Eggplant Rollatini, Vegan-Style

October 20, 2011 By Laura

That fact that I got back from Italy 2 weeks ago and still I cannot get enough Italian food is further proof that I was meant to be Italian.

And that I should move there immediately. Does anyone want to sponsor me?!

I’m not kidding.

Italians love eggplant, or melanzana. It was one of the few readily available veggies on restaurant menus. We learned the word melanzana quickly!

Source: agricultureguide.org

Remembering the delicious eggplant meal I had in Friuli, I decided to make a vegan Eggplant Rollatini this week.

Eggplant is at its prime in September/October, so get yours in ASAP! To choose a good one, look for the following:

Firm and heavy
Smooth and glossy, free of blemishes
Stem and cap should be bright green
Press the skin – if it springs back quickly, it’s ripe

It’s an under-appreciated vegetable nutritionally speaking. These pear-shaped, purple pieces of perfection are good sources of:

Fiber (you know you need it!)
Manganese
Copper
Thiamin (B-1)
Nasunin (antioxidant)

For this recipe I used this Tofu Ricotta from my Vegan Ricotta Pasta Bake in place of dairy ricotta. My only modifications were to add an extra garlic clove, a tsp of red pepper flakes, and I used fresh parsley instead of thyme.

I swear to you Vegan Ricotta is good. Try it – I dare you.

As easy as it is to make your own tomato sauce… I have to admit I started with a jarred base. When I’m feeling especially lazy I add a jar to a warm pot as “doctor” it. This usually means the additions of herbs (oregano and basil), red pepper flakes (never enough heat!), freshly ground pepper, garlic, and onions. This time I also added capers for a little salty tang.

I was thrilled with how this riff on my Friulian meal came out. The creamy “ricotta” was the perfect texture. I loved how the lemon flavors from the ricotta came through and complimented the capers in my sauce. Don’t skip the grilled eggplant. It’s just as easy as baking and it helps prevent sogginess.

As with many saucy Italian dishes, it was even better the second day as leftovers. Nom.

Eggplant Rollatini (Vegan)

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into ~1/3 in slices
1 tsp sea salt
4-5 large kale leaves, lightly sautéed
Tofu ricotta
Your favorite tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375.

Arrange eggplant slices onto wax paper. Sprinkle with sea salt and allow to sit for ~15 mis to help remove excess moisture and bitterness. Wipe salt off eggplant and pat dry with a towel.

Spray grill pan with vegetable spray and place eggplant slices in pan over medium-high. Cook ~3 mins per side, until slightly softened and browned. Remove slices from the grill pan and allow to cool.

Once cooled, line the eggplant slices with the kale and place 2-3T of ricotta on 1 end of each eggplant slice. Roll up tightly. Place the roll seam side down into a 8 by 8-inch pyrex dish. Cover the rollatini with your favorite tomato sauce.

Bake uncovered 15-20 mins, or until bubbling hot. Drizzle with good-quality extra-virgin olive oil and serve!

***

It’s 40 degrees this morning! How did I go from getting sunburned Sunday to getting seeing frost today?!

What is your favorite veggie-tized comfort food?

Did the temps drop in your town… and are you ready for it? I’m not!

A Michelin Star Day in Italy

October 19, 2011 By Laura

It would have been fun to post a What I Ate Wednesday from Italy…

My first in-person pomegranate tree!

… but I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and write when there was so much to explore.

So today, 2 weeks later, I bring you: What I Ate on a Wednesday in Italy.

Breakfast:

Typical European tourist fare consists of pastries, cheese, and cured meats. The novelty wears off after 1-2 days.

At least we know the Nutella is fresh!

Cheese selection (thankfully no stinky cheese!)

Breakfast of champions

That Robiola Rocchetta cheese was pretty amazing. It is native to the Piedmont region and would be fantastic with the local Barolo wine. It is a layered, creamy cheese made from goat’s, cow’s, and sheep’s milk. It’s structure is reminiscent of a brie – pliable rind with a dense, semi-soft texture inside.

FYI – this is what you get if you order a latte in Italy:

Cup of hot milk

Lunch:

Most days this consisted of more cured meat and cheese with bread sticks… served at a wine tasting. 🙂

I should have my cholesterol checked

Snack:

We had a mandatory daily snack of gelato.

Like a kid in a candy shop…

Dinner:

My favorite meal of the trip was at Il Cascinalenuovo, and Michelin star restaurant just outside of Asti. The restaurant is part of a family-run B&B. We were lucky to have a tour of the kitchen with Chef Walter.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Walter’s niece, Alice. Alice was so much fun to talk to and hosted us all evening. Her father is the front of house and wine expert in the restaurant.

Alice with her father

Chef sat with us for quite sometime, asking about our backgrounds and telling us about his inspirations. He admitted to being surprised that we are “young and skinny.”

He was expecting “fat old ladies.” Direct quote – I can’t make this stuff up.

Me, Chef Walter, and Corinne

He told us the story of when he was invited to California to cook for a United Nations event where he worked alongside greats as Wolfgang Puck. Puck introduced him to Asian-fuision and inspired one of the dishes we would be eating. I love hearing the stories behind techniques and dishes.

The kitchen was having dinner when we arrived, so Alice showed us to the pool patio for aperitifs.

Sparkling wine, tripe, toast with fig jam and Rocchetta, salami balls, and mini-pizzas

Walter came out again to give us a kitchen tour. He thoughtfully explained each station and process. Chef Walter is a big fan of preparing meats sous vide.

We were even able to stand in the back to watch the first order being coordinated!

The kitchen was quite tolerant of our paparazzi-like behavior.

We sat down for dinner an elected to let Chef Walter surprise us rather than ordering off the menu.

We do know how to order well!

La tavola (the table)

This turned out to be the best meal of the trip.

The starter alone was mind-blowing: a perfectly silky pumpkin soup with Parmesan gelato.

Followed by the dish inspired by Wolfgang Puck: Sesame-encrusted Amberjack fish with julienned fresh vegetables, wasabi, and passion fruit sauce.

Next was Chef Walter’s signature dish, created in 1987. It has become his signature dish. Normally we’d be leery of the ingredients, but this was on a whole new plateau of deliciousness. Corinne nearly licked her plate.

Veal tongue and foie gras millefoglie with port wine jelly and balsamic reduction

Check out this wine glass – the bubble ring makes it perfect to swirling/smelling.

I’m on a mission of find a set for myself!

This texture combination in the next dish was divine: quail egg, duck carpaccio, marinated porcini mushrooms served atop a bed of butter lettuce.

Last was the region’s Tajarin pasta (homemade) served with porcini and finfirli’s mushrooms.

Did I say last?! I meant last dish before dessert. 2 girls = 3 desserts.

Chef Walter clearly knows the way to my heart. He even made one with almond milk!!!

Pineapple carpaccio, ricotta with candied orange, and strawberries

Almond milk “panna cotta” with pistachios and candied nuts

I can’t begin to name all of this… truffles, macaroons, chocolate-covered gooseberries… it was sheer bliss

Thank god we had a driver because a food coma immediately ensued.

Thank you, Ferretto family, for an evening we’ll never forget!

***

I still swoon just thinking of this meal.

Have you ever had a meal so good it brought tears to your eyes?

Do you carefully plan your restaurant strategy when you travel? Or do you think I’m crazy?

Slow Food and Curried Butternut Squash Dip

October 18, 2011 By Laura

Remembering hurts sometimes.

Morning view from our B&B

Maybe I’m being a little dramatic… but I fell in love in the Piedmont region of Italy. Specifically in Alba.

Our first day in the region was spent bumming around the small town of Alba. Two important things to note about Alba:

Ferrero (the company that makes Nutella) is based there
It is most famous for its magnificent white truffles (tartufi bianco), which are in season from October-December

Therefore, the city smells of chocolate and truffles. How could I not fall in love?

We took our time at the B&B sleeping in and getting ready for the day. All of the train travel, 55 lb bag carrying, and late night arrivals were taking a toll! We arrived in the city center just in time for lunch at one of the original Slow Food restaurants – Osteria dell’Arco.

Not familiar with the Slow Food movement? Briefly, from their website:

Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world who are linking the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment.

To say that it was a religious experience would be an understatement.

To begin, I was THRILLED with my massive salad topped with perfect late-season tomatos, carrots, and yellow peppers. The glass of Nebbiolo was pretty tasty too.

Insalada Mista

We ordered a Primi to share, followed by two Secondi.

The primi was so good it almost made me cry – gnocchi with shaved black truffles. That was the lightest, fluffiest gnocchi that I have ever put in my mouth (and we ate quite a bit on this trip). The sauce was perfectly creamy with a touch of salt – just enough to complement the earthy, rich truffles.

The following dishes were also excellent: Brasato di vitello al barolo (braised veal in Barolo wine) and an eggplant dish with red peppers and creamy lemony ricotta.

Check out the Slow Food plate!

Post-lunch explorations took us all over the city, admiring truffles, pastas, and various meats.

We wandered into one particular truffle shop and were admiring the jars truffle-laced goodies when I did something embarrassing. I knocked a 25 Euro jar of anchovies with white truffles off the shelf. It shattered onto the floor and the store filled with the aroma of truffles… which gave way to the less pleasant smell of anchovies. Call me Grace.

I apologized profusely to the man working and mentally prepared myself to have to shell out the money for the merch. much to my surprise, the man insisted I not worry about it and – since I wouldn’t stop apologizing – he gave me a piece of truffled chocolate!

To this day I’m not sure how the next part of this story came to be. The man – Tomi – ended up talking to us for a bit. We told him how much we wanted to have some good white truffles, which are hard to find on menus early in the season. It turns out it isn’t uncommon for people to buy truffles to bring to a restaurant for dinner (BYOT), and he knew of a shop where we could buy them (with his 50% off discount!!!). The really mind-blowing part is that Tomi offered to drive us to his friend’s restaurant in the neighboring town of Teriso for dinner!

How does this stuff happen to us?!

We decided to take our chances that he wouldn’t be a mass murderer (he wasn’t – he was a very nice Japanese-transplant to Italia) and accepted his generous offer. Off to the store to buy truffles!

Clockwise: local hazelnuts, black truffles, white truffles, samples of various truffle spreads

You lick it, you bought it!

Our very own 0.26 ounces of white truffles

.26 oz of white truffles would normally cost about 100 euro. We got it for 50. That’s cheap compared to what you find in the States – I just heard that a local Atlanta restaurant is offering a white truffle pasta dish for $60. Thanks Tomi!

Profumo di Vino has the coolest menu design I’ve ever seen!

Profumo di Vino’s chef/owner, Memo, offered a delicious tasting menu… all of which i can no longer name, but I’ll do my best! ‘Scuse the nighttime low-quality shots.

2008 Elio Grasso Barbera d’Alba

Pumpkin mousse

Encrusted poached egg (post-cut) over a potato puree

Memo shaving our truffles over his olive-oil coated tajarin

Eggs, white truffles, and a phenomenal Hilberg Barbera d’Alba.

This was incredibly tender and moist… I think he said it was quail but it seems too big?!

Molten chocolate cake. Served with a side of jalapeno gelato.

Normal people might go home after all that. We aren’t normal.

The whole kitchen came out to talk to us and we shared drinks with a staff from the following countries: Mexico, America, Sweden, and Japan. ~~There may have been a push-up contest involved.~~ Only in Italy.

Who needs a dose of health food after that smorgasbord? Are you seeing why I need to cleanse? LOL! 🙂

I had a little bit of butternut squash left over and wanted to eat it in a new way. Remembering the Butternut Rosemary Hummus I made last spring, I decided on a dip. Curried Butternut Squash Dip.

The curry and ginger flavors with the sweetness of the squash was delicious. I enjoyed the whole dish with carrots, red bell peppers, and celery. ~~Then I cleaned the bowl with my fingers.~~

The garnish is simply roasted butternut squash seeds. They are just like pumpkin seeds and super easy to make:

Pick them out of the “guts” and give them a good rinse
Spread them out and allow to dry overnight
Coat with a bit of coconut oil and cinnamon (careful not to get them too moist)
Roast them in the oven on 325 for ~30 mins, stirring once or twice
Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container

They make a great grab and go snack!

Curried Butternut Squash Dip

1/2 C butternut squash, roasted
2 tsp rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Juice from a wedge of lemon
S+P, to taste

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Adjust spices and add more oil (or water) as needed.

Use as a dip for your favorite veggies and chips or as a spread on sandwiches or wraps. ~~Or simply eat with a spoon while standing over the blender.~~

***

I think the Piedmont recaps have been hard for me to begin because I’m still sad I had to leave.

Have you ever had white truffles?

What’s your favorite way to eat butternut squash?

5Ks, Forks, and Knives

October 17, 2011 By Laura

What’s the best way to get back into running?

I was registered before I left for Italy and was nervous about racing one week after returning. Rightfully so – this was a HARD 3.14 miles. I haven’t been running because my knee is iffy and the top of my foot has started hurting. I’m also just out of the habit.

Sunday at noon I laced up and headed to the park for the AIDS Walk and 5K. It was a 1p start, but they were having some sort of issues and we didn’t start until after 1:15p. Did I mention that it hit 80 degrees yesterday?

We started uphill in the heat. I was sunburned from the long wait (sunscreen is smart, even if it is October). Official times aren’t posted yet but I didn’t PR. I crossed the line at 24:39… so I’m thinking my official time is around 24:30.

That’s not a terrible time. What is terrible is how hard it was for me to get that time… and the fact that I’m supposed to run 7 miles of a Marathon relay in 2 weeks, followed by a Half on Thanksgiving. Time to end vacation mode and get little more disciplined about running!

Post-run I participated in the AIDS Walk portion of the event. It was really neat to see so many people come together for a great cause.

Adjusting to the cleanse this time has been much easier this time! When I did it last year, I was tired and had a headache for the first few days. This year I’m not missing meat at all and am enjoying the challenge of eating vegan on the cleanse. The hardest part was not being about to enjoy a beer in the sunshine this weekend! 🙂

Saturday night, over-whelmed by disappointing football outcomes, I watched Forks Over Knives. It definitely has me thinking. The health benefits of a plant-based diet are undeniable.

While I’m not sure I could go the rest of my life without any animal products, I am going to make more of an effort to limit my intake. On day 11 of the cleanse I’m supposed to add a serving of chicken or fish each day; however, I have decided to add tofu and tempeh instead.

Eating clean does make a difference. I feel much better today than I did the last day in Italy after our shared 2 kilos of beef (not to mention the gelato, wine, etc.)!

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t regret it (that steak was incredible). The trip was amazing and I love delicious food. That isn’t something I can sustain.

Over the past 10 days my plant-based diet I have been able to keep my energy up while working an insane number of hours, traveling all week, and not getting as much sleep as I should have. Cheers to plants.

Like I said, I am really struggling to get back into the swing of things workout-wise. My muscles feel incredibly tight and I’m out of the habit. A massage is in order! I need to get back to writing out my weekly workout plan. Having it in writing makes a big difference for me.

I am making an effort. The intensity level isn’t where I’d like it and I’m struggling to run… but half the battle is getting out the door. That, I have done.

Workout Recap (10/10-10/16)

Monday – 100 push-ups
Tuesday – P90X Ab Ripper X
Wednesday – Bike-Elliptical-Treadmill 30 min intervals, Legs, 100 push-ups
Thursday – Tris/Chest, 6 min plank sequence
Friday – 30 mins elliptical, 10 mins Bike, 100 push-ups
Saturday – P90X Kempo, Ab Ripper X, 100 push-ups
Sunday – 5K AIDS Run, 5K AIDS Walk, Yoga for Runners

***

Italy recap again tomorrow! And a recipe – I made some tastiness this weekend. 🙂

Have you seen Forks over Knives? What did you think?

What was the best part about your weekend?

Have Food, Will Travel

October 15, 2011 By Laura

It’s no secret that I travel A LOT. I am a Consultant, so it is literally in my job description. Good thing I like to travel – work or pleasure! Last month I flew 17,140 miles on Delta. That doesn’t even include my return from Italia.

Being that it’s such a big part of my life, I though I’d share some tips I’ve picked up for eating right on the road.

Top 3 Tips for Eating Right On the Road

1. Bring Airplane Snacks

Often on domestic flights pretzels or peanuts aren’t going to cut it for me. I’m notorious for having to run through airports, leaving no time to eat meals.

I like plan ahead and bring carrot, zucchini, and celery sticks on airplanes for snack. They can handle not being refrigerated for a few hours and are far better than a few peanuts (or nothing at all… I was shocked to discover that United doesn’t serve anything). That PB packet was from leftover from hotel strategy #2 below.

For early flights I like to BYOB. I’m usually scrambling to get to the airport at 7am and need to bring my own breakfast to the airport. Sorry Delta, but Biscoff does not a breakfast make.

Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt

Yogurt will make it through security. I recently enjoyed my homemade Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt on a 8a flight. Also, remember to save your old yogurt containers for perfect storage when making your own. It was soooo good.

Other BYO Ideas:

Various bars or granola – homemade or store-bought; I like to take my Banana Nut Bars
Fruit – apples, plums, and bananas all travel well – I find oranges are too messy and pears are too easily punctured
Trail mix – avoid the $6 airport bags and make you own with nuts and dried fruit from grocery store bulk bins
Sandwiches – sans meat if you can’t keep it cool; veggie wraps and PBJ travel well
Chocolate – I always have a bite of dark chocolate in my bag for “emergencies”

2. ASK Hotels for Healthy Food

Often the only healthy option on hotel breakfast menus is oatmeal. When I order mine, I ask for banana or fresh berries as toppings in lieu of brown sugar and raisins. Even though I always have nut butter with me, I ask if to hotel has any. Many keep individual packages of peanut butter (pictured below) that I take with me for future use.

Sometimes I shake it up and order eggs. If so, I request half egg/half egg whites and that they be cooked with olive oil or cooking spray instead of slathered with butter. If there are veggies listed with other menu items (tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, etc.) I check to see if they can scramble those into my eggs. This request isn’t always met, but it’s worth a shot!

Dinner can be more of an adventure. Options are so limited in hotels! Typically I order a salad with grilled chicken – easy on the salt and dressing on the side. What is it with the over dressed, salty food?! I also check to see what the seasonal veggies are and order a side of those too, preferably steamed. With a glass of wine.

As I discovered this week on the cleanse, it’s especially hard to order dinner on a vegan diet. Without the option of my go-to grilled chicken salad I had to think outside the box to get a substantial dinner.

Again, the idea is to ask for help. Before calling down I read the menu to see what veggies they keep in-house. Then I called and asked if the kitchen had brown and/or wild rice on hand. Night one wasn’t such a success but…

The import thing is to be specific: the hotel line cooks aren’t going to be creative like you are at home. Read the menu and know what veggies you want from, specify how much rice is a serving for you (sounds picky, but it’s better than being hungry), and asked that they bring the oil and salt on the side. Know that may sacrifice on flavor, and circumvent that problem by asking for a side of red pepper flakes or herbs.

On night 2 this worked like a charm – my dinner was delicious. Though maybe not worth the $40 the Ritz charged for it.

3. Bring Hotel Snacks/Condiments

It’s a great idea to hit a grocery store once you arrive at your destination. However, most of my work trips are 1-2 days and I don’t have time or transportation (I prefer to taxi vs. rent a car). This makes it difficult, but not impossible to eat well. I’m also lucky in that I can expense food on work trips. Helloooooo room service!

All this to say I bring my own accoutrements to accompany my crazy requests mentioned in #2.

Tops on the “to bring” list is protein powder. You can check with the hotel kitchen, find a coffee shop (99.9% make smoothies now), or locate a smoothie place. They will be happy to make you a smoothie with your powder just ignore the weird looks. Before you leave home, pre-mix it with your favorite spice(s) (I always add cinnamon) for added flavor.

This trip I ordered 2 at a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s shop a block from my hotel – one for immediate breakfast consumption and the second one for a post-workout protein fix (sorted in the room fridge or in a bucket of ice if you don’t have a fridge).

Custom smoothie

Other must-haves on the road:

Fruit – good snack or breakfast in a fix
Nut Butter – to top your hotel oats or go with your fruit
Granola or Cereal – if the hotel has yogurt, this is a great topping; I carried my Biscoff granola all over Italy
Chia Seeds – use your fruit to make chia pudding in your room
Stevia – my vanilla-flavored bottle is less than 3 oz, so I carried it with my on the plan in case I had to get more creative with the protein powder… and I did…

The most creative hotel creation yet occurred yesterday morning. I knew is was going to be hectic since my boss was now on the road with me and we had an early meeting and my room service oatmeal strategy wasn’t useful since oatmeal isn’t allowed on the cleanse.

I made an overnight breakfast pudding with my cinnamon-laced protein power and a banana from home. Just be sure you remember to save a fork and glass from room service to mush up the fruit.

Hotel Overnight Breakfast Pudding

1 banana
1 T chia seeds
1 scoop protein powder (pre-mixed with cinnamon)
5-7 drops Stevia
Water, to taste

In a glass saved from room service, mush up banana with similarly obtained fork. Stir in remaining ingredients, adding water until fairly liquid (the chia will soak up the excess overnight).

Place in mini-fridge or in ice bucket overnight.

In the morning, stir and enjoy whilst patting yourself on the back for being so creative. 🙂

***

One more idea… if you’re taking a train in Italy, pack up some Prosciutto di San Daniele and bread sticks for the trip.

Do you bring snacks on the road?

How do you navigate not-so-healthy hotel menus and special dietary needs?

Crashing Vespas in Italy

October 14, 2011 By Laura

This begins the start of the Bad News Bears portion of the trip.

After Valpolicalla we boarded a train to Cormons in the Friuli region. Trains in Europe are a whole other beast. The 3 of us are not accustomed to public transportation (it isn’t prevalent in the South), so tackling the Italian train system was… interesting. There were a lot of changes and a couple of times I was just crossing my fingers we were headed in the right direction!

We finally made it to Cormons around 9p – I was STARVING, but we still had to walk to our B&B. I’m not sure how far it was, but let me tell you it felt like 10 miles because the wheels on my suitcase BROKE!

I carried that $%&^*n 50 pound bag all the way there. I’ve never been to happy that I lift weights regularly in my life! It wasn’t funny at the time but later I’ll post a pic of me carrying it up the stairs in a train station. It is pretty comical – that thing is bigger than I am!

Our B&B, Borgo San Daniele was beautiful, even at night. Even more beautiful was that our hostess had a full tasting of their wines (which I drank a but too fast following the bag carrying-adventure) and a ton of cheese and cured meats (proscuitto de San Danielle is the most incredible stuff ever). Followed by desserts and grappa. I was so tired that I didn’t remember a picture until the dessert.

We woke up the next day and I decided to go for a jog through Cormons. This would have been a great idea after the wine the night before; however, my knee wasn’t having it. You seen, I had the brilliant idea to go for a run the day we were flying to Italy. Wellllll… I tripped and landed directly on my right knee (which is my bad knee, naturally). It swelled up like a melon on the plane, making me generally miserable by the time we landed.

Anyhow, my “jog” through Cormons turned into a limping walk followed by some ab work in a park I stumbled upon. This was the last time I’d work out until the last day of the trip. That’s unheard of for me!

Back the the beautiful…

Next on our “to do” list was to rent Vespas and drive ~30 km north of Cormons to Cividale. It’s a wine road (though we weren’t about to taste and try to drive scooters!) and we were told that the town of Cividale was a “must see.”

Don’t I look like a natural?

PSA: Driving a Vespa is not as easy as it looks.

We crashed that thing. Twice.

Who just hands you keys to a scooter without any instruction?! The uber chill Italians, that’s who.

I laid thing thing down on the way there and Corinne did it on the way back. Mine scraped the whole side of the Vespa! And I landed on my hurt knee side.

Corinne’s at-fault bruised up my hip and her stomach. I wish I’d gotten a pic of the bruise on my hip on days 3 or 4 – it turned black!

War wounds

We did make it to Cividale, but were pretty shaken by the time we arrived. Shaken and hungry.

Some German guests we met during the previous night’s tasting suggested we try the Salame all acela and the Frico and at Al Campanile. Being so close to the Austrian border (and Germany), we decided to trust them!

Al Campanile

They didn’t steer us wrong! The Salame alla acela was amazing served warm with cooked onions and polenta. The Frico was good, but quite heavy with all the fried potatoes and cheese. It was very German!

Salame all Acela

Frico

But the best part was… a very fresh arugula salad and a cold bier (much-needed after the harrowing ride on the Vespa).

~~Refreshed~~ Slightly less frazzled, we spent the next several hours exploring Cividale. It is pretty tiny, but there we tons of quaint little streets to wander up and down.

With helmets… at this point safety was paramount.

We tour like rockstars – go big or go home!

Gelato Flavor of the Day: Pesca (peach)

Everyone was a little sad when it was time to return the Vespas to Cormons. Mostly because we were scared to drive them back.

I was scared to turn in the scraped Vespa because it was paid for on my card. Valid fear – yesterday I spent 30 mins on the phone with American Express filing a claim for the $413 Euro the rental place charged me for damage. That’s almost $600 USD.

Moving right along… nerve-calming aperitif at Jazz & Wine and dinner at Ai Due Fratelli. The dinner spot was a recommendation for our new friend Erika, the bartender at Jazz & Wine. We have her to thank for one of the top meals of the trip!

Spaghetti with clams and a fantastic clam-olive oil-butter-garlic sauce

Eggplant with red sauce (much like an eggplant parm with out the heavy fry)

Some delicious grilled fish that I can no longer name…

Wait. Where’s the wine? Did we not order a bottle of white with dinner in the region most famous for it’s Pinot Grigios, Friulanos, and Ribollas?

Silly Rabbit, of course we did! White wine, noir-style.

We selected a bottle of the Ribolla, which is a light-bodied, floral wine from the region. It also has hints of lemon, which played well with the fish. The Friulanos tend to be sweeter and the Pinot Grigios are what you see most often in the States. Being red wine fans, we chose more acidic and obscure white. 🙂

Post-dinner we headed back Wine & Jazz to hang out with Erika and some other soon-to-be new friends.

I like sparkly things. Including wine.

Italy Milestone: first bar we closed down during our trip.

Speaking of wine… I’m almost through the first 1/3 of the cleanse!

Interesting observation/learning: it is EXTREMELY difficult it is to be vegan (and bread-free) while on the road. It took the Ritz 2 hours to figure out how to make me wild rice and grilled veggies for dinner on the first night of my stay! They did apologize and offer a free glass of wine… which I turned down (sorry for the cold front – hell hath frozen over).

As nice as they were about making me a special meal… I was starving after it took so long to prepare. Sadly, there wasn’t nearly enough food on my plate and it was really oily. Ritz fail.

For breakfast I wandered down the street to a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s with the hope that they would be able to make a smoothie for me. Success – they guys there were super nice and made me a delicious berry–banana smoothie WITH the protein powder I brought with me.

Special Diet Travel Tip: pack your own protein powder (BYOP!) and locate a smoothie place. They will use your powder! If you enjoy cinnamon if your smoothies like I do, go ahead and toss some in the baggie with your powder before you leave home. It worked perfectly! I’m a little shocked I didn’t get search by TSA with my bag of powder!

It was so good that I returned for lunch to have a delicious vegetable soup with a (modified) Greek salad. They (once again) went above and beyond to customize my food and were incredibly nice about it. Thanks for making my day, Kaldi’s!

I was actually nervous to call down for dinner after the previous night’s ordeal, but steeled up and dialed room service again.

The Ritz pulled through for dinner this time – they were ready for me! Perfectly cooked wild rice with steamed french green beans, asparagus and spinach with cherry tomatoes on the side. Not too oily or over salted this time! Ritz win.

***

All that flying on Delta will call for some Biscoff Cookie Dough Balls soon ehough. 😉

Do you have any trips for traveling on a special diet?

Have you ever been on Vespa? Would you try it in a foreign country?

Valpolicella and Amarone 101

October 13, 2011 By Laura

This was the day I looked forward to most on the trip.

We traveled about 30 miles outside of Verona to Valpolicella where my favorite wine is produced – Amarone.

We booked a tour through a company called VeronAround. Our guides, Daniel and Sabrina, were fantastic and very knowledgeable about the wines. I definitely recommend using them if you are in the region. They also do tours of Verona! Click here for their website.

Our first winery was Giuseppe Lonardi. All across Italy the harvests were early this year due to the unseasonably warm weather. This winery was on the last day of the harvest, so we did get to go out to the vineyards and see it in action.

Winemakers determine whether the grapes are ready to be picked by testing their sugar level. When it reaches the ideal point, its “go” time! Most winemakers have 5-8 hectares (12.5-20 acres) of land and the harvest takes about 3 days.

Giuseppe’s daughter, Silvia

Corvina, the most important Amarone grape, drying

After being picked, the grapes are dried on racks for a 3-4 months. This concentrates both the alcohol and the taste, making Amarone a richer (and more alcoholic) wine.

What makes it my favorite wine is that it is fruity without being too sweet. It’s heavy raisin on the nose with notes of cherries. There is often some spice on the end. It pairs well with bigger dishes (like grilled meats) and dark chocolate.

After this, the grapes have 3 stages to go through:

The juice is kept in stainless steel tanks to ferment for about 3 months
It is then transferred to oak barrels to age for 2 years
Finally it is bottled and aged about a year before it is ready to be sold

Other wines are also produced here: Valpolicella Classico, Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso, Recioto Classico della Valpolicella, and Giuseppe’s own creation – Privilegia.

They each have their own processes as well. Winemaking is definitely an art!

The Lonardi’s were just beginning the production of the Ripasso. Above is a picture of Giuseppe himself dumping the first of the freshly picked grapes into the de-stemming machine. I was beyond excited to witness the start of the 2011 winemaking!

Giuseppe’s daughter, Silvia, conducted most of the tour (Giuseppe doesn’t speak English). We loved her instantly. She was so sweet. We are all about the same age… I may go back and just hang out with her. ~~And the French oak casks.~~

Silvia opening a Superiore to taste

2008 Amarone casks

The tasting was fantastic! We were able to taste the most recent bottles – 2008 Classico Superiore Ripasso (it doesn’t need to be aged as long as the Amarone), 2007 Privilegia, and 2007 Amarone.

The Privilegia is Giuseppe’s own creation. It is not made from the tradition grape blend, and therefore you won’t see the Valpolicella name on the bottle (they are very strict about wine rules!). This did not affect it’s deliciousness.

The family has recently opened an inn and restaurant where Silvia’s mom cooks. If you have the opportunity to go to Valpolicalla, please stop by for a stay and tell them I said hello! Click here for their website.

I could have stayed there all day, but we did need to get on to the next tasting with the 3 brothers of Fratelli Vogadori.

Can you believe this is their backyard? (Minus these hot mammas, of course 😉 )

Vogadori was fantastic as well. We tasted their Classico, Ripasso, Amarone, and Recioto.

Recioto is basically a sweet version of Amarone. The grapes are dried; however, the fermentation process is stopped earlier before all of the sugar turns to alcohol. It feels heaver and more velvety on the palate and pairs perfectly with dark chocolate or cantucci.

A couple of those Amarone bottles my or may not be in the mail on their way to me…

Here we also tasted olive oil. Many families have a small production of olive oil. We learned that it takes quite a lot of olives to make oil, so the smaller family winemakers only produce it in limited quantities. My mom now has a bottle in her kitchen. 🙂

Most places (here included) offer prosciutto and/or salami and bread sticks during tastings. The brothers brought out a blue cheese snack to go with the bigger wines at the end of the tasting. It was SO good – and that’s not just because we were 2 tastings in!

Corinne approved!

I mentioned before that one of the odd things about Italy is that it was so hard to find fresh veggies and fruit. After 2 weeks of carbs, cured meat, steaks, and more wine that I’ll ever admit to drinking, I’ve decided to do a modified version of the Standard Process Cleanse I did last November.

My rules:

10 days of all the veggies and fruits I can eat (more veggies than fruit, as much raw as possible)
4-5 tsp of oil a day (flax, olive, coconut)
1 C lentils or wild rice a day
2-3 protein shakes a day
1 serving of tofu, chicken, or fish a day on last 11 days
No alcohol
No diary
No processed food

The strict program doesn’t allow beans or nuts… but I’m allowing a small amount. I love nuts. (Yes, you can quote me on that.) I may also allow coconut milk after the first few days.

I was going to ban coffee… but I’m in my 3rd city this week and am averaging 4 hours of sleep per night. It’s about survival.

I love Italy, but the return of the (green) Sweet Potato Smoothie (and football!) was a welcome one.

***

I’m already on day 6 of the cleanse and feeling good!

Did I put you all to sleep by geeking out on wine? What is your favorite wine?

Do you do anything to cleanse a certain points in the year or after a period of overindulgence?

Romeo, Romeo: A Day in Verona, Italy

October 12, 2011 By Laura

Our first full day in Verona was laid back.

How cute is our B&B?!

We walked from the city center and to meet out new friend Tim, who had offered to show us where to get our first pizza of the trip. I was so hungry that I FORGOT to take a pic! Fail.

We ordered 4 pizzas and shared them… they were good, but Southern Italy is really the place for pizza.

Next we were off to tour L’Arena. The stairs in that place were no joke! The only stone was quite slippery. If it were the US, we would have seen some serious “climb at your own risk” signage!

They were setting up for a concert that night with a popular Italian singer/guitarist. We couldn’t get tickets, but just seeing the contrast of the ancient against the new was surreal.

Next up was Juliette’s balcony. We took pictures and fought for a spot to rub Juliette’s boob.

Apparently it’s the thing to do here – there were small children feeling up her statue!

When in Rome…

It was unseasonably warm throughout our visit (we, of course, over-packed with all our sweaters). After all that walking around we were past due for our first gelato of the trip!

Vanilla-Hazelnut for me!

Refreshed after our tasty treats, we decided it was time to tackle Teatro Romano (the Roman Theatre). Doesn’t it look far away?

We got to walk across the oldest bridge in Verona to climbed about a million stairs to the top!

The view from the top was well-worth it!!!

Check out yesterday’s post for another view. 🙂

Next is my favorite part of the day – ~~wine time~~ dinner time!

We loved Antica Bottega de Vino so much our first night that we returned again for dinner! This place is the only restaurant in Verona to be officially recognized as a “historic establishment.”

There are worse places to be trapped!

Tim joined us and we feasted. Everything was delicious, but I am sad to say that I did not get a picture of my favorite dish. We started with an amazing plate of polenta topped with some the most deliciously creamy gorgonzola I have ever tasted.

One of the coolest dishes was an Amarone risotto. I still prefer to drink it in a glass, but it’s ~~depressing~~ funny that Amarone is inexpensive enough in Italy to use for cooking. In the States it’s hard to find a bottle for less than $80!

Yes, I realize this looks like baked beans.

You’ll start to see a theme as I post recaps… we ordered pasta with truffles. For the second night in a row.

The nutty parmesan and fresh olive oil coating homemade noodles combined with earthy, rich black truffles is too much for me to pass up!

You’d think that would be enough, but after dinner Tim had a surprise for us – we were able to meet the restaurant owner, Severino Barzan, who gave us a tour of his impressive 130-year old cellar (seriously – the wine in there was worth more than I can imagine).

The Wandering Winos in their happy place

The restaurant and it’s owner are quite well-known – we spotted a picture of the Clinton’s on a recent visit! Can you make out the autograph below?

Not wanting the night to end, we spotted cognac bottles lining the walls dating back to the late 1800s… and decided we needed to have a glass from each of our birth years.

Tim, Brittany, Corinne, me, and Proprietor Severino Barzan with our birth year bottles

On our 2nd night in Italy we were already making memories more fantastic than I could have dreamed of!

***

In all my craziness I forgot about WIAW!!! I’m (late) joining the party with my “What I Ate in Italy” theme! As always, check out Peas and Crayons to see the tastiness everyone else ate today!

I’m out of town in client meetings for the rest of the week. I can’t believe I’m already jumping on another plane!

Did you enjoy reading Shakespeare in high school?

Have you had a surreal night like we did? I want to hear about it!