Southern California: Trading Pizza, Pasta and Vino for Tacos and Margaritas!

So it looks as though the next stop for me, Reed, and Ollie is going to be Carlsbad, CA, in sunny Southern California! Hopefully by the beginning of May we will be moved in.

The other day when I walked down to the beach from the hotel, I found a beach where dogs are not only allowed but also allowed off leash. A great find as the majority of beaches in Carlsbad are state beaches that do not allow dogs! This is the beach:




I know Mr. O is going to enjoy the walks along the beach!


I'm way behind in posting about the rest of our travels through Southern Italy. Hopefully soon I'll get them all posted in the January archives!

Stay tuned for posts on:

• Alberobello/Martina Franca
  
• Ostuni
• Matera
• Messina
• Siracusa
• Palermo
• Capri
• Napoli
  

A Taste of Puglia: Orecchiette with Garbanzos, Tomatoes, Arugula, and Feta

One of the stops on our Southern Getaway is Puglia, also known as Apulia. This region is the heel of Italy and has only recently become a tourist destination. It looks beautiful! It is very Greek and very Italian at the same time (it was actually part of Greece at one point). On our trip we are heading to Alberobello, Trani, Locorotondo, and Ostuni.

Alberobello- the trulli

Trani

Locorontondo

Ostuni

Most people know little about the region or it's products. In fact, Apulia produces 20% of the world's olive oil and 43% of Italy's olive oil! As a region, it also produces more wine than any other region and has 25 D.O.C. wines. I guess the Tuscans have just been more successful at marketing their product and their region!

The cuisine of Apulia is known as the poor man's cuisine. Vegetables have the leading role in the Apulian diet, including pasta sauces. Most sauces are simple, barely cooked and usually made from vegetables-barely cooked tomatoes; creamy ricotta; toasted breadcrumbs and garlic; broccoli and cauliflower, beans and chickpeas, fennel and arugula.

This recipe utilizes orecchiette or "little ears," the typical pasta of this region. It's made with hard flour and water rolled into sausage shapes and then cut into little disks with a knife.They are then pressed with a thumb to resemble little ears that catch and hold the pasta sauce.

Adapted from an Epicurious Recipe:

Orecchiette with Garbanzos, Tomatoes, Arugula, and Feta

1 pound orecchiette (ear-shaped pasta)
1 pound tomatoes diced (liquid reserved)
7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 small thinly sliced red onion (can also use green onions)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley plus sprigs for garnish
4 garlic cloves, minced (or to taste)
4 cups Arugula
1 15 1/2-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained, patted dry
2 cups feta cheese, coarsely crumbled

Preparation:
1. Combine diced tomatoes (and tomato juice), garlic, onions, oil, and parsley in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Let sit at least 30 minutes.

2. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

3. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add garbanzo beans and sauté until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add garbanzo beans, arugula, and pasta to tomato mixture in bowl; toss to coat. Add feta; toss briefly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley.

Serve warm or let stand at room temperature up to 2 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

This came out quite good. Stay tuned for more information about our trip to Puglia and what we specifically plan on seeing while we are there!

Further reading: To read more about Apulia check out this post or the New York Time's article The Heel is Rising.

Italy, From Head to Boot and how two little dogs from Lynchburg, VA, might finally get to meet!

Reed and I have decided to leave Siena at the end of December/beginning of January and move on South to travel! This has been in the works for awhile and we still have a lot of work to do getting everything in order. Siena, we realize, is a hard city to live in. It is beautiful and charming and medieval....


...but not the best place to live here in Italy, especially if two of your goals while being here is to eat good food and to travel! We have decided that we want to spend the month of January in Sicily-basing ourselves most likely in Palermo and then the month of February probably in the Napoli-area definitely making sure to make it out to Puglia (the heel of Italy) for at least one week. Reed wants to see Pompei and I want to get to Alberobello to visit the trulli.

This weekend we are heading up North to Verona, the land of Romeo and Juliet, and Ollie's sister!

Ollie? Mary?



Mary? Ollie?


Ollie is the first picture. He hates trains and is a little freaked out in the picture. But anyone who knows Oliver and looks at the picture of Mary below would realize that they have to be siblings!

Roma::Monday

Roma:Monday

Monday morning we headed to the vegetable market at Campo de’ Fiori, one of Rome’s most famous produce markets. In the middle of the square is the statue of Giordano Bruno, a monk who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600.

The market was wonderful and we had such a great time especially since there is no market at all in Siena! Boo!! In addition to produce they had different spices: we stocked up on cumin and cayenne pepper for our Mexican food along with a giant bag of black beans. There are no black beans in Siena!

The market-Chestnuts

Pumpkins (zucca giallo) and garlic

Hot Chili peppers in a basket on a motorino

Reed and Ollie outside a salumeria

Above is a picture of a man sharpening his knife by biking! He did not want his picture taken so we had to quickly sneak one!

After the market we headed over to the Vatican so Reed could go inside St. Perter’s. Unfortunately there was something going on and the line was unbelievably long and we had a train to catch so Reed could not go in. Something for our next trip. We had a fabulous time and were sad to leave!

St. Peter's Basilica

The Forum-right near our hotel

Roma::Sunday

Roma:Sunday

Sunday morning we headed out with Oliver to the Aventine Hill, one of the 7 hills of Rome. At the top of the hill is the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta and the Priorato dei Cavalieri di Malta. If you look through the keyhole in the door, there is a spectaculr view of the dome of St. Peters Basilica framed by trees (to read more, click here).


We dropped Mr. O back at the hotel and headed to the Colosseum where we took an audio tour. The Colosseum was once a massive amphitheater for fights held on holidays in Rome (at that time, more than half of the days in the year were holidays!). There were two different types of fights: those between gladiators and those involving exotic animals, including lions, panthers, and even hippos. During the reign of Trajan (98-117 AD), Trajan held a marathon 117 day killing spree involving 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals. I thought it was interesting that a gladiator usually only fought two times a year! At the time of the games, the arena was called the Flavian Amphitheater, and was only named the Colosseum during the Medieval Period in reference not to its colossal size, but rather to the giant statue – Colosso di Nero – which was nearby. After the 6th century, the Colosseum was abandoned and exotic plants, whose seeds were brought by the animals, grew within. The stone, marble, and other materials used to build the Colosseum were used to build other structures, including St. Peter’s Basilica.

We then headed off to the catacombs, some 300 km of tunnels used as burial grounds by the Christians. We went to San Callisto, the largest. The catacombs are located on Via Appia Antica, which once ran from Rome to Brindsi (a city in Puglia-the heel of Italy). No photos are allowed within the catacombs. To read more about the catacombs, click here)

Outside the catacombs::a heard of sheep!

Next we headed back to get a few pictures of the Colosseum and Travi Fountain at night. These are the work of Reed!

(I put our names on the two Colosseum pics so no one stole them off the internet. If you want a copy, let me know)

Roma::Saturday

Roma: Saturday

Last week we decided to head to Rome for the weekend. We originally were planning on heading out to Cortona (Tuscany) and Orvieto (Umbria) but we would have needed to rent a car, and the rental prices were more than what it would cost us to go to Rome. Go figure!

We headed out very early on Saturday morning: we had a 8 am train to catch and the train station is about a 40 minute walk from our apartment. Oliver did very well on the train, especially the first train to Chiusi.

Ollie and Reed in Siena

The train from Chiusi to Rome was a lot noisier and Ollie got scared every time another train passed us or when we went through a tunnel!

Me and Ollie on the train to Roma

The train only took three hours and by 11 am we were in Roma (we kept telling Oliver he was in the big tomato!).

For lunch we headed over to Trastevere, which is across the river from Centro Storico. Originally it was a poor working class area but now is becoming more popular for foreigners to buy property. We decided that we would spend the day walking around the city and seeing some of the main tourist sites: Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain was my favorite!

Pantheon

Pantheon- interior

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

Our Trip: Part 2

We took three main trips when we were in Lucca: to the Cinque Terre, to Firenze, and up into Garfagna, specifically to Barga and San Pellegrino.

On Tuesday, after two days of relaxing by the pool, we headed to the Cinque Terre. Having done it before 5 years ago, I thought I rembered how hard it was! Yeah right!! It was quite hard. We took the train to Monterosso from Lucca and hiked the first two villages: Monterosso to Vernazza and Vernazza to Corniglia (the two hardest paths). After that, we took a break, had lunch in Corniglia, and were on our way back to Lucca! We learned later that the day we hiked the Cinque Terre, three tourists died by falling off the cliff! Apparently they went off the path to take pictures!

There were many steps to climb.....and then more......and then more......

Boats in Vernazza-Cinque Terre

Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Vernazza

On Thursday, the three of us, went to firenze (this was the first train ride for Oliver!). We debated going to Florence considering it was hailing at the Lucca train station, but in the end we went. The rain briefly held off, allowing us to walk by the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, and by Santa Croce before there was a giant soaking downpour! We headed to the Mercato Centale, for Reed to see all the goodies! I stopped paying attention after he made me look at a skinned calf head! Still there were lots of goodies, especially upstairs, where we bought some olives fresh from Sicily to cure-Some how we messed them up though :(. We plan on going back and taking the train because the prices are really low at the market!!!!!

Firenze-il Duomo

The Ponte Vecchio-Firenze

Santa Croce as the storm rolls in-Firenze

Sicilian olives that we bought at Mercato Centrale

The vegetable stands at Mercato Centrale

On Friday, we headed to the hotel that Gianlucca works out of so that Reed could help Enzo with a presentation for the Japanese students that are attending Gianluccas schools. It was a crazy morning but I got to stay in the kitchen and watch everything being prepared which was a lot of fun!

The day at Gianluccas-Enzo the owner of the restaurant Reed works at is right behind Reed.

Relaxing in the yard with Ollie

On Saturday we took the car and headed north. On the way, we passed three stands selling Tartufo Fresca (Fresh Truffles)- we ended up buying two different kinds of white truffles.

The truffles that we bought-both are tartufo bianco (white truffles)

The bigger white truffle pictured above is apparently used more for making oil. This is still the beginning of the season so they were small. The truffles we bought were from San Miniato.

After that it was on to Barga, a very small medieval village, and then on to San Pellegrino, which is more than 1000 m above sea level. The town is verrrry small. Below is the whole town! We had about 5 minutes there before the fog rolled in and it was impossible to see anything!

San Pellegrino

Before the fog.......

The fog starts to roll in........

The fog has arrived......

After this, it was time to head back to Siena and start school. We did manage to stock up on quite a few Mexican ingredients at the store in Lucca (I bought the last three boxes of Taco shells at the store in Lucca!)