The Italian Voice

I am still alive, my friends!! Do you wonder what I am doing?

shot by aemkei

Yep, I have been busy for some days because my boyfriend came home and will stay here until Saturday, when we will pack our things and we will start the first part of the relocation to low Piedmont; we are plenty of commitments, such as meeting friends to say goodbye before moving, buying products for the new flat and obviously packing the major part of our stuffs.

On Friday evening we will get the delivery van and will load everything on it, then on Saturday we will wake up at 5 am, we will meet my parents and uncle to reach Novi Ligure, which is our future city, to unload our stuffs and to assemble the kitchen, which is already arrived at the flat.

How exciting!! On Saturday I will surely take some photos to show you the works, the flat and the kitchen.
So stay tuned and have a nice rest of the week, I will be back soon.

Another little news item before cooking lunch today: I joined the contest called Blogger’s Choice Awards and my blog has been nominated for the Best Photography Blog and other sections; if you want to vote for me, you can click on the homonym banner of the section called “Get Updates” here in the right column or simply click here, I would be very happy to receive your recommendation.

Ciao my friends and thanks for following my steps to my new life, it is great to share all my feelings with you!!

Today I am again dealing with problems at the internet connection, I hope they will be solved soon as I am really tired of this situation (fortunately my boyfriend and I will move soon and will get the internet connection with another company) and I do not know if I will be online later.

That is the reason why I am posting today a very nice food meme which I found at the Frutto della Passione (Joanne’s blog), it is perfect for a quick and funny entry like this one and please forgive me if I am in a hurry, but I am also busy calling the Ikea operators to tell that part of the furniture which they delivered this morning at our new flat is damaged (obviously we are always lucky) and to ask for their replacement as soon as possible.

This Food Meme works at the same way of the past Photo Game about Desi (me).
In reality, I had to choose if preparing a mosaic adding the selected photos from Flickr to the Mosaic Maker or if answering directly to 12 questions, but I was not able to decide and especially…why to opt for one solution if both of them can be complemetary? Hihihi, I know, I know, I am un-correctable!

So enjoy, I do not want to tag anyone because I think bloggers should be free to play if they really want it, but remember to let me know your result if you decide to do it too as I am too curious to see your answers!

My personal Food Meme

Questions

01. Favourite food scene in a movie? German film “Mostly Martha” (or “Ricette d’amore” with Martina Gedeck and Sergio Castellitto), all the movie, but especially the blinded dinner (trailer HERE);
02. Favourite breakfast food? Cappuccino and croissant;
03. Favourite ethnic cuisine? Italian regional cuisine;
04. Guilty pleasure? Dates and mascarpone;
05. Favourite ice cream flavour? Hazelnut flavour;
06. Favourite cookbook? Cucchiaio d’argento;
07. Favourite snack? Yogurt;
08. Favourite kitchen gadget? Whisk;
09. Chocolate: dark, milk or white? Three kinds of chocolate;
10. If you were a dish, what would you be? Tiramisu;
11. What did you have for lunch today? Riso cantonese;
12. Favourite beverage? Cedrata and lemon.

Credits to the great photographers

01. Mostly Martha, 02. Croissant & Cappuccino, 03. regional-italian-cuisine-co, 04. Mascarpone Stuffed Dates, 05. Hazelnuts and coffee, 06. De Zilveren Lepel, 07. Rhubarb and Raspberry Yogurt Ice Pops, 08. Red Hot Whisk_8443–final-800-550, 09. Three Kinds of Chocolate, 10. do you ♥ a matcha tiramisu? ^-^/, 11. riso cantonese, 12. Bollicine

Have a nice weekend with your family and friends and see you in the next days, ciao ciao!!

When I used to live in Imola (province of Bologna, Italy) more than two years ago with my boyfriend, we discovered a wonderful Restaurant Pizzeria which quickly turned out to be our favourite one, it is called “La Toscanella“.

A couple of evenings ago, I went to have a fantastic dinner with my mother, as my boyfriend and my foster father were not at home, so we decided that we finally deserved a night out there together.

Entrance of La Toscanella Restaurant Pizzeria

La Toscanella is situated just along the main street called Via Emilia between Imola and Castel San Pietro Terme, in the town of Toscanella di Dozza, from which it takes its name. It is almost impossible to miss it, driving from Imola to Bologna.

The atmosphere is relaxing and quite elegant. Now that it is summer they suggest to eat under the nice big veranda just at the entrance, you can enjoy the gentle breeze of the evening and choose between the tables for smokers and for non-smokers.

The main specialty of La Toscanella is the giant pizza in several flavours, but they also offer a huge variety of great dishes with meat and fish.

My mother and I wanted to try a dessert which one of my mother’s colleague heartily suggested, so we decided to avoid to order a pizza and to eat only a first course per head, in order to feel not too full.

Risotto di mare

We both ordered this wonderful first course of risotto di mare, of course with seafood and parsley. You can see that it was really full of every sort of fishes: clams, mussels, shrimps, squids and squilla mantis.
It was really hard to finish the dish, but it was absolutely tasty.

Cestino dessert

Then we immediately ordered this awesome cestino dessert, which means “little basket”, with the choice of mascarpone or chantilly cream or soft fruit, with the add of Nutella, whipped cream and hot chocolate in a basket of wafer covered by icing sugar.
My comment can only be: heavenly!!

At last, we realized that the prices are quite cheap at La Toscanella; in fact, for two very bid dishes of risotto, two big cestino desserts and one litre of water, we spent only euro 32…and not per hea, but as total amount!!

So, if after this little recap of our dinner and this review of the suggested Restaurant Pizzeria, you are starting to have your mouth watering, you undoubtedly have to visit my area and book your place at La Toscanella for a fantastic dinner like ours, you will be totally satisfied by your choice!!

Details to find the place:

RISTORANTE PIZZERIA LA TOSCANELLA
Via Fernando Santi n°25
40050 Toscanella di Dozza (BO)
Italia

Phone n°+39 0542 672601
Interactive Map HERE (powered by Pagine Gialle)

Hi friends, it is early morning in Italy, I hope you spent a nice weekend.

Today I want to offer you a virtual coffee, just sit down for some minutes and relax, I’m going to start a new section about Random News from Italian newspapers, especially the most famous one which is called Corriere della Sera.

This entry will be dedicated obviously to the newspaper about June 23rd, 2008.
The following ones are the news which drew my attention.

Yesterday evening Italy lost the match against Spain at the European Championship of Football 2008; as it usually happens for the Italian team, the result was confirmed by the penalty kicks (2-4), the Azzurri are out and Spain will face Russia at the semi-final match on June 26th.

In Rome a young couple has been found with wounds at the wrists and at the throat, the girl passed away and the boy is still alive; it appeared a suicide because they left a message for the parents, but now the young man is under investigation because accused of homicide.

The gargabe dump of Chiaiano, near Naples, will reopen after riot with the citizens, they demonstrated along the streets and in front of the locus to stop the works because of their concerns about the toxic and polluting substances which are uloaded by the trucks everyday.

Pope Benedict XVI replied firmly to the premier Berlusconi, who yesterday asked to change the Church’s rules according to which the divorced ones are not allowed to receive the Holy Communion, that the salvation can be found by that category of people also in the strong desire of communion with the others.

Now I am off, I really need to do shopping at the weekly market near here.
I hope you enjoyed my brief press review, have a nice beginning of week and see you later, ciao!!

We are living in years of big pollution and huge changements in the climate everywhere in the world.
Everybody seem to be concerned, but nobody kwow what to do exactly.

My opinion is that we have to start from our own little world, we need to do something just in our own routine.
An Abkhazian popular proverb, which is widespread worldwide in similar forms, tells that “even a sea consists of small drops“.
I totally agree, do not you?

So today I want to present you a great event which will occun on Saturday June 28th, 2008 in the Abruzzo region: the first edition of the Notte Verde!

Map of Abruzzo

That special evening will offer more than 300 events in 20 locations along the 170 kilometers of the abruzzese seacost which will be totally dedicated to the ecology and the entertainment.

The shops will be open until late night, the restaurants will present themed menus and appetizers with traditional local and biological specialties, paying attention to the use of materials of sustainable consumption.
The organization will plan activities to teach the citizens to live in a more eco-friendly way, in whole respect of our Earth, also thanks to the involvement of artists and big names of the Italian performing arts.

All the info are available at the website at the url http://www.lanotteverde.it but, as the website unfortunately is in Italian, I decided to translate just for you the calendar of the events of this fantastic green night in the different locations of the region, enjoy!

Saturday June 28th, 2008

MARTINSICURO – EUROPA SEAFRONT:
09-10 pm: “Blue Sound” Music Band;
10-10:45 pm: Fashion show;
11-11:45 pm: Cabaret show with Tony Russi;
11:45 pm-00:15 am: Dance lessons;
00:15-01 am: “Blue Sound” Music Band;
01-02:30 am: Latin animation group with Baby Caribe Dance Dj;

On the seafront: Spinning lessons with Dj;
Special Guest: Tessa Gelisio, tv presenter of “Pianeta Mare” show on ReteQuattro and President of the “For Planet” Association for the Environmental Conservation;
During the Notte Verde: Free distribution of high quality milk by the AgriService farmings, to bring on the table of citizens and tourists this raw freshly drawn food; in addition, samples of traditional local specialties offered by AgriService for Drainage and Environmental Activity.

TORTORETO LIDO – VIA CARDUCCI ROTUNDA:
Special Guest: Tessa Gelisio, tv presenter of “Pianeta Mare” on ReteQuattro and President of the “For Planet” Association for the Environmental Conservation.

ROSETO DEGLI ABRUZZI – CELOMMI SEAFRONT, FOUNTAINS AREA:
9:30 pm: “The Blues Brothers” Cover Band;
Playing area for children with animation and clowns;
Special Guests: Marta Rossi with Francesco Capodacqua from the “Amici” show by Maria De Filippi and Nadia Castaldi from the Italian “Big Brother 8″;
During the Notte Verde: Free distribution of high quality milk by the AgriService farmings, to bring on the table of citizens and tourists this raw freshly drawn food; in addition, samples of traditional local specialties offered by AgriService for Drainage and Environmental Activity.

PINETO:
Special Guests: Marta Rossi with Francesco Capodacqua from the “Amici” show by Maria De Filippi and Nadia Castaldi from the Italian “Big Brother 8″.

SILVI MARINA – PIAZZALE DEI PINI SEAFRONT:
9:30 pm: Speech about the environment by Doctor Marrone;
9:45 pm: Live music with “Over the Hill” Band;
11 pm: Cabaret show with “La Gastrite” Duet;
11:30 pm: Fashion show by “SR” Atelier by Simone Racioppo;
Special Guests: Marta Rossi with Francesco Capodacqua from the “Amici” show by Maria De Filippi and Nadia Castaldi from the Italian “Big Brother 8″.

MONTESILVANO - TEATRO DEL MARE:
Finale of the “New Model of the Year - Eco Miss La Notte Verde 2008″ National Contest;
Special Guests: Raffaella Fico from the Italian “Big Brother 8″ and Antonino Lombardo with Marina Marchione from the “Amici” show 2008 by Maria De Filippi;
Finale of the evening with many other special guests;
During the Notte Verde: Free distribution of high quality milk by the AgriService farmings, to bring on the table of citizens and tourists this raw freshly drawn food; in addition, samples of traditional local specialties offered by AgriService for Drainage and Environmental Activity.

FRANCAVILLA AL MARE – PIAZZA SIRENA:
Selection for the “Miss Grand Prix” National Contest;
Disco with Elio Dj, 70s/80s/90s Dance music;
Magic show;
Special Guests: Raffaella Fico from the Italian “Big Brother 8″ and Antonino Lombardo with Marina Marchione from the “Amici” show 2008 by Maria De Filippi.

ORTONA – PIAZZA DELLA REPUBBLICA:
9:30 pm: Live music with “Bertone/1” Band;
10:30 pm: Fabrizio Buccella Conjurer
11:30 pm: Live music with “Liberi di volare” Band (”Nomadi” Cover Band);
00:30 am: Live music with “The Flatheads” Band (”The Fratellis” Cover Band);
Special Guests: Raffaella Fico from the Italian “Big Brother 8″ and Antonino Lombardo with Marina Marchione from the “Amici” show 2008 by Maria De Filippi.

MARINA DI SAN VITO – DI GUALDO SEAFRONT:
Special Guests: Andrea Spadoni and Francesca De Meo from the Italian “Big Brother 7″.

FOSSACESIA – BAYA VERDE SOUTHERN SEAFRONT:
Festival of Strabocchi di Musica (www.strabocchidimusica.com);
Concert by Caparezza;
Live music with “Anema Me” Band in Abruzzese dialect;
Live music with “Après La Classe” Band (Raggae, Pop, Dance, Ska);
Until the sunrise: Orobi Dj Set.

TORINO DI SANGRO:
Special Guests: Andrea Spadoni and Francesca De Meo from the Italian “Big Brother 7″.

CASALBORDINO – SEAFRONT:
Dancing evening;
Special Guests: Andrea Spadoni and Francesca De Meo from the Italian “Big Brother 7″.

VASTO MARINA – SEAFRONT:
Special Guests: Andrea Spadoni and Francesca De Meo from the Italian “Big Brother 7″.

The Notte Verde is organized in Abruzzo because is the “Green Region of Europe“, the events are conceived and produced by Claudio Marastoni Comunication and are under the patronage of: Regione Abruzzo, Province of Pescara, Province of Teramo, Province of Chieti, Municipalities of Martinsicuro, Alba Adriatica, Tortoreto, Giulianova, Roseto degli Abruzzi, Pineto, Silvi, Montesilvano, Pescara, Francavilla al Mare, Ortona, San Vito Chetino, Fossacesia, Torino di Sangro, Casalbordino, Vasto, San Salvo, Confindustria Abruzzo, Confindustria Pescara, Confindustria Teramo, Confindustria Chieti, Confcommercio Abruzzo, Federalberghi Abruzzo and Faita.

If you are in Abruzzo or close to that region in that day, I heartily suggest to attend the Notte Verde and, if you want to arrange a trip to Italy, this will be the perfect occasion to come.
I will probably attend it too, for my personal interest and for writing an article for the Italian webmagazine with which I cooperate, so let me know your plans and we will be even able to meet there, how exciting, I am waiting for your emails!!

In the meanwhile, have a nice weekend and see you soon, ciao my friends!

Here I am again after a long weekend without internet at home, I took the chance to care about several important things for the upcoming relocation and especially…we ordered the kitchen, how exciting, I will show it soon!!

Today I already had a very busy morning, paying bills, doing the grocery shopping, looking for other stuffs for the other rooms of the new flat.
In the meanwhile, the weather didn’t know what to choose between being sunny or cloudy, with the result that this morning I was out with a big annoying dampness, which is quite typical in the area of Bologna in this period of the year.

The result was that I came home with a light headache and a strong desire to relax on the sofa or maybe to take a nap for a couple of hours.
I just laid on the bed at about 3 pm (Italian time), when my all-rounder neighbour decided to turn on the mower and to start to mow the grass behind our block of flat, which is just under my bedroom’s window. He didn’t stop it yet after 1 hour, grrrr!!

Ok, I am learning the lesson, evidently this is not the right day for a nap, but I am in lack of physical force, I really need something, but what? Hmm….
Easy! Nothing better than a good caffè italiano to keep my mind active during this afternoon!

Tourists who visit Italy always remember, together with pasta, pizza and desserts, the fantastic wholesome taste of the caffè.

I always wondered why everybody think that we are so good at making coffee, as the ingredient is not native of Italy, but you know what?
In the last years, since the moment when I left my parents to live with my boyfriend, I discovered the secrets which makes the difference and I am here to reveal everything I know.

photo by KevThaBass

So take your book of recipes or your notebook and write down my suggestions.

Before any other step, you have to follow some important expedients:

1. buy a moka (if it is new, be sure to wash it and to try it at least twice without coffee and simply with water);

2. buy a good quality coffee, which has been freshly roasted and freshly ground (it is good also the packed one, but you have to open it and use it in a few months); for this aim, I can suggest to look for it at your local markets and supermarkets and, if you are not able to find the Italian quality of coffee, you can order it at Amazon, the best and most famous brand names here are surely: Lavazza, Illy, Nespresso (wonderful George Clooney during its commercial at the Italian tv), Nescafè, Hag, Pellini, Segafredo, Kimbo, Palombini and so on (I guess you will find only the first ones);

3. use only fresh cold and clean water.

Now you are ready to prepare your caffè:

1. open your moka in 3 parts (container, filter and boiler) and fill the base of the pot with cold water up to the safety valve which is inside the boiler, this is the correct quantity to have a good taste of coffee, to avoid it to be too watery or too strong;

2. insert the filter, use a teaspoon to fill in completely the filter with the coffee powder, but avoid to compact it, because the water has to pass easily withuot leaving a burnt taste;

3. screw the two parts of the moka and tighten them strongly to get a perfect seal;

4. put the moka on the stove with a very low flame and wait until the coffee come out from the upper portion of the pot; for a better taste, remember to keep the cap lifted, so that the heat avoid to create a condensation which would alter its aroma (for this purpose, it is suggested to use a couple of metallic little caps to put onto the hole from where the coffee exits, to ward off the splashes);

5. when the moka is almost completely filled up, turn off the stove, ease the coffee pot onto another cold stove and mix the liquid for one minute with a teaspoon, then pour it immediately into the tazzine, which are the little cups for coffee, and taste it with you preference (with sugar, milk, whipped cream, corretto with the add of alcoholic drinks, with cocoa on it or simply black).

There are also some fundamental hits to remember, also for the post-preparation:

1. use only the necessary coffee for your immediate needs, to have it always fresh, and prepare it again if it is not enough;

2. avoid to reheat it, because its taste surely will change and it will not be so good anymore;

3. just in case the coffee is abundant, put it into a sealed bottle instead of leaving it inside the pot, because with the days it generates toxic substances when the coffee gets in contact with the air and the steel of the moka (so simply wash it as soon as it cools off);

4. avoid to wash the moka with the washing-up liquid, because it will probably place itself into the filter, altering the aroma of the coffee; simply wash every part of the pot with water and also vinegar if you want.

Well, I must admit that it is easier to do it than reading it, all what I wrote it can happen in just 10 minutes!
So why do not you give my suggestions a try and prepare your good caffè italiano?
And please send them immediately, hihihi!

Dear readers,

yesterday afternoon I started to have problems of internet connection and the operator told that they will be solved probably within Monday or Tuesday.
Now I am writing at my parents’ flat, but they do not have my same offer of connection, so I do not want them to pay too much

I will check again my email box tomorrow morning so, if you want to comment and write me, you can do it, but I will probably reply at the beginning of the next week.

Sorry for the inconvenient, I miss internet a lot and I do not have it only since yesterday afternoon!! In the meanwhile, I will prepare a new entry offline to post when the problems are fixed.

Have a nice weekend and stay tuned for news, ciao,

Desi

This afternoon I was surfing the net, looking for people who lived in Italy or who travelled to my Country here.
I discovered a good group of blogs, which I’ll surely present soon.

Every time I find a nice one, the first thing I do is clicking on the “about me” page, because I think that it can tell a lot about the owner of the website/blog, I love to discover his/her life, dreams, business, just before reading the content of the blog.

This time I was particularly attracted by a game of research of photos answering to 12 questions about myself (found on Katerina Fiore’s blog), so much that I absolutey had to play it too, I find it very funny.

If you want to try it too, simply follow these directions:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search;
b. Using only the first page, pick an image;
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

Reply to these questions:

01. What is your first name?
02. What is your favorite food?
03. What high school did you go to?
04. What is your favorite color?
05. Who is your celebrity crush?
06. Favorite drink?
07. Dream vacation?
08. Favorite dessert?
09. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

This is my result in a mosaic:

Credits to the great photographers in order of appearance:

01. Desi From The Archives, 02. Cone Pizza!, 03. Lugo - Ravenna, 04. My Pink flowers, 05. Al Pacino, 06. Pure And Fresh Spring Water In My Wild River…!!!, 07. Adelaide, 08. do you ♥ a matcha tiramisu? ^-^/, 09. writer’s teeth, 10. Sunset at the Garden of the Gods Club, 11. CREATIVE DIRECTOR - SignCafe magazine cover, 12. Italian breakfast.

If you decided to play too, please let me know your result, as I am too curious to see it. See you soon, ciao my friends!

You already know that I am going to move to low Piedmont, but you do not know yet that my boyfriend’s parents are from Catania, in Sicily, living in low Piedmont.
Everytime I visit them, I learn something about that wonderful island of the Southern Italy.
Today I want to write about the ricotta cheese.

In Italy, we have different regions which produce that fantastic versatile cheese, but I think Sicily has a real primacy for its taste and value.
Sicily uses the ricotta for several typical dishes, especially for pastries and desserts; you can easily remember the heavenly taste of the cannoli siciliani, which are cylinder-shaped pastries stuffed with ricotta, chocolate drops and sometimes also patties (candies).

In my region, which is the Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy (where the capital of province, Bologna, is situated just between Milan and Florence), people use the ricotta cheese, but especially to eat it as normal cheese, maybe together the second course; its use is connected mainly to its salty flavour.

Well, my future parents-in-law teached me to eat ricotta during the meal, tasting it together with sugar.
So what do you understand? Yes, that you can eat pasta which is salty and immediately after a sugared cheese and maybe just after them even another salty dish!!
This mix can sound a bit odd, but I guarantee that an attempt is surely worth the while.

Just to explain better what I mean, here is my suggestion of what you have to do with your ricotta cheese:

usual shape of the ricotta cheese

First of all see that you buy a shape of ricotta made by sheep (avoid any other kind of cheese, such as the one from cow or mixed types, because its taste is the best one).
Then simply put it into a bowl or a dish, add some spoons of powdered sugar (avoid any other one, so that the sugar can be totally absorbed by ricotta) and mix it for some minutes with a spoon.
All you have to do now is enjoy your dish!

To me, this seems to be originally a poor dish, which could be prepared in the past as meal by poor families because they had sheeps and beets for sugar and just because it is quick and easy to serve; in addition, it offers immediate energy given by the cheese together with the sugar.

The unique expedient to remember is to eat just a few spoons of ricotta, because its calorific value is quite high: 170 calories for 100 grams of ricotta (produced by sheep, so simply made with serum and not with the add of milk and cream)!

Anyway, I thought to hand down this nice “recipe” to the ones who are interested in typical Italian dishes because I imagined that you will be happy to discover, like I did, this Southern Italian habit to add sugar to the ricotta cheese everytime, even if it is tasted during normal meals. I hope you will enjoy it.

And if you want to try other great recipes with Italian foods, you can visit GaidaR’s blog (for example, her latest entry reports a fantastic recipe of “mushroom tortellini bake recipe“), you will not be disappointed! She is a new dear friend from Sydney, I met her on BlogCatalog and she is going to cooperate with HerProBlog as blogger.

Today I want to start to write about my own life, just because I think that the facts which happen to me could make you understand something more about Italians, but also because I am glad to share everything with my readers, I would like to know you all, so this is the best way to let you know me better.

I am currently waiting to move to another region because of my boyfriend’s job; at the beginning I refused the idea, but now I am starting to be very curious to start my new life, to discover the new city and to get new friends.

I do not visit the new place so often, because I have to travel by train and I realized that it is not so cheap each time; I spend about Euro 23 for a round-trip ticket from Castel San Pietro Terme (province of Bologna) to Novi Ligure (province of Alessandria), so I avoid to see my boyfriend once a week, looking forward to cohabit again.

Novi Ligure is in the bottom-right corner of the highlighted region
(map taken from Wikipedia)

Novi Ligure is a city of the region of low Piedmont (North-Western Italy), it is situated in a favourable area just between the three big city of Turin, Milan and Genoa. Its name reminds of the region Liguria and it is not a fortuity, because in the past it belonged politically to that territory for a long time and only in 1859 was annexed to the province of Alessandria and so also to Piedmont.

I have been to Novi Ligure in the last week of May for a couple of days and I took the chance to take some shots of the city downtown and of the surroundings of our new flat; I must admit I am starting to appreciate it, even if it is not my own hometown and if it is quite different from my own area, but I think that my region of Emilia-Romagna should learn some lessons from Piedmont, especially about the eco-friendly solutions.

Here there are my latest shots, enjoy!

Via Girardengo, main street downtown

Church of the Collegiata of Santa Maria Maggiore

Porch of entrance of the city hall

Via Roma and Church of St Peter from afar

Church of St Anthony from Padua, managed by friars

I plan on taking more photos during my next trip, so stay tuned and you will start to discover Novi Ligure together with me.
Thanks for visiting my blog, have a nice Sunday and see you soon!