One of the more fun things to do in Venice is just hop a vaporetto and ride around the canal; the byzantine beauty of the facades of the various mansions lining the canal are striking in that they really do convey exactly the aesthetic you’d expect from reading up on Venice and imagining what it’s like. When you’re there, it’s hard to imagine a place so magical really exists…but it does!
Yum!
It has quickly gone from (grasping onto) Indian Summer (in the sun) to Hey, it’s Winter! weather here in the Northeast. So, soup it is!
In trying to buy local at the farmer’s market, there are a lot of root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onions and turnips and giant, I mean giant heads of cauliflower. I joked that the one I brought home last week was the size (and weight) of a human head. See, I’m not entirely off…
Anywho, I made roasted cauliflower recently to great avail and figured it might just be the thing to jazz up my soup. Along with the most beautiful carrots in shades of pink, tangerine and yellow, this soup quickly turned into something quite pretty.
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 carrots, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
olive oil
6-8 C vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
Heat…
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Speaking of the sounds of Venice…
…often include serenading the public with the belltowers that dot the city’s romantic skyline. It creates an atmosphere that just envelopes you with a sense of what it was like to live in Venice at the height of its power. La Serenissima.
One of the valuable services Doug provides that you just can’t get from reading TripAdvisor or going it alone–a sense of which restaurants and culinary experiences are going to require some serious prior planning. As a service to these clients, Doug lined up a meal at small Florence restaurant with an amazing atmosphere and very limited seating; without a res, you’re waiting a couple hours in hopes of a seat (you’ll see some folks looking on hopefully). Helping you avoid wasting time in lines is a valuable service–you don’t get to go Italy every day, so don’t waste time getting lost or stuck in lines you could have avoided by letting us help you.
One of the neat things about eating in Venice is the craftsmanship that goes into even simple tasks, like the tableside filleting of freshly caught fish. Trattoria da Romana is the only restaurant in Venice allowed to cook food over a wood fire, so you get flavors here you can’t get anywhere else, quite literally.
Mi piace!
The latest on the soap opera that is Berlusconi.
In a speech which is being delivered to the National Council of his party, Mr Silvio Berlusconi was compelled to confirm what had already been anticipated by news agencies: Deputy Prime Minister Angelino Alfano is leaving the party together with all of Berlusconi’s Ministers, some Secretaries of State and dozens of MPs.
After weeks of nervous negotiations, Mr Alfano took his final decision fearing that Mr Berlusconi was going to torpedo the Government immediately after his expulsion from the Senate.
It is not the first time that Mr Berlusconi is deserted by the moderate wing of his party, it famously happened with the expulsion of Mr Gianfranco Fini, the then President of the Chamber of Deputies. Mr Berlusconi, however, was at the zenith of his power: Mr Fini was isolated with just a handful of MPs, and in the long run he was not even reelected.
A nice find in Cannaregio; not the lowest cost meal in Venice, but it gets good ratings for a reason and is well worth the walk and the price point. The food is elegant, popular with the locals, and presented with a fantastic aesthetic. Come join us for dinner here!
As you can see, Doug’s clients are enjoying themselves, getting a great taste for the real Veneto cuisine, and no doubt looking forward to their next visit to Venice.
After a wonderful meal and an evening stroll, nothing beats this view!
Sassi Italy Tours 