October 2015 Newsletter from Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome

october 2015 newsletter

No matter what the calendar says, September is always the shortest month for me. August ends and then WHAM it’s October. I think part of September’s shortness has to do with me trying to stretch out summer for as long as possible. But then I also have the ‘back to school’ mentality going on (too many years as a grad student?) so plan way too many projects for the month. It’s sort of the opposite of spring cleaning. Let’s call it fall overload. There are just so many things I want to try/learn/change/do. My ‘to do’ list for September is exciting, but also a little bit daunting.

I did manage to accomplish quite a few of these things, despite this month having fewer days ( I swear it’s true) I joined a gym! I know, this is the most boring topic on earth. But since starting the blog and apps I’ve completely neglected that side of my life. A lot of you ask how I keep in shape with all that eating. The short answer is I don’t. So I looked carefully at my schedule and decided that if I post one less time per week on my blog, I’ll free up enough time to work off at least 5 plates of pasta (this is the only kind of math I'm good at). I love my plan and hope you’ll still keep visiting blog even though I’ll be posting twice a week instead of three times. Hoping that this monthly newsletter will fill in where the blog leaves off.

Another thing I managed to accomplish this month was to download and learn how to use Snapchat. I know, I know. Another social media tool to use/follow? But since lots of people who I respect have been telling me I should be on it, I thought I’d give it a go. And I LOVE it. I allows me to share what I’m doing (and eating and seeing) in a spontaneous and ephemeral way. The way it works is that I upload short films and/or photos into my daily ‘story.’ If you follow me you can see that story as it unfolds. But only for 24 hours. Because after that? Poof! the whole thing disappears. I’d love it if you followed me. As ever, I”m ‘eminchilli’

The thing I love about Snapchat, though, is that it allows me to frame my day in a completely new and different way. And these new ways of communicating (words, images, films) force me to view my own world in new ways and see things from a completely new perspective. Which is kind of what keeps it all interesting, right?

what's new

A lot of what’s new in my world goes on behind the scenes and you might not even be aware of it. I’ve been working on the ‘architecture’ of my ‘platforms’ to make them work even better. What does that mean in English? That my blog and apps are now up to date and working faster and better than ever. Nicolee, my website whizz, fixed a bunch of glitches on my website so it’s now loading faster and working much better.

And I’m proud to announce the first software update to EAT ITALY. As many of you know, Apple recently updated the IOS software, And so the software that makes my app run had to be updated as well. This means that if you’ve downloaded EAT ITALY already, you should make sure you have downloaded the most recent update, 1.1. This will make sure it works seamlessly. And besides all this software updating business which I’m sure you’re finding very boring? I’ve been adding new restaurants non-stop to all the apps. Which is what you’re really interested, right? I’ve added new places in Florence, Venice , Umbria and Rome

Sophie and I are gearing up for our Week in Rome starting November 15. We are very excited and have an excellent group. We do have two more places, though, if you’d like to join us? Air Tickets are low now. Just saying. Hit reply to this email if you’d like to find out more.

travels

This year I decided to take one more week of vacation, and head to Paris. We had a house swap we had never taken advantage of and I thought if not now when. The apartment was fabulous, but the most luxurious part about the entire trip was not doing any advance planning what-so-ever. Even though I received tons of great recommendations via FB, I made absolutely no advance restaurant reservations. No plans. Domenico and I just woke up each day and decided what to do. We managed to see a couple of friends, and they gave us some great tips. We also avoided the big sites like the Louvre and Versailles and instead headed to smaller, lesser known museums where we were often the only visitors. I’ll be writing all this up in the next few weeks. But don’t go hoping for photos of every meal. I didn’t even take my camera with me! (see, I told you it was a real vacation) I did take my iPhone though, and managed to capture some of the fun here.. And if you want a taste of Paris, but don't have the time/money to get there, buy this new book.

Do the day trips I take out of Rome count as travels? They sure feel like it to me. I began offering Day Trips out of Rome since I thought people would like to see the countryside and get out of the city for a day. It turns out not only was I right, but I’m one of those people. I LOVE the Day Trips I lead. (It’s actually hard to view it as ‘work’). This past month I headed to south for a Porchetta-filled day that also included things like wild strawberries and mucho Bernini. Here’s my Facebook album with some highlights.

I finally managed to catch up on the blog with my trip to Abruzzo in July. Stopping with Rolando in Pacentro for lunch at Taverna de li Caldoro was something I want to repeat as soon as possible. But the highlight of the trip was the chance to trace - from field to mill to factory to table - the route that Rustichella d’Abruzzo takes

During the last days of September I escaped to Sicily, thanks to the generosity of the Zonin winemakers. While there was certainly a lot of wine drinking going on, there was also a lot of food. I will be writing about it all, but in the mean time some fun photos from a meal in a private home in Palermo, a day learning how to make bussiate in a flour mill, and afternoon at a winery followed by a glorious dinner, a day on a boat and then a beach side cheese tasting, and one of the most magical b&b's I've ever visited.

videos

I took so much video footage during my trip to Abruzzo, that it was hard to condense it all down into three minutes. But I managed.

The one thing that I didn’t manage to insert into the whole pasta-making thing was this completely strange and wonderful dancing Pupa. Rolando had been talking about the Pupa for about a year. But refused to tell me exactly what it was “So it’s a surprise!” It certainly was that. A man places a papier mache’ ‘doll’ over his head and covering his body. He then dances around a wheat field, in the dark, while fireworks are launched form a platform on his head. I am not making this up. Just take a look

what I'm reading

This article on the Cappuccino was so completely off base I’m not sure what they were thinking. If you live in Italy it will make you scream.

This video is in Italian. And if you don’t understand Italian you might be better off, since it is a pretty terrifying expose’ on the state of Italian canned tomatoes. The short takeaway? If you are buying “Italian” imported canned tomatoes, and they are relatively cheap, there is a good chance they are coming from China. And you don’t really want to know anymore than that.

This has become my go-to cocktail. How did I never know about it?

The best Pope story of course came from The Onion. But it could be real.

Best You Tube dog video ever comes from Italy this month. And you don’t have to speak Italian. Just dog.

Watch and share this.

and finally....

Thank you all for continuing to buy my book Eating Rome. There have been lots of sitings in the wild (actually my friend Gillian saw it in Barnes and Noble in NYC, which is extremely cool).

And many thanks to Conde Nast Traveller for telling all their half a million followers on Instagram to follow me if they want to know about all things delicious in Italy.

I’ll leave you with a few things to cook this month:
You’re always going to want soup.
Eggplants are beautiful right now.
Don't mourn over past tomatoes. There are always pears.

Have a great October! Let me know what you're cooking up.

x,elizabeth