June 2015 Newsletter from Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome

june 2015 newsletter

Thank you thank you thank you!!!! Remember all that nagging I’ve been doing the last few months? You remember. The ‘nominate me’ and the ‘vote for me’ blog award thing? Well, I won the Best Culinary Travel Blog award from Saveur and it is ENTIRELY thanks to all of you! My blog has been around for a while now, and over the years I’ve been nominated for a few things, but….I’ve gotten kind of used to not winning. Being nominated is very very nice, don’t get me wrong. But you know what’s even nicer? Winning.

The way the Saveur blog awards work is that in each category there are two awards, One is chosen by the editors, and the other is a Reader’s Choice Award. Thanks to all your votes, not only did I get nominated (a huge honor in itself and a massive dose of love from all of you) but I won the Reader’s Choice Award. Which means you all sent in extra large does of love!!! I really wish I could have been in Brooklyn for the awards ceremony, to meet up with so many of my friends and colleagues who were also nominated (you can read all about them here and some of their blogs here here and here). Luckily my friend Alice was on hand to accept my award. (She has a great wine blog and an even more fantastic newsletter which you should subscribe to right now) It was an honor to be in such great company among so much talent and inspiration.

What does this mean? Besides a lot more people reading my blog (Yay!) it means I also just received a very nice email from my publisher telling me that they are already going into a second huge printing for my book Eating Rome. Which, if you know anything about publishing these days is kind of like a miracle. None of my other books ever made it into a second run this fast ( 8 weeks) so once again: thank you. (I know you’re getting sick of hearing this, but can’t help myself)

what's new

It’s high season tour wise here in Rome, so I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. (thank goodness Sophie is there to help as well) And because I've been doing so many tours, I've been hanging out with lots of great people who I normally wouldn’t ever get a chance to meet. That is actually one of the big pluses, for me, of doing food tours. Yes, I get to show people around and share my Rome with them from a food-centric point of view. But on my side of things I LOVE hearing about careers and life choices I would normally never be exposed to. Computer coders, bond traders, ER nurses, medical researchers, theater grips….it’s like an episode of What’s My Line sometimes.

Also, a lot of my clients are return visitors, which is always nice. And that’s one of the reasons why I’ve added a new tour exploring Testaccio. I’ve only recently started doing this tour and it’s fast becoming my favorite (sorry Monti and Campo de’ Fiori). While many neighborhoods in Rome are changing at warp speed , Testaccio, while changing, is doing so at a much slower pace. And some of my favorite restaurants are here, which doesn't hurt.

I’m also getting lots of great feedback from readers wanting to join me for a Week in Rome. The weeks in the fall are already filling up, and I’ve even been getting inquiries for 2016. (I’m always very impressed by people who can plan that far ahead) In addition to these small group tours, on fixed dates, I’ve also decided that if you have at least two people in your group, I’ll be happy to organize an entire week, with me by your side, just for you. If you’re interested in any of this, just send me an email.

And if you think you'd like to join me for a Week in Rome, as a reader of my newsletter I'd like to offer you a 5% discount. Just mention the code GELATO and I'll apply the discount.

videos

This month I was not only behind the camera of a bunch of videos, I was also in front of one. I had the enormous pleasure of being the subject of a short video made by an incredibly talented team for the travel website Kuoni. I was really scared I’d end up looking dopey, but in the end not only does my neighborhood of Monti look stunning, I don’t even look that bad.

I made a few fun videos while I was in Milan. I caught the chef at Trattoria della Pesa making their famous riso al salto and also stopped by Collina Pistoiese to see how a proper artichoke salad is made.

I’ve had a few men in my kitchen over the last month. Salvatore stopped by in Todi and fried up a mess of flowers. And Rolando came by my kitchen in Rome and made his paper thin fazzoletto di uovo.

But my favorite video this month has nothing at all to do with me . Except for the fact that it is a perfectly captured love letter to one of my favorite restaurants in Rome: Da Giggetto. Lucky Peach stopped by and chatted with Claudio as well as my favorite waiter Albino. They also got the details not only on the history of this historic restaurant in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto, but went into the kitchen to learn the secrets of deep frying artichokes.

travels

The biggest plus of my newly launched app, Eat Italy, is that I’ve been able to spend a lot more time in Milan doing research. I’ve always loved Milan, but until recently haven’t had a chance to spend serious time there. Over the last six months or so I’ve gotten to know the city much better, spending time there through the winter as well as the glorious spring we’ve been having. Yes, much of my time has been spent eating. But I make a point of walking from one meal to another ( a girl’s gotta try at least to work off some of those calories) so I’ve gotten a much better sense for the fabric of the city than I had before

One of the things that’s struck me is the new sense of energy and optimism in Milan. Over the past decade or so, what with the financial crisis and various Berlusconi-induced political shenanigans, Milan often felt a bit grim. People complain of the weather, but it was more than that. But over the last few years, and especially this last year, there is a new sense of vibrancy, creativity and general forward thinkingness that makes Milan a very fun place to visit.

The impetus behind this new found state of mind is, in a lot of people’s opinion, the push that hosting Expo2015 provided.

And in reality, it was the fact that Milan is hosting this world event that pushed me to publish Eat Milan. But I’ve held off writing about the Expo itself because....well, I’m not usually that comfortable saying anything negative. So I’m sharing my impressions of the Expo here, in my newsletter, rather than my blog, since I feel it’s a bit more of an intimate space.

First off, I’ve only visited Expo once. So it’s very possible that I’m not giving it a full chance. Secondly, I arrived first thing in the morning and stayed all day. So it was a very long day. Also? The place was chock full of loud and poorly behaved middle and high school groups. Sorry, but not my idea of a good time. And finally, I visited the Expo in May, shortly after it opened, and I’m not sure that all of the pavillions were even 100% finished yet. So, to put it very bluntly: I was very unimpressed. By the food (meh) and by most of the exhibitions (double meh). Even though I'm in and out of very commercial food fairs all the time, where people are actually trying to sell me something, the Expo felt like one big sales pitch. Huge displays of big brand names like Nutella and Algida seemed to drown out the more low key messages of organizations like the UN and Slowfood. . It was incredibly difficult to find anything decent, interesting and affordable to eat (and remember, the theme of the Expo is food) and the handful of exhibitions that I actually was able to visit seemed like glorified school projects.

Should you go? If you’re in Milan already then yes. Some of the architecture of the pavilions themselves are worth the trip. And as I’ve already made clear, you should be going to Milan anyway. And there are tons of other things going on around town all during the expo that make a trip there now even more worth while. For instance, there is the show Arts & Food at the Trienniale that is one of the best I’ve seen in ages. And if you do end up in Milan, you can eat here, or here or here. Or, better yet, just download Eat Milan and have even more choice. :)

what i'm reading

I’m so happy that Rachel’s new book is finally out. You probably already know her blog, so you should order her book: Five Quarters: Recipes and Notes from a Kitchen in Rome. It’s the English edition, and the USA edition comes out in early 2016.

Another great new book, which has nothing at all to do with Italy, but everything to do with enjoying life's little pleasure's is Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break, with beautiful illustrations by my friend Johanna Kindvall

Want to know how to visit Italy without killing someone? Georgette’s got the answers here.

The olive oil situation in Italy is much worse than you may think.

Are you headed to Venice for the Biennale this summer? I am. Here is Gillian’s list of helpful links if you are.

what i'm writing

I've written about some great restaurants on the blog in the last month. Torricella is a fantastic fish restaurant in Testaccio, in Rome; Beltrame is an old trattoria with new (and delicious management) near the Spanish steps. My Milan reporting this month included old favorites Alla Collina Pistoiese, Antica Trattoria della Pesa and Abele. Are you headed to Florence? If so, then this list of my 5 favorites trattorias should come in pretty handy. And if you're thirsty in Milan? This'll do ya.

It's not all restaurants all the time. I also spend time in the kitchen. I started out May as all good Italians do, with fave and pecorino. Chocolate met orange in this sinful crostata. Looking for an easy appetizer: anchovies (and butter) come to the rescue. And pasta. Of course pasta. Always pasta. Last month I made a light herb filled dish of penne and a rich and luscious zucchini lasagna.

and finally....

Eating Rome has been doing super well mostly because I’ve been getting such great coverage in both the traditional press and on some of my favorite blogs. The Wall Street Journal gave it a glowing review, which actually caused Amazon to run out of books for a few days! Food & Wine included me in their June issue and Budget Travel sited me as one of their summer reads. I’ve gotten some great love from some great friends. Ann Mah and Domenica Marchetti both featured me on their blogs, as did the Dallas Food Nerd. And I got a chance to chat with Linda Pelaccio on her show on Heritage Radio.

And thank you all so much for downloading Eat Italy!! (if you have a minute, and can leave a review at iTunes, that helps too!) It was a very scary thing to launch this new app, since I wasn’t sure the new version would do as well as the old. As it turns out it’s doing even better! As I write this it is currently the number 12 top grossing app in the Food & Drink section on iTunes. Which puts me ahead of people with much more recognizable names like Bittman, Disney, Giada and Batali. Which is kind of mind-blowing. But what I guess it means is that all roads really do lead to Rome. When are you coming?

x,elizabeth