Cakes, Cupcakes, Cheesecakes Oh My!

If you know me, you know I love baking.  

For my first cooking contest I had very difficult time deciding what dessert I wanted to bring. I had finally decided on a brownie mosaic cheesecake. It was my first cheesecake ever. I had never been such a big fan of cheesecakes and so I don't know what inspired to go with that particular recipe. But in any case it was a good choice because I won and it has ever since been  highly requested. I've made that cheesecakes for birthdays, dinner parties, and just because Luca asks for it. 

Unfortunately I don't have picture of the infamous dessert. 

However, over the past year quite a few cakes have been made. Here are just a few photos of my work in the kitchen. And from that very first cheesecake a little over a year ago, I have now attempted to make many more cheesecake recipes! Some are keepers, others not so much. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes for Valentines Day

Alce Nero- Berberè - Pizza

We discovered our new favorite place to grab a pizza. 

Of course, in Italy, you can find a pizzeria on practically every corner and sometimes pizzas can be more or less the same. 

We of course have our favorite "pakistani" pizza shop that only does take-out/delivery. We are very loyal to this pizzeria and without fail, if we order a pizza in, we will call them. So much so that they recognize us on the telephone, have added Luca on facebook, and sometimes we get  some extra perks. 

But ordering in pizza is different than going out for pizza. You are willing to spend more in order to get a better tasting and higher quality pizza. 

If anyone knows about pizza- it's definitely an Italian. Every time we go out Luca has a critique to make about the dough, the tomato sauce, the toppings, and how well cooked it is. 

Since he has recently changed cities for work, he and his colleagues decided to go out for lunch at a new place. They went to Alce Nero Berberè and ordered pizza. Luca came home that night raving about how good it was. 

So the following day we went to their other location in the city center- Via Petroni 9. 

We ordered 2 pizzas- and sure enough it is definitely one of the best I have ever had in Italy. 

Bacon / Pecorino Cheese/ Balsamic Vinegar

Sausage / fiordilatte cheese / sweet onions

First of all, the whole restaurant is organic and promote and use local ingredients. The topping combinations are unique, flavorful, and all very savory. And the crust is light, soft and crispy (just like Punch Pizza  if you're familiar the famous Minnesota pizza chain).  You also have the choice of changing the dough for a more digestible one, or with different kinds of flour such as kamut. 

We liked this place so much that we went back just 4 days later! However the only down side is the price, but you definitely pay for what you get. 

Check out their website to learn about their philosophy and definitely stop by to eat a pizza sometime!
                                 
    

The Dolomiti

The Italian thing to do in the winter is to go skiing. 

Luca has gone snowboarding with his friends for many years over the winter holidays, celebrating New Years up in the mountains. Since we both had a week off from the 30th to the 7th of December/January we decided to hit the slopes.

We started looking in October/November for a place to stay. We used booking.com and the criteria was really the best offer. We ended up finding the perfect lodge near La Marmolada, Hotel La Marianna, which offered both breakfast and dinner as part of the stay. 

 

We left early on January 1st and drove for about 3 hours through Veneto until we reached Rocca Pietore, which is a the tiny village where our Hotel was. It's beautiful driving through the Alps, but also nerve-racking, as the roads are very narrow, windy, and steep. 

I used to go skiing in the winter with my family up at Giants Ridge in Minnesota. My Dad taught me how to ski and after a few years I was able to do pretty much all of the runs at Giants Ridge. Of course Minnesota doesn't have mountains and the skiing I had experienced growing up was quite different.

The first day out on the slopes, we drove to the closest ski point which was Malga Ciapela. We had a nice day out, and we started nice and slow and easy since I hadn't skied in at least 6 years and Luca was very dubious of my skiing ability. 

There weren't a lot of options for skiing there, just one run which blue, the easiest piste, unless you took the cableway up to a much high point. 

The following day we decided to ski/snowboard at Alleghe. Here they had lots more blue runs and so I could some more practice in before trying out the red ones, which is medium difficulty. Attempting any black hills was completely out of the question. I was feeling pretty confident and I was able to do all the runs with Luca. 

However to ski, you need to be in shape. And I'm definitely out of shape. So near the end of day, my legs were dead tired, I was losing form, and was about ready to go home. So, on the last run which brings right down into the parking lot, I had a big fall, lost a ski, and was in tears. Thankfully, people in the mountains are very friendly. There is definitely a type of "helping-one-another-out" culture. As soon as a fell there was a skier behind me who grabbed my ski, brought it to me, stopped and helped me get it back on and stand up. 

Our third day in the Dolomites it snowed and snowed and snowed. All the snow meant that we couldn't go up high with a cableway and try out a different skiing area. The higher you go the more foggy it is and the more difficult it is to see. So we went back to the easy blue run at Malga Ciapela, but this time with a snowboard! 

The most difficult part about learning to snowboard that day was learning how to go up the hill with the T-Bar. Thankfully I wasn't the only one learning and there were other novice snowboarders who were falling over trying to hold on for dear life to the T-Bar as they're dragged up the hill. 

It was beautiful to be up in the mountains this time of year. In Bologna there isn't any snow, I was missing it. It fell so wintery and cozy with the snowfall and being out on the slopes. 

The North of Italy has a completely different feel. The architecture is different, the cuisine, and of course they have their own dialect too. 

                                     

                                               

Happy New Year!

This New Years was the first time I celebrated away from Minnesota. I had heard a little about New Years Eve in Bologna from friends that had stayed over the Christmas holiday while I was studying abroad. I knew that if you were going to stay in Bologna you need to head into Piazza Maggiore for the festivities. As I believe in any Italian city- everyone congregates around the central meeting point which is the main piazza. 

We were invited to dinner at a friends house. We enjoyed a meal together and of course ate some lentils. In Italy they eat lentils at the New Years Eve dinner as a tradition, which is supposed to bring wealth for the new year. Supposedly the lentils look like money, little coins, and so the more you eat, the richer you'll be! 

Just 10 minutes before midnight we walked down to Piazza Maggiore. It was overflowing with people. It was a lively exciting atmosphere. There was a DJ who was playing dance music. It was incredible to see how a few songs can get a whole piazza dancing and singing. 

Bologna has a particular tradition of burning the "vecchione" (big old guy). Each year they build a large dummy which represents the year that is ending. At midnight they burn the dummy as a way of saying goodbye to old year and hoping that new year will be better than the last. 

So there was a huge black and white watering can with 2013 in big numbers across it. The piazza started counting down to midnight 5 minutes before and sure enough at midnight the watering can started to steam and smoke and all of a sudden it went up in flames. 

Fireworks were going off, lots of people had sparklers, and there were loads of illegal firecrackers and other paraphernalia being lit and going off. It was quite the scene. It almost felt like being in even a different country with crackers going off everywhere people shouting, yelling, dancing....

 So to everyone- Happy 2014! I hope this year only brings more joy, love, friendship, and good memories than the year before.  

Christmas in Bologna

This is the first year in all of my life to spend Christmas away from "home" in Minnesota. And for not being back in Minneapolis for the holidays, I couldn't have imagined or asked for a better way to spend this time. It had been a crazy time of year with the school semester coming to an end, seeing friends and family, and getting ready for my parents to come to Bologna! 

A few weekends ago we went to Poggibonsi to visit Lucas parents. On the way back we went to the Fiorentina vs. Bologna soccer game at the stadium. We chose to see this match because Luca has been a long time fan of La Fiorentina and some of our friends from Bologna were supposed to come too and cheer on our city. As much as I really don't like the obsession with soccer here, there is just something exciting about being surrounded by fans. There is an atmosphere in sports stadiums that you can't find anywhere else. Luca bought me a purple and white striped scarf to show off my support for La Fiorentina and we enjoyed watching Bologna get defeated. 

 Afterwards we wandered around Florence until I had to catch the train back to Bologna. Any city in Italy around Christmas time is beautiful. The christmas lights make the already charming city even more romantic. 

And the following week my parents arrived to spend Christmas with us! It was so incredibly wonderful to have them here. For them it was also their first Christmas away from home, and also the first time for Lucas parents to spend Christmas away from their home in Poggibonsi. 

Of course as soon as my mom arrived, we got to baking, and made some of my favorite Christmas time treats like Russian Tea Cakes, Lemon Spritz cookies, Peanut Butter Ritz dipped in chocolate, and chocolate covered pretzels-- yum yum yum!

We headed back down into Tuscany for the weekend for a friend's wedding in Lucca, and we couldn't help but stop in Florence again and show my parents this enchanting city in winter. We practically had the whole city to ourselves. We were able to walk from Chiesa Santa Croce up to Ponte Vecchio, through Gli Uffizi, and into Piazza della Signoria without hardly seeing a single person. It's definitely breathtaking compared to the overcrowded streets overflowing with tourists in the summer months. 

Of course we made it back to celebrate Christmas on the 24th with both of our families in our tiny apartment in Bologna. Luca prepared a delicious dinner and we spent the evening opening presents, listening to christmas music, drinking wine, and enjoying each others company. The day after we walked around the city enjoying the festive atmosphere. To our surprise the tower was open to climb, and so walked the 498 steps to the top. 

Unfortunately the video is turned, but we definitely had to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from high up above Bologna.  

As always, time spent with family is never enough, and the time with my mom and dad here flew by. And I can say without a doubt that this was a fantastic way to end the year. 

3rd Annual Cooking Contest

This year "Rialto" (Luca's old apartment) held their third annual cooking contest. For the weeks leading up to the evening everyone was talking about what they were going to make, how good it's going to be, and how they're definitely going to win. 

There were 

9 people cooking, 

4 people preparing desserts, 

 21 people eating and voting. 

The evening always goes late, with a traditional late start, however this year everyone was much better with timing their dishes to come out pretty much right after the person before them. We started eating at 10 p.m. and didn't finish until until 2a.m. Everyone practically rolled out into the streets. 

The photos are never very appealing and I regret not taking more.

Luca prepared Pappardelle with a wild boar sauce

 Lorenzo prepared mini ribs- the photo doesn't do them justice but these were absolutely exquisite.

 Barbara prepared meatballs along with some stuffed potato cheese rolls

 Leo prepared pappa al pomodoro which is a mix of bread, tomatoes, garlic, and basil 

 Illaria prepared Eggplant Parmesan

 These are my mini chicken tacos 

 Vittoria prepared a gratin- potatoes with sausage

 And last but not least- Matteo made homemade pasta and cooked it up with pumpkin and bacon

For the "Salati" category Matteo won first place with his pumpkin bacon pasta. He definitely deserved it! He put in a ton of work making the pasta by hand, baking and carving the pumpkin. Second place was Leo's Pappa al Pomodoro, which despite the picture was actually incredibly flavorful and delicious. The eggplant parmesan came in third place, however everyone doesn't think it deserves third place and we think there was some biased voting going on. 

This year there were 4 dessert: 2 cheesecakes, 1 pie, and 1 chocolate cream cake. 

 The first picture is the Coffee Cordial Pie, then the New York Mocha Hazelnut Cheesecake and below a lemon cheesecake that was served with a raspberry sauce. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Luca's Pan di Stella cake which was 3 layers of nutella, whip cream, and pan di stella cookies!

 Matteo also won the dessert category with his Coffee Cordial Pie, but he only won by a fraction of a point. My Mocha Hazelnut Cheesecake was tied and so we had go down to the decimal point. 

Counting up the votes!