Bari Italy fun friends and Little Old Lady Street

 I have just visited a few towns around Italy's Puglia region. Had a few days off from school and traveled as a group of five.  We rented a car and toured around.  Yes! A needed break.  We drove to Bari, Alberobello  and Cisternino.

  Beautiful Bari, a city of about 1 million people.  On our travel day we saw 3 different seas.  The coastline of Bari is beautiful and lined with pretty buildings as compared to the towns of Soverato which were built in the 50's with no regulations.  Bari has a feel like Chicago and I think that is why I loved it so much.  It has a beautiful Old village within a stone wall.  These buildings are white and the streets are so narrow a vespa and a person traveling opposite each other would have to squeeze by one another.

 

 As we wondered the first night the streets are lit up so it is quite bright from the white of the buildings and white stone streets.  This ancient village or "Little Old Lady Town" as we called it was bright and full of life.  We called it a special name because each street is lined with buildings that have doors that open from the street  into kitchens. These kitchens are where the little old ladies make their famous  Orecchiette

This is Angela our new friend making hers.  We watched her make large or Gigante and piccolo versions.  She was a great teacher explaining the method and even suggested a recipe and sent us to the shop for a particular cheese to grate over it.  It was a dried ricotta.  I'm glad to have attended a little language school because my attempts to speak with people make the day very interesting and they all seem to have a great laugh at my expense.  Angela was very patient with me as I asked for clarification and we used our best sign language to assist us to become fast fans of each other.  Andi took a great video I am hopeful to post.

One of the many little streets

 The town is situated along a coastline that stretches far and hosts a few small harbors as well as a large one. Bari  has a nice combination of modern and traditional.  

I just loved the feel here.  Looks a bit like Lake shore drive.

Andi and Zdenka two of my traveling buddies for this trip.  We just tried to crash a private yacht club where the views were superb. Beautiful shot by Andi a traveling buddy.

This was the deja vu of all finds.  Before I moved from Chicago I had a dream to open a place that looks just like this and serves in the same manner.  A pastry coffee and champagne place.  It has beautiful Pastries, gelato, chocolates, biscotti, and a daily selection from a savory menu for lunch or dinner.  It also has an area for a quick Italian style coffee (standing) or other areas to sit.  It stays open late night and is exactly what I had dreamed of opening.  Turns out one of the chefs just spent 12 days staying at the congress hotel and loved Chicago. Thats him to the far left.

A second area upstairs with food bar area.

the view to the back dining area

The back dining area upstairs

Fish market and restaurant.  Here we enjoyed Ricci or sea urchin.  We had been encouraged to try it by the owner of a coffee and tea shop we spent a few hours chilling out in.  We had wanted to try it before this particular day but the shop had been closed.  So we went in in the morning and told the owner it was our first time.  He piled a cake platter high with many and we kept saying " no 3 or 4"  and he would take one off then one more smiling the entire time.  Im certain we provided the equivialent of a months worth of reality TV for the family who ran this place.  The father came over to show us how to eat and with exaggerated movements gave us a lesson.  The son seemed to be so thrilled it was our first time to eat this that he brought out Prosecco.  We also saw tiny little scorpion fish and he showed us how to clean them without getting poisoned.  They were quite entertained by this merry band of tourists.

Ricci, they taste of the sea.  Like beautiful sea water and some sweetness.  we ate them like a spread and scooped them out of the shell with bread.  when i used to scuba dive in Hawaii the dive master would crack one of thee open and all of the fish would swarm around to eat it, now I know why.

 Dinner in Cisternino.  Me,  Patrick, Avi, Zdanka and Andi took the photo.

 The cool coffee shop that had coffee pairings and tea pairings, with me, Zdanka and Andi.

 For Berit, Here is one of many different hot chocolate I am experiencing this time.  It seems to be more popular this trip or it is because it is in the winter people actually know what Im asking for or even have it churning behind the coffee machine.

A walk along the river- Florence

I must say I really am enjoying touring by foot.  I would love to be seeing more by car but this walking opportunity has helped me to see the details that I might otherwise miss on a bus or in a car.  I see this river daily at least once if not twice.  I am beginning to learn the various characteristics it has in the daylight and at night or in the rain vs the sun.  I think I often move by life so quickly that I forget to see life and to really look at it in detail.  

Just a few glimpses.

Menu translations are funny and varied, Tripa stand

Banana fruit frozen to the cream

Climbed on whipped cream

and gasket to the chocolate

Triparia, yes a tripe stand right in front of our hotel.

Happy to be traveling

Wow time flies!
I seem to have been caught in a time warp at culinary school and lacking internet access.  As it sit here atop a beautiful bluff in a rainstorm the electricity has gone out and a silence has filled the air my heater is off and I can hear the wind and the waves below.  I have been delayed in posting and tonight as long as I continue to be able to access the internet I can post.  My camera has decided to become even more temperamental so I continue to bring you mainly photos from my phone camera.  I hope that the holiday was good for all of you.  It feels like 100 years ago to me now.

Today I enjoyed a a trip to wonderful market beside the sea.  It seems that the Clementines and oranges are even more fragrant and sweet down in southern Italy.  I met many farmers, a family who has a stand of roasted nuts and dried fruits , I have a kilo of beautiful dried figs sitting next to me as I write this.  I sampled my way through this market.  Fresh cheeses, honey, fruit and vegetables.  It is fennel season, which I guess is often and the bulbs are huge.  We bought some mushrooms and were given recipes by the local women. I wondered through the market following one of my chef teachers and asked many questions and her expertise and language fluency made it a blast.  I continue to try my Italian at every opportunity, however, my classes are in english and classmates speak english so I'm not practicing mush at all.  We were given some honey from the bee keeper who told us that it is a mineral rich honey and very special as the bees penetrate into plants and vegetables to get the sap in a special way.  Again my Italian is not quite up to speed.  He has the most fragrant orange blossom honey! and I tried the wild flower honey too it is floral and gentle in flavor and because he does not heat it the flavor is almost buttery.  The wind is crazy strong right now.
I have a few photos from the  market I will post another time.  For now a few other shots.

Rain In Florence.

Still a beautiful place.

A local market in Florence, ham ham and more ham hanging up in the back. This was like the local Sams club type sized store but look at the great stuff they had. See the fresh fish below they were at this same store.

A sunny day in Florence.

The countryside behind the hotel in Florence.  This was a hilly area that had small villages dotted all over the hills.

This is a two lane road, a road cars fly down.

OH my, pasta with white truffles, this was fantastic I went back for a repeat but somehow got the black truffles .  I preferred this white.  This was truffles butter and pasta simple and perfect.  The restaurant is the Chinghale Bianco Im certain I misspelled tonight.  it is on the "other " side of the river across the Ponte Vecchio.  

Siena

A tour around Siena show me that there is still so much variation in all of the towns of Italy that I might stay quite busy for the next few years seeing it all... On this cold day I took a guided tour through the streets learned of the Burroughs that are named and have the big rivalry that is expressed during the horse races that are held twice a year.  This town also has an extensive market just outside the old part with the famed or as my tour guide said about one million times the "renowned" prochetta sandwiches.. these are roasted pork on a bread roll that are dipped in wonderful juices... so good.

Gothic archetecture

the main church covered in pink, white and green marble

Inside, just amazing

the floors- inlaid marble

the dome high above, quite like the Pantheon

Narrow streets and stone buildings

The renowned piazza where horses have been known to win races without the rider still on board.