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two week italian feast August 22, 2010

Posted by molly in : afk (away from kitchen) , 1 comment so far

some more recap goodness before things get back to normal with recipes and advice and whatnot… (all photos by the philtographer)

so, in between greece and italy, there was a week or so of absolute insanity – phil and i moved apartments (across the hall, but still), he baked a wedding cake in our small kitchen, we went to said wedding, had a caterer tasting dinner, and then less than 24 hours after that were on our flight to pisa. while our 15 days in italy were certainly relaxing (mostly), i think we were both a little anxious in the back of our minds about getting back to normal life, setting up our new place, getting some work done, having things installed, etc. which is why i’m actually not that sad about coming home after our holiday. i mean, of course, yes italy is gorgeous and wonderful and we had an amazing time – but it was unfortunately in the middle of a month where we probably could have used the time at home to settle things before taking off on another adventure.

but i don’t want to downplay the superb trip we took. it had been planned for months, and involved three distinct (and completely different) parts.

part one:

we flew to pisa airport, rented a car (try driving an automatic diesel engine car in italy and see what happens – it ain’t pretty), and drove to florence. spent 3 nights exploring that beautiful city. our quirky little hotel (rosso 23) was in a great location, right on the piazza di santa maria novella with great spots to sit and watch the world go by on a warm evening.

only one of the days was ruined by a raging thunderstorm (somewhat of a theme on this trip, more later) – but we happily spent a few hours in our hotel, waiting for the rain and thunder to pass, and went out for a fabulous meal as recommended to us by the hotel’s concierge. i’ll put links to all of the great restaurants we experienced in italy at the end of this post.

part two:

a two and a half hour drive from florence brought us up towards the alps, on a very windy mountain road just outside the bustling town of castelnuovo di garfagnana. there we found our huge villa where we would be living for the next week with 10 of our closest friends. the villa’s manager, giovanni, was so gracious – made us lunch when we arrived as he and his team finished cleaning from the previous tenants’ stay and told us some general top tips about the area. when our friends arrived later that day, we all took full advantage of the solar-heated swimming pool and had the first of many homemade dinners out on the terrace.

this was by far my favorite part of our whole trip – just being in a big house with friends, soaking up all the italian goodness, the food and wine, the sights and smells, the local villages and towns, our property’s wildlife (hope you like lizards and scorpions!), and relaxing in the sunshine for as much time as possible. we did a couple of day trips during our stay: once to lucca, a beautiful old town about an hour away, and another to barga, right after the second massive thunderstorm phil and i experienced during our trip. the clouds were amazing, hovering just below the peaks of the mountains for most of the day, creating a very surreal atmosphere – very unsettled but beautiful. our last evening saw us in castelnuovo for a big meal followed by the town’s opening night of a weeklong festival – we saw flag waving, italian dance parties, marching bands, and it seemed as though everyone in the town was out in the streets celebrating, saying hello to their neighbors. a great way to end the week.

part three:

back on the road, phil and i said goodbye to the villa and our friends and headed south, past livorno and on towards grosseto. our third location was somewhere in between the two cities, the nearest village called scarlino.

it was a very sleepy area of tuscany, and would have been beautiful had it not been for the horrific weather we endured on the drive down. after getting lost in the general area of our hotel for a little while, we eventually arrived only to find they were on their 3 hour lunch break (god bless the italians) – so we hopped back in the car reluctantly and found a great little spot for lunch in a nearby town where i had some amazing seafood salad – we were definitely by the coast now. our five nights at tenuta col di sasso were not as we had hoped, but still we made the best of our beautiful surroundings. we spent the day at a waterpark, went to a natural thermal spa another day, enjoyed the hotel’s beach the next, and wandered around the swanky of port town of punta ala another. but the highlight had to be the vineyard and restaurant across the street from our hotel – we brought back a bottle of red after the gratis wine tasting and enjoyed a truly special meal at sunset in the restaurant next door. our final day in italy was spent exploring pisa, as our flight didn’t leave until the evening. yes, we saw the leaning tower and took the obligatory photos…

so to wrap it all up, i can say that i: gained a ridiculous amount of weight from all the bread and pizza rosso… got a decent tan… feel confident enough to drive like a maniac on the autostrade… had a blast with phil and my friends… and can’t believe that the next time i leave the country (other than a visit to the states for new years) will be for our honeymoon in april!

delicious spots in tuscany:

back in action August 21, 2010

Posted by molly in : afk (away from kitchen) , 1 comment so far

hello hello! the summer craziness is finally winding down – it has been full of action and adventure, travels, delicious food, learning things, costume parties, suntans, sightseeing, friends, and just general summery goodness. i’ve got a few photos to share with you here – the first of a few recaps i’m planning on writing. i did manage to cook a meal and take photos of it last night – which felt strangely like learning to ride a bike again – so that will be posted in the coming days as well.

but first, GREECE!

this feels like such a long time ago. i joined my friends suzanne and nilo for 6 days in greece – 3 in athens and 3 on the island of mykonos – for an exciting holiday that i’ve been wanting to take for a while. greece is one of those countries i have always planned on visiting at some point in my life, so i’m happy to be able to tick it off my list! to be honest, i was looking forward to some hot weather and sunshine, but i was most excited about the food. greek food has always been a favorite of mine – give me dolmades and baklava any day of the week and i’m a happy girl. so i’m glad the girls took lots of food photos on our holiday!

check out the beautiful CALAMARI (i hope squid doesn’t make you squeamish):

the one and only piece of baklava i ate in greece, and it was a good one:

that last one is particularly attractive – but i was SO HUNGRY after ordering a salad at the pool bar, finding it was doused in a mayonnaise-y dressing, reluctantly having to explain to the greek bartenders that i had to ask for another salad sans dressing, and being harshly interrogated and rudely tutted at because of it. certainly learned my lesson on greek salads (that aren’t greek salads, if you know what i mean) that day.

i’d love to explore some of the other islands in greece eventually. it’s a beautiful country – and i go weak in the knees for a gorgeous seascape. our hotel in mykonos – i can’t recommend it highly enough. mykonos bay hotel. it was a 5 minute walk from mykonos town, where all the action is. has its own beach (although not the best beach on the island) and salt-water swimming pool (which i loved). the rooms are minimalist but you barely spend any time in there anyway. the morning breakfast buffet was wonderful. so much fresh watermelon, lots of greek yogurt and honey (wish i could have partaken), huge dates, and some cheeky baklava if you really want to be on holiday. if you do end up staying there one day, please say hello to nikos (the hotel’s main man and chauffeur)!

it was a very long day of traveling on our return home – a 4 hour ferry ride, followed by a muddled walk through piraeus port in athens (hot sweaty athens), then an hour and 15 minute metro ride to the airport, a 4 hour flight back to london, and then the standard hour journey on tube and bus back home!

but all in the name of some summer sunshine and fun fun fun. i can’t complain too much, can i?

after greece, came italy. but that is another recap for another day.

αντίο!

p.s. here are the restaurants we enjoyed, for future ref.

crazy summer August 1, 2010

Posted by molly in : afk (away from kitchen) , 2comments

offering you a quick update here amidst a seriously hectic summer to say hello and make sure you know that i haven’t forgotten about the particular kitchen and will be back with regular updates on my return from italy. we’re off on a tuscan adventure on wednesday – two weeks of italian bliss!

and hopefully by the time we get home, we’ll have internet in our new flat and life will resume to some degree of normalcy.

in the meantime, greetings from a pub in sheffield where they have free wifi and where phil’s whole family is staying for his brother’s wedding (which was last night and unbelievably gorgeous)! i will be back with you before this summer ends – got a serious backlog of posts lined up!

cookies and hens June 13, 2010

Posted by molly in : afk (away from kitchen), desserts , add a comment

as you do on a sunday evening, i’m attempting to bring my weekend to a close by tying up any loose ends around the house. this involves putting away dry laundry, changing the bed sheets, putting away clean dishes from the dishwasher… and finally attending to my poor, neglected blog. chalk it up to a very busy beginning to the summer months – between wedding planning, looking for a new apartment, and various fun weekend activities, i haven’t been sitting in front of my computer as much.

this weekend, i went to a very special girl’s bachelorette party (although here, it is known as a ‘hen do’) – phil’s brother’s fiancee, josie, invited 16 of us up to her dad’s house in sheffield (also the location of their wedding in july) for a ridiculous and girly weekend. i haven’t had a weekend like that in a very long time and it was brilliant. i spent friday and saturday night in her gorgeous house, getting to know her family and girlfriends, helping to cook and set up for the various activities that took place, and joining in on all the fun – dancing, to be precise.

the day of her hen do (saturday) was split into two: in the afternoon, we had a vintage-style garden party picnic. we were all asked to dress up in 50s style dresses (and were given our own beautiful teacups and saucers), and had a spectacular picnic of smoked salmon and goat cheese blinis, crudites and hummus, bread and salami, and more desserts than you could possibly imagine. i decided to contribute to the baked goods by making some lemon shortbread cookies, which i brought up with me on the train on friday (and they survived the journey!) – you can find the recipe below. other delicious treats to be had included a banana cake, a decadent chocolate raspberry cake, lots of sweet cupcakes, and classic flapjack.

after the picnic, we all changed into 80s fame-style attire and congregated in the basement (reminds me of an american-style finished basement) to learn a dance routine! it was pretty epic – josie’s friend is a professional dancer and spent the weeks leading up the the hen do coming up with a fabulous dance. it had plenty of jazz hands and extreme poses (a few power lunges of course). after a few party games and a few glasses of pink champagne, we headed out into sheffield – yes, still dressed in mostly neon lycra, including josie’s stepmom!

we had dinner at an italian restaurant and played “pass the parcel” (i had to recount the most embarrassing person i ever kissed… hilarious, although no one knew who he was of course) – and then moved on to the clubs for lots of dancing, shots, and giggles.

it was a great weekend – i’m now thoroughly exhausted – but i’m so glad i went. phil is currently on his way home from his brother’s ‘stag do’ (they decided to have them on the same weekend) so i can’t wait to hear how that went. for now, i’m going to relax, have some gazpacho, and leave you with this recipe. look at my giant hand!

lemon shortbread cookies

makes about 24 cookies

the particulars:

  • 110g vegan margarine, plus more for greasing
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 150g self-raising flour
  1. heat the oven to 190C / gas mark 5. using a bit of the margarine, grease two cookie trays.
  2. using a wooden spoon, beat the sugar and margarine together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. add the lemon zest and flour and mix until it just comes together – use your hands to make a dough ball. you may need a drop of water or some extra flour if it is too dry or too moist.
  3. section out the dough into equal sized pieces until you have roughly 24 teaspoon-sized balls. place them on the baking trays, equally spaced, and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. if you need to, shape them to be round and evenly sized on the trays.
  4. bake for 10 minutes or so, until golden-brown. remove from the oven and leave for a few minutes before cooling on a wire rack.

optional: sprinkle with icing sugar once completely cooled with a sieve – but this would only work if you were serving almost immediately.

you may or may not have noticed a new feature on the particular kitchen today! i am now doing printable recipes – clicking the link by the recipe title will automatically print just the recipe information (not the text above or the photo) – let me know if you like this!

particular paris June 7, 2010

Posted by molly in : afk (away from kitchen) , 2comments

every time i go to paris, i fall in love with it a little bit more. that might have something to do with the last visit – maybe, just maybe :)

but this was my longest stay in the city and i feel as though i truly got to experience daily life more than before. for one thing, we were staying in a self-catering apartment, so it felt like we were at home (a beautiful beautiful beautiful version of home) – and got the chance to meet up with some of my favorite parisians (my friend nilo from san diego lives there, and my cousin emilie). while we did lots of tourist activities, they were nicely balanced with sampling the local life in restaurants and walks around the neighborhood (7ieme, to the parisians).

so this serves as a bit of recap of my week, but also a list of recommended places if you’re ever in paris. we got the chance to see and do some great things that i don’t suppose many people would think to do, so i hope this is helpful if you’re planning a visit. plus – i didn’t have any reactions to the food. this was something i was pretty nervous about, but i found it pretty easy to avoid the offenders while dining out.

sunday

we arrived in the evening on the eurostar – myself, phil, my dad, and my grandma. settled in to our new home for the week, then went out to eat at a restaurant recommended to us by the owner of the apartment (my dad’s friend from the states) – la fontaine de mars. we came back for a second meal later in the week – this might give you in an indication of just how good the food was. of course, a reservation for a friday night was essential. we just happened to get lucky on sunday. the bread was the best – really soft and doughy in the middle, with a crunchy but not tough crust. phil and i enjoyed our salmon baked in a salt crust – the service was impeccable (no wonder the obamas ate here!)

monday

the four of us spent the day walking (and walking and walking) – around our neighborhood, then along the seine, cutting back down towards the jardin du luxembourg (“the spot” as my dad called it, where the proposal took place – phil and i had to sit on the bench and recreate the moment for the camera!) – we were all exhausted by the end of our long and winding journey, but had a delicious meal in a nearby brasserie of warm goat’s cheese salad (chevre chaud). my dad opted for the soup a l’oignon (he’s a traditionalist). that evening, we dined at a nearby bistro called le p’tit troquet. it’s absolutely tiny and family-run, but a great and simple menu is offered. more bread of course, plenty of sancerre, and the desserts came garnished with baby meringues bearing smiley faces. that kind of sums up how precious it was. equally as precious is this photo phil took of me and my dad and grandma in the champ de mars. this is surely one for awkward family photos:

tuesday

we started this day the same way we started every day this week – by wandering down to one of the local boulangeries for a baguette and some croissants. we were spoilt for choice, but had a clear favorite after a few days (on the avenue rapp) – because the woman behind the counter was friendly :) as it was phil’s last day, we spent the morning all together browsing the designer goods in printemps, and then going our separate ways. phil and i had a lovely lunch in the park and wandered around the city for a while. we headed home via the supermarket to collect the ingredients for dinner. nilo was coming over and we were making our favorite prawn, quinoa, and avocado salad. we also picked up some tart tatin for dessert (a mille-feuille for phil) and a couple more bottles of sancerre to wash it all down with. phil headed back to london on the eurostar after dinner.

wednesday

after breakfast, we headed to the farmers market on avenue president wilson across the river and picked up lots of food for lunch and thursday night’s dinner, along with a special bread cutting board and a pair of espadrilles. only the essentials, right? after a lunch of beautifully fresh roquette, tomatoes, 2 kinds of goats cheese, plenty of baguette, and juicy cherries, we set off for jaures and our canal sant-martin ride. this is something i booked for phil and i to do in february but it ended up being far too cold, so we put it off (luckily the tickets are valid for a year). so i treated my dad and grandma to the journey instead – it was a two and a half hour ride with canauxrama, a great little company that takes you down the canal st-martin, ending up at the bastille. it is wonderfully relaxing, going very slowly down the canal, past all varieties of sights you wouldn’t come across otherwise. the tour guide was brilliant, a really friendly multi-lingual lady. we saw the hotel du nord and the house where the man lived who stole the mona lisa. this is seriously worth the price of admission and a wonderful activity on a sunny day in paris – highly recommended. love those locks! that evening we had dinner with my cousin emilie and her boyfriend at a great bistro near les invalides called bistro de breteuil. dinner was superb – a prix fixe menu including kir royale and wine! my sea bass vierge was impeccable, as was dessert – 3 scoops of berry sorbet with a light, thin pastry crust.

thursday

sunny thursday saw us catching the train to versailles palace – WOW. it is breathtaking and mind boggling how large versailles is. unfortunately, we wasted the first half hour of our time there waiting in line for tickets, only to discover we didn’t actually need to buy any (we didn’t want to go inside the palace and do the tour, we just wanted to wander around the garden, which is free, and see marie-antoinette’s hideaway). to beat the crowds, i’d suggest skipping those huge lines at the front of the palace and heading straight through to the gardens and along the grand canal. the number of people they must employ to keep those gardens looking so pristine is staggering! but my favorite part of versailles has to be marie-antoinette’s hameau de la reine. this is a little village set far back from the main palace, with beautiful gardens, rustic cottages, carp-filled ponds, and a farm with goats and sheep. you have to pay for entry, but it is well worth it. there is a spot for lunch at the petit trianon which we all enjoyed, and could have spent far longer perusing the grounds. i want to go back there right now. later on, we made dinner at home – those tasty veal kidneys i mentioned in my last post!

friday

we celebrated my grandma’s 80th birthday from sunrise to sunset on friday! she opened her gifts and cards at breakfast (and covered the apartment’s mantel with those cards!) – and then we hopped on the metro to the tuileries for a garden show she wanted to see. we saw some beautiful flowers and herbs, as well as garden furniture and fountains on display. crab salad for lunch at a cute spot on the rue saint-honore, and a restful afternoon back at the homestead. dinner, again, at fontaine de mars. this time i had the most amazing gaspacho with goat’s cheese and a vegetable terrine. too pretty not to photograph:

saturday

our last full day in paris was very hot and sunny – almost too hot. but we made the most of the summery weather and stayed outdoors, spending the majority of the day in montmartre with many many other tourists! you can get easily lost in the little side streets, but that was exactly the kind of break from the crowds we wanted. a lazy lunch in the shade at a corner cafe was thoroughly enjoyed, with glasses of cold beer and a goat’s cheese salad for me (predictable). some more wandering in the sunshine before heading out to dinner at cafe de l’alma with a friend of my dad’s. i had dim sum (a very random listing on the menu and not at all what i was expecting!) followed by melt-in-your-mouth wild baby strawberries with sorbet. a perfect last meal in paris. after dinner, i joined nilo for wine on the pont des arts. this is a seriously cool spot for the young folks out there – if you’re in the city in the summer and it’s far too hot to do anything vigorous, wait until the sun starts to set, pack a picnic and some wine, bring your friends and a blanket, and fight for a big enough spot on this wooden bridge. the breeze from the seine cools you off nicely and the lively atmosphere of the crowd instantly brings a smile to your face. sing along with one of the many french boys with a guitar as they try and woo the girls with their (terrible) songs! this was a truly wonderful week away – and to think all of this is just 2 hours away by train! that is the magic of living in europe… something i really don’t want to take for granted while i’m here.