Craig Camp
-
Posts
3,274 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Craig Camp
-
-
Around Lake Como I stay at home - I only live 45 minutes away.
Just outside the center (you can walk if you like long walks it is just over a mile) is Crotto del Sergente which has good local food. Near Bellagio (San Giovanni) is another good place called Mella.
For us Como is usually just a gita after lunch and more of a walk destination than eating destination. The Turkish sandwiches (similar to gyros) from the carry-out Turkish place just past the train station on the lake front are very tasty with a cold beer though.
-
Moka is moka and espresso is espresso - two different things.
I love my mokas in the morning.
-
craig, i can't quite figure out if you think one should tamp or not - but i do with the lavazza 4-cup model, and i think that's what prevents the (lavazza espresso) coffee grains from seeping through the filter as it did before i started tamping. i mostly only make 2 cups at a time. very nice coffee, though not quite as good as on the small krups espresso machine. but that may be because i don't use it often enough, though i do wonder how that can make a difference (just as i wonder why soap is a no-no).
When you fill the filter container of the moka is should be piled over the top - when you screw on the top it "auto" tamps the coffee for you. I would say the peak of my mountain of ground coffee is about a quarter inch above the top. When it is done the coffee comes out in a firm packed disk.
The soap breaks down the oils that cover the inside of the moka and improve the flavors as you use it.
-
i use a 6 oz moka pot and 2TBSP coffee. next i blended the two grinds
?? 2 tblps. coffee - don't measure the coffee- you fill the filter full
Try the Lavazza espresso that is readily available in grocery stores. It is the perfect grind for moka and is not bitter.
-
I'll give Mario his $25( or whatever) as he has to pay Manhattan rents - but I agree with you. Even they tried to sell beef cheeks they would charge a premium for it and then they would say - see it doesn't sell.
-
families are much more willing to spend 10 dollars on "veal parm" with a side of pasta then they would 25 bucks on beef cheeks.
Maybe people would order it if it did not cost $25 - why in the world does anything made with beef cheeks cost a lot of money?
-
Saw a bottle of 1989 Vigna La Delizia Fontanafredda in my local wine store for around $45. Is that a good price for this wine? Worth a try? Appreciate your input.
Fontanafredda has been reborn because a huge infusion of capital from an Italian banking group who purchased the estate. I have not tasted this wine and it was produced before everything was modernized. Considering that bottle has been bouncing around the market for many years in questionable storage conditions I would be hesitant to drop $45 on it.
-
According to the one post the daily room rate works out to be $562/night! I am spending less that that for 8 nights in Florence.
My favorite lake is Orta,very quaint low key.and WAY less expensive! But to each his own. RR
Orta is lovely - just an hour from our house so we go several times a year. Here is a link to the photos we took a few weeks ago.
One thing about Orta is that is is very small and very quiet. You can see it all in a very short period and then if you want quiet it is great. The city of Como has a great (but expensive) shopping area and more action than Orta and the views are fantantic. Also Bellagio is so close. However, Como is famous and you pay for that fame.
-
I can't help on hotels because I actually live on Lake Como (in Lecco, on the non-touristy side), but I do eat a lot. ; ) A few favorites, on the lake and elsewhere, are listed on http://www.straughan.com/italy/restaurants.htm
Deirdre - how is Lecco? I have not been and it would seem to be in a lovely area.
-
-
-
-
Editorial Comment: The wine from Palermo was probably better than the legal stuff.
Disclaimer: Santa Margherita mentioned only for humor value as an exaggeration and there is no indication anywhere by anyone including me that Santa Margherita had anything to do with this scandal in any way, shape or form and I am sure they would never, never, never ever do or consider such a thing.
-
-
-
-
Remember when Grgich was an elite winery? Who drinks Grgich these days?
-
-
...aaahh - a wine from the time before global warming hit Alba. Classic nebbiolo.
-
Thanks, Craig: The article went right to the point. Although I have Italian wines in my cellar, I have no barolos. Among the barolo producers, I have some Giacosa barbarescos. But the most interesting item was that Roberto Voerzio, Domenico Clerico, Elio Altare and Luciano Sandrone
are the producers of barolo that I've singled out for barolo purchases and they are all in the modern camp. It would be helpful if you would comment on their wines.
Well these are the who's who of the modern school. All of their wines are excellent if you prefer that style - maybe even if you don't prefer that style. The prices are now outrageous on these wines as they have long been "discovered" and thus promoted by wine journalists for years. While I happily drink these wines I will admit I do not seriously collect them for long-term aging and feel that they are at their best between 8 or 9 years old and 15. Even modern Baroli are not for drinking young.
One of the best at combining the best of both the old and new styles is Conterno Fantino who makes wines that show some of the "forward" (forward for Barolo anyway) and the stuffing and character of more classic wines. Also quite good in the "in between" style is Einaudi and the new Tenimenti Fontanafredda selections - which are not to be confused with their regular bottlings.
-
Gee, the last Barolo in our wine tasting notebook was from Antiche Cantine and Tenvte Galarey, 1964. We paid $2.69 for 24 ounces or so in 1970. We liked it.
Although we have fewer details, we did have a Barolo from Clemente Guasti 1974. We drank it in a restaurant in 1983 and paid all of $13 for the bottle. We liked it.
Too bad since then the rest of the world has also discovered Barolo.
Okay, on the principle that in fact it is not so difficult to grow decently good wine and that there are many regions that can do so, what should we look to today for a good big red wine, dry, complex, not for the soda pop generation?
From the sound of those two Barolos perhaps you should give Barolo another try as I don't think they would have given you an understanding of what Barolo was then and most certainly what is now. They certainly weren't good enough to get you to taste Barolo many more times.
Yes, while "it is not so difficult to grow decently good wine" what is very hard to do is to make great wine - wine that is distinctive and that speaks clearly of the grape and vineyards where it was born. Barolo and Barbaresco are two of those wines. In only one little corner of the world does nebbiolo make great wine - wines far beyond and far more interesting than wines that are: "not so difficult to grow decently good wine". It is indeed difficult to grow and make fine nebbiolo wines.
-
-
I did a column on that last year:
-
Petrus falls into the "if you have to ask you can't afford it category". Petrus is not sold at a reasonable price anywhere.
Where to eat in trieste?
in Italy: Dining
Posted
The buffet restaurants of Trieste that Jim mentions are famous - also good are:
Buffet Birreria Rudy
Buffet da Santa Rosa
Also try the unique Antipastoteca di Mare for all sorts of little treats from the sea.
Just outside of Trieste is the excellent trattoria Valeria