Ms. Adventures in Italy » Milan

Food and sights I’ll miss from summer in Italy

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:38:30 +0000

This year saying goodbye to summer seems particularly poignant, even though I only took a week + some days off (to head to Hawaii) compared to traditional Italian summers with 3 or so weeks off. The difference is that my job allowed me to work from wherever, so I left muggy Milan early on and came back when it was starting to mellow again.

I got a Samsung Nexus S in August thanks to a concerned boss; I’ve had the iPod Touch and the iPad for years, but never upgraded my slider-text-only-phone to a smartphone, mainly because I live online and don’t really use my phone unless I’m traveling. Now that I have a camera in my pocket, I find myself capturing moments a lot more often, even when I carried my mini-camera in my purse. I’m also using the WordPress mobile app for blogging, and for quick photo posts it’s a single click!

Growing up, I pleaded and begged to be able to go to amusement parks, and I never found a ride I didn’t like. When a little fair came to town while we were in Puglia, I had to sample some of the rides. This was my favorite – the HULK! It looked slightly harmless as it jumped up and down, but once I got on I was in danger of losing my shoes, my purse, everything! I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. I also saw The American Show, and posted about it on What I See.

Caffe’ shakerato - one of my favorite summer drinks in Italy. I only had a few of these this summer, so if it heats up at all this month I’ll make sure to order a few more.

Two other refreshing drinks after a day at the beach - Gassosa, and Lemon Soda – the first is a fizzy sweet tonic water, and the second is a fizzy lemon soda with real pieces of lemon in it. Love both of them.

Amazing pane e pomodoro (bread and tomatoes) and a few vegetables sott’olio/sott’aceto (pickled) and olives. I had mozzarella nodini / knots as well.

A pizza stuffed with onions that have been cooked until they’re melting. I literally dream about this pizza. Luckily I can get this pizza in Puglia year-round. I just have to make the trip!

Hands-down, one of the best fritto misto (mixed fried plate) I’ve eaten in my life – on the beach at Marina Romea, near Ravenna, Italy. Aside from super-juicy prawns, calamari, and fried anchovies and other frutti di mare, and there were fried vegetables underneath like zucchine and onions. So good.

Here’s what the others ate – so much tagliolini that they just give you the entire pan to serve from.

Still in Ravenna, could you go to the Emilia-Romagna region and not eat a piadina? Not I. This freshly-heated piadina had sausage and grilled onions inside. Yum. (Note: when you’re desperate in Italy for Mexican food, a piadina also subs for very thick tortillas)

I have a pepperoncino plant, hot pepper, outside which greets me every day. I’m not sure I’ll use up all those hot peppers (though I am eating spicy quite a bit lately), I definitely want them around.

The pepperoncino theme is popular, check out this little table arrangement with a spiky cucumber (live) and pepperoncino.

A caffe’ affogato (drowned coffee with ice cream) that was one of the cheapest things in that place (and good).

Crazy Greenpeace grass cars, and scooters.

People enjoying the nice weather and sitting on the steps of the Duomo (before it started pouring that evening).

And finally, how you know summer is really over: the stores are decorated for Christmas. I about threw up in my mouth when I saw this. I was wearing shorts.

What will you be remembering about this summer?

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Gelato and Hot Chocolate: a Chocolat double-header

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:14:07 +0000

Yesterday I met with a longtime blog reader & fellow food blogger who was in town for business in Milan (I love it when that happens!) – she asked me to recommend some gelaterie but I did one better and joined her for a gelato close to where she was staying, at Chocolat near Cadorna station. (Check it out on my Tour del Gelato)

And just because we could, and we’re in that funky period where both gelato and cioccolata calda, hot chocolate, are both acceptable and desirable, we ordered a cioccolata fondente con panna – dark hot chocolate with whipped cream. Delicious.(Ok, so we didn’t finish the hot chocolate, but we tried).

Then I was in a sugar coma for the rest of the evening.

Would you have gone for a double-header? Gelato and hot chocolate, or two gelati or two hot chocolate?

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Milan’s White Christmas

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:14:21 +0000

A snowstorm struck yesterday in Milan, one that sent my colleagues scurrying home at 4pm (we’re usually in the office until 7pm) and none of them arrived home before their normal 7.30-8.00pm return time – there was that much casino craziness and traffic due to the 30+cm (10 inches) of snow that fell in 6 or so hours.

Today there are quattro gatti in the office (literally: four cats…nobody!) and tonight there are real doubts that we’ll be able to depart as planned on our holiday break – planes are grounded, streets are covered and crowded, and schools are closed!

But we’re optimists, right?

And if anything, we have a White Christmas this year in Milan, but hopefully I won’t be sticking around to “enjoy” it – I have other plans!

Here are some pictures from my voyage to work today – I took the little camera to get some candid snow shots.

Most of the time I laughed at little cars covered in snow like this one:

Jumping through snow to get cigarettes – talk about natural survival instincts!

At the edge of the snow – I definitely want to jump in! You’re loving my sexy snow boots, I know. Too bad you can’t see the rest of me to know just how much of a snow bunny I look like today. My hair and makeup people have been following me all day to make sure I look “just so.” Props to them.

Plowing snow by hand instead of waiting for the military to come help (800 were sent to Milan by order of the mayor)

I couldn’t believe my eyes – the street market below my house was still going on, even in a smaller form…with snow plows in the background. At least you don’t have to ask yourself if the fish is fresh or frozen…it’s definitely frozen!

A playground under snow – the little horse looks particularly forlorn. Want to go for a ride?

The path to the office was perhaps the least convincing of my entire trip – my office is just beyond the bend but it appears I’m leaving civilization, not entering it. Aiuto!

I’ll be updating you with another post about a Menu for Hope!

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Habanero, Celery, Valrhona gelato – 100 savory & sweet gelato flavors at Il Gelato gelateria

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:02:58 +0000

Another stop on the Tour del Gelato – discovering the world’s best gelato one lick at at time! You can participate, too!

This week I made a discovery about a new gelateria near me in Milan. I’m especially excited since the gelateria closest to my house is average, but not great.

Il Gelato gelateria in Milan is from the same group of gelatai (gelato-makers) who created Il Gelato in Rome, in EUR. I was fortunate enough to speak a few words with Lorenzo Franchini and Alessandro Meco in the Milan location that opened in June 2009. They were recently included in Gambero Rosso’s July edition that examined Italian gelato in-depth. You can flip through some pages of the Gambero Rosso July issue (Italian only) via that link- their particular feature is on page 37.

Gambero Rosso estimates that there are 35,000 gelaterie in Italy – so we have quite a few more to sample for the Tour del Gelato!

Two things distinguish Il Gelato from other gelaterie – one is they offer 100 flavors. Very few gelaterie have the creativity or space to do so. The other interesting thing Il Gelato offers is gusti salati – which often get translated as “savory flavors“, but I would suggest they be called “bittersweet flavors” as they are always sugar-based and sweet, but not as sweet as you might expect from traditional gelato flavors.

Some of their savory/bittersweet flavors pictured belwo: crema ai peperoni (cream of bell pepper), habenero picantissimo (hot hot pepper), crema di sedano (cream of celery) and frittata di cipolle (onion frittata). ù

Other flavors I saw were: Philadelphia e noci (yes, the cream cheese and walnuts), wasabi, gorgonzola, and taleggio, aceto basalmico e Miele (taleggio cheese, balsamic vinegar and honey).

Though they have 100 flavors, they often rotate in new flavors and solicit feedback from customers on developing new flavors.

My first gelato was pistacchio (my barometer and constant in every gelateria test), halva e pistacchio (pieces), and cioccolato Amadei 9 (Amadei chocolate).

As far as how good this gelato is, I would say it’s above average, though not the best I’ve ever tasted. I also have a lot more flavors to taste. It would be in my top 10 gelaterie in Italy, though. But most importantly, it has the possibility to become your favorite gelateria due to offering flavors you can’t find anywhere else. That’s what struck me as people were streaming in all evening to get gelato – they were excited to see so many flavors and be able to stray from the Italian trilogy of gelato – pistachio, chocolate and hazelnut.

Sicilian cassata gelato

Here is latte e mirtilli (blueberries and milk), and some of the very interesting and sure-to-be-favorites of someone were: sesamo nero (black sesame seed), riso e zafferano (rice and saffron), chocolate of every type (paprika and hot pepper, banana) using some of the best chocolate in the world for their base (Amadei, Valrhona, Domori).

They make small batch sizes of each gelato flavor which is probably why they can offer you 100 flavors. I sampled a zenzero (ginger) sorbet that was incredibly strong and fresh and would have been a perfect thing to serve in between courses to clear one’s palate.

On my next trip, I’m going to try girasole e cioccolato (sunflower seed and chocolate), pistacchi turchi (turkish pistachio), and cioccolato with Valrhona.

Which flavors do you want to try? Which would you definitely avoid?

Il Gelato gelateria
Piazza Lagosta, Milano. Angolo (corner of) Via Trau

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