We were experiencing technical difficulties,

Yeah, it was way way too long between posts. I sort of tried to make up for it with a couple posts in succession. It, i am sure, will not work. I was in technology hell for a bit, but thats no excuse.

(screw it. between me and ellen, we had two iPhones, a kindle, a laptop and the internet access at school all decide not to work in about 72 hours. and they all continued not to work. it sucked)

Ok, so excuse and explanations over, I'll try to be more timely with the updates.

Terra Madre/Slow Food/craziness

Take the biggest and best food and wine event you've ever been to in the states, multiply by 100, fill with wildly gesticulating Italians, put it in a former Fiat factory on the rough side of Torino and make everyone half drunk. Including me. And then add a smattering of Germans, French, Scandinavians, Brits and Americans, the Slow Food Africa and South America contingents both in full on traditional dress and mix well.

I don't think I've properly conveyed the scale of the event: I've been here for five hours so far, eating and drinking diligently, moving rapidly even, and I haven't made it to entire halls worth of stuff. I've done two Italy halls, the International hall, the enoteca (wine tasting area), the spirits (the highlights here were all the awesome rum that never gets imported to the states), the beer, the street food and the salumi. I'm missing the Piedmonte (the regional sponsor this year) and the Torino room. And the labratorio del gusto, but I'm not sure what this is yet.

Fucking hell, this Terra Madre is no joke. Certainly worth a six hour train journey each way. (and I have to add that we left Jesi at midnight, and we are departing Torino at seven pm, getting back at like 2 am or so. A long day in any case, even if you manage to sleep on the train. Still worth the hassle.)

I'm disappointed about how poorly represented the US is. We've got the american craft brewers association pouring beer that made me homesick and a few top shelf bourbons and ryes among the spirits. That's it. It sucks because we've got product that can compete with what's here, at least some of our cheese and meats and definitely the wine can, but none of it's here. Is it slow food not recognizing American products or America's own insularity at work? Or possibly tough importation regulation from the EU? Either way, America does have good food and drink and we aren't showing the rest of the world that its there. And that sucks.

I haven't been homesick the entire time I've been in Italy, but the dogfish head and the correctly made Manhattan did it. A bartender who could not speak any English at all but still managed to make me exactly the drink I wanted, ordered in Italian, was great. It did however make me want to see all my DC peoples at bar pilar. And if I could time travel, bar pilar when Adam made the best manhattans in the world there.

So then I went and had some out of this world prosciutto from Parma and some superlative gnocchi alla sorrentina from Campania and everything was ok.

But still. America needs to step it up on the international scene. We've got some good shit in the states and everyone thinks were only coke and mcdonalds. Shit, on the international scene, we are lucky if it's burger king representing.

Oh yeah. And our oysters, both coasts, kick the ass of anything available, at this event, anyway. Multiple species and places of origin on the European side of the Atlantic are here, but I still think PEI and Puget Sound would kick ass here. Even out humble Chesapeake oysters compare well.

To sum it all up: this event is over the top amazingly fantastically hedonistic and wonderful but we have to get some US producers to make the trek.

And if you find yourself in Italy during Terra Madre in 2012, drop everything and spend a couple days here. Worth every penny. Or euro as the case may be.

Capri sun is more than a juice box.

After a second week of classes, I was ready for some R&R. Ellen agreed, and we took a 20 minute hydrofoil to the island of Capri on Friday afternoon. Since in rained all day Wednesday, Thursday and most of Friday, our classmates and teachers suggested we postpone the trip. We already had reservations at the Capri Palace Hotel in the town of Anacapri, so we forged ahead anyway. Fortune favors the bold, or at least those who book hotels in advance, because we woke up Saturday and it was a perfect blue-sky day, with a nice breeze. Perfect weather for sitting in the sun next to a pool (or in my case, sitting in the shade with sunblock on), reading the paper or studying Italian in a desultory fashion. Though to my chagrin, I forgot my capri pants, the weekend was a nice escape from our school routine.

On Friday night we had dinner in the Capri Palace Hotel’s restaurant, which got great reviews and two Michelin stars. Based on this (and a few other dinners) we have come to the conclusion that outside of France, the storied Guide Michelin is utterly unreliable when it comes to food quality. If you’re looking for a high server-to-guest ratio, this books for you. If you actually care about what you are eating and not how many people are hovering over your table, it holds little value. Not that this was a bad meal, just not anywhere close to the gushing review. The highlights of the meal: Ellen’s first course, the seafood mosaic, and dessert, an architectural chocolate construction. Both I would happily order again anywhere. The low point of the meal was the lemon-scented risotto topped with raw fish that I ordered: the rice had a watery texture, was a little crunchy in places, lacked salt and, incredibly, needed more acid. It was supposed to be lemon risotto? I sent it back almost entirely uneaten. The backserver who cleared the plate asked if I liked it and I replied that “it wasn’t for me,” and she nodded. That’s it. If you don’t like something in a two-star in France, or any restaurant worth its salt in DC, someone will acknowledge it, perhaps offer a replacement or take it off the check, some kind of response. But here, nothing. And the coup de gras, at least for the service experience: they brought me the wrong entrée. I ordered a dish featuring suckling pig but they announced the veal as they dropped our plates. At this point, it wasn’t worth arguing about. And the veal was actually delicious, cooked medium so it was juicy and flavorful. I may not have ordered it but I certainly wasn’t sending it back.

Convertible taxi!

Saturday lunch was poolside, casual with a nice bottle of (something white?). For dinner, we took a taxi  (a convertible taxi!) down the hill from Anacapri to the larger town of Capri. The taxi ride was great: we happened to be leaving right at sunset and the view of the sea over the sheer cliffs of the island was beautiful. The roads are narrow and winding, with several hairpin turns and at best a loose adherence to traffic regulations. While I enjoyed it, Ellen described the ride in the open-topped cab as “harrowing.” (Full disclosure: I’m the kind of person who loves roller coasters and would happy bungee jump or sky dive.) She took a ton of great pictures of the view though. We wandered around the town’s main piazza for a while, had a cocktail overlooking the water and then headed to Pizzeria da Georgio for dinner.

Drinks in Anacapri. 

We met our friend from class, a Londoner named Justine, at da Georgio. We had a table right next to the large open windows overlooking the water, and the lights of Napoli across the bay. I order the bresaola (air-cured beef sliced paper thin) for a first course. The salty bresaola with spicy arugula and shaved parmesan, dressed only with olive oil and balsamic, was great. Then I had a pizza with mozzarella di bufala. Life was good.

Capri is a fancy-pants, pretentious place. The views are beautiful, but everything else is annoying and difficult to deal with. And they apparently wear short pants. 

the little water buffalo

One of my favorite restaurants in Sorrento is undoubtedly Inn Bufalito. This is a smallish trattoria-style place on a narrow alley off the main drag, Curso Italia. Around 75% of the tables are outside, in a front patio surrounded by low walls, but the whole front of the building is open, so there isn’t much difference. It’s part of the Slow Food network, having pledged to use only local ingredients and to cook the cuisine of Campania. The avowed specialties of the house are mozzarella di bufala and dishes using buffalo meat, hence the name. The service is friendly, not a given in touristy Sorrento. The waiters here seem both enthusiastic and knowledgeable, which is a help given that the majority of the menu changes constantly and is written in an untidy scrawl on a blackboard.

We’ve eaten at Inn Bufalito four times in three weeks; between Ellen and I we’ve tried a fair number of different menu items. I’ll hit the highlights here.

the decimated cheese sampler plate

On our first visit, we saw a mozzarella sampler plate destined for another table. As the server passed our table, I immediately declared my intention to return to the restaurant. We had already ordered, but I absolutely needed to try this. I was not disappointed when we indeed returned: the sampler is intended for two, but we shared it between three people and didn’t finish everything. Creamy-crumbly ricotta di bufala con miele nocciola (buffalo’s milk ricotta with hazelnut honey) was amazing. The ricotta had a grassy, herbaceous flavor to it and the honey wasn’t too sweet, but actually retained a slight nutty note. This we finished all of, I was practically licking the plate. (On a complete side note, I have to figure out a way to get hazelnut honey in the states. Totally different flavor than any honey I’ve ever tried at home). The walnut-sized boccancini had a firm texture, while the larger sizes of mozzarella di bufala got progressively creamier in the middle. The braided style had a totally unique texture, and was a bit saltier than the cheeses. It reminded Ellen of Armenian string cheese, at least in texture, and I thought the comparison was right on.

Yeah, it was that delicious.

Another memorable first course was the caponata. This dish is a little tricky: in Napoli expect tuna, olives and tomatoes with your salad and toasted wheat bread, while in Sicily eggplant is required and the other items are optional, except for the bread. At Inn Bufalito, they make a caponata siciliana, with large chunks of bread, tomatoes, basil, black olives and eggplant marinated in oil and vinegar, no lettuce. It was great, with enough dressing, but not so much as to make the croutons soggy. And they didn’t included a ton of tomatoes, maybe four or so pieces in a serving,  so the eggplant really carried the dish. It was robust enough to stand up to the 2005 Aglianico di Taurasi we drank with it.

Buffalo sausage! 

Among the pasta we tried, my favorite was the paccheri con ragu di bufala. Essentially giant size rigatoni with an awesome meat sauce based on tomatoes and buffalo meat. The lasagna was also great, made with both cream and tomatoes, ground buffalo meat and perfectly al dente fresh pasta. I’m still not sure how they achieved that. Another awesome pasta was the scialatelli with buffalo sausage. Ok, everything with buffalo and pasta was great. 

So this restaurant is great. You all should go, etc.