Rome Day 2

Couldn’t sleep, so up at four am and out for a walk in a futile search for coffee, the Romans do not start the day that early! At a more reasonable hour, we headed over to the Campo de' Fiori for pizza bianca, cappuccinos, and a stroll through the market, where we bought some cheese and blackberries.

Early morning - Campo de Fiori

Then it was on to Santa Maria sopra Minerva to see Filippo Lippi’s poignant and lovely Annunciation, the tomb of Fra Angelico, and Michaelango’s Christ bearing the Cross. Although we could have stayed for hours under the Gothic arches and dark blue ceiling, I was eager to show Bob the wonders of the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, which contains an almost overwhelming number of gorgeous works of art. The highlights are Velasquez’ portrait of Pope Innocent X, which is frighteningly intense and powerful, and the two Caravaggios, Mary Magdalene and the Flight into Egypt. The silvery, otherworldly glow on the angel’s legs in the latter must be one of the most beautiful uses of light in all of western painting―I could have sat in front of that painting all day. When I was here in November, I asked about seeing the Lippi Annunciation (you cannot see too many!) that normally hangs in the private apartments and was was told it was not possible. But on this day, there it was, the gold so brilliant you could have seen its glow from the other end of the palazzo.

Courtyard - Galleria Doria Pamphilj

This museum is unique in Rome for several reasons. It is one of the largest collections of art still in private hands and it is usually semi-deserted. The audio guide they provide is narrated by the current head of the family, who provides wonderful bits of family history along with information about the art and how it was acquired. Especially moving is the story of one his ancestors, whose devotion to his English wife, Mary, was so great that upon her death, he retired to the country where he planted a hedge spelling out her name and placed so that it would be the first thing he saw each morning when he awoke. It was this couple who is responsible for the well-preserved and authentic interiors of the Palazzo today.

After so much beauty, what did we do? Lunch, of course! We dined just a few steps from our apartment at Orso 80, a bustling little ristorante that Vicki discovered last year. Because we are obviously Americans we were seated in “international” section populated with Germans, Canadians, and some of our countrymen. We began with an antipasti misto―a plate of Italian delights―eggplant, squash, meatballs, peppers, beans, etc., a wonderful combination.

Orso 80 - Antipasto Misto

Vicki’s primi was also outstanding, gnocchi with butter and sage, simple, but perfectly prepared.

Orso 80 - Gnocchi with butter and sage

Evening found us back near our apartment in a wonderful little bar where we sipped Negronis and munched on peanuts and potato chips. Then it was off to the Campo de' Fiori again, a veritable mob scene of people strolling and sitting amidst outdoor cafes.

Rome — Day One

Roma!

After an easy plane ride from the States, in seats complete with our own personal tv screens, we arrived at Termini and must have found the best taxi driver in all of Rome. When we arrived at the street address where our apartment was supposed to be, he promptly got on the phone to make sure we were at the right place. The apartment was nothing to write home about, so we won’t, but it was in the very best part of town, the Campo Marzio. Its narrow medieval streets are the very ones Caravaggio himself walked―and so did we. Immediately we headed out for a walk, stopping first at S’Agostino to see Caravaggio’s stunning Madonna of Loreto. Unbelievably, there was one else in the church, and when we looked at this painting, the sweet fatigue on Mary’s face and the light of hope on the the upturned faces of the kneeling peasants say more than you could hear in a thousand Sundays at church.

From there we wandered the streets around the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona, ending up at ristorante Due Colonne for a perfect Roman lunch (pranzo). Gnocchi with clams for me, and rigatoni ameritriciani for Bob.

This is the same restaurant where I had the fabulous gnocchi when I was last in Rome in November. After lunch, as much as we resisted, we had to have a nap. Then it was another walk, out to the river Tiber, where Bob took many photographs from Ponte Sant’Angelo.

We walked along the river up to Ponte Sisto and over to Trastevere, where we stopped in at the Almost Corner Bookshop. I think this is the best English language bookstore in Rome and I always find something interesting there I’ve never seen before. Almost directly across from the bookstore is a bakery, Al Forno, with some of the best pizza in Rome.

We shared a slice topped with squash blossoms and anchovies, and this was just our first day in Italy!

Sura - Korean Restaurant

Last October, my son Matt and I ate at an awesome Korean restaurant in Oakland after a Cal football game. Sura is located in Oakland's Temescal District (4869 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609) an area where there are many ethnic restaurants. We entered an elegant dining room, which was very open, airy, and filled with Asians. As we walked by a table occupied by two diners, I couldn't believe the number of banchan side dishes that were in front of them. We sat down and were immediately brought a bowl of Korean egg whites, which was tasty, but not like what was to come.

The menu is substantial and features many interesting traditional Korean dishes, most of which I'm not familiar with. Matt was born in Korea and has eaten at many good Korean restaurants so he was able to explain a few things. We settled on the all-you-can-eat barbeque, which featured beef, chicken, and pork belly. Each table has a dome-shaped cooker that is heated by a gas flame underneath it. The meat is cooked on this dome until it sizzles and is done.

Before our huge platter of meat arrived, a waiter covered our table with banchan, Korean side dishes. The most common is kimchi made from cabbage or cucumber, but there were other vegetable-based dishes, some with sesame oil, and others pickled—to describe all of these is a blog entry in itself. We also received a bowl of lettuce leaves and small bowls of garlic and jalapeno slices, and gochujang, a very spicy Korean bean paste.

The drill is to place the meat on the grill in the middle of the table with tongs, then turn it and cut it into more manageable pieces with the scissors you are given. When the meat is done it is placed in a piece of lettuce along with some garlic, jalapeno, and gochujang, rolled up and eaten—fantastic! All of the meat was great, but the pork belly was wonderful when just done—don't let it cook too long! The thin pieces of beef and chicken were also superb; I ate until I was very full then watched Matt put away about twice the meat I had; poor, starving, college student! Together we did a pretty good job, though, there wasn't much left.

Banchan. Photo courtesy Shannon I.

We also ordered a bottle of soju, which is an alcoholic Korean beverage distilled from rice, sweet potatoes, and tapioca. It is a pretty neutral taste, like vodka, but with a touch of sweetness. We tossed it down along with numerous glasses of ice water.

Sura is a wonderful restaurant and I highly recommend it. A good indication of how good the food is was that it was filled with so many Asians—I imagine mostly Korean. Glancing around the room after we sat down assured me that I was the only caucasian in the restaurant. All of the staff that helped us were very pleasant and we had a nice chat with our Korean hostess who, it turns out, was born in the same Korean city as Matt, Jeonju City.

Sura is a very classy Korean restaurant and a little pricier than most others I've been to, but the food is worth it and I'm looking forward to going back very soon.

Sura. 4869 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, CA 94620.
(510) 654-9292

Leaving for Europe in four days

Yesterday evening Vicki and I were watching television and talking about the past five years of her job as marketing manager at the University of Nevada Press, which she resigned from last week. Yesterday was her last day and we talked about the ups and downs that job had given her as we ate a very mediocre formerly frozen pizza. Suddenly we both started laughing as we realized that in a week we'd be eating pizza in the eternal city of Rome. Forget her job, the economy, the election (hard to forget), and the general gloomy state of affairs of the world, we would soon be leaving for a month in Europe!

We've been planning this trip for months and needless to say, are very excited! Our itinerary is as follows:

Leave SFO, Tuesday, October 7 - to Rome.

Rome - 3 nights.

We've rented a nice little apartment near the Piazza Navona.

Chianti - Tuscany - Moncioni - 2 weeks.

We've rented a house in the country called Podere La Rota near a small town, Moncioni, in the Chianti region. Here's a link to info about our house:

http://www.summersleases.com/chianti.cfm

Here's a Google map with the location of Moncioni. If you zoom out, you'll see the close proximity to Florence and Siena:


View Larger Map

On October 24th we take an overnight train via Florence to Dijon where we pick up our rental car and head to our new destination, Chateau Les Roches.

France - Burgundy - Cote d'Or - 1 week

http://www.lesroches-burgundy.com/en/home


View Larger Map

After a week in the Burgundy region, it's off to Paris for three days, arriving home to San Francisco on the eve of election day, November 4th.

More to come ...

Felidia - New York City

I first learned about Lidia Matticchio Bastianich from Vicki a few years ago. For some reason, this Istrian-born Italian cooking show host, cookbook author, and restaurant owner had stayed under my radar, despite our love of Italian cooking and television cooking shows. In 2007, at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which we attend as exhibitors every year, Vicki met Lidia and acquired a signed copy of her most recent cookbook, Lidia’s Italy. She is also the author of four books on Italian cooking.

During our semi-annual trip to New York this May for Vicki’s sales meetings, we had the opportunity to dine at Lidia’s flagship restaurant, Felidia. It was opened in 1981 by Lidia and her former husband, Felice (Felice + Lidia = Felidia). Lidia is now involved with two other restaurants in Manhattan, Becco (with her son, Joseph Bastianich) and Del Posto (with her son and Mario Batali), along with Lidia’s Italy restaurants in Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

Located on a busy street in Midtown East, we arrived at Felidia just in time for our 12:30 lunch reservation. We were led past an opulent mahogany bar to a dining room with light yellow walls bathed in orange-tinted lighting, while a skylight on the second floor provided the entire space with a hint of sunlight.

Since everything on the menu sounded tempting, there was no way we could choose so we decided on the tasting menu, which features three courses and dessert, selected by the chef. We also chose the wine tasting menu to pair wines with our courses.

We began with an antipasto course, a delicate julienne of fagioli beans, lightly steamed and tossed in olive oil with pickled red onions and sliced almonds. With the beans we were served Bastianich Rosato, a rosé from the Italian winery owned by Lidia’s son Joseph in partnership with Mario Batali. It paired well with the bean salad and had a rich fruity taste.

Our primi course was the superb Ravioli con Cacio e Pere, pear and fresh pecorino-filled ravioli, garnished with aged pecorino, crushed black pepper and slices of green olive. The pasta was paired with a crisp white wine, Calcare, from the Sauvignon grape, grown in the Marche. These small square ravioli were one of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever had; they simply melted in your mouth with the sweet, musky taste of the pecorino cheese and the tang of the green olive—wonderful!

Secondi consisted of three different cuts of veal cooked three ways, “Vitello, Vitello, Vitello.” Arranged around the rim of the plate were a veal sweetbread braised, then sautéed; a braised veal cheek; and a sautéed veal tenderloin. These gorgeous morsels were served on a bed of asparagus with a mushroom sauce reduction and a little Castelmagno cheese. The entire dish was sublime—the sweetbread was perfectly cooked with just the right amount of browning, which added flavor; the veal cheek fell to pieces when touched with a fork; the sautéed tenderloin was savory and cooked to a moist, medium rare. It was served with a super Tuscan, a 2002 Tassinaia, a blend of sangiovese, cabernet, and merlot grapes. The wine had good fruit, depth, and maturity, and paired perfectly with the rich decadence of the veal.

Dolce consisted of a trio of desserts; Tiramisu Agli Agrumi—orange liqueur-soaked lady fingers with orange mascarpone cream, and blood orange-poached cranberries; a warm mini-Caprese cake with chocolate, passion fruit and caramel; and a citrus sorbetto. The small bites of dessert were served with a heady sparkling moscato from Piemonte. Both wine and sweet made for a perfect ending to a divine meal. All that was missing was the intoxicating smell of jasmine that hangs in the air outside almost every café in Italy.

The tab for the tasting and wine courses plus coffee and Pellegrino was $180.00. Outstanding service, great food, excellent wines, highly recommended.

Link:

Video - Lidia Bastianich discusses here restaurant, Felidia

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff has been a popular dish in America for more than sixty years. Its name is attributed to nineteenth century Russian diplomat, Count Paul Stroganoff, though most believe its origin was a century earlier. There is even some evidence that it may have had its beginnings in Hungary. The dish first appeared in two American cookbooks in 1939, but these recipes used sweet, not sour, cream. The 1943 edition of the Joy of Cooking has a recipe with the correct ingredients, sour cream, beef, onions, and mushrooms.

I’ve had a lot of Beef Stroganoff in my life. Growing up in a large family on one income, we didn’t eat much beef, but mom cooked Stroganoff occasionally. For many years, in college and after, I cooked it with inexpensive cuts like round steak, which usually made it pretty tough. My former mother-in-law, Nancy Stinson, used to cook it for us with filet mignon, which required a quick sauté to maintain tenderness.

Until recently, I hadn’t cook Beef Stroganoff for many years, and I’ve discovered a recipe of the Food Channel’s Tyler Florence that I like very much. It’s pretty traditional, except that instead of quick sautéing a tender cut, pieces of chuck are browned, flamed with cognac then simmered with onions for a couple of hours, partially covered, in a beef broth that has been heated with thyme, carrots, and a bayleaf. The result is very tender beef that is combined with sautéed mushrooms, sour cream, Dijon mustard, and parsley, then served over wide noodles. Outstanding!

Here's a link to the full recipe:

http://tinyurl.com/29q94m

Healthy Hot Dogs?

Everyone who knows me well is aware that I love hot dogs. I’ll take all different kinds, from the so-called gourmet dogs to those big boys that they sell at 7-11. Hot dog eating doesn’t come without guilt, however, as most franks are laced with bad stuff like nitrates and filler. So I was intrigued when I tried a sample at Trader Joe’s of their Uncured Beef Hot Dogs, which according to the package are nitrate free, with no fillers, gluten, msg, antibiotics or hormones. Not only that, but my sample tasted great!

They’re not cheap, four bucks for a package of eight, but I brought one home and tried them today. The best way to cook hot dogs is to grill them, but I chose to steam mine. I like having two dogs because I can dress them up differently. On one I put Dijon mustard, red onion, sliced dill pickle, and halved cherry tomatoes. I also added a few Tai chilies I keep just for this purpose. On the other I put some grainy mustard, onion, and sweet pickle relish. Both were marvelous, and the flavor of the dogs stood up to all my additions. They went great with one of my favorite chips, Kettle Chips Yogurt and Green Onion.

Guilt free hot dogs? Well, it ain't health food, but it's a step in the right direction.