Pitango Gelato

One of my favorite gelato places in Florence is Grom. So you can imagine when Nikki said she had a surprise for me and took us to Pitango Gelato in our own Fells Point!

Pitango uses all organic products and is in a popular tourist/local area of Fells Point. I thought we were in another city with all the tourists in town. We were in line with a couple from Amsterdam and they loved their Margarita flavor. I really enjoy when we find places that improves a lost art and this is one of those places. We have a real Gelato place in Charm City! I had Pistachio, which was a wonderful soft flavor & Nikki had Hazelnut which she enjoyed. This was really divine and finish it off with an espresso, close your eyes and you will think you are in Florence again.

Clink on the title to link to Pitango!
Visit Link for Grom: http://www.grom.it/eng/pages/dove_firenze.htm

Ciao

I am sorry that I haven't posted for a few weeks. Sometimes family care-taking takes priority. :-) But hopefully it will be calm for awhile. I would like to imagine that we were sitting in Piazza Navonna, watching the tourista's, just sipping Prosecco. Be back soon!

Frani

Palermo

Just a few more notes about our Sicilian adventure................First of all, I am so surprised that everyone who I send to Sicily only wants to stay in Palermo for one night.  It is usually where one begins or ends their journey in Sicilia.  We spent a few nights there during our last trip and I was pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed eating & shopping in town as well as the sightseeing! We really enjoyed our daytrip to Monreale.  There is a beach on the outskirts of Palermo (Mediterranean side, of course).  The scenery was very enjoyable. Next we visited Corleone. Here you can visit the Duomo and the prehistoric Museum. After our visit, it was hard to believe that this town was home to many terrible Mafia bosses, such as Totò Riina, who is now serving a multiple life-term prison sentence.   It is a part of the "Godfather tour" that I spoke about earlier. There are many things to do even though its known as an industrial town.

In Palermo, we found the some wonderful pastry shops. We had a hard time resisting cannoli and pistachio gelato--both are sought after in this part of Italy. You may find it easier to stay in 4 star hotels unless a 3 star or B&B is recommended to you.

Buon Compleanno, Nicoletta

Happy Birthday Nikki!


Nikki & her Dad

Baci & Zizi

Online Italian Classes

I had to share this web site with you! Alan B turned Nikki and I on to this and I really try to find time at night to do a few classes.

At www.Livemocha.com, you will find this web site has classes for many languages but of course, we are using the Italian language. I started at the beginners class and couldn't believe how much I forgot. If I was better at the English language , I could move along faster! :-) Check it out by hitting on the title and the link should take you there.

A Presto,
Frani


Live Mocha

Great Italian Notes

I can never read enough about Italy or the Italian people. Most of my Italian friends are obsessed with being American and most Italian American people, like me are obsessed with the Italians!

My friend sent me a wonderful web site which you can sign up and everyday a new little item about Italy appears. I really look forward to reading it every day! I couldn't wait to share with you as Nikki, Phyllis & I enjoyed our PC adventures about Italia!


Italian Notebook

Walking for CCFA

Nikki's Peeps

Take steps to cure digestive diseases Walk for Crohn's & Colitis Maryland/Delaware Chapter Western Regional Park 14800 Carrs Mill Road Woodbine, MD 21723 Saturday, June 14, 2008 Registration Begins at 4pm Please Donate Now

Saturday, June 14, 2008 Walk For CCFA Cari Ameci, Dear Friends, Please join my team and help us. Please donate or walk with us raising funds towards the cure of Ulcerative Colitis & Crohn's Disease ! I need some team members who are willing to walk the walk with us against this horrible disease. Please send this website to all your friend's and family to please donate to our cause! I will appreciate any help. As some of you may know that Nikki has suffered with this disease and it is very close to our heart. Join us, send donations and keep us in your thoughts. I have started with a low goal but I hope we surpass it! Mille Grazie with LOVE, Frani & Wayne

Eating in Florence

Being a born again Italian, I love the food best in Florence. Since Florence is my favorite city --off season, of course, their was only one time had we been there during tourists season and I finally understood why people say it has become the city of tourists & too crowded. The luxury of being a seasoned traveler is that you never think for one second that you are still a tourist! Not! Today I will tell you about our favorite places to eat in Florence. Please noticed that I have not mentioned the Enoteca's (wine bars) That will be another post as we love to eat in the Enoteca's too!. Our normal agenda in a trattoria is to go with the house wine.

Lunch

Mario's - via Rosina, 2R
Behind Mercato di San Lorenzo in the Piazza We love this place. Get there early or expect a line. The food is so good especially if you like steak (it's rare). Theresa made us feel so welcome in this fairly local place. Inexpensive.

Da Nebone - inside the San Lorenzo Market
I am not sure which is more fun, trying to figure out how to order, which line to get in then trying to find a seat! We really enjoy this experience! We usually get a sandwich, pasta dish & a glass of wine. Good if you are on the go.

Il Latini - via dei Palchetti, - 6R (off Via del Moro, near the Arno) This is another favorite. We normally go for lunch as there are long touristy lines for dinner. However waiting in line is fun, you are treated to a small glass of wine or desert by one of the owners. They don't usually bother to ask you what you want except for the main course! By then you are full! The wine is decently priced.

Trattoria 4 Leoni via de dé Vellutini 1r P.za della Passera Firenze - Great food on the Otranano area. This little artsy gem was recommended by former clients and it is always on our list. We loved the Gnocci al pesto di rucola & bacala. We were the only tourists in for lunch. I loved it as it was all locals and we felt very comfortable.

I Frattelini via dei Cimatori 38r, +39 055 239 6096. - Two brothers behind a counter top serving about a dozen different panini, crostini & wine. After you purchase you can just stand in the syreet & eat or take it back to your place. This is a great stop and very well known all over the world. Everyone asks about it and it is always a must for us. I love the prostiutto & provolone panini.

Dinner

Trattoria Sostanza (Il Troia) via del Porcellana 25r, no phone. - This is our all time favorite for dinner! They have the best fried chicken. Simple, delicious Florentine cuisine at its best. Low-key, friendly service in a pleasant atmosphere. They are famous for their Bistecca alla Fiorentina. This is always our first stop.

Trattoria Garga via del Moro, 48 - an artsy trattoria with opera blaring in the background. Also a cooking school located by the Pont Veccio, this is Florence's gem. Not a typical looking trattoria nor traditional Florentine cooking - just really good food in a cool place.

Acqua al Due, via dela Vigna Vecchia - An old time favorite, good food & enjoyable waiters. Sometimes it seems a bit rushed here but we always go back. The food is always constant. Best veal & fish!

Osteria Belle Donne - via delle Donne 16r, tel (055) 2382609. Very small, inexpensive local Florentine hangout. Food is just wonderful by the hip young chef.

Paoli via dei Tavolini - a real tourist favorite. Great waiters, good food & nice atmosphere. Very few Italians dine here as it is in the center of everything. We usually take people here on their first visit to Florence.

Il Gatto & La Volpe via ghibellina 151/r - Best Pizza , great salads, simple & inexpensive.

Buddy Deane Reunion Time Again!

As some of you know, Wayne & I met on the Buddy Deane Show in 1963. The gang still gets together and John Waters with his book chapter on "The Nicest Kids In Town" & "Hairspray" the movie, the Broadway show & the musical, it just keeps giving us all another 15 minutes of fame! Its cool to be a has-been in 2008 & we all love it.

I just received a note from John Sankonis that Monumental Life is celebrating their 150th Anniversary with a tribute to the Oldies featuring the Buddy Deaners. I guess we better practice the "Madison". We just need to tease our hair and the girls will wear their "cha cha" heels, the guys will wear their tight continental pants and fluff their hair up - well maybe not - just gel it back. If you get a chance, show up and watch us pretend we are fourteen again and the best dancers in town. Hit on the Title and you will go straight to John's web site.

Bob Mathers, a wonderful oldies disc jockey and a Buddy Deane favorite, will also be part of another oldies dance in June so mark your calendars and come out and have fun with us.
Baltimore Oldies Dance - June 28, 2008

The place is the Glen Burnie American Legion Post #40, convenient to I-97, Route 10 and the Baltimore Beltway.

For ticket information...you can email me at bobmathers@hotmail.com.

Bob & I have been talking about doing an oldies cruise. Let us know if you would be interested.

Tuscan Wine, Cooking & Language Courses

We are very fortunate to be able to offer our clients the very best when it comes to excursions in Tuscany. One of my favorite agencies that I work with in Florence is run by an Italian language school director who is the creator of an excellent cooking and language program. This is the program that Nikki really is thinking about attending.

Have you ever dreamed of taking a language course in Italy, learning more about wine in Italy and/or learning to cook the Florentine specialties in Florence? How about taking these courses with other people who share your love of everything Italian - then this is for you!

We have an access to an extraordinary one to two week program combining morning language instruction with afternoon culinary and cultural activities and excursions, such as;

• Orientation Tours of Florence/Tuscany
• Wine Tastings
• Vineyard Visits
• Cooking Lessons
  

We have enjoyed many wonderful wine tastings at local vineyards in Tuscany with our groups - and I am happy to say that they also offer private tours. We have had much success and positive feedback offering these tours to our clients. Also recommended are full and half day biking tours through Tuscany.

My personal favorites were visiting the Verranzano Vineyards in Greve. The Castle on the Vineyard property is so beautiful and one of the oldest in the area. My agent frient scheduled a beautiful wedding on the property. I remember it as seeing olive and lemon trees for the first time. I also enjoyed the vineyards around Montiacino, which is one of my favorite hill towns. The scenery is breath taking & the wine isn't bad either!!

Restaurant Review -Italian Bistro

In Baltimore, we have a great local restaurant that we frequent on a regular basis as it reminds of eating in Italy. The Italian Bistro in North Plaza Mall - Parkville, is one of the two restaurants owned by the Schiattarella family- formely of Naples. They have the best appetizers including Shrimp Scampi on garlic bread & the House Antipasta has the best mozzerella cheese.

I love the Veal Marsala as you can cut the veal with a fork. Wayne always loves the specials of the night especially if it is seafood (Lobster Raviola) & Nikki enjoys Pesto Gnocchi. They serve very authentic Napoleon dishes and the family is very hands on and has a warm atmosphere. A small tossed salad & warm bread is included with your dinner. Just purchase our favorite wine "Quatro Mani" & enjoy! We see many of the same people so it's like attending a house party. The Italian Bistro has a very loyal clientele which is due to Carlo & Felicia's careful attention to detail.

We have only been to their newest restaurant, "Primavera" once in Abington. We went there for dinner in late February. The restaurant is a bit more upscale, very cozy with a wonderful fire going in the main room's fireplace. Very Casual Chic! I understand that they have music on weekends. I'll follow up with a review soon.

Grano in Hampden, hon!

If you don't know by now, we hail from Baltimore, hon - Highlandtown, hon! We believe there are many wonderful things to be said of Baltimore. Unfortunately finding authentic affordable Italian cuisine is not one of them.

Right on the Avenue (36th Street) in Hampden is GRANO CAFE & PASTA BAR- (wheat in Italian). Gino Troia, local famed Baltimorean chef has gone acoustic with this post. It's scaled down and what you have besides the charm of the owner is his genuine Italian dishes. It takes a lot of guts to not blind your visitors with loud music, TV's, sports and booze. But Gino offers a wonderful cozy atmosphere, (much like Cheers where everyone knows your name kinda place) with his food. Bring your own wine, sit at the bar, a few tables are inside and a few outside.

Try the Pasta with Gorganzola & Walnuts, also the Pasta Puttanesca & Pasta Aglio al'Olio are among our favorites. And it's BYOB.

Grano

1030 W. 36th Street

Baltimore, MD 21211

(443) 869.3429

Pizza in Naples

During our last trip, we made an afternoon stop in Naples. I was a bit concerned as I always heard that Naples was dirty and crime ridden. I didn't know what to expect from this large city. Well my first impression was my scarf falling off my shoulder and someone chasing me to return it. Then we saw the sweetest elderly couple sitting against a window sill just watching the world go by. To my left there was a younger boy on a skateboard and the Piazza was brimming with locals and tourists. I knew enough to know that I would return here for a few day visit. I think Naples could be a very vibrant and passionate city.

Our friend Charlie who loves Italy more than I do, if that's possible! Well he decided we had to have pizza here in Naples so we sat at an outdoor cafe and had pizza and wine. I had the four cheese pizza and I did not think that I could even eat half the plate. I finished the whole plate. To me the crust was the best part! But Josette didn't think so....................

Naples owes it's favorite pizza award to buffalo mozzerella cheese, which recently caused a stink
throughout Italy.

Southern Italy 2008 Part 8

We get up and prepare to head to Pompeii and spend our last two nights in Rome.  Nikki has everyone putting meat in bags for her to give to the homeless dogs in Pompeii.  The last time we were there they looked so pitiful.  When we try to pull out of the hotel, the polizia tell us we must wait.  There is a 5k going on.  A bunch of our group steps out of the bus and heads to the sides of the street to cheer the runners.  We got smiles, waves, air blown kisses, and thumbs up from most of the runners.  Then the men got silly and cheered a female passerby who was merely walking her dog.  This got everyone laughing.  We get into Pompeii and see our driver, Ottavio, from yesterday.  Inside Pompeii there is a lot of excavation going on.  Nikki already has a dog following her.  Farther inside everyone is enthralled by what is left behind in Pompeii.  We take a group shot.  Nikki finds three more dogs, one which turns down her meats.  We've all noticed how much more well-fed the dogs look.  The guide tells us that the restaurant now feeds the dogs and that they probably are served better prosciutto than what Nikki was offering them!  We laugh at this and I am relieved that she will probably never bug anyone to save meat again.....

It's beautiful today, of course.  It's a travel day.  We had balconies in Sorrento too, but it was too rainy to ever put them to use.  We venture to Naples where we've convinced Jane we MUST stop for pizza.  She is a bit horrified that after all of the beauty that we've seen, this is where we want to stop.  But this is coming from the same group who nixed Syracusa and Ragusa.  

Restaurant Review

After working on Saturday afternoon, I talked Wayne into going for a drive to Tyson's Corner and bribed him with a new pair of Ray-Bans! On the way we stopped to eat at the Corner Bistro in McLean, VA. we did a quick check on Chowhound.com for a Tapis restaurant in the area and this one received rave reviews. Of course, we did all this on my new Blackberry with wifi!

We were seated quickly as it was still early. Our waiter was Vafa who takes his job very seriously. I almost felt like we were back in Italy. The service was excellent & comfortable. We started with garlic shrimp, home made potato chips tossed in white truffle oil and topped w, parmesan, Spinach sautéed w/ apples, raisins and pine nuts, Sea scallops with mashed potatoes & baby shrimp. We shared a Caesar salad. For dessert we had a wonderful espresso with Grand Marnier, Frangelica & Godiva Liquor.

This was very enjoyable and when in the area, we would make return visit.
Then we were off for a passaggiata around Tysons Mall!

Corner Bistro Tapas and Wine Bar
6710 Old Dominion Drive
McLean, VA 22101
Phone: (703) 288-0288

Southern Italy 2008 Part 7

Today is an adventure in travel. We travel from Taormina to Messina, board the ferry and travel to the toe of Italy. From there we head up to Sorrento. This will take most of the day. We have our journals ready, knitting ready, book ready & Solitaire game ready.

The ferry was quick. It was a chilly day so we stayed inside & plotted over dinner in Sorrento. The thing about Italy is that no sooner are you finished one meal, that you begin thinking about the next. Southern Italy was having much cooler weather than usual. They were like us in Baltimore, all coming down with the flu or catching a cold. We passed snow-topped mountains (usually the snow occurs November through January. We were lucky to see this. We were driving at altitudes of 4,000 feet. Nikki was diligent with nose spray, because this is nose-bleed territory for her. We had lunch in Cosenza. They seemed to think we hadn't eaten in days. I have never experienced in Italy such large portions. It was good Southern peasant style cuisine, but way too much.

We have had such luck with sunsets. We arrived into Sorrento overlooking the sea while the sun was setting. There were orange & lemon trees. Houses stacked on the mountain side. We stayed at Hotel Michelangelo. This was nice here and remember, the drinks are very affordable at their bar! Since we came in the evening, it was beautiful to see how they lit up the hotel at night.

We returned to another place that we ate on a previous trip. This time the meal was not so good. The pizza was overcooked and tough. Except for the busboy the staff had an attitude. Who knows what caused this, but we didn't let it affect us. The wine was good as was the calmaretti appetizer. Hey, it can't be all sun and roses all of the time!

We got up the next day and it was pouring, raining cats, dogs, cows and everything else under the sun! The rest of the crowd was going to Capri. Unfortunately they experienced hail while they were there. Most of Capri was shut down, they will need to return to see it as it should be. Charlie, Colleen and the three of us went to visit with Charlie's cousins, Ninnilo and Bettina. They live in Campania. We climbed a 3 story walkup (and worked up an appetite doing so) and had a reunion of sorts. Nikki was able to converse in Italian the last time she saw them and this time, Bettina who speaks very little English, spoke better English than Nikki spoke Italian! This has now inspired her to return to her studies. After they showed us around their condo which was filled with Ninnilo's art and we nibbled on appetizers and drank some wine, we walked over to an osteria (didn't get the name). We had an amazing meal. This was very local.

Ninnilo's brother, Egidio, and his wife, Nina, came also. [Nikki says: The buffalo mozzarella was unlike any we've ever had. When you sliced it in half and pressed on the ball, milk came out. It had the perfect amount of salt added. Once I showed Mom the milk coming out, that other ball was mine! She is not a dairy person.] After the appetizers came out, we had 4 types of home made pasta dishes come out. We thought that was it, so we had seconds. Then lamb & 3 different fish dishes came out! Uh oh.... How could we not eat it and insult the chef..... I think our stomachs have expanded 4 inches by now. The contorni was chilled broccoli rabe flavored with lemon. It was not bitter, it was perfection. After the meal, which came to 15 euros apiece, we strolled back to their condo. This time we needed to walk the steps several times over! Bettina had made a pear/ricotta torte. Nikki sneaked back in the kitchen for seconds! Ninnilo gave her a lithograph of one of his paintings. We will treasure his gift. It will remind us of what a great day we had in spite of such lousy weather.

Our driver came to return five sleepy, overfed Americans back to Hotel Michelangelo. When we neared the city-----Sorrento has one main street to get in and one main street to get out----we hit a traffic snag and so the driver had to drop us off where our group was meeting up for... dinner. Oh, no! Dinner??? But we ate so much. If we had been home, we probably could have gone a day without eating anything but light portions. But we are in Sorrento for our last night have a very special meal prepared for us at this grandiose restaurant that overlooks the sea. In all honestly it was dark, so we can only imagine how beautiful there view was. The waiter looked at us very strangely when he came back to our table to find five of the six appetizer plates barely eaten. Charlie had to explain that we were not dissatisfied but still full from lunch. He asked him if they could give the five of us smaller portions. They still weren't small enough, but we still tried to eat as much us possible. If we keep this up, we are going to need to apply to The Biggest Loser.

Southern Italy 2008 Part 6

So we've been on this trip for several days now.  We have seen A LOT.  This trip is a trip with a pace to it.  Places to go, people to see.  And we've been under the charm of Taormina, this little gem of a seaside town.  We have rebelled against our beloved Jane & decided to opt against taking a tour of Ragusa and Syracusa.  Some of you may scoff at this, but have pity.  We've been on the go so much that I don't think we'd be able to take it all in.  Instead we sleep in and take in more of Taormina.  We have a day with an Italian pace, not an American agenda.  We end up back at the pasticceria for capuccino since we've slept past the 9:3o ending of breakfast.  Instead we had capuccinos & cornetti.  We stroll some more.  It's a crazy day for weather, cloudy-sunny-rainy, same pattern all day long.  Just means we have to linger longer at lunch!  We finally give in & visit an internet cafe.  Can't wait to hear how Baci & Zizi are doing.  Deb & Ms. Mary have been pampering our cats while we've been traveling.  Deb sends us email updates which helps fill the void.  Must admit that we are wondering what is going on with our guilty pleasure, also know as Young and the Restless!  After much relief to learn that the kitties were doing (maybe a little too) well and the head writer (thank goodness) was leaving Y&R, we worked up an appetite.  We were going to try a new place, but the rain had picked up & Nikki kept thinking about pizza and salmon pistachio risotto and cannolis, so we returned to al Giardino.  Most of the group must have felt the same way too, because they were ALL there!

We got the same thing as last night plus minestrone, the cannoli & Wayne & Nikki shared an Amaro--purely to digest their meal, I'm sure.  I got caught up thinking about my mom and her problems with dementia, and each time we passed Nonna from the restaurant, it brought it back that much more.  The grandson took Nikki & I over to meet her.  She is the Grande Dame of the place.  She spoke some English and we spoke some Italian in return.  It brought some warmth to my heart.  Family is so important in Italy.  Wayne, Nikki & I are very close.  Unlike a lot of places in the US, Italy seems to see the value in this & appreciate the closeness of family.

We shopped at this wonderful jewelry store, Monili Bijoux.  The proprietress, like most in Italy, had her dog, Agnello, with her in her shop.  He was 15, which is just amazing.  The owner, I forgot to ask her name, had very interesting good, costume jewelry.  So we did not leave there empty-handed.

This time we had a chance for a tiny siesta.  We were so full from lunch that we even skipped our aperitif!  We ate at La Piazzetta.  This was a beautiful restaurant hidden like Vecchia Taormina in an alley.  We had seafood for each course.  I even ate squid and octopus--if you knew me, you'd know this is nearly unimaginable.  Our dessert was a semifreddo.  Of all of the trips to Italy, we've had more dessert on this trip than ever before.  We had never had semifreddo before, and we will not repeat this mistake on future trips.  It was just wonderful.

We are really going to miss all of the wonderful white wine we've had in Sicily.  The first night we went to an Irish bar for after-dinner trips and celebrated a football victory while we were there.  Everyone was going back, but we felt like stuffed turkeys.  So we went back to pack AGAIN.

Southern Italy 2008 Part 5

This morning we had a city tour of Taormina including the Teatro Antico Taormina.  Franco took us to the English park that was next to our hotel.  Franco was the complete opposite of Claudio.  He was quiet & unassuming.  No pointer.  (Oh, forgot to mention that Claudio's phone rang constantly.  His ringtone was of a person whistling, a little like the Andy Griffith show kind of whistling.  Can't get more eccentric than that!)  We had seen a lot the night before, when we took our passegiata through Taormina post-dinner.  

Our final stop was at the ancient Greek theater.  As soon as we got inside we remembered it was the same theater that Andrea Bocelli performed in during one of his PBS specials.  As we climbed higher & higher we had some spectacular views of Taormina, Capri & the Mediterranean sea, with the coastline.

We worked up an appetite after the tour and returned to Vecchia Taormina for MORE pizza and MORE white house wine.  Yes, it was as good as last night.  In fact, it was some of the finest pizza we've ever had.  This time it was still light for our passaggiata, so we could window-shop.

Due to scheduling conflicts we had to take our Godfather tour today.  Let me warn you that the drive up in the mountains far surpasses the drive along the Rocky Mountains & the California coastline.  I spent the drive on the floor of the bus.  It was bad enough having to hear everyone comment and cry out over the height and the countless hairpin turns we made in our tour bus.  When that drive was over, we had Liborio to thank for safely returning us back to our hotel.  The tour took us to a lot of the spots that you see when you watch Godfather I & II.  We went to Savaco & Forza d'Agro.  These places were remote, hill top towns, where most of the young have left for bigger cities.  We were never so happy when we returned to ground level!

We stopped at a pasticceria, La Botte for espresso (we should have had it correto) and bought some pistachio cookies.  We ate them on the balcony later that night when we got back from dinner.  Later we had our aperatifs and met up with our group again.  Tonight we returned to the Sicilian white we had fallen for, bianco d'alcamo.  We ate around the corner from our hotel at a third generation ristorante, al Giardino.  Nonna lived next door.  She was the lady we waved to every time we passed by.  Their specialty, surprise, was seafood.  I had my usual spaghetti aglio olio, Wayne had a mixed seafood pasta & Nikki had salmon risotto topped with crushed toasted pistachio.  Thankfully our friend, Phyllis, ordered cannoli and amaro.   Each was truly wonderful.  We ended with some limoncello, compliments of the owner.

One thing about the cannoli in Sicily is that it is not nearly as sweet as I've come across back in the States.  The shell is crunchy on the outside, but soft inside.  They cannoli is plain not with chocolate chips and such.  The most that seemed to happen was that there would be cannoli dipped with crushed pistachio like we had for dessert.  Heaven!

Southern Italy 2008 Part 4

Day 5: Up & andiamo!!! After breakfasting and leaving our hotel's beautiful surroundings, we headed off to the Valley of the Temples.  Blood oranges have been in season, so we have filled our acid quotient to the limit!

It was a beautiful sunny day to visit the Valley of the Temples.  We had this most colorful guide, Claudio---picture an Italian Jacques Tati.  He used a pointer to elaborate the drawings of the Valley as it was.  He was a very dignified gentleman with an orator's voice.  He had a horticulturist's eye & pointed out the almond trees, carob trees & various growth around the area.  Amidst a lifeless area, there was a lot still in bloom.

We left for Enna, which is very near where my grandmother, Francesca, is from.  Driving along from Agrigento to Enna the vegetation is less tropical.  Thankfully there are still olive, orange & lemon trees.  It's March so after a long grey winter, it's good to see color.  

In Enna we returned to the place we ate many years ago.  There was a group of 38 & one can only imagine how many bottles of wine we went through that night.  This time we returned with a group of 18 for lunch.  We had bottles of red donna fugato wine, yum.  Most took advantage of the delicious antipasta that was being served.  I had gnocchi with pesto, Wayne had a ratatouille pasta & Nikki had an eggplant frittata.  We shared some marinated artichokes.  No dessert, just a some espressos to keep moving along.  

We had a little scare with the ATM.  Wayne requested money from the machine and the machined okayed it.  He got his card & receipt---but no money!!!!  The 250 euros must be invisible.  So when we got to Taormina he called the bank.  Thankfully they showed no transaction, so we think that the ATM just ran out of money.  Whew!!!

We made a pitstop on the side of the road to take photos of Valguernera, nonna Francesca's town.  It's a hill town, that probably was decimated during World War I.  Not decimated by bombs, but poverty.  That's why a lot of immigrants came to the US.

We had a cliffy drive to Taormina.  We arrived during sunset over the Mediterranean.  We stayed at Hotel Villa Diodoro.  It had a grand entrance & was surrounded by a park.  Our rooms had balconies, so you could hear the birds chirping & stretch your neck out to see the sea.  

After unpacking & settling in, we went down to the bar to meet everyone.  We had some prosecco.  In Italy it's all about the aperatif & the digestivo!  We were all in severe pizza withdrawal.  Our bartender recommended a place in town.  Vecchia Taormina took some time to find it, but it was without a doubt, worth the wait.  It was along a tiny alley, so on a cool night in March, we sat under umbrellas & with heat lamps.  The pizza crust was thin, cooked & charred from the oven.  Tonight we drank a white house wine.  Mmm mmm.....  

FYI for the girls out there:  there's a lot of humidity in Sicily.  For Nikki & I, that was a good thing for our hair.

Pasta Strangozzi

Since most of our travels in Italy centers around the food, we would like to share this joyous dish with you. We noticed that in Umbria a local dish "Pasta Strangozzi" is usually on on their menu. Well Nikki found this funny story behind the dish on the interenet!

"Poor priests! Every Italian region seems to have its strozzapreti or strangozzi - "priest stranglers". The reason is that priests sometimes dined in the homes of their parishioners - and these meals were designed to fill them up."

Recipe:

2 TB extra virgin oil 2 cloves garlic (to taste), cut very small ½ ts pepperoncinos
1 small can paste - 2 cans of water
1 Lg can crushed plum tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Season Oregano, basil & chopped parsley
In a frying pan large enough to hold the sauce and the cooked pasta, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and hot pepper and gently brown to light golden color. Add paste & water/ broth. Add the can of tomatoes, with the juice. Season. Before adding salt, taste the mixture - some canned tomatoes are already salted.

Cook slowly for several hours, half covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until sauce becomes less thicker Put your pasta water on to boil - the pasta will take about 4 minutes to cook in boiling water.

Serve in large pasta bowl and invite your favorite priest for dinner!

Perugia Chocolate Festival

One of my heart's desires is to one day travel to Perugia's Chocolate Festival which is held in October every year. Perugia is the capital of the Umbria region just north of Rome. This year the festival is from October 2008 to 26 October 2008 and is held in the historic center of the walled city.

Perugia is home of my favorite chocolate "Baci" which is how my grand kitty got his name! The festival offers all kinds of chocolates, cooking classes, cakes, beauty products & even aromotherapy. I, myself have never been but my clients are always kind enough to bring me home the details and the chocolates!

Perugia is known to be a cosmopolitan town but with so much history. As Umbria's capitol, it is a good home base for traveling through Umbria. It also hosts a huge international Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival, that runs for two weeks in July.

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My Latest Travel Tech Toy

I made the switch, with Nikki's help.

In my travel business, most of my work is done by email, some by phone and very little face to face. So one of my most important techie gadgets is my PDA cell phone. I have had a Palm Treo for the past 3 years and I have had more problems, lost many calls & email, freezing on me & turning off for no reason! And I always made excuse after excuse but sadly, it was dying a slow death. I have listened to my friends with their Crackberry attitudes and I was always so glad that I was different from the masses!

It took me a few weeks of searching all the reviews & rating to find what would serve me best but finally, I had to give in (as much as I thrive on following my own beat) and I bought a Crackberry.

Yes, sadly I have become a one of them and I love it! I wish that I could say that I put it together but I really handed it over to Nikki to set up and she gave it back to me completed. I always have the great ideas to have the latest gadgets but Nikki is the technically literate one in the family!

I have to say that Wayne, Baci & Zizi were totally bored with my latest gadget!

Southern Italy 2008 Part 3

Day 4: We leave Palermo today. On our way out of the city, there is a seaside resort, Mondello, on the Mediterranean side of Palermo. Mental note to check out or recommend, it looks interesting.

We are on our way, driving along the Sicilian Coast to Agrigento. We stopped at a Cantine Mothia vineyard in Marsala and tasted several wines. As Americans, we basically use Marsala wine for cooking but I never realized that there are also red & white Marsala wines for drinking with dolcetti (desserts). From there we headed on to---what else?---LUNCH!!! We were along the Trapani coastline by now. We were in an area where tuna is indigenous to the area. We stopped at a wonderful restaurant, Eubes. Along with the antipasti, we had pasta and tuna with fennel, then bread-crumbed tuna fillets. Dessert was a sweet granita with Macarpone. And of course, Lemoncello! After meeting the owner & her two sons and telling her how wonderful our meal was, we took a slight walk around the area.

We arrived in Agrigento in the late afternoon at our hotel, The Colleverde Park Hotel. The service was very good. The gardens in the park behind the hotel were relaxing. They offered breathtaking views of the Valley of the Temples. They also offered free internet in the lobby to check our email. Our room was large with 2 large beds & the bathroom was large but not very well lit. The breakfast went beyond a continental breakfast & again the service was very good.

For dinner that night, we ventured down the hill from the hotel to a wine bar called Spizzulio. Since our small group eventually ended up there--even our bus driver, Liborio, & Jane were there. The owner who was not a cook, but a sommelier offered us dinner if we stayed. He saw how hungry we were. It took a long time and we discovered why........he was in the back making home-made pasta!!! We had such a memorable night as it almost reminded me of the movie ”The Big Night”. Ed found a guitar and strummed to the music. The food kept coming as it was only the owner and his waitress, who was a wreck since she never served food before. After we won their hearts, they sent with us away with a goodbye “Lemoncello”. It was a great way to end the night & our short stay in Agrigento! I would really recommend this hotel. It had good service, nice buffet breakfast and it had an amosphere of gardens delight. And Spizzulio is just down the hill.

A Charm City Afternoon

Although I love to travel, internationally, to me traveling to the all so different neighborhoods of Baltimore can be a joyful way to spend the day. I guess Baltimore got it's nickname "Charm City" from the people who live here. Moi included??? :-)

Baltimore has the most diverse population divided by neighborhoods. We all adore our own John Waters, love big hair & the "Oldies", most of us are "Hon's" in our own right. We work hard, use art to beat the stress , knit & blog!

We spent Sunday afternoon walking Hampden ("Honsville") where we always enjoy our favorite haunts on the Avenue. Love the knitting store called "Lovely Yarns". A really cheerful and artistic group is usually sitting around knitting. A small space full of energy & creativity. I always enjoy going through "The Red Tree". They have really unusual home furnishings and odds and ends. We purchased a really cool book called "Where Women Create". Then I can't miss "Mud and Metal" where everything is created by such artful people. A great place for gift givers. I have a hard time getting Nikki out of "Atomic Books" - a J.W. favorite! They have an eclectic book selection as well as some music and nifty cards and postcards.

After all of this lurking, the hunger pains take us to one of our favorite cafe's:

• Rocket To Venus - (around the corner) Best Sunday Brunch / Home of the Wimpy's
  
• Holy Frijoles - a really good Tex Mex
  
• Cafe Hon - An Avenue favorite
  
• Grano -Gino Troia goes back to his roots
  
• The Golden West Cafe - great home cooked diner food (second to "Paper Moon" which is off the beaten path.

Take a Sunday or weekday afternoon stroll down the Avenue, Hon!

Missing Roma!

While waiting for Nikki to edit Southern Italy Part 3 & 4, I thought that I would send a few thoughts about how I have this need to embrace my Italian heritage but my eating habits in Italy are horrendous. Thank goodness, it doesn't effect my wine drinking habits!!

My mom's parents Francesca Forte and Alphonso Lantieri were from Valguineri Caropepe in the farm hills beyond Enna. We did get to drive by the area and had my pix taken in front of the area sign! My father was born outside of Budapest so this may explain my Bohemian passion for my life of life!

How can anyone be half Italian & raised very Italian but not like to eat tomatoes, onions, peppers, ricotta cheese etc? I am asked that question all the time. I am a cheap date. When my friends have me over for dinner, just plain pasta please!

So as you can see, eating in Italy is not that easy for me. When in Italy, I seem to eat my prima pasta plate with aglio e olio (olive oil & garlic) every other day. But when we were in Rome we had lunch in Trastevere at Trattoria Mario. Our friend Charlie wanted to eat there & he suggested that I try Pasta Cacio e Pepe which is a nice change but straying not too far from my old faithful pasta. I thought that I would share this recipe with you!

Cacio e Pepe

Cook your pasta al dente (I prefer 1 lb.of #8 or rigatoni), save 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
After draining, add 1 cup Pecorino cheese & 1-2 TBsp freshly ground pepper.
Slowly add your water to mix. - Some people add a swirl of olive oil.

DO NOT use fresh pasta. It's quick and easy & perfect with a nice salad and Quatro Mani red wine!

Try it as it is surprising flavorful.

Southern Italy 2008 Part 2

Day 3: We had an early morning tour of Palermo & Monreale. Jane was our fabulous tour guide for the entire trip. She said that we were the only group she's had in all her years of touring, who enjoyed sleeping in! She's an expat from England who came to Italy for love. She's mostly Italian in nature now, except for her British penchant for early mornings and punctuality.

We toured Palermo which I must say that I always thought of as a layover city. This is the first time that we spent more than one night in Palermo. We really enjoyed our visit. The restaurants were excellent and shopping was fun although the euro was a killer! You must spend 2-3 nights there to experience the city.

Our guide, Roberta, took us around Palermo & Monreale. She was into religious history, but thankfully had a wonderful sense of humor. Monreale is a small mountain community about 15 or 20 minutes outside of Palermo.

Later we drove along the Tyrrhenian Sea to spent several hours in Cefalu. A few of us found a little café in which we had Panini sandwiches and wine. Afterwards we walked across the way for a refreshing gelato, mine being pistachio and nocciola.

Coming back into Palermo we got caught in a major traffic snag. Of all things, it was largely due to the fact that of the 8 lanes on hand----only 2 could be used!!! The rest were filled with cars parked all over the place while they ran in for their midday gelato---and it wasn't even that hot out!!!

On our return to Palermo, Fabio had prepared some antipasti for us to enjoy before dinner. He introduced us to caperberries. These are not to be confused with capers. Caperberries were not as tart and pickled as capers. We had dinner with more antipasto-- oh, my! Of course we were hooked on a Sicilian white, thanks to Fabio, bianco d'alcamo. One really interesting dish we had was pumpkin chunks that were marinated in roasted garlic and vinegar. By day 2, we were ceci fritter addicts. I know when we go home that chickpea flour will go on the grocery list. I hope we can find caperberries somewhere.

Southern Italy -2008 Part 1

We took a small group of 18 and had a delightful journey together. Our group blended well. Occasionally we all had some free independent time. It was not a slow journey, we were constantly on the go --- so we did get to see much of this spectacular region.

Day 1: We left Dulles International Airport for a non stop flight to Rome via United Airlines. The flight was smooth, the seats were awfully close together and both my husband and myself had front seat mates who decided to recline and almost be in our laps. We had to ask them to please put their seats up so we could use the restrooms, move about the cabin on the 8 hour flight. I watched “No Country for Old Men” and “Elizabeth, The Queen”.

Day 2: We arrived in Rome close to 8 AM and had a 4 hour layover until our flight to Palermo. The layover really drained us. We celebrated arriving at the airport with our first espresso, "un cafe," of the trip. We went against my own rule and upon settling in our hotel, we took a siesta. And that was without some Prosecco!

In Palermo, we stayed in the Grand Alberge Sole which was in a great central location. We were given a large, clean room, very warm tones. It even included a lovely teapot with teabags etc. The room had a view overlooking the central city church. My bathroom had a Jacuzzi tub. I enjoyed the personal service from check in to check out. We had a wonderful time meeting before and after dinner in the upstairs bar. Fabio, our bartender went out of his way to make our evenings enjoyable with everything from nuts, figs to cheeses and an assortment of appetizers. He wanted to enjoy what was typically Sicilian in flavor.

Matteo, from the reception desk suggested that we dine at Le Delizie di Cagliostra and it was delightful. We had a 4 course dinner at $35 euros per person. The dinner started with sautéed eggplant (yum!), rice balls stuffed with spinach and cheese in marinara sauce, Pasta al' oglia with eggplant, veal picatta & roasted small potatoes, and for dessert, canolli & cassata. We also had fizzy & natural water, bianco d'alcamo & nero d'avola bottled wine, and café. Of course we were served Limoncello afterwards. It was a wonderful first night in Sicily!

LA LAW

Book: Living in a Foreign Language

I just finished reading this book and could not believe how many memories it brought back! I kept thinking, "that happened to us too" or "we had conversations like that too". It was a book about a new life, love of food and interesting new relationships. I almost didn't want it to end. When I really enjoy a book, I usually will not finish the last few chapters for a few days as to me, it is like losing old friends. Michael Tucker and his wife, Jill Eikenberry, former TV stars from L.A. LAW, bought an older "rustico" in Umbria and this is Michael's funny and realistic story! I highly recommend this for any one who has dreamed of buying a place in Italy. I think I partically enjoyed this book because we always say that we love to eat and drink our way through Italy.

Soon, we will post our journal from our March 2008 travels to Southern Italy!