A Trend in My Travels...Chocolate

Last weekend was a fabulous festivity in the city of Bologna...the Chocolate Festival. All over the city center there were booths filled with chocolate, varieties galore, not just truffles, but chocolate drinks, bars and candies. My favorite was a mint chocolate, it looked like a green glass layer on top of a chocolate. I also tried the delicious pistachio chocolates, a cup of ginger chocolate and an intriguing strawberry, balsamico truffle. Yes, I visited the booths quite a few times...a total of four trips I believe. Wandering the streets was an enjoyable experience with stupendous aromas filling the air.

Sinterklaas, chocolate, ribs and bubbles!

I successfully made it to the Netherlands for the official arrival of Sinterklaas. Getting there I learned a few things:

1. always check the address of the airport you are traveling towards, even if it states it is in Dusseldorf, you may land in Weeze, 85 kilometers away,
2. do not trust the phone number listed on a hostel site, when you dial, you may reach a German-speaking woman at an ungodly hour and feel really bad about waking her up and
3. I may be getting a bit too old for hostels to still be cool, even if I am still a kid at heart.

My trip started on Friday evening flying from Bologna to Weeze, hopped an hour and half bus ride to Dusseldorf, slept for about four hours then took the train to Dordrecht. Dordrecht was the city chosen for the official arrival site for Sinterklaas.

Sinterklaas arrived on his steamboat followed by a boat of Zwarte Pieten (Black Pete). They were dressed in costumes with some carrying bags of goodies and others playing instruments. Kids were also dressed up as Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pieten. Following the steamboat’s arrival, they marched through the streets in a parade. Pepernoten, small gingerbread like cookies, were tossed from their bags into the crowds during the parade. After the parade, I wandered around a bit, found a Sinterklaas picture book, meaning no Dutch, and lots of chocolate, then hopped on the train to Den Haag.

In Den Haag, another Sinterklaas parade was happening. I was lucky and met a Zwarte Pieten carrying some cookies and he gave me two handfuls worth, so tasty! Received a tour of the area, including their Parliament building, and enjoyed a delicious dinner of spare ribs. The meal was delightful and filling.

Stayed in a hostel in Rodderdam, situated right beside the train station in the cubed architecture; very cool!

The next day I visited Amsterdam with the goal of going to NEMO, the science center, which basically is a giant playground with human-sized bubbles, a tire-spinning chair and a giant chain-reaction display happening every half hour. NEMO was a lot of fun, even the kids weren’t too bad.

Overall the visit was a great success. I came home quite exhausted on Monday evening with lots of Sinterklaas goodies and photographs. 

Per cuocere la pasta? No, per fare la pasta!

To cook pasta? No, to make pasta!

On October 25 I learned to make pasta. Yes, real Italian pasta from the basic ingredients of eggs and flour!

I never realized how much of a workout for your arms making pasta can be, my muscles definitely felt it the next day. You start with a mound of flour with a hole in the middle, crack 4 eggs and gradually combine the eggs and flour together. After forming a tight ball with the ingredients, you let is sit for a bit.

While the dough was sitting, the instructors allowed the group to aid in making tortellini. I wasn't very good at it, many times I was tsk-ed for touching it too much. You are supposed to fold it over in one quick movement, but unfortunately I just couldn't grasp that concept, so I would fold it, but the press the edges to ensure it was closed properly. After a couple of tries, my attempts improved, but they definitely were nothing impressive.

After the tortellini experience, we went back to our pasta dough. It was warm and ready to be made into a thin sheet of pasta. The rolling pin was so tall, it spanned the length of the table. Up the table you roll, keeping a portion of the pasta on the edge of the table, so gravity aids in expanding the dough. You roll and turn the dough, making an attempted circle shape, then forming a longer oval shape. I had quite a bit of assistance from the instructor, thankfully!

My finished product turned out nicely, so while the others finished their pasta and helped with the tortellini, I was given another mound of fresh dough, but this had been in the refrigerator. It was so much tougher to roll that dough out because it was cold. I didn't get very far with that one.

Here is my finished product!

And here is me being silly with my sliced finished product!

My flatmate Manuel and I enjoyed the finished product a few nights after making the pasta, allowing it to dry. He cooked a wonderful dish of peas and ham with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. It was delicious!