Stockholm, day 4... and, finally, Swedish meatballs!

On day 4, aka my last day in Stockholm, I was by myself. My friend the architect had to catch a very early flight back to Milano, while mine wasn't departing until 7 p.m. so I had a day alone in the city, although if you ask me, you are never really alone in a city. It's not because of the crowds —Stockholm is one of the least crowded places I've been on Earth— it's because if you feel lonely and you are desperate to talk to another human being, you'll always find someone (usually a bartender who can't run for his life and has to listen to you blabber) to talk to. This isn't true everywhere. It isn't true in woods, deserts, on the ocean, on top of the mountains. I love being alone, don't get me wrong. I'm not a true loner, but I immensely enjoy solitude for long stretches of time. But there's one activity that I love that one can't do if they are alone. And that's people watching.

During the first three days in Stockholm we had focused on many things. The elegance of the buildings, the bright colors of the facades, the statues and the spires and the bricks that make the city unique. The peculiar way the sun never really rises above you, even at noon, which makes the whole day look like it's 4 in the afternoon and makes the snow shine like it does in the movies. Design, architecture and fashion. We had focused on all those things, but I had forgotten to focus on the people —the ones that live there, not the whiny Italians at breakfast or the lunatics standing for hours and hours in line, in the shade, in 15 F degrees to see the Terracotta Army exhibit. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's fascinating. But if you are in Stockholm for the weekend, why not experience Stockholm instead of China? Just a thought.

On my last day I was resolved to look at the people, to get a feel of how Swedes go about their life, how they interact with each other (I'm talking about non-verbally here since Swedish is not my forte), how they interact with tourists. When I travel I usually automatically get a feel of how locals do all these things, no matter if I'm in Mexico, Japan or if I'm just in some tiny Italian town I've never been to before. In Stockholm, though, I hadn't. As I was making my way towards downtown, still looking for those elusive Swedish meatballs with lingonberry jam, I realized why I hadn't. It was because unlike, say, Americans or Italians or Spaniards, Swedes are not in your face all the time. Not at all. There's a quiet politeness in their manners that is truly enjoyable. They always smile when they greet you, and they always greet you, but they never ask too many questions or linger on too long when a conversation is over. They are friendly without invading your privacy. They seem genuinely happy, although a little bewildered, to see people visiting their city in the coldest month of the year. Most of all, they seem like happy people. When you walk down the street and look at them, they have a content, often smily expression on their face, even if they are walking alone in the cold wind. They always seem to be thinking of something great they are going to do later on and looking forward to it. 

So that's another thing to be enjoyed when in Sweden: interacting with locals. And, of course, eating Swedish meatballs. You didn't think I was going to give up, right? Oh, no. Before walking to the bus station and going to the airport I stopped at a restaurant that I will define "old school", but keep in mind that that's the understatement of the year. It was called Guldpumpen Restaurang and it served just what I wanted: traditional Swedish meatballs, smothered in a cream sauce, served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam. And let me tell you, I'm glad I had the chance to try them before leaving. Again, Ikea's rendition wasn't exactly up to par. Those Guldpumpen meatballs were tender, juicy, and flavorful —black pepper and nutmeg gave a pleasant spiciness to the dish. And the lingonberry jam, sweet but not too sugary, was as perfect with meatballs as I had imagined for the past three days. I walked out of the restaurant so fulfilled and happy that I had to run back in because I had left my purse under the table. As I walked towards the bus station with the sun setting to my left and the moon rising to my right, I realized I was ready to leave Stockholm. But I was also ready to go back there many, many other times.  

Stockholm, day 3

Incredibly enough, on our third day our roommates woke up smiling and telling us they didn’t even know we had come in at some wee hour in the morning. Either they were being incredibly polite or they are completely deaf, because I can assure you that those nautical themed bunk beds cease to be charming when you are trying to climb on one in the dark, at about 3 a.m., with several shots of vodka in you. But they hadn’t heard us, which was great, and we felt like a million dollars, which was also great —and here I'm giving credit to the freezing night temps of Stockholm which, apparently, make you burn off alcohol like you’re freshman in college again. 

Since the day before we had done nothing but seeing random stuff for free and bar hopping, we decided it was high time to nourishing our vodka pickled brains with a good dose of culture. We woke up half way early in order to catch a ferry to another one of Stockholm’s islands, Djurganden, home of the world’s first open-air museum, a magical place called Skansen. 

Built in 1891 by historian and anthropologist Artur Hazelius, the museum is a big park where people can still see how Swedes used to live in the past, how they farmed their land, raised their kettle and farm animals and generally went on with their everyday life, from making and selling bread to building their tools. It also features a sort of a zoo, and here I say "sort of" because it only features animals that are native to Scandinavia, who live outside in their natural habitat. And then, because the park is on top if a hill, there are views of the city that are to die for, which to me is always a plus. So Skansen is truly a magical place. Here's an insider tip, though: it's a magical place best enjoyed in the summer, when most of the attractions in the park are open and most of the Scandinavian animals that live there are nor going through their hibernation period. 

Nevertheless, we enjoyed a quiet late morning walk with the always white, always glistening snow all around us, the sun shining so bright it almost hurt our eyes, and a few uniformed tourists pointing at a moose and calling it a reindeer. All in all it was a roaring success, one that put us in such a great mood we decided to take the world’s longest walk to coast the bank of the sea by Ostermalm all the way back to the island where our hostel —and the museums we wanted to see— are located. For a random stroke of luck, as we entered the Arkitekturmuseet (Architecture Museum) we found out that that day it was 'free entry Sunday', an initiative that takes place once a month to promote interest for the museum. Saving money in Stockholm is no easy task, so we were so happy —and so hungry— we decided to celebrate by having a sandwich and a Carlsberg beer at the museum café, Café Blom. Very uncharacteristically, the girl behind the counter didn’t speak English very well so while ordering the beer was easy, ordering the food proved to be a little trickier. The only word we could both understand was ‘toast’ —which was a good start I guess since a toasted piece of bread with some type of meat filling in it sounded just about right at that time. So I ordered it. She heated it up for me and served it to me with my bottle of Carlsberg. It looked like ham salad, so I took a bite. I have to say, it was the tastier ham salad I’d ever had in my life. It was rich in flavor and had a light but stil perceptible smokiness to it. It was better than any ham salad I had had before. And the reason might be that it wasn’t ham salad at all. It was smoked reindeer salad. So yes, I’ve eaten Rudolph. But, hey, he tasted great on toasted country bread. And you know what they say? When in Stockholm... We spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around the Arkitekturmuseet first and the Moderna Museet (Modern Art Museum) afterward. The former was obviously more interesting to my friend the architect, who studied and ohhhed and ahhhd over some 2000 years of Swedish house building history, from mere places to shield men from the elements to state of the art eco homes of the 2000s. The Moderna Museet, on the other hand, was immensely captivating for anyone like me who likes bizarre modern art installations that include splattered Heinz ketchup on a museum floor or a panel that tells you that Andy Warhol has indeed walked those same corridors we were straying through. Because there, my friends, is where Warhol has coined is famous '15 minutes of fame' quote back in February 1968 when the Museum was hosting one of his exhibitions. And although I no longer find the quote particularly witty nor inspiring, I have to admit that it’s always exciting to stand in a place where some kind of history was made.

Tired from all the walking we had been doing all day, and clearly in some sort of delirious status,  we decided to walk to bumfuck nowhere in the Ostermalm quarter. After long deliberation, we had decided to try an eclectic fusion brasserie located in an Ostermalm ex electrical plant, where we were pretty sure we would find overprized small portions of nouvelle fusion cuisine —aka the food I loathe the most in the world. But up to that point I had singlehandedly decided every restaurant we had gone to and my friend the architect was seriously excited about observing how they had turned the plant into a restaurant, so I thought, why not?  Thanks to the usual 15 F weather, en route to Ostermalm we stopped at a place called B.A.R. for a cocktail, a modern, hyper hip restaurant and bar curiously located in a side street no one every takes, except people like us who insisted on roaming the city without a map. 

It was packed with young, good looking people, the music wasn't too bad, they made martinis and they served oysters. I was in heaven. We had some of the freshest smoked salmon I’ve ever had the pleasure to sink my teeth in —so buttery the extra pound of butter that they gave us to spread on bread was superfluos and so tasty it was almost a shame to cover it up with the powdered horseradish they served with it. I also ordered a sample of four oysters on the half shell —a fine de Normandie, a fine de moiselle d'Agon, a speciale de claire marenne and a Danish flat oyster— served over ice with the usual lemon slices, horseradish and Tabasco, plus the addition of an onion vinaigrette  which turned out to be a great accompaniment to oysters. It was tangy enough to compliment the natural brineness of the oysters, yet delicate enough to let the oyster flavor shine through. It was a revelation, and a very good one, because once we left B.A.R. and finally made it to bumfuck nowhere in Ostermalm we found out the stupid brasserie is closed on Sundays. Thanks Lonely Planet for not pointing that out, by the way.

This little incident brought us to Sabai Soong, the most incredibly kitch Thai restaurant ever known to men. And you know how Asian restaurants in Europe can be tacky. Well, this one took the cake, and then some. Christmas lights, Buddha statues, royal family posters, Abba tunes… you name it. It was a clusterfuck of tackiness. But the food was divine. And cheap. And just as spicy as I wanted it to be. My chicken basil with string beans and fried egg (they like to put a fried everywhere in Sweden, even in Thai restaurants) kept me warm and happy all the way back to out hostel, which wasn't exactly around the corner. So thanks Sabai Soong for saving our last night in Stockholm. Your food made my belly so happy that for a few hours I even forgot about my unhealthy obsession to find perfect Swedish meatballs with lingonberry compote. Although I have to admit that I drifted to sleep that night promising to myself that the next day I would have for lunch before catching my plane back to Milano.

To be continued...

 

An interlude: the fried herring experience

This is a story about how something truly incredible happened while I was in Stockholm: I said out loud "Wow, herring is good!!!". And I meant it. It wasn't one of those "Wow, I really love this sweater Aunt Mary," sort of things. I meant it. From the bottom of my stomach. It all begun on Saturday morning, as my friend the architect and I were strolling through the streets of Stockholm. Going to Stockholm and not eating herring, he said, was just plain crazy. Like going to Philadelphia and not eating a cheesesteak crazy? Yes. Like going Milano and not ordering risotto? Yes. You get the idea. He shamed me into thinking that had I not tried the damn herring my Stockholm experience would have been sort of flawed and meaningless. I cringed inside, but looked up what the best place for herring is in Stockholm. We were in luck. It's a small street side cart called Nystekt Strömming, which literally means 'freshly fried herring', an unassuming tin box located right after the bridge that connects Gamla Stan (the Old Town) to Sodermalm (the 'hip' part of town) right outside the Slossen metro station. I cringed even more because that was exactly where we were headed anyway, so my chances of escaping the dreaded herring were slim to none. "Weren't you a food writer? Aren't you supposed to like everything?" Sure I was a food writer for years. As for the liking everything part, there are very few things I don't like, herring being one of them, and since I worked in Florida I could always safely assume that herring would not show up on my plate unexpected. 

The thing is I don't hate herring just because. I wasn't being a 

child about it. I had tried herring before. Twice. And hated it both times. The first time was in 1991, while traveling with sled dogs a hundred kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in Finland. Everything was magical about that vacation. Everything except breakfast which was, you guessed, smoked herring. I was ten and I was horrified. 

The second time a few years later, around 2000 I would say, when my palate had greatly improved and so had my open mind-ness. That time I picked the wrong the place, so it was entirely my fault. I was in the outskirts of Milano, looking like a madwoman for a new desk lamp at Ikea. You can imagine the rest. They had one of those tasting stations where some lady from Southern Italy, dressed in a ridiculous Viking costume and sporting and even more ridiculous fake Swedish accent, was giving away bites of brown bread topped with fried herring , onion and dilled mustard. I was famished —I was 19, I was always famished— so I grabbed a bite, chewed on it and here I have to give credit to my mother who taught me some manners, I swallowed it. It was bad. It was gross. Everything about it was wrong. The bread was hard on the edges and soggy in the middle. The herring was chewy and fishy. Even the dilled mustard, which is one of my favorite dressings in the world, was... bland. How do you make bland mustard, I ask you? Maybe it was diluted. Maybe it was old. Still, it let all the fishy flavor of the herring shine through. At that moment, while holding my $9 lamp in one hand and with a disgusted look on my face, I swore herring off my list of things to try again forever. Or so I thought.

Saturday afternoon in 18 degree weather and a fast approaching sunset, I found myself at Nystekt, facing my archenemy, the herring. The place had no menu, just a list of six or seven different fried herring sandwiches, all written in Swedish, so we observed what locals were doing for a couple of minutes and, other than a guy ordering a giant herring burger, everyone else seemed to go for something called skaning, an open-face sandwich that didn't look too intimidating. At this point, I must confess, I still wasn't sure I was going to try it. But once I saw the sandwich and once I realized the sun had gone behind the building and I was freezing, i decided it was time to give herring another try. And I am so glad I did. That sandwich, that herring, were heavenly. The rye bread was toasted just right, not too hard nor to soggy, he herring itself was crisp fried and, well, not fishy at all. It tasted like freshly caught, well seasoned, flesh fried fish. The red onions, spicy mustard and abundant fresh dill on top gave the sandwich that extra kick, bringing it from being a good sandwich to an amazing one. So I have to thank Stockholm, and my friend the architect of course, for making me get over my irrational hatred for herring. Now, will I eat it at Ikea next time I'm looking for a couch? No freaking way. But next time I'm traveling through Scandinavia I'll definitely look for another herring sandwich.      

Stockholm, day 2

There’s something to be said about sleeping on the water. No matter if it’s a small lake or a great big ocean. And no matter if I’m on a row boat or a gigantic cruise ship. The gentle rocking and the general coziness that only a boat cabin can convey are enough to make me fall in the deepest, most peaceful of sleeps. So imagine my excitement when I discovered that several hostels in Stockholm are located on ships, barges and boats of all kinds. I ended up picking the Chapman for several reasons. The first one was the location: thus ship is anchored on one of the city’s coolest islands, which is also home to the Modern Art and the Architecture museums, with sweeping views of the old town Gamla Stan and the East Bank. The second reason was that the Chapman, unlike many other ships, has some serious history, a history you can feel as you walk down the long white corridors with their old wooden floors and military looks. The cabins themselves are as cozy as they come, with comfy and modern wooden bunk beds, plush comforters and a porthole overlooking the bay. 

All this to say that waking up in cabin 27 of the Chapman on Saturday was pretty damn cool. Breakfast was cool too, in a Nordic kind of way. As my friend and I scarfed down hard boiled eggs, smoked ham, salted butter and fresh brown bread we couldn’t help but overhear the horrified (and embarrassing) comments of some other Italians, who were practically crying because there was nothing “sweet” to eat for breakfast. Which, by the way, wasn’t entirely true. Hadn’t they been too busy looking for a cappuccino and a croissant they would have noticed that there was raw honey and lingonberry jam —both sweet and both absolutely delicious with smoked ham. But enough about annoying fellow Italians acting like babies while traveling abroad. We had some sightseeing —and of course some eating— to do. As much as we would have loved to check out every museum and gallery in town, we are both pretty broke and at about $12 a pop to get into most attractions we tried to do as many “free” things as we could on our first whole day in the city. 

A great way to do so is crossing the bridge to Gamla Stan, the old town, and get lost in its narrow streets, checking out the architecture, the churches and the streets themselves, which are a work of art. Nordic cities and towns have a particular charm, especially for Southerns, not only because they are impeccably clean, but also because the bright yellow, orange and red buildings really pop out when surrounded by several feet of amazingly white snow. I have no idea how they keep their snow clean around there. I mean, everywhere else I’ve been the snow turns into a nasty, smog infested mess within hours. In Stockholm it's so white, you start wondering if it’s real. Then you start feeling your feet going from warm to cold to frozen within minutes and all doubts fly out of the window. It’s the real stuff. While wandering around the old town we accidentally bumped into the change of the guard, which happens in front of the Royal Palace every day at 12:15. I can’t say it was the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen —to be honest it was pretty dull, and the crowd was so thick we had to climb on top of a snow bank to take pictures, which resulted into some very cold snow getting into my boots and, incidentally, a pit-stop at a bar to warm ourselves up with some beer and acquavit (vodka). 

Much cooler was to see Stockholm’s narrowest street, which is less than a meter (3 feet) wide. As you might notice from the picture the beer and acquavit had already worked their magic, as I for some reason thought it would be a good idea to walk around with no hat on in 15 F degree weather. In the afternoon it was time to visit the hip neighborhood of Sodermalm, which my friend the architect wrongly assumed to be the furniture design neighborhood of the city. Turns out it’s the fashion quarter of Stockholm, where all the young and the good looking locals go buy their clothes. Needless to say I couldn’t resist the temptation and scored a couple of shirts and a skirt that I absolutely could(n’t) live without, while my friend ogled the cute girls that worked in the stores. 

Frozen to the bone and starving because we had skipped lunch, we decided that a traditional Swedish dinner was in order and dragged our tired asses to Zum Franziskaner, one of Stockholm’s signature restaurants. The place was so dark inside I could barely take pictures of it. Our waiter had a no-nonsense attitude that immediately made us feel touristy and naïve, which is why we ended up ordering a ridiculous amount of food, lots of Swedish draft beer for my friend and, here’s the kicker, vodka on the rocks for me. Mr. Waiter suggested, with a smirk, that that’s what a real Swede would have drunk with my meal back in the good ol’ days. And of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show him that, even if I don’t have a drop of Swedish blood in me, I can drink some vodka. He was impressed, I think. We were impressed too, both because the food was flawless and because the portions were outlandishly big. We shared gravlax for an appetizer —fennel marinated fresh salmon served with dill mustard and onions— then ordered the two most incredibly hearty, heavy dishes we could find on the menu. 

One was Swedish country sausage deep fried and served over boiled potatoes smothered in a sauce that reminded me of what the lovechild of béchamel sauce and country gravy would taste like. The other dish was a sort of pork, onion and potato hash topped with a fried egg. What can I say? It was very cold outside, and we felt we needed the extra calories. Filled with food and vodka we went for yet another evening stroll down the streets of Gamla Stan, which turned into a Key West-style pub crawl. We never bumped into the White Rabbit again, but I bumped my head on a very low ceiling beam and we definitely bumped glasses and said ‘cheers’ in several different languages —Swedish unfortunately wasn’t one of them— with several different characters in several different bars. Scratch that. Several different Irish pubs. Because that’s where the Italian soccer games where being aired and, of course, that’s where my friend the architect and soccer fan had to be. But in the end, it’s sort of a guilty pleasure for me to do something absolutely stupid while I’m out of the country. Like going to Irish pubs in Barcelona or Stockholm. As for my friend, he won the stupid competition by ordering a weird concoction of Guinness and Baileys, which of course curdled and looked like ten day old coffee in a mug. But the girl bartender who suggested the drink, he said, was very cute. And sometimes cute is just what does the trick.  

To be continued...

Stockholm, day 1

Vordnadsbjudande. That means "awesome" in Swedish —or at least that's what the girl at the hostel reception told me. I sincerely hope she hasn't pulled one of those funny pranks you see in movies when someone asks a local how to say 'I love you' and they tell them something that means 'you smell like rotten eggs'. But Reception Girl seemed nice enough not to do such a thing, so here it is: Stockholm är bra, which means Stockholm is great. Although it's Sweden's largest city —and Scandinavia's most populated city— not even one million people call the city center home, which gives it an incredibly quiet and relaxed feeling. It was a strange feeling I couldn't pinpoint right away as my friend and I arrived at Centralstation with the airport bus. It was about 8 o'clock on a Friday night and... well, everything was quiet. No traffic. No hoards of party goers. No packed sidewalks. It did help, of course, that the city was covered in snow and the temperature was falling fast towards the teens. That of course didn't stop us from setting off in search of our first great Swedish meal even before we bothered to check into our hostel. 


Thanks to the good guys at Lonely Planet, we bumped into a cool little bistro hidden right behind the Opera House. It seemed like the whole town had decided to dine there, but luckily enough we snatched the last two available seats. The place is called Bakfickan (telephone number +46 8 6765800) and it's just the type of restaurant you would imagine to find close to a theater or a opera house: it's small, crowded and stylish in that "time stopped in the 30s" kind of way. The walls were covered in black and white pictures of unknown —to us, that is— Swedish celebrities from the past. The menu wasn't very large, but it had the right balance of traditional Swedish fare like marinated salmon and meatballs in sauce, and more modern dishes, like the steak tartare I ordered. I'm somewhat obsessed with tartare and it's very hard for me to see it on the menu and not order it. I was in luck. I have to say that Bakfickan's rendition was one of the best I've ever had both because of the quality of the meat and because of the way it was presented. It was sort of a fun "do it yourself" tartare where you get the ingredients on the plate, the sauces on the side and you mix it to your liking. 


I have to admit I was slightly perplexed when I found a pile of minced beets alongside the beef, red onion and capers, but since it was there I decided to give it a try. See, I've had a childhood trauma that involved beets, which led to my swearing them off my life forever and ever. I'm happy to report that, as of Friday February 11th 2011, I am officially over this ridiculous beet hatred. Not only that, but I also have to say that beets and raw steak go very well together, as the beet adds a certain sweetness to a dish that is otherwise characterized by the very strong flavors of capers, onions, Tabasco and the likes. We finished off our meal with a glass of chilled vodka (what else?) before setting off into the cold and towards the hostel.


Needless to say, as we were wandering around the old quarter of Gamla Stan we were "too cold not to stop for a drink", as my friend put it. And since beggars can't be choosers, we practically ran into the first place that looked like a bar, but was in fact a club, one of those place that are too hip to even have a name. At 30 I suspect I was by far the oldest person in there, but we played it cool, called ourselves "students" whenever someone asked what we did in life and drank Falcon beer, because that's what all the cool kids were doing there. Just to make a point —the point being that we are still young enough to party like there's no tomorrow— we closed the bar at 2 a.m. 


Before we left, though, we bumped into the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. I'm not joking. look at the picture. That's me, hugging the White Rabbit in a bizarre Swedish disco. I had only been in Stockholm for a few hours, but somehow I knew the place was right for me.


To be continued....

My top 5 pasta dishes

Excitement is in the air. After spending two months into what can only be described as a slump —a psychological one, mind you— here I am ready to leave for a new adventure. Two short ones, actually. Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Stockholm, Sweden, to meet up with a friend who's at a conference there. I'm thrilled beyond belief, not only because Stockholm is said to be one of the most beautiful capital cities in the world, but also because salmon is one of my all time favorite ingredients, so you know what I' will be doing from tomorrow until Monday. Yes. Salmon, salmon, salmon, in all its glorious forms, and especially in its most glorious one: Gravlax. Now, of course I make my own rendition and you can find the recipe here, but eating it at the source, surrounded by frozen lakes and people eating herring for breakfast will add a certain something to it, I'm positive. 

Then, after only one brief day of relax spent at home and running herrands, on Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. (gotta love those cheap Easy Jet flights), my best friend and I will leave for Amsterdam to celebrate her birthday. I've never been there either, so I'm equally stocked... although I am aware that Dutch food isn't necessarily famous for being exciting or flavorful. Which is why I already have my eye on a couple of Indonesian and Sumatran restaurants that serve exactly what I like: spicy, savory concoctions of meats, vegetables, rice and noodles.  

  

Because I'll be gone for a week, I want to leave you with yet one more of my "best of" posts, one that is 100% Italian: pasta dishes. I've cooked tons of pasta in my life and I've posted many different recipes on this blog, but I think the following five are my all time favorites. At least for now. 

 PASTA ALLA VODKA

If you ask any of my American friends what is my best loved, most famous recipes, you'll hear one answer only: vodka pasta! Creamy, spicy, boozy, this pasta dish is sophisticated yet fairly simple to make. The ultimate decadence? Eating it while sipping an ice cold vodka martini. You can find the recipe here.

 LOBSTER PASTA

Ever since watching "Julie and Julia", every time I hear the word lobster I find myself singing to myself "Lobster killer" to the same tune as the Talking Heads "Psycho Killer". That said, when I lived in Florida I used to catch my own lobster while scuba diving so no, I don't feel bad for killing lobsters. There are plenty of them in the Atlantic, as there are plenty of them in Sardinia, where this recipe hails from.

 SICILIAN PASTA WITH ONIONS AND CRUMBS

This recipe is relatively new to me, mostly because I grew up thinking I loathed anchovies. And although I still won;t gorge on them, I've reached a point in my life where if anchovies are few and only one of many ingredients I actually enjoy their natural saltiness. This Sicilian dish is the perfect example. Try it ones and you won;t get enough of it. Click here for the recipe. 

SPAGHETTI WITH SHRIMP AND ZUCCHINI BLOSSOMS

I've learned to make this dish last summer, on a torrid July evening during 2010's only heat wave. The lake was still. The air was humid and felt heavy. There was no way in hell I would even consider leaving my a/c. So I had shrimp and zucchini blossoms in the fridge and thought, why not? The result, even if I do say so myself, was amazing. A star was born. Here's the recipe, and I can assure you that's worth making regardless the outside temperature. 

PASTA WITH SAFFRON AND CLAMS

If you are wondering what is up with me and saffron, the answer is easy. First, I find it to be one of the most satisfying and fragrant spices in the world. Second, believe it or not, saffron is not that expensive in Italy. So when I found both littleneck clams and cherry tomatoes on sale on the same day I just knew I had to whip up some type of pasta concoction. With saffron of course. Because, just like butter, it makes everything better. 

Moroccan chickpea stew

Three years ago while spending a few days in Paris, the friends my boyfriend and I were staying with took us to their favorite Moroccan restaurant, a sumptuous number close to their home in Versailles. I had never been to a Moroccan restaurant before. It's funny how depending on where you grow up and live, you end up becoming an expert on certain ethnic cuisines and knowing squat about others. 

Milano in the 80s was packed with Chinese restaurants and for most of the decade that was the only ethnic options available to us. At the end of the 80s the first Japanese restaurant opened in town and we all flocked to try it and walked out of it fascinated by the tasteful decor, the clean simplicity of the food and the fact that we didn't smell like frying oil. During the 90s we got our fair share of Indian and Ethiopian restaurants, followed by Thai and several fusion options. Moroccan? Not so much. There's virtually no Moroccan community in Milano, therefore there are no proper Moroccan restaurants —just a lot of little kebab joints that are absolutely fantastic after a night of drinking.    

But having a full, scrumptious Moroccan dinner is much different that standing in the street chowing down kebab to soak up one too many gin and tonics. Sitting on plush cushions in that beautifully decorated room, taking in the scent of cumin, ginger, saffron and cinnamon, I instantly knew I was in for a treat. And I was right. Everything I tasted that night —from the appetizer onion salad to the tagine to the lamb stew— was vibrant with color and exploded with flavor. And because I seem to constantly be moving to place where there are no Moroccan restaurants —Bonita Springs and Lugano, for instance— I had to take the matter in my own hands and learn to make some of those dishes. The good news is, Moroccan food is easy to prepare, it just takes a long time to cook. So it's perfect if you have a crock pot (which I don't have over here, but a regular pot on very low heat works just fine) and you want to come home to the sweet scent of spices wafting through the air. 

MOROCCAN CHICKPEA STEW

(Adapted from Cooking Light)

• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1  cup  chopped celery
• 1  cup  chopped carrot
• 1  teaspoon  minced garlic
• 2  tablespoons  ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon  paprika
• 1  teaspoon  ground ginger
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground turmeric
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1 1/2  cups  water
• 2  tablespoons  tomato paste
• 2  (15 1/2-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, carrot, and garlic to pan and sauté 5 minutes. Stir in spices and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. 

Add 1 1/2 cups water, tomato paste, chickpeas, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in cilantro and juice.

Thai green curry

I'm back. I didn't actually go anywhere, but I have barely posted anything in January and I haven't really read any of your blogs... so I guess that I'll spend the rest of the day doing that, catching up with what has been going on with you in the past three weeks. See, the thing is that I haven't felt very well since the beginning of the month and both cooking and writing about it seemed like a chore instead of the fun activities I've always considered them to be. But I feel better now, and cooking and writing about it once again sound like a great idea. So here's a recipe I've made last week for the first time, although I have eaten it hundred of times at Thai restaurants: green curry with chicken.

THAI GREEN CURRY

1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil
2 onions, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
3 tablespoons green curry paste
2 pounds chicken breast, cubed
4 tablespoons of shredded fresh basil
2 1/2 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)

Heat up the oil in a wok and saute the onion for a couple of minutes. Add curry paste, stir well and let cook for two more minutes.

Add zucchini, chicken, basil, coconut milk and fish sauce and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened. Garnish with fresh basil and serve.

Shrimp carpaccio

So the new year is here. I had such high expectations for the beginning of 2011 and, not so oddly, I was bitterly disappointed. I mean, what the hell is wrong with me? Don't I preach every year that I don't care about New Year's Eve ans so on? So why do I end up caring when nothing goes the way it was supposed to? I guess I'm delusional. Or to be a little less tragic, let's call me a dreamer and be done with it.

Anyways, the point is that yesterday was the first day of 2011 that didn't majorly suck —which put me in a great mood I have to say. For the first time in a week I felt healthy enough to leave the house, which did me a world of good since I had spent day after day on the couch with a blanket and a frown on my face. But last night I was and about in Lugano, drinking drinks I don't usually, eating pizza and catching up with old friends. It was a better medicine than any traditional one and totally worth the slight headache I woke up with this morning. 

I have to say that now I have a brighter outlook on the new year, which also translates in the renewed resolution of eating healthy meals and living an altogether healthier life. So here's my first recipe for the new year: butterfly some good size shrimp, season with salt, pepper, and a mixture of evoo and lemon juice. Sprinkle with chives and serve cold as an appetizer. 

Happy 2011!!!

The New Year is here. So happy new year everyone!

2010 wasn't a bad year, but it wasn't great either. It was definitely different and it brought lots of changes in my life, some orchestrated by me, some imposed to me by others. But all in all, because I'm a firm believer that change is always good, 2010 was a fairly good year. 2009 was shitty, 2010 was ok... does this mean that 2011 will be awesome? I sincerely hope so. I could definitely use some awesomeness right now. I'm sure that it will be another year of great changes —after all the future belongs to  those who keep moving— and hopefully it will bring me peace of mind and financial stability, two things I need greatly.