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Happy Hour: 2008 Rocca di Montemassi Calasole Vermentino

YumSugar — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:00:00 -0800

I'm expanding my wine knowledge in 2010. This means trying new kinds of grapes, as well becoming more familiar with European wines. Recently I got to know Vermentino, a white grape grown in Corsica, Sardinia, and coastal Italy and France. The dry white wine is like a cross between Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. It has the floral, fruity bouquet characteristic of Viognier and the tart finish found in many Sauvignon Blancs.

I wasn't able to locate more bottles of the Calasole online, but while dining at La Ciccia, a local Sardinian restaurant, I spotted a Vermentino on the wine list. Its acidity paired well with my fregola-and-pecorino dish, cutting through the fat and creaminess. Tonight, I'm dropping by a local wine shop in search of Vermentino. I can't get enough of it. Have you recently fallen for a new wine variety?

Italy's Fashion Houses Pay Tribute to Coca-Cola

YumSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:50:53 -0700

Milan's 2010 Spring Fashion Week just came to a close, and in addition to revealing their latest collections, Italy's premiere fashion houses also partnered with Coca-Cola to raise funds for earthquake victims in Abruzzo, Italy.

Female designers Donatella Versace, Alberta Ferretti, Angela Missoni, Anna Molinari for Blumarine, Veronica Etro, Silvia Venturini for Fendi, Consuelo Castiglioni for Marni, and Rossella Jardini for Moschino dressed up Coca-Cola Light's trademark clear bottle for sale at an auction during Milan's "Tribute to Fashion" show.

I like them all, but my hands-down favorite is the iconic woven Missoni design, followed closely by the Moschino milk parody and Blumarine's flirty fruit pattern. To see each bottle, read more.

Do Women Wine Drinkers Have More Fun in Bed?

YumSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:30:13 -0700

Don't fear your lush lifestyle. A new study has found that drinking two glasses of wine a day could add a significant boost to a female's sex life. The study, which was conducted at Florence's Santa Maria Annunziata Hospital, will be published in this October's Journal of Sexual Medicine.

It received feedback from 800 Tuscan women between the ages of 18 and 50 using the Female Sexual Function Index, a measuring system with a scale from two to 36 that's employed by physicians to assess the sexual health and satisfaction of women. Women who drank two glasses of wine a day scored an average of 27.3 points. Those who drank one glass averaged a 25.9 rating, and non-drinkers registered at a mere 24.4.

"The aspects of wine and sexuality have been well known since the time of Ancient Greece," added Nicola Mondaini, the study's lead author. How do you feel about the findings?

In Italy, Obama Daughters Dabble in Gelato-Making

YumSugar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:00:02 -0700

Meet Malia and Sasha Obama, first children - and future gelato makers? While President Obama was in Rome, Italy, for a G-8 summit, the US embassy contacted the Italian capital's most renowned gelato parlor, Giolitti, to arrange an insider's ice cream tour for the commander in chief's daughters. At the historic gelateria, Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, donned aprons to become frozen-dessert makers for the afternoon. The sisters, accompanied by their grandmother, made blackberry and banana gelato. According to parlor owner Nazareno Giolitti, "Right after they made gelato, they tasted it straight from the machine, and the youngest one said, "It really tastes like blackberries." The girls, who Giolitti said "ate with great gusto," left with a whopping 6.6 pounds each of their ice cream, and took some home for the first lady.

Giolitti later showed a local television station a tub of some of the blackberry flavor the Obama girls created, saying that the leftover ice cream was immediately picked up by customers who wanted their cones filled with it. If I were him, I would have sold it for a killing on eBay.

Are you as envious as I am that the Obama girls had the opportunity of a lifetime at Rome's most famous gelateria?

Italy's Parmigiano Crisis

YumSugar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:10:04 -0700

With cheese prices slipping while raw materials prices multiply, producers of Italy's parmigiano reggiano are turning to the government to remedy a dire situation. The wholesale price of parmiggiano reggiano has fallen below the cost of producing it. Cheese prices have dropped as the result of two factors. First, the availability of parmesan has increased: The sector produces 11 percent more cheese compared to eight years ago. Second, Italians are reacting to the economic downturn by purchasing less of the so-called "King of Cheese."

Producers complain that a select group of supermarkets are able to dictate low prices by buying the bulk of the cheese produced. "This is a prized product. There ought to be policies to safeguard those who produce it," said farmers group Coldiretti.

The group is lobbying the government to temporarily suspend an antitrust law so that producers can cooperate together to reduce output, rather than being wiped out by the competitive market.

Have you heard about the parmigiano reggiano crisis? Have you bought less parmesan cheese as a result of the rising cost of raw materials?

Source

Gwyneth Loves to Cook, Set For Second TV Food Tour

YumSugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:15:00 -0700

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is shunning personal chefs and raw-foods-only diets for the joys of home cooking. She recently told People magazine:

I cook all the meals for my house. I really love to cook. Breads and pizzas is what I'm cooking and we all love it. We have a wood-burning pizza oven in our garden. Right now the weather is nice in London, so I'm using that oven a lot. You can cook anything in there. It's amazing.

It's no surprise that Paltrow is so passionate about cooking, her first travel food show, Spain . . . On the Road Again with Mario Batali, debuted on certain PBS stations over the weekend.

The dynamic duo has already signed on to do a second series that will take place in Italy further cementing Gwyneth's love for food.

Did you tune in this past weekend to see the pair eat their way through Spain? What did you think of it, and will you be watching their follow-up in Mario's motherland Italia?

Source

Who Says Jail Food Is Terrible?

YumSugar — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:51:39 -0700

Remember that scene in Arrested Development where they host a dinner inside of the prison? Turns out that might not be such a ludicrous idea after all. Diners in Pisa, Italy are swarming to an exclusive restaurant located inside a top security prison - one where all the chefs, waiters and staff are robbers, murderers and mobmen.

The patrons eat their meals in a deconstructed chapel next to the 60ft-high walls, watch towers, and security cameras belonging to Fortezza Medicea. While inside they dine on a signature vegetarian menu that has been cooked up by a someone who's serving life for murder - he's part of the 20 person team of chefs, kitchen hands and waiters who have all been through strict security checks and are constantly supervised by armed prison wardens.

The restaurant opened two months ago, but is so popular, Italy is considering doing this in other jails.

Source: Spluch

Neapolitan-Style Mac and Cheese Is Dangerously Addictive

YumSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:30:49 -0700

I don't take advantage of them too often, but lazy Saturdays are the best. Not only because I'm at home enjoying doing nothing, but also because my favorite shows on KQED, San Francisco's public television station, all happen to be on: Check, Please!, Made in Spain, Lidia's Italy, and Secrets of a Chef.

Recently the boy and I were watching an episode of Lidia's Italy in which she prepares a Neapolitan version of mac and cheese. Her recipe called for ditalini in lieu of macaroni, smoked provola instead of American or cheddar, and bacon, potatoes, and diced tomato. We sat there in captivation, practically smelling the sizzle of smoked bacon vaporizing in our living room.

We were so tantalized that we drove to the grocery store to make it immediately, with the notes I'd taken while watching the show as our guide. It tasted just as good as we'd hoped. Later, I got my hands on the book for the written recipe. Want it? Read more.

Know Your Ingredients: Porchetta

YumSugar — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:50:17 -0800

If there's one ingredient that may be able to oust bacon as the prized protein of the moment, it's porchetta. It's been appearing everywhere in farmers markets, Italian restaurants, and sandwich shops around San Francisco.

Pronounced "por-ketta," porchetta is an Italian specialty of slow-roasted suckling pig. A young, milk-fed piglet is gutted, deboned, stuffed with a mixture of garlic, herbs, and seasonings, then roasted whole in a wood-burning oven.

Porchetta originated in Lazio, a region of west central Italy, where it was probably a mountain food eaten during wintertime feasts. The specialty has since become entrenched in much of the country's culinary tradition. In Umbria, porchetta is flavored with fennel in garlic; in Rome, rosemary and garlic; in the Marches, wild herbs; and in Sardinia, myrtle leaves.

Sometimes referred to as "Italian pulled pork," porchetta is succulent, extremely fatty, and savory. In Rome, it's popular for street vendors to serve it sliced and sandwiched between a roll. Have you ever tried porchetta?

Source: Flickr User Pedro Angelini

Mario Batali Heads Back Into Kitchen With Eataly

YumSugar — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:30:34 -0800

With 15 restaurants, eight cookbooks, a travel food show, and a silver screen debut under his belt, world-renowned Italian chef Mario Batali is making a return to the kitchen. This Summer, Batali will open the first US location of Eataly, a colossal food emporium based in Turin, Italy. The 60,000 square foot greenmarket and food center, which will be near Manhattan's Madison Square Park, will have a meat restaurant, a fish restaurant, a pasta and pizza eatery, a vegetable-driven restaurant, a panino bar, and a brewpub on the roofdeck. The most significant point to note, aside from the project's sheer scope, is the fact that, for the first time since he opened Otto, Batali will design the menus for all six restaurants.

Much like Tom Colicchio, who has spent more time cooking in the last year with Tom Tuesday Dinner and Colicchio & Sons Tap Room, Molto Mario admitted he's missing the time spent in the kitchen. I love the idea of a celebrated chef coming full circle and embracing the sheer joy of cooking. Do you think Batali and other celebrity chefs can still cut it in the kitchen?