Venetian Dinner Day 2

After our excellent Venitian dinner last night, we decided to stay on the island again this evening! 

We started with a classic Venitian dish, Spaghetti al Nero di sepia (spaghetti with cuttlefish cooked in ink)! Even though I am allergic to cephalopods (minor allergic reaction), we wanted to try it! I stayed away from the cuttlefish, but both of us really enjoyed the delicious sauce! It is much better than it looks ;)

 

For our second course we had a Gaffero (?) Pizza... Soft mozzarella slices, fresh basil, olives and sweet cherry tomatoes! So tasty, we forgot to snag a photo before we started!

Of course we had some lovely local wine! Tonight, a red and a white!

To finish? Tiramasu... Why not? (As our waitress said). Definitely a great choice if you're on a good Venetian restaurant (but not a cafe.... No sir... we got multi-coloured sprinkles on our dolce!)

Dinner in Venice

Tonight we stayed late in the beautiful city of Venice! We decided to splurge a little and go for some Venitian cuisine!

The dinner started with some delicious carpaccio (very thinly sliced steak with cheese). This dish seemed to be the Italian version of sushi, and it was excellent!

The prima was a delicious venetian style gnocchi (creamy mushroom sauce and potato dumplings). This was really fantastic, best gnocchi I have ever had! We paired this with the house wine, a Veneto white.

The secondo was the catch of the day, cooked in true Venetian style! The fish was a flounder (turbot) and we were shown the fish before it was prepared, after it was baked, and then finally as a beautiful fillet on your plate. 

The waiter filleting our fish for us!

The fish was baked with olives, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and some magical delicious sauce!

After this we decided to stay late and get a caffé (for Jason, espresso), a Moscato (for me), and the best Tiramasu I have ever had!

 

We even got serenaded by a guy with an accordion (he actually started with "when the moon hits your eye like a big piiiizzza pie, that's amoreeeeee")

A great evening in a quiet corner of Venice right next to the canal with some amazing food! Definitely worth the splurge!  

Agritur Masi Brenta

The last 3 nights we stayed in the Agritur Masi Brenta. Here are some reasons why we thought it was the best B&B in Italy!

 1) Stunning mountain location!

2) Vineyards all around, and in the evening you can sip their delicious vino de la casa!

3) Awesome breakfast spread (from which you can make a lunch!)
4) Don't want to go out for dinner? They will make you dinner! You can also get a bottle or crafe of wine left in your room.
5) Beautiful, renovated rooms with amazing views!
6) Great English!
7) Cute little farm with donkeys, goats, and sheep.

8) In the fall, they harvest and grind the maize using traditional tools.
9) They gave us a beautiful handmade pillow cover!
10) The dad collects the fossils he finds around the grounds and he had a nice collection of ammonites in the front room (and the maize macine is made of lithiotid limestone!)
11) Beautiful patio/garden with a view of Rovereto.

12) Stunning views in all directions!

13) A sweet hiking trail through the mountain steeped in WWI history!
14) Elevator (great when you're on the top floor!)
15) Only 5 minutes from town but still a lovely getaway!

16) Have I mentioned the mountain views?

A morning harvest

We have been driving around Trento and Veneto this past week and these two regions are full of vineyards! This morning I finally managed to get some shots of them harvesting the grapes!

Full of grapes!

Ferraran Food (a little out of order)

We have been having a fantastic time in Italy, and one of the fun things we have been introduced to is the local food! In Italy, different regions have different specialties (e.g. Texas BBQ vs. Boston seafood)... and Ferrara has some delicious stuff!

For lunch today we had a great sampling of stuff...

From left to right: [top]soft buffalo cheese with herbs, local Cabernet Franc, 2 year old Parmesan cheese from Parma, Spek (smoked ham), [bottom] gnocco (puffy fried bread), and coppia (in dialect "ciupeta") little "bread horns"

The ciupeta bread sticks are neat and are often found on the table throughout a meal. The little gnocco, a puffy fried bread, is used as a mini sandwich, into which delicious proscutto, spek, mortadella from Bologna, salama, and other tasty meats are placed (there is a great pic here). There is also amazing Parmigiano Reggiano that is so tasty you can just eat chunks of it! Ferrara is also in wine country (let's be honest Italy IS ALL wine country), but the local vintages of choice are light sparkling whites (we're near Prosecco), and fresh, young reds, all of which are (of course) delicious. 

After the finger foods (all that comes before has so far been "appetizers"), comes the first course, and in Ferrara this means cappellacci de zucca (a large tortellini-like pasta filled with a "violin shaped pumpkin", probably a squash variety?) with a tasty dark meat sauce. These little pastas are absolutely delicious and I MUST get a recipe for the coming fall!

cappellacci de zucca (the picture is from here)

During our two traditional meals we had a sampling of three different dishes (oh man do the Italians know how to eat). One course was some delicious meatballs (not sure what they were... delicious though), another was Salama de Sugo with some amazingly cheesy mashed potatoes...

This pic is from here

Last but not least was a delicious donkey stew with polenta (A becco d'asino?). Yup.... donkey... Surprisingly delicious if you get a tender bit.

Anyhow, after this glut of food, there were the digestifs. The one we tried was a local Grappa (a grape derived liquor) with honey!

Italy, you are delicious!

September 1 - September 2: Ljubljana Exploration

Link to photospheres for proper viewing

Immediately upon arriving in Ljubljana and over the next day we explored the pedestrian paths of the city along the river.  Having still not slept since leaving Boston, we were determined to stay awake until a reasonable hour in an attempt to hard reset our internal clocks.

On a nearby hill was a castle that we never ended up visiting, but it was within sight of nearly everywhere we walked.

Famous in Ljubljana are the symbol of the city: dragons.  The dragon is on the city's coat-of-arms and on the Dragon Bridge.  

Our first dinner was at Sokol.  A place recommended by the hotel we stayed at when we asked for something traditional to Ljubljana/Slovenia.  Good beer, good pear brandy, and excellent sausage was had.

During our second day in Ljubljana, we had more opportunity to explore the area.  We also met with the local geologist that would show us around.  That afternoon, while Rowan was making plans for the next days, I ventured out to take a few photos, have a coffee, and read for a bit.

A nearby library was made from Podpec limestone full of lithotids (bivalves).  Ofcourse we had to investigate this in much detail and even took time for a little photo-op.

The local geology department had adopted (or probably more correct: was adopted by) a stray cat, which to the best we could make out, was named Magic.  He is provided a place to sleep, food, water, and during the winter someone even builds him a little shelter.

The second evening we needed to find a new place to stay.  Accommodations were hard to come by as Slovenia was hosting Eurobasket 2013 (basketball), with games happening in Ljubljana right at the time we were there, in addition to other local festivals also happening.

Ljubljana is beautiful at night!