Il Pranzo di S.Stefano

The day after Christmas is the Feast Day of Saint Stephen.  Little known in the USA, it's widely celebrated in the rest of the world.  In Italy it's a public holiday, and the eating continues for the third day.

Prosecco

Today's lunch was a small crowd, only 13 people attended. We started off with some more finger sandwiches:  gorgonzola and walnuts, and some sort of caviar.

The table being prepared for lunch.

Then we moved on to today's big novelty: a mozzarella that weighs a whopping 5 kilograms!

The 5 kilogram mozzarella.

There it is, in the center of the table, next to the finger sandwiches.  To give you some sense of scale, here's another picture with a normal sized person in the scene:

5 kilogram mozzarella next to normal size person.

About this time I switched from the Prosecco to a Falanghina:

Falanghina

Now we're past the appetizers.  First plate is the Lasagna.

Lasagna

Modest serving of Lasagna.

 For second plate we had turkey.  The contorni were broccoletti and mashed potato balls.  These are potatoes, mashed, made into little balls, and lightly fried or perhaps baked.

An additional second plate for anyone who wasn't stuffed yet.  This is meat in a roll (rotolo) around spinach, eggs, carrots, cheese.

Now we move on to the fruits and dessert.  Starting with the melon. No, it's not canteloupe.  No, it's not mush melon. I don't know what this would be called in the USA.  The outside was green.  Here they just called it the Christmas Melon, maybe because it happens to be a crop that ripens in the winter, I just do not know.

And pineapple.

And walnuts and hard chocolate cookies and an assortment of traditional holiday cookies.

And finally the struffoli!

Struffoli. Deep fried dough balls in honey and candied sugar balls.

So that was our small lunch.  I did miss a few things.  For example the "Insalata di rinforzo" from yesterday made another appearance and there was also a delightful home made wine, very wet not dry at all.  So we close by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Christmas Day Pranzo

Today's main meal was much lighter than yesterday's.  Sorry I failed to take any pictures at all.

Lunch started with the minestra, which in this case was escarole served in a light broth.  The second plate was meats, e.g. some sausages and beef, cooked in the same broth.

The sides or contorni were puree of potatoes and a local dish called panzerotti: these are little logs of mashed potatoes filled with cheeses and salt cured meats, then dipped in bread crumbs and deep fried.

After this we had three types of salami, couple kinds of cheeses, some good melon of a type I don't see in the US, and a strange salad called "l'insalada di rinforzo". This is a bed of cauliflower covered with olives, hot and sweet peppers, and eveykind of garnish you could imagine.

Also struffoli, Christmas cookies, and I cannot remember what else.

Most guests were still too full from last night's meal and didn't manage to eat much today. And on Monday it's still a holiday, the feast of St. Stephen, so we have to do it all over again!

La Cena della Vigilia di Natala

The Christmas Eve dinner in Italy is typically based on fish, often having many different types of seafood in one meal.  This is a small light meal we had tonight. 

  

Smoked salmon and tuna finger sandwiches.

The table being prepared.

Octopus salad.

Risotto with calamari, shrimp, and mussels.

Olga and the fish. The gilt-head (sea) bream Sparus aurata.

Orata and potatoes

Fried calamari and fried baccala (salt cured cod).

I was going strong.  Had two servings of risotto.  Was going strong into the fish.  Ran into a brick wall when the calamari and baccalà arrived.

For washing down all this, we had cold water, and started out with a fresh white wine, a Falanghina, before passing quickly to a local red wine, Gragnano.

Next voyage

Franchetiello is already tired of being back in Ohio.
The next stop on the Franchetiello tour is set:  back to Napoli for Christmas and New Year.  Bought tickets today!

Fiat Doblo - Italian SUV done right

Last 2 days in Italy I needed a vehicle to get 3 of us from Tortoreto back to Pozzuoli, and then 5 of us plus all our luggage from Pozzuoli to the Napoli airport.
I reserved a station wagon but the rental agency ran out of cars, and all I had to choose from was a Fiat 500 or a Fiat Doblo.  A 500 would never have been big enough, but luckily the Doblo is huge!

That's Doblo from the front view, parked in a basement garage spot.
Doblo is so wide that seated in the driver's seat my elbow wouldn't reach the window to lean on it.  Three big people can sit comfortably across the back seat.  Trunk is HUGE.
Headroom, you ask?  Look at this:

Doblo had a 4 cyl diesel, something around 1,9 liters, I think, but I didn't pay enough attention.  It's a bit of a brick, however, so freeway mileage was a disappointing 30 mpg.  It's possible my math was just off, and I don't really know the liters and the mileage, so I did a lot of estimating based on what I paid to fill up, average price of diesel that week on that freeway, and distance based on what google navigation says is the distance for the route I took.

In any case, if you have the chance to drive a Doblo, go for it, it's useful and fun.

Vacation pictures posted on Picasa Web

 All my vacation pictures from this trip are now in a Picasa Web album, here:  Vacanze Estate 2011

Back in Columbus

The summer at the sea is over, I'm back in Columbus.

Next trip?   Don't know yet.  Maybe New Year's, maybe something else.
I may still post some things to catch up on stuff I saw/photographed and haven't yet posted about

Wine of the Day

Solopaca (rosso)
DOC 2008
Vesuviana Vini s.r.l., Nola (NA), Italia
A little more bubbly than I remembered.

Pizza!

Pizza Margherita DOP
Vesi
Piazza Miraglia 388
Napoli

Beer of the day

Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier,  0,5 l
Munchen

Bye bye Tortoreto

Sadly, I've left Tortoreto.  Back in Pozzuoli or Napoli for today, and Monday I fly back to the USA.

Pizza on the beach after dark

Sorry fot the poor photos but it's dark out here.
Pizza and beer and wine on the beach after dark. Life is tough in Tortoteto.

Fine serata alla Sirenetta

Life in Tortoreto is tough.  We were forced to sit down at 1:30am for a little refreshment.

Serata a Giulianova

Every Thursday night.

Music, food, crafts, etc.

Sagra di Colonnella

Festival food, music, friends.

Lunch on Ferragosto

At the Albergo Ristorante Val Vomano Via Nazionale, 18, 64039 Penna Sant'Andrea Teramo

2 appetizer courses, 2 first plate courses, 1 second plate of assorted grilled meats plus two plates of contorni, fruit, dessert, coffee