oh yeah.. i have a blog

heh.. sorry about not writing for so long..

but hey.. im doin it now.

So allow me to give you a little background of the area we’re in before I tell you of our travels.. (scroll down if you just like pretty pictures of food)

As you know, we are in Bologna now, which is in the province or comune (koh-MOO-ney) of Bologna,which is in the region of Emilia Romagna in the northern part of Italy.

One thing that I recently learned, is that “Emilia” is actually one side (everything but the 3 southeastern-most provinces) and “Romagna” makes up the rest. Apparently the accent is different, the culture is different, and, of course, the terrain is different as Romagna is considered to be more coastal, therefore the food is different as well.

As of now, my favorite part is Emilia… not really sure why, could be because we live in Bologna, or because I like the farm-y-ness of Emilia compared to sea-y-ness of Romagna..

As most of you know, my plan is to one day be a restaurateur, and for sure I would like my (first) restaurant be Emiliana. The food here is wonderful. This is considered to be one of the most culinarily gifted parts of Italy, in fact, to the Italians, Bologna’s nickname is cittá grassa (fat city) because of how well one eats here.

From this region (specifically this part of this region) comes Prosciutto, Mortadella, Pancetta, Culatello, Cotechino, Zampone, Capocollo… and thats just stuff that comes from pork!! Then there’s the king of cheeses.. Parmagiano Reggiano (actually called that because it not just Parma that makes it, but the neighboring comune of Reggio Emilia).. then theres the balsamic vinegar of Modena, countless regional wines…hell, Garganelli pasta comes from Reggio Emilia (that ones for you, chef) and Bologna alone is home to tortellini, tagliatelle and the world famous Bolognese sauce. I mean c’mon!! Could I be in a better place!?!

Lately all we do on a daily basis is get up, go to school, come home, eat lunch, hang out until the heat goes away and the sun goes down, then go out to the city for a bit and come home. This give us a lot of free time and in that free time i have been doing some endless planning for my future restaurant(s). And then on the weekends we travel. So far we’ve been to Rimini, Brisighella, Parma, Albinea, Reggio Emilia but those are all in Emilia Romagna.. this past weekend we went with our south african friend, Leslie, to the region of Lombardia (just northwest of Emilia Romagna), to which Milan is its capital. Her family is from around there and still has an apartment that is available to her. During this trip we went to Villasanta (tiny town where the apt was), Monza (a little bit bigger city nearby), Como and its lake, and of course, Milano. On this map you cant see where the first two places are, but they’re between Milano and Como I believe.

We were a little strapped for cash, as the train rides were expensive enough, so we didnt get a chance to really experience Lombardiana food, but we did, however stop at a bar to get a piadina (which is like the Italian quesadilla.. their version of flat bread with stuff in it, heated up)… which is one of my favorite things about Emilia Romanga. but we were in Lombardia now, and its crazy how definition of food can change by just crossing a border..

Piadina Bolognese/Emiliana (there was another pic in my other post):

Piadina Milanese:

I wasnt sure how to eat this when the lady brought it out to me.. but trust me, i figured it out.

So instead of eating at restaurants we went to the market and bought food to make in the apartment. Apparently right now it is plum season, and holy crap.. how i have fallen in love with them. We saw about 6 different kinds of plums at the market, and got a few of each to try at home. My absolute FAVORITE were Regina Claudia plums… they’re sweet with like a kiwi-y/appley/plummy taste. and they’re green! so i took pictures

Unfortunately, I only thought to take pictures after we had eaten about half of them, so not all are here.

those on the left are ottobre plum

So the last part of our trip was going to Milano, where the main thing i wanted to do was to go see Peck (www.peck.it) which is this AMAZING grocery of traditional high-end italian products (super pricey, btw)…all the things a young chef dreams of…. oh and Chef P8n.. they had a collection of antique BERKEL SLICERS!!!… they were incredible.. but of course, just my luck… THEY DONT ALLOW PHOTOGRAPHY INSIDE… grr.. i was so mad. but i did the “brazilian way” and did some stealth photography, with the flash off and without looking at it. suffice to say, the pictures didnt turn out all that great, but at least they give you a slight idea of what it looks like inside…

the ground floor has all the meats, cheeses, sweets, produce, breads, pastas, and gelatos

Cheese counter at Peck

Window display of Prosciutto and Bread

Produce at Peck

View from staircase of dessert counter

One of the berkels

Not a goog pic, but heres another Berkel at Peck

n unutha one

Downstairs to the wine cellar

There were about 5 rooms like this all with not a single bottle under 100 euros

Then upstairs there was a cafe and a place to buy coffee and tea. It was awsome. Hope you liked the pics… Until next time….

Baci!!