by Maureen | Feb 13, 2010 | Canals, Cheese, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Photos, Shopping & Markets
Saturday. Clear blue skies. About 50 degrees. Yes!
I headed down the canal on my bike, but decided on a change of scenery and followed the path I learned about from Angelo, my surprise tour guide in mid-January. The one lane road wound though small towns and rice fields. I found my way back to the same old “cascina” (large, formerly-fortified farm) that Angelo had shown me. The farm store had been closed that time before, and though they were closed again, a young woman came out of the house and welcomed me into the shop.
“What do you recommend?”, I asked her. She pointed out all of their own farm-produced foods and I selected fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella, brown rice and salami. What could be better?!
I found a way to secure the little bundle on my bike and continued my ride. There was a woman on a pink scooter. A lawn hosting 4 peacocks. An old tile roof warming 3 black cats. 1 Woman on a bike. Swelling buds on the trees. And a stop to say “hello” to Padre Pio at his shrine in Zibido San Giacomo. What a day!
Gauging the position of the sun and the remaining daylight and warmth, I went as far as Noviglio then turned around to head north back to home.
The very first thing upon coming in the door was to open the ricotta and mozzarella and have a taste. OH…MY! That fresh ricotta was better than most ice cream. I simply got myself a spoon and started eating it. Wow. Delicious. And the salami was good, too.
I’m really liking this. Go for a bike ride and, not far out of the city, pick up home grown rice and fresh ricotta cheese. (This is so unlike my previous life experience.)
by Maureen | Feb 8, 2010 | Journal, People, Photos, Sanremo, Travel Blog
There’s no way I could have CONCEIVED of this weekend! Talk about “living on a movie set!” It was all beyond real, not to be believed. Pinch me. Am I dreaming this stuff up?
Friday morning at 11:10 I hopped on the train heading to Sanremo on the Italian Riviera.
Just outside of Milan, a blizzard started.
(I later heard Milan had several inches of snow. I missed it again.)
I arrived in Sanremo in pouring rain and was welcomed by Sandra, my landlady, and her husband, Mauro, whom I had met once last Fall and had talked to for only an hour. They had invited me to stay at their house for 3 days.
We cleaned a big pile of mussels, clams and branzino (fish) to cook up for dinner.
Their good friend, Sandro, joined us for dinner and the four of us ate and talked all evening. Sandra, Sandro, Mauro and Maureen.
Saturday morning was sunny and blue-skied, and Sandra, Mauro and I wandered through the crowded street markets of Sanremo and strolled along the shoreline path.
At 2:00, after lunch, the 4 of us took off driving west along the Ligurian Sea/Riviera coast and about 15 miles down the road crossed over into France.
We stopped in Menton, France, wandered around town and I kept forgetting to change languages and say “Merci” instead of “Grazie”.
About 15 miles further, we crossed over into Monaco.
We walked around town, saw the outside of the Casino Monte Carlo and the route for the Grand Prix Monte Carlo.
We toured an amazing show of 300 photographs of women, photos c. 1900-2008, all from a private collection.
This morning was again sunny, blue-skied and in the 60s. The four of us went for a 14 mile bike ride to the town of Santo Stefano al Mare, along the paved bike path at the water’s edge on the Riviera.
We returned home to a meal of apperitivi and rabbit.
I had spent three days, with three people, speaking and listening to Italian the whole time. (I think I rounded a corner a month or so ago.)
When I left this afternoon, I felt as if I had spent the weekend with friends I’ve known for years.
I hopped on the train which left promptly at 3:15. The ride was under sunny skies until the town of Ronco, in the mountains halfway between the coast and Milan, where there was deep snow and whiteout conditions. I arrived home at 7:30 Sunday evening to “bare and wet”.
I had traveled from Spring back in time to Winter in a matter of just a few hours.
What’s next on the list?
by Maureen | Feb 1, 2010 | Bologna, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, People, Photos, Shopping & Markets, Travel Blog
Years ago, a girlfriend of mine from Seattle traveled and stayed with Marcello and Raffaella Tori of BluOne Cooking Tours in Bologna. When my girlfriend, Carri, returned home to Seattle, she kept talking with great fondness about the couple, their big hearts, and the wonderful time spent with them.
For 15 years, Marcello and Raffaella have been offering small, guided culinary tours customized for food lovers, home cooks and pro chefs. Talk about a foodie’s delight! They are based in Bologna, but also lead their cooking adventures in Emilia Romagna, Umbria, Le Marche, Piemonte and other regions of Italy.
The other day when I decided to go to Bologna for the weekend, I got in touch with Marcello and Raffaella and asked if we could meet for even a few minutes. I didn’t want to disturb their weekend plans, but wanted to at least get a photo of them to send to Carri. We e-mailed back and forth a few times and chatted by phone to make arrangements.
I showed up at their home yesterday at 5:00, (a half hour later than we had planned). They opened their door, greeted me with big hellos and sat me down at their kitchen table for tea and freshly baked apple tart (which perfumed the house). We talked for a couple of hours, and laughed and shared ideas about a hundred different things. When it was time for me to dash back into town to catch my train home, we exchanged hugs, kisses and vows to share a long, delicious dinner next time.
I walked away with new friends in my life.
If you’re looking for a more interesting vacation in Italy, something memorable that takes you into the homes and hearts of people, I can’t think of a dearer couple to lead your way. Through food and fun, Marcello and Raffaella will create a never-to-be-forgotten time in your life.
Marcello & Raffaella Tori
Bluone – Cooking Tours in Italy
Via Parigi, 11 40121 Bologna – Italy
Phone +39 051 263546
Fax +39 051 267774
Web: www.bluone.com
E-Mail: info@bluone.com
by Maureen | Feb 1, 2010 | Bologna, Cheese, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Graphics, Journal, Photo of the Day, Photos, Shopping & Markets, Travel Blog
As a designer and artist, being here in Italy is a pilgrimage to the home of all the motifs, patterns and visual elements I’ve studied and heard of all my life. At times I’m overwhelmed, excited by the visually lush surroundings.
The storefronts and shop windows are delicious with their old-world signage and embellishments.
This is a contemporary storefront for a high-end clothing store. All of the furnishings are made of corrugated box stock, as well as the “chandeliers” at the ceiling.
THIS is the place to buy Bolognese classic foods! The meats! The cheeses! The 40 euro ($60) 8 ounce bottles of balsamic vinegar! Mmm.
by Maureen | Feb 1, 2010 | Bologna, Discoveries, Food!, Journal, Meals, Photos, Travel Blog
OK. So add Bologna to my list of amazing places to visit in Italy. It’s right up there with Venice, (which makes me swoon). I have a feeling the list will get VERY long.
A girlfriend from my Italian class had mentioned the citywide art fair, Bologna Arte Fiera, that was going on for a month starting 29 January. “Why don’t you come?”, she suggested. I quickly put plans in place and then hopped on the train Saturday morning.
(Side note: I had bought a ticket for the Frecciarossa fast train, which takes 1 hour instead of 3 and costs 41 euro instead of 11. I read the reader board, saw a train listed for Bologna – but with a 5 minute later departure than my scheduled train – and then hopped on the train and got settled into my seat. An hour into the ride, we weren’t even halfway there and were stopping at every little train station along the way. Uh-oh. I goofed. I had hopped on the slow train instead! Clearly I haven’t learned all the little details yet! Oh well. So I arrived later and saw each little town from the trackside. If there’s one thing I’m learning by being here, it’s to take things in stride, and let them roll off me.)
When I arrived in Bologna I walked a short distance to my hotel, I Portici, dropped my few things in the room then left and took off walking, having no idea where I was going or what there was to see! (Since making this trip was a spontaneous decision, I had only glanced at the site for the art fair, but not Bologna itself.)
I followed my “rule” of exploring the back streets, and found a little restaurant, Re Enzo Ristorante. As I was perusing the menu, the owner/waiter hustled past me with a cloud of truffle scent following him. That made my decision easy! “Scialatelli con Porcini e Tartuffo Bianco” – a wide, flat pasta noodle with porcini mushrooms and white truffles. I added some grilled vegetables to my table, and a nice Sangiovese to sip and the lunch was delicious.
Well-fortified and hunger sated, I started walking around town taking turns whenever I wished and found my way to the historic center of Bologna, Piazza Maggiore. It was a chilly, cold day, but I was bundled up and ready for walking.
by Maureen | Feb 1, 2010 | Bergamo, Cheese, Featured Articles, Food!, Introspection, Journal, Meals, People, Photos, Travel Blog
From my journal entry, 23 January. Bergamo.
Bergamo is beautiful and reminds me of San Gimignano in Tuscany. I’m up in the “Cittá Alta”, the high city up on the hill within the old fortress walls. Towers, stone, weathered doors, cobbles. I’m sitting in a little trattoria, “Trattoria 3 Torri”, the restaurant of the 3 towers.
I was standing outside looking at the menu, and the proprietor, Casimiro, came to the door and smiled out at me. A smile goes a long way with me; to be in a foreign country and have someone reach out in that small way seals my decision of where to eat, shop, explore. A geniune smile is the universal entree to first connection.
I’m sitting under vaulted stone ceilings eating a lovely polenta with sausage and porcini mushrooms with a hint of gravy. The sun is shining in onto my table, the first time I’ve seen and felt it in ages (more than a month?). As others enter the restaurant, he gives them a menu in their “madre lingua”, mother tongue. He gave me the menu in Italian. (That’s a compliment.)
It’s now 2:00 p.m. Midday is a good time to have my main meal, come in and get warm sitting next to the heater with the sun in my eyes. And January is a perfect time to be exploring these places that would attract the tourists. It’s quiet and uncrowded. It’s much more relaxing.
My heart and head are SO pulled by this history that reaches back to 1400 and further. To touch surfaces touched for centuries, to stride stone ways that have been stepped upon for so long. We simply do not have such history in the U.S. We do not have the remaining evidence to lay our hands on. Perhaps one day I might become inured to this, but at this point it makes me gasp repeatedly in disbelief. I cannot conceive of what I’m in the presence of.
The visual and physical richness here charges me. It excites me.
Trattoria 3 Torri • Cittá Alta, Bergamo
Piazza Mercato del Fieno, 7/a • Tel: 035-244474
Facebook: Trattoria Tre Torri
by Maureen | Jan 26, 2010 | Bergamo, Cheese, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Photos, Shopping & Markets, Travel Blog
For 4 Euro and 20 cents – about $6.00 – each way, I was able to hop on the train and take a 45 minute ride to Bergamo, east-north-east of Milan.
Amazing amazingness. I’m still picking my chin up off the floor. I’m in awe that I can spend just a few dollars and in less than an hour be walking around in a walled city up on a hill, that was occupied by the Romans in the second century B.C.
They say that the name “Bergamo” has Celtic origins from the word “Bergheim”, “Home on the Mountain”. From what I read, the Celts inhabited the city and built the wall before the Romans took possession. And the story goes on from there.
I arrived at the train station in the “cittá bassa”, the lower city of Bergamo, then started walking in the direction of the upper city, the “cittá alta”. The two are quite separate and distinct from each other in appearance and identity. When I reached the lower “funiculare”, or tram station, I hopped on. I wanted to get UP.
As I walked from the train station toward the “Cittá Alta” I caught this glimpse of the city above me.
By 11:00 in the morning I was walking on those roads made of upended, round cobbles. They’re actually quite uncomfortable to tread on, but they’ve also been designed with footpath-wide stripes of flat stone. How smart!
In these towns, it’s a thrill to wander the main route and browse the shop fronts, but also – even more so – to get away from main street and explore the back roads.
Would you ever see this in the U.S.? An animal’s leg, hoof-on, in the shop window? When a customer comes in, the store clerk steps over, carves away at the uncooked, aged hock, wraps up the meat and then goes on about the day.
The imprinted cheeses are beautiful and I like the packaging on the (moldy) pancetta bound with wood.
How could I NOT come back and buy some of this chocolate torte to bring home? It’s DENSE!
This is a view of the incredible places on the sweeping curve of the hillside, behind the wall.
Towns like this beg to be explored, and the little “trattorie” beg to be sampled.
Bergamo reminds me of other places I’ve visited: San Gimignano, Siena, Venezia, Monteriggioni, Lucca, St. Angelo… There are hardly much more than footpaths in a rabbit warren fashion within the bounds of these cities. One car CAN fit on the streets of Bergamo, but just barely, and with difficulty if there’s also a pedestrian trying to get through. (Some of the cities I just listed don’t have any cars within them!) The narrow, shaded, no-end-in-sight passages generate such intrigue. What’s around the next bend?
There’s fresco decoration just under the roofline of the house on the left. The round pebbles would provide good traction, but the flat stones at left are so much more comfortable to walk on.
Park where you can. These homes look out over the valley below.
This is the side wall of the convent of the Domenican Nuns. I love their splash of color!
Why is the road leading to the convent called the “Way of the Vaginas”? (I’m sorry, but the question just had to be asked.)
One of the things that so excites my mind is the layering of history in these towns, a result of demolition, restoration, remodeling, war destruction, weather, repair, embellishment.
Left to right: street, curb and sidewalk.
Some doors have fresh coats of paint. Some show the patina of wear, hand oils creating a sheen from use.
A walking town on a hillside. Ideal for one’s health.
The construction crane is out of place with the old stone, but then again, it mimics the towers around it.
Late in the afternoon, I found my way to “La Rocca”, a tower, museum and military memorial. ALWAYS climb to the top of a tower in any city you visit!
At the end of the day, having explored the city and eaten a good meal, my camera battery was flashing red and I shot a few last images as the afternoon light waned. This door (below) caught my eye and demanded that I push the battery for just one more shot. When doing so, a man stopped to chat, saying that he, too, likes the old doors and is a sometime-painter. We talked about the longevity of wood versus stone and the absence of such ancient structures in the U.S. He asked where I’m from and when I told him I’m an American from Seattle, he said “But you speak such good Italian!” I smiled. We shook hands and wished each other well.
A painter that also loves the old doors.
by Maureen | Jan 20, 2010 | Discoveries, Food!, Journal, Shopping & Markets
I guess this blog site might be a turn-off to vegetarians. Sorry about that. I’m living in Italy. Not just meat, but RAW meat on the menu… and I eat it all. Shavings of raw lard. Ground up who-knows-what. Slices right off the moldy leg bone.
Bring it on.
by Maureen | Jan 20, 2010 | Discoveries, Food!, Journal, Shopping & Markets
Mmm. It’s 10:00 p.m. and I just cut into a big chunk of Cinghiale Bresaola – uncooked, aged, wild boar meat. (Cinghiale: ching-GHYA-lay) Yum. So good. Peppered on the outside. Dense/firm. Deep red.
I bought it at the artisanal fair the beginning of last December when I sampled foods from every region in Italy. It’s been waiting for the right moment since then. The woman at the booth gave me samples of bresaola, lardo, prosciutto, salami… I didn’t need dinner that night!
Here’s some further reading about cinghiale.
by Maureen | Jan 17, 2010 | Cheese, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, Quips
This could easily be the next big thing. The new, chic food. All it would take is some hip New York restaurant to put it on the menu and spread the word. Or a Guru T.V. Show Chef to rave about it: The All-American Grilled Mortadella Burger.
You could cut a half inch thick slab of Mortadella into burger sized rounds, put those pieces on the grill with some wood chips for a little smokiness, then cook ’em hot ’til those little cubes of fat are translucent and dripping onto the coals. Flip those slabs and cook ’em some more.
You could go “classic” burger, with a white bun, cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce, ketchup and yellow mustard. Or elevate the burger to gourmet on an artisan bun with some perfect Italian cheese, spicy/sweet mustard from the Trentino-Alto Adige region and a slice of tomato. Arugula instead of lettuce?
I usually see Mortadella as a sausage over 8 inches wide, scattered with lovely little cubes of fat throughout the ground “meat”. Peppercorns and pistachios are here and there throughout. Don’t call it “baloney”, although that’s the closest equivalent in the U.S.
Mortadella has origins in the town of Bologna and has been made for hundreds of years by very resourceful pig farmers unwilling to waste any part of the animal. Hmm. What does that say about what ends up inside the sausage casing? Do we want to know? Salt, peppercorns, seasonings, wine and pistachios are added to the 7:3 ratio of pork to fat. The Mortadella is cooked, then cooled.
For further information, check out this site: lifeinitaly.com
