Archive for January, 2008
If there are real truffles around, you can count on me. I can’t sniff them out underground like a dog, and I don’t have any favorite patches where they can be found every year, but I am never at a loss as to what to do with them once they get past that stage and into someone’s pocket.
This is another kind of truffle and one which I rely on when there must be a sweet and I’ve no time or oven space to make one. The chocolate truffle can be made anytime and kept sealed in the refrigerator or the freezer until you need it. No one has ever felt neglected by being given a chocolate truffle.
They are not difficult to make, but you do need patience and a bit of spare time. I wouldn’t start them after dinner on a week night, but might shape them then, after having made up the chocolate earlier. I also recommend thin surgical gloves for shaping. Most say to use a bain marie, or double boiler, for melting the paste. I use a super heavy copper pot, moving it onto and off the heat as needed. I suppose that works best if you’ve done this enough to know when the heat is needed. Use a double boiler!
These are all the same inside, but the beige ones have been rolled in hazelnut meal and the white ones in dried coconut. They need to be rolled in something so they won’t formlessly fall into a big chocolate puddle as they were before you shaped them. I made them from a 75% bittersweet chocolate by Perugina because it was on sale. My usual 65% Valrhona is better, but I am almost out of it.
Ingredients:
Equal weights of heavy cream or panna da cucina and bittersweet chocolate
butter
liqueur (I used coffee liqueur this time, but will try raspberry grappa the next time.)
something to roll the truffles in, which can be finely chopped nuts, superfine ground espresso, cocoa or anything fine, dry and edible.
This batch was about 4 ounces each of the chocolate and cream. I used 2 ounces of sweet butter for that amount, and 2 tablespoons of liqueur.
Chop the chocolate up so that it will melt more readily. A big knife will do this just fine. Put the cream into the warmed double boiler and heat it, then add the chocolate, stirring it while it melts. Just as the last small bits of chocolate are melting away, add the butter and stir in off the heat entirely.
Add the liqueur, stirring it in. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, stirring once in a while, then refrigerate it. Remember to stir it occasionally while it is chilling. Eventually, it will become a firm, shiny paste and it is ready to shape.
For each thing you want to roll the truffles in, get a soup plate and fill it partway. You will not want to touch things once you begin rolling truffles, so be prepared. Prepare a plate or a platter on which to put the finished truffles after rolling them. Get a teaspoon, the kind you set the table with. Put on your latex surgical gloves. You don’t have to wear them, but it will save you half an hour of cleanup time if you do.
Using the teaspoon, scoop out a small amount of the truffle paste and put it into your palm. Make it about 3/4″ in diameter. Using both hands, roll the paste between your palms, then drop the ball into the soup plate, rolling it around to get it covered, then lift the truffle away and onto a plate. Just keep doing that until you run out of material. Then strip off the gloves and toss them away. Put the pot into the sink with the teaspoon and soap and hot water. Put the plate of truffles into the fridge for a few minutes to firm up well.
When the truffles are thoroughly chilled, put them into a sealable container and keep them either in the refrigerator for up to several weeks, or in the freezer where they will keep almost forever. Take them out and bring them to room temperature to serve them. A small glass of grappa or brandy followed by a cup of espresso, and no guest will ever think you took it easy on dessert.
Buon appetito!
January 30th, 2008
I am in my third day of not smoking. I’ll return as soon as I can stop banging my head on the sidewalk.
January 24th, 2008
I think it is all manipulation, and that we either go along with it or we get angry and refuse to. This, however, is manipulation I can respect. Pleats, tucks and hemming– beautiful.
This is to me a stunning dress. LaCroix often looks like he is making a fool of his woman and himself, as if somehow we are all potentially jokes. The star of the British series “Absolutely Fabulous” was infamously horribly dressed in the 1980s in her adored LaCroix. This year’s collection offers plenty of that kind of expensive laugh, but this dress is no joking matter. Beautiful.
Everything that is important about that dress has to do with masterful manipulation of the fabric. You can see more on Givenchy mastery at the UK Telegraph coverage.
This from Gustavo Lins, on the other hand, speaks of manipulation of perception.
This I enthusiastically enjoy, copy, and clap my hands together for. The wearing of normal clothes that vary slightly from what we have known as normal suits me in every way.
January 24th, 2008
I have this wrap, from some years ago when a client bought it for a gift. Mine is softer velvet, so it is not only easier to wear, but not nearly as pretty, So, then, this is not news.
This, however, is news and is pretty and does represent what Galante did this year.
Fabrics were manipulated, embellished, altered and exaggerated to create something we’ve not quite seen before. Like this:
Or this: 
which may seem bizarre until you think of it as a topper over slim trousers and a tight turtleneck, or over a slim black columnar dress if you’ve a need for that instead. I’d wear it that way, would you?
See the rest of the UK Telegraph coverage.
January 24th, 2008
There’s something there, but the rouged eyes are preventing me finding it.
I’m not sure there is something or someone there. It reminds me of a nicely detailed sofa throw pillow. Nice workmanship, however.
January 23rd, 2008
Chanel has presented some very striking designs that are pleasant to look at, but I can’t think of anyone, even a celebrity, who will be able to wear them. The one above could too easily be taken for “wrapped up in a jeweled bedspread.”
This one seems totemic. Emblematic. But of what? I haven’t a glimmer.
Someone will wear this dress. It will be the wrong person at the wrong place and people will cluck and award fugdom. It starts out rather nicely “Madame X” before becoming insect screening rather too far above the floor, or perhaps rather not far enough from what we usually cover.
I hardly know anyone who couldn’t wear this silver outfit, nor do I know anyone who would. She doesn’t look very happy about it either.
See the rest of it if you like at the UK Telegraph runways report.
January 23rd, 2008
I love looking at the runway or catwalk shows of the great designers. No matter how nuts they may appear, there’s something usually being said about our times and our lives. I approach the seasons with glee. “Let’s have fun!” I cry, “Let’s rob them of all the good bits and use them in our personal style.”
And yet, the pleasure of seeing wearable clothes is a different thing. That reassures me that it’s alright to be me, that if I am willing to spend that much money, someone wants me as a customer for more than just the face cream and perfume. Armani just scored with me.
Does that not make more sense than any of those bubble skirts we’ve been seeing? Could not any woman within 20 pounds of normal wear a version of this architecturally superb frock? Does she not look like she is wearing it rather than it wearing her? Does it not, in addition, capitalize on the natural softness of a woman?
If you look at the brief coverage in this photo series at the UK Telegraph, you will see no embarrassing nudity and nothing that requires never-heard-of-before hardware to put on. I personally don’t need evening dresses anymore, but these are lovely and indicate to me that the day clothes are probably also fairly kind to the female who wears them.
January 22nd, 2008
This man has his eye on you, well, maybe not you, but someone like you who owns a salad bowl of any type.
It’s to make up for the fact that absolutely no human being could walk in those shoes.
January 21st, 2008
This is a thumbnail because the photo, by Gloria Capelli, is enormous.
I went away without telling you. I went to a big, friendly meeting of hospitality providers in Italy who are connected with Slow Travel and that took place in Civitella Marittima, a place I’d never heard of or seen before. It turned out to be a tiny hill village where everything is straight up or straight down from you, and at the very top is a restaurant/B&B called Locanda del Cassero. At the foot of the hill lives Gloria and Marcel of Casina di Rosa, a lovely rental that you can take by the week for your vacation in the Maremma, which is the cowboy part of Italy. Gloria is a fascinating linguist as well as an organized and terrifically calm hostess.
All of this is in southern Tuscany, so I had to drive across Italy from my eastern position almost to the Mediterranean. I was reminded again that except in the north, East-West highways in Italy are a bit of a joke on the traveler. A strip of road with a name that conjures quick travel from Grossetto to Fano peters out and leaves you on a country road that winds through towns, where you must travel not faster than 50 km/hr or 30 mph. I can’t decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. In the usual way to travel nicely, one wouldn’t need to get coast to coast in a flash, and we do have some challenging mountains that effectively divide the country lengthwise, and so I understand my neighbors’ resistance to the new E-W road until I have to make that trip.
This trip was worth it. Attending were people I know electronically, people I know for real and people I didn’t know. Not a one of them was anything but a delight. Whatever the individual offering each of them makes, it would be worth finding out if you can go there, use them, tag along.
If like many of us you start or end in Rome, Melissa has the Nicolas Inn for you. As she described the things they take on for guests besides giving them a place to sleep, I was amazed to hear that there is someone who cares that much that you enjoy Rome. Rome is usually considered enough of a draw in itself, and like many others I tend to think that if you cannot enjoy Rome you’d better stay home. Aren’t you lucky that there’s a place like Nicolas Inn!
For something completely different, Deborah of Shop Around Tours takes you shopping. She knows where everything is and how to get it. She takes care of all the niggling details of where to stay, where to eat and how to get there and you just bring your money and buy the splendid Made in Italy things that everyone wants.
Megan in Liguria plans other kinds of trips, any kind of trips in Italy. Her agency is Bella Vita Italia, and she makes it her job to see that you and yours do find the bella vita here. She is as sunny as Liguria is reputed to be– a region which holds the sunniest place in Italy.
Diana Baur of Baur B&B in Piemonte has been sitting on the right hand side of this blog for a very long time. It’s a gorgeous place and among the people I know has the best word of mouth advertising I have ever heard, with many saying it is the most fun they’ve ever had in public.
But then, there is Giulia of Locanda della Valle Nuova in le Marche! The rooms are stunning, the surroundings are an organic farm and Giulia is so hands on that she even grows organic wheat, mills it into flour and then makes bread of it. It’s near Urbino, a treasure town not far from me that contains unforgettable art and a history that changed the face of Italy. No one can say they know Italy until they’ve experienced Urbino, and of course staying with Giulia is the way to do that.
Letizia and Ruud are people I know and have an affection for. They own Agriturismo alla Madonna del Piatto, which is near Assisi, on a hillside with panoramic view and every comfort. Letizia is not the madonna in question, she is painted on a plate, but she can also teach you cookery so that when you go home you can continue to have a plateful of Italian love everyday.
Mary and Maurizio own a new inn at Bevagna called Genius Loci. It’s a lovely place, an interesting town that is beginning to excite quite a lot of interest in central Umbria, and I am already looking forward to a booking I have to teach and to cook there in 2009. The advance booking will tell you something about the desirability of both the accommodations and the location.
It’s difficult to tell you exactly what Mary Jane Cryan does, because it seems that she does everything! Have a look at her website, Elegant Etruria. From writing books to leading tours, Mary Jane reaches out from northern Lazio to do it all.
Chris and Meg may only have one home to rent you, but it is a very special one indeed. Il Sogno means the dream and they allow you to share their dream place in Casperia among the Sabine towns only an hour north of Rome.
And then there is my friend, Cyndi. Cyndi and her husband, known to the world only as “The Italian” would be good companions for any reason and any season, but Cyndi has an irresistible talent for retelling history which delights me. I tolerate her other writings very well, because they are always worth reading, but in reality I am impatiently waiting for my next history lesson. Sometimes I whine at her to get at it already. Cyndi and her mother are now Esperia Travel, and although she has licensed guides to take you through the magical places she knows, if you are lucky, she’ll tell you her version of what really happened, too.
It was a lot of fun to hear different people’s takes on dealing with visitors in their various ways. I really think that these people are the cream of the crop and recommend any of them if you are planning a visit here. Oh, and yes, we did eat! We had an antipasto plate of Tuscan specialties, a lasagna made of crepes and porcini, wild boar with polenta and sformato of vegetables and then homemade (by Fulvio of the green sweater above) dessert wine with cantucci or biscotti. I don’t think anybody was capable of finishing the feast, but we gave it a really good try.
January 21st, 2008
OK, it is two days later and there was, of course, some spoonbread left over. Today I made a chicken gravy with some stock made from trimmings, heated in it some slices of leftover roast chicken and served it over slices of the spoonbread heated over very low heat in a bit of butter. It was really good! Not that much like grilled or fried polenta. Lighter, fluffier. Not at all lacking in great taste and it had a very pleasant texture. Some linginberry jam from Ikea took the place of cranberry sauce.
I wonder why no one seems to make spoonbread any more? Even I, known for digging out dishes whose day is long past, haven’t made it in more than a decade. It’s so creamy, warm, smooth and it loves butter or sauces.
I made this one just a few minutes ago. This is the quick and easy version, and it isn’t as luxurious as the more complicated version. It is, however, ready in less than 30 minutes from the thought.
Preheat the oven to 200°C or 400°F. Put a 1 quart/liter baking dish in to warm.
1 egg
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1-1/2 cups of buttermilk, or if you are an expat, 6 tablespoons of buttermilk powder and 1-1/2 cups skim milk
1 tablespoon of butter melted in a heated 1 quart/1 liter baking dish
Using a whisk, beat the egg in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix them thoroughly. Carefully scrape all of the batter into the pre-heated baking dish and cook for 20-25 minutes or until it is just set.
Spoon out servings topped with melting butter.
I actually ate my piece with chili, but those photos were even worse than these. The camera focuses on everything but the bread.
January 14th, 2008
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