Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, & Orecchiette #2

In Milan, after walking somewhat bleary-eyed through the city after landing at 9:00 in the morning and only meeking out a an hour of sleep, we decided a big feast was in order. (This happened to come directly after our 18:30 appt with The Last Supper. Chuckle.) The hotel recommended a neighborhood restaurant that was along the same tram line and within walking distance to Santa Maria delle Grazie. We finished being tourists at about 18:50 and walked through wide and dark streets that reminded me of the upper west-side of Manhattan until we found the restaurant.

Strangely, no one was in there and the lights were off. Ryan tried the door and it didn't open. I know it's Monday night, but... Hm, we walked around the block, and by 19:05 the lights were on and someone was tying their tie at the front desk. Nervously we approached. Part of me felt the big "T" revealing itself on my back, heading to dinner at a little after 7 p.m., "ahh, tourists...American tourists...grab the English menu with the day-old dishes from Sunday night, they'll happily slurp it!"

I tried the door. Pull, pull, it wouldn't move. The guy inside is looking at us a little strange. Push, it opens. Doh, our first intro to Italian street-front door mechanics. We motion for two and he kindly directs us to a cute table by the window in the quiet restaurant. He says some things in Italian, we nod and smile, he gives us the menu and he's off. I reach in my bag and pull out my petite, discreet English-Italian dictionary and start to translate. Next thing I know, a English menu is quietly sat on the table, without fanfare. I'm starting to love this restaurant.

More people came in, eventually, including about 50 children coming to a birthday party in the back; some arriving with parents, some just showing up alone (and probably took the tram alone too). We settled into our groove and not only ordered appetizers, but a primo, and secondo as well. Why not? The food was incredible!

Our favorite - was the Parma and Buffalo Mozzarella we ate for an appetizer. Not only was the Parma the most delicate, melt-in-our-mouth flavor and texture, but the Mozzarella left us speechless. No, it wasn't just sliced up Mozz...some was runny, some was in the middle, all of it was delicious.



Last night, we went in search of a replacement dish. We tried Whole Foods, but they had pulled all of their Parma di Proscuitto because they asked the Italian makers if they used nitrates and didn't receive a response...go figure...so no more Parma there and the Buffalo Mozzarella was $9 for one chunk. We couldn't think of any local Italian deli shops in the entire city...and were about to head to Central Market when Ryan remembered that Costco had some...?? Costco?? To our interesting delight, Costco had a bountiful 12 oz package of Parma for $16. (Remember, in the deli case it's $27 per pound.) While they also had some Buffalo Mozzerella, we had picked up regularly cow mozz at Whole Foods and wasn't sure we were ready for the big Costco package that cost $8 and included several balls.

The results were fantastic...we loved every bit of it...and can't wait to use the extra Parm for a wrapped pork roast or something yummy like that.

Oh, then we made Orecchiette for the second time in a week. F-a-b-u-l-o-u-s. Note the new Le Creuset dish...merry christmas to us! This, along with a new iron (to replace the one I accidentally dropped and dented) made up a functional but fun Christmas.



The pasta was a bit thick and and while Orecchiette technically means "lambs ears" in Italian, we like to think they are pasta contact lenses. Here, Ryan displays the proper application...might want to leave the salt out of your solution.



Tschüß!!

Photo Recap: Day 1-2, Austin to Milan (Europe 2008)

After a busy week getting back to work and cleaning things up before everyone else leaves for the holiday, I'm also diving into our pictures and so happy with the results! I'll be posting them periodically through the next few weeks.




Click here for more viewing options.

Tschüß!

Day 1 and 2: Flight and Milano

Ciao! We made it here safely and just had an awesome first day here in Milan. The flight was fine, although we only slept maybe 1 or 2 hours. But we did drink our fill of some good wine so that probably didn`t help too much. As we approached Milan to land, one of the flight attendants handed us a bottle of dessert wine, saying something about not wanting to count it on their liquor sheet and wanting us to have a warm welcome to our Europe adventure. How sweet! This is the second time they`ve done that to us on a flight to Europe!

After landing, we took a 40 minute train ride from the Malpensa airport to the Milano Nord station and walked about 20 minutes to our hotel. It`s perfect, in a great neighborhood area, and a solid 3 star budget traveler hotel. At some points it reminds me of the Upper West Side of NYC with all the families and old ladies walking dogs...but then you see the Milano side of things. People of all gender and ages racing motorcycles down tight streets with streetcars/trams clanging by and small economical cars pushing through. Then, old men riding bikes through a quiet park with huge statues of some king here and Napoleon there.

On the sightseeing list today was Castle Szorza, a beautiful 1300 military fortress which was amazing to behold. We loved seeing the feral cats running through the grassy now-dry moat.

Next, we walked down Via Dante, a pedestrian zone that was carved out of a medieval bunch of streets to celebrate Italian unification, and ended up in front of the impressive Duomo. It seriously is a sight to behold...130 spires and thousands of statues. Got to even creep into the crypt and see an old, dead cardinal encased in silver.

Afterwards, we hit the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, which is something out of the movies. It is a glass-domed arcade lined with shops, four stories tall, built around 1870. We stopped for a cappuchino (yeah yeah yeah I know it`s a breakfast drink around here but it was 11:30 so I think we were ok) and some biscuits before moving on.

Milan is the fashion capital of the world, so we did the obligatory sidewalk stroll of Via Montenapoleone. The Italians are so well-dressed here, beautiful fashion, neat hair, great style. The other awesome thing is we really feel like the only Americans and not everyone speaks English, which is keeping us on our toes and making us feel a bit ill prepared.

Later, we saw the actual The Last Supper fresco in a tiny church...you walk through a series of chambers that takes you to the right humidity since they took 21 years to restore 500 years of grime and touchups. It was an amazing, if not simple, sight. After that, we ate very Milanese food at Cecco. I had Risotto Milanese, a risotto with saffron, along with Tagliate, which is thin strips of beef lightly seared and sprinkled with rosemary. Ryan had Bolognese (oohhh yeahhh it was amazing) and then a Margerita Pizza, which was quite different from U.S. style...thin homemade crust as always but tomato sauce and sprinkled mozz cheese and only one leaf of basil.

Oh and we started that whole feast off with Parma Ham and fresh Mozzerella cheese - two kinds, one that was more formed and the other more runny. Both were deliciouso!

It`s almost 22:00 (10 p.m.) which is my breaking point for staying awake. I`m enjoying one more glass of red wine (it is sooo cheap here! my gosh) and then off to bed. Wakeup call at 7, train at 9, Venice by 12 to see Silvia. We checked with her today and she`s all setup to see us!

A truly amazing start to a fantastic adventure.

Unique moments of the day:

- Again not knowing if service is included in the bill and probably overpaying.
- Going to dinner at 7 and feeling like old early birds since we were the first people in the restaurant. They go for drinks until about 8 or 8:30 and then go to dinner. By the time we left at 9 the place was packed.
- Ordering the house wine in a carafe and experiencing the best tasting italian wine I have tasted.
- Speaking German to bums who are trying to sell things...they can speak italian and english, but German shuts them up.
- Speaking German when I think I am speaking Italian. Not a good idea.
- Trying to type on an Italian keyboard...even more confusing than a german keyboard but less umlauts

That is all - thanks for the well wishes and we are also happy to hear that Sandy and Rich are making out great with the kids back in Austin!

Ciao and Tschuess!!

Milan Hotels

Been looking at a couple hotels online:

Hotel Milan (http://www.hotel-london-milan.com/) It's pretty utilitarian, only about 100 euros, and I e-mailed them to find out the exact rate and availability.

Hotel Raffaello (link) is a bit further out, a good price, more of a business hotel, but right next to a tram station.

Hotel Spadari al Duomo (link) has a name that means it's right near the Duomo...really funky and fun...just pricey. Hrmph.

I guess I should probably get a guidebook? :) Seems like a lot of neat things to do. You can even pre-reserve a viewing of The Last Supper fresco! They have dates through the end of November...so I suppose I'll have to wait a little bit...

The planning continues...!

Tschüß!

Milan: Aperitivo

Great post on two of my favorite topics: saving money while drinking!

http://www.eurocheapo.com/blog/milan-aperitivo-bars-offer-delicious-dining-cheapo-style.html