Category Archives: travel eats

Brittany……the Wild West of France

Posted on April 16, 2018 by nina in the kitchen

After several days in Paris we took the fast TGV train to Brest, a city near the far west coast of France. It was a 3 hour luxurious ride in a smooth running train that sped up to 120 mph!

In Brest we took a cab to the airport and picked up our rental car, a Renault Kadjar. We rented through the Renault Euro Drive program which is much less expensive than your typical rentals and they provide a brand new reliable car! This was our vehicle for the next 7 weeks.

We spent 5 days in Lanildut, a coastal town where fishing and seaweed harvesting are prolific. The walks along the rugged coastline and drives to other coastal towns were thrilling.

Here’s a photo of our Homeaway rental in Lanildut. The style and size is typical Breton, but it’s new, built in the 1970s.

It had a charming artistic decor

Here’s a view of the sea

Notice the seaweed and the low tide. The seaweed is harvested in this area and used in food products and in the health and beauty products.

La Pointe Saint-Mathieu is an eerie open air abbey ruin on the coast

Beautiful stone homes like these

The prehistoric menhirs and dolmen are found throughout the area

Lanildut has beautiful walking paths

Coastal views at low tide

I’ll start with crepes. They are popular in Brittany and Normandy. You’ll find people making crepes at the markets and in cafes. They stack them up and the locals buy them by the bunch at the markets. You’ll even see them factory made wrapped in plastic in the grocery stores.

The light brown colored buckwheat crepe is served with savory foods and the light flour crepes are for dessert fillings. People buy a crepe at the market with a bit of filling in it, wrapped in paper, and walk around the market. Even in the cold and blowing rain, they walk and eat their crepes, usually filled with a little butter and sugar or Nutella. Or plain, as you like!

At a cafe this buckwheat crepe filled with a little cheese is folded into a square and placed over plain lettuce. Voila!

Boulangeries and patisseries are in every little town in Brittany. This is France though it has a British feel. A favorite Breton pastry is called Far Breton. It is similar to flan, but does not have a pastry crust. It’s also very similar to a Scandinavian breakfast food called Aggkaka. Far is made of a batter of eggs, milk, flour and a little bit of sugar, as is Aggkaka. The difference is Far batter is refrigerated a few hours. Then it is poured into a baking pan, baked, cooled and cut in squares. Sometimes prunes, raisins or apples are added to the batter.

Here is the traditional Far Breton with prunes. This one is very thick and high

Here’s other Fars that aren’t as thick, which we saw more often. Notice the different sizes of the whole Fars which are baked in different sizes of baking pans.

This Far Breton has apples

Another pastry popular in Brittany is Gateau Breton. It’s very rich and made with lots of butter. Breizh means Breton or Brittany or Bretagne. This region has Celtic roots and uses the Celtic language.

The cake above and below is the Breton cake that is made with butter and lots of sugar. It’s very rich and crispy.

Other pastries in Brittany you also find all over France. Such as the almond croissant and the raisin swirled pastry below

Here is a view of some of the other fancy pastries in the shops

One of our favorite lunches was the pizza like squares at the patisserie

The farm market in St-Renen offered many food options including takeaway prepared foods. Here we bought escargot that were farm raised and prepared with a butter garlic mixture, placed back in each shell ready to heat in our oven at home

This vendor roasted potatoes over a wood fire and then added a variety of different toppings all layered over cream, ready to heat up at home

Big trays of potato gratin were popular. You could buy any amount. All had cheese and cream. Some also added ham

Fish and shell fish of course. Crabs and oysters too!

The fresh produce was colorful! The French most all have leeks in their baskets. Turnips and celery root are common purchases too!

We had some surprises when dining out on the west coast of Brittany. An Irish pub recommended for it’s delish fish and chips also served wonderful scallops with squid ink risotto! Another restaurant added seaweed to its bread and creme brûlée! That was shocking!

Fried fish and French fries

Scallops and squid ink risotto in a cream sauce

We were introduced to goats milk and yogurt! They are delicious! A bit more of a tang than cows milk and yogurt

The landscape of the farmland is dramatic. The roads are lined with plant material covered fences. The old stone fences are not even seen through the thick plants, shrubs and trees.

On March 16, 1978 The Amoco Cadiz ran aground on Portsall Rocks 5 km from the coast of Brittany. The Lanildut community was remembering this 40 year anniversary by watching a documentary. The ship split in 3 and spilled 68 million gallons of oil along 240 miles of Brittany’s coast. The coastline is beautiful today and it has been a pleasure spending time here in Lanildut.

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Posted in travel eats and tagged Brittany, France, Lanildut, marches, markets. Bookmark the permalink.

Dining Out in Paris

Posted on March 23, 2018 by nina in the kitchen

Dining out in Paris for lunch or dinner does not have to be expensive. You can eat a long leisurely lunch or make it quick on the run. Let the waiter know your time frame if you need to get somewhere. We spent 5 nights in Paris and I’ll share photos here of our dining experiences.

At Le Petit Cler located on Rue Cler, the famous food market neighborhood, we enjoyed a seared piece of mild fish served with beurre blanc sauce and potatoes. This is a classic French butter sauce

Another day for lunch we enjoyed Bistrot Richelieu located near The Louvre. Here is the French Onion Soup which was made with small croutons, not a large piece of bread as often seen. Also the cheese was not stringy and excessive. It was flavorful but not overwhelming. We also shared escargot! It was not a strong flavor of garlic as is often served and the parsley was light and fresh. Special utensils were provided to eat the escargot!

Utensils

Escargot in a butter and parsley sauce with a tiny hint of garlic

With the escargot tongs hold one escargot shell with one hand. Use the tiny fork with the other hand to dig the escargot out of the shell. It is tricky! I sent one shell flying across the table!

Cafe au lait Cafe Crema is a beautiful thing

One night we splurged on some fine dining at the restaurant located at the ground level of our apartment building

L’Hydrophobe. Delicious food and special service from the staff

Entrées or First Course

Jerusalem Artichoke Cream Soup made with Jerusalem artichoke, leek and onion. This was served with a slightly baked or poached egg and sliced foil gras. Amazing! I have never seen a Jerusalem artichoke. It’s a root vegetable.

Here’s a Jerusalem artichoke I found at the market. It’s like a light potato with more flavor. Definitely a tubor, not at all like an artichoke. It’s French name is topinambour.

This is the Jerusalem artichoke soup with egg and sliced foie gras. It’s garnished with paprika and chives.

Dave ordered the endive and watercress salad with sliced foie gras de canard and a light vinaigrette

Les Plats or The Dishes or 2nd course or Main Course

A whitefish with a leek paté and a red wine sauce served with parsnip, turnip a potato

Duck breast with orange sauce served with roast cauliflower, carrot, potato and parsnip

Les Desserts

Fillo leaf cup filled with apples and caramel sauce

Chocolate Fondant with grapefruit sorbet

The waitress tells us to make this dessert is very simple. It’s a mixture of melted chocolate, sugar and egg. This is poured in a shallow pan and placed in a water bath. This is all baked at a low temperature. I’ll make this one day!

Another restaurant we visited for lunch was Chez Paul Bastille

Les Entrees

Fish in curry sauce

Cold Pork Terrine and Salad with a Spicy Sauce

Mushrooms over Toast with Salad and Fried Jerusalem Artichokes

Complimentary Goat Cheese

Another day we stopped for lunch at a creperie before visiting the Catacombs. The savory crepes are always buckwheat and the sweet crepes are wheat flour. Our buckwheat crepes were filled with 3 strong flavored cheeses and walnuts and served over plain lettuce salad.

Well this is it for now! Until our next visit to Paris!

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Posted in travel eats and tagged bistrotrichelieu, chezpaul, lacuisineparis, Le Petit Cler, petitsfarcis_edibleparis. Bookmark the permalink.

Paris Apartment Eating

Posted on March 23, 2018 by nina in the kitchen

The apartment we rented through Airbnb was a tiny studio, but it had everything we needed, including a kitchen! We didn’t cook anything there but we brought food in to make light breakfasts and dinners. There are boulangeries and patisseries every where, as well as boucheries which sell cooked and prepared meats as well as your typical butcher meats.

I will share with you first a video of our apartment including the kitchen. Then I’ll show you some pictures of the food we bought in our neighborhood to eat in our apartment. Our typical breakfasts were baguette or pastry with coffee and milk or fresh fruit and goats milk yogurt. Dinners were combinations of baguettes, sliced prosciutto type meats, terrines of meat and pâtés, mini quiche Lorraine, cheese, fresh vegetables and wine.

A delicious medium strong blue cheese

Fresh goat cheese coated is charcoal or ash. The purpose of the ash is to neutralize the pH and prevent mold formation. It also makes the little rounds of cheese look pretty!

Here’s a typical cheese shop.

Sandwiches made with baguettes are popular in the bakeries

These chickens and other small birds roasting over potatoes are popular in Paris and Provence

A popular pastry made of a baked croissant that has been sliced open and layered with cream, almond paste and sometimes also chocolate. It is shaped and sprinkled with powdered sugar and almonds

Of course there’s the baguette

And these eclairs!

Such a pretty package too!

Coffee and chocolate glaze and filling!

We stopped at one of the Amorino shops known for their gelato. I bought this macaroon filled with gelato and decorated with a fancy chocolate!

I’ll add more pics of mini quiche Lorraine and terrines of cold meats when we return to Paris mid May.

And of course wine is available in the grocery stores, wine shops and butcher shops!

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Paris Bakery Tour

Posted on March 22, 2018 by nina in the kitchen

In the Montmartre area of Paris, March of 2018, we had lessons and a tour of the Le Grenier bakery and pastry shop. We signed up online through Viator. Olga was our superb tour guide!

It was a very cozy space with friendly bakers. We learned the bakers day began at 3 am and ended at 1 pm. The dough is made the day before and includes sourdough, yeast, flour, salt and water. There are over 3000 bakeries/boulangeries in Paris, but only 300 make their own bread and pastry from scratch on site! To check if your bakery makes their own, look for mixing machines in the back of the shop and workers baking!

A baguette should have many different sizes of holes inside and also a very crispy crust like you see here:

I will show you some of the steps involved. Most bakers keep their recipes a secret, so I do not have that to share.

Here is a video of the dough made the morning before. It is full of bubbles and is being poured into a square machine that cuts the dough into baguette size portions:

The next step is spreading this dough with flour and closing the lid. This cuts the dough into baguette size pieces:

Now the pieces of dough are placed in the Panimatic which rolls the dough into the long thin shape:

The baguettes are placed by hand into rolled cradles of heavy cloth for resting:

The baguettes are placed on baking sheets which roll in and out of the ovens:

The baguettes are rolled into the ovens, baked and then rolled out to cool:

Baguettes are placed in the tall basket for customers to purchase at the counter:

Here are some quick pics of the pastry kitchen!

Using a scale to add ingredients for French custard:

Only the best pure butter is used:

Candied fruit is drying on racks waiting to be used to decorate the pastries:

Voila!

Nina in the Kitchen outside the Paris bakery

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Posted in travel eats and tagged bakingclass, boulangerie, legrenier, Montmartre, paris, patisserie, viator. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Months in France, Portugal, Spain, and Italy

Posted on October 4, 2015 by nina in the kitchen

Here is a list of my 25 posts of our adventure in Europe. This is like a table of contents of our trip. Go above to Recipes and clock on Travel Eats. You’ll find this list of posts there!

What’s To Eat in Paris?

What’s To Eat in Lisbon?

What Else is There to Eat in Lisbon?

What’s to Eat in Seville?

What’s to Do and Eat in Córdoba Spain?

What to Eat and Do Near Sitges Spain?

What’s to Eat in Provence?

Village Hopping in Provence Part 1

Village Hopping in Provence Part 2

What’s to Eat in Provence?

What’s to Eat in Corsica?

Where to Go in Corsica?

What’s to Eat in Sardinia?

Where to Go in Sardinia?

What’s to Eat in Sicily?

Discovering Sicily

Beautiful Puglia and It’s Trulli

What and Where is Puglia?

What’s to Eat in Puglia and Where is It?

What’s to Eat and Do in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast? Part 1 of the Amalfi Coast

Beautiful Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, Part 2 of the Amalfi Coast

Sorrento, Making Limoncello and Beyond, Part 3 of the Amalfi Coast

Sorrento, Herculaneum and Naples, Part 4 of the Amalfi Coast

Assisi

2 Days in Milano

Istanbul Backstreets and Eats

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Posted in travel eats and tagged amalficoast, assisi, corsica, herculaneum, istanbul, limoncello, milan, provence, puglia, sardinia, sicily, sorrento, trulli, trullo. Bookmark the permalink.

Istanbul Backstreets and Eats

Posted on September 1, 2015 by nina in the kitchen

Our 4 month adventure ended with Istanbul. It seems kinda crazy flying 4 hours further east from Milan to Istanbul for a few days and then back west for an 11 hour flight to Chicago! The tickets with Turkish Air were half the price of the other airlines and they are the highest rated airline in Europe! And we love Istanbul. We spent a week there last year

This time we also rented an apartment, but in a less traveled neighborhood, Fener–Balat. This is like the new Brooklyn. It’s a neighnorhood of immigrants and lower income folks, but is now appreciated by the young professionals. Antique shops, and some are closet size, coffee shops and new renovation. It’s fun, but sketchy too. Here are some pics of the neighborhood.

Our first floor apartment

Men like this collect recyclables all over Istanbul with their carts

Old run down buildings are being bought and renovated in the past few years

Some creative design and a streetwise child

This is the street of our apartment. I’ve been told it was used in the most recent James Bond film! The streets are their living rooms. People sit on the sidewalks and streets all day.

Antique shops are everywhere, of many varieties

This lady bakes in this local bakery in a wood burning oven

Streets like this are slowly being purchased and renovated

This woman is washing off her sidewalk with water

This man walks around selling pastries from his cart

This man sells and buys old things from his cart.

This man sells sandwiches

Another salesman of all things but his dogs

People tend to walk in the streets rather than the sidewalks

Kids walking through traffic and waiting for the train to pass

Families walking through traffic on busy Istanbul streets

We did not see one dryer in any of our apartments throughout Europe. Hang drying is everywhere

Local fast food:

A fried ground lamb burger mixed with spices and breadcrumbs

A fresh baked custard

This is called Wednesday Market or Caramba, because it’s held on Wednesdays in the Balat neighborhood

Our favorite coffee shop in Balat, Coffee Department, where the owner scientifically roasts coffee beans and has a variety of coffee making styles. I love these floors!

Notice his hand made coffee making apparatus

And here is the traditional Turkish coffee shop

The shop owner is enjoying his newly purchased reel to reel tape player!

We truly loved our stay in Fener-Balat

We took a lovely boat trip to Prince’s Islands. It was an overcast day, but we enjoyed the sights anyway. The Bosphorus is a busy waterway always filled with fast moving boats of all sizes.

There are 3 Prince’s Islands. We went to the largest one. It reminds me of Mackinac Island. No cars, only horse and buggies, wood frame large houses and very picturesque.

We took the horse and buggy to the interior of the island where we then walked a mile to the top of the hill for some great views and yummy food!

A mosque/church on this hill With scarfs to cover your head, arms and legs.

A deep fried thin pastry filled with provolone like cheese and qbits of sausage

Another deep fried pastry filled with ricotta like cheese

This is one of the thin pastry doughs used here

Other pastries with cheese and spinach fillings

Making stuffed grape leaves with a grain and vegetable filling

In our Balat neighborhood we ate dinner at Agora, a very nice restaurant. Here is a tray of mezes or small plates: eggplant, thick yogurt with hot peppers, herbed olives, ground pistachio and almond and dill mixture, yogurt with fresh basil and spices, seabass in tomato with cilantro.

This is a main course like meze of sliced lambs liver with sliced onion and peppers

Lamb chops with a grilled pepper

Calamari in a fish sauce

One of the many entrances to the Grand Bazaar. We bought nice quality jewelry this time and last year from EFES

Lunch at the Grand Bazaar is a ground lamb and spice mixture grilled on skewers

Village Salad with a Pomegranate Dressing

A dessert of ground pistachio and honey pudding

Haggia Sophia means Holy Wisdom and was originally a church, then became a mosque, then a church and is now a museum. First built in 537

The Blue Mosque or the Sultan Ahmed Mosque was built in 1609 and is known as the blue mosque because the interior has blue tiles.

Ancient column called the Egyptian Obelisk was built in 1500 bc and moved to Constantinope in 390. This is located in the Hippodrome which is where the ancient chariots would race.

This cistern of Istanbul is one of hundreds and is called the Basilica Cistern and is where the water reserves were stored up through modern times. There was originally a Basilica in its place and after a fire in 476 the cistern was built. It’s a popular place since the latest Dan Brown book was set here.

This is St George’s Church and is the center of the Greek Orthodox Church and home of the Patriarch. There has been a rule that no church should be larger than a mosque, so this church is small.

Mosque and gardens in the Balat-Fener neighborhood called Mosque of Fatih. We learned the government pays for the care and upkeep of the mosques. Interesting to see such a lavish mosque in a poor worn out neighborhood

The flower beds in Istanbul are all curvy and elaborate. They use sod cutters to make the patterns. The designs remind me of Arabic script.

Washing area for men to clean their hands, face and feet before entering the mosque

My favorite drink only available in Turkey! Ayran, a thin yogurt drink with added salt. Very similar to a salty buttermilk. It’s available everywhere!

Our last night we went to the rooftop bar at the Marmara Pera Hotel. The views were the best in the city and so worthwhile! We had dinner at the rooftop terrace at Duble Meze in the Palozzo Donizetti Hotel. Fabulous!

Duble Meze in the Palazzo Donizetti also has great views! The food is fantastic! You can see the Marmara Pera Hotel is close by

Duble Meze Menu

Tabouli with yogurt, stuffed mussels and Circassian pate.

Roasted marinated peppers topped with a melted cheese

Chocolate coffee mousse and chocolate cake squares

The next morning we boarded a Turkish Air flight to Chicago which began with Turkish Delight! A sweet memorable end to a glorious 4 month trip!

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Posted in travel eats and tagged aragon, balat, coffeedepartment, dublemeze, efes, fener, grand azaar, istanbul, marmaraperahotelrooftop, marmaraperarooftopbar, palozzodonizetti. Bookmark the permalink.

Two Days in Milano

Posted on August 16, 2015 by nina in the kitchen

Milan is the Paris of Italy. Paris is always a good idea as Audrey Hepburn says. I think Milan is too!

Every time we go, we discover something new. This time it was the Boscolo Hotel, the hair make over at Marchianos, the Salsamenteria di Parma Restaurant, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and of course the shopping and the risotto! It was only 2 days, but every minute was packed!

We always treasure our visits with the Nebulonis! They met us at the Boscolo Hotel where we stayed.

Cool lobby of the Boscolo!

Boscolo Lounge

Boscolo Pool and Spa

Our bedroom at the Boscolo

Cool bedside lamp

Breakfast buffet mini pancakes skewered with ham and cheese at the Boscolo!

Dinner at Salsamenteria di Parma Restaurant. Very authentic food from the food capital of Italy, Emilia-Romagna!

Lambrusco is a sparkling light red wine served cold to balance the heavy flavors of the Emilia–Romagna region.

And at this rustic restaurant it is served in ceramic bowl!

Here are 2 spreads for the rustic crusty bread:Parmesan with olive oil spread and sautéed onion spread

Prosciutto and sausages, specialties of a salumeria, which is an Italian deli.

Lasagne with a meaty ragu and Parmesan cheese

Ravioli filled with zucca, which looks like our pumpkin and tastes like our butternut squash.

And for dessert, Salumi de Chocolat! This is a dessert I have made which is a base of broken vanilla wafer like cookies with chocolate, butter, nuts and powdered sugar. The light color pieces of cookie are to represent the fat chunks of salami! It’s a cookie log that is not baked which is rolled in powdered sugar and then sliced.

My Milano Hair Salon Experience at Marchiano’s

Those aren’t my legs:)

A hair styling involved all these people plus one more!

The Poldi Pezzoli Museum is a private mansion turned into an art museum. Similar to the Fricks in NYC and the Isabella Stewart Gardener in Boston.

Rooftop Bar at the Boscolo. Very trendy crowd. A buffet of antipasti finger foods were available. The view is of the Duomo

Dinner at a nearby pizzeria for risotto with zucca and shrimp and risotto with red wine and cheese

Milan is a beautiful exciting city that should be on your travel list. Next time I’d go to the Expo!!! It’s like the Worlds Fair of Italy, focusing on FOOD! It’s located in Rho, a town just outside Milan.

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Sorrento, Making Limoncello and Beyond

Posted on August 16, 2015 by nina in the kitchen

The first evening of our 2nd week in Sorrento, we walked to the Museo Correale of Terranova to see a performance of Italian opera and Neopolitan songs. This venue was a palace full of decorative arts and art collections. The performance was in a room that seated about 100 people. Most of the audience were English. The 2 vocalists and 3 instrumentalists were phenomenal! A huge sound in a room much smaller than an opera house!

Beautiful views before the concert near the museum.

The next day we visited the San Francesco Church and Cloisters and saw a photography exhibit of local historical mid century memories. And there were stunning views!

Here is a photo of a scene we’ve seen in Sorrento. Young love!

San Francesco Church and Cloisters

Yes that is Mt Vesuvius!

Our host, Gino Coppola and his extended family invited us to lunch and a cooking lesson in their home.

Nutnapha finds Italian cooking easy compared to Thai cooking! She enjoys them both!

Youngest Daughter is Mama’s Girl!

Gino and his niece

The clams have been cleaned and scooped out and sauteed in garlic and olive oil. Then broth and white wine are added

Roughly chopped garlic and parsley to saute

Add sliced zucchini

Brown zucchini and drain on paper toweling

Toss with cooked spaghetti and add the clams and broth. Add butter and parmesan and toss repeatedly

These clams are scrubbed and combined in a large pot with roughly chopped garlic and parsley and olive oil. Place over heat and cover till opened.

Serve as a second course with bread. Bread is not served with pasta!!!

Nutnapha Going Out to Coffee on Her Motorbike

One day we drove on our own to the Masa Lubrense region, took a walk to a small monastery up in the hills, and stopped for lunch at a tiny family cafe.

But first we returned to a tiny town, Marina Cantone, which we explored with Sorrento friends 25 years ago

On to the tiny monastery up in the hills.

Fresh orange juice and lemon juice with only water added, NO sugar!

Fried Zucchini Flowers, Pickled Zucchini, Proscuitto and Sausage

A Thin Layering of Tomato Meat Sauce and Cheese Layered Lasagne

Sfogliatella is a Neopolitan Pastry Filled With Ricotta Served With Limoncello

Sfogliatella is a ruffle of layers filled with ricotta that’s sometimes lemon flavored. Sfogliatella means small thin leaves/layers as the pastry resembles stacked leaves.

Gino’s sister gave us lessons in making limoncello. This was one of the highlights of the trip!

The old style basket and rope with a hook for your back

The lessons in making limoncello were a 3 stage process.

Ingredients:

14 lemons

2 liters 96% alcohol (This is grain alcohol in the USA, which you can’t buy it in Michigan, but you can in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Vodka is not a good substitute)

2 1/2 liters water

1 kg sugar (2.2 pounds) You can add an extra 1/4 pound if you like it sweeter

Process:

First pick the lemons when they still have a little green on the ends.

Then peel carefully only the yellow skin, not the white, and place in a large glass container.

Above is some mandarincello which was delish! They also use oranges and make various blends.

Pour the 96% alcohol over the lemon and let sit a few days

Mix a syrup of sugar and water and heat until dissolved. Cool overnight. Pour into the lemon alcohol mix. Let sit a few days.

The cooled sugar syrup is added to the lemon rind and grain alcohol mixture

The lemon will become like leather.

The texture of the lemon peel has become a leather-like

The Limoncello is ready to sit and develop it’s flavor for several days

Mix the limoncello with a wooden spoon. Line a funnel with rolled cotton. Collect your containers

With a ladle, pour the limoncello through the cotton and funnel into the glass bottle.

The completed limoncello ready to distribute!

Gino’s sister and her husband

We work well together!

Thank you Coppola Family!

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Posted in Drinks, travel eats and tagged limoncello, marinacantone, masalubrensa, museocorreale, opera, sanfrancescochurch, sfogliatella, sorrento. Bookmark the permalink.

Assisi

Posted on August 13, 2015 by nina in the kitchen

We drove 5 hours from Sorrento north to Assisi where we stayed a week. This region is Umbria and is full of stunning landscapes, ancient towns and delicious food and wine!

Here is their most famous church, known as San Francesco, but it’s formal name is The Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. It is the mother church of the Francescan. It has an adjoining friary, Sacro Convento.

The basilica has 2 levels, an Upper Church and a Lower Church. It’s built into the side of a hill and was begun in 1228 to honor St. Francis who was born in Assisi. He started the Franciscan Order in 1208.

St. Clare was also born there at this time. She founded the Poor Sisters, which later became the Order of the Poor Clare’s.

St. Francis was a wealthy young man who gave up his worldly goods and lived in poverty. He started several Catholic Orders who all lived monastic lives in poverty serving the Catholic Church.

There are many churches, monasteries and convents in Assisi as a result of St Francis and St Clare. It is definitely worth seeing the crypts where St Francis is buried in his church and Saint Clare is buried in her church.

Walking through Assisi at night is enchanting!

This is the Communale, a large open square. The Roman columns of the building are part of the Roman temple. The structure has also been a church. In Roman times it was the Temple of Minerva. In the Middle Ages it was used as a jail. In 1539 it was built as Santa Maria sopra Minerva, a church.

Below this square and building are the archeological ruins and museum of Roman time.

The Roman Forum Museum underneath the Plaza Comunale

This is our apartment. It’s been in the family for centuries.

View from our windows

Trattoria Degli Ombri was recommended for lunch and is on the Communale Square. Delish!

Roast Rabbit with Olives and Vegetables

Lasagne with crispy sausage, truffles and cream sauce. No tomato!

This a cold salad made from farro, which is a popular Italian grain that reminds me of barley. It’s very light and has tomato, corn, mozzarella and parsley. We bought this at the grocery store deli.

The Rocca Maggiore Castle has 2 towers connected by a 100 foot tunnel. The towers offer a beautiful view! A museum is within the main castle.

There are many churches and museums to see including Palazzo Vallemarni Pinacoteca, Oratorio del Pellegrini, Chiesa Margarita where there is a beautiful view, San Giacomo de Muro Ripto

One day we drove to 3 towns nearby.

Trevi is a pretty town known for its olive oil

Montefalco was lovely and known for their wine! We enjoyed a relaxing lunch at Coccorone. Also served but not pictured was cheese with wine gelatin cubes.

House made Sausages

Fettuchini with Truffles

On this square in Montefalco we found a great wine shop. L Enoteca Di Benozzo at Piazza del Comune 11

Bevagna was another beautiful ancient town we enjoyed. We discovered a shop that sold beautiful Italian linens at discounted prices. Petrini Massimo at Via Crescimbeni 5.

We took a day trip to Perugia and had a walking tour. They are known for their major Roman presence and today their chocolate! This we booked online through Viator. It ended up to be a private tour!

This ancient Roman Aqueduct is now a walkway.

Pasticceria Sandri is a lovely cafe dating to 1860.

We enjoyed our morning coffee here so much we returned at lunch for an outdoor buffet!

Our last day in Assisi we explored more churches and had lunch at San Francesco Cafe

Gnocchi with Aubergine

Grilled Scamorza, a sheeps milk cheese

Our last evening in Assisi we dined with a view at Metastasio

House made Pasta with Truffles

Tiramisu

I found the shopping for in Assisi to be diverse, charming, and inexpensive. Along Via San Francesco are many small shops. The olive wood shop is great for gifts and momentos. Assisi Jewels has a vast range of jewelry in a small shop at Via San Francesco 14 near the main church. There are a few women’s clothing shops around number 10 via San Francesco carrying Italian makers at reasonable prices. Idea Regalo and Angelette Carlo were the shop names. Many other options are there to explore.

We say goodbye to Assisi and drive on to Milano.

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Sorrento, Herculaneum and Naples, Part 4 of the Amalfi Coast

Posted on August 5, 2015 by nina in the kitchen

From Sorrento we took the Circumvesuviana Train to Ercolano/Herculaneum and Mount Vesuvius. At the train stop in Ercolano, the Italian version of Herculanum, we took the bus up many switchbacks to Mount Vesuvius. It was a mountainous trip up through thick forests until we arrived above the tree line.

Upon getting off the bus we then walked up the gravel like path with intense wild flowers and shrubby plants to the Mount Vesuvius Crater. It was fantastic! It is a live volcano with steam coming out of the crater! The views were of Naples and the sea! It was foggy up there though.

After walking and slipping down the lava rock path and taking the bus back down to Ercolano, we stopped for an outdoor lunch at a nice family pizzeria just outside of the archeological park entrance.

The caprese salad and bufalo mozzarella pizza were as good as it gets!

Ercolano was the town where all the wealthy people lived. They were hit by the volcano after Pompei. Because of the deep pyroclastic material which covered it, organic objects such as wood beams, roofs, beds, doors, food and 300 bodies were preserved. Only 1/4 of Ercolano is uncovered. The rest of it is under the modern city. I would recommend Ercolano over Pompei!

The train ride back was hot, but we met interesting fellow travelers.

The next day we took a trip to Napoli, the Italian version of Naples. This was our 2nd trip there this week! The first was a 3 hour car ride, a closed museum and church, but a nice tour of the city by Pietro.

This time we took the boat from Sorrento to Naples! Beautiful 1 hour ride along the coast! We met Caroline and Joe at the Renaissance Marriott. Cool art glass exhibit in the lobby. Had lunch and walked around Naples. Saw the Veiled Christ at the Museo Cappella Sansevero. The Naples National Archeological Museum would have been a good stop.