Decadence or Class and Culture? You decide!

Wow!  Two days in Venezia.  Makes me sort of sad I went to Hamilton instead of Venice High School.  It's like Water World meets Disney.  So much tourism, so many canals.   We did the gondola ride, had too!  I tried to compare it to Napels in Long Beach.  Here's the big difference.  In Long Beach, the Gondoliers may sing and they may be good at what they do.  In Venezia, they sing, they show you Marco Polo's house, Mozarts house and garden, Jockomo, or Cassanova's house plus palaces and churches build in the 1400 & 1500's.  In Long Beach we got the Captain Morgan pirate guy and the 2nd Streed Bridge.  Nuff said.




Marco, our gondolier

I think Chris and I took about 500 pictures in Venice alone.  It was Carnival time.  Masks, costumes and confetti everywhere.  Wine coming out of fountains.  On Sunday, the tide rose up about 2 meters more than usual and the St Mark Square was partially submerged.  People didn't care because the city puts up raised sidewalks to walk through the square.   I think this happens a lot since the city is officially or unofficially sinking depending on who you talk to and who you want to believe.    

Us at St Marcos Square

Me and someone from Cleveland

I have no idea!

Food?  Well, we had been on the cheap since arriving in Venice.  So we treated ourselves to fresh seafood of clams, mussels, langostini and calamari with spaghetti and a whole sea bass grilled crispy.  A great Chardonnay from the Dolemites and for dessert and Sacher Tort as well as Mascarpone with Amaretto.  A nice tab, but we had not splurged in some time.    Yes, that is the fish head on my plate. 

Probably one of the highlights of our Venice stay was a tribute concert we attended to a Venezia native son, Antonio Vivaldi.  Two Concerto's and his Le Quattro Stagioni or Vivaldi's Four Seasons at the Ateneo St. Basso church. 

Class and Culture.  Bravo!

Autogrill-Not the Last Supper

The Last Supper is u n b e l i e v a b l e!   Besides being the beginning of the end of fresco style art work, DaVinci's semitri and use of light is what paintings are based on today.  Just amazing.  I never knew fresco work was done on wet walls and had to be done in a very short period of time. It also makes you wonder about St. Peter in the painting.  Sort of looks like a lady to me??   It's the person just to the left of Jesus where there is a big space.  Makes you want to read the DaVinci Code again. 

The Duomo in Milan is over the top, started in 1400 and it's still not complete.  Wonder if they had a 'completed by' clause in that contract?  Napoleon was crowned King of Italy there...for awhile.  Capacity is 40,000. Not including standing room. That happened to be the entire population of Milano at the time. It's said that one of the three nails that were used to crucify Christ is at this church, the fourth largest in Europe. There are over 6000 statues inside and out. So many interesting facts. Again, not having anything to do with cooking, but I am loving this part of the ride. We escaped with our lives and car intact from Milano and headed to Venice.  We will be spending the next few days here. Yes, we did get lost...twice! Freekin Milan!

Speaking of cooking or at least food, we stopped at one of the coolest places that dot the Autostrada's here in Italy.  Autogrills are rest stops that include the following; fuel, bathrooms, a full on dining area that include your choice of complete meals, pasta, antipasti and desserts.  Also included are fast food pizzas and sandwiches, a coffee bar, a full on market, toys, toiletries, deli meats and cheeses, beverages of every description, gift packs, books, magazines, slot machines and very good people watching time.  Not the last supper, but fun non-the-less!  Hey, maybe there's a market for these in the states?   Hmmm.

Hotel Star by way of London and China

Two days in Florence is not enough. Two months might work. The Center of the Renaissance is mind blowing. If you have been here then you know; if you haven’t, then come, come to Florence. Just set aside a week, pay the money and get here. Come in February or early March, before the massive crowds get here and walk into history. See where Galileo is buried and walk his museum. Michelangelo and Leonardo have left masterpieces for you to explore.

Milano




We left Florence for Milan at 3 PM. It’s almost two hundred miles between the two cities. It was raining hard and it was very foggy in the mountains. The toll on A1 was 20 Euros. Fuel, 41 Euros for ¾ tank of diesel. We got to the city around 7 PM. We walked into the Star Hotel at 9 PM. Milan sucks for driving! I don’t give two cents for fashion, as it’s the fashion capital of the world. I don’t care two cents for the banking capital of Italy. The 1.6 million people who live here can have it. But I had to find our hotel and it took me two hours. The way to my hotel was thru London by way of China. Tomtom got us to the city, but was left a blithering idiot trying to find this place. I stopped at the London Hotel and the nice lady gave me directions to my hotel. But I had to park my car. There in a public garage, that was six blocks from where we were staying, I parked my car. Chris and I walked back to the hotel and by way of a Chinese Restaurant landmark.




Jungle Room

 Our room is reminiscent of Elvis’ Jungle Room. There’s a Leopard half submerged in water stalking our bed and the weirdest set of lighting I have ever seen in any hotel room. But that could not compare to the cement hard pillows and the constant stream of trash trucks picking up the seven bins of stuff outside our window. Their twirling flashing yellow lights streaming into our room and crashing sounds of junk followed by the hydraulic sound of compacting kept us entertained all night.

We did go back to the Chinese place and had a very good meal that included a bottle of white wine and friendly chatter with our Asian waitress.

Tomorrow, the Last Supper!

A Crazy Heart for Firenze...Dude!

We woke up in Siena to birds chirping, bells ringing and Vespas buzzing. Siena is the city where Catherine hailed from. Only a woman could convince the pope to leave France and return to Rome. For that she is now honored as Europe’s patron Saint. Michelangelo got his start here. Then he left for Florence to do this sculpture of David, you may have heard about it. A college town unlike most others, you see the young students who are continuing the tradition started back in 1300. Pretty cool! Students of the world descend here to learn about art. I can see why one of my blog followers said, “Siena? It’s my favorite city in Italy”.


We stopped at a Pizzeria, filled with some college students from Spain. They were all excited as they were writing on a paper who they were and what they thought of the pizza. The owner takes their picture and puts it up on the wall. The owner was kind enough to take our picture too, but it won’t be going up on any walls. He used our camera.

It was hard to leave Siena, but Firenze beckoned us to see how Michelangelo did with his sculpture of David.  We set out for the short drive to the Capital of the Renaissance. Just in time for rush hour! Tomtom (GPS) got us here but had us going down a 'pedestrian only' street a block from the hotel.  He didn’t know Florence had changed the rules about cars in the city center. I tried to find my way back around but it wasn’t easy.  Now Chris and I can sometimes butt heads about each other’s driving, but throw in extremely narrow streets, buzzing scooters, one way streets and a bit of renaissance fatigue, well let’s just say we kissed and made up. Déjà vu!  Thanks to a very nice and friendly police officer, who gave us authorization to drive down the pedestrian only street as she couldn’t even figure out how to get to our hotel, we made it.

Parking here is not cheap.  In fact, nothing in Florence is cheap.  So you scale down on the food. We had our own kind of room service for dinner.  I went to the local market and got some salami, fresh bread, some tomatoes, blood oranges, a tray of Aperifresco cheese, potato chips and popcorn.  The popcorn was for the movie Chris had brought with her. So we watched 'Crazy Heart' with Jeff Bridges. He was really good. Not the Big Lebowski good, but good. We had our own wine so it was dinner in bed and a movie with Mr. Bridges in Firenze, Dude!



Dinner and a Movie



Valentine's Day Under the Tuscan Sun

After two days in Spoleto, we said our goodbyes to Steve and Denise and set out for Siena. Along the way we stopped in Cortona, a college town just north of Assisi. The town goes back about 2500 years.  Hannible defeated the Romans just south of Cortona in 217 BC. We stopped long enough to have a quick lunch and walk the Piazza della Repubblica. There we ran into two college girls from Georgia, University of, as they have a Renaissance art program that is associated with Cortona.


We left Cortona and headed northwest to the heart of Tuscany, Siena. As it was Valentine’s Day, we went for a romantic dinner at Compagnia dei Vinattieri as recommended by our B&B hostess at our Hotel villa Liberty. Chris enjoyed Pumpkin, Potato Leek Soup while I had Chicory & Gorgonzola flan with red onion mustard.

Our main course consisted of Braised Beef in Brunello wine and Black Peppercorn sauce and homemade Tagliatelle with Ragu made of Guinea Hen and Pistachios.

We shared a sampling dessert of White Chocolate Mousse with Pineapple Cream, Ginger Chocolate Mousse, a Cheese cake with Raspberry Coulie and a Chocolate Torte. They were all excellent.

We walked the Piazza del Campo and watched the diners enjoying their meals and marveled at the huge piazza and large bell tower, the largest non-religious bell tower in Italy.   Made our way back to our room and called it a night.

A Valentines Day we will always remember

The Ride Continues!

Saturday and Sunday was spent with Steve and Denise Haerr, our newest of friends I have met due to my Chef WannaB blog.  Steve and Denise are on Part II of their lives together.  Kids, house, job all part of Part I.  Now it's traveling and exploring together while their kids finish college, or start their families.  They are now living in Spoleto, Italy and will be here a full year.  Sunday was what Denise calls a sojourn.  We started out to Assisi and arrived at the mist covered hill top walled city home of St. Francis.  Chris and I attended mass at the cathedral where he is buried.  Heard the wonderful bells at noon and had a very good lunch with Steve and Denise. Penne pasta with sasuage in a great white sauce, undercooked sausage links (3), which I returned, sauteed spinach, but without the red pepper and garlic Paola always used and a fruit cocktail for dessert. It also came with a 1/4 liter of vino russo all for 16 Euros.  Afterwards we walked off lunch strolling the ancient streets of Assisi.

Steve, Denise and us at lunch
















We then headed to the very small town of Villanova, population 197 and attended a concerto in a newly renovated church.  Marveled at the quintet of 2 violins, viola, cello and a sassofono.  Listened to three classical pieces and then some classical/jazz pieces.  I was blown away and so enjoyed the music.  They did two encores and received standing ovations after each.  

Monday, Chris and I are off to Siena in the Tuscany district that begins our sojourn through Italy.  My hope is you enjoy this ride as well!

Bon Appetit

My last day of externship came as most days arrive here in Casperia, a little cold, partly cloudy and life going on as usual in this medieval town. Walled cities dot the Italian countryside. As you drive the country roads, you see them in the distance, half way up hillsides or on mountain tops. It was great to experience life in one, even if only for a short six weeks. People knew who you were, why you were here and where you lived. A bright, buongiorno… ciao, each morning greeted me as I made my way down the many steps to the Blue Café for my morning cappuccino. The ease at which these wonderful people go about their daily life is something Americans could learn from. Imagine everything closed from 12:30 to 4 for siesta in Los Angeles or 3 hour meals. But, I digress.


I concluded my last day by making a sponge cake. It is a very complicated recipe of 7 eggs, 180 grams of sugar and 170 grams of flour. Whip the eggs and sugar till very fluffy, sift and fold in cake flour and bake for 45 minutes at 375. That was it! For lunch Paola heated up some left over tomato sauce used for a fish dish we had made some days before, added some canned dice tomatoes and cooked spaghetti. She took out some frozen fish sticks, drizzled them with olive oil and baked them up as well. Dinner was a kebabs of liver wrapped in pork fat, sausage, bread and Bay leaf baked with a drizzle of olive oil and cooked in the same roasting pan she had roasted potatoes before. We finished up with some fresh cheese and Franco’s very good vino russo. Some workers Franco had employed to work in the new kitchen joined us for dinner. He showed them how the wine vinturi worked. It was great to see the expression on their faces as he poured the wine and the distinct noise it makes startled the workers. I never got to taste the cake.

Paola gives her students a Gusto al Borgo apron and a bottle of wine as well as a certificate of completion when they complete her program. We got two, one for me and one for Chris, and Franco gave me two more bottles of wine as a thank you for the vinturi. It was I who should have been thanking him.

 

So the adventure of Chef WannaB comes to a close. It was February of 2010 that I started, stopped and restarted again in May, my blog on learning about culinary “excellence” at Le Cordon Bleu. I requested that you join me on this ride by reading my silly blog. My hope is you enjoyed the ride as much as I did and maybe, just maybe learned a bit about cooking like the French.

Bon Appétit