Day 51 - 5280 week approaching!

Yes, I know that I am not in Denver, but half of you readers are! 5280 week is fast approaching and it is an annual event not to miss out on, so make a reservation. I always try to hit up 2 or 3 places during this week, so I went through and made a list of the not misses, at least in my food-snob opinion. If you do get out to any tasty restaurants, let me know, I want to live vicariously through you all!

5280 Week - 2011

1515 Restaurant

1876 Restaurant

Assignments Restaurant (At the AI culinary campus, go sticky toffee pudding!)

Arugula (Boulder)

Barolo Grill

Black Cat (Boulder, menu pending, but the normal menu looks insane)

Chon Lon Bistro (5280 Best new restaurant)

Colt & Gray

Del Friscos

Euclid Hall (Mainly because you get all 4 courses and tons of options)

Highland Gardens Cafe

Jaipoix (4 courses and have heard decent reviews)

Lou’s Bar (Skip the 5280 menu and order the fried chicken instead)

Mt.Vernon Country Club (Golden. And a Beautiful view, 4 courses, wine too)

Olivea

Salt (Boulder)

Simms Steakhouse (Golden)

Terroir (Longmont. Seems like a really good menu)

Undici (Englewood)

Venue

Wingin’ It (Centennial. Outrageous, large amounts of fried food, seems like a good idea)

http://www.denver.org/denverrestaurant/

Yes, it is a long list of places, but I really think that these could be the best bets amongst all the others, their menus look pretty well rounded and it gives you an opportunity to check out a few new places.

This post is not related to Italy in anyway, so forgive me for this, but for once in this blogsphere world, I want to flip roles, and live vicariously though all of you!

Miss ya! Happy Dinning!

Day 50 - Prep this!

Wow, yet another slow day. It is not always bad to have a bit of time to reflect and have quiet time, but in the restaurant industry, this does not usually mean good times abound. We finished prepping for a party scheduled for Friday afternoon. I made pasta! I made 2 batches of umbrichello. This lis much like a thicker version of spaghetti. I was no my game today, I don’t say that very often, but I busted my but in prep and cooking today and it felt good to have Carlo recognize this.

Dinner was slow as well, I finished this amazing book earlier in the week, thank you Melaine for the gift! The book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (The Poisonwood Bible) was amazing! The fiction writer took a stab at writing a non-fiction retelling of a year in her and her families life on the farm. The jist: They moved from Arizona to their family farm in Virginia and began a year of eating local if not grown right on their farm. It was a really great book with lots of information on our food sources and how to find alternate options to the mass produced and out of season items we eat on a regular basis.

I really hold this thought of Farm to Table near and dear to my heart, it struck a cord over the last 2 years and is something that I am really interested in doing. If I could only get Colleen to teach me patience in growing so no more cacti have to lose their lives. This book is a really fun and easy read filled with tasty recipes and sheds light on how you too can become a localvore.

I am almost finished with my Bacon: A Love Story book too. Thank you Lindsay for this little treat, I can’t wait to start curing my own bacon and meats! This little book is all about bacon, duh title, but it is pretty fun to read. On slow nights, I am able to get a few chapters in, so the next book is by my favorite farmer, can’t wait!

Happy Reading!

Nikki’s Italian Reading LIst

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver

Bacon: A Love Story

Everything I want to do is Illegal; War Stories from the Local Food Front - Joel Salatin

Day 49 - Bite the Bullet

Another slowish day, just a few customers in for lunch. Chef Lorenzo is gone until Friday, so we have just been prepping for a la carte, for the group on Saturday, and for San Valentino menu. I made carbonara for lunch today, it was so tasty, but needed a bit more salt in the pasta water. Other than that, it was nice to have such a delicious lunch treat. Carbonara lunches are funny at the restaurant because it seems to be the most popular item, so we always make extra, and then we plow through our first bowl in order to get in line for seconds, very funny! But I made all portions fairly equal, so this was nice not to have to rush, but to savor because there were no leftovers.

After another lazy siesta, it was time to work dinner. Carlo prepared wild boar chops for dinner. Cooked on the flattop and served with some potatoes and salad, with oil on the meat. Olive Oil goes on top of almost everything in the restaurant. Even more than we used at Fuel, hahaha. But it is like a condiment here, it is also really tasty. So halfway through my bone in chop, I discovered something very interesting, a pellet from the gun that killed the boar, in my chop. Luckily, I did not eat it, but I did keep it, pretty interesting to have this find. Nothing wrong in knowing your meat is fresh and truly wild!

Just a few customers for dinner, nothing to difficult, 6 people I think. Carlo drove me home as the boys went out, I am just so not into going out all the time and walking home, so I was planning on reserving this time for the weekend.

A shout out to FUEL Cafe! Their February menu looks absolutly divine! All Colorado folk should make a reservation for next weekend. There are some dishes that remind me of what I am eating here in Italy. The mushrooms with stinky cheese, the green gnocchi, and the Meyer lemon semi-freddo all seem so divine. Although, the Duck breast paired with parsnip chips would be right up my ally followed by the carrot cake. Check it out, www.fuelcafedenver.com

Ciao!

Day 48 - Tuesday Snoozeday!

So after a very early train ride back to Orvieto, where yes, I almost missed my stop, it was off to work. A slow lunch and then a nice little nap at siesta was all I needed for a quiet evening of work.

Chef has us all working on a special Prix Fix Valentines Day menu. So we were working on that and I am in charge of Antipasto, the first course. Thinking that I will do a version of the raw vegetable terrine from Charlie Trotter, we made this in Art Culinaire in school, and it was rather tasty. I worked on the ingredient list and then how to alter it since some of the items are not readily available here in Italy.

The boys spent the evening talking with some students from Arizona, which meant that I was able to work on the line solo! Pretty great actually, only a few customers, but it was enough to keep me busy and cooking all by my self, Carlo just let me go with it. It was great!

Spent the evening after work eating a gelato ice cream bar and watching an interesting movie, Catfish. If you have not seen it, check it out, it is a documentary of sorts about Facebook and a relationship that happens, very interesting.

Missin ya’ll!

Language Lesson

grigio - gray

freddo - cold

caldo - hot

verde - green

arancina - orange

nero - black

bianca - white

Day 47 - Bologna Day 2 - Shop Attack

So after waking up late and lazy, I mustered my way out of the hotel room and onto the number 19 bus to go to the center of town. I was determined to scope out the University, climb the Donkey Tower, and buy boots. Walking Bologna felt very similar to Chicago; bustling, lots of people, great shops and food. It felt nice to walk around in the sunshine and be in quiet pensive thought. It made me think about getting a job, blah, anyway, less serious more fun!

The University was pretty sprawling, upper east corner of the city. Then, it was time to tackle the 498 step donkey tower, with a 1.3 meter lean. Up I went, halfway and the view was already beautiful. Finally to the top, heart beating, felt like being back in Denver high altitude again with the breath shortness. It was a lovely, lovely view once up there and totally worth the stairs. After taking the narrow stairs back down, it was time to hit up a few shops, then look at some churches, then traditional Bolognese.

New Boots!!! I found a pair of flat, kneehigh, gray/green boots on sale! Then at Le Sabot, I found a pair of purple suedesque loafers. Perfect for $20 Euro. After finding a few more clothing buys on sale, it was off to a meal. I found it at the Hotel Roma Ristorante. A meet plate with Mortadella and some other tasty snacks. Then traditional Bolognese with Tagliatelle pasta. I finished with some fried dough bots of powdered sugar. It was rather tasty. I finished the evening by popping into a few lovely churches and lighting candles at each one.

Shocking enough, I did not sleep that evening, but was trying to make sure that I did not miss my 5:15 am train back to Orvieto. After a brief nap and a quick taxi ride, the train station awaited. I slept all the way to Orvieto, almost missing my stop, but made it home safely. It was a pleasant trip and a brief vacation that was much deserved.

MIssing you all!

Ciao

Day 46 - Bologna!!! Mmmm, not your typical Oscar Meyer

Two whole days off in a row! Unreal. I took off Sunday for Bologna, roughly a 2.5 hour train ride, so not too bad. Checked into my hotel and rested a bit. The Suite Elite Hotel, although the claim to be a 10 minute walk to the center of town, it was more like a 10 minute bus ride. No problem though, the bus picked up right across the street. I headed into the town just as Siesta had ended and when I pulled in to the Piazza Maggiore, it was full of people and street performers and life. I walked to the two towers that stand at the end of the main street. The taller one is the Arsenelli Tower (Donkey Tower). Both have a lean, however the smaller tower leans by 3.2 meters, so it is closed for tourists. I headed into the nearby Basilica and of course, as you could have guessed, lit a candle for Papa Olst. Quite large and beautiful inside. I walked around for a bit and watched some of the street performers as well.

I found all the great shopping districts that my guidebook talked about, I was scouting for boots of course!!! Tyler, my roommate was heading into Bologna later in the evening as a stopping point before heading to Verona for 2 days. So I had hoped to meet him in the center of town, but his train was delayed and he got a bit lost, so as I wandered the streets peeking in stores, I decided that I needed to grub down on something. I found a gelateria, yes, I had Gelato for my first course, caramel with sea salt. Rather tasty!!!

I will confess the following to you, fully expecting ridicule and disapproval. On this late Sunday evening, I had McDonalds for dinner. I know, I know!!! It has been over a year since ingesting this devil food, but I was a very hungry lady, and many places were closed. This was due to my poor planning, so I apologize to the food God and my fellow foodies! The burger, fries, shake, and coke really was ok, but my tummy was a grumbly grump later that evening, so I guess I paid for it in the long run.

After the atrocious dinner I had, off to the closest bar to drink (t beer) my sorrows away. The Celtic Druid, the local Irish pub was on happy hour, so it was perfect. Matty, there was even a Bushmills dispenser on the wall, how perfect is this bar? Awesome.

Headed back to my hotel and working out on FaceBook, how to get Tyler there too, the directionally challenged Tyler made it to the hotel. It was late, so we flipped on the only station showing the SuperBowl, it was all announced in German. No commercials, but we did get to watch the game ‘live’, man that halftime show was gross, and not in a good way. Asleep just after 3 am, missed the end, but bummed the Steelers couldn’t pull it out. Either way, a full day in Bologna tomorrow, wish me shopping luck!

Day 46 - Bologna Post coming, hold please