Our Italy Trip

[TallDrinkOfWater]

Cocktails were always a bit of a surprise , you never knew for sure what you would get and Dayne taught many hotel staff how to make martini cocktails (if you just ask for martini you will just vermouth)

At the Hotel Button in Parma, the bar (open 24 hours) was manned by the same elderly gentleman who worked the front desk. He spoke about 2 less words in English than I spoke in Italian, which made both checking in and ordering drinks "interesting".

Up to this point I'd had pretty good luck asking for a "martini-gin" (or "martini-vodka" for LMF). Occasionally an "American Martini" was the way to go. In the Hotel Button, though, somewhat frazzled by the day and in search of a stiff drink while we unpacked and got ready to go out to eat, those met with blank stares. I finally got him to pour about 3 fingers of gin [bombay, maybe...don't recall] into a water glass, followed by a finger or so of Martini & Rosso Dry from one of the three M&R 1Liter bottles they had chilling and obviously frequently used. After a bit of effort, I even managed to convey the need for a little ice (two small cubes, I think).

The vodka situation was a bit tougher. I thought vodka was a fairly universal concept, but no. The term really meant nothing to the man. He finally started conferring in rapid Italian with an even older gentleman whose days apparently consist of sitting on a couch in the lobby of the hotel. They talked for a bit, and the oder man suddenly showed comprehension and got himself, with much effort, off the couch and shuffled through a door and into a back room. I felt bad for making him get up, but at the same time was relieved to see I'd finally succeeded.

Three or four minutes later, he came out with a bottle of homemade limoncello (or lemon limoncino, or limoncetto -- never did figure out which regional name was appropriate to which area) and proceeded to try to our it into a glass already containing vermouth.

Fortunately, being approximately 150 years younger than him, I managed to intercept the pour and explain, more or less, that that was NOT what I wanted. The best I can figure is that vodka is really only used in some areas in the making of limoncello, and isn't really a standalone mixer.

Anyway, LMF ended up getting a very strong, fairly warm gin martini in a cheap water glass.

[TallDrinkOfWater]

and there is one robot that grabs every cheese and turns it, cleans it and cleans the shelf. And it's just plugged in on the back wall 

Basically a 30-foot-tall Roomba.

My theory is that the only reason the world isn't ruled by Cheese-sweeping Robotic Overlords is the short length of their extension cords.

[markk]

What an utterly fabulous blog, and what great photos! Thank you.

I climbed atop the Cinque Terre and took that exact same photo of Vernazza in 1976, and do you know, I pulled it up and except for a few houses that have been repainted different colors, it hasn't changed a bit!

I liked your Lambrusco comment. When I spent time in the region, the "new" winemakers hadn't yet appeared in Italy (I don't think), and there, Lambrusco was pretty much it. We had the white and the red, both very 'different'.

But what a great blog; I've just been through it for the third time. Absolutely fabulous!

[little ms foodie]

on to venice!!! after some very maddening train situations (what was it about Italy that had us at a loss for transportation without mishaps??) we arrived, found the hotel, and were off in search of a drink.... aren't we always??

Harry's Bar- you gotta do it. but no belini's for us! 2 martini cocktails.....

I will let TDOW comment on these!!

Dinner at Osteria Enoteca San Marco which we stumbled upon walking around. fantastic wine bar and great food!

this amazing wine!

Dentice (sea bream) with arugula

tagliatelli ragu gratin, spaghetti with clams and mussels, chocolate molten cake..... we got a bit drunk and didn't take any more pictures!! haha!

the next morning we walked around

romantic gondola rides

we had an very nice lunch at Al Theatro next to La Fenice

carpacio

spinach linguini with shrimp

tagliatteli with porchini

[little ms foodie]

that night we decided to find a cechetti (sp?) bar! I can't remember the name of this one but it was great! old of course and had a bit older clientel. closed straight away at 8:30 to send you on your way to dinner!

their wines....

interior (maybe someone will recognize the place and tell me the name! it was across the rialto bridge from san marco area close to the big market area )

we went looking for dinner and had some drinks at Osteria Barababar which had really weird 'devilish' pictures on the walls! but we just weren't hungry after the cechetti so we finally settled at Florian in Piazza San Marco and had a bottle of wine and some dessert and music!

don't you love it when they give you chips with dessert??

[TallDrinkOfWater]

Harry's Bar- you gotta do it. but no belini's for us! 2 martini cocktails.....

I will let TDOW comment on these!!

[sigh] Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, we walked into Harry's...

(apologies to Humphrey Bogart)

Harry's Bar. Home of the Bellini. And carpaccio. In Venice, which is icing on the cake. Romance, history, cocktails...

Oh wait, What I really mean is: pre-built martinis (which I think were straight gin) in tiny tumblers that were pre-poured and stored in a freezer drawer. No mixology, no flair, no vermouth (as far as I could tell), no garnish. Certainly no bitters.

Worst. Martini. Ever.

Even Hotel Button, where I couldn't convey even the basic concept, was better than this, because at least they were trying to get me what we wanted. Harry's -- fun as it was *despite* the "cocktails" and the price, simply because it was in Venice and I was there with my ever-so-lovely wife -- was really among the most-disappointing of the bars we've visited.

Oh well. It was still fun!

[little ms foodie]

interior (maybe someone will recognize the place and tell me the name! it was across the rialto bridge from san marco area close to the big market area )

LOL!! I just looked at my own picture and the place we were in was Do Mori or something as it is on the wine casks!!! SMRT!!

[little ms foodie]

In Venice everything closes down at midnight.....except for the Edy Bar across from our hotel where the locals go for grapa and sambuca! right on we are living across from our very own "late night bar" we come every night and they know us and talk about when we come back to venice they will see us at the Edy Bar. Cute!

[Swisskaese]

Thanks LMF for bringing back so many wonderful memories of my 2-1/2 years in Ticino and all the travelling I did in Italy.

Shame on you for not climbing the stairs up to Corniglia. I took my mother and sister to Cinque Terre and my sister and I talked my mother into hiking through two of the villages. We got up and had a hikers breakfast and my sister and I hiked from Manarola to Corniglia. My mother met us at Corniglia. When we arrived, we were waiting for Mom at the train station and were trying to find Corniglia. We sat on a bench and I saw the stairs and said, "Oh shit, she is going to kill us!". She arrived, and we said, "Mom, why don't we have a drink before we start the hike? Isn't it a beautiful train ride?" She asked where the town was and we didn't say anything. She then saw the stairs from the platform and said no way. We said we would take it slow and then she saw an 80-year-old woman carrying her groceries up the stairs. That convinced her to make the hike. We hiked to Vernazza and had a wonderful time.

Then we went back by train and had the most orgasmic pesto lasagna at a tiny trattoria in Manarola.

We stayed at Hotel Marina Piccola. They had great seafood dishes at the hotel restaurant. I remember we had crawfish, potatoes and green beans with pesto over linguine. It was outstanding. Obviously, this was before I started keeping kosher.

The hotel was simple and clean, but had an amazing view of the coast.

Edited November 12, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[divina]

Love seeing Italy through the eyes of others...

but for your MARTINI'S call me!

I adore cocktails... and would love to join you next time you are in Florence.

I am friends witht he president of the Martini e Rossi barmans team and boy does he make a mean martini!

My favorite is his Stone martini...

a special volcanic stone from the beach in Okinawa... soaked in vermouth... and placed in the glass.... then VODKA!( my choice!)

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1163305514/gallery_28661_3841_26583.jpg[/img

yeah baby I am so there!

but cocktails are really not a part of most Italians lifestyle... so not so easy to find.

Edited November 12, 2006 by divina (log)

[Indy67]

"A question, we ordered caprese salad quite often and almost always the tomatoes were very firm, not ripe and really hard. is this normal??"

I'm surprised to read this since I think of Italian food as characterized by serving only what is fresh and at its peak.

I do have an Italian tomato experience to share, although it isn't exactly on topic...

Decades ago, on our first and second trips to Rome, I was suprised to see that the tomatoes in mixed salads were routinely hard and green. More perplexingly, if one of us ordered a Caprese salad in the same restaurant, the tomatoes were ripe and packed with flavor. The restaurants didn't seem to be fobbing under-ripe tomatoes off on the tourists since nothing else about our food in the restaurants seemed indifferent, and the Caprese tomatoes were luscious.

Somewhat later, I became friends with a Tuscan woman who is a divine cook, and I asked her about the tomatoes in mixed salads. She explained that Italian cooks deliberately choose green tomatoes for mixed salads because under-ripe tomatoes have less juice so the salad dressing doesn't get diluted.

Indy 67

[Kevin72]

that night we decided to find a cechetti (sp?) bar! I can't remember the name of this one but it was great! old of course and had a bit older clientel. closed straight away at 8:30 to send you on your way to dinner!

interior (maybe someone will recognize the place and tell me the name! it was across the rialto bridge from san marco area close to the big market area )

←

Maybe Cantina do Mori?

These photos are literally taking my breath away: that shot of the island across from St. Mark's Square in particular. Where were you that you got the aerial view?

And I agree with everyone on the Parm factory pics: wonderful, what a fun little diversion!

[docsconz]

Fantastic trip, WEndy and Dayne. I am very much enjoying it as it brings back so many memories and lets me in on a few things new to me. Did you actually go to the Ferrari factory or was it the museum? What kind of car do you drive in Seattle?

I absolutely loved Venice, but found it to be the most dificult place in Italy to get an exceptional meal despite the Rialto market and the presence of stellar ingredients. I suspect it is because the city is so dominated by tourism.

[tryingsomethingnew]

Wonderful!

[markk]

"A question, we ordered caprese salad quite often and almost always the tomatoes were very firm, not ripe and really hard. is this normal??"

I would have to answer 'yes'. In the 70's, we used to spend our summers on... Capri, where as youngsters fresh out of college we were introduced to the dish, and it was always sensational. Our hotel had a fabulous poolside lunch restaurant where the cooks were basically local mamas, and nothing was fancy - just out of this world deilcious, and they'd shop on the way over to the hotel. The mozzarella di buffala would come over early every morning by boat from Sorrento, and everything else was local - the basil, the oil, and the tomatoes, usually hard and green. But they were delicious. Of course we were young and impressionable, but we found them eye-openingly delicious. Perhaps it's the case that with Capri's volcanic soil and sun-drenched climate, even the green, hard tomatoes there have more flavor than the ripe ones in the US?

[little ms foodie]

Decades ago, on our first and second trips to Rome, I was suprised to see that the tomatoes in mixed salads were routinely hard and green. More perplexingly, if one of us ordered a Caprese salad in the same restaurant, the tomatoes were ripe and  packed with flavor. The restaurants didn't seem to be fobbing under-ripe tomatoes off on the tourists since nothing else about our food in the restaurants seemed indifferent, and the Caprese tomatoes were luscious.

Somewhat later, I became friends with a Tuscan woman who is a divine cook, and I asked her about the tomatoes in mixed salads. She explained that Italian cooks deliberately choose green tomatoes for mixed salads because under-ripe tomatoes have less juice so the salad dressing doesn't get diluted.

Indy 67

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this totally makes sense about the salads, I always remove the seeds from tomatoes for my salads for this same reason

Maybe Cantina do Mori?

These photos are literally taking my breath away: that shot of the island across from St. Mark's Square in particular.  Where were you that you got the aerial view?

And I agree with everyone on the Parm factory pics:  wonderful, what a fun little diversion!

←

yep Kevin you are right. and the aerial shots were from the top of the bell tower. the light was so great that morning as there was a storm coming!

Fantastic trip, WEndy and Dayne. I am very much enjoying it as it brings back so many memories and lets me in on a few things new to me. Did you actually go to the Ferrari factory or was it the museum? What kind of car do you drive in Seattle?    

I absolutely loved Venice, but found it to be the most dificult place in Italy to get an exceptional meal despite the Rialto market and the presence of stellar ingredients. I suspect it is because the city is so dominated by tourism.

←

We toured the Museum at the factory, you had to make ressies way in advance for the actual factory and from the looks of all the people coming out of it you also had to have a special outfit!

Michelle I love that story about your mom!!

And Divina we would love to have cocktails next time we are in your fantastic city!!!

[little ms foodie]

Markk that solves it!!!!!

[little ms foodie]

our last day in venice we spent over on dusadora. the storm from the night before had left the canals creeping up onto the sidewalks- it definately gave us a small view of what it must be like in the winter when it's constantly flooding.

this little area was great for getting away from the tourists!

we had lunch at a small tratt near the Peggy Guggenheim but I can't recall the name. after walking all day because of a water taxi strike we decided to have a little picnic in our room while we packed

once packed we went on our touristy gondola ride

and then to Botte for checi and wine

and then stopped by another that I don't know the name of

it was across from this awesome wine shop!

we had a great dinner at Osteria Mascaron (sp?) and then sambuca con mosca at the late night Edy bar with the locals.

We left Venice for London and an amazing meal at Petrus which I'll post in another forum.

Glad you have enjoyed this, we had an awesome trip as you can see and look forward to exploring more of Italy!!

[Abra]

Wow, those are some of the best pictures I've ever seen posted here! What a great trip, and I totally loved it when, after weeks of gorgeous food, you finally said you just weren't hungry. That was utterly hilarious.

Now, if you'd said you couldn't manage even one more cocktail or one more glass of wine, I'd have know that the Cheese Robot had definitely brainwashed you!

[docsconz]

Fantastic trip, Wendy and Dayne. I am very much enjoying it as it brings back so many memories and lets me in on a few things new to me. Did you actually go to the Ferrari factory or was it the museum? What kind of car do you drive in Seattle?    

I absolutely loved Venice, but found it to be the most dificult place in Italy to get an exceptional meal despite the Rialto market and the presence of stellar ingredients. I suspect it is because the city is so dominated by tourism.

←

We toured the Museum at the factory, you had to make ressies way in advance for the actual factory and from the looks of all the people coming out of it you also had to have a special outfit!

Michelle I love that story about your mom!!

And Divina we would love to have cocktails next time we are in your fantastic city!!!

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My understanding is that the factory tour is truly special, but that in order to get in one has to either be a Ferrari owner or there with the blessing of a dealer. The Museum is pretty cool in its own right and well worth the detour, especially since I was with my then 12y/o son. There are also some good balsamico acetaia on the way.

[Della]

I finally got a chance to sit down and go through this whole blog - what great pics!! I had seen a few earlier but WOW the food shots are really great (as well as the ones of you two). I know you guys had a fantastic time - and the pictures with your narration really show it!

[lucylou95816]

Wonderful photos of your trip. I am so jealous, I have never been to Italy and want to go more than ever now. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[doc slaughter]

LMF I think you guy's have been slacking off a bit, there's been no Pic's of any Gelato lately.

[little ms foodie]

LMF  I think you guy's have been slacking off a bit, there's been no Pic's of any Gelato lately.

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LOL!!! we actually didn't have gelato in venice!

[percyn]

What a great trip and report...thanks for sharing...it makes me want to head there tomorrow...no wait...today !!