Late July and August may not be the best time to visit Italy between the soaring temperatures and gaggles of tourists. But, then again, there really isn’t ever a bad time to be here. We are having an amazing trip. Here are a few shots from our first few days, spent in Rome, to give you just a taste.

[above: from our flat in Rome]

[above: Morning at a civilized 10am, at the market right out side our flat]

[above: Lunch is an escape from the heat in Trastavere with a fresh Insalata de Melone and fresh anchovies.]

[above: Cole has been enjoying her new camera taking in her own views of the city. We all enjoyed a bit of relief from the heat as an afternoon storm moved in.]

[above: walking through the Palentine and Forum instead of joining the long lines for the Coliseum. We are heading back to Rome sometime this month to see a few more of the traditional sites we skipped on this quick tour.]

[above: quiet moments]

[above: the market in Campo di Fiori]

[above: on our way to Firenze, we stopped into Parona, a small village off the beaten track, for lunch.]

PS: I’m posting over a cell phone connection which is a bit tricky… so sorry about the closed comments earlier! Something must have gone wrong in the posting. Comments should be open now!

Do you ever feel just stupidly lucky? I do. All. The. Time. I’m not really sure what I’ve done to deserve all the amazing good fortune I’ve had. So, when my friend Nathan called me up a month or so and asked if I’d be interested in doing a bit of photography work in trade for a weekend at The Inn at Langley, I got to experience yet another one of those moments, and sent a big Thank You to the powers of the universe. The Inn at Langley is very high up there on one of my favorite places in the Northwest. The town of Langley, on Whidbey Island, manages to hit all the quaint buttons without actually turning sickeningly sweet. There’s a good coffee shop packed with as many locals as tourists, a natural food store that you can poke around in for hours, two weekly farmers markets within a stones throw, and a thrift store perfect for cheap-os like me who aren’t into paying antique store prices. But when I think of Langley, I think of The Inn.

It was just over two years ago that I first experienced one of Matt Costello’s seasonal dinners. Matt is the General Manager of The Inn, but most people know more about his kitchen prowess. The Inn does 3 (sometimes 4) single seating, prix fixe dinners a week. Everyone sits down and eats the same thing (dietary restrictions of course are respected) at the same time. Matt starts each dinner with a brief introduction about the area, the producers, and which seasonal ingredients went into the nights courses… sometimes including things he’s foraged himself or that are brought in from the herb garden.

Then, the work begins. The open kitchen gives all the diners a chance to see all the action while dinner is prepared.

There’s never a pause in the work, but somehow the atmosphere remains calm. And, well, it’s easy to get distracted away from the busyness as the plates arrive at the table. Each dish starts as a visual treat, which quickly turns to so much more. Your spoon brings a translucent corn broth or an icy fresh strawberry sorbet to your mouth, and the flavors unravel. Words simply can’t do it justice… so here are a few more shots to help you see what I mean.

Could anything be more stunning than that crystal clear corn broth with fresh Dungeness crab and sage blossoms? Well, maybe these:

The meal is reason enough to visit The Inn, but then, so are the tranquil waterfront and forest views.

So, a big thank you to Nathan and Matt for such an enjoyable visit, and the universe for bringing such good fortune my way. Hope you all enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed my weekend!

It’s ok if you think I’m a bit crazy. Everyone else around me does too, because I’ve been excited– even to the point of giddy– about making up a batch of ice cream inspired by a recent trip to Il Laboratorio del Gelato. No one would begrudge me the ice cream part, certainly. It’s the kind of ice cream. Beet ice cream. See, there’s that look. Why would I go and ruin perfectly good cream and sugar with something as well, dirty-tasting, as beet? Maybe I am a bit nuts.

But then again, consider. Beet sugar is a highly used sugar in all kinds of sweets. And, even unrefined, I think it’s hard to go wrong with a salad of roasted sliced beets and juicy sweet mandarin oranges. I’ve also done wacky things to great effect with beets before. Is it that much of a stretch to go to ice cream?

Anyway, let’s back up a bit. Il Laboratorio del Gelato is in New York. Not Seattle. So how did that happen? Last weekend, we wrapped up the last vestiges of my birthday (which was back in April) with a trip to NYC for some eating, shopping, and well, more eating. We stayed in the lower eastside, at the Hotel on Rivington, which shoots up through blocks of vintage walk-ups and shops like bolted arugala. The entry way is a sculpted birth canal, which leads to a sleek, modern interior to match the shiny steely blue exterior. Rooms are minimalistic with crazy views if you get one of the upper rooms. Our room had a peak-a-boo view of the Manhattan bridge and a not-so peak-a-boo view of apartments, including from our shower.

The hotel is right across from a place called Economy Candy. It’s like candyland meets one of those old hardware stores. Shelves floor to ceiling with candy piled everywhere. Old classics like pop rocks and candy cigarettes. Fancy new chocolates. 3 feet long Twizzlers. Mints and gum and candy coated ants. I may be joking about that last one, but I’m really not sure. The smell from all the candy was pretty overwhelming, and the line was pretty long… so we moved on.

Since we arrived on Friday early evening, we kept it pretty simple. Dinner at Lupa, one of our favorites, with hand-made pasta followed by a couple of fantastic desserts… the tartufo (a huge chocolate covered ice cream ball with espresso poured over the top) for him and a black pepper panna cotta with rhubarb for me. It’s not the panna cotta everyone would want, but it was fantastic… strong black pepper with perfect creamy finish.

We spent the better part of Saturday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn wandering our way down Bedford after a fantastic brunch at Bonita of huevos (with bacon!) for me and chiliquiles for Cam. We were on vacation, so sangria at 11 seemed like a good idea.

Then it was wandering the streets and people watching and enjoying the spring weather, until beer-o-clock.

Saturday night, after a trip back to the Lower East Side wtih beers and yummy herby popcorn down the block from the hotel at Spitzer’s Corner, we hopped back over the bridge to dinner in Williamsburg where we really loved the casual vibe. We were supposed to eat at Sweetwater that night, but based on a last minute recommendation, we stopped into Aurora, a packed Italian bistro tucked a few blocks away, and ate at the bar. I had one of the best raviolios I’ve ever had… fresh buffalo mozzerella, fava beans covered with razor thin slices of summer truffles. Cam’s wild boar ragu was good, but not quite as appealing to him as the Amatraciana at Lupa the night before.

The next day, after a bit of a lie-in, we got up and walked down the street to Katz’s deli, another of our regular stops when we visit NYC. It’s touristy and completely chaotic, but you can’t argue that their sandwiches are amazing. After lunch, there was more shopping in Soho. It was a gorgeous day of a holiday weekend, so the crowds were insane, but we managed to find a few side streets to wander that were a bit less crazy with some fascinating shops like Shoe which sells beautiful handmade shoes by Cydwoq (sidewalk) and relaxed and had an espresso at Gimme coffee on Mott St.

For dinner, we decided to just wander around to see what we saw. We thought about trying to get a table at WD-50 which was right around the corner from the hotel, but ended up popping into Tapeo 29 for some yummy tapas. I highly recommend the boquerones. The bistec was wonderfully flavorful, but a bit tough. After noshing there for a bit, Cam decided he was still hungry… so of all things, we headed back to Lupa for a little pasta and salad dessert.

The real dessert had come earlier in the day with the stop at Il Laboratorio del Gelato. I’ve written about this place before, but it’s still as good as ever. And, this time, I got a bit more adveturesome in my flavors. I couldn’t resist a taster spoon of the beet gelato. I wasn’t sure what to expect, whether the beet would be subtle almost unidentifiable or not. Turns out, it’s not. It’s fresh and vibrant and packed with earthy beet flavor. I was intrigued, but not ready for a whole bowlful, so I got the olive oil gelato instead. But I almost immediately told Cam that I’d be making some beet ice cream when I got home. I wanted to play with this flavor… the cold beet was good, but I thought it really could use more flavors to fill it out. I started throwing out flavor combinations as we walked around… beet and chocolate chip, beet and cardamom, Meyer lemon beet. I would not be daunted by eye-rolls.

I was a bit daunted though at figuring out how to start. There were sadly no beet ice cream recipes in David’s Perfect Scoop. I thought for sure he’d have done it already. And the only reference I found online was to an article about Il Laboratorio del Gelato. I’d be winging it.

I headed to the market to get my beets, picking up a bunch of golden and a bunch of red. The golden beet flavor I had already figured out… I wanted it to be bright and fresh with orange and honey. For the red beets, I knew I’d be playing with flavors. I dotted a plate with little blobs of beet puree like a painters palette and started tasting. Most of the flavors worked… beet and vanilla was lovely, as was beet and cardamom and beet and cinnamon. Beet and anise, however, was terrible. Finally, I decided on cinnamon with a hint of citrus.

As my beets roasted, I searched through Perfect Scoop to find the closest thing I could… a sweet potato ice cream that I’m also dying to try. The recipe is simple… basically adding the cream to the puree and seasoning, and then freezing. No eggs to bother with, and a bit more control of adding ingredients a bit at a time to find the right balance of sweet to bright to creamy and trying to keep the beet flavor intact, but not quite so aggressive.

One thing to know is that as flavors get cold, they change. Sweet isn’t quite so sweet when frozen. My golden beets started out less sweet than their red cousins, and the beet flavor really shines through kicking the orange and honey out the door. It starts great and has a certain charm, but it is definitely not for everyone.

The crimson beet ice cream with cinnamon and lemon zest is almost otherworldly. The cinnamon jumps up and bites you in the nose as you open the tub. The color is startlingly fuscia. As the cream starts to melt in your mouth, the beet perks up and announces a big hello and how do you do. The earthy flavor lingers (maybe asking for a bit more sugar and lemon zest), but in a pleasant, “well, how about that” kind of way. Even still, it’s not for every palate and even adventuresome mouths may only want small portions.

Beet Ice Cream
(a very rough recipe… you’ll need to adjust based on the flavors of your beets. Just consider this a rough guideline).

Peel and chop the beets, and roast at 375F with a splash of olive oil for an hour or two until the beets are nice and soft. Puree the beets in a blender with a bit of liquid (orange juice works well… but red wine or port would be a nice touch with the red beets too) until very smooth, and then push through a fine sieve. You should end up with quite smooth puree that either looks a lot like ketchup or mustard, depending on your beet color. I was very tempted to forgo the whole ice cream project and just turn them into beet ketchups and mustards!

You’ll end up with a lot of left over pulp. I saved mine and plan on making some beet-stuffed raviolis with it. Three large beets yielded about 1 cup of beet puree for me, with about the same amount of leftover pulp. That turned into enough ice cream for small servings for 4 people.

Let the beet puree cool to room temperature. Add your spices (cinnamon and zest from 1 lemon in my case for the red, the zest of two oranges and a splash of vanilla for my golden) and a healthy pinch of salt. Mix in honey or simple syrup until it seems a bit sweeter than you think it should be. Then, add your cream, a little at a time, stirring to incorporate. Taste it as you go along and adjust your sweetener accordingly. I used about 2 to 1 cream to sweetner ratio, and my ice cream was not too sweet. Then load the mixture up into your ice cream maker. Freeze overnight.

Let the ice cream sit at room temp for about 10 minutes or so before trying to serve it. I don’t know if I got lucky or it has something to do with the texture of the beets, but not only the color of the ice cream was gorgeous, it also scooped like a dream.

I’m a bit of a romantic at times. I don’t mean the roses and perfumey kind. I mean the idealizing kind. The kind that, on a whim with my significant other pops off to London at the last minute with basically no plans and thinks that it’s a good idea. The kind that really believes that it’s fun and spontaneous to just show up at Heathrow with the notion of catching a cheap flight somewhere sunny in Europe for two days before we need to be back to watch the Prologue of La Tour de France make its way through Hyde Park. Unfortunately, I’m not enough of a romantic to think that spending $2000 for that flight is a good idea nor do I really think its romantic to spend another four hours on a plane, after I’ve just spent 10 hours on one. But, there we were, Cam and I, at Heathrow on Wednesday morning, with no idea of what we were going to do next. And, clearly we weren’t the only loons doing this… the line at the British Airways ticket sales counter was about 100 people long, and after about 20 minutes waiting in line and moving about 5 steps, followed by running around to other airlines checking on flights to Cyprus, Lisbon and Reykjavik, we decide train travel must be the right way to go.
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OK. I had this really cool recipe planned to post today, but alas, it will have to wait, due to a little trip I just made to the emergency room, and a bigger trip I have planned to Boston.

On the small trip, all I’ll say is that there is a VERY GOOD REASON for that little plastic handle thingy that they provide with your mandolin. Use it, or, you will almost certainly regret it. How many times can the doctors and nurses joke about my career as a hand model being over? More than I’d like to mention. The good news is that I should be back cooking soon enough, but the typing is a bit slow.

On the big trip, I’m headed out to Boston to catch up with the lovely Bea, as well as attend the Food Styling and Photography conference at BU. It should be a fantastic few days, and of course, you’ll hear all about it over on Still Life With… once it’s over.

How lucky am I? I’m sitting at the airport, just about to board a plane for Los Angeles for a weekend of food styling with one of the coolest women out there… Cindie Flannigan, not to mention getting to see one of my food blogging heros, Matt, once again.

Have a great weekend everyone, and look for the whole story on Still Life With… sometime next week.

Cam and I are heading out on a road trip to eastern British Columbia tomorrow morning to try out skiing some different northwest slopes… those of Fernie, BC. It’s nine hours in the car, but then again, it’s about 9 hours from Seattle whether you fly or drive, and the drive is considerably cheaper (not to mention easier on the CO2). We’ll certainly be stopping along the way to pick up some traditional road-side food… stuff I’d typically never eat but somehow crave when faced with many hours in the car. To add to that, I also baked a few treats to take along, just in case.
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How does one go about summarizing over a week of pints and bites without writing an entire book and boring ones readers to death? I honestly couldn’t think of how to even begin. So, I just started by listing all the various food and drink related stops I made along the trip. When I found myself quickly getting to 15 establishments, I knew I was in trouble… if not for the length of the blog entry, certainly for the width of my waistline after consuming so much.

To keep things brief, yet helpful, I’m taking the short and sweet route… places that I out and out LOVED I’ve italicized.

If you are curious about more than food, Cam will be detailing all our tales on his blog… starting with our somewhat longer than expected realty-tv inspired trip home.

Hopefully, I’ll be back to some cooking posts later this week!

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There are quite a few restaurants that I love, but it does take a certain level of food and overall environment to get me there. The restaurant doesn’t have to be fancy, it doesn’t have to be well-known, it just has to execute exceedingly well. In my recent visit to Lupa, I am well on my way to loving it. The entire meal was delicious from start to finish. Dishes that my family had included the simple (but somehow hard to get right) spaghetti pomodoro and the Tagliatelle with a chicken ragu.

But, I’m going to skip over all that and focus on two dishes that absolutely blew me away (I ordered both, btw - I won!). First, the daily house-made pasta. The spaghetti on the menu was high-quality dried pasta, and it’s very very good. But, if you go to Lupa, it’s really a crime not to order the house made pasta. That night’s selection included Orechiette, little ear shaped pastas that act as tiny cups to capture just the right amount of sauce. Orechiette is always one of my favorites, but Lupa’s really took it to a new level. A bit thicker than typical orechiette I’ve had in the past, these little scoops had such a beautiful bite, I can practically still feel the texture. Their thickness was in no way gummy or heavy, just a reminder that they were made by someone’s adept hands rather than spat out by a machine. The sauce was sweet Italian sausage that was spicy and rich without being overwhelming. Fresh and warm essence of fennel in each juicy, meaty bite. I couldn’t imagine the meal getting any better than that. And then, it did. Again, with the daily special, three flash-fried lamb chops that were mind-blowingly delicious. A gorgeous crisp searing kept the meat incredibly moist and tender. Simple perfection.

The only downside to the entire meal was after a pasta and meat (shared amongst the table), we were all quite too full to sample the desserts, which looked equally tasty. I guess another trip to New York is going to be called for soon.

Technorati Tags: Food, New York, Restaurant, Review, Tips, Travel

The name Goblin Market comes from an old english poem about unscrupulous salesmen that used to take advantage of naive young women luring them in with tempting fruits, kind of an amusing concept for a little gastropub. If I was taken advantage of, however, I really didn’t mind. The food and drinks were outstanding (as well as being pricey for my Seattle sensibilities). I started with the Jewelled Berry Martini made from raspberry infused vodka with a good amount of lime juice and cinnamon. Mmm. Yes, please, I’ll have another. Cam’s drink was an equally tasty concoction of gin and pineapple juice, but I’m drawing a blank on the name. (note to self: remember to bring a notebook!)
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