The one where it's midnight around a table in Firenze

A good friend of mine invited me to a dinner last night which proved to be perfectly interesting. While it was supposed to be a number of other people, it ended up being just my friend, myself, & his two business associates; this ended up being a blessing in disguise, because I don't know that I could have followed the conversation had it been any more -- it was entirely in Italian. I was glad to be able to follow along, though I'd hardly say I added a terrible amount to the subjects conversed. We ate at Osteria dell'Olio, a neauveau Italian place near the Duomo, their website begins to give you a taste of the ambiance they provide (we were seated in the red booth in their picture below).

As I mentioned, throughout the dinner Italian - vibrant Italian - was spoken rapidly: I focused intently in order to keep current on the conversation. The conversation spanned from business, politics, Amanda Knox (aka: lack of justice), Biometrics, & a mild amount of gossip. At one point, they were speaking of a person who shall remain unnamed, & they used the phrase "non ha le pelle" which means "he doesn't have the skin". I really enjoy picking up colloquial phrases as such, they relate to ours, yet are a touch different. Similar to the Tuscan way to say "good-luck" "In bocca al lupe" or, "in the mouth of the wolf".

I'm sure I don't have to say it, but the food was delicious, after several glasses of wine & a little bread, our first course came - an eggplant dish which encased a mozzarella center & was placed upon a tomato reduction. Next an enormous platter of Bistecca Fiorentina was brought out for the table - I can't even describe how perfectly rare this tender cut of meat was, I can only suggest you find your way to Florence to personally try it!

Italian men are very attentive & appreciative of pretty women, that type of flattery is hardly wasted on me. My wine glass was dutifully filled whenever it began to get too low, & I certainly couldn't complain at that, it was a lovely & boldly tannic Tuscan Rosso. Although I added only infrequent & broken sentences, I received only kind smiles for my efforts. Over cafe they all lit cigarettes & relaxed their stance. The image of wasps of smoke drifting over & around empty wine glasses, kerchiefs, a typical Tuscan hat & their own sharp attire & demeanor was quite intoxicating....even romantic or enchanting in a very Casablanca way. Regardless, I doubt it will be an image I'll be able to keep far from my mind for some time.

What I took from this evening primarily, is that as with this fresco below which I found upon a wall of the old Midici palace, sometimes it's the cracks which give an object its character, the wrinkles & ingrained habits from the centuries which impart such a compelling taste upon our palate. As I said, it was a mentally intoxicating evening.

The one where it's Summer in Chelsea

Let me begin by saying that Chelsea is one of my favorite areas of Manhattan; many people may knock it, but I will continue to showcase the blooming flowers among the thorns which is the remnants of the meat-packing district.

One such place is the Chelsea High Line: this used to be nearly 1 1/2 miles of freight railroad before it was slowly converted & opened in 2009 as an open-air walkway/park above the streets of the lower-west side.

It's an idyllic little place, almost like a secret garden. It is progressive in that traffic moves along the walk; however, along the way there are many little sitting areas, bird-houses, theater-like seating, & lounge areas which seamlessly blend together. I think the most remarkable thing, is the way in which the design allows both urban & wild to co-exist & nearly merge together. It's a wonderful spot to chill, walk, enjoy the sun, chat with friends, or just escape for a while. They even have performances along the High Line: Autumn Crossing. Regardless of your reason, I will suggest over & over that you check it out, it's a fun community of sorts.

We stopped by Chelsea Brewing Company, which is a little-known-spot which I used to adore. Sadly, the menu has changed & my favorite items (gourmet burgers & sweet potato fries) have been evicted. I was thrilled to experience their new item -- Prosciutto bread -- this ingenious bread has pieces of prosciutto baked into it, with a garlic & parsley dipping oil!! YUM! Needless to say, it's still a great spot, with brewed on the spot beer, water-front setting, & a chill atmosphere. A relaxed dinner for a warm summer evening!

Later as we took the subway uptown, we encountered the most obnoxious human in Manhattan, yea, we found him. I had the urge to pose this question "Exactly how many times in a day do you get slapped? On Average?" I truly had to remind myself to be a good person in order to refrain.

No friend afternoon would be complete without trying on ridiculous outfits together. To the left is 80's reincarnate (stay-tuned for the work-out video) & on the right is a magenta kangaroo in dress-form.

The train ride back from the city was the picture of any NJTransit advertisement. Divouring gourmet cupcakes (Chocolate fudge w/mocha icing) & drinking individual bottles of rose wine! Sure Grand Central has God's view of the heavens, but Penn Station sells cold-single-serve Wine!! Childish-Adult fun at it's best!

The one with Iggie's

This weekend I went to an eccentric little pizza place outside of Baltimore's Inner harbor where their motto is "Pizza with a purpose". My bf brought me here knowing my love for authentic Italian, it's called Iggie's, & it may be my favorite new pizza place. You walk into Iggie's to find warm yellow walls & red ceilings which pair idyllically with the large arch in the middle of the restaurant & an Italian poster of a racing greyhound as seen below.

There's a electric & almost dive-y feel to the patrons of Iggie's - there are a lot of them! Excited & laughter filled conversation permeates the air over clinking glasses & pizza numbers being shouted out. A friendly woman with short spiky hair welcomes you before telling you where your seat will be & taking whatever you've brought to drink to mark your place. You order & give your name before getting utensils & glasses & finding your seat. Most of the tables are long which gives dining here a very communal feeling. Iggie's was rated one of the top restuarnts country-wide for BYOB dining in Travel & Leisure magazine as displayyed below:

I chose to bring a wonderful bottle of Querciavalle which was perfectly light against the thin-crust pizza. We got two small Pizza's, the Alice & the Anatra.

The Alice was a combination of garlic spinach, pesto, mozzzrella, fresh tomato, parmigiano, & goat cheese. The subtle sweetness of the spinach, garlic & mozzarella played beautifully against the sharpness of the goat cheese. The Anatra (Italian for Duck) was a comination made in Pizza-heaven: perfectly seasoned duck, asparagus, blue cheese, carmelized onions, & mozzarella. It was a perfect meal, I can't wait to get back & try more of their delicious combinations!

The one with Eataly

This past week, I met up with one of my girlfriends for dinner in Manhattan, a favorite tradition of ours! This time, we went to this little jewel of a place called Eataly on 5th Avenue & 25th. It is the vision come to realization of Chef Mario Batali. This is an Italian marketplace, with all the little stands/areas you would expect...with a twist! Each section of the market has it's own speciality restaurant which you can sit down & enjoy a gourmet meal within the market! We ate at Le Verdure (the restaurant specializing in vegetables): the food was humbly spectacular! Very simple but very good....just as authentic Italian should be!

The Best part of the meal, although the meal was fabulous (see below for description), was that: when we were done with our meal & only 1/2 done with our wine, our waiter poured the rest for us & we were able to walk around with our wine while we shopped!!! Anywhere where I can shop & enjoy wine at the same time is a a success for me! We even had a little elderly lady let us know how fantastic she thought the combination of wine & shopping was!

The concept & values which Eataly represents are brilliantly displayed in Il Manifesto: it's difficult to read here, but it's truly fabulous. Click here to read it in full.

This is a spot which everyone should check out for an almost-Italian experiance. They have products which you would find in stores in Italy, fantastic food, & a gaurenteed fun-night out!

The one with an Aerator

Today was exciting in a way which multiplied! One of the Mortgage Planners in my office came in & brought each of us a bottle of wine as a Christmas gift! (Huge Wine Enthusiast if I haven't before mentioned it). It was quite a busy day, & I was looking forward to relaxing with a glass of wine. When I arrived home, my cousin begged my Aunt to let her give me my Christmas present early. I was nearly certain I knew what she got me, & her excitement to give it to me when I mentioned having wine confirmed my suspicions. I was thrilled when I was proved entirely correct: she had gotten me a Vinturi Aerator!

Now, what an aerator does is allow red wine to breath instantaneously, to 'breath' is simply to get air into the wine. As the wine pours, it gains velocity at which point two small air tubes on each side of the devise allow air to be pulled into the wine, making a little bubbily noise. This allows a wine which would normally decant for an hour to be ready to drink in seconds! Decanters (& now aerators) are used with older & more complex red wines due to the need to balance out the tannins in them. Tannis are acquired from the skins of grapes, which also give the wine its beautiful color; they're the dryness or slightly bitter taste that you run into most predominantly in the wines of Italy. Decanting or aerating allows the tannis to balance out, as well as lets the wine fully develop so that you can experience the wider range of the olfactory, gustatory, & tactile subtleties it has to offer. Swirling wine in the glass also allows it to better breathe, which is one of the reasons you see the in-the-know crowd doing so. Vinturi is one of the top brand of Aerators available currently!

Thank goodness I has suspected it, or my excitement would have been completely uncontained!

The bottle I was gifted, was from the Central Valley of Chile. Chile is a wonderful source of new & exciting wines! Granted, it has been "discovered" within the last 3 years or so, it is still providing intriguing & bold wines of good integrity at a fantastic price to quality ratio! The estate is Agustos, a 2007 vintage Merlot Reserve. Unfortunately, this wine is at the very cut-off of being considered a Reserve, & I prefer them with quite a bit more time to develop; however, I was pleasantly surprised. It has that piercing darkness of the Merlot with shining glimpses of ruby around the edges. In typical Merlot style, it's soft & easy to contemplate over. It's fruity, like cooked Blackberries or plums, with hints of mint & herbs on the nose. It is fruity on the palat, though still needs a few years to truly balance out. Perhaps I'll try it again in 2012? Today presented two nicely complimenting presents, which I'm happily enjoying!

The one at I Soldi

Earlier this evening, I met my friend Liz for dinner in the West Village. Liz & I first became friends when we studied together in Firenze, Italia. Liz found this wonderful little place where the Restaurateur, is a woman from Florence who decided to leave the world of fashion to open a restaurant based on the traditional Tuscan dishes she grew up with -- I Soldi

If you've ever been to Christopher Street, you know it's right at the edge of the village which begins to get very quite...you could easily walk past & not even know you've missed anything! I Soldi is based upon simple elegance, something I LOVE!

An incredibly small space, really only enough seating for maybe 30 people, but as a consequence it has a very intimate ambiance; like you're favorite hometown spot. The wait-staff is quick to greet you but in a very reserved manner, they check you coat and purse if you'd like & seat you at either a small table or the bar. Liz & I sat at the bar, a monumental thing of beautiful dark wood, with a vast number of familiar Italian wines & spirits displayed behind it. The bartender who looked as though he was a part of the restaurant told us about the night's specials while pouring us some especially crisp water in very cheque-low glasses which felt as though they may be Riedel. We settled on a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (one of my favorite Tuscans!) & then had to decide what to get to eat! Everything looked amazing....all the classic Tuscan dishes of the season -- another fact I love! Seasonality is far underrated!! We settled on a Fegato di Turchia (warm seasoned turkey pate) to share & each had to try the Lasagne Al Carciofi (Artichoke Lasagna).

Soon after ordering a plate of olives, a plate of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), & a small basket of bread was brought to us. The bread was fresh baked & whole grain -- Yum. The olive oil though, I could have died over! I found out later, via the website (click on I Soldi above), that this was olive oil which was from the first cold press of the season of her family's farm outside Florence. It was intensely fruity & dynamic, the plate had a small amount of cracked pepper on it, & was the perfect additive. You could smell this EVOO as soon as it was placed before you, that wonderful smooth earthiness -- be still my heart! Soon after, though not too soon (this is an authentic Italian place), our antipasti came. I could smell the warm spice on it, the pate was generously spooned over a thick slice of their bread; it was smooth, reminiscent of Tuscan autumn, & entirely satisfying. It was quite a filling dish, so I'm glad they allowed a good amount of time before I Primi! We sipped wine & chatted easily as the noise level was well maintained simply by the size of the establishment. When our Lasagna came I could not have been more enthralled! This was a mountain of fresh made pasta, cream, and artichokes all blended together with the most perfect spices of subtle pepper, nutmeg, and sage. It was exactly what great Tuscan lasagna should be, subtle, gorgeous, creamy, & NO tomato sauce! As a whole it was incredibly smooth and creamy: I could have eaten two portions of this had it not been so filling!

I was most impressed at how much I felt as though I was in Florence. The dining was relaxed & sophisticated in a subdued way. New York Magazine said of Rita Sodi, "the platinum-spike-haired proprietress, is often at the bar, treating it like her kitchen table...". This is so true...As Liz & I were seated as the bar, we saw her come out of the kitchen several times incredibly as unpretentious as you would expect from a true Florentine. All I can say, Grazie mille!

I knew I had to wear something fabulous to this dinner, but I was also coming straight from work, so it was a balance of fashion & Business attire. I started with my favorite black pencil skirt from White House Black Market, the Elyse, which has some fantastic details if you blow up the picture & a fabulous sexy little slit in the back. I am a huge fan of pattered stockings -- especially of the lacy persuasion -- so I added a pair of my Givenchy burgundy colored stockings. A fun little BCBG billowy gold-yellow top tucked into the skirt, & fabulous little black booties with a fun ruffle on the back. I didn't know they came in other colors, but now I seriously want the cobalt blue! For accessories, I went simple: added a delicate double-gold-chain necklace & fun gold, pearl, & gem earings (pictured below).

It was a wonderful night out, which I would highly suggest making happen for yourself. A great little Italian Proverb which came up over the night:

"Old Wines & Friends get better with Age"