Author: dolcevitaspinelli

An Italian in Spain part 1

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You might think it is not easy for an Italian (ok, half Italian) to admit he likes Spain? Well it isn’t…. not that I have already travelled a lot to Spain, but what I have seen so far I liked. Although Italy will always be my nr 1 country to visit 🙂

My favorite city in Spain until now is without any doubt Barcelona. Barcelona is one of the few cities in the world where one immediately feels like coming home. This city has something for everybody for food lovers, art lovers, beach lovers, etc…. the list is endless.  Last year I took my girlfriend to Barcelona as a birthday gift… why Barcelona well, this city combines everything you expect from a city together with sea and a beach. So this way (if the weather permits it) you can enjoy both, which worked out perfectly for us and we  had the best 5 days ever.

Like in every city, there are always a few ‘mandatory  ‘ visits you have to do. Funny enough that most of these sight in Barcelona are designed by Gaudi :-). One of the most famous is  the Sagrada Familia,  it is indeed an impressive cathedral…Although we didn’t enter it, as I found 13EUR pp.  a lot to visit a ‘church’.  Another ‘Gaudi’ sight was Park Güel. Simply beautiful with impressive entrance and this park was bigger than I had imagined it…  The most famous piece  at this open air museum is without any doubt the mosaic bench. You also have a great overview over the whole city from here A tip, first visit Park Gel and then  Sagrada Familia, as it is on your way back to the city center.

There are of course much more must see museums and parks (for who likes it of course), like the National Museum of Art of Catalonia , Montjuïc park, Palau de la Musica Catalana, Liceu opera house etc…

But as I was here, only going museums (especially with great weather) isn’t the only thing one wants to be doing 🙂 . One of the things you can also do in Barcelona is shop until you drop 🙂  and you guys know how much the ladies like to see all those shops, so better put on some good footwear! Like in every city, usually the men are waiting outside of the shop. I also have never seen soooooooooo many Zara’s in my life.

The central place in Barcelona is Plaça de  Catalunya , from this square you have roads leading you to all the sights, La Rambla,  Passeig Garcia (this is where you can find all the fancy shops) , …  La Rambla was actually one of the places in Barcelona I liked least , it was too busy, lots of pickpockets and I don’t know I just didn’t like it. Only 1 exception, what did like on the Rambla was Mercat de la Boquiria! I have never seen so much food displayed in one place, so foodlovers and maybe even nonfood lovers… This is maybe one of my favorite sights in Barcelona ;-). FYI, they all cut the fruit, etc… if you want to eat it siting at the beach or on a bench in one of the parks …

I know this trip was for my girlfriend’s birthday, but food was still a very important part of this trip! The Mercat de la Boqueria is something you really have to see, but for people who don’t like this crowded places, you can find covered market places like this  all over Barcelona. A great alternative is  Mercat de Santa Caterina, with one of the most colorful rooftops 🙂 and a very nice little restaurant Cuines Santa Caterina in this Market  (you also a a tapas bar, sushi bar, take away, …).

 

To be continued….

A sunny recipe with asparagus and grey shrimps

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On such a sunny day, I really have to share a sunny recipe with you guys. Something simple and yummy 🙂

A recipe that fits these requirements is one of the recipes from Lisa Calcus (restaurant Les Gribaumonts), who won the 2012 BRU lady chef award.

You can already taste spring in the plate, she combines  asparagus , grey shrimps, Parma ham and emulsion of peas with tarragon.

 

What do you need to get started? (for ca.4 pers.)

  • 400g gray shrimps  (FYI, buy them unpeeled, this way you save money and you can use the peels to make  shrimp stock to use in sauces or a shrimp risotto)
  • 20 asparagus (white and/or green)
  • 8 thin slices of Parma ham (make sure it gets cut thin!!!)
  • Fresh tarragon (1 or 2 branches)
  • 150 g peas
  • 50 cl cream
  • 15cl vegetable stock (fresh made or bought)
  • 1 tomato (peeled, for decoration)
  • Salt & pepper
  • Siphon (tool)

Getting Started

  • Blanche the peas together with the tarragon (chopped tarragon) and let it cool down
  • Boil the cream together with the vegetable stock (until it gets thickened, no toooo liquid )
  • Add the peas and tarragon to the cream and mix it (keep a few peas for decoration) + add salt and pepper
  • Sieve the pea creamy mix and put in a siphon
  • Peel the asparagus (keep the peels) and boil them in salted water. To get a maximum flavor you also add the peels when cooking the asparagus. When The asparagus are ready (us top of a knife to check) , you can use the stock to make risotto or tastemaker for another dish…
  • Put the asparagus on a plate. Decorate your plate with some of the tomatoes (best is to slice them or cut in little cubes)
  • Add some peeled shrimps and the Parma ham
  • Finish the plate with the emulsion of peas

Only one thing left to do, or maybe 2, eating and enjoying 🙂

To freeze or not to freeze, that is the question!

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Let’s be honest, our world really changed thanks to the freezer. I might even say we should be thankful that it has actually been invented. Freezing vegetables, meat, etc… actually means saving money! But even after all the years the freezer exists, lots of people have so many questions on how they can freeze, what they can freeze…. And there also so many untrue statements about freezing…

Let me just help a few of these fairy tales out of the world

  • Don’t keep products that have passed their expiration date too long before processing. 6 to 12 months is the average freezing time, so don’t keep products in your freezer for years.
  • You can’t freeze fresh herbs? Me personally I keep all my fresh herbs in the freezer all in little freezing bags or just the original plastic package. This way I can just take the quantity I need and put it back in the freezer (FYI, don’t keep the package to long out of the freezer, just take what you need and put it back )
  • Before putting this in your freezer, they have to be cold.  Otherwise they will not keep long.
  • How about fresh vegetables? The best is before putting fresh vegetables in the freezer, is to Blanche them for 4-6 minutes (FYI, this also the reason why frozen vegetables are cooked quicker than fresh ones).  After the blanching, you put them under ice-cold to cool
  •   The above process also goes for Ravioli for example. If you want to freeze Ravioli, you first cook them  for a few minutes, put them in ice cold water, and dry them with towel and put them in bags for freezing.
  • Frozen vegetables contain fewer vitamins than fresh ones? This statement is SOOOO wrong!! The vegetables mend for freezing, immediately get heated in a record tempo in the factories after they have been harvested and therefor hardly loose vitamins. Fresh vegetables take a few days before you’ll be preparing them and lose lots of essential nutrients.
  • If you freeze something, best is to put it in a package that can be closed. Also don’t use and elastic to close the bags or boxes, as they lose their strength due to the low temperature
  • Something Very important, Once you have defrosted you cannot put it back in freezers, unless you have cooked it again… otherwise, many bacteria J
  •  To defreeze, best is to cover it on a plate or bowl in the fridge. This will take about 8 hours before it is ready to use. If you would need it quicker you can also defreeze by putting it in your sink filled with cold water or use the microwave. NEVER  defreeze on room temperature, as this will make the bacteria will multiply in a huge tempo.

 

If you might have doubts or questions, let me know and I’ll try to help you!

Grass cheese, a true delicacy

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Did any of you already hear talking about ‘grass cheese’? To be honest, neither did I until a few weeks ago.

Well it is actually very simple, Grass cheese is cheese made from the first milk of spring… What makes this milk so special is that normally in spring or when the starts to get better the cows, who have been in their stables for the whole winter, start eating grass again which gives a special flavor to a cheese. It gives a more creamy cheese with soft butterfat taste.

But the fact that it is softer a more creamy is pretty logical if you just think about the fact that the hay is dry and the spring grass is wet… so combo of the two makes more creamy result ….

You might even say that this kind of cheese kind of exclusive as it is only available a short period. Why? After a while the cows stomach get used to the grass and the cheeses are not that soft anymore. Most of the cheeses made with this kind of milk are available around end of April, beginning of May and usually for a very short period as the amount of cheese made is not enormous …

The North-Holland Gouda cheese made with Grass milk for example  will be available as of May 1st  as you like any other cheese, this cheese also has to set for a while in cooling cells. (in case of Grass cheese, ca. 4weeks) .

FYI, If you want to make sure you have an original Gouda cheese from North-Holland, check the Red label on the package!

Maybe you have to try both  the regular and grass cheese at the same time, as only then you can really tell the difference, and I’m sure you’ll agree that grass cheese is a true delicacy!

Verona, more than Romeo and Juliet

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First of all, sorry that I haven’t been posting for a while… the reason for that was that I needed to study for an exam related to my job and therefore not too much time was left to write blogs. BUT  the good news is, that I passed the exam and that I can now blog again 🙂

This I want to talk to you guys about one of my favorite cities in Italy, Verona. You know, the city of Romeo and Juliet…. Although this city and the region around it has so much more to offer than Shakespeare’s tragic love story. Like lots of Italian cities, Verona is also filled with history. Did you know that Verona has an arena like the Coliseum  that is still used today ? An absolute must would be seeing Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida , even for people who don’t really have a thing for opera, you cannot believe the magic hanging in this Verona Arena on summer evenings filled with lights. Trust me, this is an experience you DO NOT want to miss.

Like I said before, most people know Verona as the city of Romeo and Juliet, so a visit to the famous balcony won’t hurt anybody J FYI, it is said that it brings luck if you touch Juliet’s boob 🙂 I’m sure you’ll know which one to touch, as that is one shiiiiiiny  boob 🙂

Verona is an open-air museum, every street holds hidden treasures, not that I’m somebody who wants to know where every stone of an ancient building was made, but if something is beautiful… it just is 🙂 like piazza delle erbe, piazza dei Signori, etc…  Although I have to admit that the charm Piazza delle erbe had before with the open-air market  is not there anymore, as they now replaced it with some fixed souvenir stalls… but good things the buildings around it are still breathtaking beautiful

Walking and actually being in this city always makes me happy, and not only because of the thought I’ll be having great food :-). Speaking of which 🙂 🙂 This is another reason to come to Verona (but this I could say for a lot of places in Italy).

Especially the wine, as man do they have great wines with the Amarone as the ‘top’ of the bill . The reason this wine is so special, is that after the grapes are picked they dry the grapes in wooden boxes and with the juice that they catch they make the Amarone, with the grapes left in the box they make the Ripassa or Ripasso  (which means re-use). My preferred Valpolicella vineyards (this is the region where Amarone gets made) would be Buglioni , Le Salette  and from the bigger producers it would be Masi and Allegrini. Other great wines from this region are Bardolino, Lugana (white) and Soave (white), but I’m sure Bardolino sounds the most familiar (as the town is right at the Garda lake). I would really advise you to visit one of the vineyards!! The vineyard of Masi is quite impressive.

In case you are a true wine lover, I’ve got something even better. Every year around March/April all the Italian (and also a lot of foreign) vineyards  set sail to VinItaly. Vinitaly is one of the most important and biggest wine trade fairs around  and more the 4000 exhibitors are present for over 50 000 visitors from over the whole world. I’ve already been a lot of times to this trade fair, and it is impressive and I highly recommend to already plan which wine houses you want to visit at the fair. (and to keep eating while you taste, you’ll thank me at the end of the event 😉 )

Who says wine, says food 🙂  they just have to go together  (for me anyway). Did you know that Verona is also the town where Giovanni Rana (from the ravioli you in supermarkets) comes from and you can find a restaurant from Rana right across the Arena, where you can see how they freshly make the pasta …. I’ve not been here yet though …

When I go to Verona, there are only 2 restaurants/osteria’s I want to go to. There are probably a lot of great restaurants, but these who are just tooooooo good and NOT touristy and that is what is all about when you’re somewhere!

The first one is the ‘Taverna di via Stella’, this is also my dad’s favorite restaurant in Verona, every year we were at VinItaly we had to have at least 1 meal here 🙂 . It might look a simple place, but the food is wonderful  (local cuisine) and a very good choice of wines local and non-local ,but I always go for local wines.  Look at the picture below, if you don’t feel like going when seeing that picture or open the website… I don’t know what will convince you? (just picture that ham on a plate with a glass of Amarone, mmmm)

My other place of sins I love going is actually the Osteria del bugiardo  from vineyard Buglioni.  .Fresh made food with great Buglioni wines, the best combination.  Like Taverna di via stella, this is also a place where only local Italians come … and you can also buy their wine here in case you want to take some home  (I like the Ripasso and Valpolicella superiore) . For even more refined dining you could also go to their Locanda in the evening .

Go to these two and you’ll have the best of Verona without any doubt!

For those who would want to sleep in or around Verona, I would suggest to maybe try an agriturismo.

One that I want to a few times was ‘El Pendola’ where Anna Maria tries to make you feel at home. And she really succeeds in this, as I really feel at home every time I stay there.  Buglioni also has a very nice agriturismo .

Or what we mostly do with my dad is stay at the Garda Lake, than you’ll have a room with a view 🙂 and a lot of nice places to visit. We already stayed at Hotel Excelsior  which has an incredible view over the lake and is only 15 min. drive (or less depending on traffic) from Verona.

You can maybe do the Strade del vino (Bardolino), but I’ll be posting about the Garda lake really soon.

Hope you feel like going to Verona.

Enjoy

Taste of Antwerp 2012 edition

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I’m so happy the sun has already been shining for a couple of days now … It just makes me want to have summer time. Not only for the good weather, but also for the lots of music festivals, food festivals, summer holidays, etc…

One of the events that is a yearly tradition is the ‘Bollekes festival’ together with the ‘Taste of Antwerp’ festival. This festival brings together all the best food and drinks (Bolleke Koninck). An although it is still a long way to the event itself (between 16-19August 2012), the organization revealed some names of restaurants that will be represented at the Antwerp tastes event.

Bart De Pooter from restaurant De Pastorale,  chosen as best Chef of 2012, restaurant De Schone van Boskoop of  Wouters Keersmaekers, Radis Noir of chef  Jo Bussels, Het Waterhuis, De Eetkamer, River Kwai ,’t Zilte from 2 Michelin star chef Vicki Geunes. And the list continues Han, Lucy Chang, Patrasche, Eten Vol Leven, Hamburg, Kasteel Rivierenhof, Little Ethiopia, Mini-Maal, Rimbaud, Urvashi , 12 Place du Marché, Mea Cuppa, Sushi Palace, El Puerto, Las Tapas, Flying Chefs, Mama Matrea, InVINcible, Fong Mei and  Ko’uzi.

I’m so excited, I can’t wait to see what all these chefs will make with local products!! Hopefully summer will there very soon.

For people who don’t know the event, just to give you an idea, last year more than 120 000 people visited this event, so I can only say, come and get inspired by the best Antwerp has to offer!

I’ll keep you posted on the progress of the event

Which country produces and consumes most wine ?

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Maybe not a question I’ve been asking myself, but nevertheless interesting to know 🙂

The graphic shows that Italy is nr 1 when it comes to producing most wine with more than 60% being Tuscany wines like Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, …. But they are 2nd when it comes to consuming wines… as in that area France is the absolute nr 1.

The biggest surprise for me was the many wines made in the USA, and the locations, I thought they only made wine in California…

Please take a look at this  infographic’ in more detail via following link

Not only do you learn more about the consumption, but you also get to know new wines, waiting for you to be tasted

Van Eccelpoel’s 8th wine fair

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This Sunday wine shop ‘Van Eccelpoel’ holts his 8th wine fair.

Why you should go?  Well first off all because Van Eccelpoel has wonderful wines and  secondly at this event a lot of wine farmers will be present to tell you more about their wines. To know which wine farmers  will be present, please look on the following link . And don’t worry, they have wines for everybody’s budget.

Another great thing is that Champagne Barons de Rothschild (from Mouton-Rothschild – Napoleon’s favorite wine) will introduce 3 brand new champagnes.

The event will take place between 10 am and 6 pm at Aldhem Hotel and entrance costs 15 EUR (crystal glass included)

I’ll be there, will you? If you like great wines, I’m sure you won’t regret it!

What food and love have in common

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It is no secret, the love of a man goes through his stomach….. with me this is no exception and my girlfriend knows that she can’t make me happier than with food (drink) related gifts. Last weekend I didn’t feel like cooking, so I asked my girlfriend in the morning to surprise me by bookoing a table in a restaurant of her choice … didn’t matter where it was…

She really did a great job! She knew that for a time now I wanted to go back to Ghent for dinner, as I really love walking through Ghent in the evening as everything gets illuminated  at night, this together with the water in the city, the old buildings, … just great! So she started searching and eventually  found a tip on Tiany Kiriloff’s website (as she didn’t want to go to something I knew).

On Tiany’s website she found restaurant Eatlove, which is a pizzeria and the second restaurant of Valentina Gatti (fashion journalist). The interior is actually very simple as it is made of pressed wood and yet very fashionable + cosinessr 🙂 I liked.

But ofcourse the interior is not going to take away my hunger 🙂

Eatlove is actually a pizzeria (but also serves a few other Italian dishes) and when it comes to Italian food I might say I’m pretty picky , not that I’m a difficult eater, as I will eat it anyway…

When we received our first course I have to say I was very pleased. As all the starters you could find on the menu were prepared in 3 ways, 1 traditional way and 2 more ‘experimental’ ways. I took the vitello (from the vitello tonnato) which had the traditional way, a lemon filling and a wasabi toping on the plate. My girlfriend ordered the carpaccio, with traditional carpaccio, veggie carpaccio with goat cheese and a salmon with special dressings. Again, I liked

For our main course, I took pizza Parma (I just love ham so much) and my girlfriend took the pizza Gamberi (shrimps)… They were both really nice! Honestly ! What is special about the pizza at Eatlove is that are not made with regular 00 flour (usually used), but made with semolino (or at least that’s how it tasted) and olive oil, which gives their pizza’s a different dimension. I’m sure this is not the last time I eat pizza here!!

FYI, if you come between 5pm and 7pm you get 5 appetizers with your drinks …and you can also

You also can’t miss their other restaurant ‘De Mineral’ as when going to the bathroom (at EatLove) and continue the hallway, you come in the entrance of ‘De Mineral’… sharing toilettes 🙂 I think I’ll have to try that as well (the other restaurant, not the toilettes)

So I really have to thank the beautiful lady on the picture below for this wonderful evening combining good food and love (yet again) and also Tiany Kiriloff for sharing the restaurant 🙂

And after our diner, we took a nice walk in Gent…

Restaurant EatLove

Website:  http://www.eatlove.be/

Address:

Ajuinlei 10a

9000 GENT, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)479 879 387

May the force be with you

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This weekend  Quick France (French/Belgian fast food chain) sold a special Dark Vader burger. Although  I’ve never been a big Star Wars fan, when food gets involved I started to get more interested. I know it might seem over the top to drive to France to have a hamburger, when at the local Quick they also sell special hamburgers as tribute to the new Star wars Episode 1 3D movie… But what makes the French burger more special than the burgers they make here in Belgium, well first of all the bun they use was black (and not because they burned it! On top of the black bun, they also add red peppers to spice up the burger… At first it seemed a little bit too far for me just to get a burger, but let’s just say that Valentijn (who asked me to join him to France) didn’t need to much pep talk to convince ;-)and well, this burger was only available this weekend

So after a one hour drive we finally laid eyes and hands on the one and only ‘Dark Vader burger’…

And I must admit it was worth the drive. I was also surprised of the amount of Belgians who were there to try it :-), but I’m sure they were bigger Star Wars fans (too bad that they didn’t wear a Darth Vader outfit 🙂 ). I’m sorry you guys didn’t try it, next time Quick pulls a stunt like this, I’ll inform you

The force was definitely with me!