grazie! smile
Chiara