A Surprisingly Good Bowl of Ramen

The waiter delivered two small bowls of ramen to Mr. and Mrs. A’s table.  The kitchen had split their order to two half portions upon their request.  In each bowl, the noodle was covered by a generous portion of tontoro (pork cheek) and deboned pork trotter slices.  The bowl was garnished with thinly sliced green onion, radish sprouts, a sheet of nori (seaweed) and half a marinated soft boiled egg.  Missing were menma (marinated bamboo shoot) and kamaboko (fish cake), both of which Mrs. A did not care for.

Tokyo style ramen

Mr. A started with eating a little bit of the ramen noodle, then a piece of tontoro, before taking a sip of the soup.  The noodle had the proper texture.  The pork cheek was incredibly soft and tender, with just the right amount of fat to make it sinfully delicious.  The soy-sauce seasoned Tokyo-style ramen soup was gentle and rich in pork and chicken flavor with no hint of MSG.  Mr. A finished his ramen with relish, drinking up every drop of the soup.  It was the best bowl he had in many months. 

That the ramen was so good came as a complete surprise because Mr. and Mrs. A were not eating at a ramen shop, or a Japanese restaurant for that matter.   They were having dinner in a casual bar/restaurant in a small town called Saint Helena.  It was curious to them that ramen was one of the main courses on the menu.  So they ordered it as their “pasta” dish following small plates of potato and salted cod fritters, roasted marrow bones with crispy sweetbreads, fried shrimp, and a spicy tripe stew.  

Baccala fritters

Roasted marrow bones, crispy sweetbreads

Fried shrimps

Tripe stew

Dessert was ultra-light Malasada doughnuts and Meyer lemon fool (note: a fruit fool is whipped cream or custard with fruit puree folded into it; in this case it was cream).  

Donuts and Meyer lemon fool

Mr. and Mrs. A enjoyed their dinner very much.  They have planned to return for more ramen.  They won’t share it the next time; each will have an order.

Cooking class in Tuscany

What better way to sample authentic Tuscan food than to take a cooking class with a Tuscan chef!  We took a cooking class with Giuseppina Pizzolato from Cuciina Giuseppina at the apartment we rented in Tuscany and enjoyed every minute of it.  To top it off, we had what we cooked for dinner in addition to other foods that Giuseppina and her son Simone brought with them.  It was a great start to our Tuscan holiday.

Never had this before - zucchini flowers

Preparing the batter for frying the flowers

Giueseppina demonstrating how to dip and drain the flower in the batter before frying

The flowers were so delicious!  This professional stove was in one of the apartments at the Castello di Pastine where we stayed

Like all cooks, we multi-tasked.   After we prepared the zucchini flowers so that they were ready for frying closer to dinner time, we started making the pasta.  Giuseppina showed us how to put the olive oil and eggs in the middle of the flour on a tray.  

Mixing the ingredients right on the tray

The proper way to knead...

So much fun putting the dough into the pasta maker!

This is cute - a simple press on this pasta tool created the little shell pasta

A trayful of shapes all made from the same pasta maker

Giuseppina showing off her students' work 

We learned the secret to the pasta sauce - put the olive oil and garlic in cold pan, just when oil heats up and the garlic is slightly cooked, add tomatoes and basil, salt and pepper, cover with lid, then turn off heat.  The tomatoes will cook itself.

We assisted in the preparation of the risotto with porcini mushrooms - mouth-watering good!  So was the liver paté.

The bruschetta - can't fail when the tomatoes were farm fresh

The fettucini that we made - the best we ever tasted...;-D

The osso buco that Giuseppina brought with her - full of flavour and melt in your mouth

Do we still have room for the apple cake?!

Thanks, Giuseppina - it was great fun!

Cruise fare

We were with a group of friends on an Azamara "small boat" cruise on the Adriatic for 7 nights this past fall - small boat being often equated with excellent food and service.  We ate at least two meals a day on the boat, breakfast and dinner with lunch usually on land.  So what was the food like?

I would say the food was tasty, well-prepared and well-presented and the service excellent.  There were lots of variety with a regular menu and a changing daily menu.   I was impressed by the diversity in the food choices - from basic steak to more exotic middle eastern fare and lots of seafood - all nicely dressed-up.  The only drawback that I could see, looking back on those 7 days on the boat, was that it was like eating out at the same restaurant seven nights in a row.

Even though we were trying different dishes every night, the cooking, the style, the presentation, all ended up being very similar.  The elements of surprise and discovery were diminished after the first two meals and these were often a large part of the food experience after the "basic needs" were met.  Going through my food photos, I find it hard to select from the many that were taken in the course of the week but I have tried to capture the tone in the selection below.  It would have been nice if there were more local regional dishes on the menu but I suspect they may not suit the nouvelle cuisine style Azamara seemed to be aiming for.

Still, the meals were very enjoyable - we had a great time because of the great company we were with and the food obviously added much to the dinner table conversation, especially when all eleven of us were seated at one table.  There was much food sharing and the waiters were very obliging in providing extra dishes of most things for sharing - it was like having a banquet every day!  Ultimately, it was the "abundance of riches" that detracted from what was actually a superior dining experience and we were glad that we lunched on land where we were relieved to be served "real" food, mainly local fish that actually looked like a fish...;-)

Soft-shell crab - can't complain about this one - it actually looked like a crab!

Shrimp appetizer

Fresh-tasting Seafood pasta

Delicious grilled red snapper

Grilled arctic char - tasty!

Perfectly done lamb - and I love the grilled egg plant!

Bouillabaisse - delicious but obviously not quite the real thing

Scallops and fish

Lobster, scallops and squid - this was at the specialty restaurant Aqualina - we had to pay a cover charge to eat here as we were not in the right class cabin

Great desserts!

And a perfect Gran Marnier souffle!

Delicious Meals in Italy 2013

Arufa and M vacationed in Italy in October.  They drove west from Florence to Santa Margherita and Portofino, zigzag across the country to Venice and finally Rome.  Besides sightseeing and shopping, they indulged in the traditional Italian food – a lot of pasta, seafood and funghi.  

Some of the dishes they enjoyed in Florence included a salad of burrata and crispy zucchini and tagliatelle with cherry tomato and basil.

On their way to Portofino, they stopped at Lucca for fritto misto, ravioli, and pasta with squid.

 

To celebrate the porcini season, they ate pasta with porcini in Santa Margherita.

In Venice, they feasted on gamberi (large shrimps), scampi, and spaghetti with clams.

Arufa and M visited Eatery Roma, the humongous branch of the giant international high-end supermarket chain (it has locations in Tokyo and NYC).  They had dinners at various restaurants there.  The pan of fried calamari, shrimps and anchovies was wonderful, 

but not as much as the tartufo bianco dishes, such as the eggs with a generous amount of shaved white truffle, 

or a “menu tartufo” consisted of three items on a plate – tajarin (a Piedmonte egg pasta), egg and polenta, and a fondue of Raschera cheese, milk, butter and egg, all of which were topped with white truffle.  The latter two were served in aperitif glasses.

Arufa and M’s meals in Italy were rustic and simple but deliziosa!