Boozing up Christmas

Getting closer to Christmas everybody! And no other event has the ability to transform the way we drink. What would Christmas be without cocktails, punch and champagne?! My first natale in Capri I celebrated with my first Sgroppino...so deliciously creamy and boozy! Maybe a nice idea for Christmas dinner... the perfect palate cleanser between courses.

Salute!

Sgroppino

Ingredients for 4

2 glasses chilled Prosecco

1 glass chilled (lemon) vodka

400 gr lemon sorbet

4 champagne flutes

Preperation

Blend the lemon sorbet until creamy, ad the Prosecco and vodka and blend well. You can also use a shaker. Serve in chilled champagne flutes.

PS: Try the version with a splash of limoncello... also very tasty!

Enjoying my third 

Sgroppino (that night)

at Bar Tiberio

Panettone vs Kerststol

It's almost Christmas everyone!  I'm already getting excited... getting all cosy with my family, enjoying great food and good (bubbly) wines. Being married to an Italian, our Christmas is a mix of Dutch and Italian traditions. The first part of the holidays will be celebrated in Holland so the first little treat that comes my way will be a big slice of our famous kerststol. I love the Dutch Christmas loaf bread served for Christmas breakfast. After that we'll be moving on to Capri where we'll enjoy a real traditional (south) Italian Christmas and New Years Eve. A wonderful Christmas tradition having the best of both worlds... I've tried to introduce the kerststol in Capri (I once stuffed a big one in my suitcase) but a real Italian Christmas isn't complete without a big soft and fluffy panettone. Even though the birthplace of this traditional Christmas bread is Milano... Panettoni are quite hard to find in Holland, but I saw some at the Xenos (a Dutch store) yesterday. Obviously not even half as tasty (and fresh) as the ones in Italy, so breaking with Dutch tradition wouldn't make sense. Anyway, for those who are curious to have a taste of Italian tradition without betraying theirs and for our Italian friends that like to try something new with this sweet bread, here's a tasty and very Christmasy suggestion from a real Milanese. Buon Natale Emanuela! 

Hope you're all having a great one too!

Tiramisù di Panettone 


Ingredients for 4

4 slices panettone
250 grams mascarpone
50 grams powdered sugar
1 tablespoon pistachio's
80 grams dark chocolate
100 ml milk


Preparation 

Mix the mascarpone with the powdered sugar until creamy. Melt the chocolate au bain-marie, add the tepid milk and stir well. Divide every slice of Panettone in four even pieces and put one piece on every plate. Put one layer of the mascarpone mix on every piece and built the layers finishing with a layer of mascarpone. Sprinkle the chopped pistachio's on the mascarpone layers and cover with chocolate sauce. Serve immediately. 

"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...that's amore"

There is one thing I really love about Naples; the FOOD... If you love to eat (a lot) like me, Napoli is certainly the place to be. Personally, if I lived there,I would eat all day long. The food is always great, even a simple panino at the train station is tasty. You just can’t turn down all the delicious food the city has to offer. And if you find yourself in Naples the one thing you MUST try there is pizza. I never had a soft spot for pizza’s but after a visit to pizza paradise it became one of my weaknesses...   
The Neapolitans "discovered" la pizza. In 2009 the pizza margherita celebrated its 120th birthday. This famous pizza was born in 1889 at Pizzeria Brandi(this is what I've heard). Because of king Umberto and queen Margherita's official visit to Naples, Brandi's pizzaiolo (pizza baker) made a pizza with the colors of the italian flag. Basil green, mozzarella white and tomato red. The royal family appreciated the pizza so much that they named it after the queen.
One slice of a true margherita will change your life (good bye Domino's and Pizzahut)... The secret lies in the freshness and quality of the ingredients and the genuine recipe of the dough, which is really hard to copy. In fact, in order to maintain and preserve the high  quality of one of Italy’s most important export products, “l’Academia della Vera Pizza Napolitana”(the Academy of the real Neapolitan Pizza)judges if a pizza is a real pizza. It wouldn’t be a good idea to let them judge the pizza’s in Holland – I guess I know what their verdict will be after they tasted our "genuine" pizza hawai or pizza shoarma... 

PS: Good pizzerie in Naples: Brandi, Da Michele and 

Donna Margherita 
PPS: Try the margherita with mozzarella di bufala(buffalo mozzarella)...absolutely delicious!

Behind my dad a painting of Napoli's lovable mascot Pulcinella 

as pizzaiolo at Brandi. 
Like Pulcinella we also need very little to be happy; A slice of pizza and a jug of wine!

A genuine margherita:thick soft borders and a tender middle

Lazy sunday leftovers

My sweet friend Emanuela, a very talented food stylist from Milano, has shared some of her great leftover tips with me. Here's a good one from a true Italian kitchen diva... Grazie Manu, sei una super cuoca!

Risottini al Salto

Have a cup or so of risotto left over from last night's meal that you don't know what to do with?...Think twice before throwing it away and recycle!


Ingredients for 8 risottini

200 grams of leftover risotto

60 grams of grated cheese (parmesan)

butter

pepper, to taste

Preperation

Mix the risotto and the cheese together. Heat a small pan over medium heat and add a teaspoon of butter and let it melt. Put a big tablespoon of the risotto cheese mixture in the pan and  squeeze it with a wooden spatula until the rice is compact and the bottom is set. Now gently flip the round risottino over (in one piece) and cook until golden brown. Take the risottino out and drain it on a piece of kitchen paper and cook the next one. Sprinkle your risottini with some pepper... As simple as that!  

Yummy...

Thanks for the picture Manu!

(For more "food porn" as I like to call it, 

check out Emanuela's website)

Cooking apart together

My mom dressed us alike until the age of 8. If having identical twins wasn't enough for her...What was she thinking? It's already hard to tell who's who so let's create even more confusion. She probably enjoyed doing it.
But what about us? Sharing every birthday, sharing friends... Even my DNA I can't keep to myself. Enough with the twin thing, it's me, myself and I from now on! Viva Italia, viva uniqueness!
But even with 1000 km between us there's no escape: once twins always twins... I was skyping my sister saturday night and she was cooking the exact same dish I was preparing...in the exact same sweater I was wearing. Isn't that unique...Viva twin sisters!

Vongole
in Holland...

...and in Italy

Linguine con vongole

Ingredients

A big splash of olive oil extra vergine
1 pound dry linguine
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced very thinly
2 pounds clams (vongole veraci)
peperoncino flakes, to taste
half a glass dry white wine
3 tablespoons butter
2 handfuls fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste 

Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta al dente. (Prepare the vongole while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the linguine will be hot and ready when the sauce is ready) Heat the olive oil over medium flame in a deep saute pan with a lid. Add the garlic and peperoncino; saute for 2 minutes. Add the clams and stir well. Add the wine, cover and shake the pan periodically, until all the clams are opened. Add the butter to thicken the sauce and season with salt and grounded pepper. Sprinkle 1 handful of parsley on the vongole.  Crank the flame up to medium-high heat. Add the drained linguine to the pan. Toss the pasta with the clams until coated nicely. Shower with parsley...e buon ape!

Glitter like Hollywood

If you're looking for more sparkle this Christmas,  visit the island in December and see some real stars. On the 27th of December the 15th edition of Capri Hollywood starts, the mediterranean version of the Oscars so to speak. With less than 30 days to go, things are gearing up for this glamorous event. And actually, I'm looking forward to bumping into a few celebrities myself.
I remember my first Capri Hollywood experience... I was drinking my cappuccino at Bar Tiberio, minding my own business and seated at a table next to me there was Omar Sharif reading the New York Times... minding his business I guess. That evening we went to one of the movie nights where I had the pleasure to meet Bud Spencer.  Neither of them young hot Hollywood stars but for me personally they are two important movie icons from my childhood... I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I loved the fake fights of Bud & Terence :)...
And who doesn't remember Omar Sharif aka Doctor Zhivago aka Laurence of Arabia, once one of Hollywood's most dashing men? Some men never lose their charm don't they...

Another year, at another movie night, we bumped into David Carradine, the actor behind Bill in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”. Francesco, who was seated next to him, couldn’t resist and said “Hey Bill, you’re still alive!”... I just wanted to crawl under my chair. But the cheesy remark made "Bill" actually laugh. Unfortunately Carradine passed away a couple of years ago.

Then there were Samuel L. Jackson, Mariah, Fay Dunaway, Danny Glover and the list goes on...

My sister never forgets that day she was taking the bus to Marina Grande, leaving the island after a brief visit.  She thought she was hallucinating when she saw Keanu Reeves sitting in an open taxi, as cool and gorgeous as on the big screen. Probably he just arrived to visit his sister, who lives in Anacapri nearby the Grotta Azzura. Unfortunately the busdriver ignored her pushing the stop button like a crazy woman, and took off. I guess you missed the bus honey...

Samuel L Jackson 
& Danny Glover
Capri Hollywood 2009

Finally friday!

La Canzone del Mare

British singer and actress Gracie Fields visited Capri for the first time in 1927 and fell madly in love with the island. From that moment on she spent every spring there. Capri became her second home.  She decided to buy an ancient fort at Marina Piccola, built by the french in 800 to protect Marina Piccola and the surrounding coastline. After the second world war Miss Fields turned the fort into a bathing establishment and restaurant with every form of comfort and luxury,  a concept which was totally new on the island at that time.  La Canzone del Mare was born. The name is inspired by the song of de Sirens in Homers Odyssea...
Especially in the 1950's, Capri's golden years, Gracie's place became a great success. It was a refuge for her Hollywood friends, important politicians and aristocratic families. It was at the Canzone where Emilio Pucci's colourful fashion designs became famous. The guest list included people like Onassis and Jackie Kennedy...
Nowadays La Canzone del Mare remains one of the most beautiful and exclusive bathing establishments in Capri, owned by Zio Luigi and his family, the uncle of Francesco. Even though Dame Gracie Fields has passed away many years ago you can still feel her presence through the huge vintage photographs at the entrance and in the restaurant. Looking at these images always makes me daydream of the glamorous past of La Canzone...

PS: If you like to know more, visit lacanzonedelmare.com

Gracie Fields dancing at her Canzone del Mare

Jack and Francesco enjoying a swim there, 50 years later...

Buon lavoro!

Check out my crib

When you think Capri is a no-go during the winter you're wrong... Actually, it was december when I went there for the first time. And it was great!
My trip started in Naples where I got off the plane from Amsterdam. The ride from the airport to the port takes about 20 minutes by taxi from where it takes about 45 minutes by aliscafo (fast boat) to the island.  Of course this doesn't apply to Mariah and Gwyneth, they travel by helicopter. For ordinary people like myself it's a bit of a hustle, but one way or the other you'll get there...
Anyway, being in Naples for the first time - my first time - instead of taking the boat immediately, we decided to act like tourists and went sightseeing. Everybody should do the same, especially during the holiday season. The city is a-ma-zing! Naples is so christmasy and cosy .... I just love it!
Especially the old centre, in Via San Gregorio Armeno. For Neapolitans Christmas is not complete without a visit to this area, "il cuore di Natale" as they say. It's famous for its Christmas cribs, "presepi" in neapolitan dialect. More than half a million people come to see the countless shops selling cribs in all sizes, every color and price range. Besides presepi you can find tons of homeless religious figures which are waiting to move into your crib, like Jesus, holy mary, Padre Pio and Maradona. But also thousands and thousands of accessories to pimp your crib. Like little houses, wells, waterfalls and even miniature pizza ovens... you never know, one of the 3 kings might get hungry. These tiny pieces of art are all hand-made, can you imagine the work? Santa's elfs must be working hard in downtown Napoli. 
The figures that made me laugh the hardest were the miniature Berlusconi's. Imagine him under your tree, standing next to virgin mary. How ironic is that...


Buon Natale a tutti!


P.S. If you can't get enough of Christmas cribs,  visit the Museo Nazionale di San Martino where you can admire an antique presepi collection including the largest one "Il Presepe Cuciniello". It consists of 162 human figures, 80 animals, angels and about 450 miniature objects.

A doctor, a queen, 8 dogs and a monkey

A few tiny streets from my sister's house in the old centre of Anacapri, lies the Axel Munthe monument. I'd never heard of the man until I stumbled upon his bronze memorial statue in Via Le Boffe and my Anacapresi brother-in-law told me about him. The  excellent, somewhat eccentric Swedish doctor/writer/humanist Munthe (1857-1949) was totally obsessed with Capri. He visited the island when he was only seventeen and instantly fell in love with its beauty (who wouldn't?)... and with the Italian wine I guess. Wine was according Munthe the greatest invention in human history... I totally agree!;). He adored the ruins of the San Michele Chapel which were built on an ancient villa of the Roman emperor Tiberius. He loved the place so much that he restored the chapel and turned it into his new home Villa San Michele. Munthe lived there together with his staff, his 8 dogs, cat, turtles and an ex-alcoholic monkey named Billy. Besides rescuing animals, making wine and worshipping the mediterranean sun, he dedicated his life to his patients. He only charged the rich by the way. Munthe had a romance with Victoria the crown princess (later queen) of Sweden, who shared his love for animals. After his death he remained known. And on the island he has even evolved into a saint.
Last year I visited his magnificent villa - now museum - on top of the Phoenician steps, surrounded by beautiful gardens. A Must-See! When you're planning on going to Anacapri read The Story of San Michele first. Munthe's best-seller memoirs, dedicated to his love Victoria by the way...

A modern Ulysses

Almost everybody knows the mythological story "Homers Odyssey". Reading it put me always in a fairy-tale mood. Just love Ulysses (Odysseus in the Greek version) this beautiful mythological hero seduced by danger and mystery. But did this he-man really exist? Did his remarkable adventures really happen? Probably not. I guess it's pretty hard to believe in the existence of cyclopses and sirens....

That was until I found out the truth about Marina Piccola, a beautiful place on the south side of the island. In between overhanging cliffs lies "Lo Scoglio delle Sirene", a group of rocks that devide the beaches Pennaula and Marina di Mulo. It's one of Capri's most important features and a big inspiration for many painters. Some studies proclaim that these exact rocks were the ones described in Homers Odyssey. Homer talks about a beach covered with human bones, from which Ulysses was called by the sirens. In fact, lots of antique bones were found at Marina Piccola. Isn't that amazing!... and knowing this makes you see this place so differently. It's like walking on the set of Homers Odyssey. Especially when our dear friend/godfather of Jack is tempting the waves there. He's a true reincarnation of Ulysses. At least he's as brave as him... even in the winter you can find him in the freezing water. Who knows, maybe the sirens are calling him..... Marco.... Marco.... Marcoooo!!!

Marco & Enrico 

after a plunge at 

"Lo Scoglio delle Sirene"...
...in december!

Glow in the dark

If you don't mind being crushed by a local boatsman, la Grotta Azzurra is one of those places you just have to visit.

There are other ways to get in of course, you can swim like I did a couple of times. I must say that it's not the easiest thing to do. First of all never go alone. I always bring my husband. The fact that he's born on Capri and therefore half man half fish takes some of the stress away ;).

Secondly the sea has to be calm. You have to go through this narrow dark hole so the timing has to be perfect because of the waves and sharp rocks. But once inside WOW!...you instantly get rewarded with the most amazing blue light which is absolutely breathtaking!!!! That reminds me, the next time I'll ask my husband to sing "Volare"...


P.S. Umberto, your movie is very nice! Complimenti!

Something fishy

Fritto Misto di Mare, or Mixed Fried Fish. Little can be more refreshing, or more picturesque, than a fritto misto di mare at this cute place at Marina Piccola. Ristorante La Piazzetta is runned by Gregorio and his wife, lovely people...
Fresh fish rolled in flour and served with lemon wedges. Local lemons of course just plucked or fallen of a caprese lemon tree...che buono!!!

Vintage feel

We just love old school b & w photographes and Jackie O. The combination is even better. Hiding behind her distinctive dark sunglasses she stroles down Via Le Botteghe. Jackie often visited Capri. A lot of classic icons did. Greta Garbo, Liz Taylor, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth...Capri still breathes this authentic "old movie" atmosphere. 
Actually being there makes us even feel a bit Diva-esque ;)

A glass of sunshine a day...

Wow! It was love at first sip... Falanghina. Golden, complex but balanced, full and crisp. There's simply nothing compared to this authentic white wine which is made from a true Campania grape variety already known by the Romans. When I visit my sis in Capri I always bring a few bottles of Taburno and Feudi di San Gregorio home. A glass of Falanghina instantly brings back memories of a Capri summer. A very welcome feeling looking outside, at the rain pouring down. That reminds me to stock up. Dutch winter is approaching... Brrrrrrrrrr!

P.S. Rumor has it that it's one of Obama's favorites.

Faraglioni rocks!