food enthusiast

Il Gelato Vivolo : Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Yes, it was time for more gelato, this time from Vivolo Gelateria, a gelateria located a bit away from the touristy areas and judging from the lack of English speakers, seemingly mostly visited by locals.

By far, this was my favorite of all the gelaterias we had tried this trip. All of the flavors were just well done, not overly sweet and lent a more homey/home-made feel than (vs other gelaterias which go the chichi route).

Rico Gelato
Very much like if you combined a rice pudding with gelato, complete with bits of rice which tempers the sweetness.

Chocolate w/ Orange Peel
With that slight bitterness of dark chocolate, but not offensively so.

Merengue Semi-Freddo
More of a creamy flavor

We would later find another gelateria in Florence that managed to top this as our favorite; however, I still have no hesitations recommending this spot.

Il Gelato Vivolo

Via dell' Isola delle Stinche, 7r 50122 Firenze, Italia (Map)
055 292334

www.vivoli.it

41 Most Common Cooking Mistakes

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:24:00 +0000

CookingLight's Most Common Cooking Mistakes

[via Mefi]

Osteria Antica Mescita San Niccolo: Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Our first proper meal in Florence was at an Osteria near to the apartment we stayed at: Osteria Antica Mescita.

It was charmingly cozy with only about 4 tables inside and a few more outside.

Since we had not yet enjoyed any alcohol, we opted for a bottle of their house red. This was not what I expected. There was a strong sweetness with a heavy grape flavor and a strong alcohol body to it. In full disclosure, my better half is a relative light-weight when it comes to alcohol, so when we do go for a full bottle of wine, I end up drinking the majority and tend to get somewhat tipsy.

Fettuccine con Sugo di Cinghale (Fettuccine with wild boar sauce)
Wild boar had been stewed until it was quite tender - very tasty. I wish the Fettuccine could have been a it more al dente, since it's kind of hard to tell fresh pasta from dried pasta when it's fully cooked. Sauce was not too oily or heavy.

Lampredotto (Bollito o con funghi porcini) (Intestine)
Ooh boy, a fairly strong smell of intestines emitted from this dish, but it tasted more like thinly sliced fatty beef slices in a stew. Well done comfort food.

??
This was like a very light strawberry short cake. Ricotta cheese over strawberries and a cakey layer, topped with pistachios. Very nice way to finish off the meal

Specials menu

Not a mind blowing meal, but certainly a pleasant one, particularly the dessert.

Osteria Antica Mescita

Via di San Niccolò, 60r 50125 Firenze (Map)
055 234 28 36

www.osteriasanniccolo.it

Marco Salumeria e Formaggi : Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:05:00 +0000

We also stopped by the Marco Salumeria e Formaggi stand in Mercato Centrale.

I think we elicited a few bemused smiles when out of the massive Parmigiano Reggiano chunks there...

we asked for a small sliver that we could eat in a single sitting:

The stuff was absolutely lovely though. It had a sweetness akin to a nice apricot and a beautiful dramatic flavor that held for a good 5 to 7 seconds. Bonus was the hardened crystals throughout, which when bitten into, packed a super burst of flavor. Really wonderful stuff.

Marco Salumeria e Formaggi
Mercato Centrale
Via dell'Ariento, 87-r, 50123 Firenze, Italy (Map)

Enoteca Salumeria Lombardi : Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

We opted to grab a few sandwiches at the Enoteca Salumeria Lombardi stand at the Mercato Centrale.

Spicy Salumi
Very slight kick, a "full body" flavor, similar to the fullness of the flavor of hot oil in Wontons in Hot oil. Not quite sure how else to explain it. Tomatoes, your standard fresh tomato slices, but the sun dried tomatoes lent a nice prolonged flavor. The bread was a bit much in terms in proportions to the meat, but had a nice crunch to the outside and was fluffy inside.

Prosciutto di Parma
A rounded flavor, probably because of the fat.

Certainly, the ingredients were very good, but just did not come together quite as well. Next time, we probably would just opt for the meat by itself.

Enoteca Salumeria Lombardi
Multiple Locations
www.enoteca-lombardi.com

Wendy's in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:49:00 +0000

The same Japanese news-site that brought you Big Macs Steamed in a Rice Cooker also investigated a newly opened Wendy's store by buying every single item from the menu in Japan.

There's no write-up on how the items were, but some of the items were quite uniquely "high-class", like this burger below:

Fois Gras & Rossini

Check out the full photo lowdown: RocketNews Wendy's Japan Xtreme Taste Test

Big Macs Cooked Asian Style?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:19:00 +0000

What in the world?! Please someone, take one for the team, try this out and report how it is.

RocketNews - We Cook a Big Mac Value Meal In a Rice Cooker

Btw, I *love* the classical guitar background music and the final "ahh it's done' meal shot close-ups, which still remain as unappetizing as the idea sounds.

[via mefi]

On Gestation Crates & Chicken Farming

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:15:00 +0000

Bittman on McDonalds phasing out gestation crates from their supply chain. Despite my personal aversion to McDonalds and Walmart, I completely agree with Bittman's observation that they wield the power to have an extremely large impact on how farming is done.

From gestation crates for pigs to raising chicken, we-make-money-not-art features a new proposal for raising chicken for breeding from the Royal College of Art whose thesis is that the current system for raising chicken is more akin to farming produce (i.e. farmers only care about the meat output and there's no real thought into the animal's well-being), so why not lobotomize the chickens and truly farm the chicken meat ala The Matrix.

Mercato Centrale : Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:01:00 +0000

One of the first things that attracted our attention when looking through the tour guide on Florence was not the museums with famous sculptures or artwork, it was Mercato Centrale, an indoor market, centered on food, much like our beloved Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market.

But sorry RTM, as soon as we started walking through the larger market, our loyalty began to sway. Stands upon stands of fresh produce, cheese, seafood, meat, pastries, pasta, etc. welcomed us.

Heck. Frick'n. Yes.

If we moved to Florence, we'd opt for a place, specifically within walking distance from this market.

Mercato Centrale

Via dell'Ariento, 87-r, 50123 Firenze, Italy (Map)
+39 055 214070

McDonald's : Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:01:00 +0000

This may seem out of character, given my general disdain for fast food.

But we were particularly surprised to come across a McDonald's in Venice, Bologna and then again in Florence. And to top it off, there seemed to be a bit of a marketing blitz from McDonald's as well. Surely, Italians would not be tempted by such cheap schlock offered in McDonald's, would they?

The McDonald's was packed.

Most of the menu remained the same as what you would find in the U.S.; however, they did have a small specials menu, a few of which strayed from the usual. I couldn't resist:

Olives Ascolana
Olives stuffed with beef, deepfried. Sadly, this tasted like they took some of their hamburger meat, added some jarred olives (and not the good ones) and deep fried the thing with batter. It was bland as crap and sadly did not seem localized at all (and given my wait for this item, did not seem to be all that popular locally)

I was also a bit surprised by the price point. 3 Euros for each 3 olive balls? What madness.

Oh well, it was interesting to try this out.

McDonald's

Florence, Italy

Panificio Rosi : Riomaggiore, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:01:00 +0000

After much too short of a time in Cinque Terra, we were sad to be leaving. Before taking off, we stopped at a small bakery shop for some morning pastries:

Chocolate, creme, apricot
Decent, but a overwhelming with the proportions of the already strongly flavored filling to the crust. You also have to be careful on the inhale eating this. Right when I was about to take a bite, I inhaled a blast of powered sugar and ended up with a 5-minute coughing fit.

Fig & Walnut Pastry
Pastry itself a little like shortbread in texture: with that crumbly cooki'ish texture. The fig filling was nice was small bits of walnut. I was rather surprised by the portions; I could have dealt with the sweetness of this, just not in such a large size.

Focaccia
Not sure why we opted for a plain focaccia piece, perhaps to offset the sweet breakfast pastries, but it turned out to be our favorite of the bunch. A nice crunch, a touch oily, but nice.

Panificio Rosi
Via San Giancomo Riomaggiore Italy

Snack Bar : Riomaggiore, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Since the sun was setting, we unfortunately had to end up skipping the fourth village, Manarola, and taking the train back to Riomaggiore.

After cleaning up, we headed to the main street for a late night snack at Snack Bar, what seemed more of a small bar that had snacks. (There were a few locals there gathered around, watching a soccer game on the tv)

We ended up getting some pasta with al pesto sauce.

They ended up nuking the thing in the microwave and this was not exactly high-quality dining, but it hit the spot at the moment, being more comfort food of sorts. The pesto was more on the thicker and oily side, but the flavors of the olive oil and the bits of basil leaves came through strongly. The pasta was of course fresher than what you'd get in the States, but what only par from a bar type place in Italy.

Snack Bar
Via San Giancomo Riomaggiore Italy

Gelateria Artigianale : Corniglia, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

It was a 1 1/2 hr (coastal) hike to the next village, Carniglia.

Carniglia seemed a much quieter town, where it seemed like the locals far out-numbered the tourists. After Vernazza, this came across as quite refreshing.

After the hike, we figured we needed to rehydrate and replentish our bodies... so we stopped in another gelateria.

Mango
Pistachio
The mango was not bad, but just were not enamored with it. Had a slight tartness to it.
The pistachio had an okay creaminess to it, but again there weren't any pistachio bits to it.
Finally the cone and waffle cracker had almost no sugar to it - (this turned out to be the case for nearly all gelaterias we went to in Italy) - it was one of the stranger things to munch on, since it had such a neutral flavor.

Gelateria Artigianale
via Serra Corniglia, Italy (Map)

Gelateria Artigianale: Vernazza, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:01:00 +0000

While we were waiting for the pizzeria to heat up our pizza, we ate some gelato at the gelateria nearby.

Chocolate/Picante Hazelnut Decent, not so sweet, not overwhelmingly creamy - flavors come off as more homey.
The chocolate/picante gelato - you could almost taste the slightly bitter chocolate shavings. The slight hot pepper flavor then followed afterward.
The hazelnut was not bad, but it would have benefited from having some actual hazelnut bits in it.

Gelateria Artigianale
Via Roma, Vernazza, Italy

Pizzeria Basso : Vernazza, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Vernazza, is probably the most picturesque of the five villages, with its little cape and the view of the village that the hiking trail above offers.

It also has a free public beach. It's small, but if we weren't coming off of our monster hike (and had more of a hike ahead of us), I would have probably bought myself some swim trunks and swum in that beautiful blue warm sea water.

I generally think that there's an inverse relationship between tourism and good food, in that it's usual to have terrible food in highly touristy places. Perhaps we just managed to pick the worst of the bunch in Vernazza, but this one seemed to corroborate my hypothesis.

Prosciutto Crudo
Not so great. Mozzarella so-so, prosciutto tasting like poor quality supermarket offerings and on top of that potentially starting to go a bit bad.

After eating, we started off on the coastal trail to the next village, Corniglia and fired off some abominations of gas bombs from our haunches, as if to re-emphasize our highly dis-satisfactory meal.

Pizzeria Basso Ivo
Via Roma, 1, 19018 Vernazza, Italy (Map)
+39 0187 821042 ‎

Pizzeria Focacceria Raggi Emiliano: Monterosso al Mare, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Monterosso al Mare is the northern most village of Cinque Terre and that was our starting point to do the hike between all 5 villages.

We were originally intending to grab a few focaccia bread pieces for a quick breakfast for our hike without paying much attention to what we picked up. But the focaccia ended up being pretty decent.

It was from a small pizzeria/focacceria on the smaller side street, via Vittorio Emanuele

Vegetarian Focaccia
Tomato, artichoke, spinach - unexpectedly nice. They asked if we wanted it toasted and we ate that piece there. Fresh ingredients and decent focaccia bread.

Mozarella, Potato, Rosemary
A bit on the saltier side due largely to the mozzarella, although the potatoes were also slightly salty as well. Strangely satisfying, especially an hour into our hike.

It was actually quite fortunate we did pick up the food we did.

There are two hiking options for Cinque Terre: the more popular (and direct) trails between villages that go along the sea-side and the less well-traveled trails that first go uphill and inland and then back downhil and towards the sea (think of a greater-than symbol >), which is what we ended up picking for some reason. These trails were not as well marked and even get interrupted by roads (the trail literally stops at the road and there are no signs as to where the trail picks up again.) Getting to the second village, Vernazza, ended up taking over 4 hours. Oof.

Pizzeria Focacceria Raggi Emiliano
Piazza Garibaldi N. 4 Monterosso al Mare, Italy (Map)

Ripa del Sole : Riomaggiore, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:03:00 +0000

For those who are unaware (like me before actually going), Cinque Terre is a set of 5 villages, in northwest Italy, which are nestled in cliffs along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The villages are absolutely picturesque and charming in their small-village atmosphere, especially during the non-touristy season. Our hearts were saddened to hear of the recent mud-slides that ravaged some of the villages.

We stayed in Riomaggiore, the southern most of the five villages. We had rented a guest house through xxx, a website like Airbnb, where property owners can rent out their property for vacation-goers. This was our first time renting through such websites for travel and beyond actually living more akin to how locals live, one of the big benefits of renting through such websites, is that the local host can give you the inside scoop on locals' favorite restaurants.

In this case, our host recommended Ripa del Sole, an absolutely wonderful restaurant.

It's located above (altitude-wise) the main street of Riomaggiore, so that you have this view of Riomaggiore from the street that it's on. Btw, they have both indoor and outdoor seating. When we went, it was nice enough in the evening that they only had outdoor seating available.

Umm, here's a random shot of olive oil and balsamic vinegar there to build up some suspense.

Now, let's get onto the food.

Anchoves Cooked 5 Ways
Fabulous.
1) Deep fried, wrapped in ham
2) Plain deep fried - very simply, but nicely done. Fresh anchovies, freshly fried and lightly salted. You really can't go wrong with this.
3) Anchovies in pesto/olive oil
4) Salted anchovy (as in preserved in salt) - We're not really used to the salted preserved flavor and found this overwhelmingly salty, but it paired well with the bread and lemon oil.
5) Anchovies with carrot and celery slivers in white vinegar and lemon - our favorite of the five. Just a nice pair of fish and the vinegar/lemon flavor.

Shrimp Ravioli
Nicely done. Cooked al dente, the shrimp inside tasting like a seafood bisque.

Local Fish
Five types of different fish, deep fried. Again, simple but very nicely done, each fish giving a distinctively unique flavor. It may not look like it, but this was actually quite a massive portion. The largest fish were about 5 inches long.

All in all, this was the priciest of the meals we have had so far this trip, but far and away our most satisfying.

Ripa del Sole
Via De Gasperi, 4, 19017 Riomaggiore La Spezia, Italy (Map)
0187 920143
ripadelsole.it‎

Impero : Bologna, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:02:00 +0000

We picked up our second sandwich from Impero, a few doors down from Saveria.

This seemed more popular for its pastries and coffee (and later on in the trip, we'd return here just to try those out).

Foccaccia w/ Olives - Some cured meat, mozzarella, + arugula.
Mozzarella and the salty olives were the prevalent and quite satisfying flavor. The arugula lended a complementary flavor and made me think that I should be using arugula more often in sandwiches back home.

Impero
Via dell'Indipendenza, 39, 40018 Bologna, Italy (Map)
+39 051 232337
workingbo.it

Gelateria Saveria : Bologna, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:01:00 +0000

We were actually on our way to Cinque Terre, but had a train connection in Bologna for a few hours, so we jumped out and grabbed a few sandwiches, one from Gelateria Saveria and one from Impero Bar a few doors down).

Gigliato (sp?)
Seemingly simple sandwich, but actually quite nicely done. A relatively denser bread with salted/salty cured meat that melted in your mouth. Yes it was simple, but the ingredients were quality and we enjoyed the heck out of this, especially given our spotty meals in Venice.

Gelateria Saveria
Via dell'Indipendenza, 40018 imperio bologna, italy (Map - a few doors down from Impero Bar)

Gelateria Paolin S. Stefano : Venice, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:02:00 +0000

As an fyi, we miraculously re-found Caffe Brasilia and ate there again in between trying Laguna Bar Gelateria and Gelateria Paolin S. Stefano. I didn't want you thinking we were so gluttonous as to hit up two gelaterias in a row.

We saved that for later in the trip.

Pistachio
Tampoco (?)
Both flavors overly sweet throughout, which really surprised us, given the number of people enjoying themselves outside the place. The tampico had bits of berry (cherry or loganberry?) was especially guilty of being too sweet, but the pistachio, containing bits of wafer or pistachio paste throughout, also was not really what we were looking for.

Sigh. I guess we can see why Venice is not exactly known as a foodie town.

Gelateria Paolin
San Marco 2962, Campo Santo Stefano, Venice, Italy (Map)
+39 041 522 5576

Laguna Bar Gelateria : Venice, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Laguna Bar Gelateria was the first gelateria we came across while strolling around Dorsoduro, so naturally we had to try some of it.

Blueberry
Ick. ick. Zero for two today. Strangely had that sweet umm flavor, if you could call it that, that's found in a lot of sodas.

Laguna Bar Gelateria
Sestiere Dorsoduro, 794, 30123 Venezia, Italy (Map)
+39 041 528 3619

Chat Qui Rit : Venice, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:01:00 +0000

The only way that I can explain it is that being in another country, jet-lagged, our foodie spidey sense must have been off. With the menu outside appearing to offer relatively reasonable prices and it being somewhat close to our hotel, we convinced ourselves that it was acceptable to eat at a self-service buffet line type place.

i.e. this was a pre-meditated egregious choice.

It was our worst meal the entire trip, bar none.

It's like a cafeteria-style line, where you get a tray and point at pre-dished servings. The bored staff-members then take your pick and nuke it in a microwave in plain sight. I kid you not.

Pasta is nuked, chicken is nuked. They even nuke the fish. Oh the horror.

This "seafood" salad was a cold salad, somewhat fortunately. (Later on in our trip on a food tour, we were told we were lucky and that it's generally not recommended to get seafood in Venice. One couple who was supposed to go on the tour got massive food poisoning from seafood.)

Seeing the buffet alone, we should have fled. Topping it with the microwave deal, we should have run out screaming. Strangely, we passively trudged along and got to the cashier, where we were shocked with a terrifically high charge.

As for the food, well.

Pasta
Some of the other pasta was at least fresher (as potentially hand-made at some point, but sitting around for an hour), but the lasagna had that crusty hardened cheese, so often found in pastas in a cafeteria setting that had been under a heat-lamp.

Olves/Artichoke hearts
Better than what you'd get at a regular grocery market/restaurant in the States, but I suspect what you could get in a grocery store in Italy.

Fish
Oh my my. Overcooked to hell. Dry and dry. Flavorful, but dry as a German joke in the desert.

Seafood Salad
Considering the other dishes, not as bad as could be. Covered with light vinegar, which does help things. But my concern was: is langostine supposed to the have the texture of fish balls?

Ick. Do not come here.

Chat Qui Rit
Sestiere di San Marco, 1131 30124 Venezia, Italia (Map)
041 522 9086
chatquirit.it

We want answers!

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:02:00 +0000

I've been really fascinated by some of the in-depth responses occurring on website: Quora

Why is Dinner Often More Expensive than Lunch?

What role do donuts play in American Culture?
(Btw, love the following)

The fact that the history is so closely tied to tales of entrepreneurship and innovation (from the Krispy Kreme 'Ring King' automated machines, to the association with Mom-and-pop franchises) give the donut patriotic, all-American free-market street cred.

Can I bring dough on an Airplane?

How do Japanese people describe food?

Grom : Venice, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The first of our many, many gelatos during our trip was at Grom, a chain with locations across Italy and in select other cities (NY, Paris, Tokyo, Osaka, Malibu). It offers a modern warm interior with seats and strangely tables that bounce when you push on them. (Maybe you can put them in a suped up car with mega shocks?)

Hazelnut / Ricotta with Almond / Raspberry Sorbet
Hazelnut - caramel-like flavor, followed by hazelnut flavor.
Ricotta with Almond - pretty subtle flavor, almost like vanilla
Raspberry Sorbet - A little less tart than usual

The cone itself, like many other cones has much less sugar than the cones in the U.S., to the point where if there was any less sugar, we could have been eating a crunchy cardboard cone for all that I knew.

This was not bad. The gelato was slightly creamier in texture than an ice cream and more true to the flavors of the original ingredient than an ice cream generally tend to be, but if my one experience with Gelato was this one, I'd ask what's the big deal with gelato? (In hindsite I get it, but this isn't the place to intro a gelato newbie to.)

Grom
Sestiere Cannaregio, 3844 30121 Venezia, Italia (Map)
Multiple Locations
www.grom.it

Egg molds!

noreply@blogger.com (Comradechu) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

If your kid (or kid at heart) is just sick of the same ol boring ovoid-shaped boiled egg, brace yourself, because there are egg molds that transmogrify your boiled eggs into cute shapes:

Btw, in case you were wondering, you boil the egg first and then put them into the mold while they're still hot.

Then, if they get bored with those (geez, what kind of picky little kids are you raising?), you can take it to the next step and mold the yolk (!)

(This requires you to separate the yolk from the white before cooking)

Who knows what mind-bending technological wonder lies next on the horizon?

Will they have a mold where you can shape both the egg white and the egg yolk? Like a car-shaped egg white on the outside with a driver-dude-shaped egg yolk on the inside?