Archive for October, 2007
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To begin you do exactly the same things that we did in Carciofi 101.
When the artichoke slices are partly cooked, add the garlic slices to them. Once you get to the browned stage, however, add 6 small, sweet winter tomatoes cut into quarters and the pasta water as described, and as they cook, it will thicken up into a sweet and sour sauce. Cheese doesn’t go in this pasta, in my opinion.
So for two:
2 small or 1 globe artichoke, cleaned and sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of great olive oil — I used spicy oil from Puglia
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
salt to taste
6 sweet tomatoes on the branch (pomodori al grappolo)
from 100 to 200 grams (7 to 14 ounces) of pasta. The pasta shown is casarecce, which has a tube shape but looks homemade.
Flickr had stopped feeding the photos in Carciofi 101, so I had to load them into this program. It didn’t want them one bit! Since winter is artichoke season, let’’s send this to Ruth at Presto Pasta Night.
I had a small disaster making this. For the first time I oversalted the pasta water and had to start that all over again. Bleaugh!
October 31st, 2007
In today’s UK Telegraph there’s an article about the return of the blouse. There’s some useful information there, especially about what this incarnation may mean to us. There’s a list of dos and don’ts, too, but they left one off: if you have a notable bosom, don’t put ruffles on it!
I’d also add that you should at least try to wash any blouse you have, because otherwise no matter what it cost to begin with, it will end up one of your costlier garments. Blouses tend to get sweaty and cuffs get into whatever you do. Break out the iron, lads and ladies.
And yes to that hat, too.
October 31st, 2007
When I could hardly eat last week, I made a quintessential American pot of chili con carne. It was quite mild, but even so I used almost all of the rest of my chili powder so thoughtfully suggested by friend Jane and provided by eg. I happily ate it day after day, although it wasn’t that big a pot, since I’d used only half a pound of meat and a lot of cannellini. Yeah, yeah, cannellini don’t exactly taste like red kidney beans!
So then I started to worry about where my next comforting pot of chili might come from once the chili powder was gone. Here is an answer. I had much to choose from, but this was the least complicated. It happens that I do have those peppers, but once they’re gone I’ll be scrounging around ethnic food shops like everyone else. I’m going to leave out the garlic powder and use fresh garlic in the pot.
Italian food is great. I love Italian food. Somehow, though, when things go badly I often want something from the past. I made chicken a la king, too. Tomorrow night Tina is hosting a Halloween pot luck, and I think I will use homemade chili powder to create tamale pie. Sort of a Central American lasagne, eh? I think ground or chopped vitellone and pork should do it, with a crust made of polenta. Missjoe sent me some cheddar, so that will make a gloriously bubbly top to it all. And if no one likes it, I will have another week of practically no cooking. Sounds win-win to me.
Life is not all roasted duck breasts and truffled pasta. Sometimes it gets sucky and you need mummy food.
October 30th, 2007
I’d said October, but it is almost over and I have received pictures from just 2 people, and one of them is related to me!
Please, send me a photo of something you turn to a lot because it makes you feel confident and pleased with yourself. My pseudo-scientific study is going all pear shaped.
October 30th, 2007
Saturday I went to town, both for the market and because I needed to pry myself from my mousehole, to which I had become far too adapted when I wasn’t feeling so well. I lost an entire size in a week! I don’t recommend the method, however. Still, when my jeans wouldn’t stay where I put them, and I pulled out that tight, black pair and zipped them on, it was pretty interesting from my point of view.
Everybody was bundled up. Except me. It was cool and I was wearing this knit jacket, but they were wearing down jackets, all black but one. 
As the day wore on it got hot, but they only unzipped their jackets. Why do Italians feel the cold so much?
I visited friends here and there. I made an appointment and got a haircut. I lunched on ravioli ai porcini and it was splendid, the simplest rendition I have ever had and my favorite waitress in the world was right to recommend not using the cheese on it. I only ate half, so she proposed next time she’d give me a half portion. Oh, and they’ve added flavored ciabatte to the bread basket, which is a brilliant move in a place where the local bread is salt free! They make it in house, too, and the onion one was great. I drank my first glass of wine in over a week. Good.
The haircut is good as usual, but figlio Andrea was given the styling and made it so crazy I rinsed my hair when I got home. What gets into those two kids? Sister does that too, although Mata at least uses something flexible rather than what seems to be Elmer’s Glue-all. That family is one of the best things in Italy. Mum offered me homemade pastry as well as an espresso. I wish I could have eaten it.
So, I returned home with two tiny artichokes, a kilo of Pugliese tomatoes (in spite of Jeffo’s objections, they still truck them up here from Foggia,) a big bunch of white grapes that make my lips curl up into a smile, and two very small eggplant/aubergine. And 4 belts, all looking as if they might have come off Marc Jacobs’ runway, given me by a woman in Patrizia’s shop because I was the only one they fit. Three years ago I searched all over for a 24″ belt and never found a one. Now I have four, all in shades of red, red/brown and ranging from glazed leather to suede. The buckles are very nice indeed.
I need to get out more.
October 29th, 2007
I’ve been combing through the “best of” lists to find fashions it might be fun to wear. The problem seems to be that editors often think the oddest things are the best. But with some scouring, I’ve found what would make me happy. Some would require that I shed some years or some pounds or find somewhere totally different to go, but all of life in all the world are not about me, which it took me some of those pounds and years to figure out. I’ll admit that occasionally Victoria Beckham comes to mind when viewing these, but maybe that just means I should be her stylist?
Is it on purpose? Or does that dress not fit her?
OK, I showed only street clothes and nothing that looked like it could come from Walmart. I included nothing transparent because I don’t approve of bare nipples on the street or at lunch or work, unless there is a baby attached. If your standards and interests are different, sobeit, but you can always see the rest by clicking over to The UK Telegraph.
I had some ideas from the collections, things I could cobble together or come up with by recombining what I have. Is that happening also for you?
October 28th, 2007
A period in which I have had 16 days of visitors is just over and I returned to find Bloglines awash with things I hadn’t yet seen. Now Bloglines feeds me much, much more than just blogs, so this is nothing to do with the quality of blogs that were on my list, but really folks, there were well over 1000 entries unread.
I started to go through them one by one. But some I never clicked on. After a few days I started to wonder why I didn’t open those lists and therefore see new things the next time I logged in. Was I just over them? Were they sites I’d added because there was a lot of buzz about them and I had to see what that was about? Or was it the 200 entries showing, which is the maximum Bloglines will show?
God knows I am moody these days. I came back to ugly weather, shorter days and cold winds. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t even drink. I didn’t feel like going out, but the cats needed food so I was forced to shop.
Now it’s been a week and there are feeds still unopened. I know what will be there. If I know what will be there, why look? I’d weeded a while back and removed everything I decided wasn’t creative enough. I weeded again, and found that I missed some of the sources, so I added them back. This time, however, I am really not at all sure it isn’t me. Yes, there are certain feeds that rarely tempt me to click through to the site itself, but then, when I do, wow. Others represent a saga I want to follow to the end. Some I find teach me things I won’t otherwise learn. (I should find some photography blogs.) News headlines of course I need. It’s inexcusable to remain ignorant in our world today.
But the rest? Why are they left unopened?
What I need are suggestions of pages or blogs with feeds that will rev up my engines. Please provide.
October 26th, 2007
Veronica has refined her macaron magic yet further. I dare you to go look.
October 23rd, 2007
The American girls have left. They actually left me on a street curb in a taxi to the airport at Florence. I have cooked nothing since. Nothing.
There are photos in the camera, maybe there’s something I’ve forgotten lying there?
I wanted to make this cake, but opted instead for saving the plums from an early death. You already have that recipe. The cake is an assemblage but tastes good to me. Problem is, I didn’t take a final photo when we had it. It consists of sponge layers drizzled with raspberry grappa, then spread with raspberry jam, then chocolate mousse, final layer frosted with whipped cream and studded with fresh raspberries. And it serves 12, so I can’t make it without some eaters around. Last time I served 6, then gave generous hunks away to guests and still had one-fourth to give the neighbors.
Somehow, I feel more interested in what other people are blogging than in what is in my mind. Maybe I need that sugar shock of the cake?
October 21st, 2007
The peach mostarda from this summer: you must break open the chilies before cooking, enough to release the flavor. Just crack them before putting them into the peaches.
Smoked pecorino from Sardegna: it is not called Fiore Sardo. The website where I got that information is incorrect. Fiore Sardo is a great cheese, but not smoked. Ask for smoked Sardegnan (Sardinian) pecorino, or Pecorino affumicato Sardo. I just bought 700 grams of it at the Mercato Centrale at Florence, so now I can try to copy some of the recipes I ate at Terra Terra.
The sloppy dough bread was made twice. Both times were different. The secrets seem to be 1) making it wetter than regular bread dough, 2) allowing it to rise very slowly, cool, many hours and 3) cooking the bread in a heavy, covered pot for the first half hour, then uncovering it to finish. Rather than translate the recipe measures, I just used Italian measures, because the yeast comes in packets that raise 500 grams of flour. Both versions worked, and that’s the important part.
I am off to a town near Rome today for an expat gathering, and will post something new when I get back… so see you later.
October 20th, 2007
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