Yesterday Reed and I bought a bottle of Arancino, as neither of us had ever had it (WARNING: make sure it is chilled (note the freezer burns on the bottle), it is very strong for those who typically do not drink liquors!). It is a liquor or digestivo that is made from orange rinds, alcohol, water, and sugar. This particular digestivo is made from Tuscany. Much like limoncello (a liquor that is produced in Southern Italy near Naples), this liquor can be store bought or home-made (the home-made versions often being a lot stronger than the store bought versions). The only real requirement for making this liquor is that in order to produce a quality product, the rinds of either the lemon or orange must be soaked for at least 30 to 40 days (this contributes to the vibrant color of the liquor as no fruit juice is added).
9.20.2007
Arancino
Yesterday Reed and I bought a bottle of Arancino, as neither of us had ever had it (WARNING: make sure it is chilled (note the freezer burns on the bottle), it is very strong for those who typically do not drink liquors!). It is a liquor or digestivo that is made from orange rinds, alcohol, water, and sugar. This particular digestivo is made from Tuscany. Much like limoncello (a liquor that is produced in Southern Italy near Naples), this liquor can be store bought or home-made (the home-made versions often being a lot stronger than the store bought versions). The only real requirement for making this liquor is that in order to produce a quality product, the rinds of either the lemon or orange must be soaked for at least 30 to 40 days (this contributes to the vibrant color of the liquor as no fruit juice is added).
9.19.2007
Vini di Montalcino
Brunello di Montalcino and the other Brunello: Rosso di Montalcino
On Sunday we took a day trip to Montalcino (37 km south of Siena). You can read about the day here. One of the great attractions of Montalcino is it's wine, namely Brunello.
When we first got to Montalcino, we stopped and had some lunch. With lunch we had a bottle of Rosso di Montalcino, the other main DOC from Montalcino, and often called "the other Brunello." This wine is required to be 100 percent Brunello but has far fewer aging restrictions, except that it cannot be released prior to September 1st of the year following the vintage.
After lunch we headed over to the Rocca (the giant castle-esque structure in Montalcino) where they have a very large enoteca filled with wine, mostly Brunello. Here is a shot of one of the walls of wine.
After visiting the enoteca and choosing to not to buy any wine there, we went on to another more reasonably priced enoteca to buy a bottle of Brunello. Here is Reed picking out the wine:
And the winner is.......
It was very good and we brought the bottle home so that Reed can soak it and take off the label: this will be the first label in his wine book that I bought him for Christmas!
Interestingly, Montalcino has one of the warmest climates in all of Tuscany meaning that the grapes here ripen before those of Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Even within the Montalcino area, there are different micro-climates on the Northern and Southern slopes of the hill Montalcino is on: the northern slopes receive fewer hours of sunlight and are generally cooler than the southern slopes. As a result, vineyards planted on the northern slopes tend to produce wines that are racier and more aromatic, while the southern slopes tend to produce wines with more power and complexity. The top producers in the area have vineyards on both slopes, and make use of a blend of both styles (per Wikipedia).
On Saturday we are heading north to the Chianti region. It should be interesting to learn more about the wine in this area!
On Sunday we took a day trip to Montalcino (37 km south of Siena). You can read about the day here. One of the great attractions of Montalcino is it's wine, namely Brunello.
When we first got to Montalcino, we stopped and had some lunch. With lunch we had a bottle of Rosso di Montalcino, the other main DOC from Montalcino, and often called "the other Brunello." This wine is required to be 100 percent Brunello but has far fewer aging restrictions, except that it cannot be released prior to September 1st of the year following the vintage.
After lunch we headed over to the Rocca (the giant castle-esque structure in Montalcino) where they have a very large enoteca filled with wine, mostly Brunello. Here is a shot of one of the walls of wine.
After visiting the enoteca and choosing to not to buy any wine there, we went on to another more reasonably priced enoteca to buy a bottle of Brunello. Here is Reed picking out the wine:
And the winner is.......
It was very good and we brought the bottle home so that Reed can soak it and take off the label: this will be the first label in his wine book that I bought him for Christmas!
Interestingly, Montalcino has one of the warmest climates in all of Tuscany meaning that the grapes here ripen before those of Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Even within the Montalcino area, there are different micro-climates on the Northern and Southern slopes of the hill Montalcino is on: the northern slopes receive fewer hours of sunlight and are generally cooler than the southern slopes. As a result, vineyards planted on the northern slopes tend to produce wines that are racier and more aromatic, while the southern slopes tend to produce wines with more power and complexity. The top producers in the area have vineyards on both slopes, and make use of a blend of both styles (per Wikipedia).On Saturday we are heading north to the Chianti region. It should be interesting to learn more about the wine in this area!
9.15.2007
Ecco Mexico!!!
Obviously we have been eating a lot of Italian food: pasta, cheese, pizza, gelato.....We decided that on Friday we would make or try to make Mexican food. Since we were in Lucca, (we went into a grocery store that had a decent selection of ethnic food including taco shells-can't remember if they had taco sauce!), we'd been planning on making some type of Mexican food. Armed with our jar of cumin from the U.S. we decided we would give it a shot!
On Thursday while Reed went to work, I went to the grocery store here to pick up some ingredients. Conad City (our supermarket) does not have half the selection of ethnic ingredients that were at the store in Lucca (we plan on stocking up in Lucca!). It did not look too good at first, when the closest thing I could find to tortillas was flat bread. I ended up buying that, but then at a smaller grocery store near the apartment I found.....................
They were still not the same as the tortillas back home. They were thicker and if you tried one on its own it kind of had a sweet taste to it. Still, better than nothing.
We had been told that sour cream did not exist here. Reed told me to look for buttermilk at the store because he thought he could make sour cream. In the end, I found this......
Yup, that's real sour cream. The picture is a little dark but it is from Germany. The whole back of the container was in German. The picture of the salad made me think it "might" be sour cream at the store. It was definitely thick!
This was our final creation:
We improvised a little considering we had no taco sauce or taco seasoning. The cumin definitely went a long way to make this taste like Mexican food (we also used half a can of diced tomatoes).
On Thursday while Reed went to work, I went to the grocery store here to pick up some ingredients. Conad City (our supermarket) does not have half the selection of ethnic ingredients that were at the store in Lucca (we plan on stocking up in Lucca!). It did not look too good at first, when the closest thing I could find to tortillas was flat bread. I ended up buying that, but then at a smaller grocery store near the apartment I found.....................
These!!! "Poco Loco" tortillas!
They were still not the same as the tortillas back home. They were thicker and if you tried one on its own it kind of had a sweet taste to it. Still, better than nothing.
We had been told that sour cream did not exist here. Reed told me to look for buttermilk at the store because he thought he could make sour cream. In the end, I found this......
Yup, that's real sour cream. The picture is a little dark but it is from Germany. The whole back of the container was in German. The picture of the salad made me think it "might" be sour cream at the store. It was definitely thick!This was our final creation:
We improvised a little considering we had no taco sauce or taco seasoning. The cumin definitely went a long way to make this taste like Mexican food (we also used half a can of diced tomatoes).
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