Sandwiches to Go – from the USA

Summer is the time for for fresh, easy to make food to enjoy out in the open so as to mop up all the sunshine. Below is a selection of mouthwatering concoctions taken from Sandwich bars all across America, courtesy of Daily Candy –  New York.
And of course don’t forget the best of them all – The BLT (Bacon-Lettuce & Tomato)

www.dailycandy.com

Celebrating in Royal Style

Tea time as only the British know how to serve it, in honour of Her Majesty the Queen

Valentine’s Day at Castello Dal Pozzo

San Valentino al Castello Dal Pozzo

A lovely evening at the Castello Dal Pozzo for couples out to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Young couples celebrating the start of what could become a lifetime’s devotion as well as well established couples determined to refresh the original feeling of “being in love”.

San Valentino Romanticissimo

San Valentino al Castello Dal Pozzo

Perchè non abbinare un pomeriggio di relax in coppia alle Terme di Premia, il centro termale più importante dell’alto Piemonte, con offerte studiati appositamente per la festa di San Valentino con la cena e pernottamento al Castello Dal Pozzo, Oleggio Castello, per un break sotto il segno del romanticismo puro?.

Valentine’s Day

Dinner at "Le Fief" - Castello Dal Pozzo

Spend a wonderful Valentine’s Day/weekend at the Castello Dal Pozzo – Lake Maggiore

Le Fief Restaurant

Enjoy a romantic weekend

For all information and to book
www.castellodalpozzo.com

The 2012 Travel Calendar – Part 2

Continuing the 2012 Travel Calendar as suggested by Tom Hall from Lonely Planets for the Observer Part 1 was published in yesterday’s Blog

July: Ukraine

Discover Ukraine’s coastline this summer. Photograph: Alamy

Europe’s football championships finish with fireworks in Kiev on 1 July, leaving the rest of the summer to discover Europe’s largest country. Apart from the big-city delights of the capital there’s Lviv, a central European stunner that’s been turning heads for a few years, and all the fun of the seaside in the Crimea. Ukraine remains an inexpensive destination – especially away from Kiev – but book ahead if you want to be by the coast in the high summer.
• Ukraine Travel (ukraine.co.uk), specialists in the country, offers direct flights to Kiev from Manchester for £225 including taxes, and can also help with rail tickets and hotels

August: New York City

Such is the pace of change that, like Paris and London, New York is somewhere best visited regularly. If you haven’t been in the past year you won’t have had the chance to admire the new 9/11 memorial, explore the latest section of the High Line or take a superhero walking tour (viator.com). The Big Apple bakes in summer, but you can at least stay in a cool spot at the new Bowery House. Many of the cabin-style rooms are small with funky shared bathrooms, making this a great deal in a hip part of New York.
• Bunks in shared rooms start at £31 with single cabin rooms from £51 (theboweryhouse.com)

September: Iceland

It’s a good year for getting to Iceland without breaking the bank. EasyJet (easyjet.co.uk) will start flying from Luton to Reykjavik from £59 return at the end of March. In addition to this and established airlines such as Iceland Express, a new carrier, Wow Air (wowair.is), is advertising flights from the Icelandic capital to Stansted.

October: Milan and the Lakes

Milan’s delights for a city break need little introduction, but a shake-up of any big city’s hotel scene is a welcome thing. Self-styled “eco-chic” hotel E.c.ho wears its green credentials on its sleeve. Look for 125m of solar panelling, sustainably sourced decor materials and a seasonally focused menu. The courtyard garden is home to a Renaissance chapel by Donato Bramante, who designed St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Rooms at E.c.ho start at £163 per night (starhotels.com). Flights to Milan are available from around the UK – see skyscanner.net

Whilst in Milan take the time to visit the Lakes. A mere one hour’s drive from Milan, 30km from Malpensa airport (BA, EasyJet, Alitalia flights from UK). October is usually mild, autumnal and full of colour. Visit the Borromeo Islands, do some great winter shopping, enjoy some splendid Piemontese food.

Aerial View of Castello Dal Pozzo and the Palazzo Hotel

Stay at #Castello Dal Pozzo, Oleggio Castello, at the southern end of Lake Maggiore.
A Romantic Escape for 2 starts from 244€ in a double deluxe with candlelit dinner, breakfast and bottle of bubbly in your room.

November: Norway

Keep your fingers crossed for a clear night … Photograph: Alamy

This is predicted to be the best year yet for spotting the northern lights, so if you’ve been promising yourself a trip, then this is the time to do it. November is as good as any other part of winter to go: all you need to do is keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and a light show. There’s nothing to stop you making your own way via Bodo in Norway or beyond on a flight with Norwegian (norwegian.no).
• The Aurora Zone (theaurorazone.com) has four-night trips from £1,445 using snowmobiles, huskies and local guides

December: Cambodia

Cambodia is so much more than the magnificent temples at Angkor, as a bunch of funky new openings is busy proving. As well as luxury resorts, such as Shinta Mani and Song Saa, The Plantation (theplantation.asia, rooms from £41) has just opened in Phnom Penh in 1940s colonial-style buildings set in tropical gardens. About Asia Travel (aboutasiatravel.com) can arrange cross-country packages, including private-jet transfers and sightseeing tours.

New Year’s Eve Celebrations

The Origins of the New Year Celebrations

London - Big Ben

The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible cresent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).
The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.
The Babylonian new year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year’s Eve festivities pale in comparison.
During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years.

January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.

Paris - Champs Elysee

How to bring Luck for the coming Year
Traditionally, it was thought that one could affect the luck they would have throughout the coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year. For that reason, it has become common for folks to celebrate the first few minutes of a brand new year in the company of family and friends. Parties often last into the middle of the night after the ringing in of a new year. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year’s Day would bring either good luck or bad luck the rest of the year. It was particularly lucky if that visitor happened to be a tall dark-haired man. From this came the usage of asking a “Chimmney Sweep” to be the first through the front door after midnight.

Sydney Harbour Bridge - Australia

New Year Food for Good Luck
Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring luck. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes “coming full circle,” completing a year’s cycle.

In Holland:  the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year’s Day will bring good fortune.
Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the new year by consuming black-eyed peas. These legumes are typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity.
Cabbage is another “good luck” vegetable that is consumed on New Year’s Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year’s Day.
In Italy lentils and zampone or pigs trotters are eaten, the lentils signifying wealth for the coming year. When bell tolls midnight – one spoon per bell is eaten. This is supposed to bring good fortune; the lentils represent coins, being round in shape.
In Spain The ritual on New Year’s eve is to eat twelve grapes at midnight. The tradition is meant to secure twelve happy months in the coming year.
In Greece, New Year’s day is also the Festival of St. Basil, one of the founders of the Greek Orthodox Church. One of the traditional foods served is Vassilopitta, or St Basil’s cake. A silver or gold coin is baked inside the cake. Whoever finds the coin in their piece of cake will be especially lucky during the coming year.

Brandenburg Gate - Berlin

The Origins of the ritual of Toasting
One of the most venerable New Years traditions is the champaign toast at midnight to ring in the new year. Toasting can be traced back to the ancient Romans and Greeks who would pour wine, to be shared among those attending a religious function, from a common pitcher. The host would drink first, to assure his guests that the wine was not poisoned. Poisoning the wine was a fairly common practice in ancient times, designed to do away with one’s enemies. In those days the wine was not as refined as it is today so a square of burned bread (toast) would be floated in the wine bowl and then eaten by the last person to drink. The bread was put there to absorb the extra acidity of the wine in order to make it more palatable. Eventually, the act of drinking in unison came to be called a toast, from the act of “toasting” or putting toast into the wine.

Tapei - New Year's Eve

Singing Auld Lang Syne
The song, “Auld Lang Syne,” playing in the background, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700’s, it was first published in 1796 after Burns’ death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scottish tune, “Auld Lang Syne” literally means “old long ago,” or simply, “the good old days.”.

The Pope's New Years Blessing

Celebrate at Castello Dal Pozzo

Enjoy New Year’s Eve at Castello Dal Pozzo on Lake Maggiore, in the company of Stefania Cento, TV showgirl, who will entertain guests until 02.00am.
Festivities start at 8.00pm, continue with champagne toasts at midnight and continue until the small hours with dancing in the Ballroom.

www.castellodalpozzo.com for reservations

Christmas in Italy

Christmas at Castello Dal Pozzo

Christmas season in Italy is traditionally celebrated December 24-January 6, or Christmas Eve through Epiphany. This follows the pagan season of celebrations that started with Saturnalia, a winter solstice festival, and ended with the Roman New Year, the Calends. However there are lots of Christmas things to see during December prior to Christmas, many starting on December 8, the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception.

Italian Christmas Traditions

Although Babbo Natale(Father Christmas) and giving presents on Christmas are becoming more common, the main day for gift giving is Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men gave Baby Jesus their gifts. In Italy, presents are brought by La Befana, who arrives in the night to fill children’s stockings. More about Epiphany and La Befana

Christmas decorations and trees are becoming more popular in Italy. Lights and decorations are often seen starting around December 8, the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, or even the end of November. The main focus of decorations continues to be the presepe, Nativity scene or creche. Almost every church has a presepe and they are often found outdoors in a piazza or public area, too.

Traditionally, a meatless dinner is eaten on Christmas eve with the family, followed by a living nativity scene and midnight mass. In parts of southern Italy a seven fishes dinner is traditionally served on Christmas Eve. Traditional bonfires are often held on Christmas Eve in the main square of town, especially in mountain areas. Dinner on Christmas day is usually meat based.

Christmas trees, lights, Nativity Cribs, and Christmas celebrations in Italy:

Although you’ll find Christmas celebrations all over Italy, these are some of the most unusual or most popular Christmas celebrations, events, and decorations.

Naples is one of the best cities to visit for Nativity cribs. Naples and southern Italy have other Christmas traditions, including the Christmas Eve dinner of the seven fish dishes, although it doesn’t really have to be seven fishes and not everyone serves it. Naples Nativity Pictures

Bagpipe and flute players, zampognari and pifferai, are a part of Christmas celebrations in Rome, Naples, and southern Italy. They often wear traditional colorful costumes with sheepskin vests, long white stockings, and dark cloaks. Many of them travel from the mountains of the Abruzzo region to play outside churches and in popular city squares.

Rome is another top city to visit during the Christmas season. There’s a large Christmas market, nativity displays, and several huge Christmas trees.

Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City hosts the popular midnight mass given by the Pope inside Saint Peter’s Basilica. Those in the square see it on big screen TV. At noon on Christmas day the Pope gives his Christmas message from the window of his apartment overlooking the square. A large tree and nativity scene are erected in the square before Christmas.

Torino is one of the best places for lights. Over 20 kilometers of streets and squares are illuminated by some of the best illumination artists in Europe from late November through early January.

Near the top of Monte Ingino, above Gubbio in central Italy’s Umbria region, shines a huge Christmas tree, 650 meters tall and made up of more than 700 lights. In 1991 the Guinness Book of Records named it “The World’s Tallest Christmas Tree.” The tree is topped by a star that can be seen for nearly 50 kilometers. Tree lights are turned on every year on 7 December, the evening before the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Città di Castello, in Umbria, celebrates Christmas Eve in on the Tiber River. Towards evening, a group of canoeists, each dressed as Father Christmas, with their canoes illuminated by lights, make their way along the river to the bridge at Porta San Florido where a crib is suspended over the water. When they get out of their canoes, they give small presents to the children gathered there.

Lago Trasimeno, also in Umbria, celebrates with Soul Christmas, Umbria Gospel Festival, December 8 – January 6.
Manarola in Cinque Terre has a unique ecological nativity powered by solar energy. In Abbadia di San Salvatore, near Montalcino, the Fiaccole di Natale or Festival of Christmas Torches (Christmas Eve) is celebrated. Carols and torchlight processions in memory of the shepherds from the first Christmas Eve. Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Alps celebrates with a skiers torchlight parade – At midnight on Christmas Eve hundreds of people ski down an Alpine peak carrying torches.

http://goitaly.about.com/od/christmasinitaly/a/christmas.htm

Castello and Arona at Christmas under the snow

Italian Lakes
The Lakes in the north of Italy, Maggiore, Como and Orta, have begun to follow the traditions of their more northern neighbours in the Veneto and Sud Tyrol and have inaugurated a busy calendar of Christmas markets, choirs singing Christmas songs, spectacular exhibitions of nativity scenes, illuminations in all the towns and villages, from the most simple to the more elaborate. The entire area also has late night shopping, Sunday openings almost everywhere and excellent shopping throughout all the outlets for that really fabulous Christmas gift. So why not come and join us for that special Christmas, free from stress and hassle. The food may be different, turkey may be replaced by goose and Christmas pudding by Panettone, but the atmosphere at the Castello Dal Pozzo will certainly be friendly and full of Christmas cheer.

Castello Dal Pozzo
Via Visconti
Oleggio Castello
Lake Maggiore, Northern Italy

+39032253713
contact@castellodalpozzo.com
http://www.castellodalpozzo.com

Cheeses from Piemont

Cheese

The Lake Maggiore area and the valleys in its hinterland are renowned in Italy and abroad for the  cheese produced from animals grazing on mountain pastures, which is a feature of the local culinary culture.
The ample lush pastures of the valleys have given the area a long tradition of high quality cheese production.

Classic local cheeses are the Ossolano d’Alpe, a cow’s milk cheese with a tasty yet mild flavour, the celebrated Bettelmatt, with a restricted production in only 7 alps in the Antigorio and Formazza valleys, and Mottarone, with its characteristic straw-yellow colour and many others such as goat’s milk cheese and ricotta. These cheeses are made on the high mountain pastures or in the dairies lower down in the valleys: for example, the Cooperative Dairy of the Antigorio Valley in Crodo.

Cheese is also made on the shores of the lake; an example is the Formagella of Luino, a medium-firm cheese made with whole raw goat’s milk.

And on the subject of superior regional products – don’t forget one of the best:Gorgonzola, which is made in the Varese and Novara areas and in the surrounding hills.

ANTIGORIO AND FORMAZZA VALLEYS

Of all the Alpine cheeses of the Ossola Valleys, pride of place must go to Bettelmatt, a cheese made on the high pastures of the Antigorio and Formazza Valleys from the whole raw milk of cows of the Bruna Alpina breed.

Dense yet soft, golden yellow or straw-coloured, Bettelmatt cheese has a mild, delicate flavour, redolent of the Alpine flowers the cows graze on in the early summer, in particular the erba mottolina or Alpine lovage. The variety of these flowers and herbs, which grow only on high mountain pastures, gives the cheese its unique flavour.

Originally the name “Bettelmatt” could be given only to cheese made on the Bettlematt alp, just below the Gries Pass at an altitude of 2,100 metres. Now the name is also used for cheese made at the pastures of Toggia, Kastel, Poiala, Vannino, San Giatto and Forno.

Each cheese is stamped with the name of the alp where it is produced, as well as the trademark certifying its exclusive production area.

via Bettelmatt.

MOTTARONE

The cheese produced in the Mottarone area and ripened in alpine farms high on the slopes of this mountain, overlooking Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta.

The hill massif is not known simply for its splendid views, but also for its cheeses. The milk produced at Mottarone is rich in vitamin A and produces a cheese known as “toma”, straw-yellow in colour and sold at various stages of ripening.

OSSOLA VALLEYS AND VAL STRONA

Throughout the Ossola Valleys and in Val Stronayou can still come across artisan cheese producers who make goat’s cheese from the milk of their own animals in the traditional way.

The cheese is made mainly from spring to autumn, after which the first snow falls prompt the return of the goats from the high summer pastures to their winter quarters in the valley. Goat’s cheese, called “furmagit da cavra” in the local dialect, is often used in local cooking, and can be eaten fresh or mature.

Fresh goat’s cheese comes in soft, white rounds called tomini, weighing from half a kilo to a kilo and a half. They can be matured for three months or so, which gives the cheese a distinct, slightly sharp flavour.

OSSOLA VALLEYS

Ricotta is a fresh whey cheese with an aroma and a taste that differs according to the type of production and the place it is made. The different types of preparation result in different cheeses, which can be fresh, mature, baked, smoked, salted, mildor sharp. Ricotta is made from June to September on the lower mountain pastures, and from July to the end of August on the high pastures. Throughout the year the local ricotta production is guaranteed by the dairies in the valleys, creameries, turnarie dairies (cooperative dairies where cheese is made by the members who “take turns”), and private producers.

Some kinds of ricotta are ricotta grassa or rich ricotta, made from cow’s milk with the addition of cream, eaten fresh or with sugar; ricotta magra or low-fat ricotta, traditionally used in cooking, and ricotta stagionata or mature ricotta, which has a sharper taste.

Mascarpa is made by heating the whey of cow’s or goat’s milk. On the alp the cheeses are usually hung up to drain in special cloth bags. Mascarpa should preferably be eaten fresh, but is sometimes smoked.

NOVARA

Gorgonzola is a cheese made from cow’s milk. There are two kinds, mild and sharp. Sharp Gorgonzola has more pronounced blue veining, is denser, and has a stronger taste than the mild version.

Between the third and fourth week of the aging process, the cheese is pierced with metal rods, which allows air to enter and facilitates the germination of the mould spores.

The sharp kind goes well with hearty red wines likeGhemme Docg, Fara or Boca, the milder version with white wines or lighter reds. Gorgonzola is excellent as the basis for creamy sauces made with butter or cream.

According to legend, Gorgonzola was “discovered” by a careless cheese-maker who, distracted from his work by amorous preoccupations,  put off his day’s work until the next day, when he mixed the previous evening’s curds with those of the morning, thereby obtaining a wholly new kind of cheese.

Log Fires and Mulled Wine

Chase away winter blues and enjoy a warming drink in front of a log fire.

Sauced’s Mulled Wine

Ingredients

For vanilla syrup (made the night before)

• ¼ c. water
• ¼ c. white sugar
• 4 vanilla beans, cut lengthwise (if no beans are available, substitute 1 tbsp. real vanilla extract)

1. Boil water and sugar together with vanilla beans for 1 minute.
2. Cool and remove vanilla beans. Refrigerate.

For punch mix

• 4 c. house red wine
• 1 c. port wine
• ½ c. brandy
• 1 c. sparkling water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 navel orange or sweet apple, cut into slices
• ½ c. vanilla syrup
• 2 sticks fresh nutmeg

1. Mix together all ingredients in a saucepan and heat until almost boiling. (Hint: Be very careful not to boil — alcohol will cook down.)

2. Transfer to large thermos or carafe. When serving, grate fresh nutmeg over the top.

Sauced, 753 Edgewood Avenue, at Waddell Street (404-688-6554 or saucedatlanta.com).

via Sauced’s Mulled Wine Recipe – Cocktail Party Recipes | London – DailyCandy.

 

Hot wassail

Ingredients

• 3 apples (peeled, cored, sliced, and sprinkled with ½ c. brown sugar)
• 1 qt. brown ale
• 8 oz. dry sherry
• Peel from ½ a lemon, finely grated
• ½ tsp. each ground nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger

1. Drizzle apples (excluding a handful) with a little brown ale and bake at 350° for 45 minutes, until the apples are very tender.

2. Put in a food processor until smooth; then pour into a saucepan over medium-low heat.

3. Add remaining ale, sherry, lemon peel, and spices. Simmer gently and add remaining apple slices to the bowl.

4. Serve warm.

via Daily Candy http://www.dailycandy.com/all-cities/article/96183/Hot-Wassail-Cocktail-Recipe-Recipes-with-Beer

Rock and Rye Toddy

Makes approximately fifteen servings

Ingredients

• 1 horehound tea bag*
• 25 oz. rye whiskey
• ¼ oz. Angostura bitters
• Peel of 1 orange
• Peel of 1 lemon (plus extra for garnish)
• 5 cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 4 oz. demerara syrup (1 part demerara sugar to water)
• 2 oz. cherry syrup
• Star anise pods

1. Steep tea bag in a jar with rye whiskey for 2 hours.

2. Remove tea bag. Place all other ingredients in the jar; let flavors marry for 3 days.

3. Strain all solids from the liquid.

4. Serve 2 oz. of mixture to 3 oz. of hot water. Gently stir and garnish with a lemon peel and a star anise pod.

*Horehound is an herb known for its natural cough-suppressant qualities.

The Whistler, 2421 North Milwaukee Avenue, at Fullerton Avenue (773-227-3530 or whistlerchicago.com).