Italian food Archives - Wolfie Wolfgang

Eating Out – literally – in Venice: so many pleasures joined together.

wolf01 — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 22:00:00 +0000

I’ve been on a two week holiday in Venice and, I don’t want to make you jealous, but I had a wonderful time. Eating and drinking al fresco was one of the greatest pleasures of spending a decent amount of time in this beautiful city. Enough time to sit back and take in the beauty and to feast in the type of timelessness that is so very Italian.

Eating out of doors is great…

…but eating by the canal is pure luxury.

A meal becomes an event..

…and makes you feel that you’re part of the great game of being a human being.

I have often wondered if Italian wine tastes better outside.

Anyway, enough of that, I had some wonderful food and drink on my holiday much of it very much al fresco.

I knew how to eat these meals but I won’t bore you with a long description. Imagine you’re sitting at the next table casting an envious look in my direction.

It was good eating indoors too, of course.

Sometimes a touch of candle light in a shady room is all you need after a day in the sunshine.

In this restaurant, both options were tempting.

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STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Stephen%20Dearsley’s%20Summer%20Of%20lovefeature=mhee

COLIN BELL’S PUBLICATIONS:

Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love
Ward Wood Publishing
October 30, 2013

http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm

Genius Floored: Uncurtained Window
Soaring Penguin Press
June 15, 2013
Poetry anthology

http://www.soaringpenguinpress.com/publications/poetry/genius-floored-whispers-in-smoke/

Genius Floored: Whispers in Smoke
Soaring Penguin Press
June 6, 2014
Poetry anthology

http://www.soaringpenguinpress.com/publications/poetry/genius-floored-whispers-in-smoke/

Reaching Out
Cinnamon Press
December 2012
Poetry and short story anthology

http://www.cinnamonpress.com/product-item/reaching-out/

Tic Toc
A Kind Of A Hurricane Press
June 2014
Poetry anthology

http://www.kindofahurricanepress.com/2014/06/tic-toc-is-now-available.html

The Blotter
The Blotter Magazine Inc.
November 2009
Three pages of poetry in the American South’s unique, free, international literature and arts magazine.

http://www.blotterrag.com/back-issues/2009-11.pdf

The Fib Review
Musepie Press
My Fibonacci poetry has appeared in this journal from 2009 until the present

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/writers.html

Shot Glass Journal
Muse Pie Press
My poetry has appeared in various issues of this short form poetry journal

http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/writers.html

Every Day Poets Magazine
Every Day Poets
I have various poems of the day published in this 365 days a year poetry magazine.

http://www.everydaypoets.com/?s=Colin+Bell

In The Night Count The Stars
Bittersweet Editions
March 1, 2014
An “uncommon anthology” of images, fragments, stories and poetry.

http://www.bittersweeteditions.com/in-the-night-count-the-stars.html#%2EU8ZFXY1dXoo

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It is easy to hide yourself away in Italy’s Gabicce Monte.

wolf01 — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 08:49:00 +0000

I’ve recently returned from, as it’s become, my annual holiday in Italy. There is still so much in that wonderful country that I could see this become a permanent date in my diary – I hope so anyway. This year I was staying in the small village of Gabicce Monte on the border between Emilia Romagna and Le Marche on the East coast of Italy and that means the Adriatic Sea. I usually go to Italy in June because it’s not quite so hot as even a few weeks later and, sorry to appear unsociable, but it’s comparatively uncrowded for a gloriously sunny, beautiful and for an historically and artistically fascinating country. I always anguish about where I should stay and if I should trust the internet to guide me there. So far, phew, I’ve always been lucky. Gabicce Monte, sits between Rimini and Pesaro but up there on its own hill it is a place apart. I rented a small house right up there at the top.

It was really two houses converted into one and it lived amicably with its immediate neighbours in its own little courtyard. I was very happy just to sit there in the morning with coffee or in the evening with wine and to watch the the world that is Gabicce Monte society go by. I could even rustle up just enough Italian to enter into village gossip.

With so much to see in this part of Italy, I had to force myself to venture out beyond the village especially as when it got hot in the height of the day, inside the house was so temptingly cool.

Then, of course there was the roof garden which I had to share with visitors from the nearby San Bartolo National Park like this very large butterfly…

..or, if you can keep your eyes off the view, my new friend the little green lizard.

The view though was exceptional and, yet again, I wondered if I really needed to go anywhere else.

OK, at times, looking at that castle on the neighbouring hill, I was tempted to go and see where Francesca Da Rimini (the star of Dante’s Inferno) met her grisly and romantic fate and where Lucrezia Borgia lived for a time, happily, they say, with one of her husbands. It is also said that the Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca walked to that castle from Rimini and, taking in the view, put memories of it into some of his paintings.

Looking the other way, I could also take in a view over the Adriatic to Rimini in the far distance.

If I wanted to go out, I thought, why not just head down through the little alleyway into the village.

After-all, how often do I get these kinds of views at home. Well, Lewes, UK, actually competes quite well.

There are plenty of places for a good strong cup of Italian coffee but I chose to have it with a view of the Adriatic.

Did I mention the icecream? I’d better not because I don’t think I should make you jealous.

I could even have a simple but wonderful Pizza Rossini, this is Rossini country, and a carafe of red wine while the sun set over the Adriatic Riviera.

This Italian version of crême brulée was, I suspect, even more delicious than you could possible imagine.

I could take to village life if it was always like this.

I’m told that people travel a long way to see the Gabicce Monte sunsets but I rather stumbled across this one.

So, maybe I should give the rest of Italy a miss, I thought, sitting over yet another superb meal alfresco.

This, of course, is seafood country and it would have been difficult to have improved on this prawn and mussel paella…

..or the strawberry pana cotta…

…even if dinner under the stars does invite unwelcome guests into your wine. Luckily, I got this inebriated moth out of my glass before it came to a blissful but premature end.

Yet, again, meals in Gabicce Monte are accompanied by the beauty of ever changing light over sea and sky.

The village is home to an impressive ceramics artist, Daniele Foschi, who takes time out, often quite late on hot evenings, to teach his art to new generations. This little girl was mesmerised and, awkward though it was to carry, I brought home some examples of his work.

So, before too long, I was happy to abandon any thoughts of going any further. I did of course and will tell you about some of the things I saw in this region in another blog but, for now, I’ll keep you here in Gabicce Monte and go back up onto the roof garden where I found the space for another of my holiday essentials.

Somewhere to practice my morning martial arts.

The Damo moving meditation system….

….my style’s own particular form of Taichi, known as Suang-Yuang…

and then my White Crane Kungfu patterns.

It was a great space for standing meditation too standing under the very welcome awning – if you want to get a feel of the ambience there, here’s a minute of Italian “silence” recorded from my roof garden. A wolf has been spotted in the National Park but I’m not sure if that is what you can hear I’ll tell you a bit more about my Italian trip next time. My thanks to Stefano Cecchini, my very hospitable landlord, who went way beyond the call of duty to make me feel welcome. If you want to contact him here’s the link: www.casamarola.it – Ciao!

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Cucina Ligure: Eating Out on the Italian Riviera

wolf01 — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 08:07:00 +0000

It is time to round up these blogs about my holiday on the Italian Riviera (see last week’s posts) but I can’t leave without giving you a small taste of the food even though I am no expert in these things and my cooking ability can turn a kitchen into a dirty protest. I like food, especially Italian cuisine. It is one of the main reasons for travelling to this wonderful country – I would go there for the food even if it had the climate of Siberia, the artistic skills of a tribe of monkeys and the urban charm of an East German housing development.

Don’t expect me to give you the recipes, I would poison you, but take a look at the photographs of my holiday meals and, believe me, when I say that eating out on the Italian Riviera was a treat beyond my expectations.

I was staying in the small seaside town of Santa Margherita Ligure and took trips along the coast in both directions to Portofino, Rappalo, the villages of the Cinque Terre and to Genoa, Liguria’s capital. No surprizes that these coastal towns specialise in fish food or that Liguria’s lushly fertile soil produces fresh fruit and vegetables to make perfect ingredients where real flavour comes au naturelle.

Ligurian cuisine is fish dominated with a special fondness for fresh anchovies. The area is also famous for its pesto made principally from small leaved basil and its pasta, smooth and light unlike anything I’ve ever eaten in England, is often mixed with small amounts of potato, another Ligurian speciality (I assume potatoes first came to these parts with Genoan hero, Christopher Columbus) . The bread too is delicious and usually baked that day on the premises – most famously the warm, crusty on the outside and often spicy Focaccia – a feature in every restaurant.

Ligurian cooking can look deceptively simple but there is a centuries old tradition here worn subtly without a lot of fuss but with a lot of style.

Here are some of my favourites:

Ristorante Beppe Achille, Santa Margherita Ligure. A very stylish fish restaurant across the road from the harbour and nextdoor to the fish market – the fish is so fresh you would only get it fresher if it were still alive.

Anchovies in lemon

Penne with anchovies

Ristorante La Lampara, Riomaggiore. In this tiny Cinque Rerre village, an oasis of air-conditioned calm on a raging hot day but with food that would honour the table of any international capital city.

Ligurian Broccoli soup which had a lot more than broccoli in there.

Lamb cutlets with…

…grilled vegetables…

..and espresso coffee. It shouldn’t be a surprize that Italians always get this right.

Ristorante da Nicola, Portofino – this village may be millionaire’s paradise but they know how to do a simple pizza too.

Pizza and….

… espresso coffee.

Ristorante Sole, Rapallo.

Spaghetti with anchovies…

…and, of course, espresso coffee.

Trattoria da Pezzi, Santa Margherita Ligure.

Genovese Minestrone soup – a meal in itself.

Caffé del Borgo, Santa Margherita Ligure.

Cafe Americano…

… and, with a beer, a generous supply of hors d’oeuvres.

…and, for a special treat on my last day, one of those very special little pastries.

Ristorante Antonio, Santa Margherita Ligure.

Seafood pasta – they told me the name, several times, but I cannot recall it. I blame the wine and smooth, slightly sweet but punchy white from a few miles away in Cinque Terre.

Sea bass Ligurian style…the chef had caught it that morning whilst diving the local village of Paraggi.

Spaghetteria Garibaldi, Santa Margherita Ligure. An unpretentious long-established family business that knows just what its all about.

Prosciutto and melon

Spaghetti Garibaldi

Caffé del Porto, Santa Margherita Legure. Local people came here to eat in their over-all and uniforms, they know where the food is best.

Trenette al pesto (linguine)

Spaghetti with clams…

Spaghetti Bolognese…

..and espresso coffee.

No time here to talk about the wine (look out for bottles of the local stuff from here in the Cinque Terre region).

or the chilled Moretti beer….

…or the Campari and sodas….

..or those late night cocktail bars

Sottozero Bar, Santa Margherita Ligure. The staff have as much fun here as the customers.

Caruso Cocktail…mostly creme de menthe and gin.

Of course you had to have a Margherita, or two, in Santa Margherita Ligure. This one wasn’t my first…hope it’s not my last.

Buon appetito!

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