Stories From Accidental Tourist
Stories from Accidental Tourist
Forget Nintendo
Check these teenagers out! In the island of Sardinia, most every male can play this traditional game of Morra: it is played by two 2-man teams. As you see in the video, the 2 duos stand in front of each other, while each player ( at an incredibly fast rythm) throws numbers with one hand, while enunciating the number he guesses to be the sum of his fingers and his opponent’s (in strickt Sardinian dialect/language). The same 2 opponents keep going until either one guesses the correct sum. He then, without skipping a beat and without forgetting to tease his…
The Ins and Outs of Traveling solo, by Melissa Connolly
If you’ve never vacationed on your own before, it can be absolutely nerve wracking to be a first time solo traveler, but, if you do it right, it needn’t be anything but an amazing experience that builds both your desire for travel and your self confidence. When travelling alone, the primary concern is safety – there’s no one to watch your back – so it’s important to take some precautions to ensure you stay safe while having the vacation of a lifetime. These include joining group activities, arranging travel, sightseeing, and transportation through a reputable company, and, most importantly, maintaining…
Ravioli Ricotta e Spinaci
This is what you made on your class. An Italian all-season classic. Deserving alternatives will be posted later. Suggestions welcome! Ingredients: 2 CUPS FRESH RICOTTA 1 CUP STEAMED VEGGETABLES (spinach, green beet or other) 1/3 CUP FRESHLY GRATED PARMIGIANO FRESHLY GRATED NUTMEG TO TASTE SALT TO TASTE Preparation: FILLING: Mince and squeeze excess water from veggies. Mix all ingredients with a wooden spoon (ricotta, parmigiano, spinach, nutmeg. Add salt only after you have added parmigiano, and tasted the filling. Remember salt is flavor enhancer, not an ingredient!) . When you get the hang of it, make more filling than you need,…
Kimberly’s Monster Cookies
A specialty from Kimberly, who stayed here at the tower Ingredients: 1/2 cup margarine 1 cup sugar 1 cup + 2 tablespoons Brown sugar 2 cups peanut butter 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 3/4 teaspoon corn syrup (I’ve made these with out corn syrup and they turn out just fine) 3 eggs 4 cups uncooked dry oats 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup M&Ms (I use the mini M&Ms) 6 ounces chocolate chips (you could use mini chocolate chips too) Preparation: I would say this recipe makes about 60 cookies – that’s a lot, and therefore this is great…
Cherry Tomato Sauce
A classic, both summer and winter versions. Ingredients: Cherry tomatoes. (Canned romano tomatoes for the winter version) garlic extra virgin cold pressed olive oil plenty fresh basil (oregano, for the winter version) one chili pepper salt Preparation: WARMER MONTHS (march up to november, if you live in a warm region) Cut the cherry toms in halves. Heat half of the oil in a frying pan, add garlic and chili, till garlic is gold. Add the cherry toms, sauté for 10-15 minutes. Turn off, and only now rip the basil leaves into the pan. Allow to soak. After you have added…
Chestnut Pie: Another all natural, healthy, sugarless, yeast-free dessert
A commitment-inducing food: A romantic legend has it that the fragrant rosemary needles on top of the castagnaccio imparted love potion powers to this food, so that if a girl prepared and offered this cake to a young man, he would fall in love with her and asked her hand in marriage. Worth trying. Ingredients: 750 ml water 750 500 gr chestnut flour (chestnut trees are very common in this area) 6 teaspoons olive oil (the base of everything!) 100 grams each of pine nuts and walnuts (again, fruits of local trees) 80 grams of raisins (from wine grapes) a…
Bread Soup
Born a recycling bucket for leftover bread and beens, it is now a homecooked delicacy. Ingredients: red beans (800 grams if fresh, 350 grams if dry) 400 grams canned tomatoes (you can use fresh round tomatoes, but you’ll have to boiled them briefly and peel them first…) 1/2 of a small savoy cabbage 1 red onion 1 carrot 1 celery stalk 1 black cabbage (typical Tuscan cabbage. If unavailable, use a stalky leafy dark green veggie) 60 gr. lard parsley 1 clove garlic salt extra virgin olive oil Tuscan bread slices. Preparation: If you have chosen the dry beans, remember they…
Wendy’s Eggplant Delight
This unusual eggplant presentation has Marco’s patent, and was officially requested by Wendy. Ingredients: 1 eggplant. Round, firm, of a spotless eggplant color. 1 egg bread crumbs frying oil (olive oil better but not mandatory) tomatoe sauce (homemade better but not mandatory) pesto sauce (homemade better but not mandatory) Preparation: Slice the eggplant in horizontal sections, 1 inch thick. Beat the egg with a pinch of salt, dip each piece and bread. Fry til golden, and rest on a piece of paper towel. Dress with a spoonful of tomato sauce, and a smaller amount of pesto. Perfect with a fresh…
Ris Alamande
A traditional Danish Christmas dessert with a fun tradition: find the only whole almond in the bowl, and win a prize! (see picture). The hard part is finiding the whole almond and not chew it, to show legitimate proof. The fun part is finding the almond and not telling until the end, and watch everyone get more and more servings and chew funny in search of the prized almond… Ingredients: (4-5 servings) 2 cups of milk 2 oz of pudding rice 1 vanilla bean (or powdered vanilla sugar) 2 table spoons of sugar 2 – 2 1/2 cup of whipping…
