Torino Film Festival

  The Torino Film Festival has been taking over the city this week. Opening night took place at the theatre in front of my house so I watched the stars arrive in the cars and the paparazzi snap shots, all from my window in my pajamas.

See what I was watching from my window here:

Spread the Love

  It was a free hug weekend in Piazza Castello. Call me greedy but I took 2.

FIAT Ad Banned in the US

  Is this ad too sexy? It's showing in Italy but has been banned in the US and Australia. What do you think?

KCC's Best Video Yet

Note the Italian guys want to be called "the best"! Typical.

Vintage Italian Booze Ads

...to put you in the party mood for the holiday! (all found in my vintage La Cucina Italiana magazine collection).

Eat Here: Eataly Cafe Via LaGrange

  Luckily I have a friend with inside knowledge that the new small satellite Eataly Store/Cafe/ Restaurant (compared to the 3 story mega-store in Lingotto), is the new hip place to eat. Also lucky, it's just around the corner from my house.

The new Eataly on Via LaGrange in Torino has an atmosphere of a vintage diner mixed with a new breed of organic restaurant. The whole front of the cafe is glass and with the kitchen in the front, from the street you could watch the chefs cook pasta all day.

Long tall tables with barstools greet you once inside that encourage you to sit closely to strangers mostly because you have no other choice. Once you settled in next to your new best friends, a waiter will come over and take your order. The menu is short and changes everyday according to the chef's specials. A pasta of the day, a salad of the day, or a cheese and salami plate of the day and an organic beer or wine to drink.

Everything was fresh and delicious. Simple, not complicated. The cafe is also a grocery store. Once you have finished eating, you can pick up your fresh pasta, wine, some produce, and baking goods. And that's not all. They are also a gelatoria with several combinations of toppings to make a sundae. With ALL of that under one roof I wondered how they were going to pack so much stuff into such a small space... but somehow they make it work.

Flavor of the Month

  The flavor of the month of November at Grom is a good one. Merengue flavor base with lots of chunks of marron glacè (candied chestnuts). Brovo Grom and may I say, YUM.

If you are not full aquainted with these ingredients then let me show you.
This:

Plus this:

A great fall flavor, don't you think?

Door Series # 54

What is That? Tamarindo

This fruit(?) grows in pods hanging in a slightly curved shape and can be found at the market all year long. According to the internet, and the internet never lies, cooking with the pulp of the tamarind is used as a spice in soups and sauces. It is also an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. 

It's mostly a food found in tropical places so I didn't find any Italian recipes using it, but I did find it in an Italian grocery store. Does anyone else cook with this strange food? Tell me about it!

We've Been Occupied

  Torino has 2 occuby protesters. They popped up some tents in Piazza Castello and had everybody write down their list of complaints on cardboard so passers-by could support the protest.

Half-Ass Coverage of the Turin Marathon

  Yesterday morning at 9:30 sharp a starting gun fired in Piazza Castello and hundreds of runners began the Turin Marathon. Before 9:30 the pomp and ceremony was like grand show. From someone who is not a huge fan of races, here are your half-ass marathon highlights!

There was some singing:



There were costumes:

There were people, there were balloons, there were cameras:

After a couple of hours of cheering and noisy helicopters circling the city, the winners started to come in:
The mens winners:

And the women's winner:

In true Italian style, I was standing next to some Italians who were smoking while watching the winners come in. I found this ironic.
And that was the best bits of the Turin Marathon.

Hit the Road Jack

Yesterday this guy resigned.

 

Now Italy needs a fresh outlook. Some young blood to get in there a stir things up. Bring the country into the future with hope like Obama or Kate Middleton. So who did he choose as the next PM? This guy:

Mario Monti

Will he be any better? Don't know but he does look a little old for a Bunga Bunga party.

Best of the Web, Ya That's me!

Be @ Home Decor blog of Pocket Change has named All Roads Lead to Pecetto a Best of the Web for this week. Hooray! It's an honor also because the other blogs featured this week are all so fun, I feel in such good company. Click on this link to see me and to check out some other best of the web blogs.

One Foggy Morning

  Early this morning I awoke to find that the holiday festive Luci d'Artista has arrived in the streets of Torino. This one with stained glass is new this year.

 

The pigeons however, didn't seem to notice.

The Maestro Strikes Again at McItaly

  The second burger on the menu designed by 3 time Michelin star Chef Marchesi has arrived at our local McDonald's. Like the good blogger I am, I tried it for you. It's called the Adagio and it is unique to say the least. This time on top of your burger you will find an eggplant mousse, ricotta salata (the hard ricotta), chunks of grilled eggplant, and tomatoes topped with a soft bun encrusted with toasted almonds. It comes with a panettone tiramisu for dessert.

 I will say that this hamburger is better then the Vivace (the spinach burger), but still eggplant is not the most delicious topping. That is obvious but I still gave it a fighting chance. I know that this burger was not created for me. It was created for an Italian palette and good thing because it would never be successful in America and that's saying a lot because we put a lot of stuff on our burgers including blue cheese, onion rings, bbq sauce, mushrooms, bacon....

I often hear Italians criticizing the out of control toppings that Americans put on pizzas, specifically the meat lovers and cheese lovers verities. "Sacrilege", they say. So allow me to say, "back at you". Putting spinach and/or eggplant on a perfectly good meat patty is hamburger sacrilege. I applaud the creativity but keep trying.

Door Series #53

  Last night I watched the Miss World competition. It was a welcomed distraction from all of the rain, flooding, and terrible wreckage that has plagued my little part of the world this week. The winner was Miss Venezuela who had the best smile and the worst dress. A fluffy pink monstrosity that lacked... well, taste but certinaly grabbed your attention.

We, of course had our eyes on Miss Italy who was one of the only contestants who had very short hair which I thought was not only quite modern of her but also very un-italian like.

Miss USA, didn't even make the top 30. I couldn't even find a picture of her at the pageant. I was rooting for Miss South Africa, she was stunning. Miss Scotland would have been my runner up.

The theme of Miss World is "Beauty with a Purpose" which means they do a lot of charity work, and that's lovely but it made me giggle because the hostess kept saying "Beauty with a Porpoise". ha ha ha ha, anyways,

Frivolous and totally cheesy entertainment had by all. Now it's back to preparing for the Po River to flood our city which is predicted to start tonight. 

Eat Here: Ristorante da O Batti

 It was the promise of the best scampi in Liguria that lured us to U Batti last Monday night, the small restaurant in Portofino with a big local reputation. The moment we sat down we were given the "tools" we would need for our dining experience. They consisted of claw pliers and a giant bib.

There is no menu at U Batti. Instead our waiter rambled off the dishes that the chef had prepared for that evening.
We started off with a local white wine, Bianchetta. It was 13% volume which is quite high actually. This was my first Bianchetta and I found it a perfect compliment with fish dishes. Luckily we have Pier's father who always picks the wine and he is right on every time. Once I asked him how he does it and he told me this wise advice, "Always order the local wine and you will never go wrong."

Starters included fish and pesto because this is Liguria after all. Boghe with a cream pesto sauce and toasts with red pepper and pesto cream.

 Firsts included pasta with...more pesto and bread.

 

Then came the main event, the scampi. A sumptuous plate of fresh steamed 'mini lobsters' covered in butter and olive oil.

Finished off with a shot of lemoncello and a licorice infused sugar cube.

Ristorante da O Batti
Vico Nuovo, 17
Portofino, Genova
Website link