Back to Blogging - Tasmania!

No, we didn't go back. Oprah went though. She must've read my posts last fall and been totally jealous.

I am going to try to blog again though. Slowly. So here are some photos from Tasmania. We wanted to go wine tasting in Tassie but we thought 9am was a little early to start (amateurs, I'm sure some of you are calling us). Instead we headed to a nature preserve near the wine country outside of Hobart. We thought we'd see some cute animals but were EXCITED to see a sign at entry about kangaroo feeding at 11am. They gave us some food and set us loose.

We saw a bunch of other animals native to Australia first, including the above Tasmanian Devils. They were definitely devilish-looking and fighting over a twig.

I finally spotted a kangaroo freely hopping around and was so excited that I ran right up, spending a lot of time petting it and thinking this was my one big chance. Little did I know that we would turn a corner and walk right into a GIGANTIC kangaroo pen. HUGE. There were probably 60-80 kangaroos just hanging around, snoozing, playing, etc and a few other people who were feeding them the snacks from right inside the cage. We walked in and while Mark didn't want to feed them (he was convinced at least one would be rabid. He was wrong.), I went for it. I fed and pet the tall aggressive ones and the little joeys. It was such a fun detour and definitely worth postponing the wine.

Eventually, we got hungry and were ready for some wine and lunch. After quiches in a tiny Tasmanian town's cafe, we hit our first vineyard. Writing this three months later, I can't remember any of the names (and am too lazy to get up and check the bottle labels) but they were all pretty good. The whites were especially tasty and we brought back some Pinot Gris and Champagne that has never been exported out of Tasmania. Very yummy.

Barolo Wine Country

With family in town for the week, I played hooky and we crossed another item off our "places to see in Italy before we leave" list. We've spent plenty of time in Piedmont but never visited Alba or Bra.

Alba is home to the great northern Italian festival for the white truffle. That's usually in November so our timing was a bit off but we had beautiful weather and strolled around town, visiting the Duomo (photo at top) and taking in the red brick buildings. We had a wonderful meal in town at a restaurant recommended by the Osterie d'Italia. Lalibera specializes in cuisine of the region and was heavy on veal, rabbit, pigeon, and other delicacies.


After lunch, we hopped into the car and headed to the Langhe hills and the infamous Barolo wine-growing region. Our appointment was at the Renato Ratti cantina for a 45 minute long tour, followed by a wine tasting. The tour was extensive. While we've visited a few cellars and producers during out time in Italy, Renato Ratti is the biggest producer (though they're considered medium size). They produce a couple kinds of Barolo, plus a delicious Nebbiolo and the typical Barbera and Dolcetto d'Alba of the region. We came away with a few bottles of Barbera and Nebbiolo as "souvenirs" of our time. The tasting was generous and delicious, we sampled their nice Barolo (retails for $60+) and did I mention it was all free?


Not wanting to spend the last hours of daylight in the car heading back to Milan, we decided to head to Bra, another nearby town, for dinner and a stroll. Bra is the home of the Slow Food movement (so don't mention McDonald's!) The movement was founded in 1986 to fight against the globalization of food and unhealthy eating habits. Now, there are over 80 thousand members in over 100 countries! The provincial town is also rich in architecture - the church of San Andrea was designed by Bernini - and we enjoyed some star-gazing and another round of the region's wines before heading back to the bright lights of the big city.

Lalibera: Via Pertinace, 24A, Alba
Renato Ratti: Frazione Annunziata, 7, La Morra

Greek Road Trip

After our brief stay in Athens, we joined our friends on a weekend trip to Nafplio, a seaside town on the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece.

We drove from Athens (and back again), each time taking a different route that showed us the historic sights of Greece. Our first stop on Saturday morning was the Corinth Canal. A technological achievement of its time, the canal was built in 1893 to link the gulf of Corinth to the Saronic gulf of the Aegean Sea. While now it's mainly used for tourist ships, it originally saved 400 kilometers off the journey of trade ships. But to us, it was a cool sight. The blue was vivid and the bridge just rickety enough to make a fraidy-cat like me hold my breath.

Our next stop was the Theater at Epidaurus. The acoustics here are noted for being perfect. From the center of the stage, noise is audible even to the highest portion of the theater. Naturally, we tested the theory ourselves and found it to be pretty credible. That's my dear husband standing in the middle of the theater in the photo below. He pulled a coin from his pocket, dropped it on the dirt, and sure enough we could hear it from the top of the rows.

On Sunday morning, we got an earlier start on the trip back to Athens and visited a few more sights, exploring the Mycenaean world. The Treausry of Atreus was our first stop and we were doubly lucky that it was 1) free and 2) completely empty (at least, until our way out). The lintel stone above the doorway weighs over 120 pounds! Can you even imagine how that was lifted and used during the Bronze Age (around 1250BC)?! Mind-boggling. The interior is an underground dome that was richly decorated and served as a tomb.

After exploring the citadel of ancient Mycenae (the photo at the top of this post is from the height of the fort) and taking a cheesy group picture under the Lion's Gate, we hopped back into the car and headed for stadium at Nemea (below). This athletic facility may look like a field of dirt but the flat surface was run by many an athlete and is still used for reenactments these days. Around the corner is the 'changing room' facility where the athletes disrobed (they competed naked) before running into a tunnel that empties to the stadium. The NFL (and many colleges) have picked up on this tradition so clearly athletes have always loved a grand entrance. After a woman snuck in to view as a spectator, all visitors were also expected to disrobe and watch the competition in the nude. Thanks goodness this is an Olympic tradition that hasn't continued.

While on the road, it wasn't all about ancient sites and historic figures. It was, naturally, about wine as well. When we passed a vineyard that our friends were familiar with, we stopped for a brief tastings. Naturally a couple favorites from the Terra Leone vineyards in Greece made it into our suitcases. Thanks goodness we booked our return on Olympic Airlines - EasyJet doesn't allow for free bag checking! It wasn't all about the fancy wines, our friends stopped to get some unmarked bottles of the good (cheap) stuff at a roadside stand. We were highly tempted by the olive oil and amazing-looking citrus for sale but restrained ourselves, knowing it'd probably leak all over our suitcases!


Our last stop before heading direct to the Athens airport was Temple of Zeus at Nemea. The Nemean Games were founded here and were part of the Panhellenic games cycle in ancient Greece. With the blue skies and warm air, it was a perfect bookend to a fabulous long weekend in Greece. We're keeping our fingers crossed to return again someday (we still have quite a few islands to visit!).

Convivio, a Milanese Enoteca

After a rough two weeks at work, it was a pleasure to gather with some friends at a local enoteca to do a tasting. Since it was a Wednesday night, I assumed that the pours would be light and the evening would be short - after 18 months in Italy, I really should've known better.

We met at Convivio (which mean 'banquet' in Italian), near the Porta Romana. Like many other enotecas, wines were a functional decoration lining the walls. Occasionally, I had to duck out of the way as a waiter reached over to grab the bottle behind me. We tasted three wines from the Casa Contratto whose growth and production is based in the Asti region of Piedmonte - one of my favorite regions which I've been lucky enough to visit several times before, eating and drinking VERY well.


The first time was a Barbaresco, made with 100% Nebbiolo grape. I don't recall the vintage of the wine that was served but it was delicious! Our sommelier (pictured above) was from the family that both produces the wines and runs the enoteca and gave us the full run-down on the wine. We were then served a heaping plate of meat and cheeses - so big that we initially thought they were for sharing! There was salami, mortadella, parmigiana, gorgonzola, and some additional types of cheeses that I don't even know the name of!


The highlight of the night was the second wine, a 2001 Barolo that had a rich, full flavor. We were told that they no longer sold the wine since production had been limited and there were so few in stock. I encouraged one of my oenophile friends to inquire (she was really hoping to take some home) and luckily she struck gold! Well, paid gold to - each bottle was $90! Marco and I just took the time to savor what was already in our glasses!

After such an amazing Barolo, it would've been tough for any other red to follow so we were lucky to be served a sparkling wine to cap things off. There were other glasses to follow at the bar after the "formal" tasting was over and the Enoteca Convivio lived up to it's name!


Enoteca Convivio, Viale Sabotino, 2
20136 Milano

Lago di Como at Christmas

You already know I love Christmas markets so when the opportunity to go with my family and visit the market on Lake Como, I jumped - especially high on the day after Christmas! We made it to Como right before lunch and enjoyed our meal in a lovely restaurant overlooking the lake. Ate some yummy seafood and fresh pasta but I kept in mind a warning I'd heard before: don't eat seafood from the lake! Apparently, lake pollution is quite high.


With some vino, pasta, and pizza in our bellies, we walked along the lake until we got to Como's main lakeside piazza. The miniature ice-skating rink was one was to stay warm during the cold day but after observing the participants (including the cute kids pushing around penguins), we elected to walk around and check out the merchandise at the mercato. No big surprises, lots of local foods like salami, cheese, and honey. I bought a pot of honey to add to my collection at home. The warm chestnuts were out in full force, helping out those who forgot their gloves.

We made our way out of the market and into the centro storico. When we came to the Duomo, I was pleasantly surprised to see it open! I've so far had the unfortunate luck of not being able to see the inside but had a chance to admire with my parents, sister, and husband this time around. The stained glass windows were remarkable and sculpture/decor evoked the Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance influences that prevailed during the building years.


So when it's Boxing Day and you're walking around outside, getting freezing cold, what do you do to warm up? Chestnuts are a good band-aid but only a nice glass of Glühwein (mulled wine) will beat the cold.

Montalcino

We set off in September in search of Brunello. The famous Brunello di Montalcino is one of Italy's best-known and most expensive wines, grown in the...wait for it...Montalcino region of Tuscany.

We were not disappointed, either by the Brunellos or the beautiful small town of Montalcino itself. We easily canvassed the town on foot, walking past several cantinas in search of the perfect tasting location. En route, we stopped to admire the gorgeous Tuscan landscapes and visit the 12th century fortress and clock tower in town. We eventually were drawn into a modern wine shop with a unique tasting system. The bottles (hundreds available) fed into a machine. We used the card that the proprietor gave us, inserted it into the machine, and for a small amount we received generous pours of the wine of our choice. We never made it to aperitivo but walked away with a delicious Brunello that we realized we HAD to buy after going back for a third tasting!

Our big splurge of a meal ended up being in this small town. Osteria al Giardino was featured in our Italian guide to osterias as a slow food recommendation. We ordered the tasting menu and enjoyed a host of Tuscan specialities, often with an elegant spin, like these Tuscan white beans with shrimp. With the permission of the chef, Cooper sat in the restaurant throughout dinner and enjoyed the attention (yes, favorable, we had a corner table a bit set aside from others) of the staff. I think that, out of all of us, Coop might miss Tuscany the most!

The Chianti Festival

While the cantinas in Montepulciano were plentiful, the various wine regions in Tuscany were begging to be tasted by Mark and I. Luckily for us, the 19th Rassegna del Chianti Classico (Chianti wine festival) in Greve-in-Chianti was taking place and offered us the opportunity to taste various Tuscan and Chianti wines from all over the region - all in one place! For 10 euro, we purchased a "commemorative" wine glass and a punch card that entitled us to 10 different tastings - not a bad deal!Some of us (ahem ahem, me, unfortunately) had to drive back to Montepulciano that night but an early start enabled me to taste a few as well. Mark's strategy was to pick the most expensive wines around (which ended up being the Super Tuscans, for the most part) and get "the most for his money". Some of them were particularly tasty and we walked away with a few bottles so that I could do a little more tasting at home.

Montepulciano

What better place to watch summer turn into fall than the hills of Tuscany? We were lucky enough to spend a week based in Montepulciano, tasting the wine, visiting hillside Tuscan towns, strolling through the cobblestone streets, and studying some Italian.

We drove from Milan, arriving Sunday evening in time for the aperitivo sponsored by our school. After settling into our apartment, we took Cooper and went for a bit of a walk. Dinner that night was at the Trattoria di Cagnano, enjoying some freshly made pasta.

In between classes throughout the next couple of days, we explored the walking town on foot. It's a small town but with lots of steep hills. Montepulciano is also where the Twilight film 'New Moon' filmed its "Volterra" scenes. I recently saw the trailer and noticed the Piazza Grande featured with a conveniently inserted fountain that definitely doesn't exist in real life. What did exist was LOTS of Twilight paraphernelia - including photos of Robert Pattinson on nearly every corner! The REAL Piazza Grande is home to the Palazzo Comunale and the Chiesa Santa Maria Assunta, pictured in the two photos above.

Cantinas (wine shops) were seemingly on every street and I was constantly tempted by the beautiful copper pots and pans. We enjoyed a tasting at one cantina with some classmates one evening and ended up taking home two bottles each of Nobile di Montepulciano and the Rosso di Montepulciano, enjoyable and far from the last few bottles we'd be tasting and buying!


Trattoria di Cagnano: Via dell Opio nel Corso 30, 53045 Montepulciano, Italy

The Country Home in Umbria

For the May day holiday, we decided to take advantage of a travel deal we found and stay in country for the long weekend. Waking early to beat the rush of traffic (Milanese are dying to leave Milan on normal weekends - long weekends are even worse), we loaded Cooper into the car and set the Tom-Tom towards Orvieto, Umbria.

The weather was definitely in our favor. We stayed at an agriturismo about 25 minutes from the town of Orvieto. An agriturismo is basically a government-subsidized farm. Part of the program means that these still-working farms or vineyards receive government funds if they lease out rooms or homes on part of this property. Our agriturismo owned several acres in the region and rented out a two bedroom stone house to us and our accompanying friend. Our friend's husband was out of town but she brought her two boys anyways and everyone seemed to enjoy watching the kids chase Cooper around the open yard.

While the Umbrian countryside is dotted with charming medieval towns, we spent most of our time at our rented home. We took some long walks with Cooper and spent a lot of time relaxing and reading in the fresh air.

Our agriturismo sponsored a wine tasting on Saturday afternoon that we happily attended. We toured their wine-making facility and tasted their four local wines, enjoying the crisp white Grechetto so much that we brought home four bottles. Mark is becoming a snob, he later remarked that he was unimpressed since we've gotten much more thorough tastings and tours in the past.

While lunch the prior day had been at the agriturismo's restaurant (fantastic deal and amazing food) and dinner had been made in our own kitchen in front of the fire, we headed into old town Orvieto for dinner on Saturday. Orvieto is built on top of a tall mountain and I'm sure this was of great use in defending the town - you could see for miles. We had a delicious dinner of fresh pasta followed by a steak with balsamic sauce - steaks from the Umbrian/Tuscan region are deservedly famous.

And speaking of famous, we even spotted a celebrity out while out at dinner! The restaurant's owner was serving us and paused to ask how we'd heard of his restaurant. It was truly word of mouth from a friend in Milan but when we asked why, the owner was practically popping with pride as he announced that Rick Steves was interviewing him back in the kitchen. I had to see it for myself so I popped back and came face to face with the famous tour guide. While I've always been more of a 'Lonely Planet' girl myself, I'll have to flip through the 2010 or 2011 Rick Steve's Italy guide to see if the Trattoria dell'Orso made the cut.

We were sad to wake up early on Sunday and make the drive back into Milan. The six hours to Umbria was a little long but the weekend in the country was amazing and we've now resolved ourselves to find a piece of this countryside paradise a little bit closer to home.

Aperitivo

A little Milanese tradition that we've been enjoying in the past few months is aperitivo. Aperitivo is the Italian version of happy hour except for the fact that there are (usually) no discounts on the drinks. Instead, in typical Italian fashion, there's a free buffet.

In Italy, and really just in Northern Italy, aperitivo occurs on all nights of the week in bars, restaurants, and cafes. I pass several on my way home from work and I've even popped into my morning coffee place much later in the day to see their spread start to appear. Some are small - bread, meats, cheeses, olives. Some are much larger with quite a bit more variety, including pastas and seafood.


In the Brera district, students come out early to pay for a couple full price drinks but get dinner for free. The unwritten rule of aperitivo is that one drink = one pass through the buffet. Despite the small plates, most people seem to be able to fill up on one trip and just get the second drink for fun.


Our favorite aperitivo is at a bar/restaurant near the Arco di Pace in the Parco Sempione. They have a huge outdoor patio with heat lamps in the winter and umbrellas in the summer but we usually sit inside. When we go with some friends here, the treatment is even more impeccable than usual thanks to the table service we receive. We're at the mercy of the kitchen but we've feasted on oysters, smoked salmon crostinis, tender salami, fried olives (see above), and miniature pizzas. They come in waves and don't end until the table is begging for mercy (or the check). Drinks aren't cheap but they bring my prosecco with a strawberry so I stay happy.

Eataly

Despite what you might think, my friend and I were not done food shopping when we departed the Torino chocolate festival. The festival had been a fortunate detour from our true destination - the ultimate grocery store in the world. Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration. I've been to the Whole Foods flagship store in Austin and that place is pretty cool but this one is probably the best in Europe and definitely the best in Italy.

What's the number one best part about it? The name. Eataly.

Get it? I think it's so clever but maybe I just have a "punny" sense of humor. Eataly is a store that embodies the principles of the 'Slow Food' movement that was invented right here in Northern Italy. This giant warehouse of a store/restaurant contains good from small-scale producers from all over Italy. Rather than shipping their meats, cheeses, and produce through a middle man and risking the loss of quality, they joined together to sell their goods for a sustainable price at Eataly. With some small exceptions, a handful of 18 producers make up the bulk of the goods sold here. If you want to know where your salumi comes from, the Eataly website will tell you all about the father/son team of Franco and Carlo Pernigotti in Tortona, who still makes their salumi by hand in the same location that they have been since the early 20th century. Selling from artisan producers to the mass market doesn't mean a sacrifice in selection either. You can see from the picture below that my friend and I had quite the challenge when it came to picking the salami or prosciutto that we'd take home with us.


Eataly embodies the principles of the 'Slow Food' movement that were formed in Italy in 1986 as a response to the fast food/Americanization that was sweeping through Europe. While they didn't manage to stem the tide of McDonald's, they did create a niche market demand for high-quality sustainable foods. The Slow Food organization serves a consulting role in Eataly's growing empire (they have a small store in three other Italian cities and will be opening more).

Pressed for time, we mainly explored and shopped in the retail food and beverage sections, planning our dinner for that night. While we initially wanted to make a seafood pasta, the price of sustainable shrimp was a bit beyond our budgets and neither of us know how to debeard mussels. Instead, we opted for fresh ground beef with a locally produced tomato & basil sauce. We picked up fresh pasta (so much better than the dried stuff) along with whole-wheat bread and the makings for a fresh garden salad. So perhaps it was the American-ized version of a Bolognese but the ingredients did make a world of difference.

And the icing on the cake? It wasn't dessert - it was our beverage of the night. When we wandered to the cellar, we noticed these gigantic barrels and gigantic glass bottles. Local customers stood there, some with gallon-sized glass jugs, to fill up on wine. Priced at just 3.50 euro per liter, I couldn't resist grabbing a two liter bottle of my own (for only 80 cents!). I was initially worried about whether we'd drink it before it went bad - silly me, it was gone by midnight! Typical Italy, just when you think this place is too expensive to live well (you should've seen the prices on that shrimp), it'll turn around and shock you with something ridiculously cheap and delicious.

Pairing Wine and Chocolate

A confession: I like wine but seem to be somewhat learning disabled on the subject. I've attended several wine-tastings since I've been here in Italy and can recognize "legs" and sometimes remember what the bubbles in a prosecco mean but I have to just murmur when somebody starts talking about "oakiness" and "tannins". After dozens of efforts, I still have no idea what I'm supposed to be tasting so I just pretend to agree and move on.

This past Friday, we attended a wine tasting event in honor of Valentine's Day that was right up my alley - a wine and chocolate pairing. While they might seem like natural partners due to their high scores of "awesome" on the taste buds, we were disappointed to learn that this wasn't always true.

Our sommeliers, Rachel and Mario, were challenged to come up with good pairing for our group. We sat down to place mats with seven different types of chocolate laid across them: Papua, Madagascar, Amazonas, Ecuador, Ghana, Arriba Superior, and white chocolate. With each of the six wines, we were asked to taste 1-2 different types of chocolate (suggested by Rachel) to note the difference in complementary flavors. Most of the wines were dessert wines (one was a grappa) but the differences were extraordinary. A fortified wine like the Recioto della Vapolicella has an alcohol content of 19% and paired well with darker, stronger chocolates that could hold their own, like the Ecuadorean and Ghanaian versions, and compliment it with a bit of spiciness. Pairing this wine with a milkier chocolate resulted in a bitter aftertaste that ruined both the wine and the chocolate.

I ended up have two favorite wines for the night. The Brachetto d'Acqui Passito is a sweet dessert wine that smelled of elderflower, rose, and dried cherries so distinctly that even my untrained nose could take notice. While this wine typically pairs with green cheese like Gorgonzola and Roquefort, we tried it with white chocolate and Papua milk chocolate. To note the full taste, we learned that you should let the chocolate melt in your mouth a little bit and roll it all over your tongue and roof of your mouth, sipping the wine when it's nearly completely melted. Personally, I thought the white chocolate made the pairing overwhelmingly sweet while the Papua blended perfectly.

My second favorite was "L'Eremita" Recioto della Valpolicella, another dessert wine to pair with green and blue cheeses. Again, a deep garnet color that smelled very sweetly of dried cherries, raisins, and vanilla. In my notes, I wrote "good tannins" so you can take somebody else's word for that. It was paired with the Amazonas and Madagascar chocolates which have the respective cacao/sugar proportions of 60% and 46% (that means Amazonas is the darker chocolate). While the group's assessment was split, I was on the half that preferred the pairing with the darker Amazonas. I thought that the Madagascar chocolate resulted in a bitter taste to this otherwise sweet wine.

Our least favorite? We both HATED the Barolo Chinato a DOCG from Piedmont. Fortified with distilled alcohol left from wine and a mixture of 20 herbs, the "secret" ingredient of quinine pretty much ruined it for us. Quinine is a tree bark that is used as a malarial prophylaxis. My notes say "smells like mosquito spray but tastes like cinnamon and basil". This is not a good thing. The taste mildly improved when paired with the Madagascar and Ecuadorian chocolates but nothing fixed the smell of DEET.

I was also not a fan of the Grappa Vendemmia Tardina, a very strong "wine" made out of the pits, skins, and stems of grapes used for other wines - the "hot dog of Italy" as one of my colleagues noted. You can compare this to Greek Ouzo, French Pastis, or Sambuca as an aperitif. My notes were punctuated by a frowny face.

While not all the wines were winners, we certainly enjoyed the presentations and hosting by our sommeliers Mario and Rachel. While Mario is an English-speaking Italian, Rachel is an American married to him and certified by the same sommelier organization. They run a company called Italia by Design and organize food and wine tastings for tourists throughout Italy. We have an eye on their prosecco tour for our second wedding anniversary!