In the last two editions of my Monday’s travel photos, I’ve posted photos of Roman fountains and Roman ruins. But Rome is not just a tourist venue of course. These are just a few photos showing the life of the people who live there all the time – the Romans! Starting with the market …
The most striking thing about the ruins in Rome is that they are part of the city, sometimes incorporated into more modern buildings such as churches and restaurants. One lot of ruins has even become a cat sanctuary! I’ve visited most of the more well-known ones with the exception of the Colisseum because it closes at “sundown”, though the definition of what sundown really is isn’t clear, and each time I’ve been too late!
If you would like to be notified of subsequent posts, just sign up under “Subscribe” in the column on the right. And please feel free to comment!
When the special stainless steel milk foaming jug arrived by mail, my heart sank. It looked much smaller than any of the ones in the videos. But in the meantime, I’d watched a few more and one by The Caffee Society seemed to hold the key. He didn’t mention a particular sort of milk or anything like that but explained what was actually going on.
How to froth milk with a steam wand – Barista Tips with Paul Meilke Janney from the Caffé Society.
He said that there are two steps to foaming. First, you have to put air into the milk by putting the wand just under the surface, slowing lowering as the foam increases. It makes a characteristic “tst, tst, tst”. Then at about 40°C, when it starts getting warm, you go an inch deeper for texturing, which is the second step. It means getting the milk going in a sort of whirlwind. When that’s happening, it will go all quiet and will look shiny. When it starts getting hot (about 65°C), you remove it.
Another video had suggested using a large jug and quite a lot of milk so that a learner would have the time to get it all going. The jug and milk have to be very cold.That seemed sensible so I used a litre jug from Ikea that was the wrong shape (wider at the top) but that turned out to work really well. I also found a couple of bottles of UHT milk whose use-by date was July so I didn’t feel so bad about wasting all that milk.
Would you believe that I started to get it right the very first time. Since the jug was deep, it didn’t matter if milk spurted all over the place. So I tried different wand heights until I could feel the wand was in the right place. The idea is to hold the wand away from the side a little bit. The Caffee Society says it has to be at 45° but my wand is straight and tipping the jug doesn’t change the slope of the wand (although I thought it would until Relationnel told me otherwise!).
Then when the milk gets a bit frothy, you have to make sure the wand creates a sort of sucking effect and you can see the milk swirling around and the wand looks as though it’s sucking in milk. Maybe that’s what my brother meant when he said the secret was to “do the kiss”.
You then have to make sure you don’t let it boil or there’ll be bubbles on top and not just creamy foam. The first part is very fast while the second part takes a bit longer. Once you’ve finished, you bang and swirl the jug a few times to get rid of the surface bubbles and mix the bottom milk into the fam. I haven’t discovered yet whether all the milk is supposed to go thick and creamy or just the top half.
I can now achieve the same result using the little jug, though I still have some liquid milk at the bottom. But the consistency is right so I’m happy. I haven’t managed to make a butterfly, or even a little heart yet, but I will keep trying! By the way, I can foam the milk pretty well with the cheap-O espresso maker as well :).
I have not noticed any real difference betwwen using fresh or UHT milk, full fat or skim. I’m going to stick to demi-écremé UHT because it’s the easiest to buy and store.
In the meantime, Relationnel has mastered the espresso making which is really just a question of the right amount of coffee. I used to just guess, but if I use the special coffee measuring spoon, it works perfectly. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier!
When I’ve got it perfect and can rival barista Dritan Alsela at the Bazzar Caffe in Dusseldorf, I’ll make the ultimate cappuccino video for dummies.
We went to Rome in August when all the Romans flee the city, of course, to places like the Tivoli Gardens, because it’s too hot. The only way to survive was to get up early then go back to our air-conditioned apartment for a long siesta before venturing out again in the late afternoon. Not surprisingly, one of the greatest attractions were the fountains. Below are my favourites, some of which I can locate, others not. Maybe someone can fill in the missing information.
Naples is not a popular destination with tourists. True, we did have to hurriedly get off a bus when Jean Michel realised his pockets were being searched, but he had taken adequate precautions so nothing was stolen. But apart from that, I felt perfectly safe and I really loved Naples. I particularly liked the ceramics in the beautiful cloisters of Santa Chiara and the amazing Nativity cribs in the Certosa museum which overlooks Naples. We went by train from Vico Equense on the Bay of Naples where we were staying, which saved us the hassle of parking. Black Cat has been there since and she really enjoyed it too.
We chose Viterbo as the centre of Etruscan art which I knew absolutely nothing about. The Etruscans lived in central Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. Their specialities were life-size figurative terracotta sculpture (on sarcophagi or temples) and cast-bronze wall paintings and metal work (particularly engraved bronze mirrors). We found a wonderful B&B in an 18th century villa called “Villa Farinella” which I can highly recommend, and fanned out. Viterbo itself is quite delightful and has a lovely old mediaeval quarter.
This Wednesday’s blogger round-up starts with Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, giving us tips for visiting Venice during the high waters that regularly flood the city (I’ll let you discover her other posts on the same subject); Susan from Days on the Claise shares a more scientific approach to mushroom collecting while Andrea from Rear View Mirror gives an excellent rundown on motorway tolls in the different countries of Europe.
Now that my feet are dry and I have access to a reliable internet connection, I’ve thought of a couple of tips in case you’re ever on holiday in Venice during acqua alta (“high waters”).
Fashion: Whether you’re a hairstylist working in a flooded salon or a couple of hipsters, Wellies are a must-have item when water from the Adriatic Sea flows into the streets of Venice. This new trend has reportedly spread to France because alert fashionistas spotted a large number of people wearing rubber boots as they disembarked from an EasyJet flight arriving at Paris Orly Airport late last night. Read more
This is Part II of an account of an outing to the Foret de Loches by the Association de botanique et mycologie de Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine. Part I is here.
According to Jean-Pierre, we may be in for a very good fungi season. In the autumn following a hard winter or a prolonged period of dry, the mushrooms are often abundant. Since we have had both this year, perhaps we should expect to be overwhelmed by fungal fecundity! Read more
If you plan on driving on major highways around Europe be prepared for the added cost that often comes with it. Many countries charge a toll for their use and this is either paid at a toll booth or with a vignette/sticker which you stick on your windscreen.
Toll booths are surprisingly quick to pass through, provided you aren’t driving during peak time like when the August summer holidays are on. There are a few options when it comes to which lane to choose:
Paestum, which is about 85 K southeast of Naples, is the home of three major Greek temples dating from the first half of the 6th century B.C., two dedicated to Hera and one to Athena. We were there in early June 2010 and it was one of the highlights of our trip. It’s also known for its painted tombs and the museum near the temples contains frescoes, statues and earthware taken from the tombs. We also had an unforgettable meal in a somewhat non-descript restaurant nearby.
We’re gradually working our way around Italy by car which means that each time, we try and go by a different route so we’ve started visiting the less touristy places. Last time, we went to Parma, famous for its cheese – parmeggiano-reggiano, known in English as Parmesan. We also visited a balsamic vinegar works and stayed in a wonderful B&B nearby called Corte Bebbi. The city itself has several monuments worth visiting, particularly the duomo with its lovely fresques and gold-leaved capitals and baptisry which unfortunately was closed when we got there. We had an uninteresting meal at the Gran Caffè on Piazza Garibaldi with its mixture of Renaissance and more recent buildings but it was fun to watch the world go by.
After attending the local mediaeval flag festival at Bebbiano when we stayed at Corte Bebbi, the wonderful B&B in Parma that I have already described, we asked our hostess to recommend a balsamic vinegar factory, the challenge being that Relationnel needed someone who could speak French! A couple of phone calls later and we were on our way.
We received a warm welcome from Marco Pinicirilli at Acetaia Picci in Cavriago in the province of Reggio Emilia. After retiring from his job as an airline pilot, he took over the family’s traditional balsamic vinegar factory. Factory is hardly an appropriate word – it is actually a lovely 17th century family home covering several floors. On every floor there are casks vinegar in various shapes and sizes. Downstairs, it’s like a museum with beautifully kept tools and utensils from bygone days.
Mr Pinicirilli’s explanations were very easy to follow.
The must, produced from white trebbiano and lambrusco grapes pressed immediately upon harvesting, is heated to 85°C for 36 hours until it is reduced to about 1/3 of its original volume. The resulting thick syrup is then aged in wooden casks in a specific order: chestnut, mulberry, juniper, wild cherry and oak, each one smaller the previous one. After a minimum aging period of 12 years, during which the vinegar evaporates (quaintly known as the “angel’s share”), a small proportion is taken from the smallest cask and each is then topped up with the contents of the previous one. Freshly boiled must is added to the largest cast and the drawing and topping is process repeated every subsequent year.
The fact that the casks are stored on various floors, particularly on the top floor under the roof, in a wooden house is very important. The variation in temperature helps the aging process – exactly the opposite of wine which needs to be kept at the same cool temperature all year round.
To receive the official label, balsamic vinegar must be aged for at least 12 (gold), 15 (silver) or 25 years (crimson). It has to be presented to a consortium or sort of guild each year (Mr Pinicirilli is a member of the consortium) for approval. If it is not given the official label, it is called condimiento. The only provinces allowed to produce traditional balsamic vinegar are Modena and Reggio Emilia. The two provinces have slightly different rules.
A woman’s dowry often used to consist of a set of 5 casks which were kept in the family. Balsamic vinegar making is not considered to be a full-time job, just an “extra”. Not hard to understand when you have to wait for at least 12 years before you can sell the first bottle!
After tasting a delicious drop of crimson balsamic vinegar, we nevertheless opted for the silver 100 ml bottle at 40 euro in its special box and little dropper, together with several bottles of condimiento at 10 euro.
Obviously, the balsamic vinegar we usually buy is condimento grade (also called salsa balsamic or salsa di mosto cotto (cooked must sauce). It can be made and aged in the traditional way but without consortium supervision; or made by traditional producers, but less than 12 years old; or made using the traditional method, but outside Modena and Reggio Emilia; or it can be made from ordinary balsamic vinegar with the addition of reduced grape juice in varying proportions without aging.
At the bottom of the scale is Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, made of wine vinegar with colouring, caramel and sometimes thickeners added. There is no aging so hundreds of thousands of litres can be produced every day. When buying balamic vinegar, you obviously have to examine the label very carefully first!
In Emilia-Romagna, traditional vinegar is usually served in drops on chunks of parmigiano reggiono and mortadella. It’s also used in tiny proportions on grilled meat, eggs and fish and even on fresh fruit such as strawberries and pears or on a plain gelato.
Acetaia Picci, via Roncaglio, 29 Cavriago, tel 0522/371801, acetaiapicci@iol.it – www.acetaiapicci.it