Whites: Sauvignon Blanc (Südtirol)

A couple of years ago we took a wine tasting trip in Südtirol, the area north of Garda Lake and south of Austria. Beautiful place, I'll try to write about it some time.
Anyhow, among the delicious wines we tasted we fell for the Sauvignon Blanc, a fresh yet very mineral white. It is so delicious it quickly made it to my top 5 favorite wines!
The origin of this grape is french (Bordeaux area) and it was brought to Italy in the 1800. Its name comes from the french word sauvage (savage) which described the origins of the plant. It is a type of grape you can find around the world and in other places of Italy.

Mexican holidays!

From today on, I'm officially on holidays! And what better place to go on holidays than Mexico!

Promise to bring back lots of pictures!
xoxo
M.

Milanese snapshots

"What is the fatal charm of Italy? What do we find there that can be found nowhere else? I believe it is a certain permission to be human, which other places, other countries, lost long ago." -Erica Jong

Salmon & Burrata Rolls

Another super simple summer recipe(well, it's so good that we also have it in the winter). Another delicious thing from Italy that I'm in love with since the first bite is Burrata. Burrata is a fresh cheese, typical from the southern Italian region of Apulia (like orecchiette, remember?). It is like a mozzarella (actually, it is made of mozzarella) but the inside is creamier, due to its filling made of cream and scraps of mozzarella. The making procedure is different to the one of mozzarella and the taste is also different (fresher, creamier), but so delicious. When finished, it is wrapped in leaves -and a plastic bag- so when you eat it you can check if the leaves are still green to be sure of its freshness. It can be eaten like that or if you want you can add it to salads, cold cuts, cheese plates, pasta, etc. I know it may seem strange to mix fish and cheese but I particularily love this recipe:

Salmon and burrata rolls 

 Ingredients:
8 slices of smoked salmon
1 burrata
lemon juice
salt & pepper
chives
olive oil

Sprinkle the salmon slices with the lemon juice and some drops of olive oil. Chop some chives and mix them with the burrata (previously diced), adding some salt and pepper. Put a spoon of burrata mix over a salmon slice and roll it (like we did with the bresaola rolls, remember?)and tie it with a chive or a toothpick. Easy as that!

Addicted to Pinterest

By now, we should all know what Pinterest is, right? If not, have a look at my previous post.
Well, lately Pinterest has become the ultimate social website, not to mention a great marketing resource for companies, blogs and brands.
I've been spending an average of 10-minutes on Pinterest everyday in the last month and I've been pinning, liking, repining and browsing through many other pinners' interests. As a result, my blog has been getting traffic from the pictures of my previous posts I've been pinning, I've pinned lots of recipes (some of them will be tried, some others will just stay in my 'Food' board),

Food board

I've pinned and liked lots of beautiful clothes, shoes and bags I can't afford - but I'll try to find the next best affordable thing, 

Bags! board

Style board

I've repinned lots of pictures of beautiful places I've been to or I'd like to visit, 

Places board

I've created a 'Blog' board where I pin all the ideas I can get for this space 

Blog board

and I've also created another board with my favorite places in Milan.

Milan Life board

I've learned lots of stuff like:

how to set the table (properly)

Photography tips

Cool quotes

Therefore, I've come to the conclusion, I am happily:

All images are taken from my Pinterest boards, follow me at: http://pinterest.com/tfoodie/

Avocado memories

They say that you start to value things more when you don't have them anymore. That's pure wisdom. I remember when I was growing up in Mexico surrounded by avocado trees I never paid much attention to it, of course I have always loved avocado, but now that I'm hundreds of miles away from my beloved avocado trees I wish I had eaten avocado everyday for all those years.

image taken from this website

Sunflower fields forever

Paraphrasing what one of my favorite Italian authors (Severgnini) once wrote, if seasons had a passport, the fall would be British, the winter would be Russian, spring would be American, but summer would be Italian without a doubt, because summer -like Italians- is exaggerated, emotional, noisy, lively.
I agree 100% with this. Summer is my favorite season but the Italian summer is my favorite of them all. People are in a better mood, days are longer, warmer, everyone is counting the days for the holidays, there's a relaxing atmosphere everywhere and, my favorite part, everywhere you go in the countryside you find the beautiful sunflower fields.
A couple of weeks ago we were in Le Marche, enjoying the Italian summer and relaxing in its beautiful hillsides, here are some pictures:

Orecchiette

Orecchiette is a kind of pasta (hand-made) from Southern Italy, Puglia region. It's called orecchietta because its shape reminds of a small ear (orecchietto in Italian). I don't know (of course), nor do I have the skills to make orecchiette by myself - I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to making pasta with my hands - but you can buy fresh ones in gourmeries, and let me tell you, after I tasted them, I'm seriously thinking of making them by myself soon. You can also buy them dry as the other kinds of pasta, but trust me, the fresher the better.
I love the simplicity of some ingredients, a couple of them put together and you have an easy but delicious dish.

Orecchiette al pomodoro
(serves 2)
200 gr. of orecchiette (fresh or dry, whatever you can get)
tomato sauce
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons of olive oil
a bunch of fresh basil leaves
1 spicy red pepper
half a cup of grated ricotta salata (or parmigiano cheese)
salt


Peel the garlic, then fry it in a pan with the olive oil and the red pepper (diced), after a couple of minutes add the tomato sauce, salt and basil. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, then take away the garlic.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water, drain and add it to the sauce pan, cook together -low heat-for a few minutes.
Serve the orecchiette in the plates and add the grated ricotta, decorate with basil leaves.