The other evening I was fortunate enough to spend time with Katie at a wine tasting and 4-couse dinner at Clydz Restaurant in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The evening began with each of the 12 dinner guests toasting the start of a wonderful experience with Proseco. As each course was presented to us, Katie introduced each wine specifically chosen to enhance that particular course. As the wines were introduced, Katie educated us about its history and regional characteristics. We began the tasting with a white wine from the Campania region of Italy, which was paired with four different cheeses. The second course, a smoked tagliatelle with wild boar sausage and broccoli rabe, was accompanied by a red wine, which was my favorite, Apollinio Salice Salentino. Our main course, we had a choice of beef, lamb, or fish with potatoes and sautéed artichokes. Each of the choices were perfectly presented and all of us enjoyed another fantastic red wine, Vigne Irpine Taurasi. We concluded the evening with a choice of three desserts, all delicious, presented with a marsala wine.

It was a wonderful time. Everyone appreciated Katie’s exceptional knowledge about each of the wines presented.

I am certainly looking forward to future food and wine tastings with Katie Parla.

This fall I combined business with pleasure and took my family to Italy. Having been to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast last year I thought I would repeat some of those exceptional days again, however this time we would all take a cooking class with Mamma Agata in Ravello. We arrived in Sorrento on a Sunday and checked into our hotel. (More about that later!) Early Monday morning we left the hotel and arrived at Mamma Agata’s about 10:30AM. Before I begin telling you about the lesson, let me first describe this magical place perched high on the cliffs above Amalfi.

As the door to Mamma’s house opened and we walked down the steps we were greeted with a panoramic view of the Bay of Salerno, Italian music, and Chiara, Mamma Agata’s daughter and translator. The morning began with a tasting of Mamma Agata’s famous lemon cake. Every mouthful was bursting with the taste of lemons. After we introduced ourselves to the other members of the class we began our demonstration cooking class in a state-of-the-art kitchen overlooking Ravello. As we all watched, with notebooks in hand, we also tasted different cheeses, pickled pumpkin, and olives and sipped local wines.

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