Best of 2015

As usual, here are my favorite posts of this 2015 (I know I was a bad blogger, but one of my 2016 resolutions is to keep the blog updated - still so many posts to share about many cool places in Milan, Spain, USA, Mexico, etc.):

Central Market, Florence

One of my new favorite places in Florence...

Macelleria Popolare, Milan

A delicious lunch break in the new Darsena market, by the guys from Mangiari di Strada!

2014, what a year!

2014 was a busy but great year!
It was a year of lots of traveling:

• New York - every year must include a trip to the Big Apple, where we had the chance to go to a football game, ate dumplings in Chinatown's oldest tea house, had a pretentious dinner in the Meatpacking district, jumped on the tramway to Roosevelt Island and walked though the High Line in the cold.
  

• Shanghai - finally visited Asia! and it was a very interesting trip, cuturally and gastronomically, from beautiful temples to gardens, not forgetting the super modern skyscrapers and the ancient towns. We even had a coffee at a replica of Friends' Central Perk bar!
  

• Hong Kong - The second part of the Asian trip, and probably my new favorite city: dim sum, a beautiful skyline, dim sum, gardens, dim sum, temples, dim sum, boat rides, dim sum, etc - and a quick visit to Las Vegas of the East, Macau.
  

• Andalucia - a hot road trip in one of my favorite places in Spain after a stop in Cordoba to visit the breathtaking Mosque, we headed to Seville and found a nice shadow under the trees at the Real Alcazar gardens and the Plaza de España arches - and oh, the food!
  

• A quick stop in Copenhagen to finally visit the famous Carlsberg brewery
  

• A second visit to Budapest, where we discovered fantastic restaurants, bathed in thermal baths night and day and also visited some cultural and touching sights.. and drank lots of Tokaji :)
  

• I still have to write about a weekend we spent at the beach in Rimini, another one in Barcelona, Hamburg, our first visit to the Snails Festival in Cherasco and also about a Mexican Paradise... so stay tuned for 2015!

2014 was also a year with lots of food:

• Michelin-star restaurants, like the new location of Alice inside Eataly Smeraldo in Milan, the yummy (and cheap) dim sum from Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong and the newly appointed Borkonyha in Budapest.
  

• Street food and markets everywhere! From the Milanese taco bar experiment and the street food temple, the festive atmosphere at a Hong Kong market restaurant, the lobster rolls palce under the Plaza hotel in NYC, the food markets in Cordoba and Seville and the cool street food island in Copenhagen.
  

• also Bars, from the funky ones like Szimpla Kert in Budapest and Garlochi in Seville, to the cool views of Shanghai's Hyatt Vue Bar, not forgetting the fine wine bars like Cultivini in Budapest and N'Ombra de Vin in Milan
  

And lets not forget the hotels like the Buddha Bar in Budapest and the toilet we won't forget :), the views of Seville's rooftops from the Hotel Fontecruz,  the modern Eurostars Palace in Cordoba, the comfortable 99 Bonham in Hong Kong, the Swissotel Shanghai and the weird gas mask in the drawer and even the nearby (but great if you have an early flight) Sheraton Malpensa.

But mostly, I will remember 2014 because the blog has finally started to be featured in other websites, newspapers and guides, and I couldn't be happier about this! There were the interviews with ExpatsBlog and Cheryl Howard's blog, my tips on the Radisson Blu Milan's blog, the feature on Die Zeit's Milan guide and my first article published on Matador Network (also in Spanish)! 

Happy holidays and a great start of 2015 to you all!

Hugs,

M.

Triana market & Guadalquivir river, Seville

After the visit to the Cathedral and climb to the top of the Giralda tower, we went for a walk under the summer sun along the Guadalquivir and arrived to the Triana market.

Mercado Victoria, Cordoba

"Happy ever after in the market place..."

 

 The Mercado Victoria is one of those pleasant surprises Cordoba has to offer. Especially for market nuts like myself.

Snapshots of Hong Kong

For the final post of my trip to Hong Kong, here's a series of snapshots of this amazing city

 

Snapshots of Düsseldorf

if you remember my last year's trip to Cologne then you remember my discovery of Kölsch bier, the fresh and drinkable beer typical from Cologne. Well, there's a bit of rivalry between Cologne and Düsseldorf to see who has the best beer and, please D'dorfers, don't be mad at me, but as a girl, not-beer drinker, I prefer Cologne's kölsch... Altbier, the beer from Düsseldorf is a bit too strong for my uneducated beer taste (hey, I warned you, you know I love the girly Belgian cherry beer), but that didn't stop me from tasting the Frankenheimer Alt, which is sold at the characteristic Zum Schiffchen brewery and the Schlussen Alt, served at Zum Schlussen brewery, both in the Altstadt.

As you may have read, Düsseldorf is also called the largest bar in the world because of its hundreds of bars. Well, I might be getting old but it's such a mess! I wasn't expecting this mass of beer drinkers all over the old town! I didn't enjoy the over-crowded breweries, but I did enjoy the hearty, big portions of the food (German breweries are the only places that succeed in making me leave something on my plate) and the market we found on the Rhein promenade.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of Dusseldorf, its Media harbor new buildings (some by Frank Gehry, my architect crush), monuments and the beautiful views we enjoyed. Can't wait to go back!

Gehry buidings in Media Harbor (Rhein tower in the back)

Media Harbor

My favorite

Love the forms

Traditional buildings facing the Rhein

Rhein promenade

in case the dogs get thirsty :)

Seems like a Pöggeler statue, right?

lovely to find Leopardi's quotes here

D'dorf's town hall

Cartwheelers' Fountain

The river Düssel, which gave the city its name

City Monument

Königsallee or "Kö", the shopping street

Düsseldorf skyline

Colors of Mexico

Mexico is a country full of colors, which reflect also on its people and of course, on its food.
Here are some pictures of my recent trip to Mexico City. Notice that being a foodie, I focused on the food :)

Avocado memories

They say that you start to value things more when you don't have them anymore. That's pure wisdom. I remember when I was growing up in Mexico surrounded by avocado trees I never paid much attention to it, of course I have always loved avocado, but now that I'm hundreds of miles away from my beloved avocado trees I wish I had eaten avocado everyday for all those years.

image taken from this website

Saturday lunch

I love Saturdays! Every Saturday I wake up with a big smile on my face (when I'm not hungover - those mornings I wake up with a pout) because I know the weekend is starting. Sometimes, as you know, we go to the fish and fruit market in Piazzale Lagosta (Isola) to get our goodies, from that moment on, our tiny kitchen becomes an atelier, while G cooks the fish and tastes drinks the wine, I start setting the table, preparing salads, dressings, sauces, etc. to make our dish special.
You have already seen my tuna recipe, but this time we made some slight variations (like the black sesame seeds we got in Dubai) and we took better photos, so here it is for you:

Wahaca? Sounds good!

Hey there! We spent this weekend in London but I'm not gonna bore you with pics and description about the touristic sights since probably most of you have already been there (if not, turn off your computers right now, ok, but not before booking a ticket to London!). Instead I'll write about Wahaca. What? Wahaca, it is a Mexican food chain with diverse locations in London serving market food or street food, stuff that you would typical find in a Mexican street cart or a market stand.
I must confess that after living in Italy for over 10 years, I have never found a real authentic Mexican restaurant anywhere in Italy so everytime I find the real deal the least I can do is write about it.
Anyhow, after wandering around Soho we found it in Wardour Street, what I would call "Foodie Street" after all the nice restaurants we passed by (and the bakeries like Hummingbird Bakery - one of the hardest things I've ever done was passing by and not stopping for a cupcake!). The place is casual, relaxed with friendly atmosphere, street art in the walls and minimalistic decor; visit the bathrooms downstairs, they are nice! and the tequila bar with foosball tables!

inside Wahaca Soho

 Your menu card is also your place mat and your reference list since when you order your waiter circles your orders in it. The menu has well explained dishes varying from appetizers, salads, main courses, desserts, etc. a great selection of tequilas (please try the Don Julio!) and a not so bad selection of beers. They got me when I saw they had Pacifico beer, my favorite!

Pacifico, best Mexican beer!

So, together with our beers we had an order of guacamole, the Pork Pibil tacos (3), the chicken mole tacos (3) and a big chipotle chicken quesadilla to share. Everything was great, authentic market food, and if a Mexican tells you, then you should believe it!

Pork Pibil tacos

Chicken mole tacos (couldn't resist to eat one before the pic!)

Chipotle chicken quesadilla

 We could have eaten more (and I would have loved to get a glass of horchata water -almond and rice milky drink- !) but we were going to have dinner in a couple of hours so this was just to nibble. The total was around £25 including tip. They don't take reservations so be prepared to wait, it's totally worth it! Oh, and with your check they bring chili seeds so you can plant your own at home, how conveninent!

Wahaca Soho is located in 80 Wardour Street, London. Other locations: Canary Wharf, Covent Garden, Westifield White City, Westfiled Stratford and a street cart that moves around London! Don't forget to check their nice website: www.wahaca.co.uk

Torvehallerne - Copenhagen

About a month ago I read an article on the NYTimes about the new Torvehallerne, a (partially) covered marketplace with gourmet specialties in Copenhagen. Being a fan of Copenhagen, marketplaces and food, I decided to try it on out recent trip to Copenhagen.

It was funny to see how they turned a parking lot, which I used to pass by everyday while I lived in Copenhagen, in 2 parallel covered structures filled with gourmet stands. There are like 3 or 4 bakeries offering delicious cupcakes and Danish pastries, an Italian deli with great sandwiches, sushi and tapas places, fruit and fish stands, butcher, florist and even an ecologic kebab cart outside: a foodies paradise!
But after visiting the Boqueria market in Barcelona and the newly refurbished San Miguel market in Madrid, I was a bit disappointed with the architecture of Torvehallerne. First of all, we are in Denmark, it rains and snows often from September to June so what's the point of dividing the two structures? If one wants to go from one structure to the other and it's raining/snowing, one has to cross this open-air space to get there; why not making a unique, big covered structure? Also, there are tables outside and a couple of stools at some of the food stands inside; while it's nice to grab a sandwich or coffee and enjoy it outside sitting in a bench on a sunny summer afternoon, again, what do you do when it's raining/snowing? Since there was a lot of space and since they were building something new, it would have been nicer to get tables and stools in a covered space, like a food court maybe.
However, my favorite spot in Torvehallerne remains Agnes Cupcakes ***CLOSED***, I've tried their cupcakes from the other location in Sværtegade some months ago and loved them (their apple cupcake is to die for!). Apparently cupcakes are the new must in Copenhagen so don't forget to pay a visit to Agnes and Torvehallerne!

Torvehallerne is located in Frederiksborggade, just off Norreport Station. While coffee shops and bakeries are open everyday from 7 to 21, the rest of the stands have different opening hours (closed on Mondays) so make sure you check the website before visiting.