Wild Mushroom Fettucine

Those that have a Mac (especially you GQ), could you please let me know if my posts are a little wonky? I started a new job as a nanny and I logged onto my blog using the Mac at my employers and noted that all the photos were really out of place. So I adjusted the template only to come home and find the blog looking wonky on my normal HP computer. I hope that I've fixed the problem and no more side by side photos in the future.

Anyway, we were so inspired by our Italian trip that we decided to try and recreate some of the magic at home. So off to the Borough market we went, and bought avariety of wild mushrooms.

The result was not too bad, but no way close to what we had.

Also, wild mushrooms are pretty robust, so make sure you cook it for a little longer than your usual mushrooms that seem to wilt the instant they hit the pan.

Wild Mushroom Fettucine recipe

200g fresh fettucine
150g assorted mushroom, cleaned and sliced
2 clove garlic minced
4-5 slices dried porcini mushroom, soaked in a little hot water (reserve liquid)
knob of butter
olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
handful chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta to instructions. If it is freshly made, it only takes 3 minutes. Drain the pasta in a colander.
In a hot pan, add a few tablespoon olive oil and butter. Add the garlic and the mushrooms. Cook mushroom to wilt. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and reserved liquid. Add the herbs and toss in the pasta. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Vatican City, Italy

The Vatican City in Rome was on the itinerary for the second day. We were glad we joined a tour as the queue would have been a three hour long wait. I have never seen such a long queue before. The Pope and 800 other clergymen resides at the Vatican City, and they even have their own separate passports.

Oh, the other thing good about Rome was that you could get fresh and cold spring water at almost every corner of the city. I think this is remnant of the aqueducts built by the Romans. Just make sure you have an empty water bottle to refill. This water fountain was in the Vatican city itself.

This is a colossal head of Emperor Augustus measuring 2 metres high. It was found in the Roman forum but now lives in the courtyard of Pigna in the Vatican City.

This is the statue of Laocoon and his sons, apparently carved from one piece of marble. It depicts Laocoon, a figure in Greek and Roman mythology, and his sons being attacked by serpents sent by the goddess Athena after Laocoon tried to expose the ruse of the Trojan horse by striking it with a spear. It is believed to have been made in 160 to 20 BC. This is a monumental sculpture that even the ignorants (like me) can appreciate. The attention to detail is amazing- you could even see veins on the upper arm!

The Vatican Museum is vast. It has many chambers containing sculptures and wares from ancient times. But thing I like most were the paintings, especially on the walls and ceilings. Below is a picture of one of the many ceilings in the Vatican Museum. At first, I thought it was actually 3 dimension, with embossings. But the painting on the ceiling is actually just 2-D, but with shadows painted to give a 3-D illusion. The pastel colours were also refreshing- as most ceilings and walls tend to be painted in really bright, golden and gawdy colours.

The last destination of the tour was the Sistine Chapel. The Chapel is mainly famous for the work of Michaelangelo. Michaelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint 1200 square feet of the ceiling in the 15th century.  To my surprise, the chapel is actually quite small. So you have to squeeze into the space with lots of other tourists. They also did not allow any photos, which was a shame. But we managed to squeeze in a few... hehe, although not in clear focus.

The creation of Adam depicted by Michaelangelo. He depicts God giving life to Adam.

The Judgement Day painting on the wall of the Sistine Chapel.

The tour ended outside St Peter's Basilica.

St Peter's Square

And then a quick stop for lunch, and yet again a very ordinary meal (and it was pricey too).  Salad of anchovies and cheese (left). Chicken and capsicum casserole.

A very ordinary pizza- the base was hard and thick.

At this stage, we felt a bit of despair. Are we going to have at least a decent meal in Rome? Being the last day of the trip, we decided that we are going to try and find a decent restaurant tonight, no matter what.

More site-seeing for the rest of the day. This is the Pantheon, half covered with scaffolding. I think I mentioned that many monuments that we have visited during this trip were having some restorative work done. Just our luck...

Considering this was built in about 126 AD, it has stood the test of time compared to the other ancient places in Rome. It was built initially to worship the Roman gods, but since the 7th century, it has been used by the Roman Catholics as a church and dedicated to St. Mary and the martyrs.

The Pantheon Dome from inside the church

And finally, saving the best for last, the Trevi fountain. Definitely more impressive in person than in a picture.

After a long and hot day, it was nice to have a relaxing evening by having a good meal. So we headed to the Trastevere, for the second time, to scout for a better place for dinner. We spent a good half hour to forty five minutes scrutinizing menus before deciding on Ristorante da Bruno alla Lungaretta. Their menu looked as though someone had put more of an effort into rather than just the usual tourist fare of pizzas and pastas.

Thank goodness this meal turned out to be really good. It cost a bit more, but definitely well worth it.

Sea perch Ravioli                                                   Grilled fish with zucchini

                                                                                                                                             

A really delicious fettucine of prawns and raddichio- doesn't look great on photo, but the taste was spot on!

Seafood frite                                                                                  Veal saltimbucca


Luckily for this restaurant, a great way to end a good trip.

Jo Jo's  most memorable and enjoyable moments (not in order) were:

Eating gelati everyday.
Trying black truffles- you only live once, so you should try it even if you don't like mushrooms.
Eaing all the yummy pastas in Venice and Perugia.
The vision of Tuscany hills and the seas of sunflowers in bloom.
Piazza Michelangelo in Florence.
Staying at a B&B- something different to just another hotel room.
The fresh spring water in Rome.

Signing off with the famous words of Asterix and Obelix, "These Romans are crazy!"

Hmmm... where are we going next? A short trip to Bordeaux next weekend! Yay...

Rome, Italy

I am nearing the end of blogging about our week in Italy with Rome being the last stop. I will definitely remember the lovely views of the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside. Being summer, the hills were like golden seas with blooming sunflowers. Unfortunately, the picture above is the best I could do from a moving vehicle. We could not find a stop along the highway to take any decent pictures.

There are also beautiful views of medieval towns along the way which looks so serene and inviting. A week (or even a month) is not enough time to truly experience this diverse country.

Alas,  the serenity did not last long. Rome is a major city like any other. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with Rome, possibly due to having too high an expectation. The city was actually quite dirty with rubbish on the streets and lots of grafitti on the walls. The first day also did not start very well. When we dropped off the Avis car and tried to claim the refund on the engine oil that we topped up (a mere 12.50 Euro), the very rude manager told us that she could not accept our receipt because it was a wrtten invoice and not a proper printout. We even showed her a photo of the flashing engine oil signal that I took with my camera. She told us that, in her very words "not my problem, but yours". Needless to say, and with regret now, her response made us really upset. In summary, we wasted close to an hour of our time dealing with this person. There was absolutely no customer service at all. This experience has really put me off renting cars on holiday in the future. Enough said about this, lets move on.

Despite my ambivalence towards the city, there were a few positives. We stayed in a quirky B&B called B&B Suites Trastevere which is run by a lovely guy name Marco. He basically planned our Rome stay- taught us how to catch the tram (4 short stops from the B&B- so convenient), booked our Vatican City tour for the next day, and gave us tips on where to eat. As you can see from the pics, each room was painted to a Roman theme. Ours was called the Trevi room after the Trevi fountain.

We spent the rest of the hot afternoon visiting a few sites.  The above is The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II or the tomb of the unknown soldier and below, the Flavian Amphitheatre or more famously known as The Colosseum. The Colosseum was built in 70 AD, and it took 30,000 Judean slaves and 30 years to complete. A random fact- the workers were paid with salt as it was an expensive commodity at the time, important use to cure food. The Latin word for salt is salarium, hence the English word salary was derived from that.

Half of the top two floors collapsed after an earthquake. In its glory days, the Colosseum could seat up to 50,000 people.

The Swiss cheese appearance of the wall of the Colosseum were apparently made by the Germans during the 2nd WW. They were harvesting metal to make weapons during the war.

The Forum- what is left now is mainly ruins. It is left to your own imagination what it was like back in those times.

Inside the colosseum. As you can see, the floor has been part removed to show where the slaves and animals were kept for the barbaric games.

More pictures of the Forum. To get the most out of this, we joined a walking tour outside the Colosseum which is guided and takes you through the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palathian hill. Not only does it provide you the info you need on the ruins, it also allows you to bypass the long queues (trust me, the queues here are long).

As always, a gelati stop. Not a day has gone by that we did not have gelati.

We then had a very mediocre meal at a place called Ivo Trastevere. It was recommended by our host, plus you would think by the crowd that came here the food would be amazing. It wasn't at all. I guess tourist are lured by the decent prices. Suppose to serve the best pizza, but the base was actually soggy.

Grilled chicken with peppercorn sauce

Steak salad with balsamic sauce 

Mushroom and olive pizza

Prawn spaghetti                                                                               Eggplant penne

A very forgettable meal.............

Perugia, Italy

Perugia is the capital city of Umbria and the city centre sits on top of a hill. These pictures were taken at dusk as we set out hunting for a meal. Like many other Italian cities, there are many churches, palaces and museums to visit. But at this stage of the trip, I was having a visual overload and every church looks almost the same. The only sensation intact was probably my taste buds! I could not wait to taste the famed Norcian black truffles... Plus, Perugia is also well known for chocolate. The Perugina Chocolate company produces the famous Baci chocolate and this is exported all over the world. For all you chocolate lovers, make sure you come to Perugia in October for the chocolate festival.

The Basilica di San Domenico is the largest chuch in Perugia built in the 13th Century.

Walking down the main street- Corso Vanucci

The city centre- Piazza IV Novembre. This photo was taken from the steps of Cathedral di San Lorenzo and seen in this picture are Fontana Maggiore and Palazzo dei Priori.

Roads in Perugia are really narrow- make sure your rental car is small. Bern accidentally ran over my big toe while I was trying to guide him through a narrow street. Ouch! Luckily no broken bones, just a bruised nail bed.

This was where we had dinner, a restaurant called Il Cantinone tucked in a corner along an alleyway. This meal was the BEST meal of the trip. Even the ambience was perfect. There was a gentle breeze flowing through as we dined along the corridors of this medieval town.

Fettucine with black Norcian truffle

At last, I've tried truffles! It was as I expected and much much more. It is hard to describe the taste, except that it is very earthy and rich. Nothing else taste like truffles. It also is worth more in weight than gold.

We had a double dose of truffle by having a steak covered in black truffle sauce. This dish was SERIOUSLY good.

As if we did not have enough of mushrooms, we also had a pork cutlet with porcini mushroom sauce and a pizza wih meat and wild mushrooms.

Yummy yum yum.