by Maureen | Jan 15, 2010 | Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Graffiti & Street Art, Introspection, Journal, Photo of the Day, Photos
Walking past the bus stop, this ad stopped me in my tracks. McDonald’s. (A stranger in few parts of the world.) The assurance of 100% Italian Meat. The seared map of Italy on the big Mac meat patty. “When you eat our meat, it’s a whole other story, all Italian.
Here’s a link to their website.
As long as we’re on the subject of McDonald’s… When I was traveling around Toscana – Tuscany – a year and a half ago with 17 college students, there were two guys in the group, ages 19-20ish. I remember how relieved they were when we’d see a McDonald’s. “Finally! Food I can recognize!”, one of the guys exclaimed. What?! He didn’t recognize pizza, spaghetti or lasagne? He was in Italy, for God’s sake. This is the land of good food, and he was overjoyed at the sight of the golden arches!
While we were walking around Rome, we encountered one of those sidewalk-chalk-artists, redrawing a Botticelli painting on the asphalt. He must have been tired of answering “Where’s the ____ ?” questions, because he had these responses, with arrows, on the pavement next to him. I like his last answer: “So… you travel to a new country, famous all over the world for its food and wine, and you want to eat at McDonald’s…”
by Maureen | Jan 9, 2010 | Cheese, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, Photos, Shopping & Markets
Have you ever wondered about the first ones to eat something new that they hadn’t encountered before? IS it edible? What PART is edible? Should it be eaten RAW or COOKED? What part do you DISCARD? What part is most DELICIOUS? How is it best PREPARED? What should it be eaten WITH?
Traveling to and cooking in a foreign country is much like being a “primitive man” asking all those questions about newly encountered food items. But at least when you walk into a grocery store or step up to a market stall, someone has done the preselection for you and you’re not out in the woods trying to discern edibility. If it’s in the store, SOME part of it must be edible.
For the last couple of months I’ve been seeing these very small, young, almost-flower-like artichoke heads in the street markets and grocery stores. Very beautiful, but what do they DO with them?! I had no idea, and passed them up, regretfully. I had eaten marinated artichokes scooped out of little jars. Had steamed softball-sized heads and eaten them, leaf-by-leaf dipping the ends in butter. And I’ve eaten that sinfully fat-laden, hot dip with artichoke hearts, cheese, mayo and who knows what else. But I’d never done much else with them or seen them offered other ways. Yes, I’m sure the recipes and methods are out there, but the ones I just mentioned seem to be the across-the-board standards for eating artichokes.
On the evening of New Year’s Day, I was out walking around the Duomo and decided to have dinner out. I picked one of the few restaurants that were open, perused the menu and decided I HAD to have “Insalata di Carciofi Crudi” – Salad of Raw Artichokes! I ordered a “Pizza di Quatro Formaggi” – a four cheese pizza – to go with the salad, but that was secondary in my mind.
What arrived at my table was a bowl with paper thin shavings of very young, tender artichokes, including about an inch of the stem. They had been drizzled with a “fruttato” – “fruity” – extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkled with salt and freshly ground pepper and tossed together with some thinly sliced grana cheese. Wow! Delicious! Simple, fresh in the middle of winter and quite a surprise. NOW I knew what could be done with those flowery artichokes.
Tonight, at the grocery store, I didn’t pass them up. They sold some untrimmed with thorny tips and 8 inches of stem, and they sold trimmed, packaged groups of 4. I considered the prices and how much would be thrown away from either and bought those that had been trimmed.
Usually, I would “just wing it” and approximate what I had tasted on New Year’s Day, but I decided to look online to see if there were any guidelines to follow. In doing so I found a handy Italian cooking website: Buonissimo.org. (Sorry. It’s all in Italian.) The recipe I found was what I had surmised and described above.
I removed the outer, half dozen tougher leaves and trimmed both ends to freshen them up. Then I cut the flower heads in half.
Since I don’t have a mandolin slicer here, I used my best Shun Tomato Knife, sharp and serrated, and sliced the artichokes as thinly as I could. (I left the furry inner parts, figuring they hadn’t gotten prickly.) I put it all in a bowl with the grana padano cheese (a nutty, almost sweet, hard cheese similar to parmesan), abundant lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Shook a little sea salt and grated some fresh pepper then gave it a gentle tossing.
With my heaped serving of “Insalata di Carciofi Crudi”, I ate Norwegian, farm-raised salmon seasoned with Seattle’s Tom Douglas’ sweet/peppery Salmon Rub. The salad will become one of my new favorites. (If nothing else, it’s certainly good for the roughage!) But are the artichokian flowers available in the States?!
by Maureen | Jan 9, 2010 | Cheese, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, People, Photos
“Maureen, there are a few of us having some appetizers and wine. Why don’t you come join us?”
It was Mario, the regional director for ONAV, the National Organization of Wine Tasters. We had met a few times at their wine-tasting events: Prosecco-tasting, Barbera- and Barolo-tasting, Champagne-tasting. I’m going to attend their 9 week course in wine-tasting, beginning in February. Any of their gatherings, formal or casual, are opportunities to sample some diverse and very special wines… and meet new people.
I took the Metro across town, walked two blocks and entered the ONAV classroom full of tables and chairs. These four guys – Michele, Vicenzo (giving me a choke-hold), Mario, Carlo – sat at a table cluttered with meats, breads, wine, oil and sweets. (The three are long-time friends of Mario, not with ONAV.) As you can see, it wasn’t a stuffy group.
We sampled a number of wines and also enjoyed a tasting of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the San Gimignano region.
I didn’t realize until afterwards that I should have gotten a photo of Carlo in his striped sweater, with Vicenzo in his striped hat and me in my striped coat. It would have been a highly-visual photo. (Vicenzo asked if I know of any American women I could set him up with.)
The table bore mortadella, salami and a raw, seasoned meat/fat combo that Mario simply peeled the casing off of and spread on bread. (I know the photo’s out of focus, but at least it gives you an idea of the meat’s appearance.) We ate from a large rustic loaf, a potato loaf, and Sicilian bread sticks and rounds.
There was a bone-white spread of pecorino and ricotta cheeses pureéd together. And a special treat was the “Lardo di Colonnata”, raw, salted, herbed pig lard, aged at least six months and served as thin slices on bread. Mmm, good!
(I’ve become quite fond of eating raw meats and moldy cheeses.)
We drank a sparkling red, a white, a rosé. The most “startling” wine was the deep red Ruché (Roo-kay); I had never tasted anything like it with its very distinct flavor. (I’ll have a better vocabulary to describe it AFTER I take the class.) You could ask for Ruché* at your local specialty wine shop, but its very low production makes it unlikely that you’ll find any.
Our little post meal sweets were dried figs and apricots from Sicily, and almond pastilles that are frequently offered as favors at weddings. (In the States, too.)
The very special end-note to the evening was a wonderful Passito di Pantelleria from the tiny little Island of Pantelleria, Italy, between Sicily and Tunisia. Passito, made from dried and shriveled moscato grapes, is a gorgeous amber color and a drink that requires every sip to be savored. I couldn’t keep my nose out of the glass; the scent was divine.
Below, on the right, is a bag of the not-fully-dried, shriveled moscato grapes used for making passito. You can eat them much like raisins.
Ruché (from Wikipedia):
Ruché is a red Italian wine grape variety from the Piedmont region. It is largely used in making Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato, a small production red varietal winewhich was granted Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status by presidential decree on October 22, 1987. The current DOC recognized area of production for the wine, covers only about 100 acres [[40 hectares) of vines around the villages of Castagnole Monferrato, Refrancore, Grana, Montemagno, Viarigi, Scurzolengo andPortacomaro.[1] Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato is, therefore, one of the lowest production varietal wines in Italy. The grape is also grown to some extent in the neighboring province of Alessandria.
There is some debate about the origins of the Ruché grape. One theory is that the varietal is indigenous to the hills northeast of the town of Asti. Another theory is that the grape is a local variation on a French import. It has been grown in the area for at least one hundred years but has only recently been marketed and consumed outside of the immediate vicinity of its production. Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato tends to be medium bodied with notes of pepper and wild berries and floral aromason the nose.[2] The wine is often characterized by moderate acidity and soft tannins. In the Piedmont region it is often paired with slow-cooked beef, northern Italian cheeses and mushrooms.
by Maureen | Dec 27, 2009 | Cheese, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, Paris, Photos, Travel Blog
Journal Entry:
“8:00 P.M. After a day at the Louvre.
I’ve just eaten the most sumptuous dinner at a little restaurant/bar, “Louis Vins”. The food had me melting at the first bite.
Le Louis Vins, 9 Rue de la Montagne Ste Geneviève, 75005 Paris, France
I ordered the warm goat cheese salad, which had rounds of cheese crusted with pistachios (?) and grilled, served on a dressed bed of mixed greens. The warm cheese was lovely.
For my main course, I absolutely savored the “Araignée of Porc with Trompettes de la Mort” mushrooms. The drizzles of sauces had me relishing every bite as the flavors lingered. Fabulous! I’m drinking a nice red, 2006 Crozes Hermitage.
(My language skills translated “Trompettes de la Mort” as “Trumpets of Death”, but when I researched the name, it came up as “Horns of Plenty”. Hmm. So much for my language skills.)
…Oh! They just brought my “Cold Creamy Cake Candied Chestnuts”, drizzled with some sort of heavenly sauce! Out-of-this-world divine! My mouth is in a dream.
by Maureen | Dec 25, 2009 | Cheese, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, Paris, Shopping & Markets, Travel Blog
Hungry in Paris? Good food is never far away. I like that the stores are specialized and are clustered near each other. Hop from one to the next and gather enough for a very good meal. Here’s the selection of food stores at my metro stop, Maubert-Mutualité, on St. Germain.
The boucherie (butcher) and charcuterie (cooked meats and other delicacies):
The boulangerie (bakery):
The fromagerie (cheese shop) and wine shop:
And here are some of their goodies:
by Maureen | Dec 25, 2009 | Cheese, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, Paris, Shopping & Markets
What was for dinner on Christmas Eve in Paris? Fast food, Parisian-style!
From my journal yesterday:
5:30 P.M. Christmas Eve, Paris.
I’m eating in my hotel room, after spending all afternoon at Musée D’Orsay absorbing the impressionists and Art Nouveau and before heading to Notre Dame for Midnight Mass. At the Maubert-Mutualité exit for the metro, there’s a charcuterie, fromagerie, boulangerie and wine shop that I stopped at to buy dinner. The ultimate “fast food”! On tonight’s menu, (eaten in my room with Christmas music on “shuffle” on iTunes on my laptop):
– Escargots in puff pastry with garlic herb butter. 3 pieces for 3,00 €
– Foie gras roll with pistachios. 1 slice for 3,40 €
– A sort of Chevre cheese, donut-shaped and very moldy. 6,80 €
– Flan de Legumes (with broccoli). 3,80 €
– Puff pastry rounds, (eggy and moist). 4 small pieces 1,30 €
– Bordeaux. (1/2 bottle remaining from before). 4,50 €
TOTAL COST OF CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER 22,80 €
(With today’s exchange rate, that’s about $33.00, but I figured that was fine for my Christmas dinner.)
…and it was delicious.
by Maureen | Dec 22, 2009 | Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, Paris
After walking in a cold rain for several hours on my first evening in Paris, I wanted something HOT in my belly. I wanted a hearty soup or stew. I walked into the Brasserie Balzar, about 3 blocks from my hotel. Quite brightly lit and full of people. When greeted at the door, I said to the man, “do you speak English?” “No.” “Italian?” “No.” “Spanish?” “Mexican!” “Great. We’ll speak ‘Mexican’!” (Even though my “Mexican” is out the door since I’ve been speaking Italian.)
He showed me to a tiny little table in the corner next to the window. Perfect. I told him I wanted a nice hot meal and his menu suggestion seemed to have been some combination of Spanish and French and I really didn’t understand much of it at all. I told him it sounded great, got out my journal and waited.
My actual, “designated” waiter came to the table and HE spoke English. He recommended the French Onion Soup, to be followed by pepper steak with some sparkling mineral water and a nice red wine. (Chateau de Brague 2006, Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Bordeaux Superieur).
He and I ended up chatting here and there in between his serving the other patrons on a busy night. I had the perfect, cozy spot tucked away from the bustle and could just eat, drink, write, eat, drink, write for three hours. Ahh. Bliss on all counts.
Here’s a note from my journal: “The French Onion Soup was perfect after hours walking through rainy and cold Paris. That, and the lovely Bordeaux, have added a rose tint to my cheeks. The Pepper Steak, with its lovely sauce was fabulous and cooked ’til divine. I mopped up the sauce with the steak fries.”
The sauce on the Pepper Steak (after asking the waiter): Juice from the steak, pepper, cream, mustard, tomato (hardly a hint) and cognac.
I finished my first dinner in Paris with Creme Caramel. (Why not?) I was full and sated.
Brasserie Balzar (Ask for Jean)
49 Rue des Ecoles
75005 Paris, Latin Quarter
www.BrasserieBalzar.com
Tel: 01-43-54-13-67
While nestled in eating and writing, I also noted this: “I’ve been eating bread in Milan for 6 months and haven’t found any I like (except the Austrian-influenced bread from Trentino-Aldo Adige). I’ve been in France half a day and I already think the French make better bread than the Italians! (What I’ve found here in Paris) is dense, moist, varied, full of texture and flavor. THAT is bread that makes itself worth eating.” (I don’t mean to insult my Italian friends, but…)
by Maureen | Dec 8, 2009 | Cheese, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Photos, Shopping & Markets
It’s the holiday season, and it starts with a rush here in early December. Today, December 7, is the Feast Day of Milan’s Patron Saint, Sant’Ambrogio; it’s a citywide holiday. This day is followed with a national holiday tomorrow, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and all the Italian world is shut down for a very long weekend, (except for a few essential services).
On Saturday, I went to the Fiera Artiginiale at Milan’s space-age, ultra modern, expansive fairground, Rho Fiera. Aye! Many city blocks-worth of vendors presenting regional foods and handgoods from around Italy, Europe and the world. The Fair is an amazing gathering for taste-testing oils, jams, spreads, salami, olives and wines. One can oooh and aaah at textiles and handcrafts. In under 4 hours, my energy was spent, my feet were spent and my wallet was spent… and I was carrying home a heavy bundle to ship back to the States for gifts.
Here’s a map of the pavilions, showing the regions and countries represented:
http://www.artigianoinfiera.it/ita/visit_miniguida.php#
And then there’s “Obei Obei“, or “Obeh Obeh”. The name is inspired by “Oh Belli!”, the shouted calls from vendors luring passersby to stop and look at the goods for sale. What started years ago as a smaller market near the Sant’Ambrogio station, grew to a huge event. It was moved, and now surrounds the Castello Sforzesco with booths of food, crafts and antiques. I came up out of the subway to a chilly afternoon and a men’s chorus singing Italian Christmas songs.
The conjunction of the old Castello Sforzesco and the mylar Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) made me chuckle.
Along the way, I sampled spicy salami from Calabria, nut-studded Torrone, and cheese with flecks of truffle.
I photographed, but passed by, the Sicilian sweets vendor. (When I bought a few goodies from the same vendor before, the macaroons and pistachio-paste cookies were dried out. They must bake for weeks in preparation, and therefore, the treats get old.) But these guys have got signage down pat!
I decided against either a hotdog or hamburger (of course not!) and finished with a hot sandwich of grilled sausage, peppers and kraut with mustard and a long bun.
Or I could have gone for a sandwich of porchetta…
As a highlight of the holiday weekend, this fair is an intense, people-packed, push-and-shove opportunity. It was pretty difficult to move, and therefore, hard to see much in the booths. (I recommend the Fiera Artiginiale for it’s greater variety and higher quality of goods, although it’s also jam-packed with people.) It was dark and 6:00 p.m. by the time I made it back through the crowd. The holiday light show was underway and enjoyed by many who stood watching the display of changing lights on the castle.
Though I could have walked, I caught the subway to the Duomo to enjoy a champagne-tasting that I had been told of, underway all afternoon and early evening.
by Maureen | Nov 23, 2009 | Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, People
What a really nice group of people! I enjoyed a Thanksgiving Luncheon today with the “Americans in Milan” (AIM) group from the larger Benvenuto Club. About 70 people gathered at the Hotel Gallia for conversation, company, charitable fund-raising and a turkey dinner. We finished the evening, 5 hours after we had begun, by dancing to American 70s and 80s pop/rock. We were too warm to put our coats on; we had had fun.
When moving to Milano, I had vowed NOT to come here and spend time with a bunch of American expats. That wasn’t what I was looking for. But in checking out the Benvenuto Club, (“Benvenuto” means “welcome”) I found women representing 40 different countries and a broad age range. They have a social focus and offer a wide array of activities. I decided it was one way to step into community.
Though “Americans in Milan” sponsored the luncheon, it was open to non-members as well. The crowd was quite international. At my table were (let’s see if I get this all right…), the Consul General for Greece and his wife; a Japanese/Bolivian woman and her Italian husband and daughter; a Spanish woman; an Italian woman and her daughter (who went to school in Colorado Springs for a year); and another Italian woman. I guess I was the only American at the table.
We started with Milanese aperitivo of finger foods and prosecco. After milling about, meeting new people and enjoying conversation, we all went into the dining room to our first course of saffron/mushroom risotto and squid pasta. (VERY traditional American Thanksgiving table offerings!) THEN came roast turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans and carrots. (Pout. No sweet potatoes.) It was all very nicely prepared and tasty.
For dessert, we had just-right slivers of apple pie with hazlenut gelato and pumpkin pie with whipped cream! It was pretty darned good for being half a world away.
As soon as our dessert forks hit the plates, the dance music started up and the floor was filled with people from all over the world dancing as one big group and being quite silly. (Dancing to “YMCA” from 1978! I’ll be humming it all night.) I had never met these people, and yet we were all at ease and having fun.
After dancing up a sweat, I stepped out on the balcony for some fresh air and watched clouds of starlings circle over “Milano Centrale“, Milan’s Grand Central Station, at the left in this photo.
These are pretty impressive figures glowing and towering above Centrale’s main entrance!
Out for a breath of cool air. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
by Maureen | Nov 20, 2009 | Cheese, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Meals, People
After 5 months here in Milano, I’ve finally had people over for a meal! I invited Evelina, Glenda and Lydia, from the office at NABA, to come join me for lunch. We all see each other whenever I’m on campus and we get along well.
Just before they arrived, I baked a fresh loaf of Irish Soda Bread (which was devoured with a creamy cheese on top), marinated and then grilled some chicken breasts (red orange juice, olive oil, mustard, red onion, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper), grilled some peeled beets and served a rucola/songino salad. We sipped some prosecco and laughed through lunch. It was all topped off with coffee, both Italian-style and American-style, and a few pastries from the infamous and fabulous Spezia Pasticceria.
I love to cook for people. It was great fun to have them over!
