My good twitter buddy Julie Gilley and I have more than a few things in common. We are both passionate about travel, we love Italy and we love Italian food! We got to twittering about Italian Food a few weeks back and she mentioned that she had a delicious no-fail night of Italian recipes for entertaining- from soup to nuts.
I suggested she come on and let us know about it!
So, heeeeeeeeere's Julie:
One of the many things I love about Italian food is its rustic simplicity and goodness. Many recipes can be made the day before, making them ideal for dinner parties. The next time you want to dazzle your friends with a scrumptious meal, try these deceptively easy dishes:
Antipasti: Bruschette con Cannellini e Olio Nuovo
(Bruschetta with White Beans and Olive Oil)
- 2 cans cannelloni beans
- 8 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp chopped sage
- Coarsely ground salt and pepper to taste
- 4 slices country bread
Mix beans, olive oil, garlic, sage, salt and pepper. Warm the beans over low heat. Toast bread slices on a baking sheet in 375°F oven until golden brown. Ladle a generous amount of beans and a bit of the juice on each toast and serve.
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Primi: Bucatini all’Amatriciana
(Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Pancetta, and Chili)
- ¼ lb pancetta, chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- Pinch of dried pepper flakes
- 2 cans chopped Roma tomatoes
- salt to taste
- 1 lb bucatini or spaghetti
- 1/3 c grated pecorino romano cheese
In a large saucepan, cook pancetta over medium heat in olive oil until golden brown. Add onion, sauté until tender. Add garlic and chili. Add tomatoes and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce thickens—about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, boil pasta until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving a ladleful of cooking water. Pour pasta into the saucepan. Stir and toss well. Add cooking water as needed if pasta seems dry. Sprinkle with the cheese and toss again. Serve immediately.
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Secondi: Coniglio con Olive e Pinoli
(Rabbit with Olives and Pine Nuts)
- 1 rabbit cut into 8 serving pieces **
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 2 of each: onion, celery stalks, carrots, garlic cloves—all chopped
- 1 tsp each: rosemary, sage, Italian parsley—all finely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 c dry white wine
- 1 c pine nuts
- ¾ c brine-cured pitted black olives
- Salt and Pepper to taste
In large frying pan over medium heat, warm olive oil. Lay rabbit in single layer and cook until lightly brown on all sides. Transfer meat to plate. Add vegetables and herbs and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, return rabbit to pan. Add wine. Cook, stirring, and adding a bit of water if the pan dries out until meat is done, about 1 hour. Add ½ cup water, the pine nuts, and the olives. Stir well. Cook until rabbit has absorbed most of the liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately
** If the idea of eating rabbit makes you squeamish, substitute it with dark meat chicken (thighs and legs).
Julie Gilley
Travel Guide and Planner
Everyone is up in arms about the swine flu- and I am no exception. It made me think about the fact that all too often, we take being healthy while traveling for granted. Being sick or injured on a trip can either force you to cancel a planned vacation or ruin a trip by making you and your travel companions miserable.
There are so many things that can go wrong- it is so important to try to avoid both illness and injury when travelling.
So, I have provided some links chock full of information for preventing and dealing with health issues or injuries during travel.
First on everyone's mind is the swine flu. Inside Mexico has some great instructions on how you can protect against it!
Deep Vein Thrombosis, or DVT, is something every flier needs to think about. The Cranky Flier's brother happens to be a doctor and wrote a guest post on what you need to know to prevent it.
Speaking of flying, those with sinus problems, headaches and respiratory issues may be more susceptable to severe ear pain when changing altitudes. Guardian has an in-depth article, complete with diagrams, on ear pain, symptoms, and treatments.
Protecting yourself from airplane germs and keeping healthy in general will go a long way in making your trip pleasurable and keeping your stamina up for all that sightseeing and eating that cultural cuisine.
Blisters, corns, foot pain and swelling can occur both on flights and while walking around all day in hot weather. Read an oldie but a goodie on My Melange for tips on preventing foot and blister pain.
And just in case you do get sick, why not bring along a Natural Vacation Travel Kit that will serve as an all-natural portable medicine cabinet- should you find yourself feeling under the weather or hurt?
What are some of the things you do to prevent illness and injury when travelling?
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Now head on over to Cherrye's blog to see what she has cooking for Travel Tip Tuesday!
Every once in a while a book comes along that grabs me- one that I don't want to put down, that I want to get through.
This was one of those books. This was one of those times.
A Vineyard in Tuscany, Ferenc Maté's memoir is about his (and his family's) trials and tribulations of acquiring an abandoned property in Montalcino, Tuscany, restoring it and creating a vineyard from scratch!
As fate would have it, he was lucky enough to be offered help and advice from his neighbors- none other than Banfi and Gaja- two of the biggest wine giants in Italy!
The author had me rolling on the floor on more than one occassion.
Not wanting to "give everything away" – let's just say some of his funniest stuff involved single-handedly bringing down part of his rebuilt house at the hands of a crane, trying to get deer from eating his vines, over-filling the barrels with their first elixir and creating a grape explosion of huge ( and messy) proportions and almost destroying his property- trees, vines and chicken coup- in an entire chapter dedicated to his learning to use the tractor with four-hundred ninety-seven levers.
And if he wasn't lucky enough already- his wines get rave reviews and he unearths treasure after treasure on his land- both of the historic Etruscan and the culinary variety.
This memoir is a romantic style Under the Tuscan Sun- with the addition of a vineyard- and more descriptive, humorous prose.
If you like Tuscany, Wine and Laughter- you'll love this book!
What is one of your favorite memoirs about Tuscany? Or Italy?
This week's Foodie French phrase is Cuisine Bourgeoise {kwee zeen boor jwaz}.
It is not a food, but more of a style of French cooking.
It's a cuisine that is usually prepared in large "family-style" quantities. The dishes are simple, but of high quality. It includes hearty dishes like beef stew, mutton stew, beef stew au gratin, lamb stew or calf sweetbreads (belch).
It is slow cooked food, homey fare that seems more like home cooking, although some restaurants still serve Cuisine Bourgeoise.
When I think of Cuisine Bourgeoise , I think of that delicious Boeuf Bourguignon I made.
I think that could totally be considered Cuisine Bourgeoise, non?
What is your favorite type of French comfort food?
You may remember a few weeks back that I blathered on about making stuffed artichokes. I had many people simply astonished that I didn't like 'em.
So, I decided to give them another try. This time- letting Mr. Bird's Eye do all the work- and me doing all the eating.
I bought a bag of frozen artichokes and took Scintilla's advice to use them with goat cheese on a pizza.
So, that is just what I did!
I used thawed and dried artichoke hearts, chunks of creamy goat cheese, kalamata olives, some chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano and olive oil and baked it atop the pizza dough.
The result was a beautiful sight to behold as well as to devour!
I thought the pizza was delicious- artichoke hearts and all. Now, I'll be finding ways to use them in pasta and dips as well.
Thanks to Scintilla for the idea and for making an artichoke eater outta me!
What are some of your favorite pizza combo's?
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And speaking of Italian Food, Amie of Ciao Bambino asked me to do a guest post about Italy on her blog and what better to talk about than Italian food. Well, the article is a bit more about Italian food experiences. In Venice and Florence to be exact.
Either way, it is currently up on her blog- so please head on over and feel free to leave a comment over there for me!
I am always excited when I get a new travel product catalog – I can’t wait to peruse the pages and find out what’s new on the market. Or similarly, when I open an email for an on line site or store reviewing the latest and greatest in travel gear.
But I am often shocked, dismayed and downright appalled at some of the things on offer these days. Honestly, I sometimes stare at the page, literally trying to imagine in what dire circumstance I would use or need such an item?!
Well, I have decided that I can no longer hold my tongue! And so today, I present you with five of the worst, most ridiculous, useless travel products I could find. There are so many out there- so I wouldn’t at all be surprised if you see another installment in the future.
1. Topping the list is a product called Urninelle. I don’t know who they think they are kidding here? It is a paper urinal, made to sound like a fancy French item with the simple addition of elle at the end. Ok, I can’t really imagine a time where I would find this useful? I mean, if nature calls, I think I’d rather just pop-a-squat in the park before trying to aim and fail miserably, thereby dribbling urine (or is that uriné) down my fingers, hand, wrist and arm. Eeww. Seriously. Eeww. And may I ask what you are supposed to do with a warm paper cone full of pee once it is full? Carry it around in your bag until you find a trash can, perhaps? What if the damned thing springs a leak? Yeah, no thanks. I’ll go the old fashioned way- I’ll locate the nearest McDonalds-thankyouverymuch!
2. Next up is the ingeniously designed bag marketed to travelers who want to be able to {a} see what is in their toiletry bag and {b} want to be able to keep said items, handy and separate from other items in an easy to reach place on the plane. They are called Mesh Pockets and for $12.95, plus shipping and handling, you could have a set of three. Uh, hu-lo, haven’t you ever heard of a ZIP LOCK BAG?! Found at grocery and convenience stores everywhere, you too could have a whole box of these magic bags that are clear, come in different sizes and when used correctly can in fact separate items. For less than $5.00, you could have many, many bags. And you won’t be sad if you loose one, ‘cuz you have 11 more at home just like it.
3. Chalk this one up to a little too much technology. This $99 portable water purifiyer, called a SteriPEN, looks like something Dr. Spock would use on the Starship Enterprise- it even emits UV rays into your water allowing it to glow in the dark – it can double as a nightlight! It kills thousands of bacteria, viruses and protozoa. I actually have my own solution for water laced with bacteria, not fit for human consumption and considered non-potable…and it’s free. Wait for it….DON’T DRINK THE WATER! Or better yet- why not travel to a civilized country that actually proves that it welcomes travelers by providing clean, cool, delicious, germ-free tap water to both tourists and citizens alike!
4. To accomplish packing light on long trips, you’ll need to do laundry -either by finding a nearby laundromat or handwashing items in your hotel’s bathroom sink. Unless of course you take the WonderWash along with you. Yes, just what every traveling housewife wants! After slaving over her family day after day for a year- she finally gets to join her family on their vacation of a lifetime, but she won’t leave home without a washing machine?! Lord knows she won’t be happy unless she can wash all of her families dirty clothes in a hand-crank portable washing machine. Yes, I can just see them flying off the shelves now! C’mon. The only thing I’m doing with this on a trip is filling it with fresh strawberries, milk and crushed ice and churnin’ my way to some homemade ice cream.
5. You can personalize your itinerary, personalize your luggage and now thanks to Plane Sheets, you can personalize your airplane seat!? Oh, as if throwing a designer sleeve over an uncomfortable economy seat masks the fact that your a sardine in a straightjacket- gimmie a break! Plane Sheets claims that just by throwing on your cheeta print seat cover you can transform your tired, overused airline seat, into a cozy, happy place. Wrong! That’s what an upgrade to first class and/or valium will do. And if you are using it as perhaps a simple solution for identifying your seat among all of the other sardine-can seats – I have an easier method. All seats are identifiable by a number- letter pattern, ie 24B. Match the number-letter combo listed on the overhead bin directly above the seat with that on your ticket. Voila! You have located your seat. Now wasn’t that easy- and flippin’ free?
Have you found any useless or ridiculous travel products? Please share them here!
Now, check out Cherrye’s Travel Tips today. I am quite sure they are both useful and not ridiculous!
**Disclaimer. The statements above are the sole opinion of the author and are in no way meant to offend anyone that actually owns these products, recommends these products or finds these products useful. Please refrain from sending the author hate mail. And if your company sells these products, please do not send me samples attempting to convince me otherwise. Really. Just Don’t.
Is it any wonder that I have Italy on my mind, when I am exactly one month from being on a plane to Rome?
Here's a slide show of our last visit to Rome- it might help explain why it's all I eat, sleep and breathe these days!
Now you can see why I have Italy Rome on my mind! Which one is your fav?
A few weeks ago, my foodie friend Anne, better known round the Internets as A Foodie Froggy in Paris, sent me a little gift- a book called A Short Guide to Foodie French…with a Touch of Salt.
It is a great book loaded with French food terms, types of eating establishments, the different cuisines, ingredients, pastries, etiquette-even explanations of all the positions in a working French kitchen, which reads more like the US Presidential cabinet. It is illustrated with cute cartoon artwork. It is adorable, funny and informative.
I thought it might be fun to share some of these French food terms with you.
So Fridays, other than the 1st of the month Travel Photo Friday, will now be Foodie French Friday.
Each Friday I will pick a term from the book and the definition and that will be the post for the day!
Hope it proves to be lighthearted and informative at the same time. Perhaps it might help you decipher a French food menu or perhaps even choose a place to eat on your next visit to your local French Restaurant- or better yet- your next trip to France!
Today's Food French term is AUBERGE: {oh bearjh}
I have had the pleasure of dining and staying in an Auberge in Canada. Matter of fact, the picture above is one that we stayed in.
An auberge is an inn, lodge or public tavern. It is a French word. Generally cheaper than a hotel and often a place that has both rooms and restaurants, but the definition has become a little 'loose' over time.
Youth hostels, often called auberges de jeunesse, are favorite places for international students backpacking through Europe.
In Spain, inns that used to have guests bring their own food would be called Auberge Espagnole. This was usually because there was no restaurant at the inn.
I just love the word, personally- because of the image it conjures up. It sounds warm, cozy, welcoming. And French!
Have you stayed or eaten in an Auberge?
Rather than post my own recipe today, I decided it might be a fun idea to give you a collection of some of the best recipes on the web. There are way too many food blogs to mention in just one post- But I'll share some of the ones I know and at the end, you can share a favorite site of yours. Kinda like a recipe swap- but with blogs.
Ready? Let's get started, shall we?
First and foremost, if you want to peruse my recipes, you can visit my What's Cooking category.
My fellow Italophile started a little recipe box of her own over at WhyGo Italy. A few of yours trulys favorites have made the cut there also.
If Northern Italian is more your style, head over to Ms. Adventures in Italy and Divina Cucina. (You can check out Judy's new cookbook- and a little hint- stay tuned for a little interview and book giveway with Judy)
Maryann, who is in a class all her own has a delicious collection of recipes over at Finding La Dolce Vita.
And if you like French food as much as I do, make your way over to the Foodie Froggy and Chez Loulou for some fab French cooking!
And thought decidedly not French or Italian, I had to include these 'cuz I just love the ease and convenience of crockpot cooking. Visit A Year of CrockPotting and 365 Days of Slow Cooking to find almost any traditional recipe converted into a crcok pot recipe and thensome!
Hungry yet?
Now it is your turn to share! What are some of your favorite blogs you visit for recipes?
By definition, I am a tourist, though I much prefer to blend in when I travel. In my opinion, if I assimilate myself into daily life at my destination, it allows me a richer, more authentic travel experience.
There are some sure-fire ways to be successful as well as ways to fail. Stick out like a sore thumb, if you will.
So here are some do’s and dont’s when it comes to trying to blend in like a local in Europe.
1. Don’t bring your spify, white New Balance sneaks, your Adidas track suit, your fanny pack, your cargo shorts or your Hawaiian shirt. Save those for a retirement home in Florida. Europeans dress smartly. Do bring comfy yet stylish walking shoes, dark wash denim, black pants, scarves and a belted trench. Bring solid-colored items that can be layered. And though neon pink and lime green spandex may indeed be comfortable, for the love of God, if you know what’s good for you- leave those home! Or better yet, at the Salvation Army.
2. Absolutely do stop to ask locals where they like to eat. Just don’t ask about the nearest McDonald’s or Olive Garden. Please!
3. When dining out, you’ll want to eat with the locals, do not go to dinner at 5pm. Locals in Europe eat very late. Do wait to eat dinner until at least 8:30 pm.
4. Do not expect the locals to speak English. This is their turf. Do learn some polite phrases in the local language. You will be treated better.
5. Do learn some of the local customs with regard to hand gestures. Do not just assume that giving someone a thumbs up or the ok sign will be understood and welcomed in another culture. You may in fact be insulting someone.
6. Don’t be loud and obnoxious. Don’t have too much to drink, stumble into the streets yelling and screaming like a high-schooler at a college frat party. Do be respectful and use your inside voice. Common sense? Maybe, but you would be surprised how many rude, drunk Americans I encounter on vacation.
7. Do have an open mind. Remember you are in a foreign land and that nothing will be the same as in America. But, wasn’t that the point of traveling in the first place? Don’t bitch to the waiter, “In America, we don’t eat intestines!” Don’t complain to the hotel owner, “In America, all of our hotels have elevators!” Don’t complain to shop keepers, “In America, our stores don’t close for 3 hours in the middle of the day!” It gets old and it is just plain rude.
So, what are your secrets for blending in like a local?
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Now, bop on over to Cherrye’s place to see what she cooking up for Travel Tip Tuesday!
