Columbus, Garlic and Wine: now that’s Italian, California-style

While we feast on turkey for Thanksgiving this week-end, our friends in the US are celebrating Columbus Day. One of the oldest and most elaborate events is in San Francisco where the Ital-American community pays homage to Christopher Columbus with a week-end long celebration that includes a Grand Ball on Saturday night and a procession of floats along Columbus Street from Fisherman’s Wharf to North Beach on Sunday. My mom and I had the good fortune of ending a tour of the California Coast in San Francisco on Columbus weekend a few years ago. And although the scenery along the coast was breathtakingly beautiful, our most vivid memories were of the ‘procession’ with its floats recreating Columbus' voyage, Queen Isabella and her court and of course, no Italian procession would be complete without the statue of the patron saint and the ‘Madonna’ (the Virgin Mary).

But the best part of the parade were the people. The Italians, most of them second or third generation from the southern regions who like my family emigrated in order to find a better life, were born and bred Californians yet they were undeniably Italian. Among the bands, the rosary and the loud conversations, it was incredible to experience the liveliness of the day.

But like any Italian celebration food and wine are vital. So, as the procession winds down in North Beach it’s time to eat and drink. The narrow, winding streets in North Beach are reminiscent of some Italian cities; most of the restaurants are small and intimate and take no reservations. My mom and I were lucky - we snuck in just as the procession was ending so we managed to get a little table in a restaurant overlooking Washington Square. We enjoyed an incredible meal, simple yet hardy and the most memorable dish was the fresh baked sourdough bread smothered in locally grown roasted garlic. The flavour was sweet, smooth and buttery. I have tried to roast garlic at home but it has never tasted the same, probably because the garlic is not as fresh and supple as the California variety.

California produces the majority of garlic grown in the USA - 87% or 200,000 tons per year. Gilroy is the Garlic Capital. The small city is located in the San Francisco valley and a place full of Italian immigrants who were mostly poor farmers yet they brought with them their love for the land and their traditions. Today the area is full of garlic farms large and small and of course wineries. So although the California Coast is certainly a must for first timers, for me the ideal California vacation is a week-end of roaming around the San Francisco Valley area visiting small vineyards, buying locally made cheeses, and having picnics in some idyllic spot feasting on fresh baked bread.

Don't cry, go to Argentina!

As the days get shorter and gloomier in the northern hemisphere especially in most cities in Canada. It leaves most of us depressed and wishing for spring again. Well the good news is that in South America spring is just beginning. A country on my wish list is Argentina. Everything I read and feedback from all my friends who have travelled there is that it is an incredible, diverse country with so much beauty. If you have ever had the pleasure to meet anyone from Argentina you will notice that they are extremely proud of their country to the point that they tend to compare every other place they visit to their country but nothing lives up to their expectations…

Okay so maybe I am being a bit too harsh on Argentinians, but they have every reason to be proud of their home. Buenos Aires is one of the most sophisticated cities on the continent and one of the most affordable when it comes to travel. Then there is the region of Mendoza in the Northwestern part of the country. This open country where ‘gauchos’ still roam the land and herd cattle is also well know for it’s wines, Malbec is the region’s best known but other varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Tempranillo. In Argentina beef rules. ‘Parrilladas’ or grilled beef is the most popular dish. The fresh air, breathtaking scenery and bounty of locally produced food make it so easy to abandon your palate and enjoy lots of wine and red meat. The saving grace is that there are great ways to burn off the calories. Bike tours of the vineyards and countryside are the best way to discover small areas of this vast region. This also gives you an opportunity to get to know the locals and truly experience Argentinian culture. And, of course an even better way to work out the calories is to spend the night dancing tango.

Foodie Fantasies at Sea?

I took my first cruise in the mid 1990’s and for years, I would not go back on another one. Mostly because the idea of having to go to dinner at a set time and having to share a table with strangers every night was not very appealing at all. Lunch and breakfast were not any better - it was buffet served on plastic dishes. Sure, there was a lot food, so if the objective was to stuff your face, it was the perfect vacation, but if you had a more refined palate, you were in trouble.

Now lets fast-forward a few decades - what a difference! Many cruise lines are now floating foodie fantasies. Many of the cruise lines have outdone themselves in the food department. Some are working with world renowned chefs to create a more memorable experience. Instead of cruisers marveling at how much they can eat on board a cruise ship, they’re now oohing and aahing about what they ate. And I don’t blame them! Take a company like Oceania Cruises: they’re getting ready to launch their latest ship, the Marina, which will feature the very first Jacques Restaurant, named after TV personality and Chef Jacques Pepin.

Meanwhile, Silversea Cruises has a full roster of chefs from the internationally acclaimed Relais & Châteaux. These are the best of the best hotels and restaurants from around the world, and they’re the ones who’ve inspired every dish on the menu. For a truly unique experience, their Wine Restaurant dishes out a 6 course meal accompanied by incredible wines. You definitely want to be wearing elegant clothes for this lovely affair to remember.

Holland America Line's Culinary Arts Center

Holland America Line has taken it a step further too - not only do guests enjoy incredible cuisine on their cruises, they can even take cooking courses at their Culinary Arts Center. They have partnered up with Food and Wine magazine and built a state of the art theatre-style venue with a demo kitchen, huge large screens and international chefs are invited on board the ship to lead a series of courses.

And all of this is while you're still on board the ship! Now just think of all the food finds to discover when the ship arrives in port…

Olive Oil: Not Just for Cooking

As a kid, growing up in Calabria (Southern Italy), olive oil was a main cooking ingredient, but more importantly, it was most often the only medicine in our cabinet. My mom used it for everything; if we had a stomach ache she would give us a tablespoon of olive oil to drink; if we had an ear ache she would warm up a little olive oil to drop into our ears; if our skin was itchy - yup, olive oil rub.

It went beyond medicine; if she suspected that someone gave us the evil eye, she would call the neighbor’s ‘nonna’ to come by and pray to break the spell. I used to hide under the table and listen to the ritual which consisted of dropping some olive oil in a basin full of water and watch to see what patterns the oil formed and only ‘nonna’ knew for sure if the evil eye had been cast. Olive oil was our life really, a bit like Windex in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
It amazed me when I arrived in Canada - wow, no olive oil anywhere! It was still a luxury in the 70’s in Toronto and the large supermarkets only carried vegetable and canola oils. So we had to go to the local Italian market to get it, because even though we were in Canada, my mom still swore by our old country remedies.

So when the olive oil craze hit Canada, most of us who are of Southern Italian descent were thrilled to finally take the oil out of the closet and share our stories with the rest of society without having them think we were nuts.

Now as I stand in the oil section of the supermarket I see people checking out labels and deciding what brand to buy and what the difference is now that we have an abundance of products. Italy is one of the top olive oil producing countries in the Mediterranean, but what most visitors who travel to the north don’t realize is that one third of all the olive oils produced in Italy comes from the South where the dry terrain produces some of the best qualities. If you are lucky enough to be traveling in Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey and even Israel during the harvest, it’s a great time to learn a lot about olives and the process of producing the various lines of oils. All of these countries now offer a huge selection of discovery or tasting tours to really learn about this fascinating ingredient. One itinerary I came across that sounds particularly lovely is from Trafalgar Tours and takes you through Italy with stops in Chianti, Tuscany and Florence, where you can sample wines, local cheeses, meets, and, of course, olive oil!

If you have any interesting stories about olive oil of your own, post them to our comments - I'd love to hear about them!

Where do you stand on truffles?

August is here and so is the truffle hunting season in Italy. When it comes to truffles, most people either adore them and salivate at the thought of a nice risotto or they think they smell like a musty basement. I personally cannot stand the smell or the taste, but my Cuban husband who had no idea what truffles were until he arrived in Toronto thinks truffle oil makes everything, and I mean everything, taste great so he liberally drizzles over most of his food, even the sacred Cuban black beans and rice. So when we went to Italy, of course we had to go and hunt for truffles. We were in Piemonte, one of the best regions in Italy to hunt for the precious mushrooms. Unlike most mushrooms, truffles grow underground, so you need an expert hunter or a trifolau, to help you find them. And of course they grow in dense forests so the hunt is always a dirty and exhausting venture but if you are lucky enough to find one it’s like finding gold so it’s worth every moment even if you come out of the journey full of scratches and insect bites.

Truffle hunting season starts in August and ends in January. The winter months can be very wet so be ready for lots of mud and dampness. The three regions in Italy known for truffles are Piemonte, Umbria and Tuscany. Most people include truffle hunting as a part of a food and wine tour so that you can also discover the other culinary treasures Italy has to offer. The mountains in Piemonte are dotted with wineries which produce a variety of wines including the Dolcetto. Umbria is home to the Orvietto wines, Perugina chocolates and produces some of the best olive oils. And of course Tuscany is the embodiment of Italian culture and cuisine. So if you love food Italy is the place to be, and if you are there in the fall and winter, then you may want to trek in the woods looking for truffles. But if you prefer savouring to trekking, then you will have to settle for a drizzle and a whiff.

Tell us - where do you stand on truffles? Do you love them? Or are you like me and hold your nose when someone drops the oil onto their food?