Life...Italian Style

La Nostra Vacanza....

Our Vacation through Abruzzo, Puglia, and Basilicata:

12 days / giorni
c.  2000 kilometers
1 itinerary / programma
300+ photos/foto
2 motorcycles/ motociclette
4 stomachs / pancie
3 regions/ regioni
c. 20 towns / paesi
4 campsites / campeggi
2 UNESCO sites / siti UNESCO
1 kilo penne pasta (never eaten)
5 tins tuna / scatole tonno (mai mangiato)
2 boats / barche
1 Trip
1 Panz
100 arrosticini
267 cows / mucche
354 sheep / pecore
89 goats / capre
1 Marcello
1 poisonous sea anemone / anemone velenoso
2 poisonous mushroom / funghi velenosi
1 lake / lago
1 river / fiume
1 waterfall / cascata
6 beaches / spiaggi
1 farting donkey / asino scoreggiante
a few aperitifs / un paio di aperitivi
1 or 20 bottles of wine / bottiglie di vino

24+ food experiences / esperienze gastronomiche

photos arriving slowly but surely to flickr

VINITALY 2009

Sunday and Monday I was in Verona for my third annual VinItaly trip.  By chance I spent almost the entire day Sunday this year tasting wine from Abruzzo.  I had been going around with my friend Alessandro (also Abruzzese), so we really had been having fun talking with all of the people from the different wineries and hearing their stories. Needless to say, after all of these new aquaintances I had made (and with our plans to spend Easter in Lanciano, Abruzzo),  I was especially saddened by the news of the earthquake Monday morning - they and their families are in my thoughts everyday....

The tastings started out a little rough, as Ale wasn't exactly dressed for the part (this event is geared towards buyers and distributors), and none of the cantinas wanted to waste their time or wine on us... however we soon found out that my lovely american accent was music to their ears...and things changed....  There was much less of an American presence this year at the fair, much to the dismay of the producers trying to sell their wines oversees, so as soon as I asked to try something, business card in hand, they embraced us with open arms....and open bottles..... I loathe the fact that most Italians think that all Americans are rich, and convincing them otherwise is all but useless... but I have to admit, it worked to my advantage.   Next year I'm just going to make things easier for everyone and wear a Prada t-shirt that says:  Yes, I am American and I own a restaurant in Italy!

Favorites this year:
Cantina Pasetti:  Pasetti Pecorino I.G.T,  Terre di Chieti
                              Testarossa Rosso Montepulciano D.O.C. - this is a really original wine, un vino unico, and its inspired by the redheads in the family (testarossa), so of course its excellent!
Cantina Emidio Pepe:  all organic wines, and all excellent - I had a Trebbiano that was amazing,     and a desgutazione of different vintages of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo ranging from 2005 to 1982! (the 1982 bottle is when it comes in handy to be an american  who owns a restaurant in italy....)
Cantina del Glicine:  found these guys at the end of my tasting so my judgement could be a little fuzzy, but they definately win the award for best labels - all hand drawn and some with cats!  I liked:
                                     Il Mandolo, Roero Arneis
                                     La Sconsolata Barbera d'Alba
                                     Grappa di Arneis
Domenis Distilleria:  Storica Nera grappa - its a classic!

 

2 Events this Week at Basilikó!

L’Orto Bio Logico Ariel e la Trattoria Basilikò presentano

DALL’ORTO ALLA TAVOLA
Una serata BIO-LOGICA
alla scoperta dei sapori provenienti dalla nostra terra

protagonista: il CAVOLO NERO

insalata di cavolo nero con caprino del pastore
involtino di cavolo nero
“caldo verde” zuppa portoguese
gratìn di cavolo nero

€ 30 (compreso vino, cibo, discorsi, tutto!)
Mercoledì 25 febbraio
Ore 20:30

********************************
La Trattoria Basilikò in collaborazione con Bengodi
E La Cantina Zaccagnini presentano

“La Montanara”
Alla scoperta dell’ Appennino Abruzzese
   
Ventricina del Vastese
Pecorino di Farindola
Crostini alla Chietina
Pallotte Cace e Ove
Pizz’ e Fojie
Pecora al Cotturo
I Bocconotti
*******
€ 30 a persona
Tutto incluso

Venerdì 27 febbraio
Ore 20:30

Prenotazione Obbligatoria!

2 Sundays...2 Big Dinners...2 Much Wine...

  Officina della Bistecca 
  Originally uploaded by jennifer mcilvaine

Two weeks ago I made my way up to Verona for the annual VinItaly fair to do some wine tasting for the restaurant.  Last year I went for 3 days, and ate 3 crappy to mediocre dinners.  This year, I went just for 1 day, and had 1 excellent dinner.  We went to Trattoria Giovanni Rana , a historic restaurant in the center of Verona, famous for its pasta.  The antipasti were great:  fried baccalá with sweet marinated anchovies, and beef carpaccio with a hop shoot cream.  But, its the pasta that's amazing -we ordered only 2 pastas, but I could have easily skipped the entrees in exchange for more pasts.  Federico had the classic tortellini with butter and sage made with a whole egg pasta.  I had the cappelletti which were made just with egg yolks, and it was the thinnest pasta I have ever seen - it was like yellow cellophane, but still with texture, and held the filling (white asparagus cream).  All this was accompanied by Dal Forno Romano 2001 Valpolicella Superiore, which was more than superior...  and to put the cherry on top, one of the best grappas ever:  Grappa di Dolcetto, distilled in 1976, bottled in 2001.  The grappa of grappas....

Last Sunday I managed to drag Federico up into the forbidden land known as Tuscany.  Joel had been working with the famous butcher Dario Cecchini, and invited us to one of his all-steak luncheons.  More than anything it was an amazing lesson in business and marketing - half the people there were there only to make contacts.   The  unfortunate aspect of the lunch is that Dario is no longer using the Italian Chianina beef that made him so famous - he now uses imported Spanish meat.  In fact, Salvatore was furious when I told him that we were going to eat there, and told me not to go because of the fact that Dario is no longer using the Chianina.  But the lunch was pretty incredible - a giant communal table (remarkably rare in Italy) filled with pinzimonio (raw veggies), bread, pizze, Dario's olive oil, Dario's salt, and Dario's bottomless fiasco's of Chianti.  Then comes the meat  - a tartare-like ball seared on the outside, followed by 3 different kinds of steak:  Costata della Fiorentina, Bistecca Panzanese, and Bistecca alla Fiorentina.   Also, cannellini beans, roasted potatoes and onions, fresh lard (the "butter" of Chianti)...and I think there was some dessert, and amari too... 3 solid hours of eating...  If you ever go to one of these lunches, don't even think about eating dinner afterwards, or lunch the next day.  It took 2 days to digest all of that meat.  The diet before the wedding officially starts now!!!

Note to Self (and others....)

Except for restaurants, just about everything in Rome is closed on Easter Monday. ;-(

Le Terme di Viterbo

  Terme di Viterbo 
  Originally uploaded by jennifer mcilvaine

What to do when winter's got you down, you feel overworked, and summer is just too far away... (though I've heard they've already started swimming in the sea in Sicily, damn them!) ?
Head to the spa! or in my case, the hot springs - they are free!  You smell like rotten eggs for 2 days (sulfur), but its definitely the best way to relax and rejuvenate for spring here in Italy...without spending una barca di soldi!!!

My favorite people at the springs:  the guy on his cellphone - there is always a cellphone .... the director - I know he's there everyday telling every single person not to put the mud on their faces (the minerals are only present in the water - not the mud - and he doesn't want to here that the mud helps to clean your pours!)... and all of the winter clad onlookers who make you feel like you are in the zoo...

The Year in Review...

One year and 2 days ago, I arrived in Italy and turned a new page in my life - looking back, its been quite a year!   In 2007 I ....

• moved to Italy
• learned to speak Italian, abbastanza bene...
• experienced a little culture shock
• survived working at Il Bacco Felice with Salvatore, and
• probably enlarged my liver a little doing so...
• turned the big 3-0
• adopted 2 kittens, Lilla and 'Cino
• took a month-long motorcycle trip, through the Balkans, and helped orphans in Montenegro learn how to cook (new years resolution:  finish writing about that)
• worked the Trampetti Olive Harvest , and learned that age truly is all in the mind
• got married!
• opened Basilikó Trattoria here in Foligno

to follow along visually, check out my Flickr photo site .

Buon Capodanno a Tutti !!!!

love and marriage (part 1)

I'm a little late in writing this, but, last week, Federico and I got married!   Don't fret if you weren't invited - no one else was either.  In order for me to stay legally (finally) in this country, and be able to plan my real wedding next summer, we had to do the "courthouse wedding" thing.  And it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be - I spent hours searching for information about documentation, and reading peoples horror stories on the internet - it made me really nervous...
We began our sojourn in Roma,  which I didn't mind at all because I think it's the greatest city in the world!  First, I had to go to the American Embassy in Roma to fill out a Nulla Osta ( Download NullaOsta.pdf ), which is basically just a sworn statement saying that one is free to marry.  Then the next day (all of this has to be done on 2 different days, because it would be too easy for the offices to coordinate and be open on the same day), we went to the Prefettura in Rome to have the nulla osta legalized.  This means buying the marca da bolla.  I hate buying the marca da bolla - it is a stupid little sticker that one has to buy at the Tabaccheria (cigarette store), costs €14.62, and makes everything "legal."  Then, at the prefeturra, they take the nulla osta, turn it over, stick the marca on it, then scribble something....and presto! you've got yourself a legal document.   Its insane that I had to go all the way to Rome to do this, but, at least I got a 2 day vacation in Rome.
Eating in the Eternal City... somehow this trip turned into the search for innards - and the Romans really know how its done.  We ate nervetti, I think boiled cartiledge from the shanks of the cow; tripa, cow stomach; coda alla vacinara, oxtail, technically not innards, but a little out of the norm; coratella con carciofi, all the innards from a lamb, stewed with artichokes; and animelle in bianco, sweetbreads fried and cooked in white wine.
Back in Foligno, we had to go to the commune , kind of like a town hall, to "announce the intent of marriage."  Before one can get married in Italy, banns have to posted, just in case someone has the legal argument against the wedding.  Here I ran into my only real problems.  Big ones too - the way my name is written.  My last name begins with McI... and this is strange for them here - big C or little c, space or no space between the c and the I...they were really giving me a hard time about this. Also, on my passport (as with most americans) is written my middle initial. This is another problem for them, because it doesn't really exist here.  It took a little while, but we got it all sorted out...
12 Days Later....  we got hitched!  Our friend Joseph performed the ceremony, and Massimo and Alessandro were our witnesses.   Its not so bad having a courthouse wedding in Italy, because like most things here,  its more beautiful - 16th century frescoed walls and ceilings, etc.  The commune of Foligno even gave me a bouquet of white roses.  A few glasses of spumante... and that was it!  I'm finally legal!

The Balkan Adventure...una bell'esperienza

I've started to write about our trip through Croatia and Montenegro. Instead of doing it in blog format, I created a webpage, so that I can keep writing more continuously. Click on The Balkan Adventure under "Pages" in the sidebar to the right to read all about it.

summer days in Marche

la spiaggia
Originally uploaded by jennifermcilvaine

Sorry Umbria, but you are the last place I want to be right now. The temperature here in Foligno has dropped to a cool 96 degrees, and tonight there is finally a slight breeze...ugghhh. The best part about being in Umbria in July or August is having the knowledge that the beach is within 2 hours in either direction. For the past few weekends, we've been hitting the beaches in Marche to the east. Marche is my new favorite region of Italy. It really has the best of both worlds. To the west are the beautiful green Appenines, and to the east...the sea! It is also home to my favorite summer rosato from Serrapetrona. And, a little known fact: the people of Marche also have the highest life expectancy in Italy. Did I mention the beaches?
I know I don't seem like a beach bum: red hair, fair skin, lived in Seattle for 5 years....but, I really am. The only thing that gets me through the week these hot summer days, is knowing that the crystal waters of the Adriatic are awaiting me.
This weekend we had a late start, because I had to work late (n.b. tourists: lunch in Italy is at 1:00, not 2:30!!!), and the campsite that we usually go to, Campeggio di Due Torre, was booked. Luckily, because we were on the motorcycle, the campsite down the road had space for us. Campeggio Adriatico is not as nice as Due Torre. At Due Torre, you can find a semi-private place for your tent in the sea-pine forest, and it has a great bar and restaurant, and just a better overall ambience. Adriatico did have hot water in the showers - Due Torre is always out!
Anyway, we didn't get to the beach until almost 8:00, but it had been so hot that day that the water was still at a good temperature for a quick bagno- there is really nothing better than diving into the sea after working in a hot kitchen all week!
In addittion to our favorite campsite being booked, so was every single restaurant along the beach. Our last try was Il Molo - we always eat lunch there on Sundays - they at least were doing take-away. So we ordered a pasta, some roasted fish, and a bottle of wine, and just sat on the rocks for dinner - an impromptu picnic by the sea! Much better than sitting in a crowded restaurant in my opinion.
the next day: sun, sea, sun, sea, lunch, sun, nap, coffe, sun, sea, sun, sea...