Cioccolatitaliani

Hello everybody!

If you are in Milan and if you like chocolate this post is for you. I'm gonna write about Cioccolatitaliani,  the best place ever where you can eat a dessert, a thick hot chocolate in winter or a great homemade ice-cream in summer.

This place is situated 5 minutes walking to the Porta Ticinese area, where you can find Colonne di San Lorenzo (one of the most ancient monuments in Milan), a lot of small independent shops during the day and loads of students during the evening thanks to cheap beer and cafés where you can taste the famous "aperitivo". 

In Milan there is another Cioccolatitaliani next to the Duomo, but I think that the location of the one in Via de Amicis is the best.

Cioccolatitaliani has a wide choice of different ice-cream tastes and kinds of chocolate and hot chocolates (the real thick ones), the atmosphere is vey nice and you can enjoy your dessert sit in a kind of veranda with your friends.

Here some photos of the location, the vanilla hot chocolate and the melted white and dark chocolate (a real pleasure for all the senses).

Bergamo by night

Hello everyone!
Today I came to Bergamo, a city located in the norhtern part of Italy and not so far from Milan (it takes about 40 minutes to get there by car) which is composed of two parts: a one on the level line called Bergamo "bassa" (which means "short") and the other one on the hill, more ancient and where you can enjoy a great view called "alta" (which means "tall" in italian). 
My boyfriend (who is very proud of his city) took me to a great wine bar/restaurant called Lalimentari that offers some of the most traditional dishes of Bergamo. The restaurant is very cosy but you can have your intimacy even if you are sit next to other people thanks to spaces, the staff is very kind and nice and the prices are not too high.
Here some photos of the first dishes (Casoncelli alla bergamasca and Scarpinocc), the second ones (Polenta concia with cheese and bolognese sauce/cheese and salame), the wine (Valcalepio red and white) and the city.

Italian Christmas Meals

Hello!
Merry Christmas to everybody! I hope you've all had some great Christmas dinners/lunches with your family as I did…and that you enjoyed the huge meals that normally we can eat in this period as an excuse!
In these days I came back to Milan to stay with my family for my Christmas holidays and in this way I had the chance to eat - at least for a while - the amazing Italian cuisine.
As I talked several times about typical Italian Christmas meals to my foreign friends (trying to describe the most traditional dishes and to explain the differences) I thought it would have been nice to show some pictures about that.
Here you can find some pictures about Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas lunch that I had with some of my relatives : the dishes you'll see are entirely made by my grand-mothers Carla and Carmen.
In Italy we use to eat some starters (cured meats, salmon, homemade Russian salad and so on), and a main course that we eat in two parts: tortellini in stock before and then different kinds of meat as rabbit, goose, stuffed capon with vegetables. After that we use to eat some cheese and a dessert that can be Pandoro or Panettone or the typical Christmas log.
Have fun!

Piadina Party

Hello everybody!
Today I'll talk about my last foodie idea of the week: a "piadina party".
Actually, one of the things I miss the most whilst living in Paris is the lack of one of my favorite Italian dishes: piadina.
Piadina is a very well known meal of my country (originally come out of an area called Romagna) and each time I hear foreign people saying they've never heard about it I'm totally shocked and disappointed. So…I decided to make my friends try some piadine at my place.
I think it's a very cool idea for students like me that don't have such big kitchens, huge spaces and a lot of time to cook properly and want to invite some friends.
Basically what you need is some wheat wraps, different kinds of cheese and salads.
I bought some bacon, different kinds of ham, coppa (another amazing delicatessen typical from Italy), "fromage de chèvre", "scaglie di grana" and so on and I tried a lot of combinations.
It's very a very simple meal to make (especially because you don't really have to cook anything but warm the wraps up) and in this way everybody can taste everything.
As a dessert I made a piadina stuffed with strawberry jam (sooo good) and we also had some green tea Japanese sweets (very good!) brought by my friend Kanako.
I can affirm that my friends simply loved it - here some photos of my "creations".

I'm sorry about the quality of my photos but I left my beloved reflex in my house in Milan and unfortunately by now I can only take pictures with my mobile phone.

Bagel Mania

Hi everybody!

Today I'm gonna talk about my daily greedy discovery in Paris: an amazing Bagel bakery.

I was going back to work after the last meeting about the thesis at school and I was freezing and of course very hungry…when I saw this very nice place showing bagels on the shop window.

I tried a bagel some months ago and, to be honest, I didn't go crazy over it but this bagels really attracted me so I decided to give it a second chance.

This place is called Bagelstein and it's situated next to the metro stop Sentier in the 3rd arrondissement: the atmosphere is really good and young and waiters are really friendly and kind.

I took the salted+sweet bagel menu which is around 8 euros: I could choose among some kinds of bagels ("gratiné", with sesame seeds on the top, and so on) and stuffing and then among the sweet ones (with raisins, chocolate nuggets, etc.) stuffed with jam, peanut butter, chocolate…

I choose a bagel which was not on the list (I asked for a cream cheese, "canard" and mozzarella one - I don't like salads and uncooked tomato) and the waiter told me that for this time I could do it (because I didn't put so many ingredients, otherwise it could not be part of the menu) and I really appreciated it.

My dessert has been a chocolate nuggets bagel stuffed with white melted chocolate: simply amazing.

Voilà the pictures!

Fallafel in the Marais

Hello hello!
After a great lazy and greedy weekend spent with my boyfriend I would like to share with you my latest discoveries. This time I'll talk about one of the "spécialités" you can find in the Marais, the well known Jewish area in Paris situated half way between the Centre Pompidou and Place des Vosges (the beautiful square where the writer Victor Hugo used to live).
If you go to the "southern area" of the Marais you can see the very typical Jewish street called Rue des Rosiers which is full of Jewish restaurants, bakeries and boutiques.
The most famous restaurant in this street is called L'as du Fallafel which I have tried several times, but yesterday I tried Chez H'anna which honestly I prefer.
The restaurant is very small and cosy and the ambiance is cool and relaxing, even if it's quite touristy and the tables are very closed to one another (you don't have a lot of privacy and you can perfectly hear what other people say).
Here you can find the photos of the dishes I tried: a very good Fallafel (a chickpeas and lava beans fried balls wrapped in a flatbread and topped with vegetables) and a very tasty almond dessert called Cegar.

English Cream Tea in Brighton

Hi everybody!
Weather in this period (early dark and rainy days) makes me think about my stay in Brighton three years ago now (already!) in october/november. Brighton is a great city for young people and students: pubs and clubs are everywhere and there is always something to do (and loads of fun). But one of the things I most loved was having a typical English cream tea during weekends.
My good friend Kate helped me discover it, because before then I'de never really heard about it: in Italy we all know tea is a real "institution" in England, but we've never tried its delightful pastries.
After being there for three weeks, my friend decided that I must go with her to the Mock Turtle Tea Shop: it was love at first sight.
The location is very classical and cosy and the cream tea is amazing: the scones are fresh, the whipped cream is home made and jam is very good.
The perfect combination to share with friends in a sweet afternoon.

How to end a cold Sunday afternoon

Ciao!
Last Sunday, after a whole afternoon spent walking in the freezing Paris, my friends and me decided to look for a cupcake place like Berko (http://www.berko.fr) or Miss Cupcake (http://www.misscupcake.fr) in order to warm up with a hot tea.
But after another long walk we realized it was already dinner time and we found out a very nice restaurant.
This place is called "Breakfast in America" (http://www.breakfast-in-america.com) and it's one of the fashionable vintage american style restaurants that are working very well among young people (especially hipsters ones).
It's situated in the Marais, 5 minutes walk from Saint-Paul metro stop and - even if it's quite small - spaces are well organized.
The environment and the service are good and dishes are not that expensive considering that this place is situated in one of the most fashionable areas in Paris.
And now, the most interesting thing…I tried a very good "California Chicken Wrap" (a tortilla stuffed with grilled chicken, avocado, cheese etc.) and the best Carrot Cake I've ever tasted.
The milkshakes are very attractive and I think next time I'm gonna take one of them.
To try!

First post, first delicious food show

Hello everybody!
Here I am. Finally, after one of the usual and inevitable weekend of good eating I look at my mobile phone and guess what I find…loads of pictures about food.
I love eating and it's harder than me, I can't stop taking photos of it: I think that if a dish is beautiful and tasty you cannot be indifferent and immediately "destroy" it without documenting that vision.
In this post I'll only show some of the best pictures of the last months, but from now on I'll make sure to show the best places I find in order to let other people know how and where find this amazing delicacies.
Enjoy the show!