October 2024 news from Elizabeth
Tiramisu, coffee, and tours to Puglia and Sicily
Are you one of those people whose favorite thing to do when traveling to a new place is to visit the local supermarket? If you’re reading this newsletter, I assume the answer is yes. You’re off to discover local and seasonal foods and customs, right? The intersection of food and culture, wherever it takes you, is your thing. Even if (especially when) it lands you in a supermarket.
That kind of explains why I am sharing this photo of me with my ginormous cup of coffee below. Since I’ve been living in Italy so long, and don’t make it back to the States more often than once a year (if that) there are a lot of food-related cultural references that I’ve never experienced. So yes, I definitely make time to wander in Walmart and marvel at overwhelmingly long aisles full of snacks. It also helps explain why I had to try a pumpkin spice latte.
The build-up in my head via social media was big. First of all, even though I knew better, I kind of expected it to be orange. I also expected it to remind me of pumpkin pie. It was not orange and in no way reminded me of pumpkin pie. The next day I got a much smaller cup (not sure what the sizes are called, maybe grande? Which totally doesn’t make sense to my Italian brain) with another seasonal syrup: pecan. This one at least tasted kind of toasty and nutty, and I actually liked it.
I have to say that the activity of ordering the coffee was more fun than actually drinking it. We went to a drive-through, which I had never been to before. I know a lot of you are probably thinking it’s not a big deal, but ordering food at one window and picking it up at the next without ever leaving the car? So NOT an Italian kind of thing. And while I will never give up and much prefer my tiny cup of espresso at my local bar in Rome, changing things up once in a while was huge fun. Also, did I mention that I got to set down my coffee in a built-in cup holder? Another first.
This little digression about exploring local customs, even if they involve things like drive-through coffee shops and supermarkets, has got me thinking. Maybe we should include a walk-through of a local supermarket during our tours here in Italy? Raise your hand if you want to visit the local Conad with me in Parma or Numeri Primi with Sophie in Monopoli. They are full of lots of food lore, obviously, but also lots of food gifts and souvenirs you can bring home with you. What do you think?
WHAT’S NEW
September and October are some of our busiest months, and both Sophie and I have been on the road. Sophie was in Puglia twice already. Once on her 6-night Salento Tour, which is based in Lecce and Monopoli, and her other 5-night tour to Bari. Most of her Puglia tours in Spring 2025 are sold out, but there are still a few spots left for the new Bari and Matera based tour in March. Here are two short videos to see the kind of things she gets up to with her guests:
If you’d like to join, just click below to download the brochure.
Sophie and I rarely lead tours together these days, and the only one we currently do together is Umbria. I think this is because it is literally our home, and we both feel extremely committed to hosting it together. Especially since it is the only tour where we can actually invite our guests into our own home for dinner. We’ll be announcing new dates for Umbria in 2025 in the next two weeks, so make sure you are signed up for the Premium Newsletter to be the first to know.
When it comes to Sicily, Sophie and I have pretty much divided it in two. Sophie considers Palermo ‘her’ city and our Ortigia-based tour is definitely my territory. We’ve both got tours coming up in the Spring of 2025. Sophie will be hosting the Palermo-based tour in Western Sicily on March 23-29, 2025.
And I’ll be hosting the Ortigia-based tour in Eastern Sicily May 4-10, 2025
You can check this page for our current tour schedule for 2025. We announce new tours all the time, first through the Premium newsletter and then here. Announcements for new tours for both Spring and Fall are coming soon!
If for some reason you can’t download the brochures just email us at minchillitours@gmail.com
WHERE I’VE BEEN
This newsletter is a week late due to a trip to see my mom in North Carolina. I’m not from NC, but since my mom retired there, that’s where we meet up. After staying in a hotel near her house for the first few years, my sisters and I finally discovered that if we go slightly off-season, we can rent a fabulous place right near Wrightsville Beach. My only regret is not discovering this earlier. We usually rent through this agency, and this past week, we were in this extraordinary rental right on the water, which had way more space than the three of us needed but certainly made it feel like a real vacation. We even had our own dock and could have taken out kayaks if we had had more time.
Since I was only in the USA for 3 nights, I never really got over jet lag. Instead, I fully embraced dinner with my mom at 5:00pm, which meant I was back in bed by 8pm. So even though I woke up at 4 am, that was ok because it meant I could take a long walk along the beach as soon as the sun came up.
(Thankfully my mom lives far away from the area of NC that was so tragically hit by the recent hurricane)
WHAT I’M READING
Although I usually refer to myself as the expert on making coffee in my little Moka pot, this article from Wirecutter is pretty exhaustive and gets everything correct.
Speaking of coffee, Rebecca Peppler shared two caffeinated drinks - one alcoholic, one not - that sound right up my alley. By the way, check out her new substack.
Continuing what has turned out to be a coffee-themed reading list, I share my opinions about drinking coffee in Italy with The Mirror.
Is Italian food really Italian? This discussion about an Italian book on the subject by Ed Behr dives very deeply but is a great read if you are interested in these things (which I am for sure).
Are we sad to see Tupperware go? Or have we all moved on to non-plastic containers by now?
WHAT I’M EATING
When it comes to the end of dinner, my heart says I want dessert, but my stomach says I’m usually too full. I find that the following two choices leave me equally sad:
Don’t order dessert.
Order dessert and leave half uneaten.
While in Parma a few weeks ago, I found the perfect solution to my dilemma: cute mini tiramisu. While small-sized portions of desserts are nothing new, I LOVED the presentation. A few mouthfuls of creamy dessert served in darling cocoa-topped espresso cups.
Shopping tip: next time you are in Italy, make your way to a flea market like Porta Portese to get your hands on vintage espresso cups from coffee bars to recreate this look.
Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
300 grams / 10 oz mascarpone
5 ladyfingers
3/4 cups strong espresso
10 espresso cups
Cocoa powder
Instructions:
Make the espresso and let it cool to room temperature. If you don't want the caffeine, you can use decaf.
Place the egg yolks in a large bowl. Add sugar, and using a hand-held blender, whip until light yellow and smooth, about five minutes.
Add the mascarpone and blend until smooth.
Break a cookie in half and quickly dip each half into the coffee, flipping it over. The trick is to let it absorb some coffee, but not too much. Ladyfingers can get mushy very easily, and if you let them absorb too much coffee, your tiramisu will be all soggy.
Place 1/2 cookie in the bottom of the cup. Repeat for each cup.
Then, place a large heaping tablespoon full of the mascarpone mixture on top of that, making sure to cover the cookie. Repeat for each cup.
Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Sprinkle generously with cocoa powder before serving.
AND FINALLY….
Many of you ask for our favorite restaurants in Italy. If you are a Premium subscriber, one of the extras has been the downloadable PDF of what was formally my app, Eat Italy. Since this is becoming a bit outdated, we will be retiring it next month (so this is your last chance to download it).
In the meantime, Sophie has launched many of her guides on Thatch. Just visit her online store to see what she has to offer.
x, Elizabeth
Loved all your news … especially glad to hear your mom was safe from the hurricane!
On supermarket tours, they are the best! I fondly remember a business trip to Delhi nearly 20 years ago when we pressured our Indian colleagues hosting us into going to a local supermarket. We had the time of our lives, got lots of culinary souvenirs and gifts ( and left our hosts utterly exhausted) and still keep talking about it.