Alessandra Zecchini

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Austria and red walnuts

After Slovenia we entered Austria, and the first place we visited was Graz.

And then we moved on to Vienna (Wien), to stay with my husband's cousins, Imogen and Günther. What a beautiful city is Vienna, so ...musical!

Of course I had to go to the Hotel Sacher to try the famous Sachertorte, which was delicious.

Also we ate apple strudel, and watched the demo in the bakery at Sch önbrunn Palace.

We spent a whole day just in the Palace and its gardens, and it is worth it!

Imogen and Günther live outside Vienna and have a walnut plantation. One tree produces red walnuts, I have never seen them before: the shell is brown like for normal walnuts, and the taste is the same, but the colour of the kernels is incredible, like a bright red radicchio. We took some home with us.

We ate most of the walnuts by themselves, but I also put them in salad (here with rocket, dressed with extra virgin olive oil, lemon and salt). I will use the rest to decorate biscuits, since they are ever so pretty! Thank you Imogen and Günther ;-)!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Vegetarian in Slovenia

On the road again, on our way to Austria we decided to go through Slovenia, a Country we never been to. So we booked a night in a Tourist Farm where they do organic food and provide for vegetarians. Organic tourist farm Makek

Here it is, at 950 m above see level, in the Kamnisko-Savinjske Alps and Karavanken mountains. Very peaceful. For dinner they served us a vegetable soup, a bit like minestrone, but with cauliflower. Not bad!

We ordered local beer :-)

Now, I don't know anything about Slovenian cuisine, we only had bread and pastries from a bakery for lunch, in a village on the border with Italy, as the food in the cafés was quite meaty. So when we arrived at our destination we were starving, and curious! The second course at the Makek was salad (lettuce, onion and cucumber, not something I can personally digest in the evening) and so far I would say that the dinner was vegan...and light.

The main: local dumplings filled with white cheese similar to cottage cheese, quite nice (definitely not vegan but OK for veggies), and a local polpettone made from bread (quite filling but lacking a decisive taste). The side vegetables were, again, cucumbers, but cooked with tomatoes. Usually I only eat raw cucumbers, so it was quite strange to have them cooked like if they were zucchini.

The dessert was a crêpe filled with stewed apples, simple but nice.

The location is very nice, we had a stroll and took in the views, and the mountain air.

Breakfast was richer than dinner: eggs, bread, cereals, fruit, cheeses, they even made polenta for us...but we could not eat polenta for breakfast! The best things for me were the jams, one plum and one apricot, really home made. Once again possibly good for veggies (if you eat cheese) but a little difficult for vegans (unless you can eat polenta for breakfast!).

On the whole the place was good and not expensive, considering European standards, and the fact that we had two very nice big rooms, beautifully furnished, so I would recommend the place if you are looking for peace and quiet, and something different.

Bye Slovenia, with your lovely houses with cute fairytale roofs, on to Austria now!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Friday, July 2, 2010

London after 13 years

I had a great week in London, a lifetime ago I used to live there, in fact I lived there for nearly six years! Some things are the same, some are new, like Farmers Markets...

And the London Eye!

But the difference for me was that this time a was a tourist, and I really enjoyed being a tourist in London, rather than being a poor student :-). In a week I did all the sights, shops and museums I could manage, and had a great time with the family!

Vegetarians have a good time in the UK, I think. Now even the 'Korner' cafes offer a veggie option! Staying with family meant that I mostly eat at home, but I had great veggie dim sum in the Docks, and of course I could not avoid scones and cream at the British museum cafe!

No time to write more though, actually, no much time for blogging these days really. I am working on a new cook book and I am still traveling, maybe I will have to blog about that, if anyone is interested to know how to write a cook book, that is!

Ciao

Alessandra

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Can you pair rosemary with tomatoes?

Usually I like to pair tomato with fresh basil, or with dried oregano. These are the flavours my palate appreciate. With rosemary? Up to now only when other vegetables where also present...just tomato and rosemary...well, back from London, hungry, late, empty fridge...except from some garlic and rosemary butter I had made before leaving (just butter, salt, and finely chopped garlic and finely chopped fresh rosemary), and some tomato passata. In the pantry some rice and some organic vegetable stock cubes.

I made a vegetable stock, then I put the garlic and rosemary butter in a separate pot, melted it and add the rice. When the rice was hot I added one glass of wine, and then some tomato passata, about one cup. I started to add the vegetable stock, from the smell I already knew that I had a winner!

Maybe I was just hungry....noooo! I think that I will make it again! Tomato, garlic and rosemary risotto, why not!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Friday, June 11, 2010

Pisa and Firenze...and a Chain before going to London

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Here are my lasts (I promise...for now) photos of Tuscany. Florence is truly special, but I thought not of publishing the photos of Ponte Vecchio, David and Campanile di Giotto which are everywhere. But for Pisa...it is another story. We didn't stay long there, not many visitors do, just Piazza dei Miracoli and the famous tower, and there was an impressive thunderstorm!!! Fortunately we didn't get wet., but the sky was impressive against the Baptistry.

Two days after in Florence was splendid, and hot! We walked around eating ice cream and drinking water. You need good shoes in Florence.

The highlight of my trip was a private tour of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, here are the gardens.

And here the ceilings of the room where we had our aperitivo.

This is the bedroom used by the President of Italy (President, not Prime Minister) when he visits Florence.

And here my one of Filippo Lippi's most beautiful Madonna con Bambino.

Now, Yari from Il Cucchiaio di Legno passed me this chain, if you are keen to do it please go ahead, I have put ten names here (not obliged to do it, of course). And If I didn't put your name but you are keen to do it, just go ahead!

Rules (Eng-Fr-Ita)

1. Put the rule on your blog - Mettre les règles sur votre blog – Mettere le regole sul vostro blog

2. Name the person who sent you this chain and put the link to their blog - Indiquer le nom de la personne qui vous l’a décerné ainsi qu’un lien vers son blog– Indicare il nome della persona che ve l’ha assegnato così come un collegamento al suo blog.

3. Answer the five questions - Répondre aux cinq questions – Rispondere alle cinque domande.
4. Send to ten other bloggers (specify their names and links here) - Transmettre le tag à dix personnes, en précisant noms et blogs – “Taggare” dieci persone, precisando nomi e blog.

Signe particulier:
Segno particolare:

Distinguishing Mark: Talk a lot...?