Fab Fabio's in Bologna

When Americans see the word Bologna, many of us are fondly reminded of Oscar Mayer's 1973 commercial featuring a little boy singing: 'My bologna has a first name it's O-S-C-A-R'. And while the city of Bologna in northern Italy is where mortadella, the pre-cursor to modern baloney, originates, the Emilia-Romagna region has plenty more culinary gifts to share.




It was at Ristorante da Fabio where we were able to try a bit, and more, of this prominent region's gastronomic pleasures: prosciutto de Parma, parmasean cheese, ragú bolognese and Sangiovese wine.




Dining at Fabio's place is done differently, starting with the constant presentation of aperitivos of all kinds to be shared; egg soufflé, stuffed tomatoes, liver pâté and ricotta cheese were delivered to our table by a handsome man with striking blue eyes.




Mortadella was prepared into a light paste that was delightful on a simple piece of toast. Ham salad is not my thing. In fact, it mortified me as a kid. You know, it was one of those food items that made my nostrils automatically flare out in denial. It was pink, and smooth, and what is it made of? Mom, no.

But 'mortadella surprise' scares me not anymore; I was going to try everything that came across my plate here. The 'meat fluff' had not a hint of miracle whip, was light and smooth, with only a hint of salt and smoke. It welcomed us in as the chef.




The walls were lined with knick knacks, old wine bottles, cds, cook books and US license plates, three from Wisconsin. As guests arrived they were greeted with a warm embrace and escorted with care to the back room where seats were still available.




Grilled zucchini continued our culinary embrace, the pieces delicate in olive oil and darkened just enough to punch up the taste.




For our main course I headed straight for the classic tagliatelle pasta with Ragú alla Bolognese. Bolognese sauce is famous. It's often seen on menus as far as Africa and Brazil described as spaghetti bolognese. This is the medieval city that gave the world this satisfying dish.

Tagliatelle is an egg pasta that is flat in shape and long. The sauce, or ragú, is started with a soffrito base, typically a mix of carrots, onions and celery sauteéd in olive oil and butter. This is a dish I love to try at well-known restaurants, and I've found that my favorite recipes include a good amount of carrots. A slow cooked pork or combination of meat is added to the mix. A good bolognese sauce is comfort food at its best.




Fabio's Tortellini in Brodo proved to be silky and inviting. The brodo, or broth, is made with various meat parts slowly simmered over a long period of time. Only with such care can a dish be so exquisite yet simple. It is rich like butter and nurtures in the same way, warm and smooth down the throat.




Desserts are served at Fabio in the same way as the starters. Like at the beginning of our meal, our table was once again loaded with dishes to share. We were surrounded by: fresh strawberries, dark chocolate cake, flan and apple torte.




And wow - the absolute highlight of it all - was homemade gelato made especially for our table. The cool creme custard had a real vanilla taste with a touch of anise.
I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E!




The small slices of schaum torte were sweet and sour when saddled with cool fresh strawberries. And the hot chocolate sauce hardened into a shell when poured atop the frozen ice cream on my plate.




Nestled prominently in the tiny front dining room of four tables, the bar is stocked with fine cognacs, liqueurs and port wines. There are even a few props hanging around for when dinner's conversation needs livening-up.




To accompany the end-of-evening sweets, our server delivered us glasses with a small bucket of ice and a bottle of Sambuca, which paired very well with the homemade gelato. We laughed and remained in awe of the experience we had just had and continued to. Nestled in the Castiglione area of the city, Ristorante da Fabio impressed us, and gave us a dining memory we won't soon forget. Its certainly a place we hope to return to again.

Our laughter continued outside and down the old, winding stone street,'my Bologna has a first name, it's F-A-B-I-O.'




Did I mention that I wasn't able to finish my Bolognese? Amongst close friends I'm known as the 'Leftover Queen'. It can't go to waste - and I needed room for dessert.

Fabio gave me a weird look when I asked to take it with. Look, when in Rome or not, there was no way I was going to leave homemade pasta and sauce behind from the city that invented it if I could take it along with me.

It was eaten late night in Paris two days later - enjoyed again and wasted not. I added some Tabasco too - that's allowed the second time around.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Shanghai late night & the people we meet

At 1:00am on a Thursday morning, the streets of Shanghai are rather desolate and quiet. Rubbish from the day can be seen scattered about near a 24HR supermarket. This little angel of a girl with pale ivory skin and thick strong thighs played happily along the dimly lit road lined by closed shops. The neon lights bounced outside the small Western-looking place slicing through the window.

Just in front of the market, that looked strikingly similar to an American 7-Eleven, a food vendor parked his barbacoa-like grill with wheels. Meat choices were plentiful and skewered up ready to be cooked. There was a variety of fresh vegetables - mushrooms, onions, bok choy, tofu, baby corn - and fish - large sardine-looking silvers, crayfish, eel - and so many other unrecognizable options.

A vendor just next to Mr. 'Food on a Stick' Chan had two large woks with bright orange flames jetting around from below the metal. Mr. Chan offered late night prowlers a choice of various thin and thick noodles, and rice, to be tossed in a selection of sauces with veggies and meat.

At that hour fresh wok-seared noodles and veggies sounded best to me. After ordering, 'juh' and 'nay', or this and that, and admired the gastronomic skill of this mobile-chef, we found a spot to sit down between the store and street where little 'tables and chairs' had been set up using plastic beverage crates.

With a touch of black bean sauce and spicy, thinly sliced red peppers, the thick al dente strands evened out the vodka inbalance in my head. The only brand that looked interesting in the store was called Chiznick! from the Czech Republic. I mixed the stiff white liquor with a peach flavored juice while the others sipped on local beers, or píjiu (pee-gee-oh) like Tsingtao or Suntory, owned by a Japanese firm that established a local brewery in Shanghai and is now one of the city's most popular brands.


The smell of the flavors lingered through the desolate streets luring even the most prepared-for-bed out of their apartment for a late night snack.

One of the guys sharing the table with us had ordered this very dark tofu that had been flamed to look crispy on the outside. My friend, who had lived in Beijing for some time, told me it was stinky tofu which is fermented in a variety of ways tracing back to the Qing Dynasty. 'Right,' I said. 'I'll try one of those.'

The tofu was crunchy on the outside and a bit tough to break off of the wooden stick. It tasted like it had been seasoned with Jamaican jerk, a bit spicy even for me, and I can put Sriracha on most everything; I really enjoyed it.

This wondrous little lady played happily on her own while adults wandered in, out and around drinking, eating and chatting. She had one of those toys that works like a helicopter's blades. She'd pull the string and the blades launched the toy high into the night air, two stories at least.
She was my favorite street act, keeping herself so busy with this simple toy. And, over and over again, she caught the blade nearly every time it soared down again to her from its peak. Her skills were impressive.
And her independence and confidence too - these qualities shone brightly from within her. I really wanted some nice photos of this little cutie, so one of my friends figured out who her father was and asked if we could introduce ourselves. Surprisingly he happily obliged. Maybe he knew we were harmless visitors jubilant and comfortable with lounging amongst the locals at this hangout. We had been there laughing, shooting the shit (well me mostly with my hands) and people watching for a couple of hours by that point.
Shy at first, Bao, 'precious' in Chinese, quickly let her guard down and listened to my English with curiosity. She understood my actions best and liked mimicking me with my index finger pointing to my bicep saying, 'See, I'm strong.'

We told her to practice English and to stay on course for her destiny to become a powerful leader in whatever she chooses to take-on in this world.

No doubt Bao had no idea what the meaning of our words were. Still, I am sure that this young lady will perform well for her country in the future. As sunrise's hour drew closer, with a swollen heart, head and belly, we bid our adieu to our new Shanghainese friends, never to forget how special an encounter in the streets can be.

Hong Kong

Reflection of Hong Kong street in cab rear view mirror

Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42), was occupied by Japan in during WWII and controlled again by the British until 1997. The Programme for International Student Assessment ranked Hong Kong as one of the top education systems in the world.







Traditional Chinese tea house - Lin Heung

At the historical tea house we shared a pot of wonderful Jasmine tea and took in the every day people that surrounded us reading the paper, discussing politics and playing crosswords. I discovered Pu Erh tea on this trip which tasted much like my favorite African Roobios (Red Bush).




Old Street leading to Hollywood Rd, one of the first streets built in the colony, on Hong Kong Island.

You can see that a florist on Hong Kong Island has a store packed with tangerine trees. Tangerines in Chinese tradition are supposed to bring luck into the new year; Oranges are to bring wealth. Both have evolved from a language pun since the Chinese words for luck and wealth are similar to that of tangerine and orange.




I discovered this amazing store in the city called Initial: The Unusual Experience that is armed with super classic cuts with determinedly pimped-out detail. One of my personal favorites was a longer white flowy blouse with a small fur detail just on the collar.
Photo from: http://www.allabouthongkong.com/?p=169

The decore is inviting although a sculpture at the front literally shocked me so into the unusual that I almost walked right back out...thankfully I didn't! The website is fancy, but I can't see anywhere that I can do some real shopping; makes me wish I had done more while there!

We also checked out S.T.P. who became popular with its edgy lines of gift and leather goods, and is now growing an name for its clothing line.


Busy merchant street on Hong Kong Island



After some adventuring through the busy streets, wandering through the occasional sale, we made it to Cafe Landmark for a truly brilliant lunch. My host had the lobster linguine pictured on the website. I enjoyed a small kobe steak thinly sliced served aside wild greens with aged balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was the most classic, comforting decadence.

For desert we tried a few scoops of ice cream - get this - rose petal and ginger flavors. The were rather different and nice to try, but I'll touche with my Kopps's chocolate custard any day, time or place.

All of these views are in Kowloon near the Harbor City mall