july 2016 newsletter from elizabeth minchilli in rome

july 2016 newsletter

The recent events in England have got me thinking a lot about nationality and what it means. I've obviously got a lot of personal issues since in theory, I'm an American living in Italy. But when people ask me if I consider myself American, my response is a bit more complicated. Yes, of course, I'm American. I was born there, my parents and sisters are American and I spent most of my first 25 years living there.

But I'm also Italian. Not only are my husband and children Italian, so am I. I've lived here for more than half of my life. If I have roots anywhere then they are firmly planted in Rome and Umbria.

But in the end, if I had to define myself as something, I would be more likely to declare myself to be a European. Yes, I've got as many complaints as the next person about the dysfunctional state of the European Union. But I've also lived through and seen the plus side for the next generation. My daughters both attended University in England where their classmates and roommates came from every corner of Europe. My two nieces first took advantage of an Erasmus grant to study in Austria and Brussels, and then went on to get advanced degrees in England and Holland. All of them are certainly Italian, but all of them would equally declare themselves to be European. As do I.

For now I'm trying not to dwell on what I think is a backwards, misguided and xenophobic direction the Brexit vote represents. It seems like it is the wish of an older generation to go back in time, which is never an option. I'm focussing my thoughts on the future and a younger generation, who are, by all intents and purposes , moving forward in the right direction. I just hope they can continue doing so without the old folks getting in the way.

what's new

One of the great things about having your own small business, is that you can change things around without too much trouble. Since for now it's just Sophie and me running our business, we can pretty much do whatever we want. We usually sit down once a month to decide not only how to go forward and what changes we can make to improve the experiences for our clients, but we try to improve it for ourselves too.

One thing that Sophie realized over the last few months is that she really prefers giving walking tours to cooking classes. She loves being out and about, in Rome. And me? I've discovered that I LOVE teaching people how to cook. So in the future Sophie won't be teaching cooking classes, and I'll be trying to teach even more. One thing that I've decided to add to my list is a cocktail workshop. Called Apericena, this Roman version of happy hour combines cocktail classics like Spritz, Americana and Negroni with local and seasonal finger food. I will be both bartender and chef as I teach you how to throw your own Apericena. Warning: drinking of alcohol pretty much a given. Sound like fun? It is.

Our November 2016 Week in Rome is completely full! We are so excited about this, since we have a fantastic group. We've also posted the dates for Fall and Spring 2017, and each one is half full already, so if you're thinking of coming, let me know as soon as possible.

Also: Sophie will be spending most of August in Puglia, where she will be researching (i.e. beaching and eating) a Week in Puglia. So stay turned!

travels

As soon as it was announced that Christo would be doing one of his installations on Lago d'Iseo, Domenico and made plans to go. You can read about it here. But we also decided to make a long weekend of it, since we were going all the way up north anyway. Although I'll probably be posting a long report on my blog, with more images, I thought I'd give you the details here, to file away for later:

The night before The Floating Piers we stayed in Bergamo, which has got to be one of the most gorgeous cities in Italy. Who knew? I certainly didn't, since it was my first time there. We stayed in the old part of town, Citta Alta, in the Hotel Piazza Vecchia, which was darling. And had a lovely dinner at La Tana.

After our Christo experience we headed to Lake Como for the weekend, where Domenico is finishing up a project in Cernobbio. But rather than drive directly there on the autostrada, we decided to drive a bit north, so we could take the ferry across the lake from Varenna and then drive down the west coast of the lake. Along the way we stopped at Mandello di Lario and had a perfect lakeside lunch at Il Giardinetto. Want to know what else is in Mandello di Lario? The Moto Guzzi museum (actually, I'm sure that is the reason Domenico decided to detour this way!)

In Cernobbio we stayed at the Hotel Regina Olga. Although it was a tad run down, it was still very nice and you can't beat the location, right on the water. We ate very well while on Lake Como . Dinner at the new and very hip The Market Place was excellent. Lunch one day was with Domenico's clients at Villa D'Este, which I highly recommend especially if you are staying somewhere else. After lunch Domenico and I just kind of hung out, pretending we were staying at this 5 star luxurious hotel, taking a long walk through the amazing gardens and then having a drink later on.

Our two other meals were just as dreamily located. Dinner at Ristorante La Baia di Moltrasio and lunch (arriving by private boat no less!) at Crotto dei Platani

videos

I continue to video away over on Snapchat (I am eminchilli) but I've also started posting more videos directly to Instagram and Facebook. Since this Mortadella video I posted to Instagram got over 18,000 views, I figure other people like it as well. Here are a few more in case you missed them:

Bird's Eye View of street work in Rome

On our way to dinner in Umbria.

On other video news, I have to admit we are totally obsessed with Call the Midwife.

I also wish Samantha Bee and John Oliver were on more than once a week. On a daily basis I make due with Stephen Colbert

what I'm reading

My friend Emiko's Florence favorites are here (and they are my favorites too)

Feeling Romesick? But in New York? This show at the Morgan Library might make you feel a bit better.

Here's a handy Weekend Guide to Naples

and finally....

Thank you American in Rome for including me in your list of 10 Best Books about Rome

And thank you USA Today 10best for including me in your list of Instagram Foodies

A Merry Feast used Eat Italy during her 36 Hours in Florence

Can I ask you for a favor? It's that time of year again. It's time to nominate for the Saveur Blog Award. If you could please go to the site, and then nominate me, that would be fantastic. I think the category that best fits my blog is Eat the World. But if you feel like nominating me again, you are allowed to nominate as often as you'd like, in different categories. I'd love it if you included one of my videos from my YouTube Channel for the Best Food Video.

Thank you!!!

And in case you missed it and are still looking for cherry and berry recipes, here is the round up I posted last week.

x,Elizabeth

If you’re traveling to Italy remember to download my app, Eat Italy, available on iTunes. It’s a free app, and contains in app purchases to the following places: Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Torino and Umbria.

If you're not following me yet on Snapchat, you should be. It's tons of fun, and once you get the hang of it you'll be hooked too. You can either take a photo of my snap code here to the left to follow me, or else type in: eminchilli
See you there!