Category Archives: Veneto

Italian Food, Private Italy Tours, Veneto

Tiramisu!

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The video for the tiramisu class is up, and it’s a fun watch.  Mama Isa is preserving the old ways of doing things (Italy really is the original slow-food movement) and artisanal approaches to food preparation.  You can’t tell from watching, but rest assured that soggy four day old processed mess of a tiramisu you’re getting at the Macaroni Grill is *nothing* like the light, airy, to die for tiramisu Isa and my wife made in Padova.  I tried not to give away all of her trade secrets here, but you will see her talking about the simple ingredients list that comprises this elegant dessert.

Can’t wait for the SO to make some more. 🙂

Italian Food, Italian Wine, Private Italy Tours, Veneto

A Preview From Mama Isa’s Cooking Class

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After she finished the tiramisu preparation class, Isa showed my wife how to do a simple pomodoro sauce with garlic, capers, and a special type of cherry tomato called “daterini”.  You can’t get them in the US, but a good cherry tomato from your farmers market or organic grocer will taste almost as good as what we ate that day in Padova.

I shot about 20mins of video that I’ll edit and share for the foodies out there, but I wanted to get a sneak peak out before dinner time to make you dear readers good and hungry.  We tossed this sauce over some homemade tonnarelli (think square spaghetti) that the wife rolled out and cut right there in Isa’s Padova kitchen.  What a blast!  After all this time sending clients there, the wife was glad she finally got her turn to enjoy Isa’s teachings; Isa’s committed to the original “slow-food” culture, meaning locally sourced, home-prepared ingredients and dishes that eschew processed foods.  She’s keeping the old ways of preparing Italian cuisine alive in this day and age of rampant processed food addiction, and needless to say we support that wholeheartedly.

More on tiramisu and tonnarelli soon!  But for now…yes, this was some darn tasty stuff, so feel free to be jealous. 🙂

Private Italy Tours, Veneto, Venice

New Post Up At KFTW

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Nothing earth-shattering for regular readers, but Kiss From The World is a great little site and I want to support their efforts to show people the importance of cultural exchange.   I did put up the obligatory smoochie picture of me and the wife up on top of the belltower at San Giorgio Maggiore as well.  What can I say, Venice just makes you feel amorous!  And that’s a good thing.

Update:  they removed it, saying it was too generic.  I must concede I find that rather disappointing–I was sharing a unique insight about Venice that, when you think about it seems obvious,  but really, really isn’t.  You’d think that’d be the kind of insight they want to have.

Update again:  it’s back, was a misunderstanding.

Italian Food, Private Italy Tours, Veneto, Venice

Cooking Classes, Hotels, and Wonder

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We’ve been sending folks to Mama Isa for a while now, so that my wife got to take one of her tonnarelli and tiramisu classes for herself instead of hearing about other people enjoying it was just wonderful; I figure I should edit the video and stills from that and do a write up on that first.  Several other things that’ll take more time that I want to put together will trickle out in the next week or two, depending on how long this latest bout of jet lag takes to dissipate and let me quit procrastinating.  As much time as I spend in airports, one thing I’ve noticed is conditioning doesn’t matter as you age:  past 35…sitting in a big metal very arid tube for hours and having your biorhythms disrupted just takes a while to get over.  Even a short hop business trip for a few days will leave you drained and dreading airports.

 

Vaporetto 1

 

But to tide you fair readers over, I’ll post some pics here and there to share in the wonder that is the Veneto.  And yes, I still cry a little when the train pulls out of the station and Venezia recedes in the distance.   This one:  from the vaporetto *1 at night.  Sigh…such beauty.  Everyone should see this place at least once.  I remain committed to the notion that if they did, we’d end all war.

Italian Food, Private Italy Tours, Veneto

Tiramisu and Tonnarelli

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Today’s cooking class with Mama Isa in Padova was everything the wife hoped it would be. The results speak for themselves!

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Tonnarelli are a fresh pasta made via an instrument known as a chitarra (guitar), pressing the dough through a series of strings to make a square spaghetti-like noodle.

Italian Food, Italian Wine, Private Italy Tours, Veneto, Venice

Gourmet Cicchetti In Venice

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After a long flight and incurring some rather confused circadian rhythms, it was time for some vino bianco and some smoked swordfish wrapped around robiola, artichoke hearts, Italian tuna in red peppers, bacala, and local sardines and anchovies marinated in lemon and olive oil. Perhaps the best food I’ve ever had, and not just because we we’re travel weary.

This is one of our secret spots, well out of the way, but so worth finding! Come join us.

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Private Italy Tours, Veneto, Venice

Venice Weather…YES!

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Not to boast or anything, but we’re going to be doing some filming  and promotional work next week in Venice, and the weather forecast is as follows:

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How perfect is that?  We’ll get some clouds for capturing La Serenissima’s mystery, some fairly warm and sunny days for being outside, it won’t be too cold, the summer heat is months away.  Once in a while my timing is good!

Stay tuned, as we should have some good stuff to share.

This is why we stress to prospective travelers the importance of not discounting off-season travel.  Carnivale will be over, summer crowds will also be months away, the airfares are better, the hotels are more cost-effective, and we’ll have any easy time getting in to see attractions…all with spring like weather that’s just about perfect.   Really any time between October’s latter days and the end of April is the sweet spot for Venezia.

Italian Food, Veneto

Well, That’s Awful–La Beccherie Closing

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A rather iconic Treviso restaurant is apparently shutting down, blaming the recent change in the way Italians eat out and the flagging Italian economy.  It’s true, over the past decade or so more American style eat on the go fast-food joints have started dotting the landscape and changing the way Italians (and let’s face it, the Italians ARE the original slow-food movement, making this a particularly unfortunate bit of globalization fallout) take their meals.  As a result, traditional restauranteurs are feeling quite the squeeze.
isa tiramisu(Mama Isa’s take on tiramisu shown here…yes!)

Suffice it to say, on a Sassi Italy Tour you won’t be eating a lot of fast food.  Fear not!

I’m always a bit skeptical of “this dish was invented here” stories, as I suspect pastries and desserts and entrees evolve more than get “invented,” but to see this place go is disappointing.  Treviso is beautiful, by the way.

treviso

Italian Food, Veneto

Seafood Cooking Class In The Veneto

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Isa’s offering a new class, one for the seafood lovers out there (even if you’re not, don’t discount seafood until you’ve had it prepared the way they do in the Veneto).  It really is different when prepared the way they do there, and the freshness factor is hard to beat–and that’s coming from a native Marylander to boot.

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Private Italy Tours, Veneto

No Matter The City, No Matter The Region…

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…you can find a good reason to go!  A good summation of reasons to visit nearly every part of Italy found here, and is a good reason for a daydream/work break/escapist viewing.  Enjoy!

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