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Foods of Southern Italy

You know how I feel about Italy and Italian food.  It’s love.  Always love.  And though I know quite a bit about the food in Northern and Central Italy, other than fish, lemons and limoncello that I sampled on the Amalfi coast – I have yet to try many other Southern Italian specialties.

Here to tell us more about foods in Italy’s southern region, is none other than my Travel Tip Tuesday partner – Cherrye.

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Southern Italy food is characterized by spicy red pepper, fresh fruits and vegetables and a healthy combination of meat and fish-from both the mountains and the seas that surround the land.

Some of the most famous contributions to Italian food are abundant in the south, especially olive oil, wines and cheese. Here is a quick roundup of some of my favorite dishes from five of the regions in southern Italy.

Campania

Yes, yes, Naples gave birth to the pizza and it is likely their most famous invention-and one my husband and I celebrate a couple of times a week-but another tasty treat from Campania is the lemon-infused digestive liquor, limoncello.

Limoncello is not only a great night cap with friends, but can also be used in cooking. Check out our delizia al limone recipe, yet another great dish from southern Italy.

Sicily

Sicily is famous for their rosticceria, fried appetizers, and one of the most popular items on the list is arancini.

Arancini are rice balls, traditionally filled with ground beef, tomato sauce and a few green peas, then deep fried to golden, uhm, little orange perfection. They are often eaten as an appetizer to pizza or served as part of an antipasto platter.

Calabria

For the first year or so that I lived in Calabria I was hesitant to try their famous ‘nduja spreadable sausage … not so much for fear of the flame, but rather for fear of unknown meat. Still, ‘nduja won and once I tried it, I was hooked.

Here in Calabria, you will often find ‘nduja-filled arancini, ‘nduja bruschetta or even pasta or gnocchi in a ‘nduja sauce.

Basilicata

The food in Basilicata is a simple combination of fresh vegetables and spicy red pepper, but if you find yourself near Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage site for its Sassi cave dwellings, then be sure to find time for breaking bread. The Pane di Matera, or bread from Matera is made exclusively with durum wheat and is characterized by its thick crust and soft interior. It also has an impressive shelf life for homemade bread.

Puglia

Ever-more-popular Puglia is gaining in notoriety, not only because of the laid-back cities and the sea, but also, or perhaps, even more so, for its food and wine. One of the most famous Pugliese pastas is orecchiette, so-named because the pasta is shaped like orecchiette, or little ears.

There are a variety of sauces that go well with orecchiette, but one of my favorite dishes is Orecchiette con cime di rape-pasta and broccoli rabe.

What is your favorite thing to eat in southern Italy?

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Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and freelance writer living in southern Italy. She writes about travel for MNUI Travel Insurance and about living and traveling in southern Italy on her site, My Bella Vita. She and her Calabrese husband also own Il Cedro Bed and Breakfast in Catanzaro.

France Travel Series : The Nice Side of Cemeteries

Cemeteries usually aren’t at the top of any travel itinerary, particularly not one for the French Riviera. Beautiful beaches? Check. Decadent seafood dishes and gelato in every flavor? Check. Winding streets and bright colored buildings? Check. Ancient graves and tombs? Not so much.

No doubt there is an abundance of things to do in Nice, France and the surrounding seaside towns. Checking out les cimetières du Château de Nice, however, can give you a rare glimpse into centuries of life in Nice. The family tombs hold generations, dating back to the early 1800′s.  If you’re seeking a quiet refuge from the hustle and bustle of Old Nice or a break from the crowded beaches, wander through the cemetery nestled on Castle Hill.

The history lesson is worth it in itself. Graveyards can tell stories that the living can’t—and encourage you to make up your own. Reading the tombstone of a family who lost several small children in the late 1800′s made me wonder about the leaps we’ve made in modern medicine. I also realized that many of the young men who died between 1914 and 1918 or the early 1940′s were most likely victims of the World Wars.  While reading tombs can be somber, it can be moving—like the tomb that held three generations of clearly loved fathers and brothers, from 1900 to 2007.

The cemetery gives you a peek into many facets of French culture, particularly religion and family. The cemetery is separated into Catholic, Protestant and Jewish sections. It’s interesting to see the differences between the large, ostentatious Catholic tombs and the simple Protestant tombs: the ideologies of both faiths are also reflected in death rituals.

All Souls Day, known as La Touissant, is dedicated to praying for the souls of the deceased as well as cleaning and replacing flowers on graves—and is still widely practiced in France. Most of the graves are extremely well cared for, with an abundance of fresh flowers. It’s lovely to see that the departed haven’t been abandoned—and also speaks to the generations of Niçoise that remain in Nice.

Once you’ve had your fill of the cemetery, you’re in the perfect spot to look down on the brightly colored buildings of Old Nice and the imposing structure of the Modern Art Museum. Directly across from the cemetery is a gorgeous view of the city of Nice. Stroll through the shade to the other side of Castle Hill to check out a waterfall, beautiful gardens and mosaics, a children’s playground and an amazing panoramic view of the Mediterranean. Bring a picnic and take advantage of the sprawling grassy areas and scattered benches.

To reach the cemetery, climb up the Montée Menica Rondelly from Place Ste. Claire in Vieux Ville or wander over from the Montée du Château.  The cemetery is clearly marked next to the colline du Château on a city map of Nice.

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If you’re looking for a cemetery tour guide, Christine is currently living in Nice, France and blogging about life on the French Riviera at C’est Christine and tweeting @camorose. Christine’s first trip to France was at age 11, where she fell in love with pains aux chocolat, modern art and Galeries Lafayette.

France Travel Series : Paris – 90 Minutes Until the End of the World

For some people, a favorite travel memory is a good meal, a stunning piece of architecture or a glass of full-bodied wine at sunset. Me? I’m fond of mild panic.

Picture me sitting under a clacking departure sign at the Gare du Nord. I’ve just stepped off the Eurostar after my first jaunt through the Chunnel (until now as an adult, I’ve only ever flown into Paris) and I’m transfixed by the station’s dizzying mixture of order and chaos.

Everyone seems to know where they’re going – but why oh why do those stairs go up, loop round and come back down without appearing to do anything *but* that? It’s relentlessly open-plan, giving an exciting, exhausting air to every view. But I’m quite happy, gazing this way and that, watching people, watching errant sparrows, testing my French against the super-animated chatter around me. I feel smugly content. Everything is perfectly under control.

Why? Because my ticket tells me than in a little over 90 minutes, my train would be leaving from the platform I’m sat opposite, heading for the Italian border and beyond – a sleeper train, crossing overnight to Bologna where I would scramble off in the wee hours and make my connection with Trenitalia’s service south, to Bari.

But here I am, in Paris. An hour and a half to kill, in one of the most fascinating cities in Europe. Frustrating. I *could* drag my suitcase out the main entrance and go for a rumble to see what I could see, but the rain is hissing down and I’d rather not fog up my shared sleeper-car as I dried out. Time to sit tight and get my novel out.

My bookmark is the booking confirmation for the ticket I’d be using to board the Italy-bound train. I glance idly at it – and a good job too.

“____!”

You see, there is no train service from the Gare du Nord to Bologna. The train I needed was departing from Paris Bercy, in almost exactly an hour and a half – and Paris Bercy was on the other side of Paris.

Shouting at myself like a crazy person, I leap to my feet and clatter across to the entrance to the Metro, suitcase windmilling frantically behind me.

So why is this a fond memory? Because over the following 90 panic-laced minutes dashing hither and thither across Paris, clumsily asking for directions, getting laughed at by Metro officials, up one set of steps and onto the street and round a corner WOAH (damn French kids and their mopeds!) and down more steps, getting jammed in a luggage barrier and sitting in a subway carriage trundling at an agonizingly slow pace through Paris’s underground with the clock ticking like the countdown to the end of the world…my awareness of the city was honed, heightened to an almost supernatural degree.

The sights and smells of overland and underground Paris sunk deep: glimpses, snippets, snapshots between buildings, cameos of passengers, silhouettes of skylines. Paris is a rich experience, and when you’re hurtling through it with your heart racing, it’s truly intoxicating.

I make my sleeper train with seconds to spare. And I think that was the day Paris really got under my skin. That was when we truly bonded, the city and I, and our relationship has deepened since that self-imposed bout of travel lunacy.

Although if I’d missed my connection, maybe I’d feel somewhat different…

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Mike Sowden is a freelance travel-writer and blogger. He writes about travel for MNUI travel insurance and for his own site Fevered Mutterings. Catch up with him on Twitter @Mikeachim.

France Travel Series : My French Wine Trail Fantasy

Next month I will step on French ground the second time. I still remembered when I was still an undergraduate studying in UK, learning how to taste and differentiate various makes of wine around the world had naturally become our extra-curriculum during the weekend.

From some of those little experience gathered, French wine had become my choice of wine, even until now. Since then I’ve been dreaming to have a chance to track down the French wine making regions to taste every one of them.

I missed out on that 13 years ago because of limited budget. Due to the short period of rushing tour to Europe next month, I’m going to missed it again, for the second time!

Which wine regions of France I would hope to visit one day? What would be my favorite French wine trail of all? Here is my top 5 dreamed itinerary:

1. Firstly, I’m going to start off from Bordeaux in South Western France. Bordeaux is one of the world’s most famous wine region on the Atlantic coast of france. Being a red wine region, Bordeaux produces wines from various main types of grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and large quantities are being exported.

2. Next stop would be Loire valley in Western France. Mainly white wine are being produced here, the largely known grape variety here is the Sauvignon Blanc.

3. After tasting both Bordeaux’s red and Loire’s white wine, I’m going to visit another world’s famous french wine region, Champagne. Located in Eastern France, Champagne produces… Champagne, the nickname of sparkling wine we used to see in many celebration parties.

4.  Started from the West to East, I would continue my French wine trail by traveling to the South of France. From the commercial orientated Bordeaux red and the Loire white, to the home of sparkling wine, champagne, I would drop by Burgundy on the way to Southern France to taste some of the top-notch quality French red and white wine which cost more than a car per bottle!

5.  Lastly, in the Southern region of Provence, the warmest wine region of France, I will also taste some of the great red wines in the region with its reputation being the close competitor to the traditional wine region of Bordeaux.

To end this French wine trail fantasy, I wish I could spend a wonderful night in the beautiful city of Nice. What a nice french fantasy!

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Photo Credits : ClatieK / FlashpackingLife

Cecil Lee is an avid traveler who is also a passionate travel blogger and travel photographer living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He writes about travel for MNUI travel insurance and on his own travel photo blog, Travel Feeder.

France Travel Series : A Saint in Shining Amour

While Paris seduces me from time to time, my true love lies in the sunflower fields of southwest France, somewhere between the pink bricks of Toulouse and the salty air of Marseilles. As I can only choose one place, I’d like to introduce you to St Cirq Lapopie.

St Cirq Lapopie

Swaying poppies, daisies, medieval half-timbered houses and a wonderful coq-au-vin. St Cirq Lapopie bottles up all the charisma that southwest France has to offer and infuses it through its winding, cobbled streets. Throw in a wine museum and I was hooked.

St Cirq, as the locals call it, seems impossibly perfect, a model village designed to make visitors go ooh and ah. Yet amid the smells of fresh baguettes and the lazy hum of bumble bees, St Cirq bears a grisly secret.

Guarded by stone walls, it sits 100 metres above the river Lot, not for scenic reasons but strategic ones. Several of these bastides, hamlets on elevated cliff tops, still exist around the region, a strikingly beautiful legacy from the brutal years of the Albigensian Crusade, the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion. While soldiers raged across today’s tranquil fields, villagers retreated to the bastides for survival.

The ruins of the 13^th-century château tell the story, while offering the gentle distraction of a view across the Quercy meadows. St Cirq also has a sparse chapel with elaborate stained-glass windows, as well as independent workshops specialising in handmade wooden goods and paintings.

Near the edge of the enclosure, a cluster of restaurants serve up rich magret de canard (duck breast) and goat’s cheese on red-and-white chequered tables. Even the sunlight falls properly here, onto the vine-sheltered terrace.

So, that’s how St Cirq won me over, through strength and resilience plus a hefty dose of French charm. Knights Templar used to roam here, after all.

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Abigail King is a freelance writer with a passion for art, science and travel. She blogs at Inside the Travel Lab and also writes for Cheap Weekend Breaks and MNUI Travel Insurance.

France Travel Series : Meeting a Myth in Paris

I’ve dreamt about traveling to France since I was a young girl. I remember afternoons spent watching travel shows on TV or camped out in the travel section at the local bookstore pouring over maps and guidebooks and beautiful pictures.

Last January that dream finally came true with a week holiday in Paris. I loved every moment, out walking, exploring and seeing as much of the city as I could each day.

Time after time I came face to face with so many of the great works of art and architecture that I had studied and dreamt about seeing while in graduate school. Nowhere did I realize so clearly that my dreams were becoming reality as when I stood one chilly morning in front of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.

There it was it all its Gothic splendor right in front of me. A myth suddenly became something so real I could touch it.

Inside, the sudden hush of the visitors awed by such beauty, the vivid colors of the sunlight pouring through the stained glass are still part memory and dream for me. Walking around the winter gardens surrounding Notre-Dame my eyes darted back and forth from the towers to the flying buttresses to the famous gargoyles high above as the church bells began to ring.

Having dreamt about it for so long, it was hard to say when exactly my dreams of Paris ended and my experience in real Paris began. In fact, there is still something dreamlike about my memories of places like Notre-Dame, something that has made my time there as magical as the city itself.

On my writing desk sits a small, metal statue of Notre-Dame, a daily reminder of the importance of dreams and how they just do sometimes come true.

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Laura Thayer is an art historian and freelance writer living on the Amalfi Coast in Campania, Italy. She writes about travel for MNUI travel insurance and blogs about life on the Amalfi Coast at her own site Ciao Amalfi.

* All photos in this post are copyright, Laura Thayer, Ciao Amalfi!

France Travel Series : How a French Encounter Ended My 10 Year Grudge

While sitting in my tourist office today in the center of Rome, a lovely French woman stepped in to ask if she could take one of our free maps. I smiled and nodded my head, motioning to the big stack of maps on the counter.

Thinking that this would be the extent of her visit, she went on to ask me where she might find a nice market nearby. Here is where it got tricky, as I needed more information in order to steer her in the right direction. The madame spoke no Italian or English, which meant that I had two options.

The Italian in me told me I should resort to hand gestures and extra loud Italian, that way she would surely get what I was trying to say. After all, Italians are the masters of getting their point across without ever opening their mouths.

The American in me, on the other hand, started getting all righteous. “Come now Danielle, didn’t you study French for four years in high school and get straight A’s?

Weren’t you the one the teacher always asked to read stories and poems in French because your spoken French sounded the least like nails on a chalkboard of all the kids in the class?

Didn’t you even perform songs in French for a singing competition?”

Yes, Yes, and Yes, it’s all true, but where did all this get me when I was in Paris 10 years ago and trying to buy a baguette, check into a hotel, or get on a train? Nowhere. I got answered in English and hurried off on my merry way. Which hurt my Sicilian pride and made me swear never to speak French again (not sure why I thought this would teach the French people a lesson) after that trip.

In that instant, with this sweet French tourist in front of me and the tables turned, I let go of the Sicilian grudge and let in the laissez-fare.

“Vous êtes à la recherche d’un marché d’alimentation ou d’un marché de vêtements?” I asked.

“Alimentation!”

“Mais oui madame,” and with that I gave her instructions and she was off on her merry way to the Campo De Fiori market. As she left I realized the extent of my silliness over the past ten years. And more importantly, I officially ended my Sicilian grudge against France.

That said, it’s a good thing my French is still pretty appalling, or I may have gone into an explanation of how their Arc du Triomphe was inspired (read: copied) by Rome’s Arch of Titus. So there!

I’m looking forward to France the second time around! Next time I will try not to take things so personally.

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Danielle Russo is a coordinator of Rome and Vatican Tours. She lives in Rome, Italy and writes about travel for MNUI travel insurance as well as WhenInRomeTours.com.

France Travel Series : A Love Affair to Remember

There is an often good-natured battle between my adopted Italy and her long-time rival, France, and as a writer and travel consultant living along Italy’s southern shores, I rarely get to write about my first love –France. No, France doesn’t win the battle of emotions inside my heart … Italy’s top place is safe and secure. Rather, France was my first love and like anyone who has loved and lost, I’ll never really let go. France was the setting for my first expat experience, my first ever international travel experience and yes, the place where I met the man who’d one day become my husband.

My mind is filled with memories from the time I spent in France, but my favorite experience and one I return to often is of the City of Lights herself … in one of my favorite neighborhoods, sitting underneath the protective shadow of one of the city’s most famous monuments-Notre Dame.

Photo Credit : Divillysausages on Flickr.

You see, contrary to popular belief, Mickey Mouse does not pay well, so my two closest friends and I created our own magic outside of our day jobs at Disneyland Paris. We’d take the Metro the 20 minutes or so into the heart of the city, stop by a wine shop for a six franc bottle of vin rouge and buy equally expensive gyros on the pebble-stone streets of Paris’ Quartier Latin.

With our hands full of tzatziki-covered fries that had been stuffed inside our sandwiches, we walked across the busy street to the Ile-de-la-Cite and through the main square of Notre Dame. Underneath the church, on the stairs that lead to the River Seine, we’d perch our vin du jour and watch the tourists-because we lived there, remember … we weren’t tourists!-passing on the riverboats. Sometimes they’d wave to us and we’d nonchalantly return the gesture, in a move that was decidedly not French but what we hoped passed as such by the masses from the boat.

I’ve returned to Paris a couple of times in the ten years since this ritual became a memory and on each occasion, I’d insist my travel companion join me on those stairs.

They’d go through the motions, drink the what is now much more than six franc wine and let me talk about my days as an expat in Paris … but somehow it was never the same.

Next year, our group is holding a reunion and I’ll be back in the City of Lights with those same two friends who haunted the stairs with me in Paris’ medieval center … and this is one experience I can’t wait to reenact.

They say you can’t go back and I now know-ten years older and hopefully somewhat wiser-that things won’t be the same. But I hope, that for just a moment, we’ll recapture that magic. Because if Paris can’t do it … no one can.

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Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and freelance writer living in southern Italy. She writes about travel for MNUI.com and about living and traveling in Calabria on her own site, My Bella Vita.

France Travel Series: My French Fantasy

I am excited to announce that over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be running a special series of guest posts on one of my favorite topics. France. I knew that I couldn’t be the only one out there dreaming about travel to France, so I have enlisted the help of some other travel bloggers and writers to find out what they love about France or why they are dreaming of traveling to France.

Without further ado, here is Lisa:

Ooh, la, la, the idea of writing about a French Fantasy had me wandering in so many directions.  Wouldn’t you, if someone asked you to reveal a “fantasy?”  Yet, it was pretty easy when Robin invited me to write this article because there has been one French bookmark under my “Favorites” for at least two years now, so the dream has been simmering and conjuring up all sorts of ideas.  However, this is a destination blog so let’s travel back to earth.

I first heard about Eze, France while the TV was on in the background one evening.  I wasn’t paying much attention to the travel show until I looked up and noticed the most romantic little village tucked in the middle of nowhere and then my investigation led me to Chateau Eza and oh, my, my.

© Chateau Eza

The Chateau is located on the edge, quite literally of the Cote d’Azur.  I had to look twice because the merging of the sea and the sky here looks so much like Italy’s Amalfi Coast, my soul’s home, that Eze had me at Merlot.  (Oh, please, feel free to stop me at any time!)  This little 400-year-old love nest sits on a craggy cliff and only offers 10 intimate and luxuriously romantic rooms.  (Just check out the Suite Eza with the bathtub on the terrace overlooking the sea.  I mean this ain’t no Jacuzzi atop a no-tell motel)

My fantasy has something to do with tall, dark and handsome (the names have been redacted to protect the gorgeous) in the Deluxe Room with its cozy fireplace and canopied bed.  You can fill in the blanks because I’m not giving it all up here in cyberspace.  Afterall, we’ve only just met.

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Lisa Fantino is an award-winning journalist and attorney and the creative force behind Wanderlust Women Travel.  She also writes travel features for MNUI Travel Insurance and blogs as Lady Litigator.

Thanksgiving Wine Selections: A Spiritual Prelude for Wine Lovers

I am a self-confessed wino. I know a thing or two about wine and have mostly been sticking to budget French and Italian wines, with a penchant for reds.

But I dabble. I am not one who is an expert for food and wine paring. Well, I might know a few basics, but generally I stick to a pretty basic formula – If I can afford it and I like it – I drink it. Repeat.

However, today I have enlisted the help of someone who does know all about wine.

He makes it his business to know.

One of my very favorite Italian wine guys, Joel Mack from Vintrospective (don’t you just love the name!), stopped by today to chat about Italian wine and how it relates to Thanksgiving.

Don’t forget to take good notes!

Here’s Joel:
In preparation for making your holiday wine selections, I suggest the following spiritual prelude: let’s imagine you as wine.

As wine, you’ve got options, of course. Pedigree. Great structure. Complexity of aroma. But to be a wine appreciated, it’s not necessary to imagine all that. Better you should know how to roll up your sleeves and do good work at table. The table is the great equalizer among wines: be great there, or be a lie, an imitation.

Maybe you’re turned out in an elegant, black 750ml bottle; or perhaps headlining in a more formal 1.5 litre magnum, center stage, the only wine on the table. And they’ll be clutching their stomachs with hunger, waiting to eat and drink. The pressure is on. Hopefully, you won’t be counting on just your pedigree to carry you through.

Want to know what you’re up against? Take my family, Italian-Americans – at Thanksgiving, they’ll hit you with everything they’ve got – it’ll be escarole soup, meatballs, pork, and two kinds of handmade pasta all before the turkey and trimmings ever hit the table. You can’t take just one position, you’ve got to work it all.

Express yourself. You’re a star. But play it like a supporting role: make the food taste good. You’ll hear the “oohs” and “ahhhs”. “Bravo”, they’ll say. They’ll lift you up, want to hold you, feel the bottle, get a better look at your label.

You’ll be back next year

OK: End of spiritual prelude.

No pretending about Italy’s great food wines: a few recommendations that make great sense for most Thanksgiving tables, wines whose incredibly food-friendly attitudes at table make them super choices for the entire meal:

Chianti Classico
This classic from Tuscany, based on the Sangiovese varietal, pairs well with intensely flavored dishes, entrees with cheese and is particularly good with grilled or roasted meats, poultry, and game.

Recommended Producers Include: Castellare, Felsina, Fontodi

Valpolicella
Based primarily on the grape called Corvina, this wine from Italy’s Veneto region shows a real ability to work equally well with milder pasta dishes as well as roasted poultry.

Recommended Producers Include: Brigaldara, Le Salette, Zenato

Dolcetto
One of Piedmont’s important wines, Dolcetto is made from the grape of the same name and does especially well with pasta dishes containing meat and is excellent with rich poultry dishes.

Recommended Producers Include: Abbona, Icardi, San Fereolo
ABOUT JOEL MACK

Joel Mack writes about Italian wine atVintrospective -> An Italian Wine Blog, a site that encourages an understanding of Italian wine as a part of culture, exploring wine’s connection to the people, land and traditions which create it. As a free lance writer, he also contributes content to other Internet and print interests. Joel conducts specialized seminar tastings featuring the wines of Italy for private and corporate clients and teaches a college level Discover Italy series of wine classes. He has a worked for a celebrated importer / distributor of Italian wines and continues to study the wines of Italy.