Lisa always...

Ik think everyone has something he/she always does, or is known for. Something like a good or a bad habit, or something you have always loved and is therefore a part of you.
This morning I woke up thinking about all my habits, the good ones and the ones I'd rather change.

Good ones:
- I love cats, can't seem to live without them I don't have one right now so I live with a surrogate cat (a fleece cat my mum bought me at the animal shop) and the pictures I have of my last two cats. Now I know this is not really a habit, but it's something that is very Lisa and that everyone knows me for.

- I love reading books. When I'm alone, I read. I've just started a new book called 'In ongenade' by J.M. Coetzee. It's supposed to be a real masterpiece, and I must say I'm intrigued by his style.
Other favorites of mine are: - 'The catcher in the rye' by J.D. Salinger
                                            - 'Hersenschimmen' by J. Bernlef
                                            - 'The alchemist' by Paulo Coelho
                                            - 'Winnie the Pooh' by A.A Milne
                                            - 'Como agua para chocolate' by Laura Esquivel
                                            - 'Mevrouw Verona daalt de heuvel af' by Dimitri Verhulst
                                            - 'Meneer Ibrahim en de bloemen van de Koran' by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
And so many more, I really have to make a list of all the good books I read, just to remind myself of the beautiful stories.

- Since I've been living in Como, I really became addicted to sports. It feels so great to be outside, breathe some fresh air and let your body do what it's made for. Let it work a little or a lot and feel energized and free while doing it! And then when you come home, you feel all relaxed and even a bit proud of yourself for having run or cycled a bit faster or longer than the last time.

Now the bad ones:
- I'm addicted to nail polish since I was about 15 years old, I think. I have to wear it ALWAYS otherwise my nails  hurt..how weird is that? But the good thing about it is that my nails always look all right.

- I always leave bits of food lying around the house. When I eat a sandwich or a cooky I tend to leave the last bite on the table or anywhere really. I'm still trying to kick that habit...I have been for the last 15 years.

- When I cook, and that happens quiet often...I make a huge mess. I haven't learned how to cook and clean at the same time. So I cook first, make sure everything tastes good and is on the table at the same time (which is more important to me than the mess in the kitchen..maybe that's why this always happens) and then after dinner I clean the place. Now, my Love is a great fan of a clean kitchen so sometimes he cleans while I cook. We're a great team that way!

Miep and Snoes

Did you know...?

....Why Mozzarella is called Mozzarella? It comes from the word mozzare, which means to cut off. This is how the balls of the very young cheese are shaped. In very little time the milk of the buffalo is turned into this wonderful thing called Mozzarella di Buffala! 

My favorite way to eat it is with fresh figs, balsamic vinegar, very good olive oil and fresh ground black pepper. And maybe even a leave of basil on top!

....That pancetta means belly, as the bacon is made from the belly fat of the pork.

...Well you probably do...but I'll tell you anyway because it's such a nice one; Tiramisu means, pull me up! As there is coffee in the desert which gives you a bit of energy after a heavy dinner. I always mix my mascarpone with some Grand Marnier to give it an extra kick.

My Tiramisu recipe for about 4:

- a pack of the thick Italian savoiardi
- 2 cups of espresso
- 250 gr of mascarpone
- about 50 gr of sugar (more or less according to your taste)
- a slosh of Grand Marnier or any liqueur you like.

Mix the mascarpone with the liqueur and the sugar until smooth. Put one layer of savoiardi in a serving dish (about 20x20 cm if you have it) and poor over the first cup of hot coffee. Then smear a layer of the mascarpone on top. Then another layer of savoiardi and coffee and mascarpone. Sometimes, when I want to impress my Italian friends, I put some raspberries in there aswell! I finish the dish, not with coco powder as that sticks to your mouth or makes you sneeze, with a layer of grated dark chocolate!

Buon appetito!

Wholy crumpets!

This morning I woke up surprisingly hungry! I made some orange juice, tea, a bowl of fruit....and something more interesting and yummie...crumpets. The only annoying thing about them is that you have to wait for the yeast to do it's work, but it's worth it!

I took the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks; 'The cooks book' by Jill Norman.

You'll need for about 6-7 crumpets:

- 125 gr of plain flour

- 15 gr of sugar

- 7 gr of fresh yeast

- 3 gr of salt

- 50 gr of warm water

- 100 gr of warm milk

Stir the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, water and milk to a smooth batter. Leave this on a warm place for about 45 minutes to let the yeast make the bubbles. Heat a flying pan until fairly hot and poor the batter in small amounts in the pan with about a diameter of 10 cm. Wait until the wholes appear in the batter and it looks almost dry, then flip them and bake for another minute until golden-brown.

Poor a good amount of golden syrup/strawberry jam/butter and honey/marmalade/or whatever is your favorite breakfast sweet, on top of the hot pancakes and eat SUBITO! (right away in Italian)

The Market Place

Almost every week we go to our favourite cocktail bar, Bar Fresco. There used to be a great chef, I told you about, who made all these stunning bits&bites to go with the equally stunning cocktails. Who, later, appeared to be the brother of the bar owner!
One day we noticed he had left, there was another chef to replace him but that didn't do the trick...Now we know where he went, he opened his own restaurant 'The Market Place' just a few blocks away from the bar. He now delivers the hors d'oeuvre again to the bar, they come in pretty boxes, still warm.

I didn't know about the restaurant until I was in front of it. My love took me there on a surprise dinner, on the bike through the rain, which just made it even more romantic.
We were welcomed by the bar Fresco owner...he made his own cocktail corner in the small but pretty restaurant. A good move to attract people of all ages, and drinking makes hungry!
Then we met his brother, the chef, in his small but convenient kitchen. Now that he also shaved his head, the brothers look even more alike.

We couldn't choose from the menu as we had never been there before and everything was still new to us, so we ordered the chefs menu. We took a wine arrangement with it, you could taste all the wines they recommended with the menu for only Euro 10,-

- Tartare of salmon with toast. Wine: Muller Thurgau
- Tortellini of Branzino, salmon and lobster on a carpaccio of raw shrimp with spinach. Wine: Chardonnay
- Confit de Canard with a very creamy soft potato puree and spinach(again) and very cute carrots.
Wine: Sasella Rainoldi 2006
- Torta di Pane in chocolate with orange confiture and a quenelle of cream. Wine: Moscato Rosa from Sudtirol.

The products are fresh and the food is made with love and perfection. Some dishes, like the salmon and the duck, could use a little more 'joie de vivre'. Like a good tangy dressing( with the salmon) and a dried fruit sauce( with the duck). I liked the styling of the dessert the most, modern, simple and elegant.

The man who served our table, poured our wine and ran from table to table to do the same for the other customers, was humble and kind. You can still feel and see that it's a new restaurant, but one with a lot of potential. If there's a heart in it (and there is), people will feel that and it will be a success.

Tips from me to them:
- Candles on the tables (they seem to have forgotten about this romantic element in many Italian restaurants...)
- Hire a girl/woman too, she will give the place a little more warmness.
- Keep up the good work, you're one of my new favourite places!

MY COLLECTION FOR SALE!

Announcement:....I'm selling my final collection 'Dawn'!

Not only clothes, but also shoes, bags and accessories are available and on sale now!

The pieces are all one of a kind and handmade, so be quick to order, there is only one!

Look for detailed photo's on my website www.lisaweinberg.com

If you are interested in a piece please let me know through e-mail: weinberg.lisa@gmail.com

See you at the next post soon!!

Lugano

Last friday I went to Lugano for a job interview. I took the very posh fast train there, just because the Italian train website didn't tell me there was a cheaper one. Somehow I picked the most beautiful day of the month and as soon as I stepped out of the train I saw the amazing view! Snowy mountains, trees in their autumn outfits, the stunning lake and a beautiful old city waiting for me to be discovered. I walked my way down to the city as I passed pretty churches, lots of ecological shops (they are obviously much more into bio products here, Italy is still a bit slow on that, unfortunately.) and nicely dressed, kind people.

As soon as I put one foot on the street to cross it, cars stopped and the driver gave me a gentle smile giving me the green sign. In Italy this is something totally strange, yesterday a car speeded up when he saw family with a buggy, ready to cross the street. There seems to be a different kind of mentality when people are on the road here. I always look the driver in the eyes, to make sure he/she sees me....stick my leg out...and GO!! That usually works ok, I haven't been hit yet...

Well, back to Lugano, a Swiss city just across the Italian border. After my interview, which went well, I walked down to the lake. I photographed the most beautiful trees and sat on a bench like an old lady (at some point all the street workers were taking their lunch-break just a stones throw away).

Then I got some Swiss Francs out the wall and looked for a bakery to have my pretzel with ham, a very delicious traditional food here. They cut the salty buns in half, put some sweet real butter on it and a thick slice of boiled ham, Mmm!

I sat near the window, the best table in the place, so I could do some serious people watching. I had a pretzel with ham and cheese and fresh orange juice. Then I decided to go for a dessert as well..a very heavy rum-raisin-chocolate boule with a coffee. Enough to load myself up for some shopping (without buying). All in all I had a wonderful day by myself, wondering around this pretty city. I took the train back to Como. While listening to the melancholic voice of Inessa Galante I watched the view pass by, thinking I might just see this every day in the near future....

Lago di Lugano

sticky leaves

My Pretzel

Winter is here...

It started raining in Como and so we know that winter has started in the mountains. As rain means snow.
My Love is always sad and exited at the same time when this happens. As he can no longer( only during one rainy month, usually november) go out on his bike as much as he would like, but at the same time he starts making skiing moves as if he's already on the fresh white snow high up on the mountain.
Our friends rent a very traditional chalet in Bormio each winter and we get to stay there whenever it's free.
We usually drive there on a friday night after work and we eat something on the way at this great ecologic farm called 'La Fiorida'. The closer we get to Bormio the more unlikely it seems we are ever going to reach it. The roads get darker and the snow thicker.  The impressive black mountains are almost a bit scary if you look at them for too long. But when it's clear, the gentle face of the bright moon makes it all right again.

The best thing about being in the mountains is when you wake up and open the window. It's about zero degrees outside, you can smell the crisp clean air as you watch the slopes waiting there for you to come and ski on them.

The other good thing is the mountain food. Maybe you can imagine what it could be like as all you need after a morning of skiing( or learning how to, even though you were so good at it when you were three years old..) is carbs! The three most common and eaten dishes are Pizzoccheri, Polenta and Gnocchetti agli spinaci. All made from different types of grains and wheats.
I had the courage to make Pizzoccheri for our Italian friend one day, while we were staying at his house..he loved it! The guys, who did the heavy skiing, both had two servings. It is made with a special kind of whole wheat flour called 'farina di grana saraceno', cabbage, potatoes, three types of cheese and a lot of butter with sage to give it it's tipical flavour.

It probably won't take long before the first weekend in Bormio is planned and I can start picking up those skiing lessons again and cook heavy, greasy things which taste darn good when it's freezing outside!

Bormio 3000 mt

On the road

Me in my fancy ski outfit!

Malfatti (badly made)

Polenta con Gorgonzola

Pizzoccheri

Pretty Pears!

Today, I just wanted to show you these wonderful pears I bought at the supermarket a few days ago. I couldn't resist them. At home we made a fresh pear and apple juice with our very posh juicer, which is also a kitchen machine and a blender in one.
It seems that the Italians have a feeling for the presentation of their foods and everything looks just a bit more colorful and ripe under the Italian sun.
These pears remind me of the Japanese way of showing their food( as it is almost an exhibition or fashion show as you reach the food dep. floor in one of their huge department stores), they are definitely still the masters of packaging. When I was in Tokyo in 2007 I bought more sweets than clothes, just because they were even more beautiful. Off course I also bought the obligatory kimono and those funny socks with separate toes. And I took a lot of pictures of the shy but outrageous looking Harajuku girls and boys.
Hopefully I'll have the chance to go back there soon as I would like to travel the country as much as the cities. To see a bit more of the original Japan which must be in such contrast with the hyper modern cities.

But for now I'll be enjoying La Bella Italia and her great food!

Italian pears

Pears in syrup with cinnamon cream

Pear in chocolate sauce, semplice, semplice!

My color...Pantone 489C

I think it started about 7 years ago, my great love for the color nude. Sometimes it goes towards pink sometimes it looks a bit more like beige. It's the color I love to wear more then any color. It think it is because it suits my skin and hair color so well or because it's a sweet color that makes you feel comfortable and at ease.  I have a skin-coloured scarf, a ruffly dress, a see through cardigan, a home-made skirt of some fabric I had left from a collection, strappy shoes in a pink shade and a handbag in a more beige color. And off course lots a nudy underwear with black lace or with a pink bow.
My eye always seems to look for that one color and picks up all kinds of shades. I've even been accused of wearing too much of the same color, but I don't care. I love it and I know it suits me!

I use the color a lot in my work as well. Sometimes I use it as a white, a base for other colors. Just because it is so much more subtle and warm. Or I use it as a real color to go with lilac, ochre or dark blue. To me it is a very sophisticated color, one that never goes out of fashion.

Other colors I love:

- Dark(marine) Blue( my Love wears it a lot and it suits his blond hair and bright blue eyes so well)
- Ochre
- Lilac ( a lavender kind of shade, towards blue almost)
- Coral
- Hot Pink( with dark blue or nude)
- Aubergine
- Cinnamon
- Dusty pink
- Baby Blue
- Cream
- Or even bright Orange with a Nude
- Or a pistache Green
- Warm Grey
- Fresh light Yellow

I Think i should start drawing a new collection again. Sometimes I start a collection just of thinking about the colors. How they combine, what they say, what atmosphere they need to give to the clothes.
Then, as a second, come the shapes, the details and the fabrics...

Prada, Milano

strawberry risotto

Pitti Filati, Firenze

notebook from Paris

socks from Japan, lace from Zurich

French cookies

bird by Lisa Weinberg

                                            

Making bread!

Almost every day now I bake my own bread. I love the feeling of soft dough in my hands and the way it rises in the bowl. I bake brown bread, white bread, corn bread and pane di segale, a very dark brown soft bread which my Love likes to eat for breakfast with a thick layer of Nutella on it.
Since I have my new oven I can't stop baking and trying out new stuff every time. Today I will bake brioche, the sweet soft French bread which is so great for breakfast with some butter and marmalade.

For my basic bread recipe I use:

500 grams of flour
25 grams of fresh yeast
10 grams of salt
350 ml warm water
10 grams of sugar

I mix the flour with the salt in a big bowl. Then mix the water, yeast and sugar in a separate bowl and give it a good stir to resolve the yeast in the water. Then mix the water in the flour at once and kneed to a soft smooth ball.
put a damp cloth over the bowl and let the dough rise for about an hour or two on a warm place.

Then grease your baking tin or oven-plate and dust it with flour. Kneed the air out of the dough and place it in the baking tin. Cover with the damp cloth or plastic foil and let it rest again for an hour.

Preheat the oven on 200 degrees Celcius. remove the cloth or plastic foil and bake the bread for 20 minutes on 200 degrees and another 30 minutes on 180 degrees. Take it out of the oven and out of the baking tin. Eat as fresh as you can!

Yesterday I felt like baking a quick pizza with broccoli, mozzarella and gorgonzola. I used Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe. I rolled the dough out really thin but it was still a bit bread-like, very tasty but I still prefer the more crunchy version, I think it needs less yeast. I will work on that!

cinnamon and date bread

white bread

cornbread

whole wheat bread

pizza della casa

PRINCE ROCKS!

Last night we went to Milano to see PRINCE, the Artist, The Symbol or whatever he calls himself these days....The best concert I've ever been to!
This man is 52 years old and dictates funk music to an Italian crowd of all ages. He didn't loose any of his spicy funkiness or quality of his voice over the years, he even kept his sex appeal!

All I can say is...Go And See This Man If You Can!!!

Prince 3 nov

Prince 3 nov

Prince 3 nov

Prince 3 nov

New cookbooks!

For my birthday I got three cookbooks! one from my Love, one from my mom and one from my friends!
I am so happy to be able to expand the amount of delicious and beautiful books, the number of recipes and the tons of new cooking experience I will obtain from cooking from them.

On my real birthday my Love gave me Jamie Oliver's 'Il mio giro d'Italia' for breakfast( first he woke me up with red roses), my first real Italian cookbook. So now I'm actually cooking and learning Italian at the same time, how convenient! He also gave me 'Il piccolo principe' a few weeks ago, to study my Italian. I thought all children books would be reasonably easy to read, but this beautiful story is actually written for adults in, for me, very difficult Italian. It was a good way to spend my time on the plane to Holland last week.

Last saturday, on my birthday party, I received 'De kunst van het koken' ( 'Mastering the art of French cooking') by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. This book is a Dutch version and it contents both parts one and two of the original edition. The book weighs about two kilos...and seems like a mission impossible. But I think I will cook my way through it slowly slowly and I will use it mostly as a sort of encyclopedia or study book. The lay-out is clear, not to crowded with text, and illustrated where needed.
Over the past few years I'm collecting must-have cookbooks, classics. My library exists of; 'The silver spoon', All classic Italian recipes are in there. 'The Cook's Book' by Jill Norman, a very precise guide for the home cook, although to me it seems more like a peek in a professional kitchen, as my croissants failed completely after a hard try. I will leave that art up to the French. But it's good to see how it is really done.
Another book I've used a lot is the straightforward 'River Cafe Cook Book' By Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers. All easy to make, Italian dishes you can always fall back on.

My newest and favorite welcome edition is 'Home Made' by Yvette van Boven. I ran into it in the small bookshop in my mom's village and convinced her that this was the last birthday present I really wanted/needed. I know its sounds a bit like a small child begging his mom for a candy bar, but this book made my mouth water just the same.
I love the design, also home made with a paper cut out title for every chapter. Cute little drawings and handwritten titles with every recipe and beautiful photo's of real but very photogenic food. The book is written with loads of humor and passion for good quality ingredients. A very inspiring book written by a very talented woman. She and her nephew have a lunch restaurant and catering service in Amsterdam 'Aan de Amstel', too bad I'm already back in Como. I would have loved to try their food. Well, I have something to look forward to next time I go.

I'll keep you posted on the recipes I make from my favorite books, I think I'll start with
making brioche, as I've never made it but love eating the soft sweet bread when I'm in France.

A presto!

Moussy business...

Last Saturday I held my belated birthday party for my friends. I invited them to come over to my mom’s house for dinner and drinks.

I couldn’t get myself to putting the menu together until Saturday morning, D-day.

I flipped through my mom’s cookbooks and thought of what I felt like eating…

We started with a rosé champagne and bruscette with three different toppings; mozzarella di buffala with lemon zest and red chillies, figs and rucola with balsamic vinegar and my own find with apple, tomatoes and avocado, you can find the recipe in an earlier post.

Then I felt the need to make my own pasta for the ravioli I filled with grilled pumpkin and ricotta. I served them with a drizzle of oil, some parmigiano, basil and balsamic syrup on top. I must say I forgot the porcini at the last moment, but no one noticed I hope/think.

As a contorno I had some salted oven grilled sweet tomatoes in different colours.

For the ‘grand finale’ I made a heavy chocolate mousse. I used 150 grams of 70% chocolate, 250 ml of cream, 4 eggs and about 100 grams of sugar.

I beat the egg whites and the cream until stiff (separately of course). In the meantime I melted the chocolate au bain marie and mixed the egg yolks with the sugar until frothy. Let the chocolate cool for a few minutes and mix in the egg yolk mix. Then bit-by-bit mix in the egg whites and cream, try to keep the air in as much as possible. Let the mousse rest for a couple of hours in the fridge.

My favourite way to serve it is with fresh raspberries…it’s all about colour and the fresh contrast with the sweetness of the mousse.

For the second part of the desert I baked a tarte-Tatin, I thought I knew how to bake it by now so that couldn’t go wrong…If only I had not listened to my mothers advice. Fully convinced of herself she told me to use goudreinetten, very Dutch big apples, used for apple pie and apple mousse…Thats exactly what my tarte-Tatin turned out to be like. A nice crust on the bottom and a very tasty but ugly mousse on the top. As we had enough mousse in this desert I decided to make a new one. My dear mom rushed to the supermarket to get me new apples, GOLDEN DELICIOUS! In the meantime I made a new caramel and rolled out the dough.  As someone who is in love with cakes I could not get myself to serve a completely failed tart.

Luckily the second one came out of the oven in a perfect state…Phew!

I think the dinner went all right, as there was almost nothing left over and every one went home with a smile on their faces…Thanks girls for the lovely night!

kneading pasta dough

hard work needs to be done in jeans!

ravioli filling

ravioli, almost done

the party table with amaretti on the plates

second try