Here goes a pasta dish that is perfect for people on a shoestring. It looks really fancy, but is in fact not much more than a pasta Bolognese (or tomato sauce, if you want a veggie version)! You use a spring-form pan, stand up all the rigatoni pasta in it and «fill» with tomato sauce and a mix of parmesan and mozzarella. There are 2 ways to make this – either you prepare the tomato sauce from scratch or you use your favorite bought jar of tomato sauce. Have fun!
Check out the recipe
A few years ago I lived in Frankfurt, Germany. A great and quite international city, often referred to as «Mainhatten» due to the skyscraper skyline and the city being located at the river «Main»!
Gennaro’s is a very nice restaurant in «Sachsenhausen», which is the name of the city district. Gennaro, an Italian himself, is the owner of the place and he is usually present in the restaurant. He just makes the place wonderful with his open and warm-hearted attitude. It is cosy, but also modern inside, with lots of small nice details, like the napkin holders, that are made of old wine corks with a cord (great to copy!). We have tried various starters, main courses and deserts over the years and all of them were absolutely delicious and can be recommended. My personal favorite are the Tortelloni filled with prosciutto and figs with a lemon-leek-sauce. The fillet of beef carpaccio is a classic. The fish and meat dishes are very good. Usually they have a chocolate fondant (lava cake) as a dessert – but you need to let them know in advance, when ordering the main dishes, that they save one for you! In the summer they have a nice terrace with a few tables outside on their porch.
My love to lemon is similar to my love to avocados (maybe you have noticed the cookies and cake I have posted) . Here is one of my favorite risotto recipes. Did you know that risotto originates from Northern Italy?
Check out the recipe
Yes, it’s what the legend says. Bellini was invented at Harry’s Bar in Venice sometime in the 30ies/40ies by Giuseppe Cipriani. Bellini is a cocktail which is made of Prosecco or Champagne, mixed with white peach purée. The unique rosé color of the drink apparently reminded Giuseppe of the toga of a saint in a painting by the Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini, so he named the cocktail after him. Usually bar tenders prepare the drink in champagne glasses, but Harry’s bar serves their signature drink in small water glasses! The place is packed with lots of Italians and tourists and is just an “it place”, since it was opened in 1931. A definite must incl. sipping a Bellini, when you are in Venice…
And here goes my second wine & dine feature for Venice: Trattoria alla Madonna. Or seafood, seafood and more seafood! The restaurant is family owned and was opened in 1954 by Fulvio Rado. The last 35 years his son has been managing the place. The whole scenery is special here, lots and lots of waiters in white jackets and bow ties are busy running around and serving the guests! The walls are decorated with contemporary art from Italian artists. The trattoria offers a huge variety of seafood dishes and the must-have is the «Granseola», a traditional spider crab, served cooked with lemon and olive oil! The sea fruit risotto is also very delicious! Finish off your lunch with a tasty tiramisu! Yummy yum yum!!
Unlike the usual tourists that visit Venice in Spring or Summer, we flew to this beautiful city end of November for a long weekend. Venice is just picturesque, with the Grand Canal, the incredible palazzi along the water, all the small bridges through the town and beautiful churches and market squares. Venice really has a magic touch to it!
Next to all the great places to visit and admire, you can also drink and eat your way around Venice, so I will be featuring a few tips and ideas here!
The first cool place is «Naranzaria»: A cute little wine bar just around the corner from the famous Rialto bridge, with a terrace overlooking the Grand Canal. Perfect for a drink (or two…) and traditional snack, which you can choose from the glass display inside the bar. Enjoy the view and wave to the gondolas passing by…
Usually, I am not the tomato soup fan, but this recipe caught my eye and so I tried it and now adore it! It’s how I imagine an Italian Mama preparing tomato soup – hmmmm….
Check out the recipe
During our last trips to Tuscany, we never left out a dinner at this delicious restaurant. nitens has a very cosy, but modern inside. A window at the end of the restaurant allows you to peek into the tiny kitchen, where the cooks prepare the wonderful meals! The waiters are very attentive and friendly and recommend good wines from the region, without trying to sell you the most expensive one!
In the summer they have a small terrace with a few tables outside on their “porch”. Even though the restaurant is not directly located at the ocean, you still feel that it is close.
We have tried various starters and main courses over the years and all of them were absolutely delicious and can be recommended. The fresh seafood platter is spectacular, but also the millefeuille branzino e patate is great and the tonno in crosta di pistacchi is just mouth-watering. Great, now I’m hungry and craving for the millefeuille!
We usually never stay for desert, where the waiters are at first irritated, but when they hear why we are not staying, it’s the best and only excuse they allow: Cremeria Emma – the best ice-cream parlor in the whole of Tuscany (at least for me) which is just around the corner. Try the pinoli flavor (pine nut)! A perfect finish to a perfect day.
Yummy, yummier, yummiest. This weekend I went to a gourmet fair called gourmesse in Zurich, Switzerland. Next to delicious chocolate, wine, bread, vegan and pasta stands (and lots more), there was also an Italian stand that presented their tartufi – small chocolate truffles. The colorful packaging directly caught my eye and made me stop. The company is called Tartuflanghe and was the world’s first to reinterpret the traditional 14g praline size to an adorable 7g mini format in 2007 and as of this year the truffle has a new packaging and its own name: Trifulòt.
My absolute favorite flavor is Pistacchio – made of Sicilian pistachios that are only harvested every 2 years, making them super special. The result is a sweet taste, mixed with a tiny tang of salt. Absolutely delumcious (if you are wondering what that word means – a combo of delicious and scrumptious, a word we used as kids that probably only English kids would know)! These goodies are available at Jelmoli in Switzerland. And they have 3 flavors as limited edition: Rose (loved this one!), Saffron and Cardamom.
Prettaly - Pretty Italy 
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