5 Facts about Me

It's been an awfully long time since I've been personally tagged for a meme. I am busy unpacking, sorting the accumulated mail and plowing through email, but since I don't have time for much of a real post this meme is a nice stop gap measure.

Thanks to Sarah of Suite Apple Pie for tagging me.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules
2. Share 5 facts about yourself
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.

4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. I'm sending them direct messages via Twitter instead.

5 Facts (you probably don't know about me)


1. Last week in the Italian city of Benevento I was one of the judges of a student cocktail competition with the theme "Cucina & Magia" which means cooking and magic. The winning cocktail used white rum, Strega, lemon and blueberry juice, muddled basil leaves and was garnished with a spiral of zucchini. Refreshing and light, I wish I had the recipe. The winner was the only woman contestant. Brava!


2. Last night after seeing a movie I dined at a very inexpensive North African restaurant called Cafe Zitouna on Polk street. The fantastic homemade merguez was served over couscous with a big bowl of vegetables, and the fragrant chicken b'stilla was moist and flavorful. I look forward to going back.


3. A few weeks back at the Maker Faire I was totally smitten by these knitted cupcakes and donuts. Utterly useless but so darn cute!


4. At the Frankfurt airport I ate a surprisingly delicious sandwich of thinly sliced ham, green apple and horseradish cream on a wheat roll studded with pumpkin seeds. It helped steady my nerves after being frisked by German airport security.

5. My first breakfast after coming home from Italy was a smoked fish platter at Miller's East Coast Delicatessen. It had whitefish salad, belly lox and sable. There was so much fish I bought extra bagels and it was enough for another breakfast--for 2 people! The coleslaw, potato salad and pickles are still in the fridge.

5 people/bloggers I'm tagging are--Gluten Free Goddess, Hedonia, Lucullian Delights, Vanilla Garlic & Ms. Adventures in Italy. Each are bloggers who inspire me in one way or another, they are also all on Twitter. Are you?

Bello Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano

There is good food everywhere. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it. In some places it is easier than others, to find something delicious. Sorrento is a pretty tourist town just a stone's throw from Naples. Orange trees pop up through the sidewalk and the views of the bay are breathtaking, especially at sunset when everything turns shades of pink and blue and grey. The town inspired many artists and poets and their ghosts are felt everywhere in the gardens, the public spaces and the names of the streets. I'm staying at the romantic Hotel Tramontano perched on the edge of the bay. The history of the hotel makes me feel as if I am stepping into a more refined era.

So far in addition to a limoncello producer who has a lovely grove of citrus you can enjoy like a park, I also visited a tiny pastry shop singled out by the prestigious "Gambero Rosso" in Italy. The owner is passionate about quality and creativity and teaches other pastry shops to develop high standards as well. I bought one of just about everything he was selling. The total bill was under $15. No idea how I will eat it all!

There is not much to do in Positano or Amalfi, and you know what? That's ok. Positano is pretty and colorful with bright orange and green umbrellas set in the sand against a background of blue and the food, while somewhat expensive is absolutely delicious. Today I had a large macaroni pasta called paccheri with some tomato sauce and monkfish. I also had meltingly tender pizza and a tasty carpaccio of some kind of fish I didn't recognize. In Amalfi I found a shop selling brilliant lemon granita with plenty of pucker. Next it's back to Naples to eat the most traditional baba, sfogliatelle and pizza.

Grazie, Napoli!

It's been twenty years since I've been in Italy and in some ways it feels like I never left. That's why I chose this photo instead of any of the other 200 photos I have shot in the last two days. It somehow captures the timeless spirit of the place. Yes, it's been two days of exploring Naples and Caserta and Sorrento again. This time I am older and my Italian a bit rusty but still it is a joy to be visiting this lovely region with it's sunshine and views of the bay of Naples and the gorgeous and bountiful landscapes with roaming animals and abundant produce. Most of all it is a joy to be experiencing the passion of the residents of Campania again. Twenty years ago after feeling like a second class citizen in Florence I was overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers I experienced in both Naples and Sorrento and the same is true this time around.

I have eaten paccheri pasta and fresh mozzarella and sfogliatelle pastries more times than I can count and enjoyed it all. A lot. I have seen a bit of opera, climbed Mount Vesuvius and talked to a professor about the significance of pizza in Naples. Dottore Mattozzi also told me about his family's pizzeria about the two systems of credentials bestowed in regards to pizza and his experiences as a child during the war. He shared the thrill of eating canned corned beef and candy American soldiers brought to him and his starving family as if it were yesterday. All the while we dined on the most exquisite fried and ricotta stuffed zucchini blossoms I have ever eaten. I have so many stories to tell. I promise to get to more of them in time.

Ciao, Italia!

Today I'm heading off to Italy for a visit to Campania. I will try to post while I'm gone, but since I'll be on assignment I expect to be pretty busy! In the meantime, feel free to check out my posts, there are many of them in the queue over at Glam Dish, and posts from me every Wedneday on KQED's food blog, Bay Area Bites.

Ci vediamo!

Amy

p.s. If you have any favorite spots in Naples or the Amalfi coast, feel free to leave a comment. In the past I've checked out reader recommendations in Hawaii and Japan and have yet to be disappointed with any of your suggestions.

Rubs vs. Marinades

I've tried to get a lot more creative when cooking meat, especially so I don't get bored with it. Before it was just a little salt and pepper, and throw it on the Foreman grill! Now I'm trying different cooking styles, as well as different ways to season it. It seems when really trying to infuse good flavor into your meats, the most effective two ways are dry/wet rubs, and marinades. I tried a dry rub tonight which consisted mostly of paprika mixed with salt, brown sugar, cumin and other flavors. To be honest, I wasn't too impressed. I even let the chicken sit in it for a while before grilling. It just didn't add much to the chicken and we ended up slathering on the BBQ sauce anyway!

So far, in my opinion, if you want a juicy, high flavored piece of meat, marinading is the way to go. And it's really fun and easy to make your own using common cupboard items. Here's one of my favorites:

3/4 c. olive oil
1/2 c. soy sauce
2 TB Worchestershire sauce
1 TB dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 TB apple cider vinegar
1 tsp parsley
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 c. lemon juice
Mix it all up and pour over whatever meat you have. Keep in the fridge at most 24 hours. Best when grilled. ENJOY!

Orange Mango Smoothie:Recipe

Have you ever had an Orange Julius? I seem to recall it being pretty popular in the 70's. Founded in Los Angeles, the juice bar chain (now part of Dairy Queen) makes a frothy kind of orange blender drink that is very refreshing, especially if you are running around town.

The first Orange Julius opened over 80 years ago and it was the official drink of the 1964 World's Fair in New York. The name comes from how people ordered the drink from the owner, Julius. "Gimme an orange, Julius!" The recipe was and still is secret but there are plenty of copycat recipes online. Some use milk, others include egg white. All of them generally have some combination of orange juice, ice and sugar.

Orange Julius makes a "Mango Julius" and while I've never tried it, I did come up with my own version. Mangoes have vitamin A, B and C and are an amazing feel-good fruit. Is it the color? The flavor? The nutritional benefits? I don't know. But I can't get enough of them! If you like orange juice first thing in the morning, try a mango orange smoothie it's delicious and invigorating. Personally I like a smoothie in the afternoon when I start slowing down a bit.

Note: The vanilla extract gives it that distinctive Orange Julius flavor. My version is not as frothy as the original, but it is nice and creamy. You could make it dairy-free, but I think the vanilla yogurt really makes it extra delicious.

"Julius" style Mango Orange Smoothie
makes 2 servings

Ingredients

1/2 ripe mango, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup orange juice
1 cup ice cubes, about 5 regular sized cubes
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons vanilla yogurt

Instructions

Place all the ingredients into the blender, cover and blend until thick and creamy with no chunks of ice. Serve in two tall glasses.

Enjoy!

Dessert Giveaway!

There's another contest over at Glam Dish today! Win one of three prize packages that each include a signed copy of a Gale Gand cookbook, bakeware and 12 coupons for a product that was named to Time Magazine's list of the 100 greatest consumer products in 1998. It was invented 60 years ago. Do you know what it is? Click here to find out...

Crazy for Conservas

When I think of processed foods the first things that come to mind are newfangled convenience and artificial ingredients. But that's not the case with all processed foods. In Spain, preserving vegetables and seafood is a very traditional craft. Olives, piquillo peppers, anchovies and tuna are just a few of the most common "conservas" you'll find.

In Barcelona there is a famous tapas bar called Quimet y Quimet that specializes in using conservas and many shops are filled with precious treasures in cans and jars. I recently got a chance to try some of the products being sold online by AJ Gourmet and was really impressed. The father and son partners are passionate about Spanish foods and import a terrific array of olives, especially stuffed ones.

I talked to Andy Weiss to find out how his stuffed olives were different from the more typically available ones. He told me that the stuffed olives you find in most markets are for the most part standard queens, a large variety that is a bit woody and a tad bitter but easy to stuff (also known as gordales in Spanish) and standard manzanillas. They are generally stuffed with a composite paste that is chosen more for the ease of stuffing than for quality. Worst of all the pimiento in most stuffed olives is not pimiento at all, but a red gel.

AJ Gourmet uses manzanillas finas, the highest quality available, and stuffs them with real products to achieve a flavor balance between the natural nut like flavor of the olive and the unique stuffings. The blue cheese olives are stuffed with a Spanish Cabrales cheese. Other exotic flavors include olives stuffed with real piquillo peppers and olives stuffed with Valencia orange peel. Even the liquid bring is of artisanal quality rather than just plain salty water.

I was pleased to learn that Andy is working with his producer friends in Spain to introduce some new combinations including salmon, shrimp and tuna stuffed manzanilla olives. He willl also be bringing in grilled artichokes and other Spanish specialties including some more seafood items. I can't wait to try them!