Destination Anywhere

A few weeks ago we booked a half-day cooking class and a market visit with Maribel of Taste of Italy. http://www.taste-of-italy.com/

As arranged, we met up at a café near the market area. After a fast espresso, we headed out. She ushered us into several shops, discussing each's specialties, and what particulars of type or variety to look for. We saw what looked most appealing in the vegetable shops, and discussed what we'd make today. Because of the heat (what, you think I can get through a blog entry without telling you how hot it is here?) we wanted to keep things on the light side. I asked her about what the Bolognese make at home, since the restaurant cuisine is so heavy. She said they typically use a lot more vegetables at home, and serve cool meals in Summer.

We bought some bread,visited the basement enoteca at Gilberti and got recommendations of their wines, bottled condiments and sauces, and got a lesson in cured meats at Simoni. We also went to the butcher's and learned about Italian cuts, and two different cheese shops. We then took a short taxi ride to Maribel's home.

The traditional method of pasta making is to mix right on your board, gradually incorporating flour into the eggs. Nothing more is added to Bolognese pasta. Stir, stir, stir. Gently press and turn until you have a smooth ball, and let the pasta briefly rest.

Then comes the fun part--roll, turn. Roll, turn. Keep at it until you have a large sheet. Then things get even more interesting, as you drape some of the pasta over the edge of the board, roll out in a spreading motion, carefully roll the sheet onto your pin, turn, and lay back out. Repeat, until the pasta is thin--ideally, so thin you can begin to see the board through the pasta. As we were beginners, and with the heat, we did not get that thin before the pasta began to lose its suppleness.

Then roll the pasta, and cut with a big sharp knife. We made tagliatelle, long noodles; and farfalle, butterfly-shapes. Ours were mutant butterflies for sure. Leftover edge scraps got cut for soups.

For our sauces, we made a fresh ricotta-arugula-tomato sauce for the farfalle; and a lemon rind-speck-shallot sauce for the tagliatelle. We also made zucchini blossoms, stuffed with ricotta and parsley. They were briefly sautéed in a bit of butter, instead of being fried. Can I just say how wonderfully delicious everything was when we sat down to eat lunch with some cool dry white wine? Amazing texture of the pasta, and the wonderful freshness of the sauces. I loved the fiore, where you could appreciate the delicacy of the flowers and cheese without a heavy breading. Maribel is fun to talk with and a great teacher; and we greatly enjoyed the morning.

Later that afternoon we visited the churches of San Stefano, beautifully evocative old places. You can almost feel the ghosts here in the ancient center, where a Temple to Isis once stood that gave the place its circular shape.

Salumi and salad for dinner.

Another blazingly blue sky, and equally blazingly hot sun. We had another day on our Bologna Cards, so museums seemed a good use of the day.

We began at the Archaeological Museum, housed in yet another palazzo near Piazza Maggiore. The lower floor starts you off with the Egyptians, a small though nicely presented collection. Afterward, we walked through the lovely courtyard, and up to the Paleoithic exhibits. Here we felt firmly in the 19th century, with acres of glass cases housing brown pot after brown pot, with hundreds of arrowheads thrown in for good measure. The labels are typed, looking to be from the 1950's. After that, you land in the Etruscans, with more cases crammed with jewelry, funeral pots, all manner of brass gizmos, funeral steles, and the occasional skeleton. Lots of interesting little bits and pieces, tiny animal figures, lovely carvings on stone. The Greek rooms had case after case of pottery, many of the cases so badly lit you really can't see what's inside.

The Roman rooms had fascinatingly painted cases and pots, though I made some unscholarly observations about the nude men and clothed women who decorated most of them. Gorgeously delicate animals painted on vases, interesting bronzes, detritus of daily Roman life, and Larry was fascinated by the collection of Roman locks.

We walked through Piazza Maggiore, which as usual during the day was being crisscrossed by trailing tour groups, most of whom were speaking Italian or French. We walked around a bit, finding the base of one of the two towers, which has been turned into a B&B. Which looks extremely cool, unless you're in the room on the 11th floor! the B&B hosts cocktail hour on their top terrace, which we'd consider climbing up to on a cooler evening.

Found a pizzeria I'd seen recommended, Scalinatella on Via Caduti di Cefalonia. It is right next to the base of the tower.We decided to sit inside, where it was considerably cooler and quieter. Our table was right against the wall of the tower, which was fun.
We enjoyed good though not knock-your-socks-off pizzas, and a jug of slightly frizzante house wine. A good choice for a simple meal if you're in the area.

From here we walked over to the Museum of the Middle Ages, housed in, you guessed it, a palazzo. The first small rooms had a collection of "curiosities", things lime carved ostridge eggs and Venetian platform shoes. Lots of strange and fun things to look at. Then room after room of carvings, stained glass, metalwork, textiles. What we found most interesting were the large carved tombstones for famous professors at the University.

The museum's publicity spoke of a new exhibit showcasing their large textile collection, but there was only a teaser room open so far. Worth seeing if only for the exquisite golden-thread lace trim.

As we walked down the street, Larry noticed one of the palazzos had the Genus signs that it was covered by our Bologna card. We stopped into the Palazzo Fava, and learned that upstairs are frescoes. We took the elevator up, and a helpful guide showed us a large terminal where you can view the fresco cycle with English captioning. There are several rooms, with 16th century frescos telling the myths of Jason and the Argonauts, Medea, and Dido. Gorgeous, and worth seeking out.

Went home, soaked the feet, made a nice dinner of tortelloni with sage, butter and parmesan.

Another hot and sunny day. It seems that after what people have told us was months of damp gloom, Summer has arrived in Italy. After figuring out the pod-style espresso maker in the apartment, we took our shopping bag and headed over to the market.

We bought some prosciutto and mortadella at a salumeria; and some fresh tortelloni stuffed with ricotta. We then headed down one of the main streets to look for the covered market. Inside was a large collection of fruit and vegetable sellers, cheese shops, butchers, and bakeries. We bought several cheeses, tomatoes, apricots and cherries, herbs, bread, and amazing grissini, crisp breadsticks. We took a meandering walk back home.

Larry walked over to the apartment of the owner of our apartment to giver her the remaining balance. Her husband recognized a fellow old house enthusiast, and invited him in to see the house. They own the whole building, an old Palazzo which he inherited from an aunt. Up several winding staircases was an amazing view over the rooftops to San Luca, the church on the hill overlooking Bologna.

We walked over to Al Sangeivese for lunch. This is a small trattoria on the edge of the Centro, which happens to be around the corner from a simple place we enjoyed years ago, Osteria al 15. I enthusiastically agreed with the owner that it was too hot to sit outside, and I enjoyed the air conditioning as we looked at the menu of traditional Bolognese cooking, and a few interesting specials.

Wine, two glasses of decent sangiovese. We shared an antipasto of a flan of goat cheese with mushrooms. Nice play of the cool flan with warm mushrooms. Next, I had lasagna, which was amazingly delicate considering it had 10 thin layers of pasta, meat, and besciamella. Larry had a special of tagliatelle with asparagus and smoky guanciale. There was no way we could finish this and also eat our shared secondo, so our leftovers were thoughtfully boxed up. (things have changed in Italy!) For our secondo we shared a perfect carpaccio, shaved raw beef with arugula and parmesean, dressed with lemon and olive oil. Fantastic. No room for anything more than espresso. Perfect first lunch in Italy, and a very fair price. I'd definitely go back.

We slowly walked back to the apartment for a brief rest before heading out into the heat of the day. On the way we stopped in the piazza outside San Domenico, where a group of elderly Italian tourists were singing. Scattered around the piazza are sarcophagi with the remains of Medieval lawyers.

We walked down the street to the Museum of the History of Bologna, in the old Palazzo Pepoli.
This is a new museum, filled with artifacts and amusingly over-the-top wacky displays using holographs and special effects.We were offered a tour, and so a lovely young woman took us around for the better part of two hours. We learned some new Italian vocabulary, taught her some new English, and had a blast. It really deepened our understanding of the city. We were just about the only people inside, though I'll bet it's crowded with schoolchildren during the week. The displays are thoroughly explained in Italian, so I would recommend asking for an English-speaking guide unless your Italian is very good.

Walked around a bit more. There was an organization of women doing a charity event in the city this weekend, we saw many women in orange shirts running around doing some sort of scavenger hunt. Larry and his GPS phone were very popular.

We found the first house that had basement waterwheels installed to provide power to the silkweaving machinery upstairs. For a long time, almost half of the people in Bologna were involved in the silk trade. A system of canals and underground streams provided waterpower to the small factories throughout the city.

Home for a dinner of salumi, tomato salad, and wine.

After a one-day interlude in Bologna back in 2005, we have always wanted to return to explore the city in depth. Something about the russet medieval buildings with shaded porticos, laid-back university vibe, and deep sense of time and place had made an impact. We were looking forward to our eight nights here.

I had booked an apartment on via Castiglione, a short walk away from the frenzy of Piazza Maggiore. After an easy series of train rides from Lugano, we met our keyholder (winded from her run across the city, as she had failed to hear there was a bus strike that day).The apartment is comfortable, though the air conditioning in the 85-degree heat was of a more Italian standard than American. Va bene. It's in an old palazzo, where you go through a series of gates and courtyard.

We walked over to Piazza Maggiore, the enormous piazza that is the heart of Bologna, surrounded by Medieval and Renaissance buildings. We found the tourist office, and bought Bologna Welcome cards, which give free admission to many of the city's museums. The cards also entitled us to a freebie city tour, which was leaving in 15 minutes. Certo. Our tour guide gave an overview of the city's history as she sped us around the Piazza, and then through the streets surrounding. This tour is well worth doing for a basic orientation.

One of the highlights was going into the original University building to see the Anatomy classroom; and Larry had a blast in the Basilica of San Petronio with the huge solar calendar. On each sunny day, the solar image would sweep across the church floor and, exactly at noon, cross a long metal rod that was the observatory’s most important and precise part. The noon crossings over the course of a year would reach the line’s extremities – which usually marked the summer and winter solstices, when the Sun is farthest north and south of the Equator. The circuit, among other things, could be used to measure the year’s duration with great precision.

After our tour, we wandered into the small market area, and found a buzzy place to have some wine and a platter of salumi and cheese. We were the oldest people there, and the only ones not speaking Italian. Food and wine for 15 euros, a delicious bargain.

We walked a bit more, then headed down the street from the apartment to La Sorbetina, a gelateria with astonishing flavors. Larry had a rich chocolate with hazelnuts, and I had a fig-ricotta-lemon that was divine. We took our tired feet home.

Oh my goodness Internet, why did you not tell me how delicious and easy this is? Seriously, I want to eat this for the next four nights. And it's even healthy!

I've been roasting broccoli forever, but only recently came across recipes that added shrimp. Melissa Clarke may have put the first version online, and I know Kalyn also has one. Here's my version. Because everything's better with siracha.

Spicy Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli 2 servings

1/2 lb shelled medium shrimp
few squeezes siracha sauce
spray oil or 2 tsp. olive oil
3-4 cups chopped broccoli
chili powder to taste
cumin to taste
salt and pepper
optional--1-2 teaspoons finely chopped nuts
chopped scallions

One or two hours before cooking, toss the shrimp with some siracha to barely coat. Put in fridge to marinate until you warm up the oven.
Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with oil. Toss the broccoli onto the foil, spray with oil, and season with chili, cumin, salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes. Throw the shrimp onto the pan with the optional nuts. Roast another 5 minutes, and stir everything around.

Roast for the final 5 minutes. Pour into a bowl, add the scallions, more salt and pepper if desired, and serve..