Burrata....

This post is a duplicate, from my new blog http://mauricesvalumart.blogspot.ca/...

What is burrata, you might ask???? It's a soft cheese made of mozarella and cream. Basically, there is an outer shell (or bag) that is filled with cream and mozarella pieces, creating a very soft interior. "Burrata" means buttered in Italian, and unsurprisingly it therefore has a rich, buttery flavour (thanks to the cream!). It should be served at room temperature (like most soft cheeses), or at least not cold right from the fridge, unless you can't stop yourself.

A Tale of Two Pizzas

Okay, that title is going to be a bit misleading, because there were very few differences between the two pizzas that were made today.... the differences were that one was made by my daughter Somerset, for the kids, since she is developing a keen interest in cooking... and the other by me (for me and Steve). She has always loved to "cook" and even from the age of nine or ten was able to make things like Kraft Dinner, noodles with butter, Chicken nuggets, Minute rice...that kind of stuff...so once in awhile I could say "Why don't you make supper for your brother and sister" and she would...all served with fresh carrots, since we all prefer to eat raw vegetables and that is one everyone eats!!



Pathfinder Badge Meal.

 A year ago at Girl Guide Camp she helped make tacos for dinner and this became one of her new favourite foods and a milestone, to some degree, in her culinary tastes....it's the first "spicy" food she has liked, and made me realize there is hope for my picky eating children that their tastebuds will develop.... A few weeks ago, for part of a Pathfinder badge, she had to plan, shop for and execute a meal for her family and she came up with Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Garlic Bread and yep, raw carrots.... which EVERYONE actually ate, and I was thrilled... and she has made it again since, with even less guidance from me, so win win.... We do occasionally bake, but I know that when there are fresh baked goods in the house we all kind of eat until we feel sick and there is nothing left! I know I know, self-control and all that, but it fresh baked yummies are impossible to resist.... I LOVED to bake when I was a kid, and was also allowed to use the stove from a fairly young age once my mother knew I could handle it.

So, wanting to broaden her culinary talent horizons,  we decided to make pizza from scratch, and we each made our own batch of dough. I found an easy recipe online at All Recipes (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pizza-Dough-III/) ....so I will just copy it from here since we all know it isn't my original recipe (I actually wanted to make David Rocco's pizza dough for the grown up pizza since it has wine in it, but I didn't think I had any....although I found some later to enjoy with my pizza...NEXT TIME wine goes in the dough too! Yum). So, while the end result of this recipe wasn't as perfect as I wanted, I'll talk about what I think could have gone better as I go.

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
**dissolve yeast in water and let stand "until creamy", @10 minutes**

in a bowl combine
2 cups bread flour
2 T olive oil
1 t salt
2 t white sugar
yeast mixture;
beat well until a stiff dough has formed, cover, and let rise until doubled, or @ 1/2 an hour.

The recipe tells you to turn the dough onto a floured board and roll it out, but we oiled up our hands and baking sheets with olive oil (I found a baking stone for Somer to use which I've owned about five or six years but never used because I can't stand the way it feels...ugh..it's like scraping my fingernails down a blackboard...)...and stretched the dough onto the baking sheets. Anything to add more olive oil is fine with me, although it turns out I didn't use quite enough underneath because it kind of stuck around the edges...

Stretching out Dough.

Adding Bocconcini pieces.

Heat oven to 350 and  bake for twenty minutes until golden, according to the instructions. I found that it took almost twice as long (maybe because there were two pans, but I rotated them from one shelf to the other every ten minutes). I think that is too low to bake pizza because the bottoms were barely done, and the top was overdone....

While the dough was rising, we got out our Bocconcini (little fresh mozzarella balls), and split them up....she cut hers daintily, and I just ripped mine in shreds.... in hindsight, there was not enough cheese on either pizza, so one container per pizza would be great, and I ripped up a handful of fresh basil leaves.... I decided to make my own sauce for the grown up pizza, because I found a recipe online that had lots of stuff in it, including some spiciness, which I love, and since I was making a basic Margerita (just mozzarella and fresh basil leaves), I thought it would be great to have a spicy sauce, and it was super-easy to make. Here is the recipe I used, also from All Recipes:

 Exquisite Pizza Sauce.

1 can tomato paste (6oz)
6oz warm water (just use the now-empty tomato paste tin)
3 T grated Parmesann (didn't have any of this either, but it was good without it too)
1 t minced garlic (I still have no fresh garlic, gasp, so I used more of the puree I had bought)
2 T honey (I had none, so used agave nectar)
1 t anchovy paste (optional...of course I didn't use any myself...but I know some people love it)
3/4 t. onion powder (I used onion salt because that's what I had, and since I didn't use the above)
1/4 t. each dried oregano, basil, marjoram & ground black pepper
1/8 t. each cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes (I used two pepperoncini)
salt to taste (I didn't add any, party because I didn't see this instruction, and I also used onion salt)

Exquisite Pizza Sauce + Bocconcini + Fresh Basil = YUM.

That's it. No heating up, just combine it all and let it sit for 1/2 an hour (which is perfect since that is how long the dough takes to rise).

So, details.... I have no idea if the dough was doubled, it looked bigger to me, and I was good to go, I always feel that things will work out all right in the end, and although the yeast mixture also didn't really look "creamy" so maybe the water wasn't warm enough the crust baked up nicely and wasn't too thick...just right...... and like I said, the cooking was a little uneven for some reason. However, it tasted GREAT (other than that the mozzarella pieces had cooked into crispy little discs on the pizza, which is so not the point of pizza!!)

The dough had a nice hint of sweetness (although I just caught Somer before she put in a whole tablespoon of salt, instead of a teaspoon).....and I love the spicy kick in the homemade pizza sauce... I also like using just some crushed tomatoes with a bit of oregano as the sauce...it is even simpler, and sometimes it is the simplest recipe which tastes the best....but I always like to change it up too. Somer used a very light coating of store-bought pizza sauce. So there we go, a Tale of Two Pizzas: One plain cheese, and one Margerita with spicy sauce.... YUM.

Blizzard Salsa and Guacamole

A few seasons ago, I started to go over to my mother-in-law's to watch "Dancing with the Stars" with her, and my friend (and cousin-in-law) Mila. I had never seen it before, and quickly got hooked into the campy, fake-tan, and glittery fabulousness of it all. Sometimes I am not even sure who the celebrities are to begin with (like pro football players, or well, pro athletes in general), but it doesn't really matter, it's just fun to watch people develop as amazing ballroom and latin dancers (or, not so much...)



I really managed to only eat one!! Yummy, can't wait for more.



Anyway..... like DWTS or not, this season was the All Stars, and the third season I've watched..... and tonight is the FINALS!!! So, while last year we wore glittery tops and feasted on some of the treats I brought back from Italy.... this time we are having a potluck pj party....and I'm bringing my favourite snack...tortilla chips with fresh salsa and guacamole. It's my "Take That, Winter!!!" contribution in defiance of the snow piling up outside. I always meant to post this recipe in the summer, which is when I make it most often, so maybe I was just hankering for a taste of summer, but here goes!!! (Okay, the lighting in my kitchen sucks, and thanks to WINTER the daylight is nonexistent before 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. (feels like)....so pictures are crappier than usual.

Both of these recipes are best made a couple of hours in advance, but I wouldn't make it the day before (partly, because I'm not usually that organized, and mostly because it doesn't always hold up well).

Guacamole:

1/2 t. sea salt, mix with

4 crushed garlic cloves (to form a paste)

 **(I have to admit I cheated this time, and used Ontario grown Organic garlic puree, 2 teaspoons, or maybe it was 3.... can't have too much, but it seemed a lot milder than usual, I suspect it was cooked first).

1 t. lime juice

1 t ground cumin

1 handful of fresh cilantro (about 1/4 cup pressed in, if you don't have it, don't substitute dried leaves)

2 avocados, mashed up

This was the perfect ripeness....no blackness inside, just
nice and green outside edge....



 **if you have never used fresh avocados, or don't know this tip, cut the avocado in half around the pit (lengthwise, see photo), and tap the sharp edge of a knife into the pit. It should come out easily. If it doesn't it probably isn't ripe enough, so look for avocados that feel soft but not squishy (yucky), and where the skins are mostly black (brownish  on top of that tends to mean overripe, I think...). Those should be the best ripeness.



Blend it all with a fork and let sit for a few hours to let flavours combine (you can use your food processor, but I like it with a few chunky bits of avocado, and why add more dishes to clean??) Be sure to have the plastic wrap touching the surface of the guacamole, because in turn black or grey... then it is ugly guacamole. And unappetizing, and possibly even inedible...

Fresh Salsa

4 vine-ripened tomatoes (not huge ones), or use whatever you like

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (optional) 

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1 t. lime juice

1 t. sea salt

freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 cup chopped red pepper (optional)

a few more handfuls of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped (maybe 1/2 cup, or til you feel you have enough!



Salsa Ingredients

Mix everything together, and refrigerate for a couple of hours, and flavours will combine.

(I used to hate the smell of cilantro when I first met it as a cashier seventeen years ago. I literally had to hold my breath as it journeyed along my conveyor belt to be rung in. Now it is one of my absolute favourite herbs...although I could really say that about all of them : )

Feel free to use 1/2 a jalapeno, or 2, whatever kind of heat you like (I used a whole one and hope it isn't too much for this company)!



For the tomatoes, slice them in half and scoop out the seeds/pulpy liquid, it just ends up being "salsa juice" otherwise. The tomatoes will still emit liquid, and there will be some "juice", this is normal. Then chop them. I tend to like finely chopped vegetables, but if you like big chunks, go for it (okay, big chunks sounds unpleasant.... how about large morsels? Not tomatoey enough?? You get it, and I'm rambling.

So that is what I am bringing tonight, along with the PC Korean meatballs and the Mini Cheesy Bees Nests from Recipe to Riches that I loved so much.... And, so take that snow...I am having tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole

....which would NOT be complete without my favourite pre-blended margarita (it's been in the fridge since the summer, so I'd better pay it some attention now)!!!  I have still not perfected the margarita from scratch, so anyone with an awesome recipe, please share!! I've tried a few, but like this blend best so far.

Florence - The Best Day Ever - Part 2

I can't believe it has been four and a half months since my last post, but we had a very busy summer, and culinary inspiration seemed to dwindle for awhile. I did start a couple of posts that never made it to the light of day, so since I've had a few requests for more blog posts, I thought I would resume with more posts of my trip to Italy, which is a little bittersweet in retrospect. It seems surreal to look back on that trip, but it was such a beautiful two weeks in so many ways, you leave a part of your heart behind and it is always calling you back. So that is the bittersweet....knowing that I can't go back any time soon. The good thing is that I will always love Italian food, and be able to make it in my own kitchen!

So, hopping in the time machine in my mind, let me take you back to a sunny afternoon in late April..... Barb and I had spent the morning around the Duomo, climbed the many stairs to stand at the top of the world there, eaten more burrata for lunch, and meandered through the streets back to our hotel to relax a bit before heading to the International Artisan Trade Fair going on just a few blocks from our hotel, and one of the reasons we had gone to Italy ahead of our culinary excursion in Umbria the following week.

Along the way back, we stumbled upon a little wine shop, and what could be more perfect in the mid-afternoon, but a nice glass of wine? Inside, we met a woman living what seemed to be the perfect life.... she was from Chicago, I think, and thirty years before had married a Florentine man and moved to Italy, where she eventually opened a wine shop.

We chatted for quite awhile, and eventually came away with a bottle of red wine called Morellino di Scansano. (Morellino is the name for the San Giovese grape varietal, in the region where this particular wine is produced). And, in the way of the greatness of Italy, the proprietress produced a corkscrew and opened the bottle for us, so off we wandered back to the Hotel Merlini, full of happy thoughts, an open bottle of wine, and pleasant anticipation of the beautiful Tuscan wine we were about to savour, and hey, at 14% alcohol, it was more fuel for our euphoria. I wish I could remember what it tasted like, all I know is that it was really good, like bottling a ray of Tuscan sun as it shines on Michelangelo's David. :)

We got back to our room, kicked our shoes off our weary feet, and enjoyed a glass of wine, with fresh air blowing through the open window. With the  afternoon wearing on, we decided to save the rest of the wine for later, and headed out for lots of browsing and buying at the trade show. I think I can speak for both of us that I have never been more thankful to have skipped  a second glass of wine in my life EVER. (Okay, I'm already tearing up). We approached the Fortezza da Basso where the fair was being held, and heard some music. We picked up our pace, thinking "ooh, maybe there's a parade",  (we had seen a strange kind of parade earlier in the day, kind of randomly wending its way by the Duomo, seeming to pick up people from the crowd, beginning with historically-dressed Florentine people, and ending with some modern-day politcal types. It was kind of strange, but fun).

But no, it wasn't a parade. (Just a quick divergence here..... very soon after Barb and I had met a couple of years ago, we watched the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun", which was one of my favourites but which  Barb had somehow never seen, and well, this movie is probably the whole inspiration for us wanting to ever go to Italy together in the first place. Any woman who has ever seen this movie will understand; how could you not want to move to Italy after watching this movie? I think I might just have to watch it again).

So, up ahead, we saw some flashes of colour, and hurried up where a crowd was beginning to gather to watch....can you guess???? A real live trumpets-blaring, drum-rolling, cannon-firing, medieval costumed nobility, tights-wearing Italian men flag throwing festival!!!!!! REALLY!!!! And it was just starting!!!! Barb had tears pouring down her face while taking pictures, I thought I was filming it (wasn't,  but I will always have the memories).....it was such an incredibly blissful moment. Somehow the universe had come together in a cataclysmic way, and we knew we were meant to be in Italy at that very spot in that moment in time,  basking in the Tuscan Sun, watching a flag-throwing festival. Serendipity. 

Florence – The Best Day Ever! (Part One)

 I love the Italian name for Florence –Firenze. It always makes me think of a phoenix for some reason, maybe that the word ‘fire’ begins it, since there is nothing phoenix-like about the city; it isn’t rising from its own ashes, it always seems to have been glorious. Perhaps it is just the beauty and magnificence the image of a phoenix conjures up for me, which are perfect adjectives to describe Florence, it has so much energy and life. It is a place I could never tire of visiting.

We woke up on Wednesday morning, with our first full day in Florence ahead of us. Barb and I stopped at Caffe Degl’Innocente for our first breakfast, (where we had tasted gelato the evening before) and sauntered off (in the right direction this time) to capture the morning sun on the Duomo.

On the way we stumbled upon the sprawling creature that is the Street Market, just opening for the day on the glittering rain-washed streets (maybe it hadn't rained, but the streets had been cleaned anyway), with people hauling their goods to their stall, setting up, or already ready for business!

Italian home cooking...beans, bruschetta, tiramisu and more!

Barb and I have definitely been putting our cooking skills learned in Italy to good use for our families. We both arrived home to our youngest children being extremely ill with pneumonia, and with my son's asthma, meant we were in a hospital for five days in a town forty-five minutes from home. The day after arriving home, I made homemade gnocchi with an amazing meat sauce, which was our last meal in Italy at the Palazzo Venturelli. I haven't even finished blogging about Florence yet, but I will get there!!
(I will have a blog on it separately when I take some photos too)...

Later in the week I made a dish we had at an olive grove, a simple bean dish with bread in it, with loads of olive oil. I plan to spice it up a little before blogging more about it, although I really loved it as it was, as such a simple dish. Steve was not a big fan, but he is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. This could be my new favourite comfort food, and next time I would add maybe some garlic and a bay leaf, but you could change it up with any herbs or flavours you wanted. (I'll play around with it and blog with some recipe variations next time).

A Florentine Evening - the Duomo and Dinner

Upon check-in at the Albergo Merlini, dumping our luggage in rooms, and freshening up, we were eager to be out in the beautiful early evening sunshine in Florence. We headed out, probably around 6:00 p.m.,  with no map, but a general idea of where we were going as we set off in search of the Duomo, as the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Saint Mary of the Flower) is usually called. No panoramic photograph of Florence would be complete without it.

Too bad my birthday is so far away.

Hmm. plaid and leopard print. Ick.

Along the way, we saw a shop which made us question Italian fashion, and Barb promised (threatened??) to buy this outfit for me....although, despite walking by this shop everyday, we somehow never worked up the courage, or maybe the sartorial lassitude which would be required to enter this shop. Blech. Maybe it was some sort of Art Installation... Or, how about this combo? Really? This is Italy??? There was never ANYONE who wore anything even remotely this hideous. It was like stepping into a parallel universe of some small town 1986 bargain basement sale.

Breakfast at Caffe Degl'Innocente

Caffe Degl'Innocente

I mentioned in an earlier post that we found out near the end of our stay that the hotel we were staying in (Albergo Merlini) offered breakfast as well, but we had discovered the corner coffee shop by then,
where we had the first of many Florentine gelato (or gelati might be plural?)

Our first breakfast...barb had an "egg" pastry... mine had custard too.

Caffe Degl'Innocente is on the corner of via Faenza and via Nazionale, where 2 euro and 20 cents bought the most divine cappucino I've ever had, and an amazing pastry as well. Cappucino in Italy comes in one size...cappucino-sized.

Our Room with A View at the Albergo Merlini

Albergo Merlini, via Faenza 56, Firenze, April 24-28

 We arrived in Florence at around 4:45, on Tuesday afternoon…..and made our roundabout way to Hotel Merlini, on via Faenza. We are walking down the street, and on one side, the numbers are going upward from 89-91, so I figured we needed to go one block over, since we were going to number 56. But no. In that quaint Italian way, numbers and streets make no sense to tourists, I’m sure, however much there is a reason which Italians know. However, they can be inscrutable. Also you will sometimes see two numbers in close proximity, while the next number could be half a block away. It is ultimately endearing, and we reached via Faenza 56 (with number 88 two doors down….see??? I don’t get it. Across the road was a completely different decade of numbers…)in good order, bumping our luggage along cobblestoned streets, and reassuring ourselves that we would be very strong when we got home, after hauling our stuff around all day. Fight the pain.

The Grandeur of Rome

Tuesday morning, we woke to another sunny day, packed our bags, and said goodbye to “Alice in Wonderland”, and dragged our luggage to Lepanto subway station. We went to Termini (the Rome version of Union Station), to check our luggage while we spent our last few hours in Rome. We checked the departures, and knew we had to be back for the 3:15 train to Florence.

We arrived at the Colosseo subway stop, and reaching the top of the escalator, we looked through the doors, and WHAM, right across the road, larger than life, was the Colosseum. Pictures of the Colosseum do not do justice to the enormity of your sense of awe and wonder, as you stand before it.

It is as colossal as its name implies, and the grandeur of the architectural achievement just reinforces the feeling that you are standing in the birthplace of civilization. We decided to have breakfast in the subway station café, where we had cappuccino (OMG, the cappuccino in Italy is sublime) and shared a palmier.

We then crossed the street to gaze at the Colosseum, and your imagination takes flight, imposing historical scenes on the reality in front of you, and you can hear the roar of the crowd as the watch gladiators fight in mortal combat….It was glorious to be standing in the vestiges of ancient Rome.







Our view, at breakfast.

We really wanted to go inside, but with a hone hour line-up to get in, our limited amount of time left in Rome meant that we would not get to see anything else.

Not far away is the Arch of Constantine, and the Roman forum.

The pillars form part of the ruins of the Temple of Venus and Rome

We thought we were heading toward the forum, but while we could see it behind an iron fence, we could not get in, but we did walk into the courtyard of a church called the Santa Francesca Romana (more info at Church of St. Frances of Rome).

With a plain, crumbling brick exterior,  we almost didn't bother going in but decided we might as well check out the inside after climbing up a hill to get there. Behind the church are the ruins of the Temple of Venus and Rome. We had first taken a few pictures in the portico (part of  the travertine facade by Carlo Lombardi (1615), which was beautiful. In we went, with few expectations.

Our jaws dropped in amazement at the  interior. Every inch of floor, ceiling, and wall was drenched in colour and architectural splendor. Intricate tile patterns covered the floor, the ceiling was stunningly painted, and the side chapel walls were hung with Gothic art. Behind the altar was a beautiful mosaic. It was unbelievable, especially to think we almost didn’t go inside.

Reaching the nave, we saw a sign indicating that down a flight of stairs we would find the body of Saint Francesca, so we decided to go down. I was assuming there would be a tomb or an effigy, but no, they literally meant the body of Saint Francesca (also known as Saint Frances of Rome, whol lived from 1384-1440, and was canonized in 1608; for more info see Frances of Rome ). There, in a glassed-in alcove, lay the skeleton of Saint Francesca, dressed in a nun’s habit, including shoes, with her bony fingers clutching an open Bible. I didn’t run out immediately, but I didn’t linger either. It was fascinating in a creepy way. I suppose for some, you would feel a sense of reverence in the presence of relics like this, but I was pretty glad to get back upstairs.

Behind the altar is The Madonna Glycophilousa (Our Lady of the Tenderness), which according to Wikipedia "is an early 5th century Hodegetria [which literally means "She who shows the way"; which is Mary pointing at Jesus as the source of salvation for all manking], brought from Santa Maria Antiqua. [which is another church devoted to St. Mary in the Roman Forum]." Here is what I found fascinating: "The twelfth century Madonna and Child that had been painted over it was meticulously detached in 1950 from the panel and is now kept in the sacristy." I would like to have seen that, but didn't know.  How amazing is that?! Here is my unimpressive photo of the icon.

From there we went in search of the Church of the Gesu, via the road running alongside the ruins of the Roman Forum. Again, we felt such a sense of the enormity of Roman cultural and architectural achievement, and the impact of seeing part of a column which has fallen over.

There were red poppies everywhere in the grass growing among the ruins, which again created a blend of new life with ancient history, and you become aware of the march of time and wonder what will be left of our civilization two thousand years from now. I don’t think anything can every compare with the  height of power in Rome.

This part of the forum ends by Trajan’s column, a beautiful relief-carved pillar.











Nearby, the immense white marble monument erected in honour of Victor Emmanuel, “ll Vittoriano” . (Our guide book has this to say about it:….also known as the Altare della Patria. Begun in 1885 to commemorate Italian unification and honour Victor Emmanuel II, it incorporates the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as a museum dedicated to the unification of Italy.) Prior to this, Italy was a collection of kingdoms, I guess. Victor Emmanuel was the King of Sardinia, and well, I don’t know much about the unification wars, but I think they ended in 1861, with just two kingdoms “unconquered”. So Victor Emmanuel is considered the Father of Italy.

We had such a whirlwind tour of Rome, it was obviously impossible to see everything, but one of Barb’s main quests was to see the Church of the Gesu, which turned out to be just a few blocks away from the Altare della Patria. Barb had studied the artwork here during her course of study in art history, and I was happy to have her lead the way on this trip to Italy, having been here twice before, I had no agenda, and we really just wanted to soak up as much atmosphere as possible and not to feel like “Rome was the place where we saw the yellow dog,” (as the reverend Mr. Eager says in A Room With a View), where travelers get caught up in “an inextricable whirl…handed about like a parcel of goods from ….Florence to Rome…. So if it meant we missed a few things here and there, so be it, we knew we would come back some day. So no, on this trip we did not see St. Peter’s Basilica, or the Vatican Museums, since they need a day or two all on their own.

The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesu is in the Piazza del Gesu, and its construction was begun in 1568. The  façade is considered the first example of baroque architecture, and the rest of the church looks fairly unassuming from the outside, other than the dome at the top of the building, we weren’t actually sure this was a church at all. The interior is a glorious combination of breathtaking architecture, and the frescoed ceiling and cupola  by Giovanni Battista Gaulli,   and sculptures by Rinaldi, and many more artists contributing their awe-inspiring skills. I am always amazed when I am a church (especially in Europe), by the pinnacle of human achievement attained in honour of the glory of God, and were the artists really as faithful or was it just a job?

Anyway, the Wikipedia article provides a lot of information and better photos than I was able to get in the short time we were in there (since we were all made to leave about ten minutes later, and we kicked ourselves for just wandering around outside in the piazza for ten or fifteen minutes before we made our way into the church).  

 Since we had just taken a few pictures before sitting down to drink it all in, we unfortunately did not get many photos. Since my camera does not do well in dim places, here are the few shots I took which are not a great representation of  the magnificence you feel in person.

Our final tourist goal was to see the Bocca della Verita (“A round piece of marble once used as an ancient manhole vover, the Mouth of Truth is one of Rome’s great curiositities. According to legend, if you put your heand in the carved mouth and tell al ie, it will bite your hand off. It lives in the portico of the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin”).

We waited about half an hour for our chance to photograph it, only once per person is allowed. Barb took a great shot of it on its own, while I took a photo with her in it, with her camera, so no pics of my own for this one. We knew we had to get going to make it back to the subway on tie. My navigation skills have really sucked this trip, but I think the maps are a huge problem, not to mention the fact that every block on every street has a different name, or it is the same name but changes direction, It gets confusing. So, we started going in the wrong direction and had to back track and walk past the “Circus Maximus” which was not particularly exciting, a giant field of gravel and grass, which was probably impressive once upon a time if you were there to watch a chariot race or something, but now just feels like the longest walk to a subway stop in history. In fact, we were walking alongside a cliff to our left, which turned out to be the Palatine Hill, and would have been very impressive. Next time!

 We arrived at Termini with about thirty minutes to retrieve our luggage, buy our tickets, and find our platform. We made it on board the train to Florence with five minutes to spare. We were about to have one of our worst meals ever in Italy, but we did not expect much from the train food. The prosciutto sandwich was inedible for me, and the tomato and pesto was a slight improvement. I didn't bother taking photos of it. 

We were sad to say arrivederci to Roma, but excited to greet Firenze!!

There are a few more photos in my FB album for this day FB photo album, Rome Day 2.

Dining at Cucina da Enzo

Barb and Karen's Italian Escapades - in Rome

Last week, Barb discovered a blog called heartrome, written by an Australian with Italian parentage, named Maria Pasquale. She transplanted herself to Rome and decided to start a blog to share her Roman life with friends and family back home, and now has around seven hundred followers. Funny, sassy and observant, Maria captures the essence of everyday Italians; their mannerisms and habits, their joie-de-vivre and laissez-faire-ness....Okay I'd rather know the Italian for these sentiments...maybe just Italian is good :)....

Anyway, Maria lets you live in Rome vicariously through her insights and adventures, and she, of course, loves food and writes about it too. (I really love her stories about grocery store cashiers and bagging groceries...) The most recent blog she posted before we left was about a trattoria called Cucina da Enzo in Trastevere, a Roman district (rione XIII), and recommended the burrata and the pasta carbonara.... So Barb and I were determined to find it.

Barb and Karen's Italian Escapades - A Roman Holiday

In our Italian Escapades, Barb is co-blogging and adding her comments in Italics :)

Having said goodbye to tearful (Barb’s) and somewhat indifferent (mine) children and husbands - we headed off to the airport.  (--Elinor's random made up song, sung before I left: " My mummy cannot play with me..she had to go to Italy."  Sob! --B.) My mum droves us which I was especially thankful for since I woke Sunday morning with eyeball pain. It wasn’t excruciating, but would have made driving difficult….. Waiting in airports, and train stations, and just that “getting there” process is like limbo, or purgatory. It seems endless until you are finally on your way to what you hope will be heaven. Waiting areas in the travelling world are uninspiring and dull, at best; at worst they are scary, and dirty, sometimes extremely smelly and run down (Termini Subway station), however, it’s obviously all worth it....

Pina Colada Chicken with Spicy Rice and Beans

Pina Colada Chicken with Spicy Rice and Beans

Steve and I have been lucky enough to be able to travel, courtesy of Loblaws and the retailer conferences they organize every two years, to the Caribbean several times. In February of 2007,  we went on a cruise, where at one Port of Call, in Puerto Rico, we went to the restaurant which claims to have invented the Pina Colada. True or not, it was the BEST pina colada I've ever had. Lots of fresh coconut flavour, and not overwhelming with pineapple.

My Favourite Cookbooks,Tropical Fruit, and Movies??!!

This past Christmas, my mother-in-law told me to go buy myself something with a specified amount of money, and it took about two seconds to think "oooh...cookbooks..." Despite how much I love to cook I don't really own a lot of cookbooks, although I always love to drool over those belonging to friends. I usually like to wing things, or adapt food I've tried elsewhere.

 My friend Pam, whom I met in university, once took a year of culinary school and is a huge foodie, and some of my fondest food memories come from living at her house one summer. Her mother, an Austrian lady named Elke, is a wonderful cook, and wonderful person too. She welcomes everyone with open arms. (Her schnitzel was the best, and so was her pasta sauce, and so was her peach pie, and her amaaaaazing Dutch apple pie....Okay, I'm salivating now).... I think between Pam and I, those were the only things we requested over and over and over..... They have a nice garden in their backyard, and when I visited Pam last summer we went out and picked berries to go in our morning yogurt. I vaguely remember picking our own potatoes too, but I'm not sure if we did, or we just talked about it.  I also love their grape arbor.... Okay, back to cookbooks. Pam has a GREAT collection, is how I got started on that subject. My brother Martin also has an amazing cookbook collection, he likes to collect old ones too, so it's pretty neat to see the old recipes in them.

The Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich

When Barb informed that it was National Grilled Cheese Day (ummm., yesterday....) our brains went into overdrive, and seeing that we have Italy on the brain our results won't surprise anyone, since anyone who knows us knows that we have NINE MORE SLEEPS until we leave for Italy. For two weeks. I'm sorry if you're jealous. I would be too. I'm jealous of me, and I'm going. I know that I am extremely fortunate to be able to go and leave our awesome husbands with our awesome children while we take ourselves to awesome Italy. 

What I did make last night for dinner, on the day of National Grilled Cheese, was the Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich. While we normally have garlic bread with spaghetti, or a spaghetti sandwich, I decided to combine the two. I actually remember the first time I ate a spaghetti sandwich. I was about fifteen, and we were camping with friends of ours, the Allens, who we camped with every summer at Killbear Park. Anyway, Garfield (we called him Gary back then, but his actual name was Garfield, before anyone had ever met the famous cat of that name), made a sandwich with his spaghetti, and I thought it was the weirdest thing. But then I tried it, and I almost always make one when I have spaghetti, unless we have garlic bread. I love it when it melts the butter, and the bread is all soft and squishy, it's so yummy. Steve puts Cheez Whiz on his, which I don't like. It would probably surprise you, if you know me at all, that I actually do eat Cheez Whiz, on exactly two types of food. I like Cheez Whiz on a toasted bacon sandwich (no egg, though), and I like it on celery. I think it's the saltiness that I like, but it is the only case where I don't prefer real cheese.

Really, the best thing would be to make sure there is extra spaghetti, which happens pretty much every time I make it since I always think it's never going to be enough, and have your nice spaghetti dinner, and then THE NEXT DAY make your Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich, because it ended up seeming like way more food than usual, and I actually ate a small plate of spaghetti followed by this sandwich, which meant that I was way too full for the dessert grilled cheese I had originally planned, and I had to force myself to finish the sandwich. It was one of those times where you really are starting to feel sick, but it's so good, you hate to not eat it.  

Make your favourite pasta sauce, and cook spaghetti...Then, mix some of the pasta with sauce. You will probably need about half a cup of pasta per sandwich. Then I melted more butter in a frying pan and pressed three cloves of garlic into it, and cooked for a minute or so, then I added two slices of French bread, and this is where a bit of foresight came in handy, I put the cheese on first (I was planning on topping the spaghetti with it, kind of like you do when you have a plate of it), but I thought, oh, that will be so messy, it might not stay put, so I put I nice layer of shredded cheddar on the bread (slices of cheese would probably  be good but I had some pregrated mozarella and cheddar blend, but please do not think of using processed cheese. I guess if you love it, it's your problem, and you might as well go ahead. Real cheese is better). Anyway, carefully top with spaghetti, I actually managed it pretty well. Then top with the second slice of bread, let it cook at a fairly low temperature so that the garlic doesn't burn, then flip it over and cook until golden on both sides. I'd recommend buttering the top slice before you put it on the spaghetti. The first one I flipped worked pretty well, but the second one came apart a bit, but I plonked it all back together.

Anyway, it was pretty good. This is great because you just add whatever you like, I used cheddar mozarella blend, but you could use whatever you like and whatever you have on hand....So then it was like a nice big grilled cheese, garlic bready spaghetti sandwich. Very very delicioso, but very very filling.
You all probably have your own way of making spaghetti sauce, but here is how I make mine:

I sautee about 1/2 cup of onion and 1/2 lb of mushrooms in olive oil and butter, remove from heat, then fry hamburger with seasonings, including cinnamon when I think of it, and when mostly cooked I add the mushrooms and onions back in. Then I add one small jar of PC Original Pasta Sauce. This became my favourite sauce in university, back when we were all the master chef of the Spaghetti Sauce and Oriental Stir Fry. I can't remember eating much besides thoses things. Anyway. I love this sauce the best, and I don't like sauce with added chunks of meat (it's just too suspicious, not to mention rubbery), or mushrooms or any other flavourings. I like to add my own fresh herbs or cheeses or veggies, so I stick to plain sauce. Then I add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar, and a small can of tomato paste, and stir it and cook it while the pasta boils. That's it. Cinnamon and brown sugar make a areally great spaghetti sauce, and if you've never tried it, well, you should.

Green eggs, and Ham, and Beets, Oh My!

Easter dinner at my mum's house was so much fun, and we had my Uncle Rosaire's beer ham, famous in our family, and the smell when you walk in the house has you drooling until you get to sit down and eat it. Not everyone loves ham, but this is always so good. The eggs came in the form of pavlova, which we had AGAIN, with CREME BRULEE too, my two favourite desserts in one evening, and yes I did eat them both. How could I resist? And we really had green eggs.....read on.


My contribution to Easter dinner was a three-colour scalloped potato concoction. The flavours were inspired by one of the best meals I've ever had, at  the restaurant at Inn on the Twenty, in Jordan (home of Cave Spring Cellars, which is an amazing pairing as far as wine and food dining go), I highly recommend a visit there, not even if you're driving by the area, but on purpose. Go. Just to have wonderful food. Actually, if you look up their websites, there is often a food/wine duet of vineyard exploring and a meal afterward. Sounds like a recipe for bliss..... (And if you ever follow Canadian Food Network Chefs, Anna Olson (who is maybe the only famous person I follow on Facebook), from Sugar (and now with a new show "Bake" coming soon, once was the pastry chef there....I like to think she was there when I went there the first time many years ago, but I don't really know...she is so fabulous, I love her, I could be her best friend, and we could eat brownies and pavlova, and OMG I just looked up her recipe archive and she has lemon thyme ice box cookies.... Lemon and thyme are the star ingredients in the recipe I'm about to talk about!!! See? We could totally be BFFs, lol, it has nothing to do with the fact that lemon and thyme is a classic combination).

Homemade Maple Syrup, and Crumpets of Heaven

Maple syrup, that sweet sign of change between winter and spring, when cold nights yield to warmer and trees begin to bud....and so delicious, it goes with EVERYTHING. Seriously. We've given it a lot of thought....remember my maple vinaigrette for salad in my Garlic and Brie post? Maple syrup goes with meats, vegetables, fish, fruit, desserts, and well, just about anything you could want it for. It's nature's gift to humans. Humans smart enough to discover it.... (Wikipedia has some history and background of how it came into being, there are lots of tales, I'm sure)....and we are lucky to live in a country that is a primary producer of maple syrup, and they grow right in our backyards, so if you've ever wanted to make your own maple syrup, my mum has written a guest blog for me to tell you how, but here's a quick recipe you could whip up and enjoy while you read :)

Pavlova

If you have never had Pavlova, you have been missing out big time!!! It is probably my favourite dessert, although creme brulee gives it a good run for its money. The big differences between the two are that after a big meal, Pavlova is so light, I can always eat seconds, it's like it doesn't take up any room in your stomach. It is sooooooo good. Creme brulee is so rich, it is definitely more enjoyable after a lighter meal. The other big difference is that Pavlova is very easy to make, while I have never been able to make a good creme brulee, although I will rededicate myself to that effort now that I'm writing more about food!!

Pavlova is known as New Zealand's national dessert, but it is famous in Australia as well (check out Wikipedia if you want to know more). It was named after a Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, while she was on tour there. Inexplicably, the name is pronounced differently when it is dessert. I don't get this, since it is named after her, but whatever. Who cares. Let's get to the dessert.

Brie and Roasted Garlic Toasted Sandwich

Barb and I took a trip to Boston two years ago, where her sister was spending a week or two at Harvard, to complete workshops to accompany a distance program she was enrolled in. She kindly invited us to stay in her hotel room with her, and a road trip was born. Not only did we want to go see her sister, and Boston, but it was an opportunity for Barb to add to her Wordstock photography repertoire. We drove down through New York, where I wanted to take Barb to a winery I had visited once in Hammondsport, but it was not open. Wanting to stop for dinner one night, we checked our GPS and saw "Garlic Bob's", and well, we both love garlic so we decided to check it out. Like the Velvet Hammer in North Carolina though, (mentioned in this post) it was nowhere to be found, and in fact seemed to be a derelict mechanic's shop. So we settled for a pub in the basement of a fancy looking place, and I couldn't tell you what I had. But, I've always wondered what Garlic Bob's might have yielded, so I decided to write about one of my all-time favourite garlicky foods

Many years ago, (I'm going in a completely different direction now), Steve and I were visiting our friends Dan and Tammy in Toronto, and they presented us with one of the most delicious snacks I've ever had, which I sometimes just make for lunch. It was roasted garlic served with slices of baguette, melted brie, and raspberry puree (they even strained out the seeds for us). It is that simple. And delicious. I just crush the raspberry myself, I like the seeds too, and I also thinly slice a Granny Smith apple as an alternative flavour. The method is to spread a clove of roasted garlic, sweet and fragrant and soft, on your piece of baguette, smear a bit of melted brie on that, and drizzle with raspberry (or top with apple).  I wanted to change it up just a bit, and turn these ingredients into it a fancy grilled cheese sandwich, so here is what I did.

Chicken with Grapes (Volaille Veronique)

I dug out my French Recipe Cookbook last night, sadly it seems to no longer be in print, but you can buy it used at amazon.ca/French Recipe Cookbook, (if you can get one) and mine was printed in 1995, and so it was brand new when Steve bought for me for Christmas. While I mostly make the pepper pepper steak from  it, and the Boeuf Bourguignon, this is a recipe I have always wanted to try. There are so many amazing recipes to try. I don't want to do the Julie and Julia thing, but French cuisine is magnifique, n'est-ce pas? They don't overwhelm with truckoads of ingredients, and let a few ingredients shine and work their magic.