sandy

No post about Italy or eating or shopping or restaurants or any other of the things I take for granted and report on. Just love and concern and worry about my friends and family in New York and other parts of the United States. Stay safe. Stay warm. And I hope to hear from you soon.

fettucine di farro + broccoli romano

Last week I wrote about how inspired I was by the autumn colors in the market. Pumpkins, cabbages, radicchio...all vegetables with strong hues, and also strong tastes. Come the cold weather my cooking tends to hunker down and I make more soups and  stews that feature these goodies.

Even my pasta changes course. My summer repertoire of pastas features things like tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant. Most of these recipes are pretty  light and my go to  pasta is usually dried penne or rigatoni.

Somehow for me, the idea of fresh pasta, like fettucine, seems heartier and better suited to stand up to the strong tastes fall and winter vegetables. So the other day, when I saw this home made farro fettucine for sale at the Farmer's Market, it seemed to be just calling out to the broccoli romano on display at the next stand over.

slow food + the salone del gusto {2012}

I don’t blog from the road. I’m much too organized for that. My blog posts are usually written and in the can at least a week before I post them.

But that’s not to say that I stay silent when I travel. Far from it. I’m a big communicator and love posting comments, photographs and random discoveries through the various social media outlets.

So even though I’ve written this post a week ago, and you are reading it only now, you can keep up to date with what I’m seeing, eating, doing this week while I’m at the Salone del Gusto. This is Slow Food’s biennial event that takes place in Torino. I’m here with a great group of gals, and we are currently making our way through over 1000 food stalls, meeting some of the thousands of food producers and farmers from all over the world at Terra Madre, and attending demonstrations and tastings. And eating, drinking and just having fun, of course.

eating in the street in monti {rome}

Does this photo look like a scene from Woody Allen’s last movie, To Rome with Love? It could, since they filed a few scenes on this vine covered little alley. Even though the characters in the movie refer to it as Trastevere, it’s not. It’s Monti. And since  it’s my street,  I should know.

If you haven’t heard of Monti you may have been living in a cave the last few years. It’s a small neighborhood in Rome, but it’s gotten a lot of attention (here, here and here) lately. Why? Well, vine-covered alleyways for one.

fall vegetables {pretty as a picture}

I don’t usually post blog entries that are just pretty pictures. But I did want to share these images with you because....well, just because.

The colors in the market are so vibrant this time of year that it’s hard to put down my camera and actually pick up a vegetable. I love zucchini and tomatoes as much as the next girl, but enough is enough. I’m really ready for pumpkins, squash, radicchio and cabbage. I know come March I’ll be sick to death of these too, but for now it’s total love.

eating meat in florence {bistecca, etc}

When the weather starts getting hot, at the end of May, beginning of June, everyone (including me) starts thinking about gelato. New gelato places, best places to get gelato, new gelato trends. You know what I mean. Every one wants to read about gelato.

But now that the weather is finally turning Fall-ish, I've noticed an uptick in another kind of query. Yes, it’s meat season. At least that’s what people have been asking for lately. To be more specific,  I’ve gotten tons of questions from clients on my tours, readers on  my blog, through my apps and over at Chowhound asking for  the best place to find bistecca in Florence.

Eating bistecca alla fiorentina in Florence is kind of like the foodie equivalent of buying a leather jacket or a pair of gloves. (Is it a cooincidence they both involve cows? Food for thought. Pun intended )

Anyway, to answer your question, here is my short list.

red currant + grappa {cocktail}

Most people, when confronted with freshly made fruit juices at the farmers market would think “healthy breakfast drink.” Me? My mind immediately turns to cocktails.

In fact, I’ve already written about my ‘farmer’s market’ cocktails in the past. And this is precisely what I had in mind when it got to be 7pm last Sunday. I was going to whip up a batch of Red Currant Cosmos.

One problem. I was out of vodka. Sad, but true. A fact that tells you not only how busy I’ve been lately (how can someone not find time to shop for more vodka?) but also how busy I’ve been lately (evening cocktails now needed more than ever).

pronto pesce {fish + venice}

One of the first things I do in any city is head straight to the market. Madrid, Barcelona, London, or even cities which I visit regularly , like Bari. Even if I know I can’t buy a crate full of mushrooms or a bushel of clams, it’s still fun to ogle. A girl can dream, can't she?

My time in Venice last week was no different. Oddly enough I hadn’t been to the Rialto market in....well, I admit I can barely remember the last time I went. I guess my most recent visits to Venice had more to do with art or design, and I just didn’t have time to work in a market stop.

This time though, I got there early one morning and spent a good hour nosing around the stands with my travel buddy Evan (who I've been meeting on various islands this year) Since Evan’s a chef and cookbook writer, we talked about all the great things we would make if we were actually cooking, instead of just eating, our way through town.

minestrone {paprika + dried tomatoes}

I spent last week in Venice and the amount I managed to eat and drink surprised even me. For 12 hours a day, from 10:30 am to 10:30 pm I ate my way from one canal to the next. It was all good, and I had a great time. 

But.

It was a bit much even for me. And my stretchiest pants.

Which is all to say that this week, back in Rome, it’s been mostly vegetables. I’m not on some crazy diet, but I am trying to make up for past indulgence. So no alcohol. No cheese. No bread. But lots of fruit and vegetables.

martinis in venice {grancaffe quadri}

I didn’t arrive in Venice with any cocktail misconceptions. I knew I was in for mostly spritzes, Bellinis and many glasses of (mediocre) wine to wash down ciccheti. And I did do all of that, and then some.

But one of the highlights of the trip, oddly, turned out to be a purely cocktailian experience. Who knew that some of Italy’s the most exciting and delicious martinis are currently being made in St. Mark’s Square?

Grancaffe' Quadri has a history going back to 1638, when it first opened its doors as Il Rimedio (yes, alcohol was considered a remedy back then too.) The place changed owner and name is the 18th century, becoming one of the chicest coffee houses in town, Grancaffe' Quadri.

ceramics in venice {rigattieri}

I’ve been eating working in Venice this past week. And while I’ve made time for non-food related adventures like visiting the Accademia and popping in and out of various churches, most of my time has been spent in restaurants, researching my new app EAT VENICE

Even my shopping (because of course I’ve made time for shopping) has been food-tinged. In fact, one of the first places I made a bee line for was one of my favorite shops not only in Venice, but in Italy.

I first discovered Riggatieri when I was working on a article for Bon Appetit. It was one of those “Italy” themed issues, and I was in charge of finding foodie shopping sources in Florence, Venice and Rome.

food + beverages {chinese in rome}

If you’re visiting Rome as a tourist then I would never ever suggest you go to an ethnic restaurant here. Although I often go to places like Sitar and Hasekura even I realize that they are not up to what most people who live in bigger cities like London and New York are used to.

But for those of us expats with a hankering for something other than pizza and pasta, finding ethnic food that will satisfy that craving has become the holy grail.

When it comes to Chinese food the situation is particularly grim.  There has been a virtual explosion of bad Chinese restaurants in the last 15 years or so. I can remember when I moved back to Rome in 1989, there were about three. Now? Can’t even count’em. And for the most part, they are bad, bad, and worse.

Luckily there are exceptions. One of our favorites is Mr. Chow Due and take out from there on a Sunday night has become so routine that the owner recognizes my voice and already knows same four dishes that I always order.

But every so often we want a change of pace. Different dishes, maybe? Which is why I was so happy to discover a new, very good, Chinese restaurant: Food  + Beverages. Yes, strange name. And even stranger location. It’s directly across the street from the entrance to Termini on Via Gioliti. You literally have to walk over drunks lying in the street to make your way to the door. Nice.

offal in rome {checchino dal 1887}

If you’ve ever checked in at Chowhound for advice on Rome restaurants then you probably know that there are a few of us expats that regularly chime in with our musings. Although Vinoroma, Tavole Romane, and Gillian show up regularly, the loudest of the bunch seem to be me, Maureen and Katie.

All three of us write about food regularly for publications like the New York Times, Food & Wine, etc. and Katie and I have both written apps. So we are all ‘professionals’ when it comes to mouthing off. And while we are all friends and all see each other at various events and restaurants around town (Rome is small!) we definitely have our own distinct opinions when it comes to where to eat. Maybe it has to do with the fact we’re all born in different decades? Also the fact that we’ve all spent different amounts of time living here. Whatever.

When it comes to recommending our favorites (as well as the places to avoid) we tend to stick by our guns.

girls night out in rome {baccano}

Sometimes I like to pretend I’m not in Rome. I also like to make believe I’m in a different decade. So the other night when my friends and I planned a girls night out in Rome, we headed over to the newly opened Baccano.

Not only did it feel as it we had stepped off Via del Corso right onto West Broadway or Greene Street c. 1987 , what we ate and drank made us think we were right back in the ’80’s or ’90’s of our youth (minus the drugs of course).