COOKING CLASSES

One of the most pleasant and funny things to do when you travel...

is a cooking class!
In the picture you can see me learning how to make sushi. Every time I learned how to prepare food I always enjoyed it very much, I love art and creativity, and food is both, is also a good way to get to know more about the people of the country you are visiting.  If you take a cooking lesson, no matter if you have never cooked in your life, try you will enjoy so much, you will learn more about the country and its inhabitants way of life. I am sure that in Italy is easier to get to know about people attitudes more quickly if you take a cooking class. Food for us is a big thing.
Italy is divided in 24 regions and in each one there are different food traditions, for example in northern Italy rise is appreciated more than pasta, and they make it better, butter in many recipes is used more than olive oil, in southern Italy many dishes are more spicy, and olive oil is the king of the recipes. If you can, try the typical food of the region in the place, is completely different, the "crostini with liver paté" are delicious only in Tuscany and Umbria. In Milan you can get the best "ossobuco and risotto". In Rome the best "matriciana" and artichokes, and not only. In Naples the best pizza!! etc. You will learn also how sophisticated Italians are with food, for example when we buy a cake, we pick a certain good confectioner's shop for each type of cake, not all of them are as good in the some store. For example in Rome you will find the best "millefoglie" by Cavalletti, the best "Sacher" by  La dolce Roma , etc.
       

RED WINE SYNONYMOUS OF HEAVEN

Red Wines

Cold weather, a fireplace with the ipnotic fire, nice people to talk with watching the snow falling, your favorite music. A perfect atmosphere for a good glass of red wine, accompanied with some seasoned cheese, like: parmesan or  pecorino and salami, bread made with dark weat and some rosted chestnuts.
A red sipping wine that I love is the "Montiano" made 100% from merlot grapes (puro) produced by Falesco.
When you taste a  wine first of all you will have the visual examination, the limpidity, the consistency and the color. The colors of red wines are:
*Ruby red
*Garnet
*Orange red
After the visual examination you will pass to the olfactory analysis and finally the taste, by the visual and the olfactory analysis you can already tell if a wine is good!

ROMAN STYLE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

When in Rome............

If you visit Rome on Christmas time some of the must are:

* A taste of Panettone, Pandoro and Torrone, the top three of
   the Christmas cakes and suites.

* Visit the most beautiful nativity inside the Roman Churches:
    S. Maria del Popolo for example.

* Visit the the Christmas market in Piazza Navona.

*  Have the Christmas Eve seafood dinner in one of the top
    seafood restaurants like: La Rosetta or Assunta Madre.

*  Take a walk around the city centre and buy the
     "Caldarroste" a paper-cone of hot chestnuts.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Italy's Traditional Christmas Cakes

One of the most traditional Christmas Cake is the "Panettone", from Milan crossed Italy and all over the world, the best is the one that you can find only in some artisan bakeries like "Romeo" in Rome, the original version is with candied fruit and dried raisins, other versions are with dark or white chocolate. The "Pandoro" originally from Verona, is the big competitor of the Panettone, more butter, and fruit free. The "Torrone" the classic version is white with nuts, the modern version is the white covered with chocolate or all chocolate and nuts. "Ricciarelli" from Siena, made with almond paste and chocolate, "Struffoli" from Naples, made with tiny balls of sweet dought, deep-fried and covered with honey and little colored sprinkles of sugar. The "Panpepato" from abruzzi, a cake made with spices and covered with chocolate, the "Buccellato" from Sicily a sweet dought filled with nuts, almonds, pistachios, dried figs and spices, sounds very Arab, as you probably know Sicily has some Arabic influences. For Christmas Eve and the 25th lunch we eat a bit of every one... Bye - bye  diet till Jannuary 7th. we go back to the diet after Epiphany.  

EATALY

The Temple of Gourmet Italian Food

Food in Italy is a religion. When the first McDonald  fast food opened in Rome by the Spanish Steps in 1986 the Romans protested. From  the other hand the Slow Food movement started in 1989, theyr filosofy is to preserve traditional and regional Italian cuisine, and 15 years later in Turin opened the first large store dedicated to top quality typical local food named Eataly, now has nine branches in Italy, nine in Japan and one in Manhattan. From past June Eataly is also in Rome, located in the spaces of the ex Ostiense Air Terminal, converted into the temple of gourmet food.
Something of the typical food you can find: a bakery that only uses natural stone-ground flour and natural yeast, piadine (Italian tortilla-sanwich), artisan beer, the best Italian olive oil from Sicily, and more.
If you go to Eataly, in the nearby district named Testaccio there are some interesting places to visit, one is the Montemartini Museum, where you can admire ancient Roman sculptures located inside an old power plant, the plant's machinery provides such a stunning contrast to the art! another modern Art Museum, named MACRO is located inside an old ex slaughterhouse, and in the some area you can have dinner in one of the typical restaurants with typical Roman cuisine: Checchino, elegant with a great wine list, Felice, very nice ambient, Bucatino more simple, less expensive compared to the other two, but good food too!

FALL TREAT

Marron glacès - Glaced chestnuts

Very elaborate recipe, a cuple of days are needed to prepare glaced chestnuts. If you prefer to buy the already made one, the best glaced chestnuts you can get in Rome are the one made by "Giuliani" I define Giuliani "the temple of glaced chestnuts". For over 60 years produces in the some artisan way and still with high quality ingredients. You can find also chocolates, suitable for all types of taste, some very exotic like: yogurt and chilly, almond stuffed date, plum walnut, and more.....

Giuliani is located in Via Paolo Emilio, 67

in the district named Prati, not so far from the Vatican City.   

FALL TREAT

Persimmon tart dessert

One of my favorite dessert is the fruit cake made with a thin puff pastry, chantilly cream and fresh fruit on top, usually we use strawberries, kiwi, pineapple. In the restaurant La Rosetta, in Rome, the pastry was served topped with persimmon slices, raspberry and prune, an unusual combination that I really appreciated, so delicious!

Persimmon are ready to be eaten only between September and December