#TasteandMatch

Last Friday I was browsing my Facebook event calendar and saw an  invitation for an interesting event that caught my eye: Taste & Match Milano, something about 8 wines and 8 foodbloggers that "invented" a matching dish for one of the wines. Interesting concept, interesting price (€30,- each), not too far away from home (a 40min drive into Milano) and above all... interesting people! Interesting people I already "knew" virtually via Twitter and/or Facebook, foodbloggers whose blogs I read regularly that I could finally meet & greet in real life (IRL so to say). And since I prefer meeting IRL and food & wine seem to be more then a hobby (Klout even thinks I am highly influential about these items, especially in combination with Italy) I decided (together with my lovely wife Maddy) to go and discover this for ourselves.

So despite me feeling destructed after travelling all week, Maddy who just recovered from a muscular inflammation and the snow falling down over Morazzone we hit the road and drove (carefully) to Milan(o). It turned out to be a great evening! Where do you get the chance to have an 8 course dinner with 8 matching excellent wines for € 30,-? Even better: the 8 'enogastronimic' addicts (aka foodbloggers) had given it weeks of thoughts to combine the wine they had been given with a meal . They were serving the dishes and wines themselves so you could ask for explanation, recipes and reasoning!

Here in a short overview the 8 foodbloggers, the 8 wines with the 8 matching recipes!

unfortunately all recipes are only available in Italian but with a little help from Google Translate and by asking the foodblogger you might be able to get there as well

THE ANTIPASTI

The first antipasto was made by Cristina, blogging as "Zucchero e Sale" (sugar and salt), she had us start with her "Fagottini di brisè con persico e patate alle erbe" a delicate combination of "bread" stuffed with perch, potato and herbs, together with the "Rosé brut Conti di Buscaret" (a sparkling rosé) a perfect start for this evening.

Next up was Tania from blog "Speck and the City" (I really love the original name of certain blogs). She prepared "Tartare di Gamberi su Patate e Carciofi con Crema al Basilico", Tartare of Shrimps on Potato and Artichoke with a Basil sauce. Delicious, in these 3,5 years that we now live in Italy I've become a huge fan of the artichoke and this combination was just wonderful! The only non-Italian wine, Kakhetian noble white 2008 from Georgia (not USA, but ex USSR), was maybe a bit too complicated for me though. Maybe I would have needed more time (and more wine then just that 2 sips I could take since I was driving), but Tania's dish was perfectly able to compete it!

THE PRIMI

On to the primi, first the pasta prepared by Pietro and Francesca of "Singerfood". This lovely couple had the honours to use one of my favourite white wines, the Roero Arneis! In this case Roero Arneis DOCG Marquis Incisa della Rocchetta. They prepared a wonderful looking dish "Calamaretti" that tasted even better then it already looked. What a delicious combination of calamari pasta filled with shrimp, salmon and buffalo mozzarella! Complimenti!



Next up was the cute Teresa (aka Tery), of "Peperoni e Patate", her "Vellutata di Ceci con Sautè di Vongole e Crostino di Pane alle Mandorle" (velouté of chickpeas with clams and a toast of almond bread) was an unexpected surprise. The simple chickpeas were transformed in a soft creamy silky 'soup' with perfectly spiced clams and the almond bread with a swift of garlic, DE-LI-CIOUS! And she combined this around a good glass of Pinot Nero "Marchese Leopoldo 2009 Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta".


THE SECONDI

Cristiano of "il Cucinotto" prepared the first main course we tasted:  "Flan di Cardi e Porro con Cannolo Nero di Crema al Sifone di Capra con Miele di Castagne su un Letto di Caviale di Melanzane" a mouthful of ingredients resulting in a fingerlickingly good dish combining very well with the Pinot Nero "Rollone 2009" of Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta, another pinot nero of the same house as Tery used for her Primo, but this one seemed to be a bit more mature. The dish itself ones more proved to me that even eggplant can be tasteful (I rarely eat it), here's the best English translation I could come up with: Flan of thistels and leek with a black horn filled with goat cheese and chestnut honey on a bed of eggplant caviar"...

On to Roberto (the one having invited us to this dinner) from "di Cotte e di Crude" who prepared "A Gualtiero, Club Sandwich di Pan Brioche con Polpetta d'Oca, Scalagno Confit, Radicchio e Crema di Zafferano". Seems the guys for the main courses had their internal contest on who could invent the longest name *kidding*. Problem for me is translate it: "to Walter, club sandwich of sweet bread with a goose meatball, caramelized shallot, radicchio and safran sauce", Apart from the fact the bread could have been a bit thinner it was again a delicious combination. Pitty was that by the time we reached this dish others had finished the Barbaresco San Stunet 2007 and they jus opened a fresh, from the car, cold bottle. Therefore I couldn't judge this wine properly... (pitty)

DESSERTS

Next and last stop, the desserts, the first one "Torta soffice allo sciroppo di limone e rosmarino", soft cake with lemon and rosemary syrup  prepared by Alice of "Food Couture". The rosemary gave that surprising kick to the perfectly soft cake (need to make that to impress my guests one day). She combined with a typical Moscato d'Asti 2010, Felice from Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta.

And last but certainly not least where there the "Brownies al cioccolato bianco e nocciola con salsa alla vaniglia" by Gaia of  "Shake and Bake". Brownies of white chocolate and hazelnuts with vanilla sauce (although her linked recipe is without the vanilla sauce). She created her delicious brownie to combine with the Niades 2011, Brachetto d'Acqui of our big (and tall) friend Gianluca Morino of Cascina Garitina. It was the first time I drank this Brachetto and I hate to admit: it was good, not so sweet as other brachetti, which is good!



Thank you Fernando for a great evening, it's a great concept! If you get the chance then go and visit Taste & Match, next occasion is in Venice on 25 February!

below a video of the evening (pay attention around 0:50 where Maddy and I have our big moment as the Twitter Brigade)

Taste&Match (Milano 28/1/2012) by FernandoWine from FernandoWine on Vimeo.

why #UglyUGGs are bad for economy

It's a known fact to my Twitter-followers I am not fond hate UGGs and that I keep on calling them #UglyUGGs (the #, called hashtag, is something typical Twitter-like to make searching for some topics easier). I think #UglyUGGs are the worst things in fashion over the last years. Well... together with skinny models. They look horrible (both the models and #UglyUGGs), they are bad for your feet (so are high heels, but at least these look good on a woman) and if they get wet they will not keep you warm at all, no worse they'll cause influenza because of wet cold feet!

So WTF is the advantage, why are women wearing these horrible things? Because they are so comfortable and  warm is the most heard answer. Warm? But once they get wet? Which could happen in winter (especially in the Netherlands). Then you end up having soaking wet and cold feet all day! Comfortable? Ow so you girls walk on heels and other fancy shoes because they are comfortable? I don't think so, most women just buy shoes because they look nice, or make them look nice. Which is absolutely okay! I like to look at women (what an eye-opener this must be for some people), I like to see women with nice shoes or boots. Especially with heels, it makes their legs look even better. But hey, if you want to feel comfortable, no problem at all! But why does comfortable needs to be horrible and ugly? There are many many comfortable, warm and still great looking (and CHEAPER) alternatives!

The point I wanted to make is: #UglyUGGs are bad for economy! Today in a short twitter discussion between me and two (until last week completely unknown to me) women concluded that #UglyUGGs are probably the best contraception there is! And likely to be allowed by the Church as well: they cause absolute sexual abstention! And that is what makes them bad for economy! In today's crisis we need people to spend and we need as much people as possible working to pay our future pensions, so children are a must!

So if you want to get your economy going: STOP buying #UglyUGGs!

We don't need no #TVOH !

It happened last year and although I should've known better this year I fell again for the "purity" and joy of the blind auditions of a new Talent Show on Dutch TV: "The Voice of Holland", on Twitter known as #TVOH. For those who haven't seen it in their country yet an explanation of this concept:

this talent show starts with so called "blind auditions" where the jury members can't see the candidates in the beginning. They're turned with their backs towards the podium. Based on only the vocal performance they have to decide whether they want the candidate to go through to the next round, if they think he/she is good they hit a button and this juror's chair turns around and so he/she can see who is making that great sound.

It's especially nice when the candidate is a bit weird, particular, like the fully tattooed Ben Saunders. He was one of last years' contestants (and winner). Watch the video of his audition below here. Ben turned out to be a sheep -no a lamb- in wolves' clothing.

To make it even more interesting for the viewer the jury members who turned their seats (and thus want the candidate to go through) have to convince the candidate to choose him/her over another juror to join his/her team. So roles turn, it's not the candidate anymore that needs to convince the jury, it's the jury pulling on the candidates' limbs.

But back to what I wanted to point out. Right after so called blind auditions the Voice of X (fill in your country) turns back into being any other talent show with SMS votings and so the best looking boys are way ahead of the other candidates. (It's a known fact that teenage girls are the most active voters. Although Ben's charisma even managed to beat that.) But what made this show even worse is the infinite trust and positive comments by the jury. Even after a lousy performance. Where X-Factor was so interesting because the jury was sometimes very hard and direct this show looses it because it's soft, way too soft and it lacks criticism. So last week it was enough... I couldn't handle it anymore! This was too sweet and t0o incredible!

And then yesterday evening I saw the best "talent show" of this year. Seven teenage girls, tonight they'll  probably be voting for one of the cute boys in #TVOH's semi-final, were selected out a group of over 400 girls by one of Holland's best DJ's trying to become the Dutch Birdy. It was a very compact election, the 400+ girls send in a video via YouTube, the DJ (Giel Beelen) selected the best seven and they performed in the studio yesterday morning. Live on national radio and then Giel announced the winner. Apart from the fact that the best one won (Anna Verhoeven) I was very impressed by the performance all seven gave that very same evening in my favourite TV-show "De Wereld Draait Door" #DWDD singing Birdy's hit "Skinny Love". And that led to my conclusion that we do not need shows like TVOH. We just need YouTube, Social Media to push them and talent watchers like Giel!

Here below the clip of the performance by the Dutch Birdies, judge for yourself and let me know what you think by leaving a comment! (and here a link to the entire item/interview with all seven Birdies - in Dutch)

Pizzoccheri della Valtellina

Via Twitter, Facebook and Google+ I received some requests for the recipe of Pizzoccheri. I have taken the recipe of the box of the pizzoccheri I usually buy in our local supermarket.

Ingredients (for 6p):
500g pizzoccheri
300g potatoes (in 2x2cm cubes)
150-250g butter (I think 150g is more then enough)
300g Savoy cabbage, chard leaves (the white stamps) or spinach (I prefer Savoy cabbage) sliced
500g half fat cheese from Valtellina (Casera, Bito) - these can be hard to find outside Italy, maybe Fontina, Toma or (worst case) Brie can be used as an alternative (sliced)
150g grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves of garlic
some leaves of sage

Preparation (15-20mins):
Cook the potatoes and vegetables in boiling water, add the pizzoccheri after a couple of minutes and boil it for another 12-15mins until the pasta is nicely cooked "al dente".
When the pasta (and potatoes and veggies) are cooked drain the water and mix the slices of cheese and grated Parmesan under the pasta and veggies.
Meanwhile melt the butter on low fire with the garlic and sage (don't fry the garlic) and serve it over the pasta.

Buon Appetito!

La spada Varesina ed il furto 2.0

 --- I will try to translate this blog one of these days ---



C'era una volta una spada. Una spada, chiamiamolo Excalibur, molta preziosa per i cavalieri della Round Table 64 Varese perché è una dei due simboli presente ai giorni della fondazione di questa bellissima Table. Al Decennale della Round Table 64 Varese il 22 maggio 2010 Excalibur fu dato in prestito ai Tabler di Mantova per farli spadellare i loro nuovi soci all'AGM di 2010. A Mantova la spada sparisse e per qualche mesi i Tabler di Varese sono rimasti disperati; dov'era finita la spada?

Cosi "the Quest" (la ricerca) per ricuperare questa spada iniziasse! Dopo ore e ore di telefonate, sacchi di mail, interventi dai comitati di zona e quello nazionale e forze ancora più maggiore venisse fuori che la spada era finito nei mani di due ladrocini Bresciani. Grazie alla buona ricerca del nostro carissimo ex-President Paolo 007 Duco ed i suoi contatti ladrici abbiamo saputo che la spada potrebbe essere presente alla apertura dell'anno dei Tabler Bresciani nel loro covo. Fu cosi che il giorno giovedì 22 settembre 2011 io, Dagmar Sporck - presidente della Round Table 64 Varese, sono andato a Brescia e mi nascosi nella tana dei leoni, aspettando il branco dei Bresciani. Già in quel momento ebbi la possibilità di fare un contro-furto, la loro bandiera fu esposto senza protezione e senza guardie, ma ovviamente avrei già spifferato i miei intenzioni.

Uno dopo uno arrivarono i ladri, furono in tanti, in più c'erano anche i complici Belgi della Round Table 37 Gembloux ed degli anziani (ex-Tabler). Ed io, tutto da solo! Per fortuna avevo portato bottiglie di una sostanza stupefacente, Poggio Cavalieri  - Chianti  Classico, che li volevo lasciar bere per immobilizzarli. Non bastavano però le poche bottiglie per questo gruppone e così decisi di aspettare un momento migliore per il mio piano. Sgattaiolai dal mio nascondiglio e mi presentai ai ladri.

Non so ancora se pensavano che fosse un complice ma mi ricevettero come un carissimo amico e mi offrirono da bere e da mangiare. Cibo tipico di zona, un piatto più buono che l'altro, della Mortadella Tartufata, Bresaola, Prosciutto, Polenta con il Lardo di Colonnata, pasta d'uova, Coniglio alla Bresciana, dolci, frutta,... 


Dopo questa buonissima cenona però loro si misero a premeditare loro nuovi piani diabolici, si parlava di spiedare uccelli, scorrerie a Verona, Monte Carlo, ecc. Parlarono anche di un nuovo sito (per quale ancora da re-registrare il vecchio dominio RT37BS.it) per presentare la banda per sedurre i giovani Bresciani di associarsi alla banda RT37. Tutto questo però non potevo far succedere e decisi di intervenire, ma come... Poco dopo, fu già dopo mezzanotte, nel momento che qualcuno si era già addormentato e quelli rimasti scrutarono su un schermo a questo nuovo sito mi sono preso la spada e sono schizzato via, protetto dal buio della notte Bresciana. Mi sono messo su i miei 170 cavali e via da quel posto!

Quando mi sentii sicuro mi sono connesso in rete e ho registrato IO il dominio RT37BS.it - il furto 2.0! 

io con i due ladri Bresciani che hanno rubato la spada a Mantova
sembra che rido, ma nn vedete il coltello dietro le mie spalle

io con il capitano Bresciano che mi ha lasciato toccare la spada
alla mia destra però c'era uno con una pistola

Tonight: my worst culinary experience in Italy

My friends/followers know we like to go out for dinner/lumch and enjoy a good meal with a good glass of wine. And it doesn't need to be fancy, we appreciate honest food prepared with joy and love whether it costs 10euros or 100euros.

After this afternoon's pastalunch I fancied a good piece of fish so we went to Rosetto's boulevard where we expected to find some restaurant. Well we found some lido's and this particular place (no names, one could check my Foursquare postings if you really want to know) seemed pretty popular and had an inviting look.

The girls insisted on having pizza (it was a ristorante pizzeria) and Maddy and I choose some simple antipasti (affettato and bruschette) and a "sogliola (sole) mugnaia" for her and "spiedini di pesce griliati" for me. After OVER ONE HOUR waiting we finally got a plate of sliced ham and salami and 5 bruschette with that same ham and tomato slices. It would have taken me less then 5 minutes to prepare, so why did we had to wait over an hour for this?! The ham and salami were badly cut (too thick), the bruschette were not prepared (with oil and garlic) but just roasted and had a (too) thick slice of ham and tomato on them, impossible to eat with you hands as you should. But okay, maybe this is normal in Abruzzo, everything a bit more "rustico". 

In the meantime the girls received their pizzas, which were maybe okay to Dutch/German standards but any Italian pizzeria should be ashamed of itself serving these pizze.

And still I was hoping the fish would save the evening. That hope vaporised once the main courses arrived (30secs after we finished the ham) the sole was not even close to the one I had 3 evenings before.It was tough (maybe kept warm for over an hour) and I wondered if it was a reanimated frozen one. My fish skewers were prepared without any fantasy, just pieces of squid (tough, lousy quality) and shrimps (even mealy), no other fish, nor vegetables.

This was by far our worst culinary experience in Italy ever!

RT64 Beach Volley 30.6.2011

RT64 Beach Volley 30.6.2011, a set on Flickr.