Children’s Cooking Class – No-bake Mini Cheese Cake with Graham Cracker Crust

FRESH MOZZARELLA Making

Fresh mozzarella is one of the quickest and easiest cheeses to make. Join us for a fun, easy, and above all, tasty experience as we learn how to make our very own mozzarella.

BUON NATALE: Unexpected Stories Behind Beloved Holiday Traditions.
with Carla Gambescia

Discover the surprising backstories behind some of our most cherished holiday traditions from Saint Nicholas (Babbo Natale) and the nativity to candy canes and Christmas lights. We’ll explore how both the pagan and Christian magically merged into the holiday that we celebrate today as well as a few less familiar uniquely Italian customs such as the Epiphany and wearing red underwear!

Intrigued?!? Andiamo! Join us, and let’s celebrate Natale and Capodanno together. Award-winning author, lecturer and photographer, Carla Gambescia, will be our guide to the holiday festivities!

About the Speaker:

Carla Gambescia is the author of La Dolce Vita University: An Unconventional Guide to Italian Culture from A to Z, Silver Prize winner of "Best Travel Book of the Year" awarded by the North American Travel Journalists Association. A regular lecturer on topics of Italian cultural interest, Carla has written about and toured every region of Italy on foot or by bicycle and curates the photoblog Postcards from the Boot.

Eggplant Rollatini

Let’s have fun with this authentic Italian dish. Slices of eggplant are wrapped around a ricotta cheese mixture then baked with tomato sauce. It is a great vegetarian comfort food dish but also rich, and yes, soooo yummy!

Pop Go the Holidays!
with Amy Zavatto

Make great Prosecco cocktails—and learn about the world’s most popular Italian bubbly with drinks author Amy Zavatto

Do you know the difference between Prosecco and Champagne? Have you ever seen the stunning, hand-harvested, near vertical Cartizze vineyards of Prosecco’s DOCG region in the Veneto? Did you know that paying attention to a few simple (but sometimes cleverly hidden!) words on a Prosecco label can make you more savvy when selecting just the right sparkling for your occasion? Are you ready to be convinced that bubbles make everything (especially cocktails) better?!

In this hands-on cocktail class, wine and spirits journalist and Staten Island resident Amy Zavatto, the author of Prosecco Made Me Do It: 60 Seriously Sparkling Cocktails, will take you on a sparkling tour through the effervescent world of Prosecco, from where and how its made, its fascinating history, to (most important!) how to properly pop a bottle and to use it to make several great cocktails for any celebration. Join in the bubbly fun as Amy teaches you about the world’s most popular sparkling wine, and helps you to find a few new favorite bubble-based tipples with which to toast this holiday season.