Hotel Art by the Spanish Steps.

So it's funky, it's arty and it is by the Spanish Steps.
Tick tick tick .... Wow what a fun place and great location place in the historical section of Roma.

The cab was not able to get us to the front door because of all the one ways streets that are so typical of centra Roma.  So we ended up walked the last bit through the ritzy designer clothes shops and the little obscure art galleries and antique shops
..... Roman antique shopping heaven !!!  Won't be any bargains but I can still have a look, great location Sands. So still dragging our two well travelled suitcases hoping the wheels will survive the cobble stone roads for just a little longer....

This end of town is for the designer label people with big bucks to spend!!!!

We both dressed in our Sunday best "me with my op shop bargain jacket" to arrive at the hotel thought we proberly shouldn't look too much like Aussie backpackers.
We arrived to no. 56 Via Margetta and all you can see is a opening in the street scape with a little discrete sign saying Art hotel over a arched entrance.
Below the sign is a trendy young man all dresses in black and seeing our cases gestures are we staying here and with in seconds our poor old cases are given the royal treatment as are we and he carries them the last 20m in between the building to the front door at the end of the ally.
Check them out on the net.

Leaving Torino by Fast Train

So it's another fast train and this time from Torino heading 703km south to Roma for our last 2 nights in Italy. (Insert 2 big sad faces) but I suppose we have to come home sometime and play with out Aussie friends (insert many many smiley faces)

The train at times is reaching 300 km a hour so thank goodness we are sitting with our backs to where we are going as it would be too hard to focus on the scenery.

Mind you I thought the road tunnels were long ... We have been in one now for about 10 minuets traveling at 300km an hour .... so I need one of my smart friends to do the calculation of the distance for me?

So tonight in Roma we are staying at a funky hotel called Hotel Art by the Spanish Steps.
So here's hoping it funky, it's arty and it by the Spanish Steps !!!
It is Italy after-all !!!

 

Italian Cooffee "Correcto" in Torino

What a delectable way to while away a couple of cold late autumn afternoon hours than go indoors to the most beautiful little coffee shop which feels like it is just straight from the elegant orient express era.
Caffe San Carlo dal 1822 just gorgeous. I'm sure if you google it you will get better pictures than mine. Its in the heart of Torino at Piazza San Carlo.

The tall dome ceiling all painted in gold and pastel blue colours, gold roman columns line the walls with mirrors in between so the space feels much bigger than it is. There is a Morano glass chandelier in the centre of the room that is just so massive and takes up 25% of the ceiling .... it all just so Italian and sooooo OTT.

The round tables are a verde green marble with veins of brown swirling through them, red plush velvety chairs deeply studded with gold buttons.
So after several, Italian "correcto" coffee's corrected with Amoretto and a luscious cream floater, we then too float back out into the piazza and continue our wander of the old centre of Torino. After a day away from the slow food event it's now 6pm and the sun has set and it's a bleak 11 deg outside.

Bleak but beautiful as the famous Po River Fog engulfs the ancient city of Torino. The sky feels so heavy with fog you can almost touch it as it envelops us while we walk the city by night. The city lights too are held in by the fog and it creates a purple haze blanket, it's just so enchanting.

We have dinner in a small Osteria called Porta di Savona on the edge of the huge Piazza Vittorio Vento.
Even though we are in a big city centre of 1 million people they had captured the true feel of the Osteria and it was so cozy and intermit and we sit and enjoyed our last chance for some traditional piedmont foods before we head back to Roma tomorrow. So of course having Vitello Tonnarto on the menu I had to have that and a starter of risotto with black truffle and Foie gras ... Food heaven
So a yumo end to a great day in the beautiful city of Torino and all soaked up with a bottle of Barolo hmmmmmm .

The Fiat Building and a Race Track on the Roof

Our home in Torino over the last week has been at NH Lingetto. A hotel that has retrofitted into the old 5 story high Fiat office buildings and right next to the convention centre for the Slow Food Show which is held in what was the original ground floor Fiat construction factory.

The Fiat office building is just sooooo long and vast, and our room just as vast. Each of the rooms fit in-between the 8m spaced concrete columns and are 5m tall. These spaces make up the original simplistic industrial revolution building of its era.
We have wall to wall and floor to ceiling windows over looking a courtyard garden below and looks onto the other parallel section of the old Fiat office buildings.

The Fiat factory started in the 1920's and ran at this location up until the mid 1980's.
The original office building section now have all been converted into 2 hotels and a huge shopping mall and several convention centres. It is so long and it wasn't until I found out that on the top of the original Fiat office building was the original race track for testing and racing the Fiats. Hence it length and being in two parallel section forming a huge race track 6 stories up.

Mr Fiat was a boy with his toys ... a factory, his home and his race track on the roof.... I know quite a few today that would have loved being in his shoes.

The engineering alone that was needed to create the 6 story concrete road ramp in the 20's that got the Fiat from the factory on the ground floor to the roof race track was a amazing piece of concrete structure, let alone the roof race track itself ...

So a cute little red Fiat 750 sports car that was my very first car when I was 16 would have done a lap or two around these tracks, so I just had to do a lap on foot too...

Cooking School: Massimo Bottura – The Strength of theTeam and Identity in the Kitchen

So our last cooking class was with Massimo Bottura. He is a 3 Michelin star chef from Osteria Franchescanna in Moderna and was named number 3 restaurant in the world in 2013. We had the honour of being there last year for dinner and meeting and spending some time with him. He gave us some of his balsamic when we were leaving, so this year we brought him over some macadamia nuts as a present for him..he was so chuffed...usually everyone want something from him ( a picture a signature ect) not the other way around...it was lovely to chat with him and have him recognise us, he must meet so many people but he again made us feel very special.

Wow what a dynamic speaker as well as chef. He talked about his passion for slow food, the industry today and the personal drive that has got him to where he is now. Osteria Franchescanna is now into its 20th year and is a real success story.

This class was one of the most paparazzi followed from all the big Italian chefs at the slow food event.
There were more tv crews, photographers, food critics who loved him and some who didn't, all asking him questions as the class proceeded. There were loads of behind the scene people working in the kitchen as well as 15 of his 37 staff there to help with looking after the 25 in the class. What a buzz, this class was a demo only and we got to see them make two of their signature dishes and drink some fantastic local Piedmont wines.

His Osteria has only seating for 24 people, having 37 staff seams a lot of people to look after such a small number of patrons.....But Massimo wants it done to perfection everytime and he said that takes a lot of staff.

I must admit when we were at the Osteria last year we were made feel very special, it was over the top but not stuffy, you were really spoiled but at the same time made feel comfortable and relaxed and the food was just simply amazing.
He also says that his place is a true Osteria which means a family restaurant so that he and all the staff sit and have lunch and dinner together everyday as any Italian family would do and this keeps up moral.

Today we started with a small deboned mullet tail filled with prawn paste, can't spell mouse ...moose...but you get it! It was camouflaged with a crust of thin bread, black and green olive and sun dried tomato crumbs and floating in the richest seafood bisque.
Then followed up with a desert of "Opps I dropped the lemon tart" one on the deserts that we also had last year at the Osteria. Just as I remember it and what an inspiring way to finish our week at the slow food event in Torino.

Earth and Fire with Massimo Spigaroli – A Pig Butcher in the Kitchen

Massimo Spigaroli – A Pig Butcher in the Kitchen...real no words can do this class justice it was great to put the missing part of the process into vision after last years visit to Massimos farm and sampling the finished products...again...
It was lovely to be meet like old friends by him and Andrea his farm helper who spend the day with us also last year.

Class on leftovers ...meatballs

With Roberto Casamenti and Alessandra Bazzocchi of La Campanara, Galeata (province of Forlì-Cesena) and have there own Osteria there that specialises in meat balls and Croquettes only.

So today its a class on leftovers so as to not waste food and profits, ok sound interesting ... not sure that was what we signed up for so let's stick it out and see if it gets better.
Recipes are re shaped and today's main thread is to start using old bread, Italians alway reuse it and turn it into something else like.

"Common Sense Croquettes "
Old bread soaked in warm milk with old leftover bits of meat and cheeses all QB QB QB.
OMG am I two !!! Is it kiddies day?? or have we lost something in the translation !!!

After the last few days of Michelin star chefs with amazing inspiration today didn't quite cut the mustard for us.
But one saving grace was that the Croquettes  were served with Barbera and a good one ... so not a total lost then!!!

Here's a picture of a geranium as I figured that you all know what a Croquette looks like.

Also there is no picture of me with my white plastic apron, blue gloves, hairnets and my headset for the translation, I look like I was going into some science project.
And as all the leftover food was prepared in little dishes on our benches so all we had to do was roll them into little balls. Technical stuff!!!!!

But as Sandy and I look around at the other 20 people that had rolled them into huge balls, the head chef came over and announced via the translating headsets that we were the only one who paid attention to his instructions. "Oh goodie" we both can go to the top of the class ... So can we have another glass of the Barbera then!!

the truffle class

Yep still can't get enough truffle to feed my Italian addition so with only a few more opportunities for white truffle in this food region I will just have to continue.

So today with chef Christian Milone, Giuseppe Iannotti and Eugenio Boer
It's Truffles in the Kitchen
Great day ... right up my ally and amazing how you can even make truffles into a desert!!

Leant about storage - alway keep them in the fridge in paper towel in a sealed container, changing the paper daily to keep away the humidity which will destroy the  firm texture of the truffle. Never store in rice as this will dry out the truffle and then it will be crumbly when you try to shave it.

So a starter of Carpaccio of veal that has lovingly grown up on green herby pastures on the northern side of a gently sloping hill as to not stress the beast too much, drinking only water from the alpine streams and listening to soft calming music while sitting on sun lounges eating hazel nuts and soaking up the spring sun!!!!

These people are so passionate about there animals ( well perhaps without the sun lounges and the music ) and yes they were feed on hazelnuts that did show in the flavour and texture of the finished product. When it is served as carpaccio there is no where to hide it just has to be a perfect product and it was.

It was simply done with a olive oil rub on the veal, sitting on a powder of a beef and Barbera braise ( a take on the famous Piemonte traditional dish ) a whole sweet caramelised spring onion then add the shaved truffle on the top.
Food Heaven ... dish one.

The main Called a Taste of Autumn - was small potatoes which were cooked in a slow butter bath for 6 hours and was the creamiest I have ever tasted. Cubes of  parsnip, a thick lentil soup and dark jelly cubes of a very intensely flavoured beef reduction and crushed hazelnuts all great combination with the White Alba truffle shaved on top again.

The desert was a very interesting mix of flavours and textures from the burnt white chocolate mouse with a sweet pumpkin souvied in cinnamon. An expresso meringue, a foam of cream with a  sweet crumb and all topped with the White Alba Truffle

So food heaven no. three for me ... Hmmmm ... Wow wow wow

Bottling food to preserve it.

With Pietro Parisi, Campanian chef at the restaurant Era Ora, and Marlena Buscemi, coordinator of the “Cooking Without Waste” Master of Food course.

Ok not Michelin Star cooking stuff but it was a very interesting demonstration, we bottled 3 different sort of dishes, 1 starter, 1 main and 1 desert.

Interesting concept we tend to only bottle excess or seasonal fruits at The Retreat for using later in the year. Here in Italy they have so much seasonal food that they make entire meals so they are ready in the pantry for the winter when most fruits, veggies, cheeses and some meats are just not available.

The starter or sauce for pasta was a ricotta and herb so you could use any pasta sauce that you make. The main was a rice with a rich tomato and meat sauce. The desert was of whole wheat grains cooked in buttermilk and honey with cinnamon and it formed a cream sauce.

All bottled and sealed then put in a steam oven to kill any bacteria or a normal oven with water in a tray on the shelf below the bottles will also work. You bring them to 100 deg in the oven for 15 to 20 mins. Everything we created to day was a great meal in a jar, or you can use the same technique for preserving veggies or fruits.

Not The Big Banana!

But Ugandan bananas taste great ...mind you for 75c it should do

Class On Couscous

With chef Marilù Terrasi, she is from Sicily and is now the owner of Pocho restaurant
Albergo, Makari.

Today she is going to take us into a world of couscous with its ancient roots delving into the past, today we make 5 of a possible 500 different recipes she has.

Couscous is a crack wheat grain and is the 1st stage of milling durum wheat prior to making semolina flour

Low water is used during the mixing stage with just a sprinkled as you hand mix it in a large bowl to start the swelling process and with a splash of oil, finely chopped onion and salt rubbing then gently bring the grains together making sure it is not to wet or clumping. Place the couscous into the steamer then add the aromatics like bay leaf and lemon rind traditionally it is steamed in a terracotta colander with the lid off.

1 Fish based Couscous - with a thick tomato and fish stew served with local Sicilian small fishes and calamari.

2 Couscous - with a broth of mountain fennel, board bean sauce, cauliflower with a stock of baca stock fish, could use smoke haddock or cod.

Wild mountain fennel is big in Sicilian foods, hmmmm must try what grows by our railway line in Australia, theirs it is a course texture and strong in flavour, and they to come from a hot dry climate.

3 Vege Couscous - sauté onion add tomatoes + veggie like mint, basil, pumpkin, onion, egg plant, peas, potato, zucchini,  chic peas to name a few top with mint. Use the above couscous as the base and add the sauce.

4 Pork Couscous - with morrocan spice carodomin and cumin

5 Dessert Couscous - with Spices and a Orange Sauce ... scrum OOOOO
Cinnamon oil, cane sugar, almonds, butter, dates, dried figs, raisin seedless hazelnuts. Dusted with icing Sugar and crushed pistachio nuts.... Wow what a way to finish the Couscous cooking class.

Invert your own couscous Marilù seams to accompany all Couscous with a broth and or a sauce for a main and some sweet options to make a desert.

It's a bit had to make couscous look pretty on the plate so the iPad pictures are a bit drab looking sorry ... but the taste ... WAS Devine

Class on the Veggie Kingdom

With chef Viviana Varese and the Vegetable Kingdom, she was originally from Sicily and is now the owner of Alice restaurant in Milano with 1 Michelin Star.

Today was a great class with great technics and fantastic use and creating flavours all that have come from nature, no chemical reactions are used to get the pastes, crystals, jells and powders used in the dishes.

A starter of rosemary emulsions under the chick pea paste with celery/veggie stock and no salt was a winner dish served with crunchy bread croutons.

A beetroot and chilly ice cream with a ricotta foam and beetroot candy crumb was an explosion of flavour.
Perfectly balanced.....

Our New Office Desk

So here is our office desks for the next 5 days, we are doing two cooking classes a day as well as visiting some of the thousands of cultural stands that have been set up in the vast 5 exhibition halls ... I should actually come home knowing something!!!!

Slow Food Movement

So a bit about the Slow Food Movement and I think this poster says it all.

Our Week Starts at the Slow Food Conference in Torino

Wow what a goose bump and hair standing up on your arm experience and such an emotional 3 hour opening event that was on last night.

The open ceremony of the slow food was held in a large indoor arena and was a bit like to opening of the Olympic Games but smaller with about 3000 people. They came from 180 countries and the flag presentation ceremony in itself took about 45 mins. But the colour and the national costumes were just spectacular, sorry it was  bit dark to get any good iPad pictures.

Granted 1/2 of it was in Italian so some of the Italian speeches were a bit on the difficult side but all the young people and the African countries spoke English.
The video presentations were on the big overhead screens and they were the goose bump moments. The music the sort that is needed to get your attention and the live music some African and the other Italian traditional it was just so engaging it was a truly great night.
He's a couple of picks from the exhibition hall today.

Vitello Tonnarto

Left the quietness of the pool side, the warm autumn sun, the glasses of Asti vino and the vineyards for the last 150km drive to Torino but first we need to divert a few km off the highway to have lunch in Bra.

Bra it where the headquarter of the slow food movement is located. Last year when we meet with the Australian representative, we had lunch at a great slow food Osteria. I had Vitello Tonnarto for the first time and after having it in a few other restaurants it never came up to scratch with that of the Bra Osteria. So I just had to go back ... It was AMAZING just as I remember.
The veal was so moist and the tuna, caper, boiled egg with a hint of lemon, salt and pepper sauce was just perfect. It is a very typical food of the Piemonte Food Region and as the dish is not seasonal it was still on the menu.

As I'm also becoming a truffle slut I had to have the local pasta dish called the Tajarin 40 "yolks" with Alba White Truffle. OMGGG the smell and the freshness of the truffle was truly wonderful. The pasta is very fine, a bit like angle hair pasta but with more volks.
They say up here that it is a better white truffle region and more expensive than in La Marche, yes it has been more expensive on the menus but was it better than what I had with Doriano, Nhooooo ... NO WAY ... ours was way better...

Too top it all off we both had a glass of Spumante Brut Metodo Classico 2010 from Castello di Neive which is very typical in the region of Asti. So all in all great way to say goodby to Bra and our last time with Gloria and the black stretched limo.
Could have had a bottle but wanted to get the stretch limo back in one piece !!!!

After lunch with the French Alps off to our left and the snow capped mountains of the Swiss Alps with the first of the seasons snow rising high in front of us we pulled into the Torino airport.
So the driving has come to an end and VERY VERY happy to report "no dints this time" not even a scratch. Didn't want to say that until the car was safe and sound back at the hire company.
Another 4801 km driving on the other side of the road under my belt perhaps I may just do it again next year!!!!  but won't tell that one to Sands juuuuuust yet.

So it's time to get a cab, sit back and enjoy someone else driving and hit Torino for the slow food convention.