The Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region Comes to Il Fornaio

Wedged between Austria and Slovena, the northern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the south and the Alps to the north. Reflecting a climate which can be buffeted by cold fronts, the region's cuisine emphasizes comfort food: hearty soups, polenta, charcuterie, grilled meats and fish, risotto, gnocchi, and ravioli.

To celebrate the New Year, a group of friends gathered at the Santa Monica Il Fornaio (1551 Ocean Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401; 310/451-7800), opposite the Santa Monica Pier, for a tasting of the Festa Regionale (January 4-17) . Along with a selection of regional dishes, we also sampled wines from the family run Tenuta Luisa winery located close to the Slovena border.

When we arrived at the restaurant, a cold chill caught us by surprise, so soup was the order of the day. The Cannellini Bean Soup (Zuppa E Antipasti) was deeply flavored with carrots, potatoes, and Swiss chard, topped with a thin slice of Il Fornaio's bread, crusted with grated Parmesan cheese. The light and fruity but not sweet Friulano (2008) made a good companion for the soup.

While we studied the menu, we feasted on a basket of delicious, fresh-from-the-oven Il Fornaio bread--the restaurant is called "The Baker" after all--with slices dipped into a small plate filled with their own extra virgin olive oil. The struggle, always, is to eat only a few slices of the bread and not the whole basket.

Although off the familiar tourist routes, Friuli-Venezia Giulia is well-known for one of its products, San Daniele prosciutto. Our appetizer was a plate composed as much for the eye as the palate (Prosciutto San Daniele e Formaggi Misti). The sweet, delicate San Daniele could be eaten by itself, each slice practically melting in your mouth.

What's fun about a charcuterie plate is the mix-and-matching that is possible. A piece of prosciutto can be eaten with a bite of a meaty Cerignola olive, or it can be wrapped around a crisp thin bread stick studded with sea salt. My favorite way was to dredge a slice of soft Montasio Vecchio in olive oil I seasoned with sea salt and pepper, quickly wrapping the cheese in the San Daniele, popping the little package in my mouth before too much of olive oil dripped off, followed by a sip of Friulano. Yum.

Reflecting their proximity to the Alps, the pasta courses featured hearty cream sauces. Usually anathema to calorie counters, a special dispensation should be made for these delicious sauces.

When there is a choice between Ravioli with Roast Duck in an Asparagus Cream Sauce (Ravioli d'Anatra Agli Asparagi), Pasta with Shellfish in a Parmesan and Tomato Bechamel (Pasticcio alla Gradese), Gnocchi with Sausage in a Tomato Cream Sauce (Gnocchi alla Friulana), or Risotto with Mushrooms and Vegetables in a Cheese Sauce (Risotto del Cansiglio), you'd want the tasting to focus entirely here and never move on.

But good sense prevailed and we sampled two of the four.

The ravioli hit every comfort note. The sauce, light and creamy, was leavened by the asparagus. The filling of braised duck meat was mixed with San Daniele prosciutto and pillowed softly inside the delicately sweet dough. Needless to say, generous amounts of fresh bread were used to collect every last drop of the sauce.

In the risotto, the sauce had been absorbed into the grains of rice. By comparison with the ravioli, the effect was almost austere but the effect was no less luxurious. The risotto melted in the mouth, with thin slices of wild mushrooms and fresh vegetables providing added flavor to the sweetness of the rice.

With both courses we had the Pinot Grigio (2008), a crisp companion perfect to contrast with the pastas' richness.

For protein, the region looks both to the mountains and the sea. Shrimp and Spaghetti in a Marinara Cream Sauce (Gamberoni alla Busara con Spaghetti), Wild Sea Bass with Mashed Potatoes and Spinach (Filetto di Branzino alla Greca), and a Mixed Grill of Chicken, Sausage, Lamb, and New York Steak (Carne Mista alla Brace).

Choosing the sea bass, I would have happily just eaten the mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach with cherry tomatoes, capers, Kalmata and Cerignola olives. They were that delicious. The sea bass had no trouble competing with such formidable accompaniments. Moist and sweet, the skin turned into a crisp confection that dissolved in my mouth. The Friulano was a bit too fruity for the dish and the Pinot Grigio too crisp, so we switched to the Sauvignon (2008) which had just the right amount of lightness and full flavor.

Outside we could see people leaving the Santa Monica pier, their coats pulled tightly around them, so although we were well-satisfied with the meal, we decided to take another moment and relax in the warm comfort of the restaurant and share the regional dessert.

A small cake topped with ice cream came to the table. The Italian name, Tortino di Mele con Gelato al Rum, was certainly a mouthful. But we were so busy eating the cake, we didn't bother practicing our Italian. To our simple American tastes this was a great version of a Fruit-Nut Cake. And the rum raisin ice cream was as good as it gets.

For more posts about Il Fornaio's Festa Regionale check out:
Grilled Vegetable Couscous Salad
A Tasting at Il Fornaio, Santa Monica--Trentino-Alto Adige
A Trip to Italy is Just Around the Corner at Il Fornaio--Calabria
Il Fornaio Heads South to Campania for May's Regionale
Il Fornaio Heads North to Lombardia
Abruzzo at Il Fornaio, Santa Monica

Quicksilver

In another of my wanderings through the periodic table [link], I started contemplating a post about Mercury - or Quicksilver as it was called in times past.

Quicksilver is a liquid metal at standard room temperature and pressure, the only one. It's useful in all sorts of industrial applications, from medicine to gold mining. It is also extremely toxic.

If you have ever seen a beaker of mercury, you know how fascinating it is. The shine and look grab your attention. It moves kind of like water but not really, and has the colour of silver - highly polished shiny silver that reflects everything around it as it sits there and trembles.

Even a small volume is heavy, confusing the brain to begin with. Lift up a quarter-full beaker and the question marks fly out your ears. Your body and brain do not understand how a liquid could have this heft. Pour some onto a non-reactive surface (glass or iron) and you see the pronounced meniscus, the curvature at the edges of the sample. And with the slightest provocation, the blob of mercury will split into a bunch of rivulets, baby dribbles of silver running with gravity this way and that. Then the rivulets turn to blobs, sitting there, waiting. Gravity likes playing with an element with such a high atomic number.

So here's my metaphor: I think negative emotions can be like Mercury. We start with a beaker of them, all contained by the glass. Then one day something happens, and a little spills out. The liquid metal runs downhill as fast as it can, seeking the lowest point. That's the nature of everything subject to gravity. So we of course go chasing after the Mercury, because it's kinda funky, and all shiny and unusual. It's interesting to see how it reacts to the world.

But then we find that chasing Mercury and getting it back into the beaker are two different things. We can't just scoop it up, because some will inevitably escape. It's decidedly tricky to vacuum or sweep back into one spot, for the same reason. It's the damnedest stuff. The more we try to contain the spill, the more divided and hard to keep track of it becomes.

We manage to collect some of the Mercury in, say, a dustpan, but not all of it is there. So we have to keep going back to find the missing blobs. Suddenly you see shiny specks of Mercury in the carpet, or between the floorboards. Now you realize that you're unlikely to ever completely retrieve it, to put the entire amount you started with back into the beaker.

Then it hits you. Shit. This stuff is poisonous. Hell, what do I do now? I wish I'd never started fooling with this gear in the first place.











Photo from here. [link]

One-a-Day

Warren Beatty is an ancient Hollywood star.

There is news - or what passes for news thesedays - about the number of women with whom he had sex in his past single life. The allegation (congratulation?) is that somewhere north of 12,000 different women played hide-the-sausage with Mr Beatty. The source is a newly published unauthorised biography written by Peter Biskind of Vanity Fair.

Mr Beatty claims (via his lawyer) he was misquoted and that the book contains inaccurate statements.

The 12,000 number might or might not be true. It has the smell to me of a publicity ruse; a nice big round number that newspaper 'style' and 'life' sections picked up without question. The number didn't come from 12,000 women coming forward claiming they'd been with Warren, nor were there 12,000 condoms or 12,000 soiled sheets. Mr Biskind takes an unattributed statement that Mr Beatty had sex with a new woman every day for thirty-five years, then multiplies 365 and 35 to come up with 12,775.

In other words, the source of this 'fact' is a pocket calculator.

You will be relieved to know it does not include "daytime quickies, drive-by [encounters], casual gropings, stolen kisses, and so on", writes Mr Biskind.

That is good news.




Photo of Julie Christie, apparently one of the 12,000, from here. [link]

Edited for clarity.

Do you NuVal?

Lauren, Biz, and Juliana were right, cornstarch actually thins if it's overworked.

Tina recently started working with NuVal, and I was excited to check it out in Price Chopper when I went home. NuVal evaluations the nutritional value of foods based on a range of criteria, including protein, fiber, fats, sodium, sugar, cholesterol, glycemic load, energy density, vitamins and minerals. Based on these factors, it assigns a score on a scale of 1-100, the higher the score, the better nutritional value of the product.


I really like their score, how it takes into account so many valuable bits of information, rather than a label of "reduced fat" or "low carb" to give the illusion of being automatically better for you. It does not take into account toxins (as could be found in certain seafood), nor does it take into account organic ingredients. Overall I agree with this omission, just because something is organic does not necessarily mean that it is better for you. It leaves the decision of organic up to the consumer, whose responsibility it is to educate themselves on the choices they make. The one thing I found surprising that artificial ingredients did not affect the NuVal score, and in many cases, actually increases it.

To see it up close and personal, I went to the store with my camera and started snapping! I know fresh fruits and veggies score high on the NuVal scale, so I focused on things that might be more revealing: cereal, crackers, chips, yogurt and granola bars. Here are a few things I learned...

Not all brands are created equal.
Arrowhead Mills Amaranth Flakes 91
Health Valley Amaranth Flakes 31

Peanut Butter Puffins (24) aren't any better than my childhood favorite, Lucky Charms (23).

You shouldn't always choose pretzels over chips.
Terra Chips 34
Garden of Eatin Blue Corn Chips 40
Soy Crisps ~30
Snyders Mini Pretzels 10 (!! Snaps score a 20, why? I didn't look closely at the ingredients)
Snyders Honey Wheat Pretzels 25

Chocolate can be better than dried fruit.
Fig Newmans 9
Newmans Chocolate O's 14

Different varieties of the same product can vary widely.
Shredded Wheat 91
Lightly Frosted or Honey Nut Shredded Wheat ~30
Stoneyfield Fat Free Plain Yogurt 89
Stoneyfield Fat Free French Vanilla 42
Tropicana Ruby Red 39
Tropicana Ruby Red + Calcium + Vit D 82
Light N Fit Raspberry White Chocolate Yogurt 81
Light N Fit Blackberry Yogurt 47

Salsa isn't always good for you.
Frontera Habanero Salsa 8 (!! I'm guessing salt, maybe sugar too)
Amy's Black Bean & Corn Salsa 35

When it comes to cereals, some of the highest scores came from Arrowhead Mills Amaranth Flakes (91), Alpen No Sugar Added Muesli Cereal (87) and Shredded Wheat (91). Keep in mind that not every product had a NuVal score. I was interested to see how Kashi stacked up, but they weren't labelled in my store. Fiber One Original, All Bran, and Special K Protein Plus scored between 50-60, as do rolled oats. I was surprised to see how much higher other grains scored - Oat bran (66), 5 Grain cereal (93), Muesli (87) and 10 Grain cereal (91).

Crackers as a whole score lower on the NuVal scale, but the ones I found at the top were All Bran crackers (35) and Wasa Fiber crackers (39). Kashi TLC, Triscuits, Wheat Thins, Whole Grain Goldfish and Special K crackers all fell in the high 20s. Wheatables serves as a cautionary tale to not trust a name, scoring a 4!

Phew, monster post! Sorry if it's a little overwhelming, but I had fun looking at the scores (although I generally do like to take my time in grocery stores!). I think that NuVal scores are an easy way to start thinking about what you're buying. Of course there's always making your own crackers, chips and cookies, but sometimes you need convenience :) Now it's up to the stores to highlight the scores for consumers, and to keep adding scores to all of their products!

To find out other stores that feature NuVal scores, click here. Has anyone else seen these in their supermarket?? Check out Tina's blog for some ideas on how to "trade up" (increase the nutritional value) some of your meals!

I could do so much better.

A list of words describing relationships will include The Good:

+ loving, honest, devoted, a partnership

The Bad:

+ abusive, mismatched, infidelitous

And The Ugly.

+ she settled.

Any union including violence is abhorrent, and if contempt moves into the spare bedroom it's pretty much over. But settling has a quality all its own.

If we settle, we're in worse shape than one innocuous word implies. Settling tells the world that we could have done better. We ended up with the 1995 Honda Civic when we should be driving a showroom-new Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder - according to the voice in our head at least.

More than that, settling means that at one point we thought the Civic was the Lambo. The fact that we now see how blinkered we were is evidence of self-criticism verging on self-flagellation That leads to self-doubt about any further choices we make relationshipwise. That is not a winning formula.

And then there's the corrosive effect of looking at what we have right in front of us, and imagining what might have been. To me, that's the very worst element of thinking that we've settled because it combines the two deadly mindfuckers: regret for the past, and (irrational) imagining of the future. Between them, those two will suck all the life from us, stopping, as they do, the only thing we have.

Right now.






Photo of Humphrey and Lauren from here [link]

With thanks to Belle for the inspiration.

Happy New Year!

I don't know about you, but I spent my night welcoming 2010 with a cutie ;)

Meet Shula!

Unfortunately, she is not my puppy, but I'll still get lots of play time with her :)

I need to thank Hilary and Domino Sugar for providing me with a gift card to create some holiday goodies!! I checked out their site and found lots of great ideas (even diy sugar scrubs!), but ended up making the Butterscotch Pecan Cookie Mix in a Jar. A very easy gift that I'm sure grandma will enjoy :) Thanks Domino! You'll see more cookies, too, later this week...

Happy Holidays from Domino!

While we're on the subject of gift ideas, I can share a neat centerpiece that's good for your own home or would make a great hostess gift!


Made in any size vase, you simply put Christmas tree clippings (real or fake) in the bottom (don't be afraid to pack them in), then top with fresh cranberries and then fill with water. Set a candle on top and you have a festive centerpiece during the holiday season! You can thank my mom for this one ;)


And, courtesy of my aunt, who got me a neat game, I've got some trivia that I'll try and include at the bottom of some posts. You won't win anything but knowledge :)

What thickener will actually thin under conditions of too much heat, vigorous stirring, or a too-long cooking time?

Friday Fluffer - Maximum Fluff

A mate recently gave me a used copy of Maxim, the lads' mag that bills itself as "The Ultimate Guys' Guide".

Remarkably, I swear that this edition was exactly - exactly - the same as the last one I read, more than ten years ago. All the same articles were there, from hangover cures to the photo-folios of unknown F-List girls. Beer ads. Condom ads. Jolly jottings on television, dates and how to dress well without being called "gay" rounded out the rest.

Ironic then that the first pop-up ad to appear when I visited their website was for eHarmony. Yep. Maxim. Fluff for men who daydream of fluffers but would be happy settling down with a nice girl. Like Sarah, above.


Edit: Media are a mystery, but recent correspondence makes me wonder why mags like Maxim don't embrace this wondrous internet thing, if only to tell me that I'm a douche. Why don't these morons know that I'm panning their loss-making arses? And why not make friends of like-minded or anti-but-sympathetic writers?


More fluffers here. [link]

Photo of Sarah Silverman pointing at her best asset courtesy of her PR flacks.