Restaurant Review: Bella Luna

Instead of letting everyone in the house abandon me and leaving me to stalk the aisles of Whole Foods for dinner (not necessarily a bad thing, really), my mom invited me to her dinner date with a friend. And then put me on restaurant-search duty as the resident foodie of the fam. I was more than happy to oblige :)

I had read about Bella Luna, a funky restaurant/lounge in Jamaica Plain in a feature in the [Boston] Globe. It  was described as "satisfyingly groovy" and had a menu to match, so we figured, why not??

I couldn't have described it better myself.  You walk in to a somewhat dimly lit space, most of the light shining out of big paper mache star lamps. The decor was funky, just shy of kitsch, and the service was great. Our waiter had an impressive knowledge of the wine list, too. Best of all, they have outdoor seating under bright red umbrellas. I love sitting outside. I think it totally ups the atmosphere and makes for an even lovelier evening meal.

If we weren't charmed yet, each seat had a different plate with its own hand-drawn design:

Clearly designed by some aspiring artists. TOO cute!

And I loved the bottle the water was served in:

A restaurant I just went to recently did this too...maybe this a becoming a trend in the US restaurant scene?

To start, we 3 split an order of some seriously awesome fried calamari. For all you skeptics out these, I usually don't like fried food because it tends to make me violently ill, but I couldn't resist one golden, crispy bite - and it was SO good. Some of the best I've had.

We also split the Mediterranean Duet, warm pita bread with raw veggies and 2 dips: classic hummus and a spicy eggplant dip:

The hummus was only so-so, a little too creamy-chickpea-y for me. What can I say, I need my tahini and GAHLIC! But the eggplant dip was ca-razy good! Heavy on the ginger and with quite a kick of spice, and really tasty. The other two helped, but I pretty much dominated this plate.

For my entree, I just got a big salad - love me some arugula!

The shrimp was lovely and fresh, and the cheese was deliiisssh. Arugula and sharp cheeses like prmeggiano were basically made for each other. It also had pumpkin seeds, which I totally loved! Such a fun extra flavor addition. It was in a very simple lemon vinaigrette, which I felt needed a little work - it was a little too much like straight lemon juice. I think just a spice or two added to it could really make it incredible. But I was a very happy leaf-eater with this salad.

Mom got this beauty:

Arugula, goat cheese (!), cherry tomatoes, red onion and garlic oil.

Ok, I don't know what kind of crack they put in their crusts, but this pizza was one of the best I've had. And I've had what I consider the best - fresh from the oven, in Italy, after making it myself. But this was up there. The crust was that perfect thickness and the arugula + garlic oil made it herby and delicious. I had a slice and then a couple more teeny tiny slivers when we brought it home. Whoa.

And Mom's friend Barb (and just in case she reads this...HI!!!) got the wild mushroom ravioli:

I had half of a bite of my madre's bite because it's me and I avoid all things involving peas like they're mosquitoes (and, actually, ravioli...but that's another story), but the bite I had was some seriously phenomenal ravioli. The earthy mushrooms + creamy sweet cheese filling flavors were just spot on.

Dessert came in the form of lemon sorbet and tiramisu. Now, I will say that this is one restaurant where the "judge a restaurant by their desserts" rule does not work. We had great appetizers and wonderful entrees, but I was quite disappointed in the dessert. The sorbet, although refreshing and lemonade-like, had a very odd texture. It was almost like freezer burn-icy on the outside (which had a watery flavor) but then oddly chewy on the inside. Sorbet, to me, is supposed to be smooth and almost creamy, at least easy for a spoon to dig in. This was almost gummy, and there was nothing inventive about the flavor. The tiramisu was even more of a disappointment - I mean, I realize I'm horribly biased, but still. The sponge in the middle was watery and weak tasting, and the whipped cream on top tasted very artificial. And the chocolate syrup was no better than Hershey's out of a bottle - not that that doesn't have it's place, but come on. That place is not tiramisu! I tried [multiple times] to take a picture, but the sun had long since set and LuLu wasn't having it. Clearly they should just hire me to be the tiramisu chef! Haha, jk jk (sort of ;).

Dessert aside, it was a lovely meal with great conversation and company, and that is what a meal is supposed to be.

~Namaste~

The Case of "The Lasts"

Ugh, I hate this part. You know, the one where everything you do is "the last." Last load of laundry in our crazy machine [it secretly wishes it were a rocket ship - you should hear it on spin cycle). Last shopping trip in the market. Last time I have to climb the never-ending stairs to Italian class...ok, maybe I don't hate every part. Those stairs at 8 in the morning were not exactly a treat.

After I got my grade on my Italian final - all good :) - I came home for some overnight oats!

Before you go to bed, put oats in a bowl and pour an equal amount of liquid (I'm a fan of almond milk) over them, and maybe add a dash of cinnamon. Let them sleep in the refigerator and when you are both awake, the oats will have absorbed the liquid and be soft - voila, no-cook oatmeal!

(There are different ways of preparing them; some people add more stuff to it the night before. That's why they're so fun - lots of different ways to experiment!)

Before...

After: all mixed up with some vanilla yogurt.

This was exceptionally good today - it tasted like snickerdoodle cookie dough! The perfect way to prepare for my cooking practical, the second half of my final for that class where we actually have to cook for and be judged by our professor.

We set his table up all pretty:

We were split up into teams to tackle 3 courses of 4 dishes.

Course 1: BREAD

Not just bread - stuffed focaccia and pizza.

This was the focaccia we made a couple weeks ago for our "green class." It's amazing, and this time it was even better. The spinach is sauteed in a little olive oil and garlic to add flavor and it worked - the spinach-garlic combo sang through the bread. The mozzarella (use fresh buffala mozzarella - it's a little fattier but you can use less to get a powerful punch of flavor) was perfectly stretchy, and the dough was juuuust dense enough to hold up it's filling but fluffy enough to be like eating yummy, doughy, pillows. 

Another team made pizza margherita - tomatoes, mozzarella, basil. This was very probably the.best.pizza. I've ever had. The flavors was perfectly balanced and so fresh. The crust was the right thickness - not cracker like but not like you were getting more crust than ingredients in your mouth at once either. The sauteed the tomatoes in garlic and olive before topping the dough to bake - this is essential for non-soggy pizza, because if you just throw the raw ingredients on the top, the water (that makes up most of the veggie) will release and make your pizza WAY to heavy to eat. The cheese was golden but not gummy or too crispy and with the basil was SO good. Yup, will be making this when I come home.

Next course: Pear-filled ravioli in a walnut-herb sauce with pecorino.

PEAR!

This was very tasty. The pasta was a little undercooked, but I actually like overly-al dente pasta (yes, I'm odd). I wish the pear had been blended with the pecorino and then filled, the ravioli with just chopped pear felt a little sparse to me. But the walnut sauce was SO good - walnuts, parsley, and basil. You couldn't really taste the walnuts, at least not unless you looked for it, but that is actually kind of the goal. Like pesto - it's not ALL about the pine nuts that you add to it, but if you took them out you would know. It really did work well the sweetness of the pears. As my professor commented - "amazing".

Dessert: MY TEAM!

[Thanks again blogger for the sideways picture. It's not funny anymore.] 

Crema di amaretti - I also made it here.

Gosh, I love pretty food.

The filling is very similar to tiramisu - we used the double boiler method to kill any salmonella ickiness in the eggs as we beat the. Here's what we did: Separate the whites from the yolks of your eggs (it's one egg for every 2 people you are serving). Get your double -boiler going; when the water is simmering (NOT full-on boiling!), use a hand-mixer (or one of those fancy-schmancy Kitchen Aid mixers that I can only dream about owning) beat the yolks with cane sugar (tablespoons=number of eggs used) until it's nice and creamy. Set it aside to cool. Get your water a-simmerin' again, and repeat the process with egg whites (no sugar) until they form stiff peaks. Not sure what that means? I didn't either. Get them to the point where if you turn the bowl upside down, the egg whites don't move (and please use a second bowl underneath when testing this...). Let those cool as well. Fold in marscapone cheese with yolk-sugar mixture gently. Then add the egg whites. 

This is where I added a couple teaspoons of cinnamon. I remember thinking it would be good the first time we made it, and I wanted to do it for the final. My teacher loved it! Yay! Nothing like feeling innovative in the kitchen to make me smile:)

Now, look at the consistency you have. You want something tiramisu-filling-like, very light and creamy. We made the call to add a liiiiittle bit of whipping cream (whipped with a little lemon juice and a pinch of salt to get it fluffy!), and that really made a huge difference. We used about 125 grams of cream, and we were making for 14 people - so you really don't need much.

To plate, dip two amaretti cookies (they're like little almond biscuits, I will have to consciously search for them in the States when I come home - I'll keep you updated!) in strong coffee mixed with just a few drops of milk and sugar. Sprinkle the top with coffee (instant here is fine), chocolate chips and cocoa powder. Voila! better-than-tiramisu goodness.

Our professor's comment? "Delizioso!"

He gave me a big hug when I left and that was when this whole "I'm actually leaving" business hit me. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! DON'T MAKE ME GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.

SO, after class I wandered over to the Ponte Vecchio to do some window shopping. I have been searching for a necklace with the Florentine fleur-de-lis crest, and I knew if I would find it anywhere, that's where it would be. The Ponte Vecchio is known for its jewlery, specifically marble and gold. Honestly, I really can't stand gold, but I was still hopeful. It was looking pretty dim at first; all I could find were charms the size of my pinky fingernail at the low, low price of 122 euro - which is, what, maybe 150 dollars? Ugh. I was feeling like giving up, when I crossed to the other side and found it.

Yay! 6 euro, and I already have a chain :) Ain't it perty?

For the first time this week, the sun was out! I have been planning on returning to Piazzale Michelangiolo to get some better pictures because a) the day we went it was cloudy, b) I have a new camera!!, and c) the combination of my carberrific lunch + the joy of finding my jewelry left me with some newfound energy to burn!

The walk there is lovely.

[Ponte Vecchio]

Remember the funky trees?

It's quite a hike to get there...

And just when you think it's over...

But it's worth it.

Even though I've only been here for 4 teeny months, I still call it 'mine.' Not that it only belongs to me; more in the way that it has made such an impact on me. It's home.

Dinner tonight was long-anticipated. We planned to go to Cibreino - "the poor man's Cibreo." Cibreo is one of the most important (and most expensive) restaurants in Florence. The chef is world-reknowned for his take on Italian food. Simply put, it's a big deal.

Cibreino is a little trattoria around the corner from Cibreo that offers a limited menu for a MUCH smaller price. Same kitchen - fewer options.

I was excited.

We got there at 7, when it opens, and all breathed sighs of relief when there was a table for 4 ready and waiting. The trattoria is a very small room with only 8 or so tables, so we were a little worried. It was also mostly tourists - and we were treated as such, which was a little annoying but to be expected considering the fame of this place.

After much debate and some help from our very entertaining waiter, I ordered:

It was a veggie-fish soup. Very well spiced and I loved the fish that was in it - no idea what it was called, a kind of white fish that looked a little bit like tuna (different taste though). It was a little brothy for me, but it was so well-seasoned that it didn't hinder my enjoyment of it. They also brought us a "surprise" bowl of the minestra di pane - bread soup - that is very similar to ribollita. That was awesome - tasted just like Thanksgiving stuffing! Ah, the wonders of sage.

At the end of our class today, my cooking professor was talking about going to restaurants. He said the best way to judge a restaurant is by its appetizers and dessert - how they start and end a meal. He emphasized the great importance of dessert and ending a meal on a sweet note, because there's always room for sweet! (You understand now why I enjoyed this class so much?) I was feeling inspired and so Alaina and I split the flourless chocolate cake.

Best. Decision. Ever.

This was one of the best chocolate cakes EVER. Very thin but SO dense and moist. I could have eaten an entire cake's worth of it. But, aside from the phenomenal flavor, I also appreciated the portion size - it was a perfect dessert. Wonderful taste but not overwhelmingly huge so as to make you waddle out of the restaurant. Well done, Cibreino. Well done.

What fabulous plans do we have on our last day in Firenze? Pack, pack, pack - print boarding passes - and then pack some more. Ah, the glamour of life abroad.

And I loved every second.

~Namaste~

Puffy Pizza and Planes

Gah, no update in so long! Didja miss me? Barcelona was SO FUN!!! But more on that later. When we last left Gillianasana...

I'll be honest, Thursday did not begin well. You may remember my Easter morning surprise when I woke up to find my face swollen to 10 times its normal size. I suspect it's either a reaction to Italian mosquitoes or something else like bed bugs....EW. Whatever it is, it got me again, and my eyes were swollen shut. As in, I could barely see to walk around the apartment. Thank goodness I had one Italian class left that I could miss. I have pictures...but I'll spare you. I'd hate to spoil anyone's appetite.

What upset me most about this little obstacle was that not only was today my last cooking class (*tear*), but it was the class focused on my true carb love, bread. And not just any bread....pizza dough!!!! Yes, today we made pizza from scratch. I was not about to miss this, swollen eyes or not. By the time class rolled around it had gone done a little, so I threw on my big sunglasses and was out the door. 

We all split up into 5 groups - 4 pizzas and 1 dessert. My group went with a veggie pizza - eggplant, zucchini, and mozzarella with garlic and tomato sauce. It was fantastically easy, too - my family better be ready for some pizza a la ME!

We started with the basic bread recipe - flour, water, yeast, a little salt and a pinch of sugar. *Tip*: you always use half the amount of flour for the water. Like, if you have 300 grams of flour, you use 150 ml of water. You melt the yeast in the water first and add the pinch of sugar - the sugar helps activate the yeast to move things along quicker. Mix the flour and salt together and form what I call the flour volcano - bascially make a hole in the middle of the flour pile so the flour forms a kind of wall . Pour some of the water/yeast mixture into the hole and start gently working them together - we used a fork to do this, kind of making a whipping/beating motion. Eventually it will be juuust well-mixed enough to start kneading with your hands.  Add a little olive oil, white wine, and vinegar as you knead to keep the bread from drying out. After about 10 minutes, form the dough into a ball and make an X in the top; let it rest for about 2 more minutes, then work it a liiittle bit more, then reform the ball, remark the X, and let it rest again under a damp paper towel for about 10 minutes. When your 10 minutes are up, roll it out with a rolling pin on both sides - it will probably be a funky shape, not a perfect circle. Personally, I think that makes it more interesting. Just sayin.

For veggie pizzas, the veggies MUST be sauteed at least a little before being put on the pizza and baked. Veggies are mostly made of water, and if you throw em on there raw, they will release their water onto the pizza while baking and the end result is heavy and very hard to eat - no wimpy pizzas!!! We sauteed our eggplant and zucchini in some olive oil and garlic (hard to go wrong with that combo). For the sauce, we just used pureed tomatoes and heated it up, adding a little (what else?) olive oil. Ladel it in small amount in the middle of the rolled out pizza dough and swirl it around with the bottom of the ladel. Repeat this just until it's covered - don't oversauce! I promise, there will be enough, even if you like sauce. Just put the ladel down.

Add your sauteed veggies and cheeeeeeese:

And throw it in the oven for baby and me about 20 minutes-ish at 215 Celsius, about 415 degrees Fahrenheit. E voila!

Have you ever seen such a beautiful sight?

Ours was my favorite I think. The crust was the perfect thick/thinness, there was just enough sauce, not too much cheese and the veggies gave texture and taste that made this probably some of the best pizza ever.

Another group made a Margherita pizza, which is fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. I liked it, but I think I prefer tomato sauce to straight tomatoes.

Then there was a [mostly] white pizza with mozzarella, parmesan, prosciutto and I believe mushrooms. I LOVE parmesan on pizza. It gives it such a good bite. This was probably my second fave.

The last group topped theirs with potatoes and rosemary. I liked it, but I didn't love it; the textures of the bread and potatoes didn't work as well together for me. I would rather have them separate, I suppose. 

We kept it simple with dessert - stuffed peaches. They're finally in season here, and they were cut open, de-pitted and stuffed with a mixture of chopped almonds, brown sugar, egg yolk, cocoa powder

It was a very tasty little bite. The peaches were a little too underripe I think, but the filling was AWESOME. Like a really good biscotti - crumbly, sweet, almondy. Would actually be really good on oatmeal, methinks...

And no pizza is complete without wine, right? A very light white. My puffy self was grateful.

[I kept my sunglasses on the entire class. I'm sure everyone thinks I'm insane. Don't care.]

After that, it was a mad rush to GET OUT of the house and get our butts to Barcelona!! My roommate from school is studying there this semester and I was soo excited to see her :) After that the day started getting better (even though the puffiness didn't fully reside until late the next day...eek). I won't go into details about the rest of my Thursday, because, um, OY VEH. 

Barcelona - get ready. The ladies of The Palace are coming.

~Namaste~

A Very Unique Easter

Buona Pasqua...err, 2 days late! The internet has been a serious downer, but I can only get so low before I remember I'm living in Florence. That makes everything so much better.

Easter was...certainly unique. Oh, where to begin. 

I woke up and knew something was off. My head was pounding and I just felt weird. I figured out the problem pretty quickly...

No, I did not get beaten up in the middle of the night. Well, actually, I guess I kind of did...by a MOSQUITO. Mosquitoes are bad all year round in Florence, and the one buzzing around our room last night got me good. Really good. 

I had planned on doing some Easter morning yoga, but I was a little distracted, for obvious reasons. I needed chocolate, and I needed it immediately. Lucky for me, chocolate is how Italians celebrate Easter, in the form of eggs:

All wrapped up perty!

Vestri, a wonderful chocolate company here in Firenze (with excellent gelato!)

300 grams of dark chocolate. Yep, this helped the puffy-face situation.

For comparison ;)

I sought further consolation in my good ole stand-by - oats!

I used raisins for the first time in my oats - I loved it! Added a really nice sweetness.

I also added blackberries and strawberries my roommate bought for pancakes. I LOVE berries in my oats, but they're not quite in season and Italians are big on eating on in-season fruits, so they're not as easy to find. Don't worry - come summer, you will see a LOT of berrylicious oat bowls around here!

Raisins, berries, cinnamon, oh my!

The puffiness slowly receded throughout the day, but I was still quite comical-looking when we ventured out into the torrential downpour for a nice Easter dinner. We went to Dante's, recommended by many students because they offer free, unlimited wine. And puffy face + pouring rain = definitely a good day for wine. 

I ordered my first pizza in Italy!

Foccaccia al salmone

Suuuper thin foccaccia (very much like naan) with mozzarella, tomatoes, arugula, and smoked salmon. Basically, the perfect bagel, with mozzarella instead of cream cheese and a different carb on the bottom. Smoked salmon + arugula is a match made in heaven.

I pretty much demolished this massive pizza, but the thinness of the crust made it lighter than it looked. The wine was nice too...but then they brought a second bottle. And then a free shot of limoncello. And then I was a liiiiittle bit tipsy.

We gave up on the idea of walking home when we looked outside and it was raining even harder, so we called a cab. Alaina generously made a crostata for our dessert that was awaiting us patiently in the refrigerator:

So perty! And quite yummy also!

However, Alaina got upset that Sam and I ate "all" of the fruit (her accusation, not my admission), and things escalated quite quickly into a full-out berry/crostata WAR. Berries in our hair, on the floor, on our clothes, and basically every other surface in our apartment was at some point or other covered in berry juice. True, not so fun to clean up...but totally worth it.

Our Easter Monday was pretty uneventful. Slept in, did a bit of shopping, and sent angry vibes to Mother Nature for not giving us spring weather. I did make a pretty sweet bowl of oats though:

KINDEREGG OATS!!!

If you have never had a Kinderegg before, please find one now. They look like this:

Made in Germany, they are milk chocolate.white chocolate on the inside with a little toy inside.

When I was little, I had several au pairs and two of them were from Germany (in fact, one of them is pregnant with twins!! SO exciting!!! Hi Tina!!) and they gave these to me and my brother a bunch - SO fun. They are huge in Europe and one of my roommates here has discovered them and is full-on addicted, and so she bought us each one for Easter. My first thought when I saw it was to add it to oats. We all have our addictions, I suppose.

So, there you have it. My Easter in Florence. Crazy, weird...and definitely one-of-a-kind.