Venice Part 2 - The end of our cruise

The sun was rising over Venice as we sailed into port, ready to depart the ship. The best way to see the beautiful city of Venice is as you sail in or out on a cruise ship. The city is truly unlike anything in this World.

Our group all parted ways with different journeys home from the ship. Kyle and I were scheduled for a layover in Paris, but before our flight departed from the Venice airport, we made one last stop in Venice for food! We searched what seemed like the whole city for a good breakfast spot since it was only 8AM. And by breakfast, I mean gelato.

We found a spot, and it was probably nothing special by Venetian standards. But to us, the gelato was heavenly. It came as a set with coffee. This must be a tourist trap, knowing that only an American tourist in a gelato frenzy would need gelato for breakfast, in addition to some coffee.

We also ordered a breakfast panini, which was fabulous with the Italian prosciutto and cheese.

My parents spent one more day in Venice before flying home. They wondered around the Venice fish and open market, finding some fun and unusual finds.

And had one last meal of their favorite Italian dishes.

My dad's favorite is Spaghetti Vongole, or clam spaghetti with a white wine sauce.

Happy Eating,

Emi

A Taste of Venice - Gelato and Pasta - Venice Part 2

When Kyle and I were in Japan, we fell in love with gelato. I know, it sounds so bizarre. Gelato in Japan?? But yes, it is wonderful. Coming to the motherland of gelato, I expected something great. However, it was beyond great...it was heaven. We had no specific recommendations on where to go for the best gelato in Venice, so we picked a random shop that was open early enough to cater to us cruisers that needed to feed our gelato craving at 9:30AM before leaving the port for the next destination. You might think that these type of places wouldn't be good--but yes, oh yes, it was.

There were so many flavors to choose from, it was hard to pick one. 

Kyle chose the tiramisu which was creamy with a nice cocoa/espresso richness. 

I picked the frutti di bosco, which was a perfect combination of vanilla gelato and an uber-sweet and fresh tasting fruit topping.  

Once you have real Italian gelato, I don't think you could go back to anything else--not even Japanese gelato.

So what do you do when you only have a couple hours in a foreign city? Some might say: see the most well known sights, go shopping, or wonder the city and talk with the locals. Kyle and I try to seek out the best looking place to stop and eat some local food. This trattoria was tucked away in a narrow street/alley off the main path from San Marco Square to the Rialto bridge. We figured it would be OK since there was no sign of hamburgers on the menu.

After we ordered, the waiter plopped down a couple bottles of infused olive oil. We dipped fresh Italian bread in the oils and instantly fell head over heels in love. At first there was a lemon and a red chili pepper infused olive oil. Each oil was so flavorful and dressed up the plain bread, turning an ordinary loaf of JC Penny-like white bread into a Prada equivalent that made you wonder why anyone would ever use plain butter or oil to dip their bread. Think Pretty Woman for bread.  

This is the point in the trip where I started to think of a future Mediterranean themed party that I would throw in Seattle. I asked the waiter how they made their infused olive oils. He was so happy we liked them that he brought out two more bottles: a garlic and an anchovy infused olive oil. 

As soon as I came home I looked up recipes for infused oils online. The key is to make sure to either refrigerate or use your oil immediately because there is the risk of botulism if you do not properly handle the oil. The key is to heat the oil and add whatever ingredients you would like in your oil, letting them steep in the warm oil long enough to infuse the flavor. You then let the oil cool and use a funnel to transfer the oil back to a bottle, adding a little canola oil to keep the concoction from solidifying in the refrigerator.

Kyle got the saffron gnocchi with dried baby scallops--he loved the scallops which were a little chewier and smokey tasting compared to fresh scallops. Plus, you can't go wrong with a luxury ingredient like saffron!

My dad loves clam spaghetti and has made it for me at home since I was a baby. This version was the real deal. The clams were fresh and the pasta was handmade. It is a simple recipe, but with simplicity, there is so much that can go wrong. Not this pasta, it was perfect.

I got the winner for the day--the lobster spaghetti that came with half a fresh Mediterranean lobster. The sauce was no ordinary tomato sauce, it was hearty and creamy tasting. The sauce was so flavorful I almost took home a doggie bag of just the remnants on my plate. 

We weren't exactly starving when we stumbled upon this restaurant--we just didn't want to waste a good meal time in a new city and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity before our boat left the port. However, whether it was the time crunch or the delicious food, we scarfed the food down as if it was our last meal before a Space mission or something equally worthy of the veracity we ate with.    

Happy Eating,

Emi

Prosciutto di Parma pizza - Dinner in Venice - Venice Part 1

After fattening ourselves up in Paris we were ready to flaunt our bikini ready bodies on an 11 day cruise through the Mediterranean. Our port of departure was Venice, which we had been told to expect "OK" food, so we weren't as focused on finding food in this city. However in the end maybe because of lowered expectations or sheer luck we found some truly great Italian food.

We met up with my parents in Venice and for our first evening went on a gondola ride through the "streets" or rather waterways of Venice. An amazing experience made even better with a bottle of Prosecco. After finishing our gondola ride we were ready to hunt down some pizza!

Venice like many stops on our cruise was a beautiful and unique city just waiting to be explored by us. We made it our goal to eat local cuisines for every stop of the cruise. If it said "hamburgers, pizza/pasta (outside of Italy)" we avoided the place like the plague. We wanted what the locals would eat.

We went back to a restaurant my parents had discovered earlier in the day by the Academia Bridge in the heart of Venice. We started with a Caprese salad which we dressed ourselves with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. The fresh mozzarella and tomatoes were spectacular. We were soon to see the fresh cheeses and tomatoes across the Mediterranean were like nothing we had ever enjoyed before.

My dad went with the melon and prosciutto which was even better than the one we enjoyed in Paris primarily because the prosciutto was amazing.

I ordered the prosciutto di Parma pizza which came with a slightly spicy tomato sauce and caramelized onions. Emi and I discussed if we had been to Italy back when we were in grade school, (pre-California Pizza Kitchen which then turned into wood stone oven, gourmet, thin crust pizzas) we may not have enjoyed this pizza. Knowing only thick crust, greasy Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Little Caesar's, and Godfather Pizza we were not necessarily pizza connoisseurs. Good thing food has changed and improved over the years.

This pizza was not perfect, (the dough was a little chewy, even though the crust was thin) however still one of the best pizzas I've ever enjoyed. Maybe it was the environment and sitting by the Grand Canal in Venice that made this pizza memorable, but more likely it was the amazing prosciutto di Parma. I've enjoyed it before, but for whatever reason this creamy, rich, salty, melt in your mouth prosciutto was the best I've ever tasted and truly made this pizza extraordinary.

Emi's mushroom and ham pizza.

Even though the city shut down completely by around 9:30pm and we almost didn't make it back to the cruise ship (long story), it was all worth it because of my vivid memory of this amazing pizza.

- Kyle