Breathtaking

I have been blessed with the most amazing sunsets this summer, very lucky indeed, this last one I was able to document with only few photos. I realize that since these photos were taken without a tripod they are not very sharp, but I virtually had one minute before boarding the public boat to snatch them, by the time I tried to change the camera settings, the boat had turned and people were in the way.   Still, I hope you enjoy them, what a magnificent sunset. 

Tomato Bounty in Venice

Another month that I will not be able to join the Daring Bakers' challenge.  I have to say I am happy being where I am though, spending time with my family and old friends.  I apologize for the lack of posts, I will resume shortly and hopefully show you some pictures when I will be able to sort through them.

Particular of a little statuette my dad has in his house

I spoke a little about my dad before, a tough man with an avid passion for food.  In my opinion he would rank high as a chef is he had gone that route instead of working as a chemist, everything he makes tastes amazing.  He is not scared of unusual ingredients and because of his experience with WWII and his mom's upbringing he cooks a lot of so called "cucina povera", simple cuisine based on humble ingredients.  

My dad's other passion is gardening, especially when it comes to growing ingredients for the kitchen.  His "orto", or vegetable garden, gets bigger and bigger every year, slowly taking over what was my beloved grandmother's garden.  

There are lots of gold fish in this little pond

I used to spend hours gardening with my nonna Anita, mostly weeding when she was too old to plant anything new, so this space is really dear to me, even though it resembles very little the manicured garden my nonna used to tend.  

 

 

This year my dad must have planted more than 50 plants of tomatoes, which I just picked since he is away for few days.  What a treat!    

The varieties all have Italian names but one is clearly a San Marzano and another a Beefsteak.

  Ready to be turned into tomato sauce

I leave you with a picture of one of the most breathtaking sunsets I have seen in my life, taken from a terrace in Radicondoli, a stunning little Tuscan town near Siena.

Happy Summer!

Daring Bakers-Gingerbread Houses

There is a winged lion on the left panel and an angel on the top

I can't believe that another month has passed, and it is time for another Daring Bakers' challenge. I had some troubles with the pictures, and more importantly with the stability of one of my creations. I chose the first dough, suggested by Anna, and noticed that the recipe has the wrong gram amount, which should be 1,330 instead of 1,660. I measured the flour in cups and the resulting dough was nice and soft, not dry like some of the other daring bakers mentioned. After baking, the dough stayed a little soft when I first made some houses, so for the second creation I cooked the heck out of it to the point of almost burning the edges.

Since we celebrated a birthday in the family, and the dough was really big, I cut enough for 9 small gingerbread houses, one for each of the kids who came to the party. The houses were a huge hit since they are things from story books and none of the kids had assembled nor decorated a gingerbread house before. They also loved the royal icing and couldn't stop eating it, really funny. I wish I had a pictures of all the creations because they were beautiful and unique, and one in particular was outstanding and looked like a log cabin. Alberto was the budding artist.

When not licking his fingers Alberto managed a beautiful log cabin

Since I am in Venice, visiting my home town, my family, and my "old" friends, I decided to propose something Venetian as well. Initially I thought of a palace, then decided to make a gingerbread reproduction of the famous Campanile di San Marco. It was really challenging to put the pieces together since during baking they lost the perfect edges, and when glued together they were not straight. I assure you that the real campanile is quite straight.

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Check here for the recipes and pictures of the amazing creations by other bakers.

Really crooked

The real thing

Anna's Recipe
Spicy Gingerbread Dough

2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream
1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses
9 1/2 cups (1663g)* all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger

1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.

2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.

3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (17-inch by 14-inch/43x36cm)

4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.)

5. Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.

6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (149C)

7. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.

8. Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.

9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.

Royal Icing

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.

* if a cup is 5 oz. and 1 ounce is 28 grams than the correct amount should be 1330 grams.

A special thanks to Anna and Y, and to the founders of the Daring Bakers for bringing all of us together with amazing ideas, month after month.

Venice-Still Crazy After All These Years

I am in my hometown, enjoying every second, every walk, every sight, all my friends, my family and the breathtaking beauty at every corner.

It is freezing cold, thick snow fell two days ago at the same time as a high tide. I froze my feet and my fingers when I went out to take pictures but I loved every minute.

Here are some pictures taken around town, just a little taste of this fragile but absolutely worth a visit city.

A little taste of Venetian life during the high tide and the snow, life goes on, deliveries have to be made.


Kids were hard at play, enjoying this rare happening.



Below is a picture of one of the oldest and still active squeri, name used for the places where they used to make gondolas.

Squero di San Trovaso

Happy Holidays!

Vera da Pozzo-Campo Santa Margherita

Photo courtesy of Oscar of Blu Oscar

I just stumbled into an amazing blog, Blu Oscar, while searching information for some friends who are going to Venice soon. Oscar is an amazing photographer, has an incredible collection of images of Venice, clearly adores this city, and has been doing a fantastic job photographing it. The picture above is of a well I spend time jumping off as a little kid, close to where I almost cut off the head of a pigeon while learning how to bike without training wheels, or next to where I played hopscotch million times. The memories....

The photos are not any typical photos of Venice, instead they offer the view of an insider, of someone who sees Venice with very special eyes.

Thank you Oscar, what a wonderful tribute to my beloved city!