Happy New Year/Buon Anno Nuovo

Happy New Year everyone! I was lucky enough to see the year out in Rome after a luscious but very reasonably priced dinner at La Danesina on Via Governo Vecchio. I was reluctant to try the Carbonara as that is truly my favorite and I do have a secret favorite Hostaria that serves it pefettamente al dente. To my delight the dish was exactly the same at half the price!

We enjoyed pasta and a bottle of chianti followed by Sgroppinos ( a lovely after dinner drink made of lemon sorbet with a shot of vodka and prosecco...YUM! ) and to top off the end of 2009, Tiramisu!

The evening ended with a viewing of five seperate fireworks displays from the balcony of our hotel. The rain deluge prevented us from remaining in the piazza for a closer look.

A lovely evening indeed. I hope you had a great New Year's Eve as well! Cheers to Health, Love and ( Money)...

Bool BBQ

Speaking of Tacos and their 2nd cousin of sorts, Brazilian Pastels...I encountered a dream of a fusion style food truck/van while recently visiting a great friend in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles. It was first Friday and we perused the wondrous selection of different food selections along the Abbot Kinney strip after dark. Bool BBQ was the first place we tried and we kept coming back to it! Imagine a mix of all things you love about Brazilian Pastels and Korean BBQ and then you have it....it was incredibly tasty, very reasonably priced and satisfyingly tangy! I wish I they were a nationwide chain. So make a trip to L.A. on the first Friday of any month and don't forgot to stop by...you will be so glad you did! You can see their tacos pictured here and get the idea! Photo courtesy of the Bool BBQ website

Yo Amo Los Tacos!

I just love the street food in Mexico City. The spa was closed so I wandered the streets to seek out my favorite street food stand near the artisan market close to Paseo de la Reforma. They serve the most amazing 6 pesos (50 cents ) chile relleno tacos and really the only chile relleno tacos I have ever seen. Amazing hand made corn tortillas, a little bit of rice, a queso=filled relleno pepper topped with a spicy red salsa...lunch for a $1 and always fresh! Once the stand is out of these healthy and hearty masterpieces, no more are made so I always try to get there before noon. I then strolled by Esmerelda church and witnessed the beautiful pre-Christmas service with a flashing Christmas tree next to the preacher. I bought a little statue of San Judas de Tadeo which is supposed to bring me a better work life and more money; who doesn't need or want that?
Tonight I will be venturing out to the rotisserie chicken taco stand for a $1.50 meal before my early bedtime. On the way back to the hotel I stopped by the Christmas fesitval in Alameda Park and enjoy a Tlacoyo...which is a blue corn tortilla topped with your choice of beans, cheese, onions, cilantro, nopalitos ( cactus ) and zucchini flowers....what a traditional treat!...Photos of these places coming soon once I return! Hasta la vista.

Taverna Capranica Roma

Strolling through the streets of Rome this past weekend. I took an alternate route than usual and skipped walking by the beautiful Pantheon...instead I walked along a street in front of it and was happy to stumble upon:

Taverna Capranica .

Although the service was slower than we all desired ( I was with most of the flight crew and with an early pickup in the morning, we all wanted to get back to the hotel fairly early ...), the food more than made up for the wait. Most of us ordered pizza and were delighted to be served incredible oval shaped concoctions that were easily 12" long and 6" wide! Yet we all managed to eat one a piece! The wine selection is extensive and there is no 'house wine' since they are in fact an enoteca. A tad pricier but your head won't hurt in the morning. Off the beaten path, non-touristy and right up my alley! At least the new alley I was walking on that evening.

The perfect evening ended with gelato at Giolitti, but more on that place later!

Cornetto Perfetto!

Even though I grew up eating various croissants from the ones in the bakery I worked in: Boulangerie ( the first official French bakery in Seattle ), to real French croissants in Paris ( where I lived in 1985 )....I have to say that I absolutely adore the delicate orangeflower icing and lightly buttery flavor of the semi-flaky and semi-chewy Italian 'Cornetto Simplice'. There is nothing better than to start a day with one of those and the most amazing cappuccino, that can basically be found anywhere in Rome. So there I said it, I might like Italian style croissants better than French ones; at least for now!

La Vineria and Zena- Milano

La Vineria is a quaint wine and olive oil shop offering 1 euro glasses and 3 euro bottles of wine that can be consumed while using the wine barrels as tables. A place where comingling with the locals is expected and welcomed.

I met 3 local milanese who 'adopted' me for the evening and dragged me ( oh poor me ) to a wonderful dinner of exquisite ravioli and coniglio ( rabbit ) with a large consumption of vino rosso at Zena also a place I would highly recommend.

Did I forget to mention that I had already had a yummy ravioli dinner Trattoria alla Vecchia Maniera (via Alzaia Naviglio Grande, 62) and was heading back to the hotel for the night when I stumbled into this fine establishment and new friends.

This small wine boutique and bar is quintessential of the Naviglio area: convivial, local and typically Italian, a locale where many unique wine bars and restaurants fill the area. Most tourists and even people I travel with who have been to Milan countless times, don't make it to this area.

This is, what I consider to be, one of the best neighborhoods of Milan.

There are numerous pasty shops and small artsy boutiques that you pass as you walk to this area or you can ride a tram that dates from 1928 right to the canals. Called the Venice of Milan, Naviglio Grande never ceases to please.

La Vineria

via Casale 4 Milano

Naviglio Grande

Zena

Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 37 Milano

Wordstyle Custom Names and Letters

Wordstyle on Etsy by Duane Georges

I am so proud of my husband and his new shop on ETSY...you can custom order any 3 dimensional word, name or letter and have it handmade by him in practically any font and color. This is an incredible gift idea for the holidays for a one of a kind item for you and your home, family or friends ( or their babies! and children ). He will take your request and create a unique work of art for you. Letters start at around $10 each! Just look at the one he made for me, I love it!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Wordstyle

also visit his work site for signage, lighting and sculpture at

www.georgexdesign.com