Ms. Adventures in Italy

Praline Almond, Pistachio and Chocolate Chip Blondies Recipe

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:39 +0000

In the past 2-3 months, after moving house, having out-of-town visitors, going on several trips, including Dublin, it feels like things are starting to settle down again for me to be able to get into my (new apartment’s) kitchen – just in time for my trip to the United States next month!

I’ll be there for BlogHer in Chicago and making stops in San Francisco, San Diego, and New Mexico (Alberquerque and near the Texas border at El Paso). If you’ll be at one of these places, I hope we’ll be able to meet! (I’m on Twitter as @rosso! Are you?)

I have to be honest I wasn’t that familiar with Dorie Greenspan until a few years ago when I noticed how often her name came up when bloggers talked about or posted recipes. When her Baking from my home to yours book came out, I picked it up, leafed through it as I always do with new cookbooks, and noted the pages of the recipes that interested me. At the end of this exercise, I had a list almost as long as her recipe index!

So far, everything I’ve made from the cookbook has turned out great, and I still have a bunch of recipes waiting to be tried! The cookbook itself is beautiful and the recipes are accessible and I’ve personalized a few of them to be my own.

I was obsessing recently about blondies, the cousin to brownies, and what I like to think of as a mix between a brownie and a cookie bar. Since I didn’t have any butterscotch or toffee chips around, I decided to praline some nuts to get some of that caramel flavor. My version makes a much richer and darker blondie.

This particular batch didn’t make it to my office. It almost didn’t even last an afternoon!

What would you add to your blondies?

Praline Almond and Pistachio Blondies Recipe

Note: Adapted from Baking, from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. The original recipe calls for butterscotch/toffee chips, light brown sugar, and sweetened coconut.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup pralined almonds, chunked/chopped (make your own! see recipe below)
1/2 cup pralined pistaschios, chunked/chopped
1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325F/160C. Butter a 9×13 dish.
Mix flour, baking powder and soda, and salt together in another dish.
In a mixing bowl, and using a hand or stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat until well-mixed, then adding one egg at a time. Add vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients at a slow speed until they are just mixed with the other ingredients. With a spatula mix the chocolate, shredded coconut and the pralined nuts.
Fold the batter out into the buttered dish, and bake for about 40 minutes, checking to see if a knife inserted will come out clean.

Other food bloggers make Blondies:

Praline Almonds Recipe (or your favorite nut)

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

200g almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 water

Put all ingredients in heavy saucepan/skillet (not nonstick!) and mix continuously with a wooden spoon while heating over medium-to-high flame until the mixture starts boiling. Lower heat slightly and keep mixing until water starts to evaporate and the sugar becomes grainy or sandy. Keep stirring and slowly the grains will start to liquify at the bottom of the pan with an intense caramel color. Mix until the nuts are covered in the liquified sugar and glazed. Turn nuts out onto a baking sheet to cool down.

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Where to Find Great Italian Gelato: Tour del Gelato

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:12:00 +0000

In 2006 I started the Tour del Gelato, discovering the world’s best gelato, one lick at a time!

It’s been quietly plugging along and we’ve amassed more than 50 reviews of gelaterias in Italy, in the United States, and in other parts of the world!

If you’re interested in contributing, it’s pretty easy (read more on the Tour del Gelato page):

go to a gelateria (sorry, no ice cream parlors)

take some pictures, and review it on your own blog!

Include a link back to the Tour del Gelato blogroll, and send me a message so I can add you! That’s it! (You can also add your photos to the Tour del Gelato Flickr Pool)

If instead you’re more of a consumer, rather than a reviewer, check out the long list of great Italian gelaterie the blogosphere has reviewed to find one near you!

It’s not limited to Italy (though we are finding some great gelaterie for you), so get busy! I’m going to BlogHer in Chicago this summer, so I’d love to have some recommendations already documented!

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Adopt a Blogger: Finding New Sources of Traffic and Readers for Your Blog

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:49:16 +0000

Perhaps you’ve heard of more than 100 bloggers taking some newbie bloggers under their wing. It’s called Adopt a Blogger and it’s organized by Kristen of Dine and Dish and it’s in its 3rd year!

Today I’m here to introduce you to my mentee, Michelle from Taste as You Go.

I’m the mentor since I’ve been food blogging for almost 4 years(!) and blogging about other stuff for longer than that, but I find that I’m a little at a loss to mentor her because, if you go check out her site, she’s already done a ton of stuff like go inside the Food Network Kitchen and redesign her website!

But one of the things she asked me was about finding new sources of readers for her blog:

One of the things I am struggling with is marketing my blog….I’m not exactly sure how to go about spreading the word about my blog outside the usual circles. Any ideas about how I can widen my circle of readers?

I thought I’d give my answers and then ask you my readers to chime in as well – that way we’re doing a bit of community mentoring!

1. Tastespotting / FoodGawker / Photograzing
These resources are great for your delicious-looking food photos, and have an audience of people that are SEARCHING for something new and delicious. Make sure you submit your photos to all of them!

2. StumbleUpon
While I don’t find the StumbleUpon traffic to be as “sticky” (read: stick around on your site for more than one post) as the previously-mentioned food websites, they can still bring a lot of traffic and new eyes to your site. Getting Stumbled is quite a different process, but one way to start getting involved in the StumbleUpon community is to start stumbling yourself and build up a followership. (PS: StumbleUpon has StumbleUpon Advertising, too!)

3. Twitter
I don’t think anyone can ignore Twitter as a source of new inspiration and definitely cool links. If you’re on Twitter as well, it’s even easier to get re-Tweeted! (PS: I’m @rosso on Twitter, and Michelle is @maizey12)

4. Facebook
Make sure you’re feeding your blog posts into your Facebook profile (or like the Fan Page for Ms. Adventures in Italy) so that people on Facebook can share and comment on your posts and photos

5. New and Top Referrers to Your Blog
Check your statistics faithfully for referring links, and go visit those sites. See what they’re saying about your site, and leave a comment, even thanking them for the link! That way you become more than a passing link and perhaps a relationship can start to form. (You can also use Google Alerts to get notified of incoming links)

6. Comment on other blogs
An oldie, but a goodie. We all fall out of the habit of commenting on blogs but make sure if you have something to contribute or you find a new blog with a great post to leave a comment introducing yourself or saying what it is you like about the post/blog. Maybe you’ll find another inspirational blogger in the comments yourself!

I have quite a bit of advice about how NOT to get more traffic, but I thought for this post we should focus on the positive.

How else would you suggest to a newbie blogger to reach more readers?

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Italian Weddings: Greeting the Bride and Groom with Rice, Pasta and Confetti

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:22:31 +0000

After the post on a Wedding in Tuscany, I promised to show you what happens when the bride and groom come out of the church. At the bottom of this post I’ve listed who won the Pocket Espresso to Go giveaway!

Usually in an Italian wedding, all the guests wait outside until the couple comes out and then showers them with rice, coriandoli (confetti), pasta and even white rose petals. There are many different interpretations why rice is used, but most agree that it’s wishes of prosperity and wealth, and perhaps even fertility.

Sometimes, depending on who’s throwing, they can get a little overzealous. I would imagine about 100g of rice is about to hit the bride in the head here.

The bride and groom aren’t the only ones who are affected by all the confetti flying around.

The bride and groom get covered, but they don’t rush to remove the confetti. Most of the time they’ve already done their “couple” photos, or will clean up a bit later.

Afterward, if I were the cleaning staff, I’d just hope for a day that’s not windy!

The aftermath of one of the weddings. I love how the pasta box is laying there, too.

I like the variety here – some rigatoni, some pieces of lasagne broken up – so many dishes they could make. :)

I can only imagine what she was thinking look at all of this. If it was like the other children at the wedding, it was: ok, now I can pick it up and throw it again!

Sometimes other antics happen, too – a couple friends decided instead of throwing rice at the couple, they would fill her cowboy boot with rice instead.

The important part is of course that the bride and groom feel happy and loved. (PS: In case you were getting confused, your eyes are not playing tricks on you – there are different bridal couples – these are pics from 3 different weddings!)

Have you ever thrown pasta at a bridal couple, or something else interesting?

As for the Pocket Espresso Giveaway, here are the winners! Email me with your address!

For the Re-Tweet campaign, @kattebelletje
For the comments left on the post, #40, Jayme!

Thanks to everyone for participating! I’ve got a few more giveaways coming up!

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Introducing Ferrero Pocket Espresso to Go: the summer Pocket Coffee

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:30:37 +0000

I posted about my love for Pocket Coffee – real liquid espresso inside dark chocolate, and while it seems like this post is following soon on the heels of the other post, I had been sitting on that photo for more than a year (bad Sara). So, when I finally posted it, a chain of events occurred that can only be considered destiny:

My friend Nicole (her blog Zoomata has interesting and wacky Italian news) asked me if I had tried the summer version of Pocket Coffee. And not only that, but she had one in her possession to share with me.

Summer version of Pocket Coffee?? Yes, Pocket Coffee has a summer brother and thy name is Pocket Espresso to Go!

I pride myself as being a pretty curious person, especially when it comes to food – I often wander the aisles of local supermarkets when I travel, even within Italy, to see what regional and local differences there are in selection. So the fact that I hadn’t heard of or seen this summer version was indeed news to me.

I was then introduced to a friend working for Ferrero who agreed to bring me some of the Pocket Espresso to Go for my very own.

Yippee!

Pocket Espresso to Go has only been released in a few select markets throughout Italy (and only a few stores in those cities – I still haven’t seen it in Milan, but found it in Puglia) and only has an Italian product page for now. I found mention of them “in the wild” as early as last summer (including a post on the Food Section), but I’d never seen them before.

There’s a lot of potential in those little packages, especially when you realize they aren’t susceptible to the hot weather like the original Pocket Coffee. And I’m going to be giving some to you!! (Giveaway instructions below)

But first, let’s meet Pocket Espresso. These little containers are a liquid mix of the original Pocket Coffee : real espresso and dark chocolate. The flavor of Pocket Espresso isn’t a big surprise – it tastes like a melted Pocket Coffee, though some claim the chocolate flavor isn’t as strong.

It works for me.

Just like regular Pocket Coffee, each piece has 1/3 the caffeine of a regular cup of espresso. And, in case anyone was wondering, they are only 47 calories with 1 gram of fat! That’s a snack I could grow to love.

Perhaps the most genius part of Pocket Espresso is the packaging. They are made to look very similar to the original Pocket Coffee, but they are slightly larger.

Isn’t it cute?? Yes, that’s a little straw there. It’s cute. It makes me happy. I brought a box to work and we had a lot of fun sipping from our little straws while everyone else was drinking regular espresso around the coffee machine. There’s something about sipping from a tiny container with a little straw that ensures no one will keep a straight face. Try it in your next board room meeting, or instead of sipping water during a speech, or even better, next to your friends chugging back those gallon-size coffee drinks. Definitely a conversation starter.

You can drink them directly from the box, but I put a few in the fridge for when it’s really hot and I want something a little more refreshing – they are good!

My Ferrero contact wasn’t able to tell me when or how quickly they might be available in other countries outside of Italy (or throughout Italy, for that matter) but hopefully we can make some noise to encourage them to hurry up! I’m running out of my personal stash!

Pocket Espresso to Go Giveaway

I’m giving away two 3-packs of Pocket Espresso to Go. You get two chances to enter – and I’ll be picking one winner from each method of entering! I’ll accept entries until midnight, Pacific time (GMT -8) on Friday, June 12th.

Comment here and tell me what your favorite summer drink is. What refreshing drink do you look forward to in hot weather?? (Note: I have comment moderation turned on due to high spam, so please don’t be alarmed if your comment doesn’t appear immediately)
Tweet about the giveaway (I’m on Twitter: @rosso) and include two things in the Tweet: 1) the URL to this post and 2) my id @rosso – that’s also how I’ll keep track of who’s entering. If you prefer not to be creative on your own, you can Tweet this with the short URL (http://tr.im/nZG0) already provided : “Win some new Pocket Espresso to Go (summer Pocket Coffee) from @rosso http://tr.im/nZG0“

PS: Did you know Ms. Adventures in Italy has a Facebook Fan Page, too? Become a fan!

Disclosure: While I did receive a few packages of Pocket Espresso from my Ferrero contact, it was done as a personal favor through our mutual friend, and he did not ask me to write about Pocket Espresso or give them away. So I’m not! The packages I’m giving away are ones that I bought with my own money down in Puglia. Enjoy!

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Visiting Bellagio on Lake Como and Villa Melzi Gardens

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:49:49 +0000

Bellagio is a little town on Lake Como. Perhaps you’ve been to Las Vegas and seen the Bellagio hotel with its wonderful water fountain displays or their beautiful Murano-glass flowers in the entrance (which enchant me every time) and never really thought about the inspiration for the hotel.

On a spectacular day, like May 1st, for example, you’ll find it chock-full of tourists and locals looking for a little bella vista and a break from city life. Bellagio is a popular stop for motorcyclists and they have an entire parking lot dedicated to scooters, Ducati and Hondas!

But once you get to Bellagio, you’ll probably notice something: everyone else is there, too. It’s incredibly popular on a beautiful day. The small streets creep up like little vines away from the flat city “center” near the docks. But if you’re not in a climbing mood, you can walk down a kilometer or so along the water away from the docks until you get to the entrance of the Villa Melzi Gardens.

Villa Melzi’s gardens are considered more proper “English” gardens rather than Italian-styled gardens. There are a lot of different species and influences in the garden, however, like this Oriental-style garden spot.

The grass is meticulously trimmed and kept, with several reminders to “stay off” it. There are benches and places to stop and enjoy the beauty, though.

It’s only fair since I featured my dad in the Guinness post that I feature my other Dad in this one. Yes, I have two Dads (and a Mom), very California of me, no? Those are the Alps there in the distance.

Here some paths take you from the higher-ground paths behind the villa to the waterfront paths.

An iron gondola.

Make sure to take the “high” road behind the villa and the bamboo forest on the way back and get some spectacular views. I would share mine, but my camera battery died so they’re all in my head.

You can get to Bellagio several ways, the easiest being by fast ferry (traghetto) from Como city if you’re coming from Milan. The short trip takes about 50 minutes one way. The long ferry takes about 2 hours one way.

Giardini di Villa Melzi – Villa Melzi Gardens
http://www.giardinidivillamelzi.it
Tickets are 6 euro each. George Clooney not included in ticket price.

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Drinking a Guinness Beer in the Guinness Brewery Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Mon, 25 May 2009 06:16:21 +0000

The Guiness Brewery Storehouse, or St. James’s Gate Brewery, is one of Dublin’s most popular attractions, and the home to Guinness!

I didn’t really do much preparation for my trip to Dublin since I was just planning on tagging along with my father, but the one request I made is he wait and go to the Storehouse with me. The one site I consulted before leaving recommended going early to the Storehouse, so we made our way there sometime after 9.30am.

Never too early for Guinness, is it?

One of the most interesting and difficult-to-photograph-attractively things about Guinness and the Storehouse is the 9000 year lease that was signed by Arthur Guinness in 1759 for £45 pounds per year. 9000 years! And actually, this year, in 2009, is the 250th anniversary of the signing, which means they have only 8750 years left. They better start thinking of negotiating strategies for the inevitable rent hike!

This is supposed to be where the magic starts: roasted barley gives it that distinctive taste, along with the special yeast, part of which is kept in a safe so that they’ll always be able to make Guinness.

It’s not considered a true brewery tour because you don’t actually see the beer being brewed in front of you, but you can spy the various vats and containers through the windows, and you get some interesting information. Make sure you watch the video on how a cask/barrel is made – it’s fascinating.

I wasn’t sure what hops looked like, but now I do. And now so do you:

The advertising section of the Storehouse was really interesting, too – I love seeing how brands and messages evolve – and the packaging, too! Here are some old bottles of Guinness.

I have to be honest, the best part of the tour is the end when you get a freshly-poured Guinness (free as part of the admission cost!) in their famous Gravity Bar at the very top of the Storehouse which gives you a fabulous 360-degree view of Dublin.

Here’s some pints waiting for the second part of the famous “double pour” which helps keep that lovely thick creamy Guinness head from overflowing.

Finally it’s ready. But it’s worth the wait!

Can’t keep your hands off a freshly-poured pint!

Good until the last drop. My dad will inevitably comment how I didn’t get his model release on this pic since we were talking about that while we were visiting. You’re a star, Dad!

A neighborhood of Guinness pints together. By the time we left the Gravity Bar, it was quite crowded.

Note: side effects of enjoying one or several Guinness may include sitting on Trinity College lawns and watching cricket, people passing by, and becoming intrigued by your own shoe.

If you make your way to the Guinness Storehouse, make sure to enter one of your photos in their monthly photo competition! And just in case you were wondering, the Guinness Book of World Records DID originate with the Guinness family.

Guinness: Yay or Nay?

Guinness Storehouse website

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Temple Bar Food Market in Dublin, Ireland

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:42:35 +0000

“Live Food – Every Saturday rain, hail or shine,” and good thing! My visit to Dublin was punctuated by frequent showers, and in fact my umbrella broke in the first five minutes I opened it, after a large gust of wind nearly ripped it out of my hands.

After that, I quickly bought a hat. That way, my hair was screwed, but I had instant rain coverage. And afterward, walking around, you could tell how many people were locals by all the hoodies – rain starts to fall, hood up. Rain slows or stops, hood down. Not as many umbrellas fighting against the wind. Sometimes the rain would be so brief that you’d realize you’ve been walking around with your hood up for minutes with no drops. And other times, you’d find yourself standing in a particularly sunny spot, with no clouds directly overhead, getting pelted with big drops of rain.

Ah, Dublin.

But, there was a particularly sunny patch of Dublin we were lucky enough to stumble upon, and that was the Temple Bar Food Market! (PS: Since I work in web stuff, I actually wrote Template and caught it when I re-read the draft – Template Bar, indeed!)

The Temple Bar Food Market is deep in the center of the Temple Bar neighborhood, and we would have missed it if we hadn’t been looking for a certain restaurant on Meeting House Square. The market is every Saturday from 10am – 4.30pm on Meeting House Square.

If I didn’t live in Italy and see this every day, I would have immediately bought some of these lovely olives and mozzarella from The Real Olive Company – I loved the barrels and wooden spoons they used to scoop them out for customers.

Mmmm…garlic. I love the purple ridges on these.

What would an Irish food market be without Irish apples? These are from Llewellyn’s Orchard Produce.

There was a good variety of food and especially of baked goods – if I lived close I would definitely be stopping by for some good brown bread or Irish soda bread from The French Bread Stall.

Some ethnic food, too – at Karuna’s Kitchen there was anything fried and they had about 8 cuisines in a row – panzerotti – Italy, samosa – India, spring roll – China, Kofta – Middle East, Spanakopita – Greece, Croquette – Italy…! (I do have a weakness for fried stuff – check my own posts about Italian panzerotti, street food in India, or my sweet balls of fried ricotta)

The luck of our timing was we were able to see this roasted pork that had been roasting since 8am…

and was taken out to be eaten right at that moment! (Check out my post on roasted pork, porchetta, that you can find in Italy, complete with head still attached!)

Top that off with some fresh oyster shooters and some conversation from St Martin Shellfish. My brother would have gone crazy at this stand.

Do you shop at a Farmer’s Market? Is there anything you prefer to buy – local, homemade, etc., instead of in the store or doing it yourself?

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A Wedding in Tuscany

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:19:38 +0000

It’s been a few crazy weeks, which is why I’m announcing the winner to the Pocket Coffee giveaway today instead of Tuesday. Forgive me! I’m also trying to get your feedback about the blog through the new Ms. Adventures in Italy Facebook fan page about what type of content you’d like more of.

If you haven’t taken a look at the comments from the Pocket Coffee giveaway, be sure to check out over 80 tips and encouragements for keeping up your energy! Thanks to everyone for participating. The winner of the Pocket Coffee giveaway is:

Comment #3 Paula : Send me your address!

The truth is I haven’t been in my own kitchen in a month of weekends, due to the move, having company and this weekend will be no different as I’ll be heading to Dublin to see my father for a few hours. If you have tips / sites / links, please leave them in the comments or send them to my twitter account with a @rosso reply!

One of those lovely weekends I spent deep in the heart of Tuscany at a friend’s wedding. I’m going to share a few pictures here with you of “before the ceremony”

The vintage car she had to take her, her father and her daughter to the ceremony and the bridal couple “gli sposi / sposini” to the reception.

The flower girl, also her daughter, tugging at an itchy tag on her beautiful dress. Later, she would run around the reception in comfortable clothes.

Italians are known for their fashion sense, and weddings are a great time to get some inspiration…or to laugh at some of the outlandish outfits. But I loved the purple Converse that the bride’s teenage brother wore with his suit.

I loved the bride’s dress, especially the little shrug she had to keep her shoulders covered. I find more and more brides are straying away from pure white dresses and are moving toward cream – my own was an off-white.

The bouquet is one of my favorite things about weddings, especially when vibrant colors are framed by a creamy dress.

It was unfortunately overcast for most of the weekend, and while it didn’t rain on the bride, the sun did come out right as they were exiting the church to give us a bit of blue sky.

What are your favorite scenes from a wedding? Do you have a favorite pose or behind-the-scenes photo you love seeing?

Next….after the ceremony, the couple gets showered with rice…and pasta!

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Pocket Coffee: Real Italian Espresso covered in Chocolate (Giveaway!)

Ms. Adventures in Italy — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:27:40 +0000

This week it’s rained an incredible amount in Milan. Which wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I weren’t moving house at the same time…without a car (though we did use a friend’s for a day). With the rain.

You get the idea.

Needless to say, since my mother is arriving in a few hours for the Labour day/May day break here in Italy, I’ve been continuously trying to find a new source of energy as I slog on public transportation between two different houses and work.

So I thought I’d share with you…really share, not just on the blog, one of my secret Pick-me-Ups : Pocket Coffee.

Pocket Coffee is made by Ferrero (yes, the same people that bring you Nutella) and are delicious, little pockets of real espresso robed in chocolate. You have to be careful when eating or the liquid espresso will take you by surprise and dribble all over you.

Because of their liquid nature, Pocket Coffee gets pulled from the Italian supermarkets usually in May until about October because humidity and heat conditions mean that your Pocket Coffee could melt and really spill out into your pocket and make a sticky, gooey mess.

One of these little beauties has been a consolation to me lately. I’m hoping your comments will buoy me as well this long weekend.

And you could be rewarded!

Leave me a comment with some encouragement or your best trick to keeping your energy up and I’ll select a random commenter and send them a 18-pack of Pocket Coffee (WOW!) before they disappear from the supermarket for the summer. (I wanted to publish this yesterday (Wed) but I had to frantically check to make sure they still were in the store! Whew.)

On Tuesday, May 5th I’ll post the winner!

Ms. Adventures in Italy now has a Facebook Fan Page! Become a fan there as well to keep up! And if you’re into Nutella Day, we’ve opened up a Nutella Day Facebook Fan Page, too!

If you liked this post, you might also want to check out my An Introduction to Italian Candy – Caramelle

Some other bloggers wax poetic about Pocket Coffee:

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, and I am offering the Pocket Coffee with my own money…well, because I love you guys…

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