a little piece on Food

First, I wanted to say I'm still trying to really figure out the difference between an osteria, trattoria and pizzicheria.  I know the difference between a cafe and a bar.  I learned quickly at the bar where I went for a tea one day that if you sit down at the little tables, the tea price automatically goes from 2 Euro to 5 Euro! That's why you swallow your coffee, espresso, etc. standing up.

Some absolutely wonderful trattorie I've tried in our area (Santa Croce): right next to San Ambroge market (for the obvious reasons!) are Cibreo's Trattoria, cafe and restaurant.  I have not been to the restaurant but have been told to just eat at the Trattoria and cafe as it's the same excellent food but cheaper and indeed one day when eating at the cafe, I saw the waiters crossing the street from Cibreo Restaurant with the hot dishes in hand (I have had both minestrone soup and eggplant dishes there along with a type of grilled onion that is out of this world).  I also love Baldovino's (both a restaurant with Neopolitan style pizza and a wonderful little trattoria right next door) right behind Santa Croce church as well as the new Trattoria, Lulu's over by San Lorenzo.  Right next to our palazzo entrance is the ristorante Boccadama which serves wonderful Tuscan fare including ribollita soup (a thick soup with bread in it!) as well as minestrone and Tuscan sausage and cinghiale (wild boar--note they don't shoot the boar from a helicopter like they do in Texas! And from what I hear, the wild boar has to be washed multiple times in vinegar water the day before you cook it and I think I'll just pass on that one). The best time to eat lunch (pranzo) is from 1-3 and if you are traveling, you had better eat well because most of the ristoranti don't open again until 7 p.m. The boys have found the gelateria Vivoli one street over on via Isola delle Stinche (isn't that a name) ...although it is said this is one of the best gelateria, the boys love the Gelateria Nero on via dei Nero (If I ate as much gelato as they did, I wouldn't be able to make it out of the apartment!).  Ryan has become a fan of stracchiatore (wedding cake gelato) and Evan loves the fragola (strawberry).  The Italians are passionate about food and drink... fresh ingredients, how it is made, how it is eaten and its presentation...they have a reverence for food, a healthy love affair with food.  The camerieri (waiters) have told us that we have to drown our food with things--olive oil, ketchup, etc! I have been thinking that perhaps if we revered food as much as they do, we wouldn't have so many problems with overeating and wrong food combining.  Unfortunately (purtroppo, c'e male!), I am just not much of a wine drinker so I can't report on that, however, I do really like a touch of "digestivo" (after-dinner liqueurs) Mirto de Sardegno and Vecchio Amara del Capo, and not just for the absolutely adorable tiny glasses you drink them from!

For instance, in the cooking class I've been taking, Veronica admonished us never to put cheese and fish together in a meal and I realized that I'd learned the same thing in Ayurvedic teachings on food mixing so there is some foundation and logic to all of this. She also says you can only use white pepper and white wine with fish...  I'm adding a few pictures from my recent cooking class below.  For the first time in my life, I ate cuttlefish (sepie) the other and it was wonderful, if not a new and unusual taste.




At La Quercia after our meal was made:
Colombia, U.S., Australia and Italy represented!

 

La Quercia cooking studio in Impruneta



ingredients








Contorno di Scarole all Mediterranea (escarole dish with garlic,
olive oil, anchovie, olives capers and pine nuts)
Absolutely divine and I will share the recipe




Calamarata (the pasta is called camarata because it is
shaped like calamari!) This dish has calamari and cuttlefish
 in it with olives, artichokes and capers.




Cipolle Bianche al Forno (white onions stuffed
with pecorinocheese and bread crumbs--can use substitutes)
and the leftover filling made into a fritatta



Calamata (ok had to show it on the plate)




Strudel Nonna Olga!




B.C. (before cooking)